Aunt Zhen

The Great Qi Kingdom lay on a peninsula jutting out from the eastern part of the East Continent. It shared the same region with the Yan Kingdom and the Huang Kingdom. All three backed onto the vast East Sea and faced the Barbarian Wasteland to the west. Thus, for the past several hundred years, they had been allies, often advancing and retreating together.

Great Qi lay at the center of the peninsula, sandwiched between the other two kingdoms, yet it was the most powerful of them, boasting a standing army of a million armored soldiers. The Huang Kingdom came next, while the Yan Kingdom was the weakest.

Apart from the capital region, which was under direct control, Great Qi was divided into nine prefectures and thirty-six provinces. Each province governed anywhere from a few to more than a dozen cities, while its towns and villages were too numerous to count.

Feng City was the largest city in Quanzhou and its provincial seat. It also ranked among the top five cities in all of Kaiyuan Prefecture.

The Jin Family was one of Quanzhou's prominent families. It owned vast tracts of farmland and manors outside the city, and also traded in medicinal herbs and ore. Its influence reached nearly half of Quanzhou.

Shi Mu had learned all this from the old man in the blue robe.

By now, he knew the old man's name was Jin Cheng and that he was an outside affairs steward for the Jin Family. He seemed to hold some standing among the Jin Family's servants; at the very least, the several Jin Family riders treated him with great respect.

The group had spent over a month on the road. After passing through two cities, they finally reached Feng City. They went straight through the city gates and headed toward the northwestern part of town.

Seated by the carriage window, Shi Mu kept looking at the streets on either side.

He had grown up in a fishing village and had hardly ever traveled far. The largest city he had visited before was just the nearby county seat.

Feng City truly was the largest city in Quanzhou. Tall buildings of every kind lined both sides of the street, and crowds of pedestrians filled the roads, making the whole place seem bustling with life.

The city before him was enormous and lively, yet Shi Mu felt strangely calm inside, without the slightest stir.

The group slowed their pace, and the carriage took nearly half an hour to reach an inconspicuous residence, where it finally came to a stop.

Shi Mu jumped down from the carriage. When he saw the white mourning banner hanging beside the gate, his expression shifted slightly. Then he followed the old man in the blue robe inside.

The riders obediently stayed by the carriage.

A short while later, Shi Mu found himself in a mourning hall decorated with white cloth. There, he saw a woman dressed entirely in mourning white and a girl of around ten.

The woman looked no older than twenty-eight or twenty-nine. She was dignified and graceful. As soon as she saw Shi Mu, she said in an unmistakably firm tone:

"You came too late. Your father passed away a few days ago. I don't know what you think of him, but you are his own flesh and blood, so come and pay your respects first. We can discuss everything else later."

The girl beside her had slightly reddened eyes, but she still looked curiously at the brother she had never met.

Shi Mu looked at the black coffin in the middle of the hall, his expression complicated.

Seeing this, the woman in mourning white made no attempt to hurry him.

The old man in the blue robe took the opportunity to step up to the woman and quietly say a few words to her, then silently left.

After a long while, Shi Mu finally moved. He slowly walked up to the coffin and said calmly, "Open the lid. I want to see him one last time."

"Of course."

The woman clapped her hands twice.

At once, two burly men came out from either side of the hall and pushed the coffin lid open, revealing the body of a man lying still inside.

Shi Mu lowered his head and looked at the man in the coffin, whose face bore a six- or seven-tenths resemblance to his own. His face turned pale. After a long moment, he took an ordinary-looking bronze mirror from his waist and silently placed it beside the man's body.

"What is this..." The woman in mourning white furrowed her brow.

"I don't know what reason my father had for abandoning my mother and me and staying away for all those years. But before she died, my mother made one final wish: that this keepsake be buried with my father." Shi Mu spoke slowly. Then he turned, lit an incense stick in the burner before the coffin, and kowtowed three times, each thud loud against the floor.

The woman in mourning white was slightly taken aback, apparently surprised, but she did not stop him.

Shi Mu rose again and stared at the coffin in a daze, saying nothing.

The woman gestured, and the two burly men closed the coffin lid once more.

"Come with me. This isn't the place to talk. Your father left me some things to tell you." After saying this, the woman led the girl toward a side hall.

Shi Mu raised an eyebrow and followed without a word.

"Since you were willing to kowtow, it wasn't for nothing that I had Steward Cheng bring you here. I won't ask you to call me 'Mother.' If you like, you can call me 'Aunt Zhen.' This is your half-sister, Yuhuan. Yuhuan, come and greet your brother." As soon as the woman entered the side hall, she turned around and spoke.

"Greetings, Brother Mu."

Shi Yuhuan had big eyes, arched brows, a straight nose, and a small mouth. Her eyes darted about, giving her an adorably mischievous air. At her mother's words, she immediately called out obediently, her voice clear and sweet.

Shi Mu nodded at the girl and managed a faint smile.

"Although your father married into the Jin Family, he still managed to build up an estate before his death, including a manor outside the city. As his eldest son, you naturally inherit all of it. Yuhuan and I only want this residence in the city. After all, I'm a member of the Jin Family, so I'm not short of money. Besides that, your father once rendered the Jin Family a great service, and that was why he died young. He never called in that favor. Given that, I can offer you two choices." The woman paused.

Shi Mu looked at her, greatly surprised.

"First, as Steward Cheng said, I can use that favor to obtain a Spirit Qi Pill from the Jin Family for you, giving you a chance to enter Kaiyuan Martial Academy someday. Second, I can draw on the Jin Family's influence to secure you a low-ranking title in Great Qi, so you'll never have to worry about food or clothing and can even pass your rank and its benefits down to your descendants." The woman gazed at the boy and continued earnestly.

"A title with real authority?" Shi Mu asked, frowning.

"Exactly. Great Qi's noble ranks are Duke, Marquis, Earl, Baron, and Merit Lord, each carrying its own status and authority. Setting aside the higher ranks, with this favor and the Jin Family's influence, securing you the rank of Merit Lord would be no problem. We could also arrange an official position for you afterward." The woman explained further.

"No. I want the Spirit Qi Pill!" Shi Mu replied without hesitation.

"You'd better think it over before deciding. If I were you, I'd choose the latter." A strange look appeared on the woman's face.

"What do you mean by that?" The boy sensed there was more to her words.

"How much do you know about gaining a sense of qi and becoming a martial artist?" the woman asked in return.

"From what you've said, Aunt Zhen, are you a martial artist too?" Shi Mu asked slowly, taken aback.

This time, the woman said nothing. She simply swayed, and in an instant appeared beside one of the walls. She raised an arm, and a gold-hilted decorative longsword mounted on the wall flew into her hand.

The sword whooshed through the air as the woman swung it, conjuring layers upon layers of sword shadows around her. A flash of cold light followed a clear ring, and the sword shot into the wall like a streak of lightning, leaving only its hilt outside, trembling slightly.

The sight left Shi Mu utterly dumbfounded!

"Don't let my appearance fool you. I'm actually one of the Jin Family's three late-stage Houtian Martial Artists. Otherwise, how could I have obtained a Spirit Qi Pill from the Jin Family? A Spirit Qi Pill is worth ten thousand gold, and it's often impossible to buy one even if you have the money. Once a person dies, all is extinguished. Even if your father rendered the Jin Family an earth-shaking service in life, some people in the family wouldn't think it worth paying for such a precious pill. That's one reason I'm advising you to give up. If you insist on a Spirit Qi Pill, you're bound to make some people in the Jin Family unhappy. I can protect you for a while, but not for the rest of your life."

"No matter what difficulties lie ahead, I will become a true martial artist," Shi Mu replied without the slightest hesitation.

"Since you're so determined, I won't try to dissuade you. First, tell me what you know about the different martial arts realms." Aunt Zhen sighed.

"Aren't martial artists divided into Body Tempering, formal martial artists, and Nation-Protecting Martial Artists? I heard that once someone becomes one of the mightiest Nation-Protecting Martial Artists, they can stand as equals with princes, ministers, and nobles!" Shi Mu said.

"You learned that from the martial arts school in your town, didn't you? Those terms aren't exactly wrong. But the instructors at those schools probably haven't even reached the Houtian realm. How could they explain the true division of martial arts realms to ordinary disciples like you?" Aunt Zhen looked as though she had expected as much.

"Please enlighten me, Aunt Zhen!"

"Body Tempering, formal martial artists, and Nation-Protecting Martial Artists are simply the terms used by ordinary people. The true names of the martial arts realms across the entire East Continent are Martial Disciple, Houtian Martial Artist, and Xiantian Martial Artist. They correspond to Body Tempering, formal martial artists, and Nation-Protecting Martial Artists, respectively. Anyone can practice Body Tempering techniques at the Martial Disciple stage, but someone with poor innate aptitude may never reach mastery in their entire life. Houtian Martial Artists are those who have gained a sense of qi and can cultivate true qi. With true qi to aid them, they can often fight a hundred fully armed soldiers by themselves. They are already considered true martial artists by ordinary people. Xiantian Martial Artists have cultivated their true qi to a certain level and successfully opened a Qi Mansion in their dantian, allowing Xiantian true qi to be born within their bodies. They are the true powerhouses of the martial world! A dozen or so Martial Disciples who have mastered Body Tempering might be able to kill a Houtian Martial Artist if they joined forces. But even a hundred Houtian Martial Artists working together would often be unable to do anything to a Xiantian Martial Artist. At that realm, they can send true qi beyond their bodies and kill from afar. Under ordinary circumstances, Houtian Martial Artists can't even get close. But reaching the Xiantian realm is far more difficult than most people can imagine. As far as I know, there are only seven or eight Xiantian Martial Artists in the entire Great Qi Kingdom." Aunt Zhen explained it carefully to the boy.

"Xiantian Martial Artists are that rare?" Shi Mu was truly astonished.