Gained a Talent: Spirit Sight

Judging by Li Yunfeng and Li Degui... they truly seemed unaware that they were dead.

Xie An broke out in goose bumps.

"How could you tell Li Yunfeng was dead, Uncle Shui?"

Uncle Shui frowned. "I've reached Dark Force, so I could sense that the Vital Breath inside Li Yunfeng had stopped flowing. But I wasn't certain I could deal with that thing. I had to wait until it came close before making a move. I didn't tell you earlier because I was afraid you'd give us away and put it on guard. That would've ruined everything."

So Dark Force masters could sense the Vital Breath inside a living person. It was extraordinary.

Xie An pointed at himself. "Then what about me...?"

Uncle Shui smiled faintly. "You're fine. The resentment in Li Family Village wasn't this fierce seven days ago. That's how you and Zhao Hu managed to escape."

Xie An finally breathed a huge sigh of relief, then pointed at Li Yunfeng's corpse. "What do we do with the body?"

Uncle Shui waved a hand. "Dig a hole nearby and bury him."

"Zhou Ji! Dig a hole here and bury Daoist Li." Xie An immediately called to Zhou Ji outside the carriage.

Zhou Ji asked no questions. He entered the carriage and dragged Li Yunfeng's corpse out.

Li Yunfeng's eyes were still wide open, staring like a dead fish's. The sight made Xie An's skin crawl, so he reached out and closed them.

"Rest in peace."

Just then—

Crack.

Li Yunfeng's eyes, which Xie An had plainly closed, snapped open again and fixed on him.

Fuck!

A chill shot down Xie An's spine. Then a piercing pain stabbed through his eyes.

What was that?

A nervous spasm?

Seeing Xie An freeze, Zhou Ji asked curiously, "Young master?"

Xie An came back to himself and waved a hand. "It's nothing. Take him out and bury him."

Zhou Ji nodded, dragged the corpse off the carriage, and dug a hole by the roadside. Before long, Li Yunfeng was buried. Several other guards pushed the carriage out of the mud, and the convoy set off again.

With half the carriage cabin smashed apart, cold wind and driving rain poured in.

Xie An had made his first strides in Skin Tempering. His skin was tough and resilient, so he had no fear of the wind, rain, or cold. "Uncle Shui, today's ritual has failed. What do we do next?"

Uncle Shui frowned. "There's something deeply wrong with Li Family Village. We'll need a fully initiated Daoist from Returning Dragon Abbey to perform a rite."

Then Uncle Shui shot Xie An a sidelong look. "Your father and I will handle it. You needn't worry. Just focus on your martial arts. You were born with remarkable martial prowess and talent to spare. One day, you might reach Dark Force. Then perhaps you really could help the master with a few things."

Xie An nodded.

If his first trip to Li Family Village had merely been his first encounter with a ghost, then watching Li Yunfeng, a registered outer disciple of Returning Dragon Abbey, meet such a fate had shown him just how terrifying specters could be.

He had also seen the frightening strength of Uncle Shui, a Dark Force Martial Master.

He was glad he had crossed over into a wealthy merchant family, with an expert like Uncle Shui to protect him and his father's considerable fortune to support his martial training. Had he crossed over into an ordinary poor family... these chaotic times would have been far more dangerous.

His eyes still stung, as though a grain of sand had flown into one of them. He rubbed hard, but instead of dislodging the "sand," he felt it sink deeper into his eyeball.

Seeing Xie An rub his eyes again and again, Uncle Shui assumed he was shaken. "Your father and I are here, Mingxi. Don't worry too much."

The carriage entered the city through West Water Gate.

Lights glowed in every household. Shops on both sides of the street were still open, and customers coming and going chatted among themselves. The streets were full of everyday bustle.

As they neared the turnoff to Flower Willow Lane, Uncle Shui called for the convoy to stop and leaped from the carriage. "Mingxi, head home first. I'll find your father and discuss what to do."

Xie An opened his eyes. "All right."

As the convoy rolled onward, the pain in Xie An's eyes faded considerably, but that "grain of sand" had unmistakably sunk deep into his eyeball.

There wasn't a mirror out here for him to check.

The moment they reached the gates of the Xie Residence, Xie An jumped down and headed inside, only for a familiar voice to call out to him.

"Mingxi!?"

Xie An spun around. A brown sedan chair was passing along the road, and a handsome young man in a white brocade robe poked his head out of its side window. "What have you been up to lately? You don't even go to Red Sleeve House anymore. It's no fun without you there."

Xie An paused. Information about the young man surfaced instinctively in his mind.

Xu Wenjie, seventeen. His family had made its fortune in iron mining, then opened a weaponsmith's shop in the county town. Besides supplying iron goods to the public, they forged weapons for the various martial arts halls and military arms for the government garrison. Their business was enormous.

Right—his family also owned Red Sleeve House.

As for Xu Wenjie's disposition... he was like every rich young wastrel of this era: idle, fond of brothels and gambling houses. He also liked collecting weapons.

Of all the original Xie An's drinking companions, Xu Wenjie had been one of the easier ones to talk to.

Xie An smiled. "I haven't been feeling well these past few days, so I've hardly gone out. Did you need something, Brother Xu?"

Xu Wenjie signaled his bearers to lower the sedan chair, then leaned against the side window and called across the street. "Miss Su Hongxiu keeps pestering me! She says Young Master Mingxi hasn't visited in days and she misses you terribly. She threw such a fit that she put up a notice and stopped seeing guests. Red Sleeve House has lost more than half its business. How am I supposed to run it like this?"

Xie An rolled his eyes. So Su Hongxiu had been milking the original Xie An for all he was worth.

"We'll talk later." Xie An gave a vague reply and started to leave.

But Xu Wenjie hopped out of the sedan chair and caught his arm. "Don't put me off. In a month, Miss Hongxiu is inviting several promising young scholars from the county to compose poetry with her. You have to come. Besides Hongxiu and me, the young master of Yongsheng Martial Arts Hall will be there too. Oh, and Daoist Zhang Yunfan from Returning Dragon Abbey. He's a fully initiated outer disciple who's just taken a renowned master. He's young and riding high."

At the mention of a fully initiated outer disciple from Returning Dragon Abbey, Xie An finally grew interested. "All right. I'll be there."

"It's settled, then!" Xu Wenjie happily released Xie An's arm. "Hey, how did half your carriage get smashed in?"

"The weather was rough outside the city. Falling rocks hit it when we passed the foot of a mountain." Xie An offered the explanation and went through the gates of the Xie Residence.

He hurried all the way to the main room of the West Courtyard. Without even greeting Qiu Lan, he went straight to his bedroom and looked in the mirror.

His eyes looked fine.

Just then, Xie An sensed the panel stir.

He called it up.

[Ten-Thousand Questions Martial Arts Model Lv1]

[Blood and Vitality: 1.4]

[Spirit: 1.4]

[Martial Arts Realm: Skin Tempering]

[Talent: Spirit Sight (awaiting activation)]

[Taishan Fist: Mountain-Suppressing Stance (perfected), Mountain-Taming Fist (perfected)]

"The talent field was always blank. Now it has Spirit Sight?"

No wonder his eyes had felt uncomfortable. He had awakened a talent.

Was it because Li Yunfeng had stared at him like that?

Once he was sure nothing was wrong with his eyes, Xie An finally relaxed.

He had no idea what Spirit Sight did.

He decided to try it and willed it to activate.

"Activate!"