Ch 24 – Accepting The Challenge

Unknown how much time had passed, Lei Yu finally woke up from his trance like state. With a pair of haunting eyes, he stared at the two familiar faces but unemotionally attached to, “what do you two want?”

“Can we chat with you for a bit?” Lei Yun Tian’s speech almost came out in a hiss through his clenched teeth.

Thinking for a moment, Lei Yu let the two men into the house

“What do you want to talk to me about?” Asking straight to the point. Lei Yu’s attitude was like talking to a stranger, his tone did not show what mood he was in. The ten year ago Lei Yu who always stuck to his father’s side was now completely different in the eyes of the two men.

“Little Yu, I know you’ve hated me for many years, right?” Lei Yun Tian said hesitantly. He still wasn’t completely sure of what Lei Yu thought about the whole situation.

“Nope! You and I have become estranged. Two years ago we no longer have any relationship, so why would I hate you?” Lei Yu’s eyes were filled with anger, there were some things that could not be forgotten, especially those etched into the core of his being.

The Elder on the side sighed while shaking his head, he also did not know what else to say. The atmosphere was filled with dead silence.

After a while, Lei Yun Tian clenched his fists hard, then said: “I know for the past many years, it was all my fault, because of our negligence on the day of your baptism, this has caused today’s mistake. As your father, I hope you can forgive me.” As a commander-level figure in one of the major forces of the country of Tenglong, to say these types of words to a youngster around twenty years of age, this shows how much he values Lei Yu’s importance.

“Mistake? A mistake that lead me to being kicked out of the family? A mistake that allowed everyone to cast me aside and give me dirty looks?” Lei Yu’s chest showed his breathing quickening, becoming very emotional.

“Little Yu, return with us, you are our family’s future hope!”

“Impossible!” Lei Yu suddenly stood up from the sofa and shouted: “I, Lei Yu, have nothing to do with the Lei family!”

“But your surname is Lei after all!”

“There are so many people in this world with the surname Lei, would they all happen to belong to your Lei family?”

“Lei Yu!” The Elder’s eyes were filled with anger, “watch your words! How could you say those words to the master of the family?”

Lei Yu turned his head, coldly looking at the Elder, “you two came into my home and aren’t allowing me to speak freely? This place does not belong to your Lei family, and originally, I did not have such deep hatred of the Lei family. It was all because of you, because of your grandson, resulting in how things turned out today. Your grandson Lei Yun bears the greatest responsibility.”

“Lei Yun? How could that be?”

“You go ask him yourself, I do not want to explain it.” Slowly exhaling, Lei Yu then said: “I know you’ve already seen my brand, and I’ve also seen the family’s ancient scrolls. In the past, I’ve tried many times to prove that I was not a coward, wanting to prove to my father how powerful I had become. But time and time again I was shot down with indifference, and then even kicked out of the family. Since I’ve already left the Lei family’s main gate, I have never thought about going back again. I am sorry, you two please return, I still have training to do at Dragon Group.” After Lei Yu made that statement, he raised his hand in a gesture towards the door inferring that they please leave.

Lei Yun Tian and the elder glanced at each other, their eyes filled with helplessness were quite obvious. Shaking their heads, they turned to leave. But things were far from simple, as a genius in the Lei family that only appears once every thousands of years, they were not going to give up this easily.

Sending off Lei Yun Tian and the Elder, Lei Yu leaned his back against the door. His heart was unable to calm down. That day’s shame was brought on by the family, and while he was at the lowest period of his life, the person that helped him the most was his childhood friend. And the members of his family, especially his own father did not even say one single word to him during that period. How could Lei Yu be not be utterly disappointed?

Wearing his backpack, and like always, Lei Yu jogged to the direction of Dragon Group. While on this path, Lei Yu was preoccupied with many thoughts.

“Little Yu, today is the date you’ve joined Dragon Group for a full year. You need to be careful, maybe someone will come and challenge you.” Nuo Hu laughingly said while patting Lei Yu’s shoulder.

“That’s even better, someone challenging me would mean I would learn something new from it, exactly what I want” replied Lei Yu with a forced smile.

They two arrived at Dragon Group’s most special villa. Inside was where Dragon Group’s elites were gathered. One could say they were the elites of the elite, everyone had extraordinary strength.

This past year, Lei Yu continued to grow. Every level of growth was gained by his sweat and by his hard work which were inseparable. It was from the large amount of blood and sweat that was exchanged for the current Lei Yu.

During the past year, a lot of people knew that Lei Yu was the type to hide his strength. There were some who were very prideful, unwilling to admit his strength and wanting to challenge him. But because of Lei Yu’s entry to Dragon Group was less than a year, they had to keep waiting. And the day has finally come, a few of the elites slowly made their move, seeing Lei Yu’s eyes give off a significant change in his manner.

Dragon Group had an unspoken rule – Dragon Team members were allowed to challenge anyone, but the challenge was restricted to only within the ten plus Dragon Team members themselves. If the person being challenged refuses, then they will be identified as the Dragon Team’s coward. Of course, one was also able to challenge the Commander of Dragon Group Nuo Yi Long, the Deputy Commander Nuo Yi Feng, or the Senior Officer Fan Hong Chang. But to this day, no one had dared to challenge the three. If one was to really ask who would dare to challenge them, then it’s possible that only Lei Yu would have the capability. But currently, no one knew what level of strength Lei Yu had reached to this point.

Reaching the [Energy Suppression] stage, Lei Yu’s ability to hide his strength had reached a greater degree. This was actually the most important point because hiding one’s strength, at the most crucial moment, one could surprise the opponent unexpectedly and overwhelm them.

Sure enough, once the two entered the training hall on the second floor, a large 1.85 meter tall (6ft 1in) male came forward. Lei Yu recognized this large male, his name was Hu Li. On a typical day, he would train abnormally hard, and had already reached the Third Order Warrior rank. His entire body was covered in thick defined muscles which one could tell contained a surprising amount of strength.

“Hu Li, is something up?” Seeing someone blocking them, Lei Yu lifted up his head to ask.

“Lei Yu, today is the day you’ve joined Dragon Group for a full year, I’ve waited for this day for a long time. Today, I want to challenge you!” Hu Li’s rich and loud voice spread throughout the hall and all eyes were turned towards them.

Although Lei Yu had a premonition that someone would challenge him, he just didn’t expect it to be this quick. He also understood that he could not refuse. If someone refused, then everyone will consider him/her a coward. Of course Lei Yu did not want to bear with such a reputation inside Dragon Group.

“I accept your challenge!” said Lei Yu with a smile.

“Good, very good! I will arrange the competition for you two.” At this time, Nuo Yi Long came in from another door.

“Commander!” Shouting in unison, everyone lined up neatly in the center of the hall.

“Tonight, I’ll arrange the competition for you two here, but you both should know the rules of Dragon Group, you are the pillars of this country, Dragon Group’s elite, I do not want anyone to suffer irreparable harm, therefore, watch yourselves in today’s competition, accidents will not be tolerated, do you two understand?” Asked Nuo Yi Long.

Lei Yu and Hu Li replied in unison: “Understood!”

Nuo Yi Long had always been interested in Lei Yu, not only because of Nuo Hu introducing him to Dragon Group, but more importantly there were two things: the first was the lightning brand on his upper arm; and the second being Lei Yu’s mind and internal strength had exceeded an ordinary person. Exactly how did he cultivate those?

After a day of training, Lei Yu did not choose any exercises that made him lose too much stamina, nor did he go through weight training. He wanted to retain his strength in order to meet tonight’s competition.

Going against someone that was a mere Third Order Warrior rank, Lei Yu had a high certainty of winning. But no matter who the opponent was, he must always be cautious, he must not be overconfident, there is often a fine line between winning and losing. This point Lei Yu understood clearly that anywhere and anytime, unforeseen circumstances may happen.