A Card In Hand

Chapter 81: Life’s Triumphant Symphony**

“I must strive! I will prove myself to the world!”

“I will diligently train, I will insanely improve, and I will crush Yuan Chi and his fiery fists under my feet!”

Early in the morning, Fuxi got up full of ambition and fervor, intending to train diligently with Li Ao and improve himself.

However, when he saw Li Ao’s lazy demeanor, it was as if he was struck on the head.

Is little Li Ao no longer training diligently?

He is the great demon king.

Not training diligently might not matter; maybe he could improve just by sleeping!

But what about me?

If I start sleeping in and stop training like him, I’m likely to fail miserably!

“Little Li Ao, aren’t we training anymore?”

Fuxi noticed that ever since Li Ao returned from the trial grounds, he had become a lazy glutton, and of course, an invincible demon king!

“You need to rest well. If you don’t rest properly and adjust your condition, how will you explore the Nine-Layer Ancient Prison next?”

Li Ao said and yawned again.

“Really rest?”

Fuxi scratched his head. Did I hear that wrong?

“Big guy, you need to relax. Eat when you should eat, drink when you should drink, do whatever makes you happy!”

Li Ao nodded.

“Alright, I’ll listen to you!”

Fuxi thought it over and felt that Li Ao must be right.

Although he was undoubtedly a big boss himself, when it came to training, little Li Ao was more professional.

If he said to train, they should train; if he said to rest, then they should rest. This arrangement was to adjust for the upcoming challenges in the Nine-Layer Ancient Prison.

Wouldn’t it be a mistake to not rest properly?

Having understood this, Fuxi felt completely relieved and joyful.

He announced good news to the busy villagers in the courtyard: he was going to increase their meals.

Previously, Li Ao had treated everyone to a month’s worth of meals.

Now, as the big boss, he decided to extend it to three months, and the amount of food would be tripled.

As a boss, he would never allow himself to be outdone by his junior in terms of meals!

The villagers looked at each other at first, wondering if it was true.

Once everyone realized it was genuine.

They all cheered together.

You dare to invite us, and we dare to eat! You invite us to meals, and we bring nothing but our bellies.

Are we supposed to worry about your money being too much and stuffing us to death?

If we don’t clear out all the food at the banquet today, I’ll admit defeat!

Throughout the day, Li Ao was indolent, teaching the secret techniques to Ling Yin in the room and letting her practice quietly, without bothering about anything else.

His meals were served to him.

He did nothing but eat all day.

In the afternoon.

Two family guards were sent from the clan to pass a message.

At first, the guards planned to hint to Li Ao that he should just take the salary and not get involved in the guard squad captain’s affairs. But before they could enter the courtyard, they saw Fuxi, smiling and welcoming, and their prepared words disappeared without a trace…

How could they say anything now?

If Fuxi got angry, not only would they fail to deliver the message, but they might even get their legs broken on the spot.

The two guards quickly took out the appointment letter and the guard squad captain’s seal and presented them with both hands.

Not daring to say another word.

As they left.

He wished his parents had given him a couple more legs.

Fuxi dispatched two family generals with an air of cool, dazzling, and explosive dominance. He earned cheers from the villagers akin to a pilgrimage, making him feel so light that he almost floated away.

At night, Li Ao traveled through the space-time vortex and appeared in another city a thousand miles away—Giant Rock City.

Giant Rock City and Windstorm City were in different directions, far apart from each other. It was unclear whether the news had not reached in time, or if the higher-ups of the Venomous Fang had all gone to Windstorm City to set traps for Li Ao.

In any case, with no strong presence to guard it, Li Ao, disguised as another mechanical assassin, went on a rampage and nearly flattened half of Giant Rock City.

It was not until the furious city lord of Giant Rock City arrived that Li Ao reluctantly ended his second night of masquerade with a parting shot from his energy cannon.

On the third night, Li Ao appeared five hundred kilometers away in Waterfall City.

There, he encountered the head of the Venomous Fang’s division in Waterfall City but achieved no significant results.

The head of the division was also a king-level powerhouse, perhaps only slightly weaker than the head of the crack at Windstorm City.

Li Ao found it difficult to fight.

After hinting at the imminent massive retaliation of the mechanical race on the Tianfeng Continent, Li Ao quickly slipped away.

Li Ao’s current strength was still lacking when facing king-level opponents, especially when disguised as a mechanical assassin, making it difficult to fight strong foes.

Worried about inadvertently revealing flaws in front of these cunning old foes, Li Ao couldn’t use many of his combat skills and even had to maintain a somewhat clumsy mechanical movement.

Strictly speaking, Li Ao, disguised as a mechanical killer, performed far worse than he usually did.

Fortunately, the Venomous Fang had yet to grasp Li Ao’s true situation.

They were more interested in gathering information about the mechanical race and did not start with a full-force, exterminating attack, which would have made the fight much tougher for Li Ao.

“It looks like I can’t keep raiding for the short term,” Li Ao said with a hint of regret upon returning.

The Venomous Fang was quick to react.

If there were a few more incidents, he was likely to encounter traps set by the enemy.

Li Ao knew his current strength was not enough to take on a colossal entity like the Venomous Fang, even covert raids weren’t feasible.

He could manage against king-level enemies since he could run if the fight turned sour, but against a legendary opponent with a minimum standard of one hundred thousand combat power, Li Ao wouldn’t be able to escape.

“Take it slow!”

Li Ao decided to put aside his grievances with the Venomous Fang for now and focus on enhancing his combat power.

He would take his revenge slowly once he had gained enough strength.

The next morning, Li Ao sat at the table competing with the boss Fuxi in an eating contest of sugar oil rice cakes.

The little milk baby, who was already so full that he could eat no more, acted as their referee while a few other similarly stuffed little ones cheered them on.

Under a fierce bout of gluttonous eating unleashed by boss Fuxi,

He finally defeated the great devil Li Ao.

With an overwhelming advantage, Fuxi won the championship of the first Big Eater Contest, successfully maintaining his dignity as a boss.

“Li Ao, I won’t allow myself to lose to you in any type of eating competition. After all, I’m the boss here! Ahahaha, but you’ve got potential, I’ve decided to give you the qualification to challenge me. From now on, you’re the first on my challenge list, and the little milk baby is second!” Fuxi set up a challenge list, awarding the glorious first place to Li Ao and the second place to the youngest but particularly gluttonous newcomer, Little Milk Baby.

As for Ling Yin, who felt full after just two bites, she could only barely rank at the very bottom, in tenth place.

Ling Yin had no talent for eating.

But her training in martial arts made rapid progress.

After Li Ao taught her the secret technique.

She quickly found the feeling and even managed to derive new insights, her mind lighting up continuously.

“Since last night, I seem to hear a voice in my mind, very pleasant, but I can’t catch what it exactly is,” said Ling Yin. In her previous life, Ling Yin’s talent was extremely potent but awakened very late because her unique talent, the Clear Bell Heart, had no one to guide her, and she couldn’t find a point of entry.

“You don’t need to catch it, or even to listen clearly to what it exactly is. You’re not awakened yet, and it’s impossible to hear it clearly because that’s your innate ability. Now, when you practice the secret technique, regardless of whether you can hear the sound or not, just ignore it and clear your mind, it will naturally appear. Gradually, it will resonate more with your soul’s vibration, it will become clearer, and once it fully integrates with you, you’ll awaken. At that time, you won’t need to learn how to use it; it will become as natural to you as eating and sleeping!” Li Ao provided Ling Yin with special guidance tailored to her talent.

Another day.

When Fuxi once again defeated Li Ao at the table, claiming the championship of the second Big Eater Contest.

Ling Yin suddenly said that she could hear a clear, tinkling sound in her mind.

Fuxi almost spit out his food.

Are you a freak?

Isn’t that learning speed a bit too fast?

“Listening to that tinkling is pretty boring because you still can’t command it to play the music you want. Let me teach you something new!”

Combining Ling Yin’s talent, Li Ao passed on to her the most basic part of the first section of the Celestial Harp Goddess’s Life Symphony Trio.

With Ling Yin’s current source energy and sensitivity, learning the Life Symphony Trio was impossible.

It was, after all, a divine melody.

But.

Li Ao had a way.

He directly imprinted it in Ling Yin’s mind with the divine consciousness of Indomitable Divine Fire.

Ling Yin couldn’t perform it, but it was in her mind, and whenever she practiced the secret technique, the Life Symphony Trio would automatically play.

Its automatic performance.

Not only would it accelerate the awakening of Ling Yin’s talent, but it would also greatly stimulate her life potential.

“Brother Li Ao, this music is so profound!”

Ling Yin found this unknown music extremely beautiful but utterly impossible to learn from scratch.

“Actually, you don’t need to learn it; you just need to go through three stages, and then you will have mastered it automatically,” Li Ao gave her a new enlightenment guidance: “The first stage is the sound of all things. If you can listen to the sounds of the world and sense their different beauties, learning any music will become incredibly easy.”

“The second stage is the sound of the soul.”

“After sensing all things, you should return to your own soul. You need to listen to your own heart, then transform it into wonderful music.”

“Once you reach the second stage, no matter what instrument you have, it will automatically resonate with your soul, naturally playing various enchanting soul melodies in your hands.”

“The last is the third stage, the sound of the soul… In the future, if you reach this stage, then you can create any music and imbue them with a soul. By that time, you can use your talent to create anything, with or without an instrument, with or without music, even in a silence that lacks any sound. As long as you wish, you can create a life symphony that will shake souls!”

“These three stages are your future goals, and what you need to do now is to bravely take the first step.”

“In the future, as you continue to practice and improve, you will naturally reach these three stages!”

Beside them, Fuxi was utterly dumbfounded.

The sound of the soul?

Creating a life symphony that could shake the soul even in the absence of sound?

Little Li Ao, what exactly are you teaching your sister?

It sounds quite scary! How did you learn such an impressive thing?

Did you automatically learn it while sleeping in?

This is too unsummoned! Ahhhhh…