Wu Nanyuan's Tragic Origins

At noon, the blazing sun hung high overhead, temporarily piercing the gloom of Emerald Lake Street.

The refugees curled up along the street, like walking corpses that could not bear the light, all shrank back into the shadows.

Chen Jue saw Liang Ben off and declined his invitation to join the God-Understanding Organization.

"You don't seem very happy."

On the way out of Emerald Lake Street, Chen Jue glanced back at Wu Nanyuan.

"You never treated me as your teammate."

Wu Nanyuan was still feeling uncomfortable over having been deliberately sent away.

Back in her clan, no one trusted her. Now that she had left it, no one trusted her either.

It was not as though she did not understand that this was her first time teaming up with Chen Jue, and there was no foundation of trust between them.

But she still felt upset.

"..." Chen Jue was so irritated by Wu Nanyuan's words that he laughed. You're a scion of a powerful clan, damn it! Who knew how deeply the clan behind you was entangled with the Room Fire Cult?

When the two of them teamed up, it was fine to casually investigate the missing persons case on the surface.

But once secrets became involved, what if they touched upon the Wu Clan's interests and she reported him? He had no desire to get shot three times in the back and have it declared a suicide.

"Wu Nanyuan, you've misunderstood me."

Chen Jue first slapped the label of "misunderstanding" onto his teammate.

"What I discussed with that man was personal business, not official matters. Hearing it would not only be of no help to the missing persons case, it might even bring about your death."

"It isn't that I don't trust you. It's that we have only just met, and I did not wish to drag you into danger."

"Do you understand?"

"..." It was Wu Nanyuan's first time seeing such a moral kidnapping tactic, and she was immediately left speechless.

It was not enough to make her feel moved or guilty.

She was not stupid. Naturally, she could tell that Chen Jue's words were half true, half false.

Still, with that explanation cushioning things, the knot in her chest did loosen considerably.

"Are we coming back tonight?" Wu Nanyuan asked.

"Aren't you going to report this to the clan behind you?" Chen Jue countered.

"Why would I report it to my clan?" Wu Nanyuan first looked baffled, then exclaimed in surprise, "How did you know I have a clan behind me?"

"You're an intern specially transferred in by Director Wu. At such a young age, your true qi has already reached the sixth level..."

"With all that, is it hard to guess that you're from the Wu Clan?"

This time, it was Chen Jue who was surprised.

Wu Nanyuan's little face turned deathly pale. Even her peach-blossom eyes, visible above her mask, showed a trace of panic.

She reached toward her waist. Her hand tightened around the sword hilt, then loosened, then tightened again.

"I'm not from the Wu Clan. From beginning to end, I've never shown strength beyond the third level of true qi. Don't talk nonsense!" Wu Nanyuan explained weakly.

"Eh?" Hearing this, Chen Jue stopped in his tracks like a shark that had smelled blood, circling around Wu Nanyuan.

"You just sent Liang Ben's flying sword flying with one strike. He's a late-stage seventh-level true qi martial artist. If you were only at the third level of true qi, how could you possibly block that flying sword..."

"Or are you like me... born with divine strength?"

Chen Jue immediately saw through Wu Nanyuan's abnormal reaction.

Seeing her tremble all over without speaking, Chen Jue tested her. "Don't tell me you hid your strength from your clan, but exposed it in front of me?"

Clang!

Wu Nanyuan's longsword had barely left its sheath halfway when Chen Jue grabbed the back of her hand and forcibly shoved the blade back into the sheath.

"Can't we talk things over properly?"

Chen Jue scolded Wu Nanyuan in a lecturing tone, then said in a sinister voice, "I'm your teammate. I'll help you keep your secret very well!~~"

Wu Nanyuan's breathing grew rapid. She raised her head to look at the ill-intentioned smile in Chen Jue's eyes and brows, and her chest tightened with anger.

She had still been too careless.

Having just left her clan, she had thought the sea was wide enough for fish to leap through, only to forget her limits and take a huge fall the moment she stepped outside.

"I'm merely an insignificant collateral branch of the clan..."

"If they discover that I have superior innate talent, then in the late stage of Spirit Planting, the finest spiritual root in my body will have to be grafted onto the legitimate main line."

Wu Nanyuan revealed her secret with extreme reluctance. She had already foreseen her miserable future.

The man before her would surely use this secret to control her life.

He would treat her as a tool and make her do all sorts of unspeakably shameful things...

Chen Jue reached out toward Wu Nanyuan's head.

She shrank her neck, thinking that men everywhere truly were the same beasts. The moment they gained control, they could not wait to reveal their animal nature.

"Why are all you great clans and powerful families of the inner city beasts..."

Chen Jue rubbed Wu Nanyuan's hair and comforted her. "Don't worry. I, Chen, will keep this secret buried in my gut."

"But you need to be more careful in the future. If an emergency arises, you would rather get hurt than expose your strength."

"If it really comes down to it, just kill everyone present."

"..." Wu Nanyuan lifted her head and stared at Chen Jue in utter disbelief.

"You're not going to use this secret to threaten me?"

Chen Jue's hand froze midway through rubbing her head. He remembered that during the battle in the old alley that day, Wu Nanyuan had worn the same persecuted expression.

"Little girl, do you have persecution delusions?"

"I'm not a damn beast. Do I need to control some little girl like you?"

Chen Jue pushed Wu Nanyuan's head away, as if his hand would become dirty the next instant from the girl's filthy thoughts.

"..." Wu Nanyuan lowered her head and hid behind Chen Jue in mortification. Even as she breathed a sigh of relief, a complicated and subtle sense of trust toward Chen Jue arose in her heart.

"Alright, don't overthink it. Partner with me properly. Maybe someday this big brother will even need to use your connections to get himself a director's post."

Chen Jue was not lying.

Though he disdained using a young girl's secret to do something despicable, he could absolutely use her connections to rise through the ranks in the guard station!

They were from the same clan, after all. As long as Wu Nanyuan put in a few good words for him before Director Wu at a critical moment, wouldn't the position of leader of Group Four be his for the taking?

After leaving Emerald Lake Street, Chen Jue saw that it was mealtime and brought Wu Nanyuan into a decently decorated restaurant.

In the restaurant's private room, the television screen was broadcasting recent foreign affairs news from the Great Ming Divine Dynasty.

Europa's aerial divine warship had sunk in the Great Ming's South Sea secret realm.

Exchange students from the Central Domain would enter the Divine Dynasty's renowned martial universities in batches, and Riverside Martial University happened to have one available place as well.

The great East Sea pirate, the Sea-Calming King, had wielded a six-mark sacred weapon to greet the entire Sakura Island chain, sinking one island before returning.

Chen Jue watched this news, distant from him as myth, from the corner of his eye. A trace of longing gradually appeared on his face.

What real man born between heaven and earth had never dreamed that one day, he would wield a sacred weapon, roam the world unchallenged, and make enemies of all under heaven?

"Little Nanyuan, do you think we'll have a day like that too?"

Chen Jue gestured for Wu Nanyuan to look at the news on the television screen.

"What?" Wu Nanyuan had removed her mask, revealing a cool and adorable face. She had been glancing at the menu from the corner of her eye, but at Chen Jue's call, she raised her head blankly toward the television.

"I mean, will we ever have a chance to get our hands on a sacred weapon, achieve immortality, and roam the world?" Chen Jue said dreamily, rhythmically tapping the round table.

"Difficult. Only top third-rank clans possess sacred weapons."

"To become a top third-rank clan requires at least three thousand years of accumulation. Otherwise, one can only be like the Sea-Calming King—seize foreigners' sacred weapons and bring them back to be reforged through sacrifice."

As Wu Nanyuan spoke, the server began bringing in dishes. Twelve meat dishes and three vegetable dishes quickly filled the round table.

"Does the Wu Clan usually not feed you? You're skinny as a monkey."

Seeing Wu Nanyuan eat with such delicate, cautious, pitiful manners, Chen Jue sighed, speared an entire pork knuckle, and placed it on the girl's plate.

"Eat more."

"With that firewood-stick figure of yours, it's obvious that when you were in the Blood and Qi Realm, you did not receive enough nourishment and forcibly refined your blood."

"Honestly... don't your parents or elders take care of you?"

"After I turned nine, there was only me..."

Wu Nanyuan lowered her head over her plate, picking at her food in small bites. Her long hair fell to hide half her face. Her tone was so light it was as if she were recounting someone else's old story, yet her shoulders drew in slightly, concealing the thin loneliness and sorrow of having gone uncared for all these years.

Unbelievable... Chen Jue sighed inwardly.

No wonder this little girl was so suspicious and sensitive. So this was where the root of it lay.

Still, this was the girl's family matter. As her teammate, there was truly not much he could do to help.

He hoped time would heal every wound.

The two fell silent and began eating. The private room held only the clinking sounds of ceramic bowls and chopsticks.