Chapter 1026: Chapter 1026: Ruined Walls and Broken Foundations

"Master, can you knock down half a wall with one palm?" Nanqiu asked.

In her opinion, blowing a big hole in the wall was still possible, but smashing half of it through sounded a bit too far‑fetched.

"Very hard, but not impossible either," Lin Tian said.

He was also curious what method this old man would use.

They saw the Great Elder walk to the edge of the plum‑blossom stakes and with a leap land on top of them.

Nanqiu rubbed her eyes, not sure if she was seeing things. When the Great Elder jumped up, those stakes actually sank a few centimeters into the ground.

You had to know, these stakes had been standing here for years; for them to be stomped down a few centimeters with a casual step, how much force did that take?

Bang!

The Great Elder lifted his foot and stomped; the stake sank down another big chunk, this time quite visibly.

Even Lin Tian and the others could feel the ground beneath their feet give a slight tremor.

"This is..." Lin Tian’s pupils suddenly shrank as he recalled the scene of their bout at the Bai Family last time.

The old man had also stomped once then, turning all the snow in the sky into blades that almost scraped Lin Tian into a puddle of minced meat. The move seemed to be called "Wind-Pushing Palm."

A very ordinary name, but the power was absolutely terrifying.

Seeing the opening stance of this move again, Lin Tian still felt lingering fear. He really had crawled back from the gates of death last time!

The wind seemed just like last time: the moment it blew into this courtyard, it stopped, as if forming a world of its own with the Great Elder at its center.

Bzzz bzzz bzzz~

All of a sudden Lin Tian heard a messy buzzing, just like a swarm of bees not far from him.

He turned to look—where were the bees? It was the weapon rack in the corner of the yard, all the weapons on it starting to hum as though they might burst out through the air at any moment.

Xiang Ming was already dumbfounded, eyes wide and mouth agape. This scene totally did not comply with science!

Then something even less scientific happened. One of the weapon racks toppled straight to the ground, and sabers, spears, staffs, halberds, axes, hooks, and forks all floated up in a rush.

Counting carefully, there were twelve in total.

And there were plenty that didn’t float up; this was probably his limit.

They saw the Great Elder clench his right hand into a fist and tuck it by his lower abdomen; when the fist shot out, it turned into an open palm.

A palm strike into thin air, yet wind and thunder surged; all the flowers, plants, and trees around were whipped into loud rustling, bending their stalks and branches.

Even the bodhi tree began to quiver lightly.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

The floating weapons all shot out at once, carrying the sound of ripping through the air, like wind sweeping down a valley, like an eagle pouncing across the sky.

Bang, bang, bang...

First a long spear pierced straight through the entire wall, leaving a half‑meter‑wide hole. Cracks rapidly spread out in all directions, as if the wall could no longer withstand the force and might collapse at any second.

Then the other sabers, spears, and staffs also drove themselves into the middle of the wall, each impact booming loudly in succession. Gray dust began to billow, spreading like a thin fog and blocking everyone’s view.

Xiang Ming used his chubby little hands to rub his eyes hard, trying to make them clearer so he could see whether that wall had actually fallen.

"Hoo~"

On the stake, the Great Elder finished his move, slowly drawing his palm back and only then letting out a long breath.

Just then, quite a few people had their curiosity piqued by that series of booms and came out of their homes to see what was going on.

Xv Baiping and Miaoqiu, mother and daughter, were also startled and came out of the house at the first moment.

Xiang Ming’s little face was scrunched up in tears, utterly dejected.

He’d just thought the old man was bragging; now that the wall was really torn down, whether he became a disciple or not was one thing—getting past his aunt was going to be a nightmare.

Miaoqiu supported her mother as they walked over. Looking at the courtyard that looked like it had been swept by a hurricane, and at the rolling dust and rubble over by the east wall, she was momentarily at a loss.

Someone actually dared to come to the Xu Family and tear down a house—who was this? Tired of living?

Suddenly, Miaoqiu spotted a little guy with baby fat on his face poking his head out from behind the bodhi‑plum tree, peeking around cautiously, and she instantly understood.

"Xu! Xiang! Ming!" Miaoqiu called out, enunciating each word. "Get over here!"

The fat on Xiang Ming’s body couldn’t help but tremble. He slowly dropped his head, feeling extremely wronged, and shuffled out from behind the bodhi‑plum tree.

He couldn’t figure it out himself. He clearly hadn’t torn the wall down, so what was he afraid of?

Poor him—proud, upright little man, afraid of neither heaven nor earth, yet terrified of his aunt and his sister.

"Sis, I didn’t tear down the wall! Really!" Xiang Ming explained in a small voice, trying to use those big, watery, innocent eyes to win some sympathy.

Unfortunately, Miaoqiu didn’t buy it at all and snapped, "Nonsense! With those scrawny arms and legs of yours, you could tear down our wall? With that little body you’re not even as good as a husky. What I want you to explain is what exactly happened here."

Xv Baiping, though silent, was staring at him with bright, sharp eyes. Under that stern gaze, he didn’t dare tell a single lie.

Xiang Ming looked down, his two chubby little hands clutching the hem of his shirt as he said, "I made a bet with that old man. If he could knock down half our wall with one palm, I’d acknowledge him as my master."

"What?"

Mother and daughter exclaimed at the same time and both glanced at the east wall.

A wall that had been perfectly fine was now reduced to a pile of ruins, with only two and a bit of sections of bricks left. Half? This wasn’t half, this was more than half!

"You brat! How can you be so thoughtless? Do you know you’re a member of the Xu Family? How can you just randomly acknowledge a master?" Xv Baiping scolded with a frown.

Ancient martial clans had lots of rules, and their heritage was top priority. Each clan had things that must not be passed to outsiders, so taking disciples and masters was something that had to be decided with great caution.

"I thought he couldn’t do it..." Xiang Ming felt even more wronged.

"..."

Miaoqiu asked, "Who’s the old man you just mentioned?"

Xiang Ming pointed his chubby finger at the Great Elder.

Miaoqiu followed the direction of his finger and looked, her jaw falling open in shock, her face full of disbelief.

"Miaoqiu, do you know this elder?" Xv Baiping asked. Earlier her attention had been on Lin Tian; for the other guests she had only greeted them politely by way of introduction and didn’t really know their backgrounds.

"Mom, he’s the Alliance’s Great Elder. He formed his Golden Core decades ago," Miaoqiu answered quietly.

"The Great Elder of the Families’ Alliance? How would a man like that come to our Xu Family?" Xv Baiping was a bit puzzled. She might not be well‑informed about the outside world, but she understood seniority.

The Great Elder of the Families’ Alliance outranked even the Patriarch of an ancient martial clan by a margin.