Old Father's Adventure

"Fan'er! Oh, my son—this time, it was all thanks to you!"

The moment Xiao Wu saw his son, he became agitated and limped toward him, checking Xiao Fan's injuries. "How are your wounds?"

"Father, I'm fine. They're all minor injuries. How about you? The Shadow Pivot Court didn't make things difficult for you, did they?" Xiao Fan raised a hand to cover his chest, afraid his father would notice the scales growing there...

Xiao Wu hesitated as if he wanted to say something. "Come, father and son, let's talk inside."

As he spoke, Xiao Wu pulled Xiao Fan toward the study.

Xiao Jinlan, standing nearby, was puzzled. "Hey! Father, what is it that you two can't say in front of us?"

Just as she was about to press further, her mother stopped her. "Enough, don't ask. Go to the rear courtyard and keep an eye on your younger sister."

"Something's not right! Are you hiding something from me?" Xiao Jinlan looked suspiciously at her mother.

Ye Shu sighed. "Don't ask what you shouldn't. Don't meddle in men's affairs, understand?"

"Oh... right, the Nine Provinces Martial Tournament is next month. I'm signing up!" Xiao Jinlan declared, raising her brows.

The instant those words left her mouth, Ye Shu exploded. "What?! You're not going! A young lady spending all day fighting and killing—what kind of behavior is that?"

"Why can't I go?! I'm going, and not only am I going—I'm taking first place!" The rebellious girl's stance was unwavering.

Ye Shu planted one hand on her hip in fury and scolded, "Your wings have hardened, have they? You don't listen to your mother anymore, is that it?"

"Hit me, then? Even if you do, I'm still going!" As an eighth-rank Iron Bone Realm martial artist, Xiao Jinlan's skin was, in the literal sense, thicker than city walls...

Knowing she could no longer beat her daughter, Ye Shu's big eyes rolled. "Oh my, I just remembered. The banknotes I prepared yesterday for you to take to Heavenreach Sect to register seem to have gone missing. Hm? Where did I put them?"

That struck right at her daughter's fatal weakness! Ye Shu did not know martial arts, but she controlled the family's purse strings! She could kill without drawing a blade.

Tears welled at the corners of Xiao Jinlan's eyes. Her mother had promised to give her money to apprentice herself to Heavenreach Sect, yet now she was using it to threaten her. It was unbearably unfair.

The Nine Provinces Martial Tournament was an enormously significant gathering in the martial world. As newcomers to martial arts, everyone dreamed of making a name for themselves at the tournament!

Especially as a woman, she wanted all the more to prove that she was no weaker than any man.

Yet her mother had never supported her...

"Mother! You... you're too much!" Xiao Jinlan strode away and returned to her room to cry.

Ye Shu slowly shook her head. "Sigh... every last one of them is such a worry."

Meanwhile, in the study, Xiao Wu shut the door. "Fan'er, hurry and tell Father what happened last night!"

After recalling things for a moment, Xiao Fan told his father the same account he had given at the Shadow Pivot Court yesterday.

He still did not mention the Soul-Capturing Porcelain or Xun Huan, saying only that the white fog of death had dissipated on its own and that he did not know why.

Only that explanation was safest...

After some thought, Xiao Fan asked, "Father, tell me quickly—what exactly was this mission to escort the Dowager Consort's spirit coffin about?!"

"And... what exactly did the escort party encounter? I don't believe a mere Shi Ping's betrayal could wipe out an entire elite force!"

Xiao Fan's doubts were not without reason. He knew Shi Ping, the man who had stabbed Xiao Wu in the back, very well. He was only a ninth-rank martial artist in the late stage of the ninth rank...

At that level, let alone annihilating an elite force assembled from personnel drawn from various organizations, he could not even get past Xiao Wu alone.

The only explanation was that the bastard had help behind him.

Xiao Wu rubbed his temples, struggling to remember. "Sigh... it's not that I don't want to tell you. I truly can't remember! That Dowager Consort's spirit coffin mission, and all that... I can't remember..."

"Whenever I try to think back on it, all I remember is that beast Shi Ping stabbing me in the back. A baleful poison erupted from the blade and threw my vital energy into chaos!"

Xiao Fan's teeth itched with rage. That Shi Ping truly was worse than a beast... "And then?"

"Then my vital energy went into disorder, and I passed out. When I woke again, I was already inside that vast white fog."

"You know what happened afterward. That's all I remember..."

"Not just you—at the Shadow Pivot Court today, they questioned me relentlessly... The Inspectorate's supervising judges took turns examining me, and even a Sky Patrol Envoy from the Bureau of Celestial Observation came! Yet they still couldn't restore that missing piece of memory..."

Xiao Fan was stunned. "A Sky Patrol Envoy?! Those are the Bureau of Celestial Observation's foremost spellcasters, second only to the Chief Astronomer and Deputy Chief Astronomer!"

"Exactly. That kind of spectacle gave even me a fright..." Xiao Wu sighed, lingering fear still in his heart.

"And then? They just let you come home?" Xiao Fan asked doubtfully.

Xiao Wu shook his head like a rattle-drum. "How could it be that easy? After they finished questioning me at the Shadow Pivot Court, they took me to the Sacred Fire Altar!"

"Huh? Why was that?" Xiao Fan's scalp prickled even more.

Xiao Wu spread his hands, utterly helpless. "That, I truly don't know. They seemed to say there was some... some baleful poison residue from some porcelain on me... and that they needed to ask the [Flame Sovereign] to purify it."

At those words, Xiao Fan broke into a cold sweat. "What porcelain? Do you remember what kind of porcelain it was?"

He was not asking a question to which he already knew the answer. This was too important; he needed to confirm as much information as possible. Was this porcelain the Soul-Capturing Porcelain?

Unexpectedly, the moment Xiao Wu tried to recall it, his head suddenly throbbed with splitting pain. "No! My head hurts."

"Forget it... don't think about it for now." Xiao Fan hurriedly poured his father a cup of water.

"Continuing from what you said before, what was this [Flame Sovereign] purification about?" Xiao Fan changed the subject away from the memories.

Within Xiao Fan's limited knowledge, [Flame Sovereign] should have been the Sacred Fire Sect's title for [Huang]...

This was because, in the doctrine of the Sacred Fire Sect, [Flame Sovereign] was the only god—and the god who had bestowed the pure white fireseed.

Yet in folk legends and certain ancient texts, it was the God of Daylight, [Radiance], who had bestowed the pure white fireseed.

To be honest, Xiao Fan had never managed to sort out these messy legends, and he knew even less about an organization like the Sacred Fire Sect.

Thus, he could only make the simple, rough assumption that the Sacred Fire Sect's so-called [Flame Sovereign] was probably the [Radiance] of folk legend...

There was only one god, merely called by different names... was that it?

Xiao Fan did not want to dwell on it either, so he simply accepted it as such.

In his imagination, the purification of [Flame Sovereign] was the same as the purification of [Radiance], which meant... basking in the sun?

Xiao Wu took several huge gulps of water and finally caught his breath. "Basking in the sun..."

Ah, this... Xiao Fan was dumbstruck. His wild guess had actually been right? It really was basking in the sun?

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Wu added, "Actually, it wasn't entirely basking in the sun... It should be more like basking in the sun while sitting by a fire... the Sacred Fire."

Did they add cumin...? Xiao Fan snarked inwardly.

Sitting by the Sacred Fire sounded rather terrifying, but it was actually not dangerous, because the pure white Sacred Fire was warm... not scorching hot like ordinary flames.

Xiao Fan had always had a death wish. He had once used his finger to feel the pure white Sacred Fire burning atop a red essence wax candle... It had been warm, very comfortable.

If red essence wax had not been so expensive, he would have lit one at home no matter what, using it to warm his feet whenever the weather turned cold...

Xiao Fan reined in his wildly wandering thoughts and continued asking, "Th-then what?"

"Then they let me go home." Xiao Wu spread his hands, as though he himself was utterly baffled.

Resting his chin on his hand, Xiao Fan pondered it and felt that something was plainly wrong.

Even if his father had truly lost crucial memories, the Shadow Pivot Court should not have released him so quickly... unless...

Without another word, Xiao Fan rushed out of the room, vaulted onto the roof, and scanned the surroundings.

Sure enough!

On distant rooftops, several scattered black shadows suddenly vanished!