Birth Mother

Birth Mother

Lu Jinlin looked at the familiar figure before him.

Yet he also found him strange.

Was this truly his son?

Sixteen years old, with the cultivation of the Seventh-Rank Realm.

He had never even dared dream of such a thing before, yet it had truly happened right before his eyes, leaving him with the illusion that he was dreaming.

It was not until a cry of "Father" roused him that Lu Jinlin came to his senses. This was real, not false. "Zhaojin..."

He had thought that when they met again, he would have ten thousand worried words to say.

But when the words reached his lips, he could no longer speak them.

Because this reunion was vastly different from what he had imagined.

Still, that was not necessarily a bad thing.

Lu Jinlin thought this with relief. Looking at Lu Zhaojin, his eyes brimmed with gratification. "Zhaojin has grown up."

Not only had he grown up, he seemed like an entirely different person.

He looked at the corpses scattered across the ground, their heads and bodies severed, and fell into a long silence.

Lu Zhaojin saw through Lu Jinlin's thoughts and did not explain much. After all, people might not believe something like transmigration.

He recalled Zhao Huaishui mentioning that Xu Huan and Lu Jinlin had a personal grudge. "Father, do you know Zhao Huaishui?"

Lu Jinlin shook his head. "No, but I know of him. The magistrate of Qishan County is not someone easy to deal with."

As the Chief Escort of the Sihai Escort Agency, Lu Jinlin had escorted goods throughout Mount Qi and had even traveled to Yanling Commandery and Luoshui Commandery. His experience was far beyond Lu Zhaojin's.

Lu Zhaojin raised a brow slightly. How had Zhao Huaishui learned of those matters, then? "What about Xu Huan?"

Lu Jinlin fell silent for a moment, his expression carrying both melancholy and remembrance. Then he said, "He was once a friend with whom I shared hardship. But because of your birth mother, he cut off all ties with me. He stubbornly believed that I had seduced Xiulan and made her leave him."

He looked at Xu Huan's corpse and sighed softly. "I never expected him to pledge himself to the Third Prince..."

Li Xiulan was Lu Zhaojin's birth mother.

Yet in the previous owner's memories, there was not much impression of this birth mother. It seemed that from the moment he had been born, she had not been by his side.

Perhaps she had passed away?

Lu Zhaojin thought so, but Lu Jinlin's next words dispelled that notion. "Your birth mother came from no ordinary background. She was a young lady of the Li Family in Luoshui Commandery. Not from the main branch, but a collateral one."

Lu Jinlin sat cross-legged on the spot and laid bare everything hidden in his heart before Lu Zhaojin, as though casting off a huge boulder. "But I came from an ordinary background. They looked down on me... and they were right to. Great households like theirs care most about matching social status."

He pointed at Xu Huan. "This Xu Huan was from the Xu Family, another great family in Luoshui Commandery. Your mother had been betrothed to him before birth, but she did not like him. She ran away from home, and her wanderings through the martial world did not go smoothly. Then she met me..."

That memory must have been beautiful, for a smile unconsciously appeared on Lu Jinlin's face. But that beauty did not last forever. He suddenly sighed again. "Afterward, your mother and I joined hands and founded the Sihai Escort Agency in Shiqiao Town. But on the night she gave birth, people from the Li Family came and took her back..."

While searching the corpses for valuables, Lu Zhaojin listened to Lu Jinlin recount his old story, feeling deeply moved. "I never expected Father to have such a past... Then Mother was imprisoned by the Li Family?"

Lu Jinlin nodded, then shook his head, explaining, "It was not as heartless as imprisonment. It was house arrest. They simply would not allow her to come find me."

From Elder Qiushui's body, Lu Zhaojin found a book. The pages bore several seal-script characters: Meteor Sword Art.

He recalled the power Elder Qiushui had displayed when using this sword art. It was indeed formidable and worth learning, but there was no rush to improve it now. He merely stored it in the System Backpack first.

He also found several fist arts and spear arts on the other men. He did not practice spear arts, but he could cultivate one or two fist arts to pair with the Golden Body Technique. That could count as keeping another card hidden up his sleeve.

Lu Zhaojin's harvest was plentiful. He looked toward the three stone pillars on the platform, wondering what treasures they held. "Father, have you never thought of bringing Mother back?"

Lu Jinlin shook his head heavily, with a trace of self-mockery. "After cultivating all these years, I am only at the Seventh-Rank Realm. In the eyes of a great family like theirs, I am no different from trash."

"I had originally planned to make the Sihai Escort Agency flourish and become famous across the four seas, then marry her home in grand splendor. But now... the Sihai Escort Agency is gone."

He looked at Lu Zhaojin, his eyes shining brightly. "But you, Zhaojin—with your talent, if you go seek out your mother, the Li Family will certainly accept you."

Lu Zhaojin did not continue the topic.

He was not the previous owner, and the previous owner had not held many memories of his birth mother either. Even if they met, there would only be the stirring of bloodline between them; unfamiliarity would still outweigh everything else. He feared that no matter what, he would be unable to call her Mother.

Lu Zhaojin changed the subject. "Xu Huan also said he was coming to Mount Qi to take office?"

Lu Jinlin explained in full to Lu Zhaojin that Mount Qi was about to be changed into Qishan Commandery.

This was also why their Sihai Escort Agency had been jointly slaughtered by the Zhang Family and the Zhao Family.

With Xu Huan stirring things up behind the scenes, and with both families seeking the position of city lord after Shiqiao Town's restructuring, the Sihai Escort Agency was a threat to both the Zhang Family and the Zhao Family.

They did not want a tiger watching from the side after they had fought each other to mutual ruin.

Even if Lu Jinlin had no intention of becoming city lord.

In truth, he had once considered it.

Because as long as he sat upon the city lord's throne, he would become a subject of the imperial dynasty. With that connection, going to the Li Family to demand his wife back should not lead to any mishap.

The reason he ultimately abandoned the idea was that Lu Jinlin knew Li Xiulan's free-spirited nature well. She certainly would not want him to do such a thing. Thus, becoming city lord would likely backfire.

Besides, he did not wish to be bound by the imperial dynasty.

Lu Zhaojin nodded as he pondered deeply. The imperial dynasty's intentions could not be so simple.

Why had it ignored Mount Qi in the past? Because Mount Qi truly had nothing worthy of attention.

But why did it now want to restructure it?

Could there be something that threatened the imperial dynasty's interests?

Thinking it over carefully, he found that the only unusual place was the Dingshan Sect.

If people from the imperial dynasty entered Mount Qi, could the Dingshan Sect still retain its former prestige?

Or rather, could the Dingshan Sect still lord it over Mount Qi as it pleased?

For the common people, having the imperial dynasty send people to suppress those ruleless martial wanderers and martial forces would naturally be a good thing.

But to those of the martial world, it meant the imperial dynasty's hand had stretched too far and meddled too much.

The martial world and the court.

The martial world was the martial world, and the court was the court.

They could not be lumped together.

Now that the imperial dynasty intended to make a move against the martial world, this reform of Mount Qi might be a test.

The Dingshan Sect was the subject of that test.

And the safest subject at that.

Lu Zhaojin could imagine just how difficult the Dingshan Sect's future circumstances would be once Mount Qi truly became Qishan Commandery.

But that had little to do with him.

He had no intention of joining the court or helping the martial world.

Lu Zhaojin's goal was simple. As the system's creed stated, he would become the strongest Sword Immortal throughout antiquity and the future, above the heavens and beneath the earth.

He walked over to the three stone pillars and took down the three wooden boxes.

A faint scent of sandalwood drifted from the boxes. They were likely made of sandalwood, with exquisite patterns carved across their surfaces.

Lu Zhaojin and Lu Jinlin opened the first brocade box...