Scars of the Past

Yan Zu's pupils contracted slightly.

"He didn't dare actually lay a hand on her. Spirit Hall has a reputation to uphold, too." Yan Hu's voice sounded as though he were forcing it through clenched teeth. "But he said some... bastardly things. He said that if your mother wanted to register, she'd have to 'make a few more trips to the branch' and 'receive his guidance in private.' He also said... he said that with your mother's aptitude, if she 'knew what was good for her,' he could help apply for a higher subsidy..."

Yan Hu said no more.

But Yan Zu understood.

It was the usual trick of a seasoned old hand. He left himself room to deny his words and stopped short of going too far, but his meaning was plain as day: if you wanted a benefit, you had to pay a price.

What terror and helplessness must a young woman in her early twenties, a new mother all alone in a place like that, have felt when faced with an old man of great power and influence who hid a knife behind his smile?

Yan Zu clenched his hands beneath the covers.

"What happened then?" he asked, his voice unexpectedly calm.

"Then?" Yan Hu gave a bitter smile. "Then your mother ran away. She didn't get anything done. She just ran straight home. Once she got here, she held you and cried half the night."

Su Qing's tears finally fell. She raised a hand to wipe them away, saying nothing.

"The next day, I wanted to go to Nuoding City and settle accounts with that old bastard." Suppressed fury filled Yan Hu's voice. "But your mother stopped me. She said we couldn't afford to provoke them. He'd left nothing we could use against him with what he said. If we went and raised a fuss, we'd be the ones to suffer in the end. Besides..."

He looked down at Yan Zu, his tiger-like eyes full of complicated emotions:

"Besides, there was you. If Spirit Hall held a grudge against us, what would happen to you in the future?"

Yan Zu fell silent.

He remembered the deacon named Ma Xiunuo from the original novel. An insignificant bit player in Tang San's story, he had been nothing more than the old man who greeted Tang San at Spirit Hall's entrance and treated him fairly kindly. Many readers even had a "pretty good" impression of him.

Yet that very same man had played a completely different role in this unremarkable little mountain village, in another young mother's story.

Human nature had never been simply black or white.

But to the victims, that didn't matter.

What mattered was that the existence of that man had left their family of three living in fear and trepidation for five whole years.

A deathly silence fell over the room. Only Yan Hu's heavy breathing and Su Qing's quiet sobs echoed through it.

This episode from the past had weighed on the family's hearts for years like a massive boulder. It explained the roots of their poverty, and had also forged the dignity Yan Hu bore on his shoulders and the forbearance beneath Su Qing's gentleness.

He looked at his angry, anguished parents, and much of the gloom he had felt over his "hellish start" suddenly faded. In its place came a weighty sense of responsibility and an even firmer resolve.

He stepped forward and gently took his mother's cold hand, then looked up at his father, who still resembled a trapped beast.

"Dad, Mom, you did the right thing." Yan Zu's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a power that soothed the heart. "If you'd taken money like that, you'd never have washed the stain off for the rest of your lives. Our family is poor now, but we're poor and clean, poor with our backbone intact. That matters more than anything."

He paused, then turned back to the original question. "So that's why I have even less reason to go to Spirit Hall for my awakening."

Yan Hu heaved a heavy sigh. In the wake of his immense fury came deep exhaustion and the hardship of their circumstances. "Awakening at home... an Awakening Stone? That thing isn't cheap." He had dealt with other Soul Masters for years and naturally knew the going rate. "Even the lowest-grade Awakening Stone costs a full fifty Gold Soul Coins. For our family..."

Su Qing looked troubled as well. Most of the family's savings had come from Yan Hu hunting Soul Beasts. They had scrimped and saved, but had only put aside a little over thirty Gold Soul Coins, still well short of fifty. Besides, if Yan Zu went to Nuoding Academy in the future, his tuition and living expenses would be another considerable expense.

The scars of the past had been laid bare, yet their present predicament still loomed coldly before them.

Yan Zu saw his parents' difficulty. He took a small cloth pouch from his storage bracelet and held it out. "There are fifteen Gold Soul Coins in here. I saved them up."

The check-ins didn't give many Gold Soul Coins, and this was what he had left after giving Father Yan a hundred Gold Soul Coins last time.

Yan Hu and Su Qing opened the pouch and stared at the gleaming gold coins inside, their eyes full of surprise.

"A-Zu, this money..." Su Qing swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue. She knew her son had too many secrets, and the rewards from that "white-bearded grandpa" always came in handy at crucial moments.

Yan Hu was silent for a moment, then pushed the pouch back. "Keep this money for yourself. I'll find a way to pay for the Awakening Stone." He stood up, a flash of resolve in his tiger-like eyes. "I'm a level-thirty Soul Elder now, and your mother has broken through to level twenty-six. If we join forces and go deep into the woods in the nearby hills to hunt a Soul Beast over three hundred years old, we can sell its materials. Forget fifty Gold Soul Coins, we could scrape together even a hundred!"

Deep in the woods of the nearby hills was far more dangerous than the outskirts, and Soul Beasts over three hundred years old often appeared there. But the prices of their materials were several times higher accordingly. After Yan Hu broke through to level thirty, his third Soul Skill, Immovable Vajra, combined offense and defense, greatly increasing his strength. With Su Qing's Green Grain support and the boost from the Nine Yin Manual: Green Wood Chapter as well, he was confident he could handle a three-hundred-year-old Soul Beast.

"But it's too dangerous." Su Qing was somewhat worried. "The Soul Beasts deeper in are much stronger than the ones on the outskirts."

"Don't worry, dear." Yan Hu patted his chest. "I'm a Soul Elder now, and I have the cultivation method A-Zu taught me. We'll be fine. Besides, for A-Zu's sake, this much risk is worth taking."

Yan Zu looked at the resolute expression in his father's eyes, warmth surging through his heart. He knew his parents had always been willing to give everything for him.

"Dad, Mom, I have something here. Take it with you." Yan Zu took a porcelain bottle from his storage bracelet. "There are three high-grade healing pills in this bottle. No matter how badly you're hurt, taking one will quickly restore your Soul Power and heal your injuries."

The high-grade healing pills in this bottle had all come from a rare reward triggered when he completed a full month of consecutive check-ins.

Yan Hu took the porcelain bottle and felt its warmth in his hand. "Good lad, you always have a surprise for us."

Su Qing's expression was solemn. "We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning and try to be back within three days."

"Dad, Mom, please be careful," Yan Zu urged. "If you run into a Soul Beast you really can't handle, don't fight it head-on. Come back first."

"We know." Yan Hu rubbed his son's head and laughed heartily. "Your dad's a Soul Elder. It won't be that easy for something to happen to me."

As the night deepened, the oil lamp in the simple little cottage finally went out.

Yan Zu lay on his little bed, staring at the pitch-dark roof beams.

He silently repeated that name in his heart-

Ma Xiunuo.

A deacon of the Spirit Hall Branch in Nuoding City.

He would remember.