Moved

Li Hanche carefully placed the soul bone back into the jade box, closed it, then stored the box in his storage soul tool ring.

After finishing all that, he walked around the desk and stopped in front of Xue Qinghe.

Then he spread his arms and pulled Xue Qinghe into a tight hug.

His arms wrapped around Xue Qinghe's shoulders, his head resting against his shoulder as he held him firmly.

"Big Brother, my real big brother! I love you to death."

Xue Qinghe's body stiffened.

His hand froze in midair as countless thoughts flashed through his mind. This was the first time anyone had dared to hug him like this.

He should have pushed him away. But he did not move.

After a moment, his voice carried undisguised disdain.

"Get lost already. Go back and find your Ning Rongrong."

Only then did Li Hanche let go and take a step back.

He wore a smile that made Xue Qinghe want to throw another book at him.

"I knew that stinking idiot Xue Beng couldn't compare to me in Big Brother's heart. I'm in a good mood today, so I'm going to run into Xue Beng by chance. Big Brother, do you know where he is?"

"At the imperial palace. Go on, hurry up."

The moment Li Hanche heard the words "imperial palace," his footsteps came to an immediate halt.

"Forget it, then. I should give your father some face."

He turned and headed for the door, then looked back again when he reached it.

"I'm off, Big Brother. When I come back from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect someday, I'll bring you some local specialties from there."

Xue Qinghe watched his back disappear through the doorway.

Lately, whenever that kid returned from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, he would leave some "local specialties" in his study.

Last time, it had been an egg-sized jade ornament. The time before that, a fine sapphire bracelet. Before that, an uncut ruby.

Of course, Xue Qinghe knew Ning Fengzhi could not possibly have given Li Hanche those things, and Ning Rongrong would not have given them to him either.

Yet he had put every one of them into a drawer and returned none of them.

Li Hanche pushed open the villa door. Before he could even step inside, he heard a sour voice from the living room.

"Big Brother, Big Brother, all you ever think about is that big brother of yours! I'm your big sister too!"

Ning Rongrong sat on the sofa with her arms folded, her little mouth pouting.

Li Hanche changed his shoes, walked into the living room, and sat down across from her.

"Stop making a fuss. My big brother called me over to give me something."

Ning Rongrong's pout rose even higher.

"Hmph, you took my things too. Weren't those gifts for you as well?"

Li Hanche choked on her words.

He remembered the jade and gemstones he had taken without asking for her permission.

"Yes, yes. I liked the things Rongrong gave me too."

Ning Rongrong snorted, but the corners of her mouth could no longer stop themselves from curling upward.

He played a few rounds of dice with Ning Rongrong.

Li Hanche won without mercy as usual, while Ning Rongrong lost as usual and cursed him for being a cheating bastard.

Afterward, he went to the courtyard.

He adjusted the Gravity Bracelet to five times gravity.

Invisible pressure crushed down on him from every direction. His internal organs seemed to sink at once, while his heart felt as though an invisible hand had clenched it tight.

He took a deep breath and gripped the Dark Nether Ice Soul Spear.

Under five times gravity, every move of the Cold Gleam Spear Art felt like dancing through mercury, the spear shaft weighing heavily against the web of his hand.

After completing a full set of spear techniques, he was drenched in sweat and sat on the courtyard's bluestone slabs, gasping for breath.

Extreme training under gravity not only tempered the body, but also honed the will.

Every moment of persistence at the edge of exhaustion, every determination not to let go beneath crushing pressure, was a tempering of spiritual power.

Two days later, in the villa hall.

Three items lay on the table in front of the sofa.

Starry Cold Marrow, sealed within a crystal case, was no bigger than a fingernail and glimmered with a faint blue chill beneath the sunlight. Just looking at it made one's bones ache with cold.

Spirit-Concentrating Jade Marrow was the size of a thumb, warm and smooth like rich cream, giving off soft fluctuations that calmed the mind.

The Nine-Jointed Spirit-Nurturing Bamboo was sealed inside a long jade box, its bamboo joints lush and emerald-green.

Within every bamboo joint, a drop of liquid could faintly be seen slowly flowing.

That was Innate Spirit-Nurturing Liquid, a legendary heavenly treasure capable of directly strengthening spiritual power.

Xue Qinghe, Sword Dao Chen Xin, Ning Fengzhi, and Ning Rongrong sat on the sofa.

Li Hanche stood before the table, looking down at the three items on it.

The hall remained quiet for a long while.

He was not an idiot.

Starry Cold Marrow came from the ten-thousand-zhang ice abyss of the Far North, while Spirit-Concentrating Jade Marrow was a treasure stored in the Heaven Dou treasury.

The Nine-Jointed Spirit-Nurturing Bamboo existed only in legends. To find it, his teacher had personally made a trip to the Star Luo Empire.

An old man nearing a hundred had traveled thousands of miles in search of a bamboo that might not even exist.

And there was Xue Qinghe's Ten Thousand Year head soul bone. Something tens of thousands of years old, thoroughly handled by Qian Daoliu and handed over just like that.

When he received that soul bone, he had only been happy. He had only cared about throwing himself into Xue Qinghe's arms and calling him his real big brother.

Now, standing before these three items, he suddenly realized that what his big brother had given him was not merely a soul bone.

He understood it very clearly.

At the beginning, these had indeed been relationships of mutual benefit.

Xue Qinghe needed a talented chess piece, his teacher needed a successor to inherit his legacy, and Ning Fengzhi needed strong support for the sect's future.

Why else would an orphan from the slums be cherished by these people? Wasn't it because he was worth investing in?

He understood. He had always understood.

But a relationship based on benefits would not make the Crown Prince personally accompany him to the Far North to hunt his first soul ring, nor would it make Ning Fengzhi mobilize the entire sect to gather things that could strengthen spiritual power.

It would not make Sword Dao Chen Xin, nearly a hundred years old, endure the elements and sleep in the open within the forests of the Star Luo Empire.

Benefits could not accomplish such things. Only affection could.

Li Hanche's eyes grew a little hot. He blinked hard, his Adam's apple bobbing as he wanted to say something, only for the sourness surging up from his chest to choke his throat.

"Thank you, Teacher. Thank you, Uncle Ning."

His voice was slightly hoarse, carrying a tremor he tried to suppress but could not fully conceal.

"I won't let everyone down."

Ning Rongrong sat in the corner of the sofa, her bright black eyes fixed on him without blinking.

She had known Li Hanche for two years. She had seen his cheeky, grinning side, and she had seen his annoying, punchable side.

But she had never seen him like this before, his eyes red and his voice choked with emotion. It was far too rare.

She tilted her head, the corners of her lips rising.

"Oh, oh, oh. Li Hanche, you can actually cry? I thought your skin was thicker than Sword Grandpa's Seven Kill Sword!"

Ning Fengzhi reached out and patted Ning Rongrong's head.

"Hanche, during these years at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, your teacher and I have never treated you as an outsider. You've called me Uncle Ning for two years, and I've long regarded you as one of my own children. When one's own child is attempting to obtain a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, shouldn't an uncle do his part?"

Sword Dao Chen Xin sat beside Ning Fengzhi. There was little expression on his face, and his voice was as calm as ever.

"Just don't let yourself down. Over these past two years, I've seen the hardships you endured, the beatings you took, and the blood you shed. A Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring is what you deserve."

Xue Qinghe sat on the sofa with his arms crossed, his expression filled with a complicated sort of disdain.

It was the kind of awkwardness where he had been moved but absolutely refused to admit it, so he covered it up with even stronger disdain.

He looked at Li Hanche's reddened eyes and trembling lips. His brows furrowed tighter and tighter until he finally could not bear it any longer.

"Don't be like this. I'm not used to it."

He turned his head aside, refusing to let his gaze fall on Li Hanche.

"Pull yourself together. Go back to being your shameless, thick-skinned self."