Lord Chu

Afterward, Old Master Pu motioned for Xia Qi'an to calm down and wait: "Just sit here and wait patiently. I've already sent a constable to notify Lord Chu!"

After saying this, Old Master Pu stopped paying attention to Xia Qi'an and turned his full attention back to the busy matters at hand.

Time passed second by second. Several hours later, the constable from earlier finally hurried in to report that Lord Chu would be arriving shortly.

Not long afterward, a dignified, refined middle-aged man with an extraordinary bearing strode into the main hall in the official robes of the Wei Dao Si.

This man was none other than Lord Chu!

The moment Old Master Pu saw Lord Chu arrive, he immediately rose and stepped forward, greeting him respectfully.

He then waved for the constables to leave the main hall with him.

At that moment, only Lord Chu and Xia Qi'an remained in the spacious, empty main hall.

"You have Su Mu's letter?"

Chu Shiqing first scrutinized the young man before him, Xia Qi'an, from head to toe. From that brief observation alone, he had already roughly deduced the other party's identity, background, and origins.

"Reporting to you, my lord! It's absolutely genuine!"

Xia Qi'an respectfully presented the three tokens of proof before Chu Shiqing.

Chu Shiqing did not even glance at the letter. Instead, he said in a deep voice, "Tell me how Su Mu died!"

"Yes, my lord!"

Xia Qi'an then recounted every detail of how he had encountered Su Mu.

After listening, Chu Shiqing fell silent for a moment before saying, "It's common for Wei Dao Si personnel to die while carrying out missions. Still, you deserve credit for delivering the intelligence. Tell me, what reward do you want?"

"You have two choices. First, two hundred taels of silver."

"Second, a martial arts manual—the one you found on Su Mu's body."

As for that martial arts manual, Xia Qi'an had voluntarily confessed its existence to Chu Shiqing.

After all, he did not know whether Chu Shiqing was aware of the manual.

If he deliberately concealed it, he might leave a bad impression and lose the opportunity to join the Wei Dao Si.

He did not want to gamble. The manual's contents were already deeply imprinted in his mind.

Even if he handed over the manual, it would have no effect on him.

"My lord! I don't want any of those things. I only ask for a chance to join the Wei Dao Si. I hope you'll grant my request!"

When Chu Shiqing offered him a reward, Xia Qi'an knew that this was the perfect moment to make his request.

"Join the Wei Dao Si?"

"You dared to impersonate a member of the Wei Dao Si at the city gate earlier. I haven't even held you accountable yet, and you actually dare to make demands?"

Chu Shiqing chuckled softly, seemingly with no intention of blaming Xia Qi'an.

"The Wei Dao Si only accepts exceptionally gifted martial artists. You can't even be considered a martial artist, so why do you want to join the Wei Dao Si?"

Xia Qi'an was somewhat troubled. After thinking for a moment, he said, "This... my lord, if I become a martial artist, will I be qualified to join the Wei Dao Si?"

"That... depends on how talented you are at martial arts..."

"However... I don't have time to sit here chatting with you. How about this? Take the manual from Su Mu home and cultivate it. If you can achieve a measure of mastery and become a martial artist within half a month, I'll make you a reserve member of the Wei Dao Si. How about it?"

Seeing that Chu Shiqing had agreed, Xia Qi'an said excitedly, "Thank you, my lord! I'll take my leave!"

With that, Xia Qi'an eagerly prepared to leave. He had long been unable to contain himself and only wanted to find somewhere to begin practicing martial arts immediately.

However, just as he crossed the threshold, he heard Chu Shiqing's airy voice drift from behind him: "Have you read what's inside this letter?"

Xia Qi'an did not pay attention at first and answered casually, "No! Whether the envelope shows signs of being opened, my lord can tell at a glance!"

"Mm...!"

Only afterward did Xia Qi'an suddenly come to his senses. Realizing that something was wrong, he broke out in a cold sweat.

He secretly congratulated himself. These past few days, because he had been ravenously hungry, he had completely failed to notice that the letter might contain important information.

If he had really opened that letter back then, he probably would not have been able to walk out through the Wei Dao Si's gates today.

But at this point, no matter what the letter contained, it was no longer important to him.

His most urgent task was to find a suitable place to practice martial arts as soon as possible and devote himself to increasing his strength, in the hope of successfully joining the Wei Dao Si.

He knew full well that meeting Chu Shiqing's requirements would not be easy.

Even so, this was undoubtedly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change his fate, and he truly did not want to miss it.

Xia Qi'an knew that he possessed a pair of eyes unlike any other in the world.

How could anyone say he lacked talent?

It was simply that he had been born into poverty and had never had the opportunity to practice martial arts.

When he was young and living in the village, the villagers had often mocked and discriminated against him because of those eyes, teasing him by calling him "Weiwei the Red-Eyed One."

But now, Xia Qi'an gradually understood that those eyes were not a curse, but an extraordinary innate talent.

What others did not know was that Xia Qi'an had been able to see wandering ghosts and mountain spirits since childhood.

The spiritual energy drifting between heaven and earth, the Turbid Qi bred in the mortal world, and countless other things—he could see them all with perfect clarity.

However, as Xia Qi'an gradually grew up, he became fully capable of controlling this talent, activating it only when he encountered danger.

Under normal circumstances, Xia Qi'an's eyes were no different from an ordinary person's.

Xia Qi'an had been abandoned at birth and struggled to grow up in a small village in Lishan County.

Born with red eyes, he was initially disliked by the villagers. Fortunately, an old blacksmith surnamed Xia took pity on him when he saw that he was a boy and was willing to adopt him. Only then did Xia Qi'an manage to grow up safely.

However, a raging flood came like a ferocious beast, submerging the entire village. After the waters receded, the old blacksmith unfortunately contracted a plague and died.

Xia Qi'an had no choice but to join the refugee caravan with another survivor from the village, a little girl named Xiao Cao.

Dressed in ragged clothes, Xia Qi'an led the pitiful Xiao Cao around the streets of Jinling City.

He was eager to find a money house. The fifty-tael banknote in his hand could only be used after being exchanged for silver there.

But these two filthy little beggars were like rats crossing the street, avoided by everyone. No one was willing to pay them any attention.

Xia Qi'an wandered around for a long time but still could not find out where the money house was.

It was only after he encountered a constable dressed in official robes with a long saber hanging from his waist that he learned the money house's location.

After entering the money house, Xia Qi'an exhausted his eloquence before finally convincing the shopkeeper that he was not a beggar.

For this reason, he fabricated a lie, claiming that his family did business in Lishan County but had been separated from him during the flooding there, leaving him stranded in Jinling City.

Holding the heavy pieces of silver, Xia Qi'an stepped out of the money house and could not help sighing. The rules of a major city were indeed as strict as an iron wall.

Even exchanging a banknote for silver involved so many rules. For ordinary people, surviving here was truly no easy matter.

Now that he had money, the first order of business was naturally to fill their stomachs.

Xia Qi'an immediately took Xiao Cao to a steamed-bun shop and bought ten buns.

The two of them feasted in the street, savoring this hard-won feeling of fullness.

Afterward, he eagerly asked the owner where he could rent a cheap house.

With silver in hand, getting things done was a breeze.

In less than two hours, Xia Qi'an had signed a rental contract with a housing broker.

The house was rather old and had been unoccupied for a long time, making it look somewhat dilapidated.

Fortunately, it stood in a fairly secluded location and had an independent courtyard, which was convenient for Xia Qi'an to practice martial arts.

Deep into the night...

Xiao Cao had helped Xia Qi'an clean up the house that afternoon and was already fast asleep, snoring softly.

As for Xia Qi'an, he began preparing to cultivate the Golden Body Technique!