Farewell to Linhe Village

"Lao Wu, what brings you back?"

"I'm back for a few days."

"Your family's really made it big..."

"Haha, it's not like we've made it big or anything..."

As the saying went, returning home rich and splendid was like wearing fine clothes to walk at night.

After spending most of his life scraping food from the fields, Chen Liangwu finally got to experience that feeling.

Chen Qinglin also answered the villagers' greetings one by one.

But where there were kind words, there were bound to be cruel ones too.

They didn't say it to his face, but gossiped behind his back.

At last, they reached the little home in Linhe Village. This was where it had all begun.

He asked Chen Qingyun to find the clan leader. He had a few things to discuss with him now that he was back.

"Liang Wu, what did you need me for?" Chen Yucheng asked as he entered.

"Fifth Uncle, Qinglin has something he'd like to discuss with you." Chen Liangwu invited Chen Yucheng to sit, then poured him a bowl of tea.

"Qinglin? What does he want to discuss with his Fifth Grandfather?" As the clan leader of the Chen Clan, he was one of the first Chen elders to arrive in Linhe Village.

He had weathered many hardships and dealt with countless troubles on behalf of the Chen Clan and the village.

Only now, with so many members of Chen Qinglin's generation having grown up, had their branch in Linhe Village finally found stability and stopped being bullied.

And with Chen Qinglin's sudden rise, life had become much easier for the Chen Clan in Linhe Village.

"Fifth Grandfather, there's something I'd like to discuss with you..." Chen Qinglin explained his plans.

He intended to donate some money to the clan so they could establish a school and teach the clan members to read. He also wanted to buy properties for the clan, entrust them to clan members to manage, and distribute a share of the profits at the end of the year.

He also planned to purchase some properties for his own family and would need the Chen Clan's help.

"That's a wonderful idea! There are still a few families in our clan who've lost their pillars of support and are left with only widows and orphans. Even with the clan's help, they're still struggling."

"You've got a good heart, Qinglin!" Chen Yucheng's eyes grew misty. The burden of these past years had worn him down.

Seeing someone from the Chen Clan step forward filled him with relief.

Then he turned to Chen Liangwu and said,

"Liang Wu, you raised a fine son. Your third brother can rest in peace, knowing this."

"There's more, Fifth Grandfather."

After some thought, Chen Qinglin took three manuals from his ring.

They were Fierce Tiger Fist, Stone Cutting Swordplay, and Flying Across the Forest.

"These are three Body Tempering Realm manuals. Fifth Grandfather, you can have the clan members practice them."

It wasn't that he didn't want to give them more; these were already enough for the Chen Clan as it stood.

"I'll be staying in the village for the next month. I can teach the clan members martial arts."

Seeing martial arts manuals again left Chen Yucheng dazed.

The Chen Clan's former glory had been vivid in his memory, yet in the blink of an eye, it had fallen into ruin. Its people had scattered in every direction, and only those who'd been children back then had come to Linhe Village.

The Fourth Uncle who'd escorted them there had lost his life in an accident. After that, none of the survivors knew martial arts.

A dozen brothers had supported one another, slowly making it through those difficult days.

At night, he'd sometimes dreamed of their childhood glory, but little by little, he'd accepted reality. He'd never expected to see hope for the Chen Clan's resurgence today.

Running his fingers over the three manuals Chen Qinglin had handed him, he couldn't hold back his tears.

After composing himself, he said, "I'll organize things as soon as I get back and see which families have children of the right age. I'll be counting on you to teach them in the coming days."

"Send every child old enough, boys and girls alike, Fifth Grandfather." As he spoke, he took out some Silver Notes and handed them to Chen Yucheng.

"There are three thousand taels in Silver Notes here. Clan Leader, use them as you see fit. And ask a few uncles and aunts to help prepare some food."

"You can't practice martial arts on an empty stomach."

"Alright, I'll get things organized and try to have everything ready in the next day or two." Chen Yucheng left the courtyard, beaming.

He then summoned the clan members for a Clan Meeting and told them about Chen Qinglin's plans.

The clan members immediately sprang into action.

By the next day, they'd gathered the children of the right age and cleared a spacious area for martial arts practice.

At first, the other villagers in Linhe Village had no idea what was going on. But when they learned what had happened a few days later, they all wanted to join in.

They didn't just want their children to attend the school and learn to read; they also wanted them to practice martial arts alongside the Chen children.

Some villagers went even further, demanding that the Chen Clan cover their children's martial arts expenses just as they did for their own.

But Chen Yucheng turned them away. The clan could teach the villagers to read, but martial arts manuals were the Chen Clan's roots, let alone the idea of using their own resources to support the other villagers.

There were few wise people. Some couldn't stand to see others doing well; others were jealous or had no mind of their own. With a few troublemakers fanning the flames, these things were bound to happen.

After this, Chen Qinglin decided to move somewhere else.

Rather than waste time arguing with these people, he figured it was better to spend a little more money and head to town with Clan Leader Chen Yucheng.

After making inquiries and negotiating with Town Guard Wei Zhan, they bought a cluster of homes, farmland, woods, and shops in Qingyan Town.

He brought every member of the Chen Clan to live in Qingyan Town.

As for the land in Linhe Village, he had no intention of letting those people have it for free.

Not every villager in Linhe Village was bad—in truth, there weren't many who were purely wicked.

But Chen Qinglin had no time to sort them all out. Chen Yucheng let the clan's in-laws farm the fields and kept the land deeds.

Chen Qinglin had no objection.

Then he left Linhe Village for good.

When the other villagers saw that the entire Chen Clan had moved away, they regretted it bitterly and blamed one another.

But it was too late.

When you have the means to avoid a muddy pit, you take another road.

Chen Qinglin paid no mind to what the people of Linhe Village thought. The Chen Clan's move to Qingyan Town caused quite a stir.

But with time, even that would fade away.

Clan Leader Chen Yucheng and the other clan elders went to study and discuss how to cultivate the farmland and make use of the shops.

Chen Liangwu suddenly realized that he had nothing left to do. His son had already arranged everything.

He turned down the people assigned to help at the Small Grocery Store and ran the shop himself. It gave him a sense of purpose.

He also brought his other sister, whose life hadn't gone well, and her family to Qingyan Town, finding his brother-in-law a job.

That was the least he could do for his sister.

As for Chen Qinglin, he spent his days practicing swordsmanship and setting aside some time to teach the clan members at the New Manor.

Now and then, he visited his master and fellow disciples at the Iron Sword Martial Arts School. He also saw his Grandmaster, Xie Song, a few times, though they didn't have much to say to each other.

Xie Jingyun returned with a Qi Gathering Pill. Xie Feng said nothing about it and gave it to Xie Jingjiang.

For Xie Jingjiang, the pill might have come a little late. He'd spent this time coming to terms with many things.

Some people, perhaps, were simply fated to miss each other. He didn't blame Yan Yu; neither of them had done anything wrong.

He didn't go to Dingyuan County to see Yan Yu. Instead, with his younger sister Xie Jingyun's guidance, he began adjusting his condition, calming his mind as he prepared to break through to the Inner Qi Realm.

He was already twenty-five. Over the years, his Blood Qi control had reached eighty-two percent, and he'd made no further progress.

Xie Song could have broken through to the Inner Qi Realm too. He was nearly seventy, and for the sake of his son and grandson, he'd remained at the Body Tempering Ninth Level for decades.

His Blood Qi control had long since reached the limit of what he could achieve: eighty-seven percent. Though his Blood Qi had declined over the years, he still had a chance.

Most people at the Body Tempering Ninth Level could live into their nineties, even a hundred. Breaking through to the Inner Qi Realm could extend that to a hundred and twenty, giving them another twenty years.

But Xie Jingyun had brought back only one Qi Gathering Pill, so naturally, it went to Xie Jingjiang.

A Qi Gathering Pill was worth two hundred Spirit Stones. Ever since their last trip to Dingyuan County, the Iron Sword Martial Arts School had understood that its savings weren't nearly enough to buy even one.

Xie Feng understood his father. It was because he knew how much his father had sacrificed that he asked Xie Jingyun how long it would take to buy another Qi Gathering Pill.

Xie Jingyun had already broken through to the Inner Qi Realm. She could take missions at the Mission Hall alongside senior sisters from her peak or senior brothers and sisters from other peaks.

She could exchange Merit Points for a pill, but a single mission would probably earn only a handful, or perhaps a dozen, Merit Points. It would take years to gather enough to exchange for a Qi Gathering Pill.

His cultivation was still too low. Not everyone was a genius like his junior brother Qinglin.

Wait, his junior brother Qinglin!

Xie Jingyun suddenly thought of Chen Qinglin, but then remembered that he hadn't been on the mountain long and spent most of his time practicing martial arts at Qingyun Peak.

He probably didn't have a Qi Gathering Pill on him. After all, he didn't need one, and his cousin Chen Qingshi wasn't anywhere near ready to use one either.

With no hope in the near future, she felt a little dejected.

Xie Jingyun had never had a grandmother. Her mother had died in childbirth, but her father and elder brother had never held that against her; if anything, they'd treated her even better.

She wanted to do something for her family. After entering Qingfeng Mountain, she'd worked hard at her training. She spent the Spirit Stones she received on cultivation and saved most of the rest.

That was how she'd managed to buy a Qi Gathering Pill on this trip home.

She could only ask her grandfather to wait another two years.

She and Chen Qinglin had been in Qingyan Town for nearly a month, and they'd be heading back in a few days.

Next time she came home, she would bring back a Qi Gathering Pill.

She said a few comforting words to her grandfather, Xie Song, and asked him to wait for her to return in two years.

Xie Song was deeply comforted when he heard her promise.