The Road

Among the mountains,

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

The ground trembled slightly, sending up clouds of dust. Five carriages loaded with all kinds of goods traveled along the official road through the mountains, guarded on both sides by a party of forty or fifty people.

"Move faster! Pick up the pace! Dawan Village is only five miles away!"

"Don't slack off. Keep going until we reach our destination, and then you'll have time to rest!"

A gray-clad squad leader patrolled back and forth, his tense face twisted as he shouted at them.

The ordinary people in the party were already exhausted from the long journey. They gritted their teeth and forced themselves onward, thinking only that they could rest as soon as they reached their destination.

At that moment,

at the front of the party,

on either side of the relatively luxurious carriage at the very front, two tall horses rode half a pace ahead, one on each side, guarding it.

The tall horse on the left carried an old man in his sixties or seventies. Frost streaked his temples, but his gaze remained sharp. A Decapitation Broadsword was slung diagonally across his back, and a fierce, battle-hardened air radiated from him.

The man on the right had an honest, simple face and a burly frame. At his waist hung a Mace more than three feet long, weighing hundreds of pounds and covered in savage iron spikes.

"Xiaochuan, your old man is being downright unfair, isn't he? You're his son, after all. I'm not saying you should get to live in luxury as a city lord in one of those big cities, like those young masters. But couldn't you at least have been given a job in some small town? What's the point of sending you to a godforsaken place like Dawan Village?"

"It's taken us three months just to get here. This place must be near the edge of what your Tiannan Shen Clan can control!"

"How much good can a dump like this possibly do for your cultivation?"

The battle-hardened old man rode his tall horse and grumbled. His rough palm patted the horse's head now and then, making it snort.

His words made it clear how unfair he thought the boy in the carriage was being treated.

"Grandfather, the clan head has more than fifty children. I'm just one insignificant son born to a concubine."

"People call me the clan head's son, but to a great cultivation clan like the Shen Clan, I'm little more than a servant."

Inside the carriage,

fifteen-year-old Shen Changchuan wore a maturity beyond his years. He spoke calmly.

His face showed little emotion as he spoke.

"Mother had to pay a great price just to secure this post for me, overseeing Dawan Village."

"Fortunately, Dawan Village is far from Tiannan City, already at the edge of the Shen Clan's territory. Apart from the Spirit Grain grown in the Spirit Fields, it has no other sources of income. That's why the post fell into my hands."

"Otherwise, with my standing, I couldn't even dream of getting one of those prosperous towns near Tiannan City."

At this, Shen Changchuan couldn't help letting out a sigh,

and slowly explained to the battle-hardened old man beside him.

The rugged old man was named Han Qinhu, and he was Shen Changchuan's maternal grandfather.

Han Qinhu had originally been a farmer from an ordinary mountain village. But he had been blessed with extraordinary strength from childhood, and by the time he was young, he could wrestle tigers and leopards. Later, he received guidance from an expert and mastered the art of the broadsword.

As an adult, he roamed the jianghu and made a name for himself as a chivalrous hero.

But even a Xiantian hero famous throughout the mortal world was nothing before cultivators.

It was said that many years ago, Han Qinhu had suffered a great defeat at the hands of a cultivator. In the end, he gave up roaming the jianghu, returned to his hometown, married, and had three sons and two daughters.

As for what exactly had happened between him and that cultivator, Han Qinhu kept his lips sealed. He had guarded the secret for half his life, and no one knew.

Twenty years ago,

by chance, middle-aged Han Qinhu made a connection with a steward of the Shen Clan, a cultivation family. He sent his beautiful, locally renowned daughter to the Shen Clan as a maid.

A few years later, Shen Changchuan's cheap father—the man he privately grumbled was a human seed-spreading machine—was none other than Shen Fuxing, clan head of the Shen Clan. One night, after drinking, he accidentally slept with Shen Changchuan's mother, and Shen Changchuan was born.

For that reason,

compared with the eldest sons born to the First Madam and Second Madam of the Shen Clan, who had married into the clan from other cultivation families, or the sons and daughters of concubines from Mortal Realm royal and aristocratic houses, Shen Changchuan ranked among the very lowest of his cheap, human seed-spreading machine father's more than fifty children.

After all, Shen Changchuan's birth mother and her family had almost no power at all. In the eyes of the other powerful houses, royal clans, and immortal sects, they were no different from ordinary farmers.

He had a little talent for cultivation, and the mature mind of someone reborn from a previous life. He was also careful in everything he did. Without those advantages, in the cutthroat Shen Family Estate, he would have lived worse than a servant.

After all,

there was no such thing as brotherly affection among the children of a great cultivation clan like the Shen Clan.

"Actually, being sent somewhere far away suits me just fine. At least I can avoid some of the infighting in the clan and stay clear of the First Madam and Second Madam's power struggle."

"With my scrawny little body, even a tiny ripple stirred up by the clan could wash me away and smash me to pieces on the shore."

At this point,

Shen Changchuan couldn't help feeling a chill of recognition.

He wasn't worrying over nothing. This really could happen.

Two years ago, one of his half-brothers had merely shown fairly good talent for cultivation. In the end, he'd turned up dead with seven knife wounds in his back, supposedly by suicide.

How could an ordinary person like him, a nobody from his previous life, hope to take part in the vicious power struggles of these great clans?

To be honest,

back at Shen Mansion, he had lived in constant fear, always on edge, afraid that he might lose his life without even knowing why.

Compared with that, being sent to Dawan Village, far from Tiannan City, couldn't possibly be any worse.

"Ah, you've got a point."

"It's a bit far, but at least there won't be so much damn nonsense to deal with."

Hearing this,

Han Qinhu opened his mouth and muttered,

but his voice dropped, clearly not daring to discuss the private affairs of an immortal household in public.

Still, he understood the situation.

Everyone outside had heard about the power struggle between First Madam and Second Madam in the household of Shen Fuxing, clan head of the Shen Clan.

As Shen Changchuan's maternal grandfather, he had learned even more of what went on behind the scenes.

But as an ordinary mortal, Han Qinhu didn't dare discuss such private matters in any depth.

After all, loose lips sank ships.

Han Qinhu had once roamed the jianghu and seen plenty of the world. He knew what could be said and what couldn't.

"I heard they've reclaimed twelve mu of Spirit Fields in Dawan Village. If they're managed well, then after paying the clan's share, it could still be a fine little estate."

Han Qinhu didn't actually mind being stationed in Dawan Village.

As a mortal in the eyes of cultivators, what right did he have to be picky?

He knew that plenty of great heroes who had made a name for themselves in the mortal jianghu would work like dogs for the immortals for years and still never get to eat a bowl of Spirit Rice.

And Dawan Village,

he'd heard, had a full twelve mu of Spirit Fields!

The Spirit Grain grown there belonged to the one in charge after the Shen Clan's annual quota had been met.

With his grandson's help, Han Qinhu might get to taste the Spirit Rice that cultivators ate.

It was the kind of good stuff that, if eaten regularly, could give one a chance to achieve Qi Induction Realm!

That was why,

when he received word from his daughter that her own son, Shen Changchuan, was being sent to a post in the countryside and would need help, he gave up most of his property and business. He brought his eldest son, Han Dayong, and most of his servants to join his grandson on his new assignment.

It sounded good to say he was going to help his grandson and lend a hand, taking care of staffing and management for the post.

Put bluntly, though, he was rushing over in the hope that his grandson's success would lift the whole family, and that he could hitch himself to his grandson's coattails and give the younger generation a leg up.

After all, how many famous heroes out in the world wanted to work like dogs for the immortals but couldn't even find a way in?

If not for their blood connection, how could a piece of good fortune like this ever have fallen to Han Qinhu?

His earlier grumbling had only been because he felt his grandson, Shen Changchuan, was being treated unfairly.

Truthfully, he couldn't have been more excited about this trip to Dawan Village.

He'd barely slept for several nights before they set out.

There was no way he truly resented it.

Shen Changchuan chatted with his maternal grandfather, Han Qinhu, on and off,

and, while they talked, broadened his horizons a little, learning about the world of ordinary people outside the deep compound where he'd grown up.

On the right, his eldest maternal uncle, Han Dayong, rode along in silence. He could barely squeeze out a word, and didn't join their conversation.

Just then,

suddenly,

"Ah!"

A heartrending scream suddenly rang out from the road ahead.

Shen Changchuan jolted awake.

Something had happened!