The rainwater had yet to dry on the bluestone slabs, where the hem of a young boy's Black Brocade Robe was reflected.
Qin Wangchuan lowered his eyes to look at the blind girl who would one day become the Zither Heavenly Emperor. At that moment, though, she was like a drenched fledgling, so timid that she was afraid even to accept a gift.
He suddenly smiled.
With such virtue, it was no wonder she would become a Heavenly Emperor one day.
"My name is Qin Wangchuan." He bent down, picked up the bags of Spirit Crystals she had pushed back, and firmly pressed them into her palm along with a warm Jade Pendant. "Come with me."
"From now on, your life belongs to me. You'll live for me alone."
The Jade Pendant felt warm to the touch. The character "Qin" was carved on the front, and "Nine" on the back.
Ye Jianwei traced the patterns with her fingers. In a daze, she felt the warmth of the jade spread from her fingertips to her heart, melting the chill left behind by that rainy night.
"Qin... Wangchuan?" she murmured, repeating the name as if she wanted to carve those three characters into her bones and blood.
Qin Wangchuan didn't respond to Ye Jianwei's soft murmur. Turning to the guards beside him, he said coolly, "Take care of the bodies. Go prepare a coffin, too."
"Also, once we're back, each of you can pick one thing from my Treasure Pavilion."
At his words, the two guards' eyes suddenly blazed with joy.
"Thank you, Young Master!"
The guards hidden in the shadows gritted their teeth in secret, envy and resentment flashing in their eyes.
Spirit Crystals were just a cultivation resource, distributed by the Lineage every month.
But the treasures in the Young Master's Treasure Pavilion were all one of a kind!
Even a few things he had no use for could stir up a storm of blood and blades if he casually tossed them out.
Even now, a wisp of rosy light leaked through the slightly open bags of Spirit Crystals, making the cultivators nearby catch their breath in unison.
Their eyes betrayed unmistakable shock and greed. If the scene just now hadn't been so terrifying, they would have already swarmed forward.
Ye Jianwei was still kneeling on the ground, dazed, her eyes warming.
Her mother wouldn't be left dead in the wilderness. That mattered more than anything.
Qin Wangchuan stood still for a moment, his gaze shifting to his surroundings.
According to the course of the simulation, the mysterious person who gave her the Nine Heavens Zither Emperor Sutra should be arriving soon.
Helping Ye Jianwei to her feet, Qin Wangchuan said,
"Wait a little while."
"Next, I'm going to wait for someone—and wipe out a clan."
After hesitating for a moment, Ye Jianwei suddenly clutched the hem of her clothes, her voice trembling.
"Young Master... we should leave first. You killed people from the Ye Clan. They'll be here soon..."
Her fingertip gently traced the character "Nine" on the Jade Pendant. Her voice grew quieter and quieter. "My mother angered them before, and they ran her over. They even said no one was allowed to bury her, and no one was allowed to interfere, or else..."
Ye Jianwei couldn't see, and had no idea what a scene of Purgatory lay before her.
If she had known, she might not have said that.
Qin Wangchuan nodded and remarked, "A small clan sure acts like it owns the place."
"No! They're not a small clan. The Ye Clan... is very powerful."
Ye Jianwei's shoulders involuntarily shrank, as if she had recalled something terrifying. "So many people died. So we'll also..."
The two standing guards nearly burst out laughing when they heard this.
A clan from a border town—whether ten, a hundred, or ten thousand came, they could be suppressed with a wave of the hand.
Not to mention, this was within the Qin Clan's territory.
"Don't worry. It'll be fine."
Qin Wangchuan cut her off, then suddenly looked toward the end of the long street—
Rain mist swirled above the bluestone slabs as a man in a straw raincoat approached with steady steps.
He looked to be about thirty, with sharp brows and bright eyes. A fortune-teller's banner was fastened to his back, and a bamboo tube hung from his waist, copper coins clattering inside.
"Little girl..." He stopped in front of Ye Jianwei, lifted his hat, and was about to speak when his pupils suddenly contracted. In the place where his divination had shown there should be only one person, there was now a five-year-old child!
The boy wore dark robes and watched him with a profound gaze far beyond his years.
The man's slender fingers instinctively formed a divination seal, but when he tried to calculate the boy's fate, he came up with nothing.
The Heavenly Secrets were in chaos; there was no fate to read.
It was as if the person seated there wasn't alive at all, but a sharp sword severing the great river of Heavenly Secrets!
"How strange..." Shock appeared on the fortune-teller's bronze-colored face. He had traveled the Three Thousand Provinces for several thousand years and had never encountered a fate so utterly impossible to divine.
"Never mind."
"You two little ones, I have a cultivation technique here. Since you're both fated to meet me, which of you wants it?"
The fortune-teller's gaze shifted between them. He was only responsible for giving the technique away; it didn't matter who received it.
He decided in his heart, It'll definitely be the boy.
The boy seemed more mature, while the blind girl couldn't see and naturally had no idea how precious this item was.
But the very next moment, he guessed wrong.
"Give it to her," Qin Wangchuan said coolly.
"Oh?" The fortune-teller's interest was piqued. He raised the Jade Slip in his hand. "Do you know what this technique is?"
"No."
"Then why don't you want it?"
"It suits her better."
"What if I told you it was a supreme treasure capable of changing one's fate?"
"Then give it to her anyway."
Give it to her anyway.
Those four short words were like a flame, burning Ye Jianwei's heart until it grew hot.
She came from humble beginnings. Precisely because of that, she had seen too much darkness. A cultivation technique he treated with such solemnity had to be a peerless treasure.
Yet without the slightest hesitation, he had casually given it to her.
Why?
Was it because she was too weak? Or because he pitied her? Or... did he simply not care about this so-called "supreme treasure"?
But none of those reasons made this feel right.
She had seen so many people fight until their heads bled over a few Spirit Stones or a little food. Some had even turned on their own kin and fallen out with their brothers.
And yet now...
Ye Jianwei clutched the Jade Slip the fortune-teller had handed her, her knuckles turning faintly white. Something seemed to grip her heart hard, leaving it sore and swollen.
So there really was someone who would treat her this way.
It wasn't charity or pity, but... he truly wanted to give her something good.
She suddenly felt her eyes grow hot and hurriedly lowered her head, afraid he might see her lose her composure.
In truth, Qin Wangchuan's reason for saying all that was simple.
She already belongs to me. What difference does it make who gets it?
The fortune-teller didn't know that. With a soft laugh, he stepped forward, intending to take a closer look at this unusual boy.
But how could the two guards possibly let him approach?
The fortune-teller lightly rubbed his fingertips together, his gaze shifting. Though he couldn't see through Qin Wangchuan's fate, the divinatory signs turning beneath his fingers clearly revealed the two guards' origins.
He raised his brows and murmured with a faint, knowing smile,
"So you're from the Qin Clan."
His tone was calm, though it carried a hint of deeper meaning.
"I still owe your Old Ancestor a favor. Here, then. I have a Six-Character Sword Formula. It's yours."
"Youngster, learn the sword."
As if he had glimpsed something through Qin Wangchuan, the fortune-teller began to chant loudly. His freewheeling voice echoed across the entire intersection.
"A Sword User—"
"One sword sweeps across the sky, chilling the stars; a lonely blade once shone upon the sorrows of the Myriad Ages. Let the Prodigies vie for glory as they will; I stand unshaken—above the clouds!"
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