C44

When Du Shaofu brought over some food from the kitchen, night had already fallen. The bright moon hung high in the sky, and the moonlight shone like white silk. It was not August fifteenth, but the moonlight today was very bright.

The father and son sat down in silence.

Du Tingxuan reeked of alcohol. He raised his head and took another swig, then passed the wine jug to Du Shaofu and asked, "Are you alright?"

"It's OK. I just went inside the Barbarian Beast Mountain Range to take a look."

Du Shaofu knew that his father was asking him about his disappearance. He told his Second Uncle that he had sneaked into the Barbarian Beast Mountain Range to train himself. He did not mention anything about the beautiful young girl, so as not to get Fu Yibai involved. Du Shaofu also didn't tell his Second Uncle about anything related to Golden Winged Roc and Purple Flame Demon Phoenix. He didn't want to bring trouble upon himself, otherwise, he didn't know how to explain it.

.Du Shaofu took the wine jug and drank a mouthful, then handed it back to the alcoholic dad. He had accompanied the alcoholic dad to drink from a young age, and he had even stolen some sips when he was young. As a result, his alcohol tolerance was actually pretty good.

"Oh."

Du Tingxuan said this in a soft voice, then took the jug of wine and took another big gulp. Later, he didn?t say anything.

Du Shaofu had long gotten used to this kind of interaction between his father and himself. Later, they drank together and it seemed that they drank quite a lot tonight, until Du Shaofu felt a little dizzy. Then, they lied down in the courtyard and fell asleep.

In the morning, when Du Shaofu woke up and rubbed his eyes awake, he found that his surroundings were completely dark.

"I'm inside the Ancestral Shrine stone coffin again, huh."

Du Shaofu got up and pushed the cover of the stone coffin away. Sure enough, he was inside the stone coffin in the Ancestral Shrine. He was drenched and sweated a lot, with some impurities on his body. His body felt like cutting bones and washing marrow again.

"Young Master, the Patriarch wants to see you in the study room."

When he returned to the courtyard from the Ancestral Shrine, his alcoholic father had already left. After taking a bath, and changing into a set of purple robes that he normally liked to wear, Du Shaofu saw the front courtyard manager who had already arrived. Everyone in the Du Family addresses him as Uncle Lin, an elderly man over the age of sixty who was extremely valued by the Patriarch. Uncle Lin had a rather high position within the Du family, and he came to inform Du Shaofu that the Patriarch wanted to see him.

Du Shaofu nodded. Yesterday, his Second uncle did mention about his First uncle wanting to see him. Du Shaofu did not expect his First uncle to send someone to look for him so early in the morning, though. Du Shaofu thought of something, and looked at the old man and asked: "Uncle Lin, how about Du Hai?s ability to handle affairs in the backyard??

"Emmm?"

When the old man heard this, he was stunned at first. He smiled faintly and said: "Young Master Shaofu, if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten that Du Hai is the steward of the backyard. His ability to handle matters has been declining recently, and I was just about to punish him a bit."

"Uncle Lin, you are the person that my first uncle thinks highly of, and also someone that is valued by Du Family. I must trouble you to take care of Du Family. Those who are not qualified in Du Family should not be tolerated." After Du Shaofu finished speaking, he calmly left with a smile.

Looking at Du Shaofu's back, the old man's face revealed a smile, and said, "It seems that this young master is going to make a move. Who said that this young master is stupid? How can Third Master's child be stupid? The servants in Du Family should also be changed now."

Du Shaofu arrived at his First Uncle's study.

The Eldest Uncle didn?t let him go to the hall but the study. He knew this because his Eldest Uncle had never disliked him. There weren't many people who could enter Eldest Uncle's study, and not even if they were disciples of the Du Family.

"Shaofu, let me take a look!"

When Du Shaofu opened the door of the study room, a heroic looking man in his forties raised his head and immediately welcomed him happily.

"Uncle." Du Shaofu bowed. The robust man in front of him was his uncle Du Zhenwu who was a famous person within the entire Stone City.

"I've heard about your story. It's OK that you're fine, but don't go to the Barbarian Beast Mountain Range alone next time."

Du Zhenwu patted Du Shaofu's shoulders, and pulled him down to sit in the study room. On his stern face, there was a kind countenance. He said, "I heard that you're able to cultivate, right?"

"Yes, I can cultivate now." Du Shaofu nodded. There was nothing to hide, everyone knew about it in Du Family now anyway.

"It's good that you've recovered. God bless my Du Family. God pity my nephew, Shaofu."

Du Zhenwu was very excited, and he smiled happily at Du Shaofu. After a long while, his expression became slightly more serious, and he said to Du Shaofu, "There is still one more month to the competition of the younger generation, the competition arranged by the Stone City's five great clans every three years. If you can win, not only will the winner get great benefits, but even the entire clan will greatly benefit from that. You have to prepare well. At that time, Du Family will need you."

"Yes."

Du Shaofu nodded. He had heard of that competition, the Five Great Clans' gathering every three years.

After chatting with his uncle for a while, Du Shaofu left. With regards to some of the questions his uncle had asked, those that could not be said were naturally passed over. As for the matter within the Barbarian Beast Mountain Range, he had always used the reason of wanting to train himself.

Watching Du Shaofu leave, Du Zhenwu looked outside of the study. The happiness on his face gradually faded, his eyes became serious, and he said, "The five great families meet once every three years, I hope that nothing unexpected will happen this time."

Behind the Martial Hidden Building, in the vast courtyard.

Fu Yibai, with white hair like the bird's nest, was squatting on the ground, intently watching the ants crawling about. He looked extremely serious, and didn't dare raise his head.

Du Shaofu stood behind Fu Yibai. He then circled around in front of him. He did tell Second Uncle and Eldest Uncle that he himself had taken the initiative to enter the Barbarian Beast Mountain Range, not wanting to get Fu Yibai involved. However, it didn't mean that he could take it as if it hadn't happened. At least he had to find Fu Yibai to find out what happened.

Fu Yibai turned around and with his back facing Du Shaofu, and he continued to look at the ants in front of him.

Du Shaofu was fuming. He squatted directly in front of Fu Yibai and said, "Bai, you have to give me an explanation, right?"

"What explanation?" Fu Yibai looked up at Du Shaofu as if he was in a daze, his eyes looking very innocent.

"Don't play dumb. What happened to that beautiful woman? Did you know you almost killed me this time?"

The more Du Shaofu spoke, the angrier he got. This old fellow had really thrown him into a lion's cave, and he almost died. He was not expecting this old man to still not acknowledge his debt.

Fu Yibai looked at Du Shaofu, ignoring his excited face, and he asked, "Are you dead yet?"

Du Shaofu was startled. He gritted his teeth, and said, "No."

"Then are you missing an arm or a leg?" Fu Yibai continued to ask.

Du Shaofu continued to grit his teeth, and replied, "I am not."

"Then that's it."

Fu Yibai looked at Du Shaofu with disdain, and then said, "She looks as cold as ice, but in fact she wouldn't even swat a fly. But you, on the other hand, have lost such a great opportunity. There are so many people wanting to become her disciple. If you find a chance to persuade her, perhaps she will even take you in as her disciple. By then, your name would have shaken the world. It's much better than in this small Du Family. It's a pity for you."

Du Shaofu was startled after hearing Fu Yibai's words. It was as if he owed Fu Yibai a gargantuan favor.

"Fu Yibai, stop right there."

While Du Shaofu was still in a daze, Fu Yibai had already disappeared from his original location.

After a while, smoke began to gather in the mountain behind Du Family.

Du Shaofu and Fu Yibai were eating barbecue quickly.

However, no matter how Du Shaofu asked Fu Yibai about the identity of that beautiful girl in plain clothes and their relationship, he did not answer the questions. In the end, Du Shaofu had many questions in his heart which he could only hold.

"Be careful with the things on your body, don't lose them. Whether you can comprehend it on your own depends on your ability.?

When they were full, Du Shaofu burped. Fu Yibai suddenly said something inexplicable to Du Shaofu, and then said, "I'm full, I'm going back for a nap."

Du Shaofu was startled again. When he regained his senses, Fu Yibai's figure had already disappeared.

"Du Shaofu, you're finally back."

In the afternoon, just as Du Shaofu was about to return from the back mountain, he was stopped by a group of people at the entrance of the backyard.

Du Shaofu looked up and saw that these people were all familiar to him. It was Du Hao, the son of the Patriarch, together with Du Chong and Du Yan, the other disciples of the Du Family.

Looking at these people, Du Shaofu smiled and said, "you guys must be here to give me my pills and profound coins. It seems that you guys haven't forgotten that you still owe me ten years of pills and profound coins."

"I owe you my ass. Quickly return our Foundation Establishment Pills and the Wild Stone Demon Wolf Blood Essence. Otherwise, I will not let you off so easily!"

How could Du Hao endure the anger in his heart? The Wild Stone Demon Wolf Blood Essence was actually stolen. His father had tried to look for the stolen goods, but when Du Shaofu went missing, the matter was left unresolved. Hearing that Du Shaofu had returned yesterday evening, he gathered the people who had also suffered losses and headed over to settle the score with Du Shaofu. They did not expect to coincidentally meet him at the backyard.

"Du Shaofu, quickly hand over the Foundation Establishment Pills and the Wild Stone Demon Wolf Blood Essence. Otherwise, don't blame us for being impolite."

Du Chong and Du Yan also shouted loudly. For the past month, they were simply too embarrassed to see anyone else, as all their prizes were taken away by Du Shaofu. Now, the uncles in Du Family looked them differently.

The three of them did not dare go out. The fact that they could not even handle a single move from Du Shaofu had long ago spread to the various great families. When the people from the Han Family, Cheng Family, Qin Family, and Bai Family saw them, they could not help but loudly laugh at them, which was known among the city.