A Card In Hand

Chapter 82: As Long As You’re Happy

“Li Ao, could you teach me a secret technique?”

Fuxi, after a long internal struggle and driven by a desire to become stronger, cast aside his pride as a formidable figure and addressed Li Ao for the first time.

Li Ao remained silent in response.

Fuxi was on the verge of tears.

Was this the sign that he had no potential and wasn’t worth teaching?

He regretted asking.

Someone like him could never learn any secret techniques.

Speaking to Li Ao had only made it more awkward!

“Li Ao, I was just speaking off the cuff. If there’s nothing suitable for me to learn, let’s forget about it! I won’t lie to you; as your superior, I don’t lack secret techniques. In fact, I have too many. I just can’t decide which one to focus on, so I thought I’d let you choose a new technique for me to try something more challenging!” Fuxi quickly boasted, feigning ease to mask his true thoughts.

“Then let me mention a couple that might corroborate with your status as a superior!”

Li Ao pointed outside, “We can’t properly demonstrate them inside, let’s go out.”

The little ones, initially eager to follow and enjoy the spectacle, exited the courtyard.

A few sheep were roasting deliciously over a fire.

They immediately changed their minds, gathering around the meal that was almost ready, all of them salivating profusely.

Only Ling Yin followed along, with the rock bear and the bouncy Popu bird trailing behind.

The three of them, along with the two war beasts, walked to a river bend at the edge of the village.

The river formed a large pool there, where the water flowed gently.

The pool wasn’t very deep, but it was plentiful with fish and shrimp.

Li Ao used to fish there frequently.

“Your attribute is light; contracting with light-attributed war beasts will help you enhance and unearth potential in the future,” Li Ao began, finding a spot to sit before gesturing for Fuxi and Ling Yin to do the same.

Ling Yin naturally sat next to her brother, while Fuxi sat opposite Li Ao.

Barely touching the ground, Fuxi sprang up excitedly at Li Ao’s words.

“My attribute is light?”

Fuxi’s eyes widened more than a wild ox’s. “Isn’t my attribute earth?”

“It has some earth too, but your main attribute is light,” Li Ao urged him to calm down.

“Really? My main attribute is light? That’s incredible! How could I not know about my own main attribute… Am I really not just an ordinary summoner? Hidden beneath this ordinary exterior is a peerless genius. It’s fortunate we discovered this early, or it would have been buried. I was almost ruined! How perilous, my family never gave me the attention I deserved. They treated a light-attributed prodigy as just a regular summoner and never thought to invest heavily in uncovering my hidden attributes!”

The more Fuxi thought, the angrier he became.

All the family resources were invested in his cousins, yet he, a true prodigy, was never recognized.

“The light attribute is indeed powerful,” Li Ao replied, somewhat speechless. To reach its pinnacle, however, every attribute required the same level of dedication.

“Ha ha ha ha ha…”

Fuxi was overjoyed.

“It’s also the hardest to advance,” Li Ao added.

“I’m not afraid!”

Fuxi was full of enthusiasm.

“Good, you truly are a great leader!”

Li Ao decided not to reveal the whole truth.

Should he tell Fuxi that the light attribute, among all the attributes, had the lowest compatibility and was the most difficult to enhance?

If the light attribute were on a White Elf, there wouldn’t be a compatibility issue, blessed by the Goddess of Fortune from birth. But humans don’t have such innate blessings, with a compatibility not even a tenth of that of White Elves, making training exceptionally challenging.

Seeing how happy Fuxi was, Li Ao decided it was best to keep quiet.

“You seem happy, that’s good!”

“Considering your talent, boss, you are more suited for Mammoth’s Fury – Thunderous Charge and Blade Kick Wave – Dazzling Moon.”

Li Ao decided to teach him some more practical combat secrets.

“Blade Kick Wave, I know this one, but what is Blade Kick Wave – Dazzling Moon?” Fuxi had never heard of this secret technique.

“It’s a special oscillation wave added on top of the Blade Kick Wave, inflicting double damage on the hit enemy. Some enemies have very robust bodies, and after assimilating a war beast, they might not fear the Blade Kick Wave. Also, some summoners have unique bodies, and the cutting damage from the Blade Kick Wave doesn’t affect them much, like our classmate Zhao Kong, who is like a jelly person; a single Blade Kick Wave won’t hurt him,” Li Ao used Zhao Kong as an example: “If we add a special oscillation wave to the Blade Kick Wave, then when Zhao Kong is hit, his body remains unharmed, but his brain, spirit, and even soul will be impacted, causing a temporary loss of consciousness. That’s what Blade Kick Wave – Dazzling Moon is.”

“Will it be very complicated?”

Fuxi wanted to learn, but he knew his own limits.

“It’s very simple,” Li Ao said, indicating that this secret technique was particularly easy.

“That’s great!”

Fuxi believed him.

After Li Ao explained all the mysteries of the Dazzling Moon technique.

Fuxi really wanted to pick up a rock and smash a big hole in his aching head.

You must be crazy, right?

Is this something you can learn?

Dream on!

You will never be able to learn this in your lifetime!

Such a useless person like you should just quietly be an ambitionless salted fish!

“Boss, do you see how simple it is?”

Li Ao’s comment was particularly hurtful, he wouldn’t have been as hurt if Li Ao hadn’t said that.

“Yes, very simple!”

Fuxi held back his tears.

“I feel it’s very complicated though!”

Ling Yin honestly shook her head.

“You are still young, it’s normal for your comprehension to be a bit off.”

Fuxi felt like crying when he said that.

“Then I will talk about Mammoth’s Fury – Thunderous Charge next, which is actually simpler than Blade Kick Wave – Dazzling Moon, boss, you were able to learn Blade Kick Wave – Dazzling Moon easily, so Mammoth’s Fury – Thunderous Charge will be no problem for you!” Li Ao seemed not to notice the despairing expression on Fuxi’s face.

“Absolutely no problem!”

Fuxi stubbornly persisted.

Li Ao repeated all the mysteries of Mammoth’s Fury – Thunderous Charge.

Ling Yin nodded: “This one is also difficult, but I managed to understand a little bit! I didn’t understand the previous one at all!”

Fuxi heard this and almost spat out a mouthful of blood, are you siblings monsters?

Why do I only hear thousands of bees buzzing in my head after listening?

However.

When Li Ao looked over.

Fuxi slapped his chest hard: “This is really simple indeed! I can’t say I’ve mastered it fully, but I’ve grasped at least seventy or eighty percent! Little Li Ao, your secret technique is indeed useful, but my combat power is still a bit low, it hasn’t reached a thousand, which is the minimum requirement for execution… If it weren’t for that, I would definitely demonstrate it right now for you to see!”

However, Li Ao shook his head and waved his hand: “Actually, the energy shockwave can be executed without needing a thousand combat power!”

“Wasn’t it said that a thousand combat power is the minimum requirement?”

Fuxi was thoroughly puzzled.

“For newcomers, indeed that is the case. Since newcomers haven’t learned the King-level and above summoner skill ‘Energy Stasis’, they can only use slow and massive amounts of source energy to concentrate, or rely on the help of war beasts. To successfully execute an energy shockwave, a thousand combat power is indeed the minimum standard. Even then, a thousand combat power might not guarantee a successful execution! For example, big bosses like Tie Zheng and Man Huang, who mainly strengthen their bodies, have combat powers over a thousand, but they also find it difficult to execute an energy shockwave,” Li Ao explained.

“Energy stagnation?” Fuxi had never heard of such a thing before.

“It’s about highly controlling energy, achieving complete manipulation of source power, making the constantly fluctuating energy completely still according to the summoner’s own will,” Li Ao demonstrated.

He extended his hand.

Slowly, he began to gather a massive amount of Rock Source Energy.

Once the Rock Source Energy took shape, Li Ao controlled it to slowly contract inward, eventually forming a smaller and smaller black dot, returning to the palm of his hand.

Fuxi couldn’t see the Rock Source Energy anymore, but he could feel that the energy in Li Ao’s hand hadn’t weakened at all.

If Li Ao were to throw a punch now.

No matter how much strength he used.

It would be augmented with all the might of the Rock Source Energy he had just manipulated.

This type of hidden yet extremely powerful attack was even more terrifying than visible shockwaves!

“…,” instinctively sensing danger, Fuxi’s hairs stood on end.

He knew Li Ao wouldn’t attack him, but he couldn’t help swallowing his saliva, his heartbeat racing uncontrollably.

“Energy stagnation is a bit difficult; you guys can’t learn it just yet. But don’t worry, big guy, if you want to perform Mammoth’s Fury and Blade Kick Wave, I can imprint an energy secret formation on your back, then you’ll be able to use them at will,” Li Ao looked at Fuxi, truly believing he had understood how to freely use the two secret skills.

“…,”

Fuxi wished he could slap himself right then.

That’s what you get for being a smart mouth!

Thinking you can pretend to be a genius just because your combat power isn’t over a thousand!

Now what are you going to do?

Little Li Ao, this freak, actually has a way to let someone with less than a thousand combat power perform these skills. What are you going to do next?

Your lie is about to be exposed!

Can you even continue to mix in this world as a big shot?

Is there any boss in this world more desperate than yourself?

If it weren’t for knowing how to swim, Fuxi really would have wanted to jump into the river bay and drown himself!

“Brother Li Ao, Blade Kick Wave and Mammoth’s Fury are too hard, can they be replaced with an energy secret formation too?”

Ling Yin suddenly asked.

“If you don’t mind the pain. It really hurts to have celestial runes engraved on your body, and once these patterns are imprinted, they might be difficult to remove and might have to stay for life. Are you sure about this?”

Li Ao hadn’t finished speaking when Ling Yin hastily waved her hand, she definitely didn’t want that!

“I! I’m not afraid of pain!”

Fuxi, hearing that Blade Kick Wave and Mammoth’s Fury didn’t require learning and could be engraved with celestial runes, suddenly revived: “Little Li Ao, learning is too simple, it doesn’t stimulate my nerves at all! I need a bit of pain to awaken my numb genius heart! Imprint it on me, and if I cry out in pain, I’m a sissy!”

“Truly worthy of being my big brother!” Li Ao gave Fuxi a thumbs up.

“Come on!”

Fuxi bravely stripped off his shirt, exposing his stout back.

Fuxi was actually very afraid of pain.

But he feared losing face even more.

In front of Li Ao, his bluff had been so big it was about to burst; there was no other road left to take now!

Yet, Li Ao told Fuxi to put his shirt back on: “Big brother, don’t rush. Using celestial runes for engraving requires a lot of materials. We’ll talk about it after we return from the Nine-Layer Ancient Prison! I think it’s best for you, big brother, to get a Light Attribute war beast; they complement each other well and produce the best effect!”

Phew!

Upon hearing that the imprinting could be delayed until after his return from the Nine-Layer Ancient Prison, Fuxi felt a huge relief wash over him.

While Li Ao and Ling Yin were not paying attention, Fuxi, the boss, stealthily wiped away his cold sweat and then collapsed to the ground, feeling somewhat faint.

He had been too scared.

Scared of making a fool of himself!

What if he couldn’t help crying out in pain during the imprinting?

Why did he always say such reckless things? Couldn’t he keep his mouth shut?

Fuxi was extremely disgusted with himself.

Even though he didn’t really feel that way deep down, his mouth just had to wildly brag…

“Oh no!”

Li Ao suddenly signaled for Fuxi and Ling Yin to stay away from him, leaped with a light step onto the surface of the river bend, and stood there lightly, his hands slowly moving from his chest and circling into an embrace.

“Li Ao, what’s wrong with you?”

Ling Yin was quite frightened.

“Stay back, I can’t control it and I’m about to advance!”

Li Ao had previously transformed into a member of the mechanical tribe and had been through several battles, showing signs of advancement, but he didn’t want to advance at home to avoid making too much noise and had been controlling it. Just now, while demonstrating to Fuxi and Ling Yin, he suppressed his source energy too deeply, which unexpectedly triggered the previously suppressed surge of source energy.

“Can you really advance by sleeping?”

Fuxi was completely dumbfounded. How could that be possible? Could it be that little Li Ao is not human but a dragon?

Before his crumbling mind could recover.

On Li Ao.

A blinding pillar of energy had already burst forth, soaring into the sky…