…Xu Qi’an’s expression stiffened, the smug look on his face vanished, and he stared blankly at the white-robed Arcanist.
In his mind, the girl in the red dress and the girl in the white dress instantly drifted away.
“Your mother was of that bloodline from five hundred years ago, the younger sister of the so-called chosen one whom I am now supporting. Back then, I formed an alliance with him and helped him ascend to power, and in return, he married his younger sister to me. The most reliable alliance in this world is, first and foremost, one of interests, and then one of marriage.
“After marrying that noble lady, I devoted myself to plotting the Battle of Shanhai Pass, seeking to steal the Great Feng’s fortune. At the end of the Battle of Shanhai Pass, you were born.”
Whew!
Xu Qi’an let out a sigh of relief, the red dress and the white dress drifted back into his mind.
Although he was technically a descendant of the Great Feng imperial family, that was from the branch five hundred years ago and had little to do with Huaiqing and Lin’an.
In his previous life, people with the same surname would often say, “Five hundred years ago, we were all one family…”
Still, if you really had to say it, then Huaiqing and Lin’an are still my cousins.
Only now did he have the presence of mind to consider whether his so-called father was telling the truth.
The timing matched: the year he was born, according to his second uncle’s memories, he and Xu Dalang had been fighting at Shanhai Pass, so Auntie and his birth mother had cared for him for quite some time…
Xu Qi’an froze, realising something was wrong, and asked in a low voice, “Why… why was I born in the capital?”
As he spoke, his face turned pale, feeling as if something inside him was in turmoil, struggling to resist.
At the same time, his martial instinct screamed a warning. Still, there was no clear vision, only a deep, instinctive fear, as though he was a child walking on a tightrope, always on the verge of falling and being dashed to pieces.
This made Xu Qi’an realise that the white-robed Arcanist had reached a critical moment in refining the fortune. If he succeeded, all the fortune would belong to another, and he would have nothing more to do with it.
And as that fortune that was intertwined with his very life left him, he too, would perish.
As for the ordeal his son was about to face, the white-robed Arcanist showed neither joy nor sorrow, his tone as calm as ever:
“Your birth mother went to the capital while I was away and secretly gave birth to you there. I only learned of it after I had stolen the fortune.”
“Why?”
Blood trickled from Xu Qi’an’s nose and mouth. He gazed at him deeply.
The white-robed Arcanist’s tone did not waver:
“Your birth was always intended to house the fortune, to be used as a vessel. This was a contest between myself and that bloodline, but also because the time was not right. Before the uprising, it was not appropriate to implant the fortune in the body of a member of the imperial family.
“Your birth mother was a very cunning woman. She pretended to accept her fate, acted as though she would do anything for her family’s rise, but it was all a facade. You were her first child, she could not bear to see you die, so she fled to the capital and gave birth to you there.
“The Jianzheng was in the capital; he would be your greatest protector.”
So that was how it was… Xu Qi’an sighed, his doubts gone.
He did not know why, but at that moment, what came to mind was that old bastard, the Jianzheng.
The loneliest, most miserable old man in all of the Great Feng.
“So, does that make Ji Qian my cousin?”
Xu Qi’an asked, the blood from his nose trickling to the corner of his mouth. He wanted to wipe it away, but was unable to move.
“Yes.”
The white-robed Arcanist nodded.
Well killed. Cousins all deserved to die… No, that’s not what I mean, that’s what some famous author in my last life said… he grumbled inwardly, using it to distract himself from his anxiety.
“Is this your contingency plan?”
At that moment, the white-robed Arcanist suddenly spoke.
Beyond the valley, Principal Zhao Shou arrived, treading on air, with Xu Pingzhi in tow.
“So you are here, you really are here…”
Second Uncle’s voice was sharp, his expression both grief-stricken and ferocious, his eyes bloodshot.
The white-robed Arcanist did not look at him, and said softly:
“When I was young, I often brought him here to show him my formations. This was our secret base. Later, the formations here grew more and more sophisticated and powerful, containing the fruit of half a lifetime’s labour.
“But as a result, it became unwieldy, and I could not bear to part with this place. It is not entirely safe, for besides myself, Erlang also knows of it. You are right: when I appear in public, the art that shields Heaven’s secrets will break of its own accord. Erlang will remember me.
“So I deliberately concealed your existence, so that his memory would be confused once again.”
But you didn’t expect I had long since understood the essence of the art that shields Heaven’s secrets… Xu Qi’an’s face was expressionless.
Second Uncle rammed into the barrier of Qi, splitting his head and drawing blood, roaring:
“Xu Pingfeng, you’re worse than a beast! He is your son, my nephew! Even a tiger will not eat her cubs. Are you even human?”
His face twisted, veins bulged on his temples, making him appear savage.
It was the first time Xu Qi’an had seen Second Uncle so furious.
The white-robed Arcanist said coolly, “This is a matter between father and son. That life of his was mine to give.”
Bang!
Xu Pingzhi slammed a fist into the barrier, like an old beast goaded into a frenzy, savage and vicious:
“Father and son? Do you deserve it? Do you deserve to call yourself his father? He is a Xu family boy, raised by me. If you want to kill him, did you ask me? Did I agree? Open this damned formation, I’ll kill you, I’LL KILL YOU!”
He punched the barrier again and again, his fists bloodied.
Second Uncle… Xu Qi’an watched in silence, watching a middle-aged man break down.
At home, Xu Pingzhi was always meek; outside, slippery and smooth. The killing edge honed on the battlefield had long since been blunted by officialdom.
But no matter how meek a man is, if his own child is in danger, he will strike without hesitation.
Even if he must face an elephant.
The white-robed Arcanist withdrew his gaze, glanced at Xu Qi’an, and curled his lips,
“But it’s too late!”
He gave a forceful tug, slowly extracting the fortune, invisible to ordinary people, from the top of Xu Qi’an’s head.
During this process, Xu Qi’an’s body cracked again and again, blood gushing out, blood constantly seeping from his mouth and nose. He howled in agony.
His nephew’s screams were like a heavy hammer striking Xu Pingzhi’s heart, making his whole body tremble.
The old man suddenly lost all arrogance, knelt by the barrier, and pleaded bitterly,
“Don’t kill him, big brother, I beg you, don’t kill him. He’s the child I raised, he’s my boy, I beg you, don’t kill him…
“I raised him for twenty-one years, you can’t do this, you really can’t… big brother, for the sake of our past, give him back to me.”
The white-robed Arcanist remained cold-hearted, ignoring him, and continued extracting the fortune.
“Step back!”
Zhao Shou waved his sleeve, pushing Second Uncle Xu aside. Then, he donned his Confucian cap and gripped the carving knife in his right hand, concealed in his sleeve.
The clear energy from the Confucian cap and the carving knife shot into the sky, echoing each other.
Holding the carving knife, Zhao Shou thrust forward. Empowered by the cap of the Lesser Sage and as a third-rank Great Scholar, the carving knife burst forth with dazzling brilliance. The great formation, which the white-robed Arcanist had spent over thirty years arranging, was instantly breached.
The outermost barrier of qi collapsed, no longer able to block outsiders.
“In this place, it is forbidden to extract fortune.”
Zhao Shou declared.
But this time, the power of Confucian laws follow commandments did not take effect.
The Arcanist’s action of extraction was hindered for a moment, but he quickly shook off the effect of the magic.
“The laws of heaven and earth here are different from the outside. If your Confucianists want to rule in my ‘world’, you’ll have to ask whether I agree.”
The white-robed Arcanist sneered, full of confidence.
Zhao Shou took a step forward and thrust the carving knife again. The cap of the Lesser Sage shed waves of clear light, strengthening the knife.
Zhao Shou said, “Break the formation!”
The power of Confucian laws follow commandments strengthened the knife.
You can change the rules, I can break your formation.
The knife seemed to turn into a blazing sun, the clear light so intense it was almost white. It advanced rapidly, shattering one layer of the formation after another.
This peerless formation, made up of one hundred and eight child formations, could not withstand a third-rank Confucian scholar wearing confucian cap, and wielding the confucian carving knife.
Even if the formation maker was a second-rank Arcanist.
But for the white-robed Arcanist, it was expected that a third-rank Confucianist at full power could not be stopped. What he really needed was only to delay, for the majority of Xu Qi’an’s fortune had already been extracted.
Just then, a sabre light, filled with murderous intent, appeared in the void, shattering one formation rune after another.
The sabre intent was peerless.
With his free hand, the white-robed Arcanist pressed on a certain formation rune, which lit up, forming a wall of qi to block the sabre light.
The sabre light struck the wall, vanishing without a trace as if it had sunk into the sea.
Teleportation!
He had teleported the sabre light away.
“Teleportation is forbidden here.”
Zhao Shou calmly responded. As the formation collapsed, the power of Confucian laws follow commandments invaded further.
Suddenly, the void boiled, and sabre intent after sabre intent appeared, unstoppable, shattering the formation runes.
This made it easier for Zhao Shou to advance. Just as he was about to break through, suddenly, the corpse of the old shaman, its eyes empty but for the whites, glowed eerily.
Zhao Shou lost his target, standing dazed; there was nothing ahead, no sign of Xu Qi’an or the white-robed Arcanist.
It was a “hidden from knowledge” technique, concealing Xu Qi’an and the Arcanist, buying more time.
Zhao Shou frowned, raised his hand, and flicked the Confucian cap.
The cap trembled, waves of clear light rippling out. Mysteriously, a power enveloping Zhao Shou was washed away, and Xu Qi’an and the Arcanist appeared once more.
“That’s enough!”
The white-robed Arcanist smiled; he had completely refined the fortune within Xu Qi’an.
“I didn’t know that Second Uncle knew about this place.”
At that moment, he heard Xu Qi’an say quietly.
The Arcanist frowned. His blood relative showed no trace of impending doom or panic, but was instead perfectly calm.
Xu Qi’an continued, “So, my real means of survival was not Zhao Shou or the Wulin Alliance’s great ancestor, or at least, I didn’t place all my hopes on them.”
He paused, a look of pleasure spreading across his face, “Did you really think the Jianzheng would do nothing?”
“You old hag, what are you waiting for!”
He shouted.
As his words fell, behind Xu Qi’an grew illusory, furry fox tails, fanning out like a peacock’s tail, both beautiful and terrifying.
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