Great Zhou, Dongyuan Prefecture.
Songshan County.
It was early summer. By the third quarter of the Mao hour, the sky had already taken on the crab-shell blue of dawn. On the training grounds of the Qin Mansion, guards with their shirts off sweated as they practiced their martial arts, their ragged breathing echoing through the courtyard.
A reclining chair sat on the raised platform in the courtyard.
A gaunt figure, dressed in a cloud-blue robe and weighed down by the years, leaned against it. His face was deathly pale, but his eyes were exceptionally clear as he watched the people training below.
"Uncle Wang, about how many of these men do you think can become martial artists?"
Qin Jiu suddenly asked.
He turned to the stooped old man beside him.
The man looked to be over sixty.
At his words, the old man glanced at the dozen or so men practicing their stances and shook his head. "Young Master, they may look as strong as ox calves, but to become martial artists, they must break through the Blood Pass. There's no telling how many of them will manage it."
"Didn't we test their bone structure?"
"Bone structure is only a stepping-stone..."
The old man shook his head as he spoke, then said no more.
Qin Jiu fell silent for a moment.
Then, with a strange glint in his eyes, he asked, "Then, Uncle Wang, do you know what my bone structure is like?"
"Young Master, please don't make things difficult for this old servant."
Uncle Wang smiled bitterly. "You are a man of noble birth, yet you've come to watch these peasants train every day for the past few days. Even a fool like me can tell what you're thinking. But you're in poor health, and practicing martial arts could put your life in danger."
"How could this old servant dare to let you take such a risk?"
At that, Qin Jiu lost all interest in staying. He rose at once and left the training grounds.
"How dull."
"Am I really doomed to be nothing but a sickly weakling?"
As he walked along the long covered corridor,
Qin Jiu's thoughts grew tangled.
This was a world where might made right. Before this, he had been a college student who had just graduated and was about to start a life of drudgery. Who could have guessed that he would close his eyes, open them again, and find himself the eldest young master of the Qin Mansion?
His new life hadn't started out too badly.
But it couldn't be called good, either.
His predecessor and his father had both died months ago in a demon attack. Now, Qin Jiu was the only direct descendant left in the vast Qin Mansion. The lingering aura of the demons had left this body with a lasting ailment, making it impossible for him to practice martial arts.
"Over the past few days, plenty of greedy hands have reached for the Qin Family's businesses. Without a way to turn things around, those covetous eyes will devour the Qin Family until not even the scraps remain."
Qin Jiu sighed inwardly.
The laws of Great Zhou were more fragile than paper in the eyes of martial artists who could smash through walls with their fists.
And his body...
Even a common cold could probably kill him, let alone martial arts training.
Fortunately, the Qin Family was one of the county's prominent lineages. It had recruited quite a few guest retainers and attendants, and with the martial artists trained by its collateral branches, it could still keep the petty troublemakers at bay for now.
But if this dragged on too long, the martial artists who had been keeping outsiders in check would inevitably start harboring other intentions.
This was a world where the strong preyed on the weak...
Lost in thought,
he found himself standing at a large gate.
A foul, earthy stench drifted out from within. Qin Jiu came back to his senses and looked up. The plaque above the gate came into view.
"Hundred Beasts Garden..."
Qin Jiu paused, then headed straight through the gate.
This was one of the Qin Family's core businesses.
Inside, they raised spirit beasts imbued with wondrous powers to feed martial artists. Whether their blood was used to refine pills or their meat turned into medicinal dishes, it was all highly nourishing for those who practiced martial arts. Eating it could boost their vital energy and blood, and even improve their bones and sinews.
"Yow!"
"Hold it down! Hurry, hold it down!"
The sounds inside were chaotic.
As soon as Qin Jiu entered, he saw a group of bloodstained men dragging a black cat the size of an ox calf toward a stone trough.
The huge cat had three tails, and a deep gash had been cut into its neck.
Blood so dark it was nearly black
gushed steadily from its neck.
Yet it seemed completely unaffected, fierce beyond belief. Five burly men each clutched one of its paws and pinned its back, but it still dragged them along.
"Young Master!" Someone spotted Qin Jiu at the gate and immediately turned pale. "Everyone, get over here! Don't let this beast charge into the Young Master..."
As he spoke, the man hurried over to Qin Jiu.
"Young Master, it's dangerous here..."
"Why isn't Uncle Xiong here?"
Qin Jiu ignored him and asked with a frown.
The Uncle Xiong he meant was Qin Xiong.
He was one of the few experts in the Qin Mansion. His usual duty was to oversee the Hundred Beasts Garden and help the workers butcher spirit beasts. Without him, a few workers who had only built up their vital energy wouldn't be able to handle the task.
After all, spirit beasts were no ordinary wild animals.
An ordinary person struck by one could suffer shattered bones at best, or die on the spot at worst.
It was far too dangerous without a martial artist in charge.
"Manager Qin..."
The man's eyes darted about, and he stammered, "He... he went to the Drunken Immortal Pavilion."
"What did he go there for?"
"This humble one doesn't know. Manager Qin has been going back and forth to the Drunken Immortal Pavilion often since about two months ago..."
Qin Jiu's frown deepened.
The Drunken Immortal Pavilion was a restaurant the Qin Family had opened in the Inner City. The spirit beasts from the Hundred Beasts Garden were generally sent there to be turned into medicinal dishes and sold to martial artists, except for the blood purchased by the Four Seasons Pharmacy. But the guards were responsible for transporting them.
Qin Xiong's only task was to oversee the Qin Mansion's important grounds.
He wasn't allowed to leave without permission.
"So he's been so lax about following the rules..."
Qin Jiu's gaze was deep.
But his expression soon settled back into calm.
"That Green Pupil Demon has a tenacious life force. Bleeding it like this won't work. Everyone, hold it down. I'll show you how to put down spirit beasts like this quickly."
As he spoke, Qin Jiu walked over to the stone trough.
His gaze fell on a sharpened butcher's knife lying there.
Then he reached out and gripped its handle.
"Young Master, please don't!"
The man was instantly horrified.
He wasn't the only one. Everyone present was stunned by Qin Jiu's actions.
They all tried to stop him.
Their voices were filled with fear.
"Don't?"
"If you keep doing it this way, this Green Pupil Demon might not die even after it bleeds dry."
Qin Jiu snorted.
The essence of this kind of spirit beast was all in its blood.
If he let these people keep fooling around, they could easily lose at least five hundred taels of silver. That was his money. How could he just watch all that silver fly away?
"You, come hold its tails."
Qin Jiu beckoned the man who had spoken earlier.
Once the man had wrapped his arms around the black cat's three tails, Qin Jiu stepped forward. His knife flashed down across the point where the cat's haunches met its tails, and all three whip-like tails fell away at once.
"Yow!"
With a piercing shriek,
the ox-calf-sized black cat immediately went limp.
"The tails of a Green Pupil Demon are the source of its strength—and even its life. As long as you strike at the weak point, you can do it without the slightest effort..."
As Qin Jiu spoke,
his body suddenly stiffened.
Deep in his mind, a seal like red jade slowly emerged amid the rumbling of Daoist tones.
[Green Pupil Demon (First Tier)]
[Talent: Withered Wood Meets Spring (Purple)]
[Description: In the mountains dwells a beast called the Green Pupil. It is as wondrous as a pine tree; its tail governs withering and flourishing.]
[Talent Status: Available to Imprint]
[Imprinting Condition: One tael of refined gold]
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