Later on that night, as Duan Li was busy helping his mother setting up the dinner table so that they could properly accommodate the guest that was about to arrive, they heard someone gently knocking on their door.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Opening the door, Meng Yue smiled as soon as she saw the woman that arrived at their door step.

"You're here! Come on in!" she said, her tone excited -- after which, this slender woman with long emerald hair and silk robes suddenly hugged her!

"Senior elder sister! This junior have missed you!" the woman was entirely elated to see Meng Yue and couldn't help but to rub off her cheeks against Meng Yue's as if adoring a cute little kitten from the streets that she just picked up.

At least, that was the kind of scene that Duan Li saw. He really wanted to laugh but was afraid of getting pummeled.

"Hey! Calling me a senior elder sister is a little too much! It makes me seem like an ancient person! Just call me sister!" Meng Yue struggled to escape the woman's embrace with a flushed expression.

Turning her head around while pushing the woman's face away from her, Meng Yue tried to call out her son.

"Li'er, come here and greet- Umph!" her words failed to escape properly from her mouth as they became inaudible. Her head was stuffed in between the woman's two huge mountain peaks!

BAM!

"Ooff!"

Meng Yue finally escaped from the woman's prison after delivering a quick gut punch. She was also tempted to twist the audacious mountain peaks for daring to engulf her and erase it into a flat desert!

Sensing this great danger, the woman hurriedly said, "Sister! I'm just playing around with you! Please don't take it seriously... I really just miss you that I couldn't help it, honest! Hehe!" as she held her stomach. Meng Yue really didn't pull her punch on that one.

"Hmph!" Meng Yue snorted angrily as she fold her arms onto her chest, not looking at the woman that was still clutching at her stomach and struggling to get up from her knees.

"Li'er, this woman here is sister Ling Yu! She is an old friend from back when I was still in the capital."

Hearing this, Duan Li clasped his hands together to greet the woman called Ling Yu.

"Pleased to meet you, I am Duan Li."

Ling Yu could hardly stand properly right now, but she still managed to reply with a nod and exchanged a few words.

"Hello! I've heard a lot about you from your mother. It's a pleasure to finally be able to meet you in person!"

Duan Li was a little surprised to hear this.

She heard a lot about me from mother? I'm guessing its nothing good then...

Duan Li wanted to cry. Sure, he was a lazy bum. But to hear that his mother frequently told her friend about how her son here was such a useless person made him feeling quite embarrassed!

Looking at her son's flushed face and strange stare on her, Meng Yue could somehow read Duan Li's mind.

She giggled a little.

"He is so predictable!" Meng Yue thought to herself and smiled.

Seeing this, Ling Yu couldn't help but to become more interested. She then took another look at Duan Li and scanned the latter from top to bottom before nodding repeatedly.

"Oh? Now that I could look at him properly, he is quite the man!" she said and continued, "Not bad! Not bad at all!"

"Ah?" Meng Yue's ears twitched and stared at Ling Yu menacingly.

You vixen! That's my son! What do you think you are doing?!

Ling Yu felt a chill on her spine when she saw that meaningful stare on her. She predicted that if she does not come up with a quick excuse right now, she would have another gut punch heading straight at her again!

"Ahahahaha! I'm joking! Sorry!" she swiftly repented.

Meng Yue snorted at her again, this time feeling superior and satisfied.

"Sister Ling Yu here is a senior teacher from the Jixue Knights Academy. We met quite a while ago during our younger days..." she recounted to Duan Li as they both then exchanged glances and smiled, seemingly to reminisce the good old time.

Those were the days.

...

After the dinner, Ling Yu didn't dare to tease Meng Yue again. The reunited old friends continued to make small talks and catching up sessions. They even talked about hot and handsome males that they took fancy on back then!

Meng Yue even asked if some of them were still single, making Duan Li even more embarrassed when he listened to it!

Mother, once dad finally comes back with his caravans of milk, I will tell him all about this! Just you wait!

Duan Li also felt a little unfair.

After all, there were times when his mother was able to unearth his 'treasure' stash and every single time he will be berated for it, being told that he has such an immoral mind!

"Look at this! Them talking so openly about such steamy gossips! How can this practice be moral?" Duan Li clenched his fists tight, feeling aggrieved.

Women are also the same as men!

Hmph!

The more he listened to it, the more he wanted to dig his head into the ground right that instant, so that he could stop hearing their conversations!

Hais!

"Did you two forget that I even exists?" Duan Li sighed inwardly.

"Oh yea!" Ling Yu suddenly remembered something important, which was the main purpose as to why she had come to visit them in the first place.

"The registration for his enrollment into the academy was completed yesterday! But as I was quite busy handling some other matters, I could only come here today to visit and tell you guys about it directly." she said.

Eh?

Duan Li felt that he will not be able to see his favorite bed as often from now on when he heard this.

Turning his head slowly to look at his mother as if his neck was creaking, he earnestly wished that his mother would tell him that its something else and not what he was thinking.

"Congratulations! This is your birthday present! From now on, you will become a strong warrior!" Meng Yue's answer along with her high pitched laughter shattered Duan Li's hopes and dreams.

I will become... a student in the Jixue Knights Academy from now on?

This can't be real right?!

Why should I waste my time becoming a warrior?

I don't have time for that! I have my rights and I am going to defend it!

Duan Li gritted his teeth, made up his mind and stood up, wanting to protest and confront the tyranny of his mother once and for all!

"Before you say anything, I will beat you up everyday if you reject this offer. Now, what is it that you wanted to say me, huh?" Meng Yue glared at him.

The flames of war in Duan Li's eyes was extinguished almost immediately. He sat back down properly, saluted and replied, "Nothing mother! I am grateful for this opportunity!"

Goodbye to my peaceful days, thank you for all the memories..

Ling Yu almost broke into a laughter when she saw this.

She didn't even let her own son off!

"This child truly has a rough childhood, I pity him!" Ling Yu could only laugh heartily inside her heart and shook her head.

"Speaking of which..." she continued hesitatingly as she looked at Duan Li.

"It's the matter regarding this afternoon incident right?" interjected Meng Yue as if she had already knew that this topic would be brought out eventually.

Nodding her head slightly, Ling Yu replied, "En! That's right!"

"Feng Li whose right arm got crippled by your son is a known troublemaker even amongst the academy." she continued and then explained further.

"Normally, because Feng Li is a student of the academy and will be a part of the fighting force of the empire in the near future, he is entitled to get justice for the harm that was done on him at least. Thankfully, your son here had already become an official student of the academy as well before the incident happened. Thus, as per the academy rules that was stated, enmity between students could be resolved through personal duels."

Meng Yue nodded in satisfaction as she knew what this meant.

"You mean that, the incident is considered as a duel between students of the academy and any injuries as a result of it, the academy will not make any move, right?" she said.

Ling Yu smiled and answered, "Yes, that's right. As long as no one died though, or it will turn into something else."

Meng Yue then turned to look at her son and puffed up her chest while folding her arms, looking proud.

"See? Didn't your mother here said that it would be fine? You can even beat up everyone at the academy and nothing will happen! Hyahahahaha!" she let out a demonic laughter.

Ah, now I am itching to go back there!

Ling Yu had to cough dryly when she heard this.

Meng Yue was infamous back then for being a demon. She would beat up troublemakers without any mercy and sent them back crying while sometimes naked to their clans and families!

Of course, some people that annoyed her also received her wrath.

Suffice to say, there was no one that didn't know of her name! Even the Emperor himself acknowledged this!

Duan Li scratched his head, feeling a little troubled and paid his mother no attention.

While he could communicate with people without any problem, as an introvert, he really dislike being around people. He thought that it was such a hassle.

"Sleeping, eating and reading... will I be able to have enough time for them anymore?" Duan Li sighed as he shamelessly thought this to himself.

Knowing what her son was worried about, Meng Yue felt a little guilty.

"Don't worry! The academy has a board called Power Rank. The higher you rank on it, the more privileges you can obtain! You could even have better room and bed, buy all sorts of food to your liking without any limits and of course, free access to any books that you want in the library!" she explained.

After hearing this, Meng Yue could visibly see that her son's expression had gotten much better than before. Evidence that she had managed to give her son some hope.

"Good! Very good!" Meng Yue nodded and felt accomplished.

Although at first climbing the ranks would be a difficult feat for you, but now; with your newfound ability, I can at least be confident that you won't live too poorly over there!

I'm sorry that I couldn't provide you with a much better life than this...

"Pardon me for asking, but how good is your son in martial arts at least? I know that he is not a cultivator yet, judging from the absence of aura from him..." Ling Yu asked curiously.

After all, Duan Li was already 21 years old. From a standard perspective, a fresh student enrolling in the academy would at least be no more than 16 years old!

This would mean that Duan Li was already behind by half a decade than his peers, but if he already learned some martial arts, then it wouldn't be too much of a problem to catch up with the rest!

In addition, from the incident, although she didn't bother to know the details, she could at least deduce that Duan Li had learnt something from his mother. Otherwise, a student of the academy would never be so easily crippled!

"M-Martial arts?" Meng Yue stuttered a bit and forced out a smile.

Her son was someone who had never even punched a practice dummy before, let alone practice some martial arts! How was she going to answer this?

Its all because her son was such a lazy bum! Doing almost nothing everyday! She should have forced him to train like the man he is even if it would mean that she had to beat him up everyday!

Now, Meng Yue regretted a bit and felt that her softness was a mistake.

However, an idea suddenly sprung up in her mind at that moment!

"Well, to tell you the truth… I have been teaching him a form of a secret art for the past 10 years! That insolent fellow called Feng Trash something was crippled by this very technique!" she whispered softly into Ling Yu's ears while being on high alert, as if afraid that someone might eavesdrop on them!

Ling Yu was astonished.

"S-Secret art? Of what rank?" She replied and swallowed down her saliva.

One had to know that a secret art was something that is incredibly rare! This is because, just by its naming category, a secret art was a technique that is not recorded down in any manual books! It would be only passed down through practical teaching between a master and their most formidable student!

One could even say that it is a form of inheritance being passed down in secrecy!

Secret arts were also ranked accordingly from 1 to 9, the higher the rank, the lethal and more powerful it is!

Furthermore, based on hierarchy, someone that could learn a secret art was already considered to be an expert martial artists, and while it was uncommon for anyone to be able to learn a secret art before being able to cultivate spiritual Qi, it was not at all non-existent!

Thus, she quickly lose interest in knowing how much martial arts that Duan Li have learned!

"T-This..."

Once again, Meng Yue had trouble in answering her.

Screw it! I'll bluff my way out of this!

"Well, you should know me. All the martial arts that I have passed down onto him are quite profound and he had already mastered them all to his limits! So naturally, the secret art that I taught him is of the higher level!"

Meng Yue then continued, getting more absorbed in her bluffs as she said mysteriously, "However, telling it to you directly wouldn't be much fun. So you should see it with your own eyes!"

Hearing this, coupled with the confident tone of Meng Yue, Ling Yu was bought. She was now looking at Duan Li that was sitting on the opposite side of the table in front of her in a new light than before!

"If it doesn't trouble you, could you spar with me for a moment?" she asked Duan Li.

Duan Li could smell trouble from this. But when he looked at his mother that was nodding at him meaningfully, he knew that his mother was telling him to make use of that ability of his!

...

The three of them were now at the front yard.

Duan Li and Ling Yu stood at least five meters away from each other as Meng Yue watched them from the side.

"Hmm, its a little too dark here. Let me brighten up the place first." Ling Yu said.

She raised her right hand up facing the night sky as a flash of light then shoots out forming a ball of bright light!

This ball of light then floated up to about five meters above them, illuminating their surrounding area!

Duan Li was a little mesmerized by the ball of light.

That must be using spiritual Qi, how mysterious!

If I were to study at the academy, would I also be able to do mystical things like that?

"Well then, if you are ready, let's start!" Ling Yu called out to him.

Duan Li prayed that his ability to slow down time will not depend on the sun.

...