Am I a Fledgling?

A total of three secret letters actually involved two translated versions: the Huangmei Opera Dongwan Travels and the Yuefu poetry Eternal Joy.

Fortunately, the two wooden towers inside Chunhe Garden contained a vast collection of books, including the currently popular plays and vernacular novels.

Even so, Chen Yi still spent nearly an hour decoding the contents of the three secret letters.

One letter read: [The fledgeling has married into the Xiao Manor, pay close attention!]

The second read: [There is something fishy about the aborted marriage, find out who did it!]

And the final letter was the very one Chen Yi had managed to see this morning before Liu Si'er:

[You have been exposed, find him and kill him! Also, someone else will take over your position later on, he will contact you when needed!]

After finishing reading, Chen Yi frowned slightly and thought to himself: I am a fledgeling?

Fledgeling, eaglet.

The implication of such a codename seemed to carry the intention of letting him grow robustly.

Did this mean they intended to groom him, or wanted to use him to achieve a certain purpose?

Furthermore, judging from the contents of these three secret letters, the hidden guards did not seem to harbor any great malice toward him.

Especially the line, "There is something fishy about the aborted marriage."

Even the people of the Xiao Family did not know about this matter, so where did the hidden guards learn of it? And how were they so certain that he did not flee his marriage himself, but was framed by someone?

The most crucial point was-what reason and what status did they have to investigate this matter?

Thinking of this, Chen Yi shook his head.

The intelligence at his disposal was ultimately too little, and he could only be certain that these hidden guards who had been hiding in the Xiao Family for many years harbored no malice toward him in the short term.

Other than that, it was that these hidden guards were not in cahoots with the people who had previously caused him to flee his marriage.

Seeing his expression change, Pei Guanli nearby leaned over to look at the secret cipher decoded on the blank paper, rubbed her rounded chin, and asked, "Brother-in-law, who is this fledgeling? Has a maiden married into the Xiao Family recently?"

Chen Yi's face darkened; the phrasing chosen by these hidden guards was quite problematic, and he feared they could not find a vernacular novel containing the word "son-in-law".

Pei Guanli paid no attention to his expression. "And about the aborted marriage, hmm... does this refer to brother-in-law?"

"And this last part about being exposed, hah... the only people who know his identity are brother-in-law and me... wait?"

Pei Guanli snapped to her senses, her smile vanished instantly, and she bared two canine teeth, saying fiercely, "Brother-in-law, he wants to kill us-should I go and slaughter him right now?"

Chen Yi raised a hand. "No rush."

Earlier, he had only assumed that the hidden guards were targeting the Xiao Family, and had even thought of using this as a backup plan to trade for some benefits depending on the situation when he met Lady Xiao Jinghong.

Now that he had learned that all three consecutive secret letters of the hidden guards involved him, this plan naturally had to be changed.

At least he had to wait until he figured out the true purpose of the hidden guards before deciding.

Otherwise, if things went poorly, he might bury himself in the process.

Pei Guanli looked at the translation, then looked at him, and asked in confusion, "Why?"

Chen Yi thought for a moment. "Don't you think it's very interesting to hide in the dark and watch another group of people who think they are hidden in the dark try to harm you?"

A trace of bewilderment appeared on Pei Guanli's rounded face, and her eyes gazed at him blankly as if veiled in a layer of mist.

After a long while, she sorted out the sentence, the corner of her full lips turning upward as she said, "I understand, brother-in-law."

"You want to wait for them to try to harm you so you can wipe them out in one net?"

"Let's assume you guessed right."

Chen Yi was no masochist; he could not sit back and watch others try to harm him.

From the moment he decoded the secret cipher and discovered the existence of the hidden guards, the positions of hunter and prey had undergone a subtle shift.

Liu Si'er, Uncle Gui, and the others hiding in the Xiao Manor only knew they were exposed, but still did not know who had discovered their identities.

This was Chen Yi's greatest advantage.

Pei Guanli wore a slightly excited expression, shaking her hands and feet, which set the pair of bells in front of her chest gently vibrating.

Interesting. Brother-in-law was far too interesting.

Following him was indeed the right choice, and she would definitely encounter even more interesting things in the future.

"Brother-in-law, what should we do next?"

"Next... naturally, it's to first raise our cultivation bases and techniques."

Chen Yi was well aware of Liu Si'er's strength.

He was a battle-hardened veteran of the Dingyuan Army who had only been able to come to the Xiao Manor to serve as a personal guard after passing through layer upon layer of selections, and it was said that his cultivation base had already reached the Eighth Rank Realm several years ago.

Even if he joined forces with Pei Guanli, they were no match for Liu Si'er in a head-on fight.

Added to that, besides the hidden guards, there was still another group of people still lurking in the dark who had caused him to flee his marriage.

At this thought, a sense of urgency welled up in Chen Yi's heart, almost ruining even his mood for fishing.

He was merely an idle son-in-law, gentle, modest, and harmless to both men and beasts-how did he end up being targeted like this?

Before long.

Chen Yi led Pei Guanli quietly into the Purple Bamboo Grove, where they each found a corner to practice their stake training.

Outside Chunhe Garden at this moment, although Liu Si'er, Wang Lixing, and others were keeping watch, as long as they did not step inside, with their cultivation bases at most at the Eighth Rank Realm, they were still unable to probe as far as the Purple Bamboo Grove from such a distance.

This made it convenient for Chen Yi to quietly elevate his cultivation base.

Thus, while using the Great Spear Stance Cultivation to condense his qi and open up his dantian and qi sea, he summoned his status panel to check it:

Name: Chen Yi
Cultivation Base: Ninth Rank · Middle
Way of Calligraphy: Great Accomplishment (0/1000)
Calligraphy: Wei Qing (Proficient), Running Script (Skilled)
Martial Dao Body: Minor Accomplishment (0/100)
Cultivation Technique: Great Spear Stance Cultivation [Mystic Grade] (Skilled)
Martial Dao Fist: Minor Accomplishment (0/100)
Fist Technique: Collapse Mountain [Mystic Grade] (Skilled), Hundred Flower Palm [Mystic Grade] (Initial Glimpse)
Martial Dao Step: Minor Accomplishment (0/100)
Movement Technique: Playful Dragon Teases Phoenix [Mystic Grade] (Skilled), Meteor Butterfly Steps [Earth Rank] (Initial Glimpse)
Fortune: 43

After carefully reviewing the current progress of each "path" and knowing where he stood, Chen Yi concentrated on practicing his stake training.

Presently, aside from the Way of Calligraphy being at Great Accomplishment, the martial dao body, fist, and step were all at Minor Accomplishment, and his various techniques had only just entered the skilled stage-still a long way from perfection-so there was no rush to consume his fortune.

As for breakthroughs, it was actually his cultivation progress that was rapid.

An hour later.

Chen Yi's body was postured in the great spear stance, his eyes half-closed, and his hands held out level with his shoulders as if he were lightly gripping a great spear.

Though invisible from the outside, his body was actually vibrating his entire tendons, bones, and skin-and even his internal organs-at a very faint yet extremely rapid frequency.

The qi generated by his flesh and blood pushed the dantian and qi sea to open up to their limits, then slowly condensed and contracted into a tiny thread of qi, pressing upward to puncture that substantial barrier.

Like the prick of a needle.

Chen Yi felt a pain in the back of his head and heard a crisp pop in his ears, immediately sensing that wispy thread of qi break through the dantian all the way upward, vanishing into the Tanzhong acupoint.

[Cultivation base progressed, breakthrough to Ninth Rank · Upper!]

As a brilliant light flashed across, an arcane insight regarding the "Martial Dao Body" Minor Accomplishment realm surfaced in Chen Yi's mind.

[The Martial Dao Ninth Rank Realm is for building the foundation of the physique and meridians, taking the Tanzhong acupoint as the core above to clear the primary meridians of both arms, and taking the dantian as the core below to clear the primary meridians of both legs.]

[From this point, force penetrates tendons, bones, skin, and viscera, and qi permeates all four limbs, allowing one to use this as a base to continuously polish the physique until both seas are overflowing.]

Chen Yi opened his eyes, slowly lowered his hands, steadied the qi within his body, and exhaled a breath of stale air.

Instantly, his body felt light, and he felt thoroughly clear throughout his entire being, with none of the ravenous hunger he usually felt after finishing a cultivation session.

So that's how it is. After reaching the upper stage, the qi condensed from the tendons, bones, and skin is locked within the two qi seas, meaning there is no consumption of one's own essence at all.

With a sudden understanding, Chen Yi looked over at Pei Guanli, who was also finishing her stake training. So all her previous talk about being hunger had been an act.

Hah, this fierce girl was not only fierce, but a glutton too.

However, after thinking about it, he still took out the pastries he had prepared earlier and shared them with Pei Guanli.

"Brother-in-law, thanks to your guidance, my dantian qi sea and, um..."

Pei Guanli tapped the bells with her chin, her pretty face flushed. "The flaws in my body are also almost fully worked through, and I feel like my cultivation base will soon break through to the Eighth Rank Realm."

Chen Yi ate a pastry, glanced at the sky, and casually offered his congratulations.

"Brother-in-law, you're about to break through too, right?"

"Drop the word 'about'."

Pei Guanli's smile froze. "Brother-in-law, you... you you... you broke through? Ninth Rank, Upper Stage?"

Chen Yi gave her a sidelong glance. "What's with the surprise? I'm still a long way from the Ninth Rank · Perfected."

Pei Guanli stared at him blankly. "Heh, oh... oh yeah."

Goodness gracious, brother-in-law was not human!

He had gone from a mortal, mundane body to the Ninth Rank, Upper Stage in less than a month!!