White Deer Academy

The inn, second floor, inside Shen Zhou's room.

The Three Little Ones sat around a table laden with food and drink, all frowning.

San Mazi furrowed his brows and pondered. "Second Brother, who do you think would be looking for Boss Shen? We just got to Flying Bird City. We shouldn't know anyone here, right?"

A Dai said, "Other than the Qin Family, there's no one else."

San Mazi was startled. "The Qin Family? What do they want with Boss Shen? Are they looking for revenge?"

A Dai shook his head. "No. If they wanted revenge, they wouldn't have chosen this place, much less laid out a whole table of food and drink to entertain us."

San Mazi thought about it and agreed. "Then what do they want?"

Just then, Shen Zhou returned. After entering the room, he said nothing and downed three cups of wine in a row. Only after he let out a belch did he feel a little more at ease.

Seeing this, A Dai and San Mazi exchanged a glance, realizing that something was up.

Unable to hold back his curiosity, San Mazi asked first, "Boss, who was looking for you? Was it someone from the Qin Family?"

Shen Zhou didn't even look up. "Yes."

San Mazi pressed him. "What did they want? Were they here to cause trouble?"

At the mention of it, Shen Zhou couldn't suppress his anger, and his voice rose. "No. An old madam from the Qin Family showed up and said the moment she opened her mouth that she wanted to hand the entire Qin Family over to me and make me their family head.

Isn't that ridiculous?

Besides, why should I be their family head?"

San Mazi froze.

A Dai looked just as dumbfounded.

What was this? The Qin Family was handing itself over to Boss Shen and making him the family head?

How could something so absurd be real?

Shen Zhou then told the Three Little Ones the gist of what had happened.

When A Dai and San Mazi heard that Shen Zhou was the reincarnation of the White-robed Divine King, Qin Taixuan, who had died a thousand years ago, they both sucked in a sharp breath.

This was beyond absurd—it was like something out of a ghost story!

San Mazi exclaimed, "Someone who died a thousand years ago can be reincarnated?"

A Dai seemed deep in thought. "Actually, it's not impossible. I remember my father telling me when I was little that a thousand years ago, during the Great Cultivator Era, martial artists were collectively called 'Cultivators.' The powerful ones could turn rivers and seas upside down and chase stars and moons. All kinds of divine abilities appeared one after another, and there were countless people of peerless elegance. There were tens of thousands of Cultivators at the Core Formation Realm and above.

"But later, a great calamity caused countless powerful Cultivators to fall. Sect after sect and sacred ground after sacred ground were destroyed, and many legacies were lost forever.

"By now, the path of cultivation has vanished, and the Core Formation Realm has become a chasm in the path of martial arts, something countless people can only yearn for from afar.

"So, if the White-robed Divine King really was as powerful as the legends say, then it's not impossible that he was reincarnated."

Shen Zhou had heard the Sword Spirit of the Taixuan Sword mention reincarnation when he drew the sword earlier, but this was the first time he'd heard of the Millennium Cataclysm. He asked, "The Millennium Cataclysm? What kind of calamity was it that so many people died?"

A Dai shook his head. "I don't know. My father only told me that much. He didn't know anything more."

The room fell silent for a moment.

Everyone's thoughts had been drawn to the mysterious Millennium Cataclysm.

Only later did San Mazi turn back to Shen Zhou and ask, "Boss... are you really the reincarnation of the White-robed Divine King?"

Shen Zhou's thoughts snapped back to the present, and he immediately denied it. "Of course I'm not."

San Mazi said, "How can you prove you're not? Just as Old Madam Qin said, only the Divine King's reincarnation can draw the Taixuan Sword. You think you're not him because you haven't awakened the memories of your past life yet. Once you do, you might know everything."

Shen Zhou grew agitated. "Awaken what? I'm Shen Zhou, and no one else. Where am I supposed to awaken these memories? You can say I'm from another world, but you can't say I'm the reincarnation of so-and-so.

"Don't I know who I am?"

Seeing that Shen Zhou was genuinely upset, San Mazi immediately stopped asking.

A Dai hurried to calm him down as well.

Once things had settled a little, A Dai changed the subject. "Boss, leaving aside who you are, the Qin Family wants you to be their family head now. Why are you so against it?"

San Mazi was puzzled too. "Yeah. Wouldn't anyone think that was a good thing? Sure, the Qin Family offended you earlier, but you beat their people up too. We didn't lose out.

"And the Qin Family is a second-rate clan, after all. If you became their family head, you'd have all the money, people, and resources you could want.

"If you want to learn body cultivation, the techniques would be right there for the taking.

"And if you're afraid of going wrong while practicing, you could have the elders teach you. Would they dare say no?"

A Dai and San Mazi looked at Shen Zhou strangely, as if his way of thinking made no sense to normal people.

What normal person would turn down an offer like that?

For a moment, Shen Zhou was at a loss for words.

Being fed all that nonsense by the two of them made him forget why he'd been so opposed to becoming the Qin Family's head in the first place.

Then Xi Mei, who had been quiet all along, suddenly spoke up. "There's no medicine for regret in this world, and a good horse doesn't eat the grass behind it. The Qin Family was the one that rejected Brother Zhou first. Why should he forgive them just because they admitted they were wrong?"

At her words, Shen Zhou's eyes lit up. He rubbed Xi Mei's head and said, "Xi Mei's right. Why should I forgive them just because they admitted they were wrong? I can live perfectly well without getting involved in the Qin Family's affairs. Xi Mei understands Brother Zhou best."

Praised, Xi Mei tilted up her little face and smiled sweetly.

Only A Dai and San Mazi still didn't quite understand this way of thinking.

Perhaps that was the difference between people from two different worlds.

Now that he'd talked it out, Shen Zhou wasn't angry anymore. His appetite returned, and he wolfed down the food and drink on the table.

Once everyone had eaten their fill, San Mazi patted his belly and picked his teeth. "So, Boss, what are you going to do next? The Qin Family seems set on clinging to you."

Shen Zhou had put it out of his mind. He let out a satisfied belch. "What do you mean, what am I going to do? I'll keep practicing martial arts and live my life as usual. She can cling to me all she wants. But when we were talking upstairs, Old Madam Qin found out we'd given up on Flying Bird Academy and suggested another place for us to study martial arts. It was called White Deer Academy.

"They teach all sorts of things there, so it's just right for us."

A Dai nodded. "Really? That's great. Then we won't have to look for separate martial arts schools."

San Mazi asked, "White Deer Academy? Where is it?"

Shen Zhou thought for a moment. "It's fine. Someone will take us there tomorrow."

The next day, a gentle breeze blew beneath clear skies.

Shen Zhou and the Three Little Ones got up early and prepared to look for White Deer Academy.

When A Dai and San Mazi went downstairs and saw that Qin Mingyue was waiting to show them the way, their mouths fell open. They turned to Shen Zhou in unison. "You mean she's the person showing us the way?"

Shen Zhou looked completely unbothered. "Is there a problem?"

San Mazi was speechless. "Aren't you unwilling to be the Qin Family's head?"

"I am. But she insists on shamelessly following me around. There's nothing I can do. Maybe... that's just my personal charm?"

A Dai: "..."

San Mazi: "..."

Qin Mingyue's mouth twitched. She didn't say a word, just turned and led the way.

"Th-this is White Deer Academy?"

After a few twists and turns, Qin Mingyue had someone drive a carriage carrying Shen Zhou and the others to a courtyard on the southern outskirts of the city that looked like a farmhouse. The four of them were left reeling.

There was no wall around it.

There was no gate.

And the people coming and going nearby weren't martial artists. They were aunties carrying basins of laundry, old men shouldering hoes on their way to the fields, and little kids who could turn sticks into precious swords...

If experts were supposed to live in quiet seclusion in the countryside, this place took that idea a little too literally.

San Mazi voiced his doubts and looked at Qin Mingyue. "Are you sure you didn't bring us to the wrong place?"

Qin Mingyue didn't answer. She simply led the way toward the "farmhouse."

"Hey!"

"Ha!"

"Put some strength into it! Did you skip your meal?"

After passing a cluster of farmhouses, Shen Zhou and the others finally saw a group of people practicing martial arts in an open patch of yellow earth.

They were a group of teenagers, the older ones around sixteen or seventeen, the younger ones only eight or nine.

Beside them stood an old man holding a long-stemmed tobacco pipe. He wore a simple traditional jacket and leaned against a large willow tree at the edge of the clearing, taking occasional puffs and correcting the youngsters' techniques now and then.

If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, no one would have believed an old man like this could be a martial arts expert... Actually, even seeing it with their own eyes made it hard to believe.

Shen Zhou, A Dai, and San Mazi exchanged glances, all feeling like they'd been tricked.

At that moment, Qin Mingyue brought over a middle-aged man from somewhere. He was thin, with a short beard, and wore the clothes of a wealthy gentleman. He looked very shrewd when he smiled.

When the man came over, he greeted them with a merchant's shrewd air. "I'm Wang Fugui, the head of White Deer Academy. You young masters have come to the right place to study martial arts. Our White Deer Academy was established even earlier than Flying Bird Academy. It has a long history and deep foundations. We've always kept a low profile and avoided publicity, so not many people in Flying Bird City know about us.

"It's fate that brought you here.

"Now, if each of you pays one hundred taels a month... well, eighty... If that's still too expensive, fifty taels will do. Once you've paid the tuition, you can study whatever you want. We guarantee you'll learn it all."

"..."

Shen Zhou and the others were dumbfounded.

Then they all looked at Qin Mingyue at once. Their eyes seemed to ask: Are you really sure you brought us to the right place?