One Month Later

The Jiang family's meals were still simple: nothing but white rice and pickled vegetables.

Yet Jiang Fu and Zhang Yun ate with great relish.

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

Seeing that the rice in her bowl had barely been touched, Zhang Yun could not help saying, "You're full after eating so little? Hurry up and finish it."

"Nope, Xiaoxi is full." The young girl's face was filled with refusal, and then she vanished in a puff of smoke.

"What has 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, puzzled at the same time.

"Who knows?" Jiang Fu said. "Don't worry about it either. There may not be anything clever about this little girl, but when it comes to food, she would never shortchange herself. She must find these dishes not to her taste and have already eaten at some uncle or auntie's house."

Zhang Yun nodded slightly. Her daughter indeed did not look as though she had gone hungry; her complexion was even somewhat rosy and full. Still, Zhang Yun complained, "But she can't keep eating and drinking at other people's homes. Otherwise, it will look as if we're mistreating the little fellow."

"Mother, you needn't worry about that. I know whose house this 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, she smelled like chicken too; the day before that, pork knuckle; and the day before that, roasted meat."

"I figure that aside from her big brother, who has always spoiled her, no one else would be willing to feed this little glutton such good things."

"Big Brother? Ping'er! You mean Ping'er has returned from an escort mission?" Zhang Yun was delighted when she heard this. "So Xiaoxi has been going to Ping'er's place for dinner these past few days."

"From what I heard, he returned several days ago already." Jiang An nodded, then smiled.

"And he made quite a haul on this trip. It seems even the porters got more than half a tael of silver each."

At those words, Zhang Yun seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, while Jiang Fu snorted coldly. "No wonder he dares to feed his younger sister so extravagantly. So he came into a windfall."

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

Inside a Single House.

Clang!

With a sword cry, Jiang Ping held two fingers together like a sword. Streams of scorching Sword Qi continuously emerged from his fingertips, four or five of them 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, along with the thirty percent Sword Qi experience from the Riding the Wind Swordplay, he had brought this sword art to the Sword Qi Domain in only a few days.

Of course, the principles behind this sword art ran much deeper, and its difficulty far exceeded that of the Riding the Wind Swordplay. His future progress definitely would not be as rapid as it was now.

"Song Yuanshan had a famous teacher's guidance, yet it still took him five years to cultivate more than thirty percent Sword Qi. Let's see how my talent compares to his."

Jiang Ping showed a trace of anticipation.

Then he relaxed his fingers and took out a map from his robes.

Jiang Ping gave it a brief look and quickly found the location of Changping Prefecture City. Then he smiled faintly. "The Prefecture City is unexpectedly not far from Yang City. Only four or five county towns lie between them. If I travel through the night, a round trip will take only two days."

Though the Scorching Sun Swordplay was powerful, he wanted 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 furrowed his brows again.

As the most prosperous city in one prefecture, Changping City was the political and economic center. Naturally, there were many Martial Artists there. Seventh Rank and Sixth Grade Martial Artists, scarce as they seemed here, might not be as common as dogs over there, but they would certainly be everywhere one looked.

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

He feared that the robbery he had encountered at the Yang City 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 Agency were currently brimming with gunpowder tension. According to Escort Huang, he was already on the assassination list of the other escort agency.

If he left on a long journey now, perhaps he would be hunted down by experts from the Chenfeng Bodyguard Agency before he even reached Changping Prefecture.

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

After thinking for a long time, Jiang Ping temporarily abandoned the idea of going to Changping Prefecture City. He planned to quietly raise his strength first.

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

"Besides!"

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

The situation was far from encouraging.

Chen Weimin had not merely swindled a little money to support his Martial Dao. The silver involved in the case apparently 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, and Yang City's foremost hero, who had entered the Sixth Grade realm with Golden Bone!

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

"If this person were upright and honorable, the swindled silver would probably have been returned by now. From the looks of things, he is no gentleman."

Jiang Ping's brows knitted tightly.

Chen An certainly did not care about a victim like him right now, and most likely did not even know someone like him existed.

But once Jiang Ping gradually revealed his strength, trouble would inevitably come knocking, perhaps even danger to his life.

"Originally, I planned to reveal my Martial Artist realm early. Once the friction between the two escort agencies subsided, I could take private jobs myself and earn resources. But now, it seems this matter will have to be delayed for some time as well."

Jiang Ping felt as though every step was blocked—this would not work, and that was impossible too.

And because of his useless younger brother, he had inadvertently made an enemy of a hero.

"Strength. In the end, my strength is still insufficient."

He sighed, stopped thinking about these matters, and began working hard to improve his strength.

And just like that, a month flashed by.

Within the Jiang family's shabby Grand Courtyard.

Jiang An rarely ate with his parents, but he was not enjoying the meal.

He complained, "Father, when will you give me silver to buy beef? My Martial Dao path is not advancing but retreating. Without nutritious food to sustain me, forget becoming a Martial Artist—I'll only damage my body instead."

Hetui!

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

Jiang Fu glanced at him, then turned to Zhang Yun. "Didn't you visit that unfilial son a few days ago? Did he give you any silver?"

At those words, Zhang Yun grew somewhat agitated. "When you think of Ping'er, is all you think about how to suck his blood? He is your son too!"

Jiang Fu snorted coldly and said,

"An'er said he is living very well. The family is struggling now; shouldn't he contribute something to the household? After all, I earned the silver that fed and clothed him while he was growing up. Otherwise, how could he have become a porter at the Four Seas Escort Agency?"

"Or did he give you silver, but you refused to give it to An'er?"

Instead, Zhang Yun became even more heartbroken. Covering her face, she sobbed in agitation.

"I did not even get to see him!"

"That child still bears a grudge against us."

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

Mother and son now seemed to have become enemies. Her eldest son, who had always been diligent and hardworking, the child who had seemed so honest and dutiful, was now unwilling even to see her.

She had begged bitterly outside the escort agency's gates. The guards had relayed her request again and again, yet he never once showed himself.