One Month Later

The Jiang family's meals were still plain—nothing but white rice and pickles.

Yet Jiang Fu and Zhang Yun ate with great relish.

"I'm full, Xiaoxi." Beside them, Jiang Xiaoxi set down her bowl and chopsticks.

Seeing that the rice in her bowl was barely touched, Zhang Yun could not help saying, "You've eaten so little and you're already full? Hurry up and finish it."

"Nope, Xiaoxi's full." The young girl's face was full of refusal. Then, in a flash, she ran off without a trace.

"What's gotten into this child lately? She barely eats anything at dinner every time."

Zhang Yun pulled her daughter's leftovers over and ate them herself, feeling somewhat puzzled.

"Who knows?" Jiang Fu said. "Don't worry. This little girl may not be clever in any other way, but when it comes to food, she'd never let herself go hungry. She must find these dishes unappetizing and already have eaten at some uncle or auntie's house."

Zhang Yun nodded slightly. Her daughter indeed did not look hungry; on the contrary, her complexion had become somewhat fuller. Still, she grumbled a few words. "But she can't keep eating and drinking at other people's houses. Otherwise, it'll look as though we're mistreating the little fellow."

"Mother, don't worry about that. I know whose house the little fellow has been eating at."

At that moment, Jiang An emerged from the inner room with a toothpick in his mouth and grease all over his lips.

"Whose house?"

Jiang An chuckled. "Little sister smelled like chicken today. Yesterday, too—it was chicken. The day before yesterday, it was pork knuckle, and the day before that, roasted meat."

"I think that aside from Big Brother, who has always doted on her, no one else would be willing to feed this little glutton such good food."

"Big Brother? Ping'er! You mean Ping'er has returned from his escort mission?" Zhang Yun's face lit up with joy. "So Xiaoxi has been going to Ping'er's place for dinner these past few days."

"According to what I found out, he returned several days ago." Jiang An nodded, then smiled again. "And he made quite a haul on this trip. It seems even the porters received more than half a tael of silver each."

Hearing this, Zhang Yun seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, while Jiang Fu gave a cold snort. "No wonder he dares to lavishly feed his younger sister. So he struck a windfall."

Inside the Inner Courtyard Residential Area of the Four Seas Escort Agency.

Within a single house.

Clang!

With a ringing sword cry, Jiang Ping held two fingers together like a sword. One scorching strand of sword qi after another emerged from his fingertips—four or five in all.

Ever since returning several days ago, Jiang Ping had focused on studying the Scorching Sun Swordplay he had just acquired.

Relying on his own talent, coupled with his experience of one-tenth sword qi from the Riding the Wind Sword, he had brought this swordplay to the Sword Qi Domain in just a few short days.

Of course, this swordplay contained deeper principles and was far more difficult than the Riding the Wind Sword. His progress afterward certainly would not remain as swift as it was now.

"Song Yuanshan had the guidance of a famous master, yet it took him five years to cultivate over thirty percent sword qi. Let's see how my talent compares to his."

A trace of anticipation appeared on Jiang Ping's face.

Then he relaxed his fingers and pulled out a map from his robe.

After a brief look, Jiang Ping quickly found the location of Changping Prefecture City. He smiled faintly. "The prefectural city is surprisingly not far from Yang City—only four or five county towns lie between them. If I travel through the night, a round trip would take only two days."

Though the Scorching Sun Swordplay was powerful, he wanted even more to obtain Grandmaster Swordplay as soon as possible.

And the only way to acquire it was to try his luck in Changping Prefecture City.

But before long, he frowned again.

As the most prosperous city in the entire prefecture, Changping City was its political and economic center. Naturally, it had many martial artists. Seventh- and sixth-grade martial artists, who seemed scarce here, might not be as common as dogs over there, but they would certainly be everywhere.

"My strength is still somewhat lacking." Jiang Ping was very cautious.

He feared that the robbery he had encountered at Yang City's Black Market would play out again in Changping Prefecture City, while his own strength would be insufficient to handle it.

What was more, the Four Seas and Chenfeng Bodyguard Agencies were now thick with the smell of gunpowder. According to Escort Huang, he had already been placed on the other agency's assassination list.

If he traveled far at a time like this, perhaps he would be hunted down by Chenfeng Bodyguard Agency's experts before even reaching Changping Prefecture.

"I should steady myself a little longer. I still have swordplay to practice, and my Martial Dao cultivation is also too low—I've only just entered Eighth Grade Skin."

After thinking for a long while, Jiang Ping temporarily abandoned the notion of going to Changping Prefecture City. He planned to quietly build up his strength first.

He was not Song Tianjiao, able to roam the martial world as he pleased.

"And besides!"

Over the past few days, Jiang Ping had also taken time to investigate the Jidao Martial Academy, focusing on Chen Weimin's past fraud for money.

The situation was far from good.

Chen Weimin had not swindled a little money merely to support his Martial Dao cultivation. The silver involved seemed to have exceeded ten thousand taels!

"It has something to do with his son, Chen An!"

Who was Chen An? The youngest disciple of the Master of Jidao Martial Academy, one of the top ten on the martial examination rankings, Yang City's foremost hero who had entered the sixth-grade realm with Golden Bone!

His strength far surpassed that of Song Tianjiao, whom Jiang Ping had seen that day.

"If this person were upright and honorable, the swindled silver would likely have been returned already. Judging from the current situation, he is no gentleman."

Jiang Ping's brow furrowed tightly.

Chen An certainly did not care about him, one of the Victims, and most likely did not even know someone like him existed.

But once Jiang Ping gradually revealed his strength, trouble would surely follow—perhaps even mortal danger.

"I'd originally planned to reveal my martial artist realm early. Once the friction between the two escort agencies died down, I could take private jobs myself and earn resources. But now, it seems this will have to be delayed for a while."

Jiang Ping felt as though every step was blocked—this would not do, and neither would that.

And because of his worthless younger brother, he had inadvertently made an enemy of a Hero.

"Strength. In the end, I'm simply not strong enough."

With a sigh, he stopped dwelling on these matters and began working hard to improve his strength.

Just like that, a month flashed by.

In the Jiang family's shabby Grand Courtyard.

Jiang An was rarely having a meal with his Parents, but he was not enjoying it much.

He complained, "Father, when will you give me silver to buy beef? Instead of advancing, my path in the Martial Dao is retreating. If I don't have nutritious food to sustain me, forget becoming a martial artist—I'll only ruin my body."

Hetui!

He spat out the food in his mouth, his face full of disgust. "These pickles taste awful."

Jiang Fu shot him a glance, then turned to Zhang Yun. "Didn't you go visit that Unfilial Son a few days ago? Did he give you any silver?"

At that, Zhang Yun became somewhat agitated. "Is sucking Ping'er dry all you can think of? He's your son too!"

Jiang Fu gave a cold snort and said, "An'er said he's living quite comfortably. The family is struggling now—shouldn't he contribute something toward the household expenses? After all, I earned the silver that fed and clothed him while he grew up. Otherwise, how could he have gone to the Four Seas Escort Agency to become a Porter?"

"Or did he give you silver, and you refuse to give it to An'er?"

But Zhang Yun was even more heartbroken upon hearing this. She covered her face and sobbed, crying out emotionally, "I didn't even get to see him!"

"That child still bears a grudge against us."

Zhang Yun deeply regretted what she had done that day, so much so that she wished she could slap herself twice.

Mother and son now seemed to have become enemies. That eldest son who had always been diligent and hardworking, that child who had seemed so honest and well-behaved, was now unwilling even to see her.

She had begged bitterly outside the escort agency's gates. The guards had reported her visit again and again, yet he had never shown himself.