Chapter 17: Now, Watch How I Am.
Ning Xuan slowed his steps, gradually stopping before a row of white walls. He stood straight and tall, tilting his head slightly, a complex gleam flickering in his eyes.
The sounds from the study in the distance gradually quieted. The two people inside were clearly conversing in a more subtle, more concealed manner.
However, even snippets were enough for Ning Xuan to glimpse the tip of the iceberg of the truth.
This was a truth about his family.
This world was clearly not, as he and the vast majority of people perceived it, a world of only low-level martial arts and worldly affairs.
The imperial court of this world possessed a mysterious power, a fact implicitly evident from terms like “Great General Qin Shanjun,” “Dragon Qi,” and “Celestial Master realm.”
And his father’s true identity was more than likely a member of this mysterious court.
He didn’t know what his father did before the age of thirty-five, but he knew that his father already had an offspring at that time, an offspring he hoped would inherit his legacy, this being the person who “called himself brother.”
But that mysterious court apparently did not permit his father to do so.
The reason, he could roughly guess.
To prevent the situation of a “hereditary local emperor.”
Ning Xuan could easily imagine that with his father’s prestige, a single instruction would be enough for many forces in the surrounding prefectures and cities to rally around him, and this was even when he was merely a pretty boy prodigal son. If it were someone who had completely inherited his father’s legacy, it would truly be “private rule of the realm,” which the mysterious court would absolutely not allow.
Therefore, his elder brother could not be exposed.
Therefore, his own birth became only natural.
His father gave birth to him with his mother to avoid suspicion.
He was then naturally cultivated into a prodigal son who indulged in drinking, gambling, and womanizing, all to reassure that mysterious court.
Speaking of which…
He inherited wealth and status from his father, while his brother inherited skills, danger, and a path of hardship.
Now, his father’s vital energy appeared depleted. Ning Xuan, no matter how unwilling he was to admit it, could sense that his father didn’t have many years left to live. Within his seemingly refined body, his flesh and blood had already decayed, resembling an elder nearing eighty.
Therefore, a marriage alliance was imperative.
The mysterious court clearly had rules, rules that would completely remove a “potential successor” from their original territory, hence the court’s demand for his marriage.
His father also had his own plans. His father wanted to consider him, his mother, and the entire Ning Family. Thus, he brokered what, from his father’s own perspective, was a reasonably good marriage alliance.
Moving to Hanzhou Ranch and marrying the illegitimate daughter of General Qin was essentially no different from being a live-in son-in-law.
But General Qin must be powerful.
His father’s thinking was: it’s a compromise, so be it. Who isn’t compromising? Living a peaceful and prosperous life is enough.
For a moment, Ning Xuan couldn’t tell who his father was partial to.
Suddenly, his thoughts drifted.
He remembered when he was young, his father taking him horseback riding, galloping across ancient plains, admiring all the blooming flowers, and telling him “fairy tales from other worlds” he’d heard from who knows where. His father carried him, running everywhere, holding his hand, teaching him to fly a kite. He never scolded him when he made mistakes; in short, he spoiled him to death.
Ning Xuan could imagine that for his father to reach this point, he must be a ruthless, decisive, and ambitious person, otherwise, he wouldn’t have made this move.
Yet, this kind of father had given him the gentlest affection of his entire life.
In this life, his father was his true father.
Therefore, he should cooperate with his father.
He shouldn’t let his father’s plan have any variables.
He shouldn’t put the entire family in danger due to his own willfulness.
Thus, he could reciprocate the father-son affection of this lifetime.
“Hanzhou Ranch…”
Ning Xuan seemed to see an boundless grassland with leisurely white clouds before his eyes.
He sent Xiaojie away to avoid angering his legal wife. He lived under someone else’s roof, striving to perform well, carefully restraining his power, only revealing a little at a time to gain status. His legal wife was an illegitimate daughter and would occasionally be the one taking the abuse at home, while he needed to be the one who took the abuse among those who took abuse, becoming someone who appeared to be a good-for-nothing on the surface but was actually growing stronger, all the while thinking “one day, one day…”
Night fell.
The study in the Ning Family residence.
Master Ning was still awake.
The door was pushed open again.
Master Ning looked gently at the entering youth, his face breaking into a kind smile. He then said, “I knew you wouldn’t be able to sleep. You’d definitely come to me for answers. I already had the cook prepare wine and food. By the way, have the two of us ever drunk together?”
“Father.”
Ning Xuan interrupted him.
Ning Taiyi looked at him with interest and chuckled, “Do you have a surprise for Father?”
Ning Xuan nodded.
Ning Taiyi’s smile faded as he stood up and said solemnly, “Father is very much looking forward to it.”
Though he said he was looking forward to it, he wasn’t, and had even guessed what his son intended to do: inevitably, he wouldn’t be content, thinking himself a martial arts prodigy and wanting to refuse the marriage to Hanzhou because of it.
He had immense tolerance for his son’s “immaturity,” so he intended to listen carefully to his son’s explanation first, and then slowly persuade him, making him understand that martial artists in this era were merely somewhat more substantial flesh and blood, mere cannon fodder on the new battlefield, mere trash.
However, to his surprise, Ning Xuan calmly said, “Father, I know you always plan things thoroughly. This marriage alliance arranged for me in Hanzhou Ranch is also a decision made after considering all aspects.”
Ning Taiyi was taken aback and said, “My Xuan’er has grown up.”
Ning Xuan said, “Precisely because of this, I don’t want there to be any variables in Father’s plan.”
Ning Taiyi asked curiously, “What variables?”
Ning Xuan said, “Father, can you see a person’s level by observing their vital energy and blood?”
Ning Taiyi nodded.
Ning Xuan said, “Then, watch how I am now?”
As his voice fell, he no longer concealed the calm vital energy within him. Even without using the Heavenly Demon Scroll, he already possessed a physique of 2.2.
If his vital energy had been merely a calm small river before he spoke, after he spoke, it immediately surged, boiling and roaring.
He clenched his fists, his slender yet tenacious muscles rising like steel cables. He raised his eyes, like a ferocious beast preying in the midnight forest, exuding a powerful presence, like a raging beacon fire, suffocating and chilling those who felt it.
Truly a monster in human skin.
After his original body’s physique broke through 2.0, Ning Xuan had faintly felt that “2.0” might very well be the limit for martial artists.
To break through this limit, external force was needed.
And he had a natural external force—the Heavenly Demon Scroll.
He had already effortlessly surpassed that impossible limit, which was incredibly difficult for others.
Ning Taiyi’s pupils showed a look of disbelief that gradually deepened.
The next moment, he suddenly shouted sternly, “You’ve contracted the Demonic Plague?!”
Ning Xuan was stunned, “What Demonic Plague?”
Ning Taiyi strode forward, anxiously raising his hand to poke his forehead.
This refined elder suddenly shone with golden light.
He closed his eyes, clearly examining Ning Xuan.
After a long while, he withdrew his finger and said with a slightly bewildered voice, “You… you haven’t contracted the Demonic Plague? This is impossible. Without the Demonic Plague, it’s absolutely impossible to cultivate to this level. You… you…”
Ning Xuan honestly replied, “I train hard every day, it’s not just talent.”
Ning Taiyi said, “How do you train?”
Ning Xuan recounted his daily training routine.
Ning Taiyi was clearly a bit flustered. He rubbed his forehead and said, “Xuan’er, you go rest first. Let Father sort this out, sort it out.”
Addendum: It’s summer vacation. Today, I’m traveling with my family and children. We took a train for the entire morning. After lunch, I took a short rest and have been typing in the hotel. The first chapter is now published.
The updates may be a bit late these few days, but there will be no less. I apologize in advance for explaining the reason.
(End of this Chapter)
