Night

As Xia Yi sank into the warm water and closed his eyes in pleasure, distant memories rose in his mind.

Nearly nine hundred years ago, he had transmigrated to the Saint Soul Continent, becoming a newborn of the Xia Family, a Saint Soul clan of ducal and marquis rank, and the fifth child of his generation.

Among his siblings, only his third brother, Xia Shun, shared both his father and mother. Shortly before his birth, their jealous eldest mother had plotted against his third brother, ordering servants to secretly set fire to the woodshed while the seven-year-old boy was running and playing on its roof, intending to kill him.

Yet his third brother, quick-witted from childhood, had needed no rescue from the family's powerful cultivators. Holding up a bamboo hat tossed by his playmates in each hand, he had ridden the wind down from the woodshed without a scratch, awakening a five-star Saint Soul: Hat-to-Wings!

Thus, his third brother Xia Shun had awakened his Saint Soul at seven, creating a five-star Saint Soul outright—the first in Human Race history to do so. Their father had been delighted and chosen the character for "wings," Yi, to name Xia Yi.

As for the name from his previous life, even Xia Yi's memories of it had grown a little hazy.

Later, his third brother had indeed lived up to everyone's expectations, attaining kingship in his thirties and becoming the Human Race's youngest king, elevating the Xia Family from a ducal and marquis clan to a great royal and ducal clan. With Xia Yi drawing on memories of his previous life, the Xia Family's shops had also spread to every corner of Human Race territory!

Until Xia Yi was buried at eighty-seven, the Xia Family had remained one of the most flourishing great clans of the age.

"No family stays prosperous forever."

With that quiet sigh, Xia Yi closed his eyes and sank his awareness into his three souls. A dazzling, intoxicating starry sky gradually unfolded in his mind, with six stars suspended high above.

The people of the Saint Soul Continent cultivated their three souls, condensing stars within their seas of souls and naming them after the seven stars of the Northern Dipper.

One-Star Tianshu, Two-Star Celestial Pivot, Three-Star Tianji, Four-Star Tianquan, Five-Star Jade Balance, Six-Star Kaiyang, and Seven-Star Yaoguang—these were the seven great cultivation realms.

Xia Yi had condensed six stars. He was only one step away from attempting to condense the Yaoguang star, attaining kingship and joining the Human Race's highest fighting strength.

But at this moment, in his sea of souls, the light of the Jade Balance and Kaiyang stars was far less brilliant than that of the first four, as though a layer of dust covered them.

"After eight hundred years asleep, I'm still a little short of a full recovery? Fair enough. Those injuries nearly killed me, after all. Recovering most of the way after a nap is good enough." Xia Yi murmured, "Though this nap lasted through a world of change. Not only did all my enemies die while I slept, even the demon race disappeared."

"Dad, Senior, I'm back!" Just then, Zhou Xiaoxian's voice came from outside. "Is Senior taking a bath? Dad? Dad?!"

From her startled cries, Xia Yi could more or less reconstruct the scene outside in his mind.

"Senior! What happened to my dad?!"

"Xiao Xian..." The hoarse voice signaled that Zhou Xiaoxian had woken Zhou Feng.

"Dad! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Just resting." Zhou Feng leaned against the head of the heated brick bed, his aged face shifting through a hundred expressions before he slowly asked, "Xiao Xian, don't disturb Senior's bath. Tell me quietly, did you... notice something about Senior?"

Zhou Xiaoxian froze, then lowered her voice as well. "You know too? Earlier, I saw Senior summon a Saint Soul phantom I'd never seen before. A Saint Soul phantom is something you can only master after condensing the fifth star, Jade Balance. That means Senior... is at least a five-star Jade Balance expert, just like our Holy Academy President!"

"Is that all?" Zhou Feng pressed.

Zhou Xiaoxian looked slightly taken aback. "What else is there?"

"No, no, nothing." Zhou Feng hastily said, "The clothes you bought for Senior..."

"They're here."

Zhou Feng looked at the bundle of clothes and asked, somewhat dissatisfied, "How much did they cost?"

"They were cheap, Dad. Only a hundred and eighty copper coins for the whole outfit and shoes."

"Nonsense!" Zhou Feng barked. "When are you going to fix that greedy, stingy little habit of yours? How could Senior wear clothes like these? Return them and buy another set. I'll give you... one string of coins!"

"One string?!" Zhou Xiaoxian exclaimed, stammering, "Dad, th-there's no need..."

"There's no need for that." Xia Yi's amused voice reached them. "I've finished bathing. Zhou Feng, bring me the clothes the girl bought."

"Yes! Old... Senior!"

Zhou Xiaoxian watched blankly as Zhou Feng hurried out with the clothes, then wrinkled her nose.

It feels like Dad got strange while I was out. Ah, Senior could hear us talking from that far away? How embarrassing...

After changing into his new clothes and shoes, Xia Yi examined himself in a full-length mirror, pleased to see that he had gone from a scruffy old man to a clean, handsome... old man.

By the nearly three-hundred-year lifespan of a six-star Kaiyang expert, Xia Yi was actually in his prime. Unfortunately, his severe injuries back then had greatly shortened his lifespan as well.

I'll find a way to heal my soul injuries first.

As he considered this, Xia Yi turned to look at Zhou Feng, who stood humbly beside him, and suddenly found it rather dull. Then he glanced at Zhou Xiaoxian, who was watching her father in puzzlement a short distance away, and beckoned.

"Girl, don't forget to find me some books."

"Ah, all right, Senior."

Seeing Zhou Xiaoxian go to her room for books, Xia Yi gently patted Zhou Feng's shoulder. "What's the purchasing power of money these days? How many copper coins would buy one of those steamed buns I just ate?"

Zhou Feng did not understand what purchasing power meant. Only after hearing the latter half did he hurriedly reply, "Five copper coins each."

"Oh, five coins." Things had changed considerably from eight hundred years ago. Xia Yi made a mental conversion: one copper coin was roughly equivalent to thirty cents.

One string was ten thousand copper coins, or three thousand yuan.

Here in the countryside, that would basically last a year.

So he asked with a smile, "It seems I underestimated your village. They actually sell outfits costing a string of coins here? Can anyone afford them?"

Zhou Feng looked a little embarrassed. He had simply blurted out a relatively high figure within his means.

He had not considered anything else at all.

Xia Yi continued, "Do you know how much my burial robes were worth? They were made from the finest six-star Great Demon tiger hide. Ordinary swords and sabers couldn't pierce them."

"Z-Zhou Feng doesn't know."

"About... six hundred strings, I suppose."

Zhou Feng's expression grew even more awkward. "This descendant has failed in his filial duty. My funds are limited."

"That's not what I'm talking about. I mean that I've worn clothes worth six hundred strings, but I can wear these hundred-and-eighty-coin clothes just as well. I've eaten dragon liver and phoenix marrow, but steamed buns and pickled vegetables can fill my stomach just the same."

"I've enjoyed the attentive service of over a hundred beautiful maids, fine robes and jade beds, but I could also dig a hole anywhere on a battlefield and make do for the night."

"I slept for eight hundred years. I don't lack people bowing and scraping around me. What I lack is family and friends, though you and I aren't actually related by blood." Xia Yi patted Zhou Feng's shoulder again.

Zhou Feng stood rooted to the spot until Zhou Xiaoxian's startled cry rang out. "Senior, that's..."

"Hey, you're not getting it back, not getting it back. Let me see what's written on this slip tucked into the book. Hahaha, it's actually a love letter..."

"That isn't... When did someone put that in my book?! Senior! Give it back!!"

Zhou Feng's expression grew animated.

That night, he slipped into the guest room prepared for Xia Yi and talked with him late into the night. Though his emotions surged and shifted when certain matters came up, he rarely showed that cautious, timid manner again, treating Xia Yi like an ordinary elder.

After leaving Xia Yi's room, he went straight to knock on his daughter Zhou Xiaoxian's door.

A short while later, Zhou Xiaoxian exclaimed softly, "Senior wants to take me as his disciple? Really?!"