Sinner

"You bastard!" Guo Xuchu stormed through the courtyard gate and roared the moment he saw Qiao Jisheng.

Qiao Jisheng jumped in surprise and waved for the servant beside him to leave.

"What brings you here, Uncle Guo?"

"Still calling me Uncle Guo? You're the Crown Prince's favorite now. I hardly deserve the title!" Guo Xuchu snapped.

"N-no, that's not what I meant."

"Why? You dare do it but won't own up to it?" Guo Xuchu said harshly.

Seeing that he could no longer keep it from Guo Xuchu, Qiao Jisheng gritted his teeth and admitted everything. "Yes! I've thrown in my lot with the Crown Prince's Mansion! What are you going to do about it, Uncle Guo?"

Qiao Jisheng's shamelessness enraged Guo Xuchu, a peerless expert, until smoke seemed to pour from his ears.

"Your father's bones aren't even cold, and you've already done something like this?"

"Don't bring up that old bastard!" The moment Qiao Jisheng heard the word "father," he flared up like gunpowder. "What kind of father was he? He only married my mother because he wanted my maternal grandfather's power. As soon as my grandfather died, the old bastard showed his true colors and ran off to Jincheng Prefecture. Did he think I didn't know about his filthy little secret?"

At that, Guo Xuchu suddenly calmed down. He'd wondered why his old friend had come to Jincheng Prefecture. Now it seemed there really was more to it.

Guo Xuchu fell silent, but Qiao Jisheng grew more and more agitated. "Before he married my mother, the old bastard already had a lover, and she even bore him a son. For the sake of power, he abandoned his wife and child without a second thought. Then, as soon as my grandfather died, he went and rekindled that old flame. What a lovesick fool he pretended to be!"

"You say my father's bones aren't cold, but neither are my grandfather's. And yet he ran off to Jincheng Prefecture, claiming he was here to audit the books. What is there to audit at a branch office this small? Did he think I couldn't see what the old bastard was really after?"

"He just thinks I'm useless and unworthy of inheriting his business, so he wanted to see whether his old flame's son would do any better! Did he really think he could hide the fact that his old flame had gone all the way to Jincheng Prefecture?"

Guo Xuchu suddenly understood. "So you were the one who put out that bounty in the martial world?"

"Yes!" Qiao Jisheng admitted without hesitation. "If he won't let me sit at the table, then nobody gets to eat!"

Guo Xuchu found himself torn between laughter and tears. He and Qiao Weisheng had thought the bounty had to be connected to the School of Heavenly Principle. They'd feared it was meant to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys and had even come up with a plan to fake his death and avoid trouble. They'd never imagined this foolish young man had come up with the idea on a whim.

"Enough, enough..." Guo Xuchu suddenly felt exhausted. "I'm staying out of your Qiao family's affairs."

"But let me warn you: throwing in your lot with the Crown Prince's Mansion is like conspiring with a tiger. You'd better watch yourself!"

"I know that, of course." To Guo Xuchu's surprise, Qiao Jisheng nodded. "But I also know my own limits. I'm no old bastard. I have no knack for running a business, and I can't keep the arrogant brutes at the money house in line."

"Once I join the Crown Prince's Mansion, they'll have to pay at least some lip service to the ruler's rule over his subjects, the father's rule over his children, and all that talk of rites and proper order. They'll take the lion's share, but they'll still need me, the legitimate son, as their figurehead. I can use the Crown Prince's Mansion's influence to keep things stable. At least I'll end up a rich man."

"I'm not very capable, and I don't have big ambitions. This is more than enough for me."

He spoke from the heart. Guo Xuchu stared at him for a long while, as if he were seeing this notorious wastrel for the first time.

"You really are Qiao Weisheng's son!"

"Burp—" Wu Chengyi had eaten and drunk his fill, and let out a long breath. "That hit the spot! Thanks for the hospitality, Daoist."

"Just call me Chen Wu."

Wu Chengyi had eaten and drunk with Chen Wu without even knowing his name. That was some dangerously carefree behavior; no wonder he'd ended up in the authorities' hands earlier.

"Little Brother Chen!" Wu Chengyi acted as if they were already old friends and called out warmly. "You fed me today, so if there's anything you want me, Old Wu, to do, just say the word!"

"Well... there's nothing."

Chen Wu did have plenty to do, like getting back at the Crown Prince's Mansion. But Wu Chengyi had nothing to do with any of that, and Chen Wu had only just met him. He couldn't very well drag him into it.

"You're looking down on me, Old Wu! I always repay a kindness," Wu Chengyi said, pretending to be offended.

"No, no."

"I may be a little rough around the edges, but I'm older than you. I can still tell when someone's troubled," Wu Chengyi said. "Come on, tell me. I'm at least in the Zhoutian Realm. If I can help, I will."

"To be honest, Brother Wu, I do have something going on. It's an affair of the Golden Wind and Drizzle Tower, and I really shouldn't drag you into it."

Unable to turn him down, Chen Wu told him everything about his recent troubles with the Crown Prince's Mansion.

"What? The String-Plucking Bewitching Sound Sword is dead?" Wu Chengyi was stunned to hear about Old Jin's death!

Chen Wu nodded, his face full of grief.

"Then I'm in! I'll go settle the score with that bastard tomorrow!" Wu Chengyi slammed his palm on the table. The commotion made the stall owner glance over, so Wu Chengyi lowered his voice. "Old Master Jin was an expert of the Yongjiu School. Plenty of people have received his kindness. We can't let the Crown Prince's Mansion bully us like this!"

Chen Wu had never expected Wu Chengyi to react that way. He was taken aback, realizing he'd underestimated the solidarity among the Great Shun schools.

"Don't rush, don't rush!" Chen Wu quickly urged. "The other side has at least one Concentrated Spirit Realm expert and one Mystic Realm expert. We can't be reckless."

"Then tell me, Little Brother Chen. What should we do?"

"Let's do it, then!" After hearing Chen Wu explain how Wu Chengyi had volunteered to join them, Old Ma thought it was worth a try.

"Zhoutian Realm experts are hard to find, especially ones who show up at your door on their own," Old Ma said. "I can also ask Monk Zhongcheng to lend a hand once. Do you need him?"

"That would make it all the more foolproof."

"Good! Don't worry about anything else today. Focus on completing your Jade Bone," Old Ma said.

"Mm." Chen Wu nodded and carried the medicinal ingredients inside.

Chen Wu had already been through a medicinal bath once, so this time he went through it with ease.

After three rounds of Concentrated Spirit nourishment, Chen Wu suddenly heard a strange sound in his ears.

He knew it wasn't his imagination. This was the final step in forging the Jade Bone. His bones were transforming faster now, and as they shifted against one another, a faint scraping sound arose.

When the sound finally died away, Chen Wu looked within himself. His bones seemed as smooth and lustrous as jade, a radiant glow shining from within.

It's done! I did it!

Chen Wu suddenly thought of that famous line. His excitement stirred his body without him meaning to.

Crack—

The wooden tub shattered under Chen Wu's strength. Water poured from it and doused the firewood below.

Hiss—

A cloud of steam billowed up, startling Old Ma into pushing open the door.

"Chen Gawa, what happened?"

Through the steam, Chen Wu's figure flickered in and out of sight.

But Old Ma had a powerful illusion that Chen Wu wasn't standing in the steam at all. He seemed more like some sacred being, radiating light from every inch of his body, his might impossible to resist.

"Old Ma, watch me avenge Old Jin tomorrow!"