Super Soldier in the City

"I tracked down Ma Xingyun and found he was involved with a few incidents, so, Elder Ma, you tell me what should be done." Li Yifei finished explaining everything, watching Ma Guang’s reaction while staying on guard.

Ma Guang’s long brows lifted and trembled slightly. One hand rested on his knee, slowly rubbing it. His expression froze a little as he stared at Li Yifei for a while before finally speaking slowly: "Is what you said true?"

"Elder Ma, I originally thought you knew about these matters." Li Yifei replied.

Ma Guang’s fist clenched, then quickly loosened again. He said, "Answer me."

"For now, it’s true. All the evidence I’ve investigated points to Ma Xingyun’s involvement, and that he’s the mastermind." Li Yifei confirmed.

Ma Guang pondered for a moment, then said, "Xingyun... although he’s a bit spoiled, he wouldn’t handle things so recklessly."

"Actually it’s very simple. Once he wakes up we just ask him. Oh, he might not admit it, but I already said I have evidence, so I’m not afraid to confront him with it." Li Yifei spread his hands as he spoke.

At the moment it still couldn’t be confirmed a hundred percent, but the odds were overwhelmingly high. With a whoosh, Ma Guang stood up, turned and walked out, tossing back a sentence: "You’ll stay here for now. No one will make things hard for you, but you can’t leave until I finish my investigation."

With that, not only did he step out of the room, he even directly appeared dozens of meters away, clearly having used a body technique.

Inside the room, Li Yifei shrugged. This reaction from Ma Guang... was a bit unexpected. What he’d heard were mostly stories of Ma Guang’s deeds, yet meeting him face to face, the old man turned out to be relatively reasonable. But from that instant when he just displayed his body technique, Li Yifei gained some sense of Ma Guang’s cultivation—unfathomable!

The old man was a little younger than Murong Yuanqing, but over these years he rarely concerned himself with outside affairs, living in Xinjiang for decades, often going into seclusion to cultivate. Unlike Murong Yuanqing, who ran himself ragged and didn’t even have time to calm his mind and train, his cultivation remained stuck at the level from decades ago, with no progress.

Sure enough... I still need to see more of the world, otherwise I’ll really get inflated and start thinking I’m invincible. Li Yifei muttered to himself.

Since they weren’t stopping him from moving around, Li Yifei didn’t intend to stay cooped up in the room. He quickly strolled over to the Ma Village orchards, casually picking fruit to eat. Even with Ma Guang’s instructions, there were still several people following behind him at all times, as if afraid Li Yifei would run off.

Fruit from Xinjiang really is sweet; you just have to admit it. With abundant sunlight and large temperature differences between day and night, the sugar content in these fruits builds up especially high.

Li Yifei downed several bunches of grapes in one go before stopping, then wandered over to the training grounds. On the training grounds he actually saw a Formation Method laid out. He closed his eyes; though he hadn’t personally stepped into it, in his mind the flow of the formation had already unfolded. This was a... military array?

Back in ancient times when armies marched and fought, troops would drill many formation patterns, with individual soldiers serving as the "components" inside the formation, changing positions to achieve shifts in the formation itself. That was why Li Yifei found it a bit strange. Once he figured out the underlying principle, he nodded. We’re already in peacetime, yet Ma Guang still trains his descendants in handling military arrays. This approach doesn’t have much practical meaning in modern times, but it does reveal the old man’s mindset.

After spending two hours, he finished roaming around Ma Village. Those people clearly didn’t want Li Yifei peeking into the Ma Family’s secrets, but they didn’t step in to stop him either, just trailed behind, watching him warily with displeased looks.

By evening, Ma Guang still hadn’t appeared, but someone did bring dinner: clear soup and plain dishes, in line with the principles of health preservation. It looked like everything was grown by the villagers themselves. Under Ma Guang’s authority, the villagers seemed to enjoy their current lifestyle. However, they weren’t completely cut off from the outside world; apparently they did some business as well... This was somewhat different from what Li Yifei had imagined. He had genuinely believed that such a big clan... that the home of a great master would be rich, incredibly rich...

But after seeing the situation in Ma Village, Li Yifei’s view seemed to shift a bit. Maybe there really are people who don’t care that much about money and are willing to live a secluded life with their families. You can’t rule that out.

That night, Li Yifei didn’t go out again, instead staying in the guest room, cultivating all night. Early the next morning, after waking and tidying up, someone came knocking at the door. When Li Yifei opened it, he saw a villager from Ma Village standing outside. After bowing, the man said, "The Ancestor invites you over. Please come with me."

"Mm." Li Yifei responded and followed him out.

When they reached Ma Guang’s residence, the old man was sitting at the stone table in the small courtyard. A few dishes were laid out on the table: cornmeal buns, salted duck eggs, small pickles, and so on. No meat—everything looked very light. Across from him was a stool with the same set of food placed on it. After Li Yifei walked in, that Ma Family villager left, and there was no one else in the courtyard.

Walking up to the small dining table, Li Yifei gave a slight bow and said, "Elder Ma, good morning."

Ma Guang grunted in response, pointed to the seat opposite him, and said, "Sit, eat breakfast."

"Alright!" Li Yifei answered, then sat down. Ma Guang ignored him after that and lowered his head to eat. He ate slowly, so the whole breakfast took twenty minutes, while Li Yifei finished his in just a few bites, then sat opposite him and waited patiently.

After eating, Ma Guang raised his head, wiped his mouth, and said, "When I was young I ate really fast, one mouthful was a bowl of porridge, one mouthful was a bun. I wolfed everything down, wished I could just hold the pot and eat straight out of it."

Li Yifei smiled and nodded lightly. Seeing that Ma Guang was going to keep talking, he didn’t interrupt. The old man hadn’t said a single word during the twenty minutes of breakfast, and Li Yifei definitely didn’t think the other party invited him over just to eat together.

"Your cultivation of inner qi is pretty good. Murong has really good luck, to actually find a qualified successor so late in life." Ma Guang’s eyes turned to the grape trellis not far off to the side. A few unknown little birds had flown onto it and were chirping away, their voices quite pleasant. He stretched out his hand, without any extra movement that could be seen, yet those birds suddenly spread their wings and flew over, landing on the table and pecking at the leftover crumbs there. In just a short while they had cleaned up all the scraps.

When the birds flew away, Li Yifei finally smiled and said, "It’s this junior who’s lucky, to have met Elder Murong."

"That all the more proves your value. At your age, people like you aren’t many. In this hundred‑plus years of mine, I haven’t seen many. The last time I met one, maybe it was decades ago... mm, that was Old Murong’s first disciple." When Ma Guang said this, a jolt of vigilance shot through Li Yifei’s heart. Why is this old man bringing up Murong Zheng? Looking at Ma Guang’s expression, he seemed to have just casually mentioned Murong Zheng...

Li Yifei’s face didn’t change as he said, "Senior, how is your grandson’s health? What happened yesterday was this junior being rash. If I’d pulled back in time, he probably wouldn’t have been forced to use a secret technique and hurt his body."

Ma Guang’s gaze narrowed slightly. A few seconds later he lifted his head and chuckled, "A sparring match will always have a winner and a loser. You weren’t wrong in this matter."

Li Yifei wanted to ask him where he’d been wrong then, but when the words reached his lips, he changed them to, "But in the end, your grandson was injured."

Ma Guang immediately said, "Enough, I won’t beat around the bush with you. I already asked Xingyun about what you said, and he said nothing like that happened."

At this point, Ma Guang suddenly stopped, his gaze locking onto Li Yifei, a hint of threat in his eyes, but he didn’t continue.

Li Yifei unconsciously narrowed his eyes, looking at Ma Guang. It felt like the air in the small courtyard instantly solidified. So all that good attitude earlier was just to set up for this?

To sum up Ma Guang in one sentence—this old bastard was being shameless. Yesterday, Li Yifei had said he had evidence, and he’d even shown some of it to Ma Guang. After waiting a whole night, this was the answer he got. This was clearly protecting Ma Xingyun—no, this wasn’t just protection anymore, this was outright using his status to crush him.

Let him stay one night, treat him to one breakfast, and think that would make him shut up and let this go? Your grandson committed treason, and he’s one of the Five Greatest Experts of China, a guardian. Your grandson made a mistake, yet instead of accepting punishment, you actually...

Thinking to this point, a surge of anger welled up in Li Yifei’s chest. His hand was on the stone table, and he was already faintly exerting strength. Fuck it, if it comes down to it, we’ll just throw down. I’ll stake it all anyway. So what if I’m facing one of China’s top experts, so what if I’m in his stronghold.

With that thought, Li Yifei withdrew his smile and said in a deep voice, "Elder Ma, that’s where you’re wrong. Some things don’t cease to exist just because you refuse to acknowledge them. What your grandson did—I’ve been investigating for a long time, and the evidence I’ve gathered is more than enough to prove he did those things."

"So you want me to distrust my own grandson, and instead trust an outsider?" Ma Guang cut him off with displeasure on his face, his words already carrying strong emotion.

Li Yifei sneered coldly. "Elder Ma, please don’t joke with this junior. I’m young; I tend to take things seriously."

"And what does it mean to be serious, what does it mean not to be?" Ma Guang also placed his hand on the table. An invisible force quietly appeared, enveloping the area around Li Yifei. That force was gathering, and gradually intensifying. Li Yifei let out a soft laugh and said, "Elder Ma, this junior is someone who takes things seriously. Since I’m serious, I want to talk about right and wrong in everything. Things have right and wrong, people are divided into good and bad. And a few years ago I was a soldier, serving in China’s First Battle Team—the Flying Hawk Squad—and I was its captain. So I’m particularly sensitive about treason, and particularly furious about it. Of course, I know you can’t make everyone love this country. But Ma Xingyun is your grandson; the blood running in his bones is not the same as that of ordinary people. If he’s committed treason, I think that alone is enough to make people furious. At the very least, I’m extremely furious, to the point that I’m having trouble controlling my emotions."

When Li Yifei finished in one breath, the pressure surrounding him kept increasing, as if Ma Guang’s emotions were also constantly piling up.