Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Kaixuan, time to eat,” his mother called out from outside the window.
Rong Kaixuan leaped up from the bed and walked out of his room with a bright smile on his face.
Fang Xiuli looked at her son in surprise and asked, “What’s going on, Kaixuan? Why are you so happy today?”
Rong Kaixuan smiled widely and replied, “I haven’t seen you in so many days, and I’ve missed hearing you call me out of bed in the morning. After hearing it again today, it made me very happy.”
Fang Xiuli covered her mouth as she quietly laughed. “You naughty boy, you’ve learned to have a glib tongue after going to the city one time.”
The mother and son laughed merrily as they entered the living area.
Rong Yihe and Rong Yiyang had woken up much earlier. The two brothers were engrossed in conversation and seemed to be talking about something that made them both very happy.
Rong Kaixuan quickly ran forward and said, “First Uncle, Father, you could have gone ahead and eaten first.”
Rong Yihe waved his hand and replied, “There’s no hurry. We’re one family, so it’s better if we all eat together.”
The Rong family rules were rather strict. Nobody was allowed to talk while eating.
In no time, they finished eating breakfast. Rong Yihe washed up and coughed quietly as he said, “Kaixuan, since Elder Jiexuan has already given you instructions, go pack your things. We should head back to the Main House as quickly as possible.”
Rong Yiyang nodded and added, “That’s right, Kaixuan. Is there anything else you need to attend to?”
Rong Kaixuan thought about it for a while and asked, “What about Mother?”
Rong Yiyang laughed and said, “Of course, she’s going with us to the Main House.”
An excited look flashed across Fang Xiuli’s face. She looked at her son and gently nodded her head.
Rong Kaixuan smiled back at her. After some thought, he said, “That’s great. There’s nothing else I need to attend to.”
He instantly thought about the poor lonely Spirit Body that he had left in the deep mountains to survive by itself.
If that was a real human being, Rong Kaixuan would have been worried about it. Since he had confirmed that the Spirit Body in the mountains was that legendary type of Special Spirit Body and had incredible fighting abilities, Rong Kaixuan wasn’t worried about it at all.
Instead of bringing it all over the place with him, he felt that it was better to just leave it in the mountains and let it mature through fighting with whatever came its way in the mountain.
Little did he know what that decision meant.
If any other strong fighters knew what his thought process was, they might have wanted to skin Rong Kaixuan alive.
Special Spirit Bodies were a special sort of existence that continued existing without any limits or control.
Since it was special, it was stronger than most other living things in many aspects.
If a strong fighter had a Special Spirit Body with him, he would put in all his effort to groom the Special Spirit Body so that it would be able to become his greatest assistant.
After Rong Kaixuan had evoked a Special Spirit Body, he didn’t bother to protect or groom it. Instead, he had decided to abandon it in the mountains and leave it to its own devices.
This ridiculous sort of idea was definitely one of a kind even if one looked among all the strong fighters in history.
Early the next morning, the was again noisy and lively.
Rong Kaixuan got onto the horse and looked back. There was a faint longing in his eyes. He seemed sad to leave the place.
“Kaixuan, always look in front,” Rong Yihe warmly said. “You have a bright future ahead of you, so don’t waste it on this place.”
Rong Kaixuan nodded and replied in a low voice, “I understand.”
He looked one more time at the estate before kicking the horse to catch up with his parents’ horse carriage.
From that day onward, Rong Kaixuan had officially entered the Rong clan’s Main House and become part of this huge clan.
****
The high city wall in front blocked everyone’s view.
Fang Xiuli had drawn the curtain of the horse carriage and become teary-eyed as she looked at the vast and imposing city gate in front of her.
Rong Kaixuan whipped his horse and went up to ask, “Mother, what’s wrong?”
Fang Xiuli laughed quietly and said, “I haven’t been back to the city in more than 10 years, so I’m just feeling conflicted inside.” She took her son’s hand and gently squeezed it a few times.
Rong Yiyang was displeased and said, “Don’t get all emotional now. Tsk, since we’re going into the city, we won’t be going out again.”
Rong Yihe laughed loudly and said, “Yiyang is right. Father has already prepared a house for your family, so we will all stay together within the city. Nobody is going to be able to bully us.” He glanced at Rong Kaixuan when he said the last sentence.
Rong Yiyang’s and Rong Kaixuan’s spat with Rong Yitie was no secret.
Even though Rong Yitie’s family was powerful and influential, Rong Yihe’s family were no pushovers either. They were not going to allow anyone to bully them.
“Giddy up…”
Sand and dust immediately filled the air as more than 10 horses continued to gallop forward.
Rong Yihe looked out and frowned slightly. “It’s these fellows again. What a headache.”
Rong Kaixuan was surprised. He focused his eyes on the people coming toward them. Even though they were rather far off and it wasn’t easy to see them clearly, he could sort of see that the people riding on the ferociously galloping horses toward them were some young people.
Rong Yiyang asked in a low voice, “Eldest Brother, who are they? How can they be so audacious just outside the Rong clan Main House?”
Rong Yihe sighed quietly and replied, “They are all descendants of powerful families, and all of them are well-backed by their families. Even if someone from the Discipline Hall was here, they could only try to resolve the matter peacefully. They would not be able to arrest or charge them.”
Rong Yiyang snorted bitterly and didn’t know what to say.
“Oh, dear.”
As they headed toward the city gate, the horse riders galloped at an extremely high speed and overtook them in no time. Just as they went past, one of the riders suddenly pulled the horse to a stop and looked at Rong Kaixuan.
“Oh! It’s Lady Wang.” Rong Kaixuan’s eyes lit up. He quickly bowed to greet her.
“Ah, so it’s you, Brother Kaixuan. There is no need to be so formal.” Lady Wang elegantly nodded. Both the way she carried herself and her movements were graceful. It was as if she was born of high standing.
“Lady Wang, why did you stop here?”
The horse riders in front of her also stopped and turned to look.
This lady was greatly influential among them. The moment she stopped, everyone else stopped.
Lady Wang turned to them and smiled as she said, “I’ve run into a friend. Why don’t the rest of you go ahead?”
She wasn’t wearing a wide-brimmed hat this time, but there was a thin veil over her face. Even so, she was definitely the star of the day among all of them.
“Oh no, since these are Lady Wang’s friends, then they are also our friends,” one of the horse riders said with a friendly smile.
“That’s right.”
“Exactly.”
Everyone echoed the same sentiments as if they all agreed with what the first person said.
Rong Yihe and Rong Yiyang exchanged glances. Rong Yihe whispered to his brother, “Yiyang, how did you get to know Lady Wang?”
Rong Yiyang was surprised by the question. He whispered back, “When we were falsely accused by Rong Yitie and his son, it was Lady Wang who stood up for us. That’s how we got out of the situation.” After a short pause, he curiously asked, “Who is this Lady Wang? They all seem to have great respect for her.”
Rong Yihe laughed bitterly and replied, “Given Lady Wang’s identity and standing, it’s hard for them not to respect her even if they didn’t want to.”
Rong Yiyang looked at Lady Wang in surprise. His own brother seemed to be wary and reverent toward this young lady as well.
He frowned slightly, but he simply couldn’t think of who this young lady could possibly be.
Lady Wang looked around. After a few moments, she finally said, “Brother Kaixuan, are you back this time to enter the Hall of Spiritualists?”
Rong Kaixuan nodded his head and replied, “That’s right.”
“OK, I’ll see you at the Hall of Spiritualists then.” Lady Wang clasped her hands together politely and said, “I’ll make a move now.”
Rong Kaixuan returned the greeting and said, “Have a good journey, Lady Wang.”
“Wait a minute.” One of the horse riders suddenly came over.
The young man was around 20, tall, handsome, and looked like a rich man’s son.
“Rong Kaijie, what is it?” Lady Wang asked without any expression on her face.
Rong Yihe’s gaze became sharp when he saw the young man, but he didn’t do anything else besides that.
Rong Kaijie smiled faintly and said, “Lady Wang, don’t be so suspicious.” He turned to look at Rong Kaixuan and quietly said, “I just want to know his name.”
All the other horse riders looked at one another. They were all descendants of big shots in the Rong clan. Even though they were used to getting their way everywhere they went, none of them was dumb. When they looked at Rong Kaijie and Rong Kaixuan a few more times, they figured out what was happening.
Rong Kaixuan was very perplexed by this. He loudly replied, “My name is Rong Kaixuan.”
“Rong Kaixuan…” There was a cold glint in Rong Kaijie’s eyes as he slowly replied, “My name is Rong Kaijie. My father is Rong Yitie, and my younger brother is Rong Kaixin.”
Rong Kaixuan was taken aback. He straightened his back as he remained on his horse and bravely met Rong Kaijie’s eyes.
The moment their eyes met, it was as if their swords had clashed together.
Lady Wang frowned slightly and said, “Rong Kaijie, you know what your father and brother have done. If you’re not happy about how things turned out, you can look for me.”
Rong Kaijie laughed loudly and looked away. “Lady Wang, you’ve misunderstood me. The Rong clan believes in rewarding those who do well and punishes those who have done wrong. Since my father and brother have gone against the rules, they ought to be punished.” He paused before continuing, “I’m not unhappy about what happened, I just wanted to say hello to Kaixuan.”
Lady Wang scoffed quietly and kicked her horse. The horse immediately neighed loudly and galloped off.
The rest of them looked at each other and quickly kicked their horses to catch up with her.
Rong Kaijie turned his horse around. Just as he turned his head, a voice as soft as an ant’s spoke into Rong Kaixuan’s ear.
“So what if you’re a Spirit Gatherer? I tell you, no matter what you become, your family will still remain under my feet. In front of me, your family is nothing but a bunch of rats and will never rise even if you all die…”
Rong Kaixuan clenched his fists tightly as the True Qi within him started to surge and was about to explode.
If Rong Kaijie was just picking on him, he wouldn’t have been so angry.
His words were also directed at his parents, so that was a different matter altogether.
In that instant, Rong Kaijie was considered a bitter enemy in Rong Kaixuan’s heart.