Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

“Even if a tiger is handicapped, it’s not up to a wild dog to take unfair advantage of it…” Su Ziyue muttered to herself, her clear eyes were particularly bright. The heroism of her Second Brother was beyond the clouds! He seemed so confident as if nothing in the world could stand in his way, and no one in the world who could stop him. He was no doubt an upstanding hero famed throughout the Jianghu, the number one on the Ranking List of Young Masters!

He was rightfully a manly, righteous hero!

Compared to her brother, the disciples of the aristocratic families she usually met were so childish that they seemed like children who weren’t done nursing. Even if their family values and knowledge may have influenced them during their upbringing, they were nothing more than powerless braggarts with an inflated sense of self-importance.

She started to ask her brother about his various legends and experiences in a casual tone, as if they had known each other for years. Feeling an inexplicable excitement, she chirped on endlessly with a flushed face and rosy cheeks. It wasn’t until she heard her brother’s gentle cough that realization hit her. She instantly pinched her lips shut before adding frenetically, “Oh no! I forgot you’re injured, Second Brother!”

She gradually gave up the particularly polite way she had addressed him all along.

“Hmm. I’ll tell you the rest in the future.” Feeling an innate sense of familiarity with his ‘biological’ sister, Meng Qi continued, “Listeners would always find Jianghu stories to be thrilling and exciting with many twists and turns, and wanted nothing more than to stand in the place of the protagonists. However, everyone in Jianghu knew that death stalked every corner. Many people died in dark corners before they could even build a story of their own, where their bodies would become rotten and fed on by rats and wild dogs without anyone even batting an eyelash.”

He was worried that Su Ziyue would idealize Jianghu as a beautiful place, like those youngsters whose blood boiled after reading a few novels or short stories chronicling Jianghu legends.

“Second Brother, hurry up and mend your injuries. I’ll take my leave first.” replied Su Ziyue while nodding in assent, but he didn’t know if she was really listening to him.

She had just taken a few steps when she suddenly voiced a quiet cry. She turned her head and said, with some embarrassment and urgency, “Father told me to bring you some medicinal pellets.”

Obviously, she was too excited earlier on and forgot about this.

Though Meng Qi’s injuries weren’t heavy, they couldn’t be considered minor either. It was too much of a waste to consume a Recover Pill for such injuries, yet he didn’t have other elixirs. He was just racking his brain about where to get some medicinal pellets and now Su Ziyue had answered his problem. So he went with the flow and accepted them.

Su Ziyue patted herself on the chest, proud that she didn’t completely forget about the matter. She then excused herself, yet stopped in her tracks once again and, like a little rabbit, quickly returned again. “Second Brother, I forgot to tell you something. When the three brothers from the Ke family come and challenge you tomorrow, quite a few disciples of aristocratic families in Luoyang will be watching. Sister Liu Shuyu of the Liu family will also be coming.”

She wore an expression that seemed to be saying “You must perform well tomorrow!”

“Who is Liu Shuyu…” Meng Qi couldn’t recall who it was at all.

As if noticing the confusion in her brother, she said with a pleasing smile, “Sister Liu is the second daughter of Super Arrester Liu, Uncle Liu. She’s bright and witty, and has great memory too. Not only is she smart, she’s also a gentle and soft young lady who is admired by many others. There are countless disciples of aristocratic families who have lost sleep over the thought of her, but she’s incredibly proper and never…”

In her eyes, the only one who would make a suitable couple with Sister Liu was her Second Brother and vice versa.

Meng Qi’s mouth began twitching after keeping his smile for so long. He instantly interrupted her, in a boyish tone, “How old is she? How far has she progressed in her cultivation? What cultivation method is she skilled in? Does she have the strength worthy of entering the Ranking List of Young Masters?”

Such an unfathomable pairing completely went against his aesthetics.

Su Ziyue looked at him dumbfounded. Her brother’s first question was ordinary, but the subsequent ones were absolutely baffling! It was as if he was asking about his sparring opponent!

“Sister Liu is the same age as you. Though she’s born with a fragile body, she’s much smarter than others and her perception of kungfu is incredibly high. At the moment, she’s a Six-Aperture master and is skilled in the Farewell Saber and Reunion Sword of the Liu family. She’s still far away from making it to the Ranking List of Young Masters since she hasn’t grasped any Exterior movement yet…” she replied subconsciously.

She suddenly came to herself and instantly added, “Second Brother, are you thinking that Sister Liu isn’t good enough for you? She’s gentle and ladylike, attentive and generous, versed in literature as well as paintings. Whatever book that she has ever read, she will know the words by heart. They call her Erudition Fairy…”

Smiling, Meng Qi indicated for her to stop speaking. “It’s not that I think she’s not good enough for me. It’s simply because I’m used to an undisciplined life and prefers wandering in Jianghu. I’m prone to recklessness, and if I want to avenge someone, I’ll do so without fearing the repercussions. I pursue the cultivation of kungfu, and the wife of my dreams should be someone who can walk side-by-side with me. She’ll have to be someone who can enjoy a dissipated life and study supreme kungfu with me, as well as someone who can join me hand-in-hand in defeating the enemy, someone who I can trust my back with.”

“However lovely a fairy is, she’s nevertheless not my type!”

He spoke honestly and frankly in an attempt to kill Su Ziyue’s wish. He didn’t want to her to stay adamant in trying to matchmake him and Lin Shuyu, so much that she may create a melodrama out of it.

She looked at him dazedly, evidently spellbound. She wasn’t disappointed in the least. Instead, she felt a yearning for the kind of marriage that her brother had described. It was unlike the marriages in the Su family as well as other aristocratic families.

“Immortal companions…” she suddenly muttered as the thought came to her.

After sending off his sister with much difficulty, Meng Qi pushed the door open and stepped inside Su Ziyuan’s world as a child.

The room was clean and neat. Many junk items seemed to have been thrown away. Guided by an odd sense of familiarity, his feet took him to the bookshelf and his hand picked up a stack of paper.

The stack of paper was the calligraphy copybook belonging to Su Ziyuan. He was evidently a diligent and hardworking student. Naturally, his handwriting was starkly different from Meng Qi’s current one.

“Luckily I still have the memories of my physical body, and the innate strength is still fairly preserved…” He sighed in relief. As long as he was still somewhat similar to Su Ziyuan, he wouldn’t have to fear people suspecting him. After all, when Su Ziyuan was sent to the Shaolin Temple, his handwriting had yet to take a more permanent shape.

Under the guidance of that inexplicable sense of familiarity, he traveled to every corner of the room and saw tiny swords carved out of wood and an intricate set of writing tools.

Taking a seat on the bed, he caressed the wooden swords that was within hand’s reach as if he could feel the pain, despair, and reluctance of a child who knew that he was about to be sent away. In a child’s simple mind, putting the swords on the side of his bed was his way to protect himself.

He heaved a deep sigh. “You must be really curious why you were sent away… You must also really want to return with your head held up high…”

As if suddenly sensing Su Ziyuan’s ‘wish’, he cleared his mind off any distracting thoughts and swallowed the medicinal pellets. He began meditating.

Having done his best to resist in the battle earlier, he managed to deflect most of the might of the thunder blade. The Immortal Pressing Art had also dissolved some of that power. The defense of his Eight Nine Mysteries held up as well, but his genuine Qi was put into chaos and his Purple Thunder went out of his control. He had sustained quite a few internal injuries. Even with the medicine suppressing those wounds, he needed at least three days to recover.

“I only have 50% to 60% of my strength left at the moment…” Meng Qi thought to himself. “Why is the Myths in Luoyang… Is it because of the Destruction Sect and the Luo Denomination? Or the Sumptuous Fruits Banquet? Did they really collude with Old Third?”

Gradually, he entered a state of calmness to digest the medicinal pellets.

…

On the early morning of the next day, inside the main room of the Su ancestral manor—

“You want to worship our ancestors?” Duke Su Li thought the reason for Meng Qi’s early morning visit was to ask about the Sumptuous Fruits Banquet. Unexpectedly, he was here for such a request.

This came as both a shock and a pleasant surprise to him. Yesterday, Su Ziyuan still looked as if he was guarding against his family members and didn’t mention this matter in the slightest. It was as if he was completely against rejoining the Su family. Today, however, he actually took the initiative to request worshipping their family ancestors!

Was it because of the shock of exchanging blows with an Exterior master or regaining family affection after going through his old things?

“Yes.” Meng Qi didn’t explain his reason.

This might be one of the wishes of ‘Little Su Ziyuan’.

“Good, very good!” Su Li said and led him to an ancestral pavilion located in the west part of the manor.

“Father…” Meng Qi struggled incredibly to address him as such, “what exactly is the competition in the Sumptuous Fruits Banquet about?”

A smile tugged at the corners of Su Li’s mouth. “It seems that the Emperor wants to test the princes. Perhaps, he also wants to see the next generation of talents in the aristocratic families. As for the details of the competition, the Emperor made his own decision without consultation. I’m not sure of it myself.”

He suddenly chucked quietly. “Since young, you’ve been wanting a brilliant career in martial arts, come first in the triennial palace examinations, and increase the fame of the family. From the looks of it, you haven’t changed at all. No wonder you carry desires about the Sumptuous Fruits Banquet…”

Meng Qi didn’t pay attention to the rest of Su Li’s sentence because he felt a buzz going off in his head, as if he had fallen into some kind of dreamland where he could see the deep void of the universe and the bright, mysterious strings of karma.

Ever since he successfully learned the secret technique of karma, he would often experience such a sensation whenever he became involved in an incident of great karma!

“Is this Su Ziyuan’s most heartfelt desire? He wants to emerge top of the examination and obtain the praise of the Emperor, so as to raise his family prestige?” Meng Qi furrowed his brows.

He had no idea as to why Su Ziyuan would have such a wish. Perhaps he was influenced by someone or he feared being abandoned, thus he wanted to stabilize his position in the family. It was also possible that it was a purely juvenile ambition. Either way, the reason wasn’t important.

Meng Qi concealed his thoughts so well that Su Li never noticed anything unusual, so he continued speaking as if he was in his own world. “Those invited, be it the princes or court officials, are allowed to bring a guest with them to the Sumptuous Fruits Banquet. Since Ziyu is already adopted under your mother’s name, I have no choice but to bring him. But your Fifth Uncle will be attending as well. He can bring you there.”

Meng Qi quietly heaved a sigh of relief now that the issue of sneaking into the Sumptuous Fruits Banquet was basically solved.

Before long, the two of them arrived at the ancestral hall of the Su family. Even before entering, Meng Qi felt an unyielding sense of thought cleansing the area. It was as if the hall was hiding a perilous situation inside.

The sensation was none other than the remnants of the dead Exterior masters’ willpower. The more recently deceased the masters were, the denser their willpower.

Meng Qi took in a deep breath to calm his mind and took a resolute step forward. He thought to himself,

“Since I’m inhabiting your physical body, I’ll shoulder your karma!”

He prayed in solemnity with a mind clear of distracting thoughts. When he was done, he suddenly noticed that his physical body had become much lighter and refreshed. He felt as if he had lost a portion of the binds, allowing him to be even livelier!

“It’s really working…” He decided to strike while the iron was hot and quietly asked, “Father, why did you send me to Shaolin Temple back then?”

Su Li stared at him blankly, stunned. He sighed and said, “Since it’s already in the past, it does not matter any more. We shall talk about it no more.”

He paused momentarily, his voice growing so quiet that it only resounded inside the ancestral hall. “In short, be careful of your Fifth Uncle. You can never know what’s in a person’s heart…”

“Yet another warning to be careful of Fifth Uncle?” Meng Qi narrowed his eyes. When he was about to ask another question, Su Li said, “Your injuries aren’t completely healed yet. Why did you agree to spar with the brothers of the Ke family?”

“Those guys?” Meng Qi never once worried about them. They never crossed his mind throughout his pondering last night as well as this morning. When his father mentioned them, he suddenly felt a little absent-minded.

He laughed shortly after. “I don’t even mind giving them the handicap of using only half of my strength.”

Su Li gave him a careful stare and said, “Run along, then. They’re waiting for you at the fighting ring.”

He believed his son, as number one on the Ranking List of Young Masters, would have a deeper understanding of his own strength than others would have. If he had said so, then there definitely won’t be a problem.

Meng Qi temporarily suppressed his questions and slowly walked towards the fighting ring.

He had already memorized the layout of the manor, knowing it as familiarly as the back of his hand.

The fighting ring was filled with aristocrats in brocades and jade gowns. As Meng Qi entered the ring, all of them turned to look at him. One girl stood out in particular, who had an oval-shaped face and long, shapely brows. Her pair of almond-shaped eyes were looking around, appearing deep and standoffish, giving off a gaze as gentle and soft as water. Many other good-looking young girls surrounded her, like stars revolving around the moon.

“Liu Shuyu…” Without the need for any introductions, Meng Qi could easily guess the girl’s identity.

On the other side, three people were glaring at him. Spearheading the trio was a tall and slender young man. His looks were decent but his face was twisted with indignation and mockery.

Su Ziyue came up to Meng Qi and whispered, “Second Brother, the other two are only here for the show. They’re just Nine Apertures masters. Your opponent is mainly the person in the middle; his name is Ke Changji, the third son of the Ke family. He just turned 34 this year and has opened all Nine Apertures. Due to his failure in grasping an Exterior movement as well as his lack of success against powerful opponents, he’s a nobody who can’t enter the Ranking List of Young Masters. Right now, perhaps he’s at the realm of Heaven-man Connection…”

Even though it seemed like Meng Qi often encountered opponents who had grasped Exterior movements, it was simply because he belonged to a superior level of masters where his enemies were strong. The overwhelming majority of disciples who inherited teachings were unable to master Exterior movements or cultivate any Exterior supreme art to the consummate stage. When it came to mainstream martial arts like Zhenwu, only ten people in the world were capable of grasping it. In the Ke Family of Luoyang, there was not even a single one who could!

Smiling, Meng Qi patted his sister on the shoulder. “It’s not Heaven-man Connection.”

Su Ziyue was stunned. “He dares to challenge you when he has just opened his Nine Apertures?”

She found this an act of disgrace against her Second Brother.

Ke Changji took a large step across and laughed brightly.

“The first thing after I heard after stepping out of my hermetic training of many years was to hear you, Killing Blade, mocking my Ke family for having no talents. Is this true?”

He exuded an imposing aura to the point where the weather began changing.

“He’s a Half-step Exterior Scenery master!” Su Ziyue covered her mouth in shock.