Xia Jing left the house and set off towards his destination.

After about four stops on the bus, I came to the Annoya, which was located in the same town, but the distance was so far that there was almost no place to communicate.

Of course, this is the first time Xia Jing has visited her house.

The exterior is an ordinary single-family rooftop.

Pressing the doorbell, Anno's mother came out and opened the door a moment later.

"Welcome, Xia Jing."

She was dressed the same as when we met two days ago, and she looked like a rather ordinary housewife. But today, I took this opportunity to look at it again, and she really looked unusually young.

Could it be that the deer clan is aging slowly?

Thinking about it, Xia Jing couldn't muster up the courage to ask the person concerned after all.

"Please come in."

After being invited to enter the door, Xia Jing took off his shoes and said "excuse me".

"Anye, she's not home."

On the way to the hallway to the living room, Anli sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"She just said something was wrong, and went to the House of the Lost."

"I guess she didn't want to meet me, because I gave her a hard beating last time."

Since that day, Shimono hasn't spoken to Yasuno again.

"It's good if she can't hold her head up after a little lesson...... However, when all my friends came to visit and the people disappeared, could it be that the effect of the medicine was too strong?"

「…… I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize."

After Natsu was ushered into the living room, Anno's father stood up from the sofa.

"Hello."

He smiled and raised his hand in greeting. Looking at that leisurely and relaxed appearance, I really can't associate it with the majesty of two days ago. Looking left and right, it's just a middle-aged uncle who can be seen everywhere.

However, Xia Jing came here today, not for Yasuno Ichi, who had escaped to the Lost House—but for this middle-aged man who was not obscure at all.

"I expected you to come, but I didn't expect it to be so soon. That means you're serious, right?"

Xia Jing bowed his head and saluted with a wry smile on his face.

"No, it's not so much serious, it's not so much that there's no time."

"When I was younger, I was most worried about running out of time. It's just that when you get older, you won't have enough time."

An Shen used the usual preachy tone of adults to invite Xia Jing to sit on the sofa.

The two sides sit across the table from each other.

"Well, I'll get straight to the point......

"Don't be in such a hurry. I know you're anxious right now, but it's important to keep yourself calm."

"Does this contradict your previous sentence......

Xia Jing couldn't help but complain, but he didn't change his relaxed attitude.

"At least wait for the tea to be served before getting to the point. It's not urgent, is it?"

Although it is difficult to agree with each other, in reality, An Shen is not wrong.

I was really in a hurry.

Xia Jing took a deep breath and let his mood settle down.

"That's right, Xia Jing."

At this time—

As if he had calculated the timing, An Shen's face sank and became serious.

"Before Uchiko returns, let's have a conversation between men."

"Huh? Ah, good. What are you going to talk about?"

Natsu reflexively felt nervous.

An Shen said, "You...... What does it have to do with my daughter?"

「…… What?"

"It seems to me that you are in a good relationship. I thought to myself, you can't be that, you shouldn't be what I thought you were, right?"

An Shen's expression was so serious that it was rare to see even when he fought two days ago.

Xia Jing was frightened and cringed a little.

- Uh, that, I don't think I'......

I never dreamed that I would cause such a misunderstanding.

"No, no, no, how is that possible."

Xia Jing hurriedly shook his head in denial, but Anye's father seemed to be a little out of control.

"How do you think that's possible? Meaning, how could it not be!"

"I mean you're mistaken!"

An Shen had a murderous expression on his face and said endlessly, "Aren't you going to be Ye Ya's husband in the future? In that case......

"No, the status quo hasn't been decided yet...... Oops."

"Still undecided? Are you saying that you can't make up your mind to marry Ya? How can you be so distracted......

"So you're mistaken!"

"I don't want to speculate, but you don't think you're going to step on two boats!"

"Uncle, don't get excited, okay?"

"Who allowed you to call me Dad!"

"How can I call you Dad! I'm calling you uncle, okay?"

Xia Jing couldn't help but be rude.

However, An Shen had already been angry and wanted to beat Xia Jing, and he didn't notice that his attitude had changed.

"Please...... Why did the good guys suddenly make it look like they were going to fight?"

An Li walked into the living room with coffee and tea snacks.

「…… Daddy, what nonsense are you talking about?"

An Li said to An Shen as if she was dumbfounded, put the tray on the table, and unceremoniously slapped her husband's head.

"Don't think about it. Please, don't tell me this kind of headless thing."

"Oh, no......"

An Shen, who suddenly came back to his senses, was shocked to realize that his previous actions were out of proportion, and he couldn't help but blush.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. From that day on, I was very nervous, and I wanted to make sure that I was ...... when I was excited."

"No, no, no." Xia Jing waved his hand in front of his eyes a little deliberately and unnaturally, and replied to An Shen, who was scratching his head in embarrassment.

Although Natsujing began to worry about Anno's future, it seemed that it was better not to mention it.

"Ah~ that. Uh-huh."

An Shen cleared his throat.

This kind of behavior is very similar to the usual scenes in comics, but the dry cough seems to be really useful. His expression was no longer embarrassed, and Xia Jing successfully changed his mood.

"I just made you laugh, can you get back to business now?"

"Okay."

Xia Jing nodded solemnly. Although there was an unexpected accident, it was finally time to get to the point.

I will visit here today, and it was Xia Jing who took the initiative to do so.

There is only one reason.

"Can you please...... Teach me how to fight?"

Xia Jing made a request straightforwardly.

He had been on his mind since two days ago.

In the face of Adai, instead of taking half a step back, he easily cleaned her up. It was an amazing battle. Even Ye Ya and her daughter Anye were shocked.

And for Xia Jing, who is also a human being like An Shen, it is nothing more than a revelation.

Xia Jing had always thought in the past that no matter how much he struggled, it would be impossible to compete with the Deer Clan. After all, basic physical abilities are very different. However, An Shen's performance completely changed Xia Jing's appearance. Even if he wasn't as powerful as An Shen, as long as he was willing to work hard, maybe he would be strong enough to resist the Deer Clan—Xia Jing's heart swelled with such hope.

"Please, I'm going to get stronger."

Xia Jing kowtowed, please.

"The second lesson worked."

An Li seemed to be happy and said, "Although the effect of the first lesson doesn't seem to be so obvious. As the saying goes, children don't understand their parents' good intentions, and that's true."

"Xia Jing, raise your head."

An Shen sighed lightly and smiled at Xia Jing.

"We already had this in mind."

"That ......"

However, An Shen shook his head at Xia Jing, who couldn't help but clench his fists on his knees.

"It's just that it may not be as good as you think."

「…… Huh?"

"I was lucky."

An Shen suddenly began to talk eloquently.

"Seventeen...... Was it almost eighteen years ago? When there was chaos in the village of the Deer Clan, An Li and I were also married for three years. That's when I was able to fight. It's just a coincidence."

"Excuse me, what does that mean......

"Speaking of which, I was a stubborn young man with a very hard temper at the time."

An Shen smiled bitterly with a nostalgic expression.

"You also know very well that the Deer Clan has very powerful abilities. This made me very unwilling. Think about it, if you are entangled by a ruffian when you are dating the daughter of the deer clan in the town, the positions of men and women will suddenly be reversed, right? A man protected by a girl. This picture says that there are many nests. Even if you don't mention that, going to the village is a strong woman running around, and there is nothing more disgraceful in the whole world."

An Li'an quietly listened to her husband talk about the past, and seemed to be a little happy.

"So after we started dating...... It should be said that after I got to know the deer clan, I took the initiative to say that I wanted to become stronger and asked them to train me. Just like you are now."

"That's right."

"As a result, I didn't get entangled by riffraff, but I ran into chaos."

An Shen, who had originally joked, changed his words.

"Five years."

He had a serious look.

"It took me five years to go from being a layman with no foundation to barely practicing a frame. I was trained to death by the daughters of the deer clan led by An Li, what karate, Aikido, every dojo I went to learn the arts. Even with such a huge amount of effort, I still have no place to use in that civil strife."

"Hey, wait a minute."

Xia Jing looked stunned.

"You say...... It took five years?"

"Xia Jing, listen to me."

An Li interrupted from the side.

She uttered—unbelievably ridiculous.

"He couldn't find a single bone in his body that had never been broken. His hands and feet were also cut off several times. And it's not the time of chaos. It all happened during the practice of martial arts in the village...... Or is it just a martial arts practice? He's just the kind of person who put such an incredible amount of effort into it."

「……！」

"He put in so much sacrifice and practiced for five years. Do you know what that means?"

This time, Xia Jing was not only stunned, but even speechless.

He understands. However, it is also surprising to be incomprehensible.

From his current middle-aged and obese figure, it is really hard to imagine that there was such a past.

Five years—in other words, during those five years, even if he had broken all over his body and had his hands and feet cut off, he was healed with treasures, and then he began to repeat the same process. In this way, you should be able to obtain results comparable to 20 years or more than 30 years of forging the chain body in the general way. Maybe he's a martial arts wizard himself.

However, if there is something that transcends the concepts of effort and obsession in comparison to talent, it is impossible to carry it through to the end.

"The problem is that you don't have time. So you can't be forced to do the same thing as me, right?"

Although An Shen said it lightly, even if he had enough time, Xia Jing didn't think that he could make such a big sacrifice.

Compared to the practice that An Shen had experienced, Xia Jing's practice at the Lost House was child's play. He said that he did not hesitate to sacrifice his body to that level of consciousness.

"Also...... Yes."

Xia Jing bowed his head and pursed his lips.

Of course, Xia Jing was not naïve enough to think that he could become a martial arts master like An Shen.

I just thought that if I could ask him for advice, it might be more helpful to learn his fur in the same way than now, so I made a special trip to visit—but now I am being drunk, and it turns out that even this humble wish is out of reach.

"Hey, Xia Jing, you don't have to be so depressed."

I wish he hadn't tried to comfort me anymore. Anyway, no matter how much I struggle, what I can't do is what I can't do.

Xia Jing thought to himself as he raised his gaze. Surprisingly, there was no smile on An Shen's face.

He looked directly at Xia Jing and said, "My method is really not suitable for you. But...... It's not that if you don't reach my level, you won't be able to compete with the deer clan."

"Excuse me...... What do you mean?"

"This is no longer the time when perseverance can overcome everything. In fact, most of the five years I went through were for my own satisfaction, and there was no other meaning to write about. Or are you the type who says nothing and won't allow a girl with stronger arms than you?"

"That's not ......."

I'm the kind of person who feels a little embarrassed, but at most he touches his nose.

"When it comes to arm strength, even I can only bow to the wind. Even when I was younger, I was the same. There is a barrier between the deer and humans that is difficult to cross. You've probably experienced it yourself, right?"

"Uh-huh...... Maybe so."

Xia Jing remembered the fight with Nangong last month.

When Nangong was restrained, he used brute force to smash the hospital beds and cabinets several meters away in one breath - strictly speaking, it is impossible for humans to do such a thing.

"Then you can use your experience as a basis and try to recall what it was like when I fought against Adai."

Xia Jing rummaged through memories.

An Shen said at the time.

He predicted the actions of his opponents. Match the rhythm of your breath to find the flaws.

Then attack the opponent's jaw, causing them to have a concussion—

"That's right. The key is not to use brute force with the other party. I may be mean to say that...... Do not clash head-on, do not give the opponent a chance to exert force, and attack at the most appropriate time. That's what the so-called battle is all about. At least from a human standpoint."

"The problem is me...... I'm not going to be that technological."

An Shen went through five years of rigorous training beyond imagination before he achieved his kung fu foundation. So he has that ability.

However, An Shen seemed to have another meaning, and closed one eye to the depressed Xia Jing.

"That's the point. If you don't have the technology, you can just use other sources of cover."

"...... other things?"

"Have you brought the Golden Bough Treasure? Is it inconvenient for you to lend me a look?"

Xia Jing got up and took out the golden branch hidden in his waist as requested.

"Hmm."

Before and after handing it over, An Shen took it and looked at it carefully.

"I've heard Yaya mention how you used it before."

"Ugh."

"Are you sure you'll be able to use it to the limit?"

「…… What do you mean?"

An Shen ignored Xia Jing, who was questioning, and pointed to the coffee cup to ask An Li.

"Is this cup expensive?"

"It's not worth much."

"Then it's okay."

An Shen gently scratched the handle of the cup with the tip of the golden branch.

Then he frowned, concentrating—

「…… What......"

Xia Jing was stunned by what An Shen did next.

"How...... Can ......."

The coffee cup began to shake and deform like clay.

All at once it was like a test tube, all at once it became gourd-shaped, and then it became a goldfish bowl.

Eventually, the top half of the grip detaches from the cup and begins to writhe like a snake.

Xia Jing was like a thunderbolt from the sky.