Forging Connections

"Wait!"

Hearing Qing Shan, Senior Teng immediately turned, Qi still gathering around his body. However, when he saw the owner of the voice, his Qi started to disperse; the look of anger in his eyes slowly changed to a look of disbelief.

"Boy? You should be at home. If you strain yourself, you may become crippled…"

Qing Shan shook his head.

"No Teacher, I am completely fine. I only feigned injuries so that those people would leave. My body cannot be hurt that easily."

Hearing this, black lines ran down Xuri Qiang's face. He was absolutely certain that he had beaten this brat enough that he should not be able to function for at least enough. He became even more depressed when he felt his sister's glare. She thought that he had gone easy on Qing Shan.

"That is impossible. I could tell that you were injured, and badly."

Qing Shan softened his voice, as if explaining things to a young child.

"Do you remember ever checking my pulse? How could you when you were too busy wanting to run off and angrily destroy the Rising Sun Clan?"

"…"

Senior Teng's only response was a simple glare. Had he really made such a big misunderstanding? He had barely even touched the boy other that applying bandages, he had been in too much of a rush to inspect the boy's body. He was ashamed…

Qing Shan watched as Senior Teng, who was obviously much stronger than anyone in the Rising Sun Clan, bowed low as an apology. This mystified Qing Shan, who knew, from his understanding, that the strong should never have to apologize to the weak.

"I am sorry for my misunderstanding. I will definitely teach this brat a lesson. You can also have him help with the reconstruction of your Clan. However, I do not think that this matter is something that you would need monetary help with."

Only after seeing Senior Teng swiftly walking away did the Rising Sun Clan comprehend his words.

He wanted them to pay for his mistake, and babysit his student, the instigator of this event? The Rising Sun Clan truly felt like spitting blood from anger. The Clan's only consolation was that no one was killed.

Walking behind his Teacher back to their shop, Qing Shan could not help but be nervous at what kind of punishment he would receive. However, Qing Shan was soon surprised.

At the shop, Senior Teng had a barely suppressed smile on his face.

"Good lad! Expertly giving me an excuse to wreak havoc on the Rising Sun Clan. As punishment, you will take me to drink, and pay for it!"

Qing Shan was relieved seeing that this old man was not going to punish him. However, that relief soon changed to a feeling that he was being exploited.

'This old geezer just wanted me to pay for him drinking!'

The thought his Qing Shan like a sack of bricks, but he could not really blame his Teacher, knowing that he would likely do the same if their roles were reversed. At the least.

Luckily, Senior Teng did not specify where to go or what quality of alcohol he wanted. Thus, Qing Shan dragged his Teacher to the Dusty Heights, the home of cheap liquor.

While Senior Teng was somewhat disgruntled seeing the run-down tavern, he smiled, knowing that he had rubbed off on his student.

When Su Yuesha and Yuan Long walked into the tavern at their normal time, the came over and asked Qing Shan about the man that was with him.

"Well… let me tell ya all~ about it."

Seeing as he and his Teacher were already super drunk, Qing Shan's lips had become a bit loose.

He told his two drinking buddies that Senior Teng was his Teacher in Runic Forging. When they asked why he had brought his Teacher here, Qing Shan answered candidly again.

"Well, you remember that earthquake and those sounds earlier? Teacher thought that I had been crippled and went to the rising Sun Clan as revenge. Since my amazing acting initiated everything, Teacher is making me pay for drinks tonight."

Hearing Qing Shan explain, his two drinking buddies' mouths fell open in shock. The people around who had heard also made slight movement away from the table, suddenly scared for their wellbeing.

After everyone retired for the night, Qing Shan dragged his Teacher home and then returned to his room. It turned out that his Teacher was the kind of person that fell asleep as soon as they got drunk.

Then next day, Qing Shan woke up early and went to his Teacher's store like usual, wondering what the next step in his training would be.

"Hmm. Actually, the next step in your training is something that I prepared especially for you. However, it may very well be the most tiring part of your training yet. Are you sure you can handle it?"

Qing Shan nodded his head, that familiar unwavering look in his eye.

Matching the look of his disciple, Senior Teng also spoke seriously.

"For the next step of your training, you are to wake up an hour earlier."

Once Qing Shan nodded in confirmation of his understanding, Senior Teng continued.

"You will then head directly North to the Rising Sun Clan and help them rebuild."

Hearing this Qing Sha almost fell to the ground, surprised that his Teacher had actually made a joke about his training.

"Teacher, I thought that what you said about me helping me rebuild was just a joke?"

Senior Teng's face actually grew serious, this time lacking a mischievous look in his eye.

"I never defy my oaths."

Qing Shan understood what his teacher was saying, so he began to leave the shop and head for the Northern district. However, he was suddenly struck be a random thought.

"Does that also mean that you will not provide any compensation for your misunderstanding?"

Senior Teng sent a look at Qing Shan, the smile on the old man's lips making him shiver.

'This man's moral values are really lacking!'

Qing Shan left the Market District, heading to the Northern District he had seen the day before.

Upon arriving, he received quite a few hateful glares from the Rising Sun Clansmen. Although the majority of them had not seen Qing Shan yesterday, they had heard plenty of descriptions of his from those who had.

However, Qing Shan could care less about what people thought about him at the moment. He was way too surprised with the speed of recovery of the Rising Sun Clan. After just one night, one of the ten fa;;en pagodas had been recreated, and two more had their framework set out.

Luckily for Qing Shan, not everyone seemed to be entirely loathe of his existence. While Xuri Qiang was still cold to him and did not talk much, the man excepted Qing Shan's help.

Rebuilding was not as troublesome as Qing Shan expected. However, this might have been because Qing Shan was kept away from anything too intricate or valuable. Actually, the only real kind of work Qing Shan was given was heavy lifting. As a cultivator who had Qi loops, his enhanced strength was very helpful to the Clansmen.

After just a few more days, the exterior of the Rising Sun Clan had mostly been reset to its normal state. The only exceptions to this the large fissures now present on the ground. By now, the Rising Sun Clansmen had started to accept Qing Shan, at least to the point that they tolerated his presence. Everyone except the Young Miss that is, except she was an entirely different matter.

Now, the Clan was really fussing over what to do about the fissures. No one thought that they looked good, and definitely wanted to fill them in. However, they found themselves sincerely debating execution of the idea that Qing Shan had given them when he was asked.

"Well, I am no expert on beauty and architecture, but maybe you guys could use this to your advantage. You could cover the ground with grass and make stone bridges over the fissures. While it may not have to same feel as the solid vibe from before, It could definitely make the fissures look like they are not too unnatural."

Qing Shan was quite proud of his suggestion. He had learned that achieving true breakthrough in his cultivation had not only helped his learning speed and capacity increase and bettered his memory, but had also increased his creativity.

After the Rising Sun Clansmen took his suggestion into account, they finally decided to go with it. Soon, the whole Northern District would look like the dwelling of an Immortal. There would be random fissures all over, but the old feel of the stone bridges and the pagodas would make everything seem natural.

Qing Shan left that day wondering how the Northern District would look once the grass seeds grew.

Qing Shan walked into his Teacher's shop the next day, expecting his training to continue now that he had finished rebuilding the Northern District. However, Senior Teng's orders were unexpected.

"Okay. As of now, while there is still more to teach you, and even more than that if you decide to actually take up Runic Forging, even if it is just a hobby, there is something you should do first. You need to find a suitable sparring partner."

Qing Shan was confused.

"A sparring partner? I think that I should be at the peak that my current strength will allow in terms of combat without use of Qi."

"When did I say that you would not be using your Qi? I want you to find a sparring partner who is stronger than you in terms of cultivation, someone you could not beat at your current level."

Qing Shan snorted.

"Where would I find some-…"

"I see that you seem to be thinking of someone. If I had to guess it would be the same person I was thinking of, Xuri Qiang, Correct?"

Qing Shan nodded. Xuri Qiang would certainly be an excellent sparring partner. However, how would he get the man to agree. Surely he could not just walk up to the man and ask if he would spar?

"That boy is definitely the best person for you to fight. Considering the resources available on this level, he is quite talented. Also, you should not have very many problems getting him to agree."

After the conversation with Senior Teng, Qing Shan headed back to the Northern District. Although the rebuilding was finished, no one made a big fuss about Qing Shan being there, even though Qing Shan could tell from people's expressions that the would prefer he did not walk in uninvited.

Qing Shan easily found Xuri Qiang, who had been doing some physical training in the yard behind the Clan Master's pagoda.

"Hey."

"Hello."

'Ugh. I keep forgetting how hard is to start a conversation with this fellow.'

"Will you spar with me? I haven't really had a chance to spar with someone stronger than me before."

Qing Shan had not really been planning to be so straight forward, but that was definitely the only thing that had a chance of working with this antisocial man.

Fortunately, the straight forward approach seemed to be working, as Qing Shan clearly saw a look of interest flash across the genius's face.

"How would we spar?"

Qing Shan thought for a moment before coming up with a response.

"Use of Qi is allowed, but hand-to-hand only for the time being."

Xuri Qiang's face brightened hearing that Qi would be allowed. In this way, he would get to train his Qi and spar with an interesting opponent.

"I am in."

Qing Shan got into a ready stance opposite Xuri Qiang, who did the same.

However, the cold man had one more question before the sparring started.

"I… Will I be able to hurt you? You were completely fine after our last fight."

Qing Shan panicked internally for a second, before coming up with a hastily formed excuse.

"You do not have to worry. That method only works outside of battle. You must understand, at that time I had to pacify my Teacher, and telling him that I was never hurt in the first place was the best way to do that."

Xuri Qiang nodded, finally understanding. He felt as if a burden had risen off of his shoulders. It had definitely been a blow to his pride when he had thought that Qing Shan had somehow come out of his beating uninjured. He could now stand before the man without any feelings of inferiority. However, that may change if he learned that Qing Shan had gone from the 1st level of Formation Soul to the 4th level in just over two months…