"Creak..."
I stared straight ahead without blinking. There was excitement in my heart, but also a strange calm, as though the two were contradictory. My feelings for my loved ones had utterly broken through the defenses of my state of mind, yet I was willing.
As the door to the secret chamber opened, a ray of sunlight shone in from outside and fell upon me. The sunlight seemed to make it hard for me to see what lay outside. Only after a long while did I see clearly: that group of people stood there watching me without moving, and not a single person made a sound.
It seemed I had not seen sunlight for a very long time. It felt truly comfortable against my body. Were you all well? Did you still care for me so much? I knew that, in this world, aside from my mother, you were the ones who treated me best. Perhaps there was also that father who had driven me from home.
After emerging from my secluded cultivation in the secret chamber, I felt that I no longer held the same anger toward my father as before. Perhaps he had his own difficulties, I thought faintly.
Uncle Zhang had not changed, except that he looked even younger. His eyes were brighter and more penetrating, and every movement he made blended perfectly with his surroundings...
First Wife seemed not to have changed at all. She still looked thirty, yet the faint aura of an expert revealed amidst her gentleness and kindness showed that she was no ordinary woman.
Brother Wang and Sister Yu had not changed much either. Brother Wang was simply steadier than before, an aura slowly spreading from him into his surroundings. It was the bearing possessed only by a successful man, a man in high position. Sister Yu, meanwhile, seemed quieter, no longer as spoiled and willful as before. It looked like Brother Wang had trained her well!
Those identical bald brothers had to be my two disciples. Those two bald heads gleaming beneath the sunlight filled me with an overwhelming sense of familiarity. It felt like only recently, yet also like ages ago, that those same bald heads had shone in the sun. The only difference was that the childishness had vanished from their faces, replaced by the imposing bearing of fierce generals. Their cultivation was evidently very high as well.
The one holding a fan in his hand had to be Ah Yu. He looked like a graceful young gentleman, with none of his former childishness left. An air of refined elegance surrounded him.
It seemed the most handsome one was my eldest brother. His body was very robust, the muscles on his chest clearly defined. With shoulders like a tiger's back and a waist like a wasp's, he radiated youthful vigor. The natural aura around him delighted me: he had already reached the First-grade realm.
"Hello, everyone. It's been a long time. Hahaha..." I thought for a long time but could not think of anything to say, so I could only laugh it off like this.
Brother Wang, Sister Yu, Uncle Zhang, First Wife, Ah Yu, the Li Brothers, and my eldest brother Lang Feng all looked at me.
Before them stood a man with an ethereal aura and a transcendent temperament. Calling him a youth did not seem right; the clear understanding in his eyes, as though he had seen through the mortal world, could not be concealed from heroes among men like them. Yet calling him an adult did not seem right either, for his face was so handsome, like that of a scholar. The young master had entered ten years ago, and he should have emerged as an eighteen-year-old youth. But...
Uncle Zhang looked at me and knew at a glance that I was his worthy nephew. Though my gaze now was even more unfathomable to him than before, he was certain that only his worthy nephew in this world could leave him unable to see through him. After all, he had already reached the Second-grade realm, and his ability to judge people had advanced by leaps and bounds. If there was still someone he could not understand, it could only be that worthy nephew of his, a person filled with miracles.
"Worthy nephew, I haven't seen you for a long time. I never expected your realm to have grown even higher, making you harder and harder for me to see through. This old man admires you, hehe." Uncle Zhang smiled as he spoke to me. He seemed very calm, but his slightly trembling hands revealed just how excited he was. He was the number one jade carver in the world, after all, and during these ten years, because he had long since reached the realm of comprehending nature, his cultivation had swiftly reached the First-grade realm. For his hands to tremble beyond his control was almost impossible, yet it was happening now. One could imagine how excited Uncle Zhang was.
Everyone knew of Uncle Zhang's ability to judge people. They also sensed the transcendent aura around me, as well as that familiar temperament. They no longer had the slightest doubt.
"Second Brother."
"Young Master."
"Master."
Everyone cried out excitedly to their loved one or the pillar of their hearts. Before, they had not realized just how important I was in their hearts. Yet after I entered seclusion, they discovered that they had long regarded me, who had only been seven or eight years old then, as the support of their souls.
I smiled. It was a strange smile, because I wanted to cry too, but I held it back. I did not want everyone to start crying now.
"We haven't been together for a long time. Come on, let's go back and have a good talk." I could only lead everyone toward home. Otherwise, who knew how long we would remain here?
My home was my castle,
Every brick and tile was built with love,
The smiles of those at home were my treasure,
Only upon returning home did I know,
That I was truly important,
My hands could grow rough for my family,
Ah~~~~~~~~~
How glorious!
How proud!
You cooked for me,
I cleaned for you,
Ah~~~~~~~~~
The feeling of returning home,
Was truly, truly wonderful,
Ah~~~~~~~~~
The feeling of returning home,
Was truly, truly wonderful.
A burst of song rose in my heart. I did not know who was singing it, but it represented the voice in my heart.
The feeling of returning home was truly, truly wonderful. I thought silently, a surge of impulse rising within me. Part of me wanted to stop striving for power and simply continue like this, but I knew that was impossible. My responsibility had long been decided. Whether for myself, for them, for my mother, or perhaps for her...
Was she still waiting for me?
Hahaha... I laughed at myself. How old had we been back then? I did not even know whether she still remembered that there had once been a boy who had been with her.
You were twenty now too. You had probably already married. Were you happy? Oh, how stupid I was. You were the treasured young lady of the Yuwen Family. How could you possibly be unhappy?
I smiled faintly. Was it truly a smile? I did not know. My heart did not hurt at all. There was only emptiness, a sense of having nothing to cling to, a surrendering of love. Perhaps a cultivator like me, one who had stepped beyond the Five Elements, should not have love!
I could only think this way. As I walked out through the gates of Star Peak Manor, I turned back to look at the manor, now far more luxurious than before. The faces of those loved ones all surfaced before my eyes.
It was all because of them. Because of them, while I had been in seclusion, my business had been diligently managed. Now, my Dragon Soaring Jade Shops had spread throughout the entire Ming Dynasty, with one shop in each of the nine provinces. The main problem now was that our martial strength was still not powerful enough. If a jade shop lacked sufficient force, it could easily be forcibly seized by underworld figures.
Fortunately, before entering seclusion, I had told them to take in some children for training. It was precisely because of these children that we could open shops in all nine provinces. We now had two hundred children in training. We had taken in one hundred only in the first year, and afterward took in around ten each year, all children with excellent aptitude.
There were now eighty outside, all from the first three batches. The later children were still too young.
They all had one unified name when dealing with the outside world: "Star Peak Guard."
Before you continue