Who Wasn't a Treasure as a Child?

By Sea God Lake, Minghui strolled along a pebble-paved path with his parents.

Having reached the lakeshore, his father and mother did not take him directly across Sea God Lake to the Inner Court. Instead, they led him west along the shore, admiring and reminiscing over old sights they had not seen for many years while introducing him to the purposes of the various buildings along the way.

The family of three was enjoying themselves in perfect harmony.

Meanwhile, over on Sea God Island's Inner Court, things were anything but harmonious.

Filled with rage, Yan Shaozhe crossed Sea God Lake and descended upon Sea God Island. While formulating an indignant speech in his mind, he sped around the Inner Court. In the end, he did not find a single trace of Qingyi's family of three, but he did alarm all the Elders, as well as the students.

The Inner Court students either looked up or exchanged bewildered glances, utterly confused.

"Why does Teacher look so furious?" Ma Xiaotao, who was listening to Xuan Zi analyze real combat at the Training Ground, looked up at the sky with a puzzled expression.

She dearly wanted to catch up and ask, but her teacher was flying far too fast. Even if she tried, she would not be able to catch him.

"You all go back and cultivate for now. I'll go take a look." Xuan Zi informed them before his figure flashed away in a streak of light.

"What happened?" Zhang Lexuan, who was seated in the Simulated Cultivation Ground, watched Yan Shaozhe fly overhead with equal confusion. Without hesitation, she rose and left the cultivation ground, speeding off in Yan Shaozhe's direction as well.

After returning from the Star Dou Great Forest last year, she had been appointed by Mu En as the Inspection Group leader's assistant. She had also been granted special permission to join Sea God Pavilion and take part in the academy's decision-making.

If something really had happened, she naturally needed to be involved.

Before long, Yan Shaozhe arrived above the residence of Xian Lin'er, Qingyi's closest friend.

"Yan Shaozhe, what the hell are you going crazy for?!" Xian Lin'er had a fiery temper. The moment she stepped outside, she raised her head and started cursing at the sky.

Yan Shaozhe immediately sobered up quite a bit. His neck instinctively shrank as he glanced toward the house behind Xian Lin'er, then swiftly descended from the air.

His brows were tightly furrowed, his face plainly declaring that he was extremely unhappy. "Haven't Qingyi and Ming Chen come to your place?"

"Qingyi came to the academy?" Xian Lin'er's eyes lit up. "Where is she?"

"If I'd found her, would I still be asking you?" Yan Shaozhe snapped. "I thought that given how close you two are, you'd be the first good sister she came to see."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xuan Zi's furious curse sounded from behind him. "Yan Shaozhe, what the fuck is wrong with you today?!"

One figure after another rapidly approached.

Sensing their arrival, Yan Shaozhe could not be bothered to leave. He simply stood where he was and waited for everyone to gather.

Not long afterward, the small courtyard was full of people. Zhang Lexuan had been the closest, yet she was the last to arrive.

"Talk. What happened?"

Xuan Zi looked deeply displeased.

Seeing that everyone present was one of their own, Yan Shaozhe gained some confidence. The anger in his heart flared up again as he said furiously, "Hmph, I'm afraid you don't know this, but Du Busi's disciple is actually Ming Chen and Qingyi's child. His name is Minghui, and he just turned ten this year."

"Are they looking down on the academy?"

"It's actually Qingyi's child!" Apart from the younger Zhang Lexuan, everyone present was shocked.

"Qingyi was rather unfair here. How could she side with outsiders?" Cai Mei'er strongly supported her husband and was somewhat displeased as well.

The others, however, wore contemplative expressions. In their impressions, neither Ming Chen nor Qingyi was a rash person.

"This student does not see it that way," Zhang Lexuan was the first to speak.

"Lexuan, why are you siding with outsiders too?" Yan Shaozhe, still in the heat of anger, turned and glared at her.

"Dean, please don't get angry. Let this student finish first." Zhang Lexuan smiled gently.

"Exactly. At your age, you're still so rash whenever something happens. You're not even as steady as a child." Xuan Zi seized the opportunity to lash out at him. Then, no longer paying Yan Shaozhe any heed, he turned to Zhang Lexuan.

"Lexuan, tell us what you think."

Yan Shaozhe opened his mouth, but in the end, he suppressed his anger and listened.

After gathering her thoughts, Zhang Lexuan spoke seriously. "Elders, I have heard a little about Senior Ming Chen and Senior Qingyi's circumstances. Judging by their ages, they should both be over eighty now, correct? In other words, they had this child late in life."

"And he is their only child."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Yan Shaozhe frowned.

Zhang Lexuan's expression did not change as she replied amiably, "Dean, if I remember correctly, the Radiant Plume Divine Bow martial soul seems to possess a certain hereditary defect."

Everyone else present was over fifty and experienced in life. They understood immediately.

"Lexuan, are you saying that the child Minghui's other martial soul is the Radiant Plume Divine Bow?" Xuan Zi asked before anyone else could.

Zhang Lexuan nodded slightly.

Xuan Zi immediately turned to Yan Shaozhe. "Shaozhe, what martial soul did that child register?"

"He only registered a Body Martial Soul, the Eye of the Soul," Yan Shaozhe answered truthfully.

Xuan Zi flew into a rage. "You fucking came looking to accuse them before you even figured out his martial souls? Is there something wrong with your brain?!"

"..." Yan Shaozhe's face flushed red, leaving him speechless.

Xian Lin'er shot him a glance and suddenly felt that breaking up with Yan Shaozhe back then had been an exceptionally correct decision.

"If his other martial soul really is the Radiant Plume Divine Bow, then everything makes sense."

She sighed and continued on her own.

"Back then, Junior Disciple Ming Chen's Ice Attribute martial soul was not even at the Ultimate level, yet he still needed Mu En's help to suppress the backlash from its cold aura. Let alone Minghui, whose awakened martial soul is Ultimate Ice. More importantly, his martial soul has also awakened a Wind Attribute, making the situation even more complicated."

"Besides, Junior Disciple Ming Chen once mentioned that because of the cold aura backlash from their martial souls, the physical constitutions of the Ming Family's descendants had grown weaker with each generation."

"That was also why, by his generation, only he and his parents remained in the Ming Family."

"I imagine Minghui's physical condition was poor after his birth, perhaps even worse than theirs. That must have forced the two of them into making this choice."

"Starting by cultivating the Body Martial Soul to build a foundation is indeed the safer option." Xuan Zi sighed as well.

"I've heard that the Body Sect also possesses a Secret Art for increasing Soul Ring age. That offers another layer of protection." Xian Lin'er nodded and took over. "What parent doesn't want to give their child the best? The safest?"

"Especially when he is their only bloodline."

"You all know how much pressure Junior Disciple Ming Chen has endured over the years."

"At any rate, I don't think they did anything wrong." She made her stance clear.

"The Body Sect isn't some evil organization. For their child's safety and future, choosing this is entirely understandable!"

"They still should have told us in advance," Yan Shaozhe said, his voice considerably weaker.

"Why tell you?!" Xuan Zi immediately seized the chance to retort.

"Don't you have any idea what your own temper is like? If you knew, you'd probably lecture them endlessly, maybe even start a huge argument. Just look at how you behaved earlier. You came here looking to accuse them. Anyone who didn't know better would think you had some deep grudge against them. Besides, you can't even solve Xiaotao's martial soul problem. Could you help resolve the defects of a Triple Attribute Martial Soul with an Ultimate Attribute?"

"I think you should just go wash up and sleep!"

Though he felt somewhat uncomfortable, he also believed that Qingyi and her husband had made the right choice. There was no helping it. They had a child late in life, and he was their only child. He was undoubtedly the sort of little ancestor they would fear melting if held in their mouths or breaking if held in their palms. They could not allow him to suffer even the slightest harm.

He had never been a parent, but he had been a son. Who wasn't a treasure when they were young?