Because of the malicious cliffhanger left by the Divine General Xue in his transmitted cultivation method, Li Guanyi barely slept that night.
Human curiosity is like playing through a story-driven game and being left hanging midway—frustrating and unresolved. Early the next morning, when Li Guanyi stepped outside, he found that Coachman Zhao Dabing was already waiting at the gate, accompanied by two delicate-looking handmaidens carrying food boxes filled with medicinal cuisine.
Zhao Dabing took a hearty bite of his flatbread.
Inside were smoked meat and the white part of a green onion.
(He refused to eat the green part!)
With one bite, the flavors layered richly across his palate. He nodded with satisfaction and said, "This was by order of the old family master."
"He heard that the guest elder's aunt has a weak constitution, so he specially arranged for these medicinal meals to be sent over. These two girls were raised by the Xue family since childhood, a good family background. They've been sent to help look after your aunt. If you're worried they'll disturb you, I'll bring them back to the Xue estate when I return to you each day."
Li Guanyi informed his aunt, then got into the carriage and asked Zhao Dabing why he didn't just eat some of the medicinal meals himself. The man burst out laughing and said, "That stuff doesn't taste right. This flatbread suits me better! I'm from the Central Plains, and even though I've been in Jiangnan for a while, I still think flatbread beats rice hands down."
"My wife made this flatbread. Real solid flavor!"
"No way I'm sharing it."
He held up his flatbread proudly. Li Guanyi chuckled and changed the subject.
"But won't sending these two girls here affect their normal duties at the Xue household?"
Zhao Dabing replied, "The Xue family's big, got plenty of people. It's no trouble."
"There're a lot of girls in the family to begin with…"
Li Guanyi was puzzled: "So many? Where did the Xue family get them?"
Zhao Dabing smiled and said, "You're thinking too much. The Xue family doesn't engage in that kind of trade. If anything, they've been rescuing people…" He paused, then asked, "You know about palace maid officials, right?"
Li Guanyi nodded.
Zhao Dabing continued, "Over two hundred years ago when the Chen Dynasty was founded, Emperor Wu of Chen enacted laws abolishing hereditary slavery. Even household servants had to be contracted. Nobles who killed their servants would be severely punished—even executed."
Li Guanyi said, "That's a good law."
"Yes, it was a good law. But it's been over two centuries. Emperor Wu died on the battlefield, and one by one, his laws were being violated. Now those castrated palace eunuchs go out to make purchases…"
"To pocket the change, they started buying young boys and girls from human traffickers. That's how slave trading took root. Now it's standard for the palace to buy children. It's a third cheaper than hiring proper servants. Most importantly…"
Zhao Dabing hesitated, then said:
"If a servant from a good family dies unexpectedly, compensation must be paid."
"But slaves bought from traffickers? No compensation required."
"Some eunuchs even kill palace maids from time to time just to collect death benefits and buy property on the outside. As a result, traffickers began abducting children—some say they even knock out beautiful women on the road to sell them off."
"That's why property prices in Jiangzhou are sky-high. Even high-ranking officials can't afford homes. They rent instead, and the phrase 'idiot's money' now refers to the wealth of those palace maid officials."
Li Guanyi gazed at the flourishing city of Guan Yi—prosperous on the surface, but with a hidden darkness only families like the Xues truly knew.
Zhao Dabing said:
"The Second Miss saw all this happening. She couldn't fight back directly in the palace, so she just bought them all and sent them to the Xue household. Emperor Chen's response is… unclear."
"The old master, after learning of this, decided to buy out every trafficked child from the ten surrounding cities."
Li Guanyi asked, "Wouldn't that just encourage the traffickers?"
"Of course not…"
Zhao Dabing laughed and said:
"After that, no one ever saw those traffickers again."
"And the flowers on Mount Nan have never bloomed so brilliantly in the last thirty years."
No further words were needed.
Zhao Dabing drove the carriage steadily. When they arrived, Li Guanyi leaped down lightly, sword and bow strapped on. He first went to the Xue family's martial mess hall—food tailored for warriors: heavy on meat, with rice and herbal soup. Even those who served the food had martial arts training. They feared only that you didn't eat enough.
The [Broken Formation Technique] required vast energy to temper the body. As a growing boy, Li Guanyi ate heartily.
During archery training, Xue Shuangtao seemed unconcerned about yesterday's "Xue sister" comment. Her instruction was as strict and precise as ever. Li Guanyi, though already familiar with archery thanks to the inherited skills, diligently focused on his basics. By the end, his body was exhausted, while the young lady remained vigorous and fierce in her shooting.
As the eldest daughter of the Xue family, raised personally by General Xue Daoyong, she began qi cultivation at age five, mastered music and divination, and stood out in martial arts among her peers.
Later, Li Guanyi sat on the grass with Xue Changqing.
"Was Miss Xue always this strict?"
Xue Changqing sipped iced tea and muttered, "No… not at all."
"She wasn't like this before."
"Today it's like she's venting at someone, but she doesn't seem angry either. Mister, do you have any idea?"
Li Guanyi thought about it, then replied with a sincere, sheepish smile:
"I don't know."
TWANG!
An arrow flew out, spinning like a drill. The bowstring howled like a furious swarm of bees. The arrow pierced the bullseye and embedded itself in the wall beyond. Xue Shuangtao calmly tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and turned with the same gentle expression from their first meeting.
"Time to practice," she said.
Xue Changqing turned pale.
Who… who had angered this tigress today!?
Mister, do you know anything?
The pale-faced boy frantically sent eye signals toward the teenager beside him.
The youth, calm and sincere, thought for a moment, smiled warmly, and replied again:
"I don't know."
Xue Shuangtao taught archery and footwork, but the [Seven Palm Scatter Style] came from someone else—an old drunk who demonstrated it himself. Only then did Li Guanyi understand why Xue Shuangtao hadn't taught him that set.
The old man demonstrated the seven moves:
Groin slap with a curve step, side groin strike, retreating kick to the crotch.
Palm to eyes, punch to throat, back elbow to spine, side punch to eye/throat.
Just seven moves. The old man demonstrated each variation and left.
"This is how beggars fight—small, weak, no weapons."
"Not elegant, but effective."
"Big sects have flashy moves. But before reaching the entering realm, this is deadlier. Still, use it sparingly. These moves are lethal with minimal force."
Because there were only seven moves, Li Guanyi mastered them quickly.
At midday, he went to the library and began searching Xue family records—knowing that crossing the Pass or accessing legacies required an entering-realm cultivation base. Yet the optimal method for entering the realm had been hidden by the Divine General.
Li Guanyi remembered—
He mentioned that a friend named Yaoguang found a geomantic treasure ground, prompting the Xue family to relocate to Guan Yi. There had to be clues in the historical records. Xue Daoyong had initially planned to call Li Guanyi to lunch at Listening Wind Pavilion, but upon learning the youth was researching family history, he simply remarked with a smile:
"As expected, different from the rest."
"Let's see what he can do."
"It's not like he's going to find a Golden Chamber or Jade Pavilion in there, is it?"
After several days of study, Li Guanyi finally found three leads: the rear mountain outside the city, a river flowing through Guan Yi, and the Xue ancestral mansion. Since the ancestral home was hard to access, he explored the other two first.
He went to the mountain—nothing much except a lone wolf, which he shot with the bow. He then got into a squabble with squirrels over some fruit, brought it back, and made liquor-soaked preserves.
Unable to access the ancestral house, he turned to the river. The deeper he went, the fewer people he saw. Eventually, he reached a secluded pool. No obvious clues.
"So it is at the ancestral home?" he muttered, disappointed.
Just as he was about to leave, he stopped mid-step:
"…Wait. He was worried the Emperor would purge the Xue family, so he left his halberd in the Qiang people's sacred mountain and hid the legacy in a divine weapon. A man like that would never store a secret technique somewhere the Xue family could lose access to…"
"Make the real seem false, and the false seem real…"
"If it were him…"
Li Guanyi pondered, eyed the cold pool, gritted his teeth, hid his clothes, and dove in. Beneath the water, he found that the pool extended into several underwater tunnels in all directions—unnatural.
After surfacing to catch his breath, he confirmed:
"…It's here. But where exactly?"
Then he thought aloud:
"Yaoguang… sounds like Yaoguang, the star of the Big Dipper. The Dipper… north?"
With that in mind, he dove again, choosing the northern tunnel. Thanks to his internal energy, he swam easily. A light appeared ahead.
He emerged into a cave. Gasping for breath, he climbed ashore, surveying the surroundings in awe.
"So this is the legacy the Divine General left behind?"
Meanwhile, at the stream in Guan Yi, another visitor arrived.
A young man in a hood walked along the creek, circling rocks and flowing water, until he reached a secluded pool surrounded by stones. The water was clear and still. From his robe, the young man pulled a yellowed scroll, scanning the terrain.
"So this is the secret realm found by Yaoguang and the Great White Tiger five hundred years ago?"
"If I can find the Great White Tiger's aura here, I may be able to locate its successor."
As the current-day Yaoguang pondered, his eyes widened in surprise.
He had spotted neatly folded clothing behind a rock.
"Someone… is already here?"
(End of Chapter)