apter Thirty-One: Following"Grandpa, Dad, this is my good friend Xiao Yu!" Upon entering the house and seeing the two sitting on the sofa reading newspapers, Zhuo Simiao pointed to Xiao Yu and introdu...Chapter 552: Aiming to Reach the Sage Realm

"There's only one day left, but the competition starts early in the morning at seven. What do you think" The elder said after Xiao Yu mentioned it.

"Haha, just one day That's fine; I'll attend on time tomorrow!" Upon hearing that there was only one day left, Xiao Yu chuckled and nodded.

He originally planned to return to the deep sea the day after tomorrow, but since he had nothing scheduled for tomorrow, he readily agreed without any hesitation when the elder mentioned it.

"That's great! The competition will be held at the district activity center tomorrow. We look forward to your attendance, Master Xiao!" The elder expressed his joy upon hearing Xiao Yu’s agreement.

He had thought he would leave disappointed today but was pleasantly surprised when Xiao Yu accepted. This could be considered an unexpected blessing for him since he could find judges for such amateur competitions; however, after seeing Xiao Yu's calligraphy, he was stunned.

Xiao Yu, at his young age, managed to imbue the divine essence in his writing, which left this elder speechless. Such a top-tier master at such a young age! Not only was it unprecedented in the elder’s life but even ancient sages hadn't reached that level of mastery when they were Xiao Yu's age!

Therefore, he strongly invited Xiao Yu to participate; with his involvement, their calligraphy competition would certainly elevate its standing.

The elder didn’t linger and left after saying goodbye. He still had to set up the venue for the competition, which was an initiative of their district activity center but received support from the local government as well. The prizes were also sponsored by the district.

After sending off the elder, Xiao Yu did not return to his yard but instead stayed with these senior gentlemen to chat and drink tea.

Xiao Yu usually had little business to attend to, so their lives were quite leisurely. They spent time drinking tea and chatting when they weren't occupied, and Xiao Yu once told them that only one or two people needed to stay at home for security; thus, the gentlemen were free to tend to their birds or cultivate flowers in the courtyard.

In fact, Xiao Yu intentionally arranged it this way. After all, these senior gentlemen had guarded his maternal grandfather and protected the Xiao family their entire lives; they deserved a comfortable old age now. That was also why Xiao Yu kept them in Beijing.

Moreover, securing the safety of his family couldn’t be neglected either. With these gentlemen around, he wouldn't worry about any mishaps concerning his family's security.

After all, these seniors were all practitioners who had broken through to the Inner Force realm and most of them were in its later stages.

With their presence, Xiao Family’s strength was equivalent to an ancient noble clan or a sect. Only then could Xiao Yu feel at ease staying in the deep sea.

The next morning, Xiao Yu left home early and drove towards the district activity center.

The district activity center was just twenty minutes away by car from him. Shortly after, Xiao Yu parked his car outside the entrance of the activity center parking lot. The district activity center was located within an open park, housing a children's palace, elderly activity center and university as well.

Xiao Yu stopped the car and walked into the park. The park was filled with elderly people doing morning exercises, as well as some middle-aged and young adults taking a stroll.

As he watched these relaxed people around him, Xiao Yu’s heart suddenly became very calm. He even started to envy their leisurely lifestyle now, although he could be considered successful at such a young age. However, this kind of relaxed life was something that had long left him behind.

The only thing he could do right now was to let his family or more people live such a relaxed and comfortable life.

“Snap snap...” Suddenly, crisp sounds were heard from afar. Xiao Yu lifted his head and saw a group of people in the open space of the park hitting tops with whips.

The sight of these people exerting force to whip their whips and hearing a clear sound every time they did so caught his attention.

Xiao Yu checked the time; it was only 6:40 AM. He then walked slowly towards this group of people.

Hitting tops was Xiao Yu’s favorite activity when he was young. When he was around seven or eight years old, they were most enthusiastic about hitting tops. Back then, there weren’t many other activities and TV didn’t have so many cartoon shows, thus, wherever there was a flat open space, you could see children hitting tops, playing cards, or rolling iron hoops.

These things were the memories of their entire childhood. Xiao Yu stood on the edge of the crowd, lost in thought as he watched them.

"What Young man, do you want to give it a try" An old man, with beads of sweat all over his forehead, walked out from the middle and asked.

The top he had been spinning was still rotating on the ground, producing a buzzing sound like a whistle.

This elderly gentleman had noticed Xiao Yu watching by the side for some time now. Occasionally, Xiao Yu would laugh quietly as if completely engrossed in the activity. After whipping for a while, the old man felt tired and thus walked over to hand his whip to Xiao Yu.

Hearing what the old man said, Xiao Yu was taken aback for a moment before he showed a delighted expression and said, "Uncle, thank you! It’s been such a long time since I’ve played this. This is truly nostalgic!"

"Heh heh, then go ahead and give it a few snaps to satisfy your longing!" The old man smiled kindly upon hearing Xiao Yu's words.

Xiao Yu took the whip from the elderly gentleman and walked into the middle of the playing area. Seeing that the top was slowing down, he whipped his arm out to hit it.

"Haha..." As soon as Xiao Yu’s whip made contact with the top, laughter erupted around him.

It turned out that Xiao Yu had missed hitting the right spot and used too much force. Therefore, this single whip caused the top to spin erratically almost not turning at all.

Xiao Yu looked down at the top on the ground as he heard everyone’s laughter, feeling a bit embarrassed. Back in those days, Xiao Yu could be said to have been proficient with everything they played with; he didn’t expect that this one whip would make him look so unskilled.

However, Xiao Yu was not angry at the laughter around him; he knew that these people's smiles were sincere. So, he also gave a bashful smile to the elders.

Xiao Yu did not give up but waved his whip again. After a short while, Xiao Yu had mastered the key points of it and swung the whip fiercely. The whip collided with the top-spinning disc and produced crisp sounds that were pleasing to the ear; the whistle sound coming from inside the spinning top echoed continuously, blending in well with the sounds made by whistles attached to pigeons on the square.

After a while, Xiao Yu checked the time. Seeing it was almost seven o'clock, he put away his whip and walked over to the elder beside him.

"Hey kid, you have a great body! Did you decide not to play anymore" The elder took the whip from Xiao Yu as he saw that Xiao Yu had been swinging it for such a long time without breaking out in sweat. He couldn't help but praise him.

"Haha, thank you sir. I'm done playing now, just wanted to try it out. Also, I have something else later. When I get some free time, I'll come and ask you about how to play with the spinning top!" Hearing what the elder said, Xiao Yu chuckled.

"Alright, come back when you're free."

“Okay, thank you sir. I have something else now so I’ll take my leave.” After saying that to the elder, Xiao Yu left and headed towards the activity center.

However, when he arrived at the activity center, he was taken aback; it was quiet here with no signs of a competition about to begin. Confused, Xiao Yu walked into the building.

When he entered the hallway inside, he could faintly hear voices in front. So, he started walking towards them.

Xiao Yu stopped at the door of a room that had "Elder Club" hanging on its signboard as the voices were coming from there.

As Xiao Yu lifted up the curtain to enter, he saw that inside was an auditorium about the size of a basketball court. There were enough long tables in it to fill the entire hall and around five or six elders were talking by them. Clearly, what Xiao Yu had heard earlier came from these people; one of whom invited him over.

When Xiao Yu saw them, they also noticed him. The elder who had invited him hurriedly walked towards him with an embarrassed look on his face when he saw him.

"Master Xiao, I'm sorry! Today's competition might be delayed a little because we received notice from the district that the Secretary of the District Committee will come to attend the opening ceremony. As such, it can only start at half past eight."

After walking over to Xiao Yu, the elder explained quickly. He had received the call late last night and was told by them that the leader would arrive at half past eight today, so they should delay the competition accordingly. After receiving the phone call, he hurriedly informed everyone who was going to participate in it.

However, when he heard Xiao Yu agree yesterday, he was too excited about it and forgot to ask for his number. It wasn’t until he almost reached home that he remembered. Since they had a competition tomorrow, he didn’t think much of it because there usually isn’t anything else to contact him for.

But who would have thought that such an incident happened today and he couldn’t contact Xiao Yu now; there was no choice but to wait until he came over again. Fortunately, they were only delaying by one and a half hours, so it wasn't too much of an impact.

Hearing what the elder said, Xiao Yu nodded in understanding; that explained why everything around him seemed quiet when he arrived earlier.

However, Xiao Yu didn't have anything pressing to do. So what if the delay was one and a half hours With a light laugh, he said, "Mr. Hu, you're too polite! It's okay, let's just wait."

The old man heaved a long sigh upon hearing Xiao Yu's words. He had been worried that Xiao Yu would be mortified and leave in anger. After all, such young people—especially those who were as talented as top masters in calligraphy—could have peculiar tempers or be quite arrogant.

The old man led Xiao Yu over to the other few individuals. Through introductions, Xiao Yu got acquainted with these older gentlemen. Among them was a bespectacled man around seventy years old who exuded an air of scholarly elegance; he was another judge for this competition and surnamed Wu, a colleague of Mr. Hu, a professor at a university in Beijing’s Chinese literature department who also had considerable expertise in calligraphy.

The other two elders were the organizers of the event. Upon hearing Mr. Hu's introductions, Xiao Yu greeted each one of them politely.

They had all heard about Xiao Yu long ago. Mr. Hu often talked about him in front of these people, praising how high his calligraphy skills were and calling him a top master!

When they first heard this, none of them believed it, thinking that Mr. Hu was just boasting. But when Mr. Hu saw their disbelief, he didn't rush to convince them; instead, the next day, he invited them over for dinner at his home and deliberately took out that couplet to show off.

Upon seeing the couplet, everyone looked envious—especially Mr. Hu's colleague, who was a connoisseur of high caliber. On first glance, he knew this must be the work of a top master, as such masterpieces were rare and invaluable!

In today’s society, being a top calligraphy master is already the highest level one can achieve; moreover, there are very few people at that level.

Initially, he thought Mr. Hu's piece was written by one of those top masters, but after looking for a while, he realized it wasn't any of them.

"Could there be another new rising top master" Old Wu wondered silently as he observed the couplet.

When he learned that this calligraphy piece was written by Mr. Hu's young top master, besides being shocked, he also deeply doubted it; he thought Mr. Hu must have gotten a masterpiece from some unknown top master and was trying to impress him!

No way would he believe a twenty-something-year-old could become a top master. If such a thing were true, he would definitely know about it, as a young top master like that would surely cause an uproar in the calligraphy world.

If someone can be a top master at twenty-plus years old, what kind of talent does one need Such talent is unprecedented throughout history; even Wang Xizhi, the Sage of Calligraphy, didn't become a top master until his thirties.

Therefore, he absolutely wouldn’t believe it. No matter how Mr. Hu persuaded him, unless he saw it with his own eyes, he would never accept that there could be a top master at twenty-plus years old.

"Master Xiao, I heard from Brother Hu that the couplet you wrote is in his place. Is that correct" After pondering for a moment, Old Wu asked Xiao Yu who was chatting with Mr. Hu and others.

Originally, he didn't want to ask, but he just couldn't resist; after all, it's unheard of for someone in their twenties to be a top master.

"Heh heh, there is indeed a couplet I wrote at Mr. Hu’s place, though I’m not sure if that’s the one you’re referring to!" Xiao Yu replied with a light laugh after noticing the eagerness in Old Wu's eyes.e her presence, she still felt extremely frightened and thus avoided going out at night.She didn't know why, but since strange things started happening to her, she no longer recognized herself and cou...