Volume Two: Capital City Storms — Mysterious Sky Stone (I)

Since Yangliu 100 asked me to write more, I'll try to write a little more. Sigh, this semester's exams are coming up—failing a course is terrifying! I'll keep writing until exam time. Actually, it's nothing much. My new book is completely connected to this one; only the protagonist has changed.

At this moment, Star Peak Manor was shrouded in a cheerful atmosphere.

Firecrackers boomed one after another, and beautiful fireworks blossomed above Dream Lake. The emerald lake, smooth as a mirror, stole all the brilliant colors of those fireworks into its waters, where their lovely reflections complemented the dazzling sight in the sky.

All of us sat together on the stone bridge spanning Dream Lake, and the long table we used for meals had been moved onto the bridge as well.

We ate, talked, and laughed together, completely at ease.

"Second Brother, are you really going into seclusion after the New Year? And for years—perhaps even decades at a time! We won't be able to see each other for a very long time. Can't you make your seclusion a little shorter?" Big Brother Lang Feng looked at me, his tiger-like eyes already glistening faintly with tears.

Everyone around us fell silent in that instant and looked at me. Though they all knew I was only entering seclusion, not going to my death, the thought of being separated for so long was still hard to accept.

I looked at these family members who had fought alongside me. When I had been at my lowest and most helpless, they had stayed by my side. They had not despised me, a boy not yet grown who had been driven from his home. They had helped me fulfill my dreams without a word of complaint.

Hahaha, why think about such things when we're family! I abruptly pulled myself free from my inner world and looked at them, still watching me.

"Why are you all acting like this? I'm only practicing for a while—what's there to worry about? It's not like we're being separated by life and death. All right, tonight is New Year's Eve. Everyone should be happy, everyone should smile. Hear me? Hahaha..."

"Fine, everyone be happy! Come on, let's raise our cups together. Drink!" Brother Wang sprang to his feet and shouted to us.

"Drink!"

"Drink!"

Everyone raised the cups in their hands, smiling as we looked at one another. Then we all drank the wine in our cups!

The servants by the lake launched the largest sky-shaking firework of the night into the heavens.

The firework exploded above us with a thunderous boom, its dazzling colored light shining down upon our bodies. We all rose from our seats and stood by the railings of the stone bridge, watching the fireworks overhead!

I looked at my joyful family around me and smiled, then lifted my head to watch the fireworks blooming one after another. Tonight, sleep would not come easily!

In the blink of an eye, this year's Spring Festival had passed.

"Brother Wang, I'm heading out soon. Wait for me here, and make sure no one runs around tonight. When I return tonight, I'll enter seclusion!" I looked at Brother Wang and spoke firmly.

"Young Master, you're entering seclusion tonight? Th-this is too sudden. You should spend a little more time with everyone!" Reluctance showed in Brother Wang's eyes.

Brother Wang had watched me grow up, and his feelings for me ran extremely deep. Now that we were about to be separated for such a long time, he found it difficult to accept. Especially since I had not told him beforehand that I would enter seclusion tonight—learning it so suddenly was naturally hard for him to take.

"Brother Wang, I have to enter seclusion sooner or later. The sooner I go in, the sooner I'll come out. All right, don't feel so bad. If anything major happens in the future, just shout my name loudly outside the door to my seclusion, and I'll come out. But unless it's something truly important, don't disturb me. If seclusion is interrupted midway, it takes a long time to return to that state of mind."

I explained some future arrangements to Brother Wang. I did not want anything major to happen to Star Peak Manor. Star Peak Manor was the foundation of my enterprise—my future expansion of influence would depend on it.

"Young Master, rest assured. I'll take care of everything here properly. When you come out, I'll definitely give you a surprise! Hehe!" Brother Wang was extremely confident in his abilities. Over the past year, Dragon Soaring Jade Shop's business had been flourishing. After expenses, its income had reached a staggering one and a half million taels of silver, averaging around five thousand taels per day. Of course, Uncle Zhang deserved much of the credit for all this.

I thought about it, but Star Peak Manor's martial strength still did not put me at ease. Did I really have to do that?

Forget it. For Brother Wang and the others to develop more smoothly in the future, and since I would have to make my Tianxin Sect flourish anyway, I might as well do it!

"Brother Wang, from now on, keep an eye out for promising cultivation talents, especially children around six or seven to ten years old. That is the best age to cultivate. If they're too young, they won't understand how to cultivate, and if things go wrong, they could suffer qi deviation. Once you have selected some children... sigh, you don't have the ability to determine other people's attributes either. Forget it—teach them the Taiji Yin Yang Art. No matter who cultivates this Taiji Yin Yang Art, the results are quite good."

Brother Wang stared at me, somewhat dumbfounded. No way—Young Master was actually giving such a precious secret manual to others to cultivate!

"Young Master, y-you're really going to pass such a precious manual on to others? This is a manual that can let people cultivate to the realm of eternal youth and immortality!" Brother Wang shouted at me.

"Brother Wang, don't be like this. If we want to establish a great clan, we cannot do without powerful martial strength. Besides, this kind of manual is merely a very simple one. The truly important manuals are the ones I will pass on to you later, so that you can become immortals. The Taiji Yin Yang Art can give us many martial arts experts. Remember this: teach them the nine levels of the formula gradually. Only when they reach the eighth level may you pass on the ninth level. That way, we won't have to fear those people betraying us. And one more thing—when teaching the formula, pay attention to their loyalty. I do not need them to be especially upright. I only need them to be absolutely loyal!"

With a solemn expression, I spoke to Brother Wang about this matter, which was of utmost importance to my plans. I did not want any accident to occur. This was simply too important to me—I could not afford to lose at all!

Brother Wang also understood the importance of this matter. He became very serious as he listened carefully to everything I said, committing each and every word to memory. This was far too important.

"Young Master, don't worry. I understand how important this is, and I will definitely handle it properly. When you emerge, there will surely be a group of experts. I guarantee it!" Brother Wang said firmly before me.

"Brother Wang, when you handle things, I'm at ease. Go ahead and do it boldly! All right, I'm going to retrieve the Mysterious Sky Stone now. I can't enter seclusion without it! All right, I'm leaving. Goodbye!"

My body became like a wisp of smoke. True Primordial Energy circulated through my entire body, and in an instant, I vanished beyond the gates of Star Peak Manor.

Brother Wang watched my figure, which seemed to have melted into the air, disappear before his eyes. His expression turned solemn again, returning to its usual sternness as he walked toward the interior of the manor. He still had many things to do.

At the eastern gate of the capital, two gate guards were standing watch. Serving as guards at the capital's gates was an extremely painful job. This was the center of the Ming Dynasty, after all. Who knew how many people with sinister intentions wanted to sneak into the capital? If anything major happened inside, these pitiful little soldiers would be the first to suffer.

"Second Brother, was there wind just now? But the fallen leaves around us didn't move, and even my hair didn't react. So why did I feel wind?" one of the guards said, scratching his head in confusion.

"Big Brother, have you gone stupid? How could there be wind? Did Sister-in-law drain you dry before you came here? Hahaha..." The sturdy young man beside him teased.

"You bastard, what do you know? Y-you tell me, could it have been some martial arts expert? Didn't the commander say that when some martial arts experts have superb lightness skills, they can move like the wind?" Big Brother immediately put on an angry look, feeling embarrassed. Before coming to take the night shift, he had indeed lain with his wife. To cover for himself, he immediately came up with an excuse, though even he did not believe it. He knew about lightness skills—during training, a third-rank expert had once demonstrated them for all the guards.

No matter how extraordinary one's lightness skill was, it was impossible for people not even to see a shadow.

Second Brother looked at Big Brother and could tell that he was trying to cover for himself. After all, they were brothers, so he did not press the matter. The eastern gate returned to calm.

But someone really had passed by just then. At this moment, he was already at Tianyan Stone Mountain, ten li away.