The brothers passed through the long corridors of Godwind Academy, then followed the main road north for a while.
Whenever passing students saw Feng Xiaotian, they instinctively stepped aside, their eyes filled with awe. Twelve years old, rank thirty. His first soul ring was dark yellow, taken from a five-hundred-and-eighty-year-old Wind Demon Wolf; his second soul ring was even darker, with a faint trace of purple showing through the deep yellow, condensed after he killed a Wind-Winged Python over nine hundred years old. He needed only his third soul ring to officially enter the ranks of Soul Elders.
Across the entire northwest, the people whose achievements surpassed Feng Xiaotian's could be counted on one hand. Godwind Academy's instructors had long spoken highly of him in private, all saying that with his innate full soul power, becoming a Titled Douluo was only a matter of time.
And now, Feng Xiaotian's younger brother had also awakened with innate full soul power.
When the news reached the instructors, someone slapped a desk in the teaching office. "Two prodigies in one family. Who knows what virtue the dean accumulated in his past life?"
When those words reached Feng Xiaotian, he said nothing and simply reached out to ruffle his brother's hair.
The brothers continued north.
The school buildings gradually thinned out, and the trees grew more numerous. At some point, the flagstone road gave way to a cobblestone path, lined on either side by rows of parasol trees with golden fallen leaves.
"Brother," Feng Lingtian suddenly said.
"Hmm?"
"Do you know how the Speed Family was wiped out back then?"
Feng Xiaotian's steps faltered before returning to normal. He did not answer, but Feng Lingtian noticed that the hand his brother had used to ruffle his hair slowly clenched.
"I know a little." Feng Xiaotian's voice was lower than usual. "Mother never went into detail, but I found some things in Father's study. The Speed Family, the Speed Clan, and the Wind Sword Sect originally belonged to the same sect. After that great battle, the sect split apart. The Speed Family... suffered the worst."
"In a single night," Feng Lingtian said. "Their ancestral grounds were gone, and so were their people."
Feng Xiaotian stopped and looked down at his brother.
"You're only six. How do you know about these things?"
"I read the secret family scrolls Mother treasures." Feng Lingtian did not avoid his brother's gaze. "Brother, I won't hide it from you. Now that I have the foundation to grow stronger, I want to change some things."
Feng Xiaotian fell silent for a long time.
Then he crouched down to meet his brother's eyes.
"What do you want to change?"
"First, heal Mother's injuries." Feng Lingtian raised one finger. "Second, make sure you take the right path and don't repeat the same mistakes. Third-" He paused, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. "The slaughter of our family. Those people must repay what they owe."
Feng Xiaotian looked into his brother's eyes. He did not ask, "Who are those people?"
He had an answer in his heart, but like his mother-he could not say it yet.
"Count me in on the third."
Feng Lingtian froze for a moment.
"You think you're the only one who wants that?" Feng Xiaotian stood and looked toward the Heavenly Wind Mountain Range. His voice was quiet, but every word was clear. "I'm the eldest son. Just because Mother doesn't talk about our family's affairs doesn't mean I don't know."
He turned to his brother, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
"So you don't have to shoulder it alone."
Feng Lingtian looked at his brother and suddenly smiled.
"All right."
The brothers continued north. Neither spoke again, but both walked more steadily than before.
At the end of the path stood a separate courtyard. Its gate was open, offering a clear view of the parasol tree inside and the reclining chair beneath it.
Bai Qingyin reclined in the chair, a thin blanket draped over her.
She looked to be in her early thirties and was exceptionally beautiful, her eyes and brows bearing some resemblance to her two sons'. But her face was so pale it seemed almost transparent, and her lips were faintly colored, like faded flower petals. Most startling were her temples-though only in her thirties, she already had white hair. Her frame was thin, the outlines of her shoulder blades faintly visible even through the thin blanket.
But the gaze Bai Qingyin turned on her two sons was warm.
"Mother."
Feng Lingtian approached his mother, knelt on one knee, and took her icy hand.
Pale golden light shone behind Feng Lingtian, and his Peregrine Falcon Martial Soul appeared once more. This time, he deliberately restrained its might. The martial soul merely hovered quietly behind him, faint light flowing over its silver-gray wings.
Bai Qingyin's eyes instantly reddened.
She gazed at the silver-gray peregrine falcon, her eyes drifting into the distance as though piercing through time.
Instinctively, she raised her right hand, palm upward, trying to condense something. But only a faint wisp of silver light emerged from her palm. It flickered, then dispersed like a candle flame on the verge of dying in the wind.
She gave a bitter smile and lowered her hand onto the blanket.
Feng Lingtian noticed this detail, and his heart tightened. His mother's martial soul-something was wrong with it. It was not merely that her body was injured and her soul power increased slowly; her martial soul itself might already have been damaged, unable to manifest normally.
Bai Qingyin offered no explanation. She merely looked at the brothers and spoke softly.
"Our Bai Family was the Speed Family. We once produced a rank ninety-four Titled Douluo." Her voice was very soft, as though she were speaking of something from long ago. "He was an ancestor of our Bai Family, and he too had a Peregrine Falcon Martial Soul. With our ancestor there, no one dared bully the Bai Family."
Feng Xiaotian crouched on his mother's other side and listened quietly. She had never told him these things before.
"But on the very day disaster struck, our ancestor received a secret letter saying that an old acquaintance was in danger. It was a matter of great importance, and he had to go personally. Less than four hours after he left..."
Bai Qingyin's voice stopped.
"Those people came," Feng Lingtian finished for her.
"They lured the tiger away from its mountain." Bai Qingyin gave a bitter laugh. "With our ancestor gone, the clan was a host of dragons without a head. Your grandfather led our clansmen in a desperate resistance, but there were too many enemies, and they were too strong..."
Bai Qingyin's eyes reddened, but she did not let her tears fall.
"They slaughtered everyone on our ancestral grounds, plundered our wealth, and destroyed our inheritance. Of the direct line, only your uncle and I escaped through a secret passage, escorted by several loyal old servants who risked their lives to protect us."
"By the time our ancestor returned, the ancestral grounds were already a sea of flames." Bai Qingyin's voice sank. "Holding your grandfather's remains, he sat amid the ruins for three days and three nights without saying a word. After that, he disappeared."
Bai Qingyin drew back her gaze, looking at Feng Xiaotian, then Feng Lingtian.
"I'm telling you this not because I want you to seek revenge. Your grandfather risked his life to let your uncle and me escape, not so we would live in hatred. I only want you to know-the martial souls within you carry the bloodlines of both the Feng and Bai families. Lingtian's peregrine falcon is the Bai Family's thousand-year inheritance; Xiaotian's Gale Twin-Headed Wolf came from the fusion and mutation of your father's martial soul and mine. It has both the Bai Family's foundation and the Feng Family's roots. More than that, you carry the hopes of your grandfather, our ancestor, and all the clansmen who failed to escape."
She reached out and clasped her two sons' hands.
"Cultivate well, and live well. That is the greatest comfort you can give them."
Feng Lingtian tightened his grip on his mother's hand without speaking. Two words echoed over and over in his mind-those people.
His mother had not spoken that name. Not because she did not know, but because she could not say it yet. Without evidence or strength, saying it would accomplish nothing except adding to the danger.
Feng Xiaotian said nothing either. He merely held his mother's hand a little tighter.
"Mother." Feng Lingtian lifted his head, his tone calm but earnest. "Please teach me the Pill Refining Technique."
Bai Qingyin was slightly taken aback.
"I need to learn our family's Pill Refining Technique," Feng Lingtian said. "Don't worry. I won't neglect my cultivation."
Standing nearby, Feng Xiaotian's brows shifted slightly at the words "Pill Refining Technique." He glanced at his brother-a six-year-old child who had only just awakened his martial soul, already saying he wanted to learn pill refining. Had it been anyone else, he might have thought they were neglecting their proper duties.
But after their conversation on the way here, he knew his brother was not merely speaking on a whim.
Feng Xiaotian did not interrupt. He simply stood quietly to one side, waiting for his mother's answer.
Bai Qingyin fell silent for a moment, her gaze moving between the brothers' faces. The elder was steady, the younger precocious.
"All right." She nodded gently. "We'll begin tomorrow."
Night lay deep.
Feng Xiaotian was already fast asleep, his breathing even. Feng Lingtian, however, sat by the window, gazing toward the Heavenly Wind Mountain Range. Moonlight flowed like water, and the distant, drawn-out cries of soul beasts drifted faintly on the night wind.
Feng Lingtian looked down at his palm and slowly clenched it.
Before, he could only watch helplessly as his brother's story moved toward that bitterly regrettable ending, unable to do anything. But this life was different. He had innate full soul power, a Peregrine Falcon Martial Soul, the Pill Refining Technique passed down through his mother's family, and a genius older brother who would protect him even at the cost of his life.
He would not let his brother become anyone's simp again.
His mother would not spend the rest of her life in sickness and pain.
And one day, the score for the Speed Family's slaughter would be settled.
Just then, a streak of silver light suddenly flashed in the direction of the Heavenly Wind Mountain Range.
It was not lightning-lightning would not flash only once with nothing following, nor would it have that silvery-white sheen, like a peregrine falcon's wings.
Feng Lingtian abruptly stood and went to the window.
Immediately afterward, a clear cry came from that direction. It was not loud, as though it came from very, very far away, but it was especially distinct in the night wind.
That sound-
Was exactly like a peregrine falcon's cry.
Feng Lingtian's martial soul trembled violently within him, as though answering that sound. He glanced back at Feng Xiaotian on the bed-his brother rolled over, his breathing still even, having heard nothing.
Only Feng Lingtian had heard it.
Only him.
Feng Lingtian turned back toward the pitch-black mountains. The silver light had vanished, and the clear cry had faded. The night wind remained unchanged, as did the moonlight.
But he knew something was there.
Something connected to his Peregrine Falcon Martial Soul.