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Clear River Flowing Silently
Chapter 1 - Clear River Flowing Silently, Red Plum Blossoms Blooming Coldly

Chapter 1 - Clear River Flowing Silently, Red Plum Blossoms Blooming Coldly

An Qinghe waved his bamboo blind walking cane back and forth, the wood making crisp and clear sounds when it hit against the flooring of his family’s mansion. As he walked by, servants stopped to dip their heads at him. Although he was blind, he was still the respected Young Master of the family after all. Even disabled, he was the greatly treasured young grandson of the Clan Master and the only son of the Clan Master’s talented first son.

Because of this, even if An Qinghe couldn’t see, the servants still didn’t dare treat him with disrespect. If someone of importance came by, it wouldn’t end so simply for them - daring to slight the Young Master of the household, now this was a crime that they couldn’t afford to commit.

That being said, even if the servants didn’t bother to bow to him, or even stop and pretend to bow, An Qinghe wouldn’t have minded. In the first place, his personality was not one to pay attention to such things, and secondly, he was currently too preoccupied to pay any attention to the servants.

An Qinghe was currently heading toward the mountains behind his family’s estate, which was all a part of his family’s private property. His family, the An family, was the number one family in this Silent Jade City, a major trading city in Soaring Cloud Kingdom. Of course, in regards to the bigger picture, they couldn’t be said to be a major family on the world scale. After all, in the end, Silent Jade City wasn’t even the capital of Soaring Cloud Kingdom, while Soaring Cloud Kingdom wasn’t even a major empire, only a middling kingdom. But, it didn’t change the fact that in Silent Jade City they were treated as tigers and dragons amongst men, not to be slighted in the least.

That being said, the An family was an extremely famous merchant family, known to be honorable and righteous, with businesses scattered throughout the kingdom. Their total worth even exceeded many noble families, having amassed a great amount of wealth.

It was only a pity that An Qinghe was blind. If not, then he would have been able to inherit his family businesses without any issues. To top it off, as a very intelligent and capable young man, he would have made a great merchant. The only problem was that, as a blind man, he was incapable of doing so. After all, without his eyes, how would he be able to completely and thoroughly judge the quality of a product or read a contract?

Of course, aside from becoming a merchant or business owner, there were other paths in life that he could take. One such path would be becoming a cultivator. In this world, cultivators were highly respected individuals and many children desired to become one, to be able to slash apart mountains and overturn oceans with but the flip of a single hand. But, alas, this was too a path that was closed off for An Qinghe. In the first place, An Qinghe was not suited for cultivating. Disregarding the fact that he was born with a weak heart, his personality was also gentle like calm water and warm like the spring breeze, incapable of surviving in the cutthroat cultivating society where strong ate the weak and betrayal for treasures was as common as trees in a forest and rocks on a mountain.

As a result, An Qinghe could only live the life of a prodigal son, depending on his parents until death. Even so, he wasn’t like other prodigal sons who wasted money like water and visited brothels and gambling houses daily. Of course not - after all, even if he was a blind man who couldn’t inherit his family’s businesses nor cultivate, he was still the same gentle mannered, upright, and intelligent An Qinghe. Where other prodigal sons wasted money, An Qinghe saved it. Where other prodigal sons would visit brothels and gambling houses daily, An Qinghe would practice playing the qin (seven string zither), guzheng (zither), or dizi (flute). Either that, or he would visit the back mountains or relax in his own courtyard where many beautiful flowers and trees had been planted. For An Qinghe, what he loved most was music - whether it be the man made music that flowed from his own hands or clear and sweet voice, or whether it was the music of nature that came from the rustling of leaves, trickling of water in the streams, or sounds of birds singing in the morning, he loved it all.

Currently, he was heading toward his family’s scenic back mountains to enjoy said sounds once again. Although he was blind, he had no servants accompanying him - this was because even if he couldn’t see, he disliked being treated as incapable due to this. He, after all, was not a child. To top it off, An Qinghe’s memory was extremely good, and his senses were capable of rivalling a cultivator in the Body Refinement Stage (a stage where cultivators could still only be considered as martial artists stepping onto the road of cultivation, having yet not gathered Heaven and Earth Qi into their bodies). Having constantly visited these back mountains many times in the past years, he was as familiar with them as he was his own backyard. Therefore, even if he didn't have a servant accompanying him, he would not get easily lost.

With all that being said though, An Qinghe was still the An family’s precious Young Master, and one never knew if any unexpected situations might occur. So, he had ten guards from the An family’s secret forces protecting him at all times. An Qinghe knew this in his heart, but as a normal mortal, he couldn’t sense these men who already had the ability to silence their steps and stop their breathing and heartbeat, not even visible to the eye in broad daylight and open ground. In this case, he could acknowledge that this was not his parents and grandfather treating him as a child, but rather concerning themselves over his safety should he encounter harm to his life.

An Qinghe took a step onto the winding mountain path, the familiar feel of the earth beneath his feet warm and comforting. The lush greenery was flourishing, scent of flowers and herbs thick in the air, morning dew glittering beneath the sunlight. It was still early, but not too early. His parents should have already awoken - especially his father who would take time early in the morning to practice his swordsmanship. Even though they were traditionally a merchant family, this was still a society that worshipped the strong, and even merchants were required to have some semblance of strength to truly achieve anything. Of course, as extremely successful merchants, the An family was very familiar with this notion. His father and grandfather were both cultivators, though they were only considered independent cultivators and unaffiliated with any major cultivation clan or sect. As a result, there was a limit that they could reach - but this limit was already enough as a merchant in the middle-sized Soaring Clouds Kingdom.

The handsome young man’s milky eyes were peacefully closed as he meandered about. It seemed like he was blind, yet not blind at the same time. An Qinghe was very sensitive and was able to catch even the smallest of sounds and even sense the airflow through the trees, or the heartbeats of living beings nearby. As a result, he was able to generally picture the appearance of the scenery before him and avoid any major obstacles in his path - this was possible since he had only gone blind when he was eight until now, to the age of eighteen, for ten whole years. His experience as a blind person and seeing person had combined together in order to accomplish such a feat, appearing to be blind yet not at the same time.

He stopped to rest in a valley, sitting in an open pavilion by a calm and beautiful pond, the water glittering while lotus flowers bloomed. Even though he enjoyed coming here constantly and was healed by the refreshing air of the mountain, he was still someone with a weak body and heart. He easily tired himself out from just walking a few hundred feet, let alone the distance required to reach this lotus pond. He let out a relaxed sigh, feeling extremely peaceful as a cool spring breeze gently ruffled his long and silken black hair. His figure suddenly seemed to grow distant and vague, becoming one with the background as he immersed himself with nature. Even he was not conscious of his actions. It was a good thing that the guards were used to such a mysterious occurrence and also focused deeply on his figure, thus being able to keep him in their view. If not, then they feared that with the blink of an eye they would be unable to locate him again.

Suddenly, the guards tensed up. From the other side of the pond, two cultivators flew in parallel, one with white robes and the other with black, looking like yin and yang as they faced the other, a flurry of bright lights unleashed from both sides as each attempted to gain the advantage. Although An Qinghe’s senses were sharp, because these two immortals were so quick, by the time he had noticed them, they were already battling over the water, the aftermath of their attacks leaving ugly scars on the earth and felling trees in their wake, the pond seeming to boil, great waves rolling as if a great storm had arrived.

An Qinghe was completely shocked as immediately three of his guards materialized themselves, two protecting him while the other grasped his arm. “Young Master, we must quickly leave!” Although these guards were the powerful secret forces of the An family, in the end, they could not compare to the immortals who had begun battling it out in the An family’s private property. Even if An Qinghe’s father, An Yun, and grandfather, An Guang, came, they would definitely not be a match. Just from the domineering auras being released, one could tell that those two figures were definitely not ordinary - An Qinghe guessed that they must be from an ancient clan or powerful sect. Of course, even if they were from a middling sect, to An Qinghe, they would be completely beyond his reach, like true tigers and dragons amongst men, nothing like the An family, who could only stand proudly before ordinary mortals. As for cultivators of small sects, An Qinghe had actually met several before as the An family had done business with them, and they certainly could not match up to the auras he felt coming from those two immortals. Although it is said that cultivators would not concern themselves with the ongoings of the mortal realm, this was actually untrue - the mortal realm and the Jianghu were inexplicably tied, and as such, there was a surprising number of cultivators who would do business with mortal merchants.

Of course, many kingdoms, in order to assert their dominance in the world, would also be backed by sects or ruled by ancient clans. Soaring Cloud Kingdom was considered to be supported by the Soaring Qilin Sect - despite having the name of the legendary and powerful Qilin, as could be seen from the position of Soaring Cloud Kingdom in this continent, this Soaring Qilin Sect was only a middle-ranked sect, and simply not worth the attention on a world scale.

As for why cultivators didn’t abuse their powers when dealing with mortals, this was firstly due to the general laws imposed on cultivators (after all, if all cultivators went about mindlessly killing, then where would the mortals who support cultivators with the mundane tasks all go to?), as well as the fact that many cultivators found it beneath themselves to lift their hand against a lower being. Those who needlessly killed mortals were considered demonic cultivators and were largely discriminated against and looked down upon by other “righteous” cultivators.

While this was all being said, An Qinghe had already retreated with his guards, who were taking care to not let their Young Master be harmed by the aftershocks of the attacks from the two men. Even though they were only the aftershocks of the attacks, they were still extremely powerful and it took all of the combined efforts of the guards to resist being blown away, red cuts appearing on their bodies.

An Qinghe shot a worried glance at the guards who had followed him for his entire life. Although they were only guards and servants, and An Qinghe rarely even had the chance to see them make an appearance, they were still his family’s extremely loyal and devoted secret force members, having followed his father for many years now. Of course, An Qinghe only had good feelings toward them who protected his life from the shadows and was truly worried about their wellbeing.

They quickly retreated from the Lonely Mist Valley, reaching the Purple Cloud Mountain that stood between the valley and the family’s main house. Even so, they could still hear the sounds of battle from afar, which continued to escalate. It was like the sound of mystical dragons and tigers could be heard roaring, illusions soaring into the sky.

Although An Qinghe couldn’t see these illusions, he could still imagine just how fierce the battle between the two immortals was. Seeing An Qinghe stop, the guard beside him spoke, a hint of urgency in his voice as he said, “Young Master, we must hurry and continue. It’s too dangerous to continue staying here. If your heart can’t handle it, then I can carry you.”

The beautiful young man didn’t reply at first, his head turned toward the direction from where the sounds came from, seemingly deep in thought. “Young Master!” The urgency in the guard’s voice increased by half a step as he furrowed his brows, thinking he might really need to commit offense and drag the Young Master away!

“It’s fine! There is a small courtyard further up, let us rest there.” An Qinghe said, turning back around.

“Young Master?” The guard was completely baffled. He knew the courtyard that his Young Master spoke of - the Grand Master had built it especially for An Qinghe to relax when he came here and it was filled with a unique beauty and elegance, not at all lacking compared to the family’s main residence. But, this courtyard was simply too close to Lonely Mist Valley, and there was the chance of them getting caught up in the fight between the two immortals.

“Hei San, you worry too much.” An Qinghe said, even as the aura from the two immortals caused goosebumps to appear on his skin as it continued to suppress him, sending out waves of power, clearly indicating the danger of the situation.

Hei San really wanted to cough up blood. He worried too much!? Young Master, you simply don’t worry enough, having no sense of danger preservation! He would most likely treat the assassin after his life for tea when they encountered each other! Thinking up to here, he really was about to prepare to knock out his Young Master and forcefully carry him back when there was suddenly a fierce burst of power, as if the fight was reaching its last stretch and both parties were throwing in their all to unleash a final, powerful attack. The black clothed guard immediately shielded An Qinghe with his own body, a trickle of red appearing at the corner of his mouth as he stopped himself from coughing up a mouthful of blood onto the Young Master. His internal organs were injured, and he would probably need half a year or more to recover! He didn’t blame his Young Master though, as he knew that even if An Qinghe hadn’t stopped, they would still have been within the range of these aftershocks, and he would still have to suffer this injury anyways! That was simply just how powerful and far reaching it was. To top it off, he was extremely loyal like all the guards of the An family, and it absolutely would never cross his mind to blame his Young Master in the first place.

All the guards still in hiding had to exercise the entirety of the Qi in their body to just barely defend against it, still suffering injuries. As for the weak An Qinghe, even though he had been protected by Hei San, he was still a delicate mortal with a weak heart, immediately coughing up bright red blood and breathing heavily, his heart having been shaken by those powerful waves of Qi.

“Young Master!” An Qinghe waved off Hei San, wiping off the blood from his mouth with a silk handkerchief, his snowy skin looking even paler than before, his body slightly trembling as he had on a weak and exhausted expression. He touched the blue engraved jade ring on his finger, and with a flash, a smooth white bottle appeared in his hand. Opening it, he took out a small emerald green pill, the faint fragrance already seeming to cause others to inwardly relax and feel a bit better. These were a few Heart Stabilizing Pills that his grandfather had taken great pains to obtain for him, just in case he suffered something similar today. Taking it, his heart soon calmed down, the color returning to his face.

“I wonder who won?” He said, tilting his head curiously.

Hei San immediately knew where this was going, having followed the Young Master for so long already. “Absolutely not! Young Master, you absolutely mustn’t!” He immediately said, his face stern as he inwardly panicked. Why is it that his Young Master was like this? Despite being an intelligent and wise young man… he was simply still brimming with so much innocent curiosity that he would certainly get killed from it one day!

“Hei San, you shouldn’t be like this. Who knows, maybe we can get some good fortune out of this.” An Qinghe said with a gentle smile as he headed back to the source of the powerful auras, which had already faded and died away. That last attack had seemed to truly be the two immortals’ final “ultimate”, and no attacks had been made afterwards. A few steps later, they entered the Lonely Mist Valley, which had already been rendered completely unrecognizable, soil overturned and broken trees blown away, as if a tornado had passed through. Which, one could say, really did happen - immortals really could be compared to natural disasters, devastating nature wherever they went…

Since the land had practically been completely flattened, it wasn’t hard to see the entirety of the valley with one glance for the guards. Of course, An Qinghe couldn’t even see in the first place, so it had nothing to do with him. But for the guards, they were able to sweep their eyes through the scenery and saw that the two immortals had already left.

An Qinghe headed in the direction where he recalled where the lotus pond was, but because the environment had changed so much, he couldn’t quite be sure. In frustration, he finally had to ask Hei San to guide him. Reaching the location of the lotus pond, all that was left were a few trampled and muddy petals, while the pavilion had already been turned into dust on the wind. Truly, cultivators were way too powerful. Qinghe let out a small sigh of admiration, but at the same time, there was still no desire in his heart to become one - he had never felt such a desire, and equally felt that he never would. Like people had told him before, just as he himself deeply knew, he was simply too unsuited to become a cultivator. Granted that with the number of cultivation techniques in the world it wouldn’t be hard to find something that did suit him, he still had neither the interest nor the drive - and his parents and grandfather would simply be unable to bear it if their innocent treasure of the family was thrown into the cultivating world.

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Hei San glanced around, seeing that the place had been totally wiped clean. “Young Master, there isn’t anything here. It would be better for us to head back. Hei Qi already went to notify the Grand Master and Master. If you’re too late, you’ll worry them.”

An Qinghe nodded. Although he had extraordinary senses, they were still limited, so he could only trust in Hei San’s words at the moment. Just as they took the steps to leave, the young man suddenly came to a stop, tilting his head. He had felt… something? Like mentioned before, An Qinghe’s senses really were out of the ordinary, to the point where it could be claimed that he possessed a fairly strong “sixth sense”, though in this world, this was really nothing too special and many people had this supposed sixth sense.

But currently, with this sixth sense, he was feeling a very faint, but warm feeling coming from behind him. He turned, his face directed at an angle toward this very faint feeling, as if there was a faintly shining little light flickering in the wind in the far off distance. Without even thinking, he followed his heart, walking toward that “light”.

“Young Master?” Hei San was surprised. Just when he thought the Young Master was finally listening to him, he goes off and… He sighed. It was a pity, but he was only a guard, and really couldn’t interfere with his Young Master’s actions unless they posed direct danger to his life - although it was still a dangerous period in which one still needed to remain cautious after facing such a life threatening event, it could also be said that the danger had already passed, and as such, he could only helplessly follow his Young Master. He disappeared, hiding himself so that he could protect the Young Master from the shadows.

An Qinghe continued on his way, blind walking cane gently sweeping the earthen ground in front of him as he took each step carefully. He would pause every few moments to take a short rest, and like this, was able to soon make it to the one of the mountains that bordered Lonely Mist Valley, which was to the northwest of Purple Cloud Mountain, known as Fragrant Jade Mountain.

“Hmm, it should be on this mountain,” An Qinghe murmured thoughtfully. The flickering little warmth had gotten closer, and he predicted that, although it was still a decent distance away, he had already traversed more than two-thirds of the distance.

He began walking, and following this feeling, he reached a cave a third of the way up the mountain. The moment he faced its wide and dark opening, a cold and domineering presence burst out, greatly resembling one of the auras of the two immortals. The two immortals had clashing, yet similar auras, both being cold and domineering, yet one was dignified and elegant like the plum blossom on the snowy mountain top, while the other was cruel and devilish, like the seductive scent of a poisonous flower, leading others to their demise!

The one that this aura belonged to was precisely the first of the two, the prideful and dignified plum blossom on the snowy mountain top! Endlessly charming, yet absolutely beyond reach!

Of course, those nonsensical thoughts were all just from An Qinghe’s wild imagination, and he did not know if this was truly the case. But, who knew that An Qinghe’s thoughts were actually completely on the mark? The immortals that he described were the extremely famous Yue Bingluo and the extremely infamous Ye Ying. One was the renowned genius and direct disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect’s Sect Master, the number one virtuous sect on the continent, while the other was similarly a person with a matching identity, also being a renowned genius and direct disciple of a Sect Master… only his Sect Master was the master of the number one demonic sect, the Nine Realms Sect!

The two of them had always been like fire and water, constantly at each other’s throats and fighting with life and death on the line. Normally the two of them would not be able to obtain even an inch from the other, forced to both withdraw with losses but no gains… except for today! Shockingly, it seems that Ye Ying had recently obtained some fortune or another to have progressed by half a step, and thus being able to suppress Yue Bingluo to this extent!

As a result, Yue Bingluo could only use a profound technique to escape to this cave on Fragrant Jade Mountain after launching a final attack, hiding away. Ye Ying, having also incurred injuries, could only let the man go for now and retreat.

“Stand down,” An Qinghe said, raising his hand. He knew that the guards wouldn’t be the immortals match, even injured, and even with the ten (well, currently nine) combined. And he wasn’t here to push a person after they had already fallen either. Thinking up to here, although the guards sent various complaints to their Young Master with their inner Qi, they could only obey his orders to retreat back several meters. Even so, they remained on their guard, ready to intervene and sacrifice their life to grant their Young Master the small chance to escape, should the person inside decide to make a move.

An Qinghe clasped his hands together, bowing as he spoke in a respectful tone of voice. “Honorable Immortal, we mean no harm. This little one’s habit is to take a walk here every day, only to encounter the two immortals battling today. This little one definitely means no harm.”

The person inside the cave remained silent and cold for several moments before speaking. “A blind man taking a walk on the mountains with a group of hidden guards?” His voice appeared slightly sarcastic, and An Qinghe could almost imagine him raising a brow at him.

But, An Qinghe didn’t take it to heart, nodding with a gentle smile. “Yes, these mountains belong to this little one’s family. My family’s main estate is not very far, if Honorable Immortal need any help, we will exert all efforts to aid you. Just say the word.” An Qinghe’s thinking wasn’t too deep, and he had no ulterior motives, being a naturally kind person at heart. But, Yue Bingluo was not like this. He was the honored genius disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, having encountered all sorts of kissing up and scheming. In his mind, An Qinghe’s good intentions had naturally been twisted to that of a mortal trying to make a good impression on his honorable self, and he scoffed. Since when had he dropped low enough to require the aid of a weak mortal? If not even he could help himself, then how could a simple mortal family help him!

Although An Qinghe was like that, he still wasn’t an idiot - rather, he was an intelligent and scholarly young man. How could he not know what Yue Bingluo was thinking? So in the end, he did not insist. “If Honorable Immortal wishes, he can come to the small estate at by the mountain southeast of here. This little one will not insist to stay and ruin Honorable Immortal’s rest.”

The man was a bit surprised, but he didn’t think much of it. He was only a bit satisfied that this person wasn’t a complete idiot, knowing when to retreat. An Qinghe, like he had said, didn’t stay any longer and returned back to his home. His grandfather and parents had been anxiously waiting, just barely restrained by the servants from rushing out.

Of course, seeing An Qinghe return safe and sound allowed them to relax, but they didn’t forget to scold him. They only said a few words, unable to bear to say anything overly harsh, and could only sigh and let him leave as Hei Yi, the oldest of the ten guards, reported to the Clan Master.

“An injured immortal residing in a cave on Fragrant Jade Mountain?” An Guang mused, stroking his chin in thought. Hearing more though, he soon discarded any thoughts he had of scheming against the immortal - normal immortals from small sects he already had to take care when trading with, let alone this immortal, who was certainly someone powerful from a great sect. Just listening to Hei Yi describe the aftershocks of the immortals attacks made An Guang shiver.

Clearly, for such an immortal, nothing they had would be of any interest. After all, anything they had, the immortal would certainly also have, and more. But… An Guang suddenly paused. Even if they didn’t have anything of interest, they could at least obtain information of items of interest! An Guang wasn’t sure what might interest the immortal, but considering that he was currently injured, he decided that he would search for information of powerful healing pills and herbs. Although they couldn’t compare to those big cultivating sects and families, being a merchant family, they still had a very impressive information network and such matters should be simple enough.

Several days later, An Guang had finally gotten the information he wanted. Since he didn’t think Soaring Cloud Kingdom would have what he desired, he had extended his net to beyond the reaches of the kingdom, going so far as to check the auctions and great stores of the nearest Empire and surrounding kingdoms. There was a great kingdom that bordered the territory of the demonic race, and as a result, gathered cultivators of all sorts. Its foremost border city, Black Iron City, was, as a result, a lawless place that sold many treasures daily. It seemed that a month from now, there would be an amazing auction selling off the tier 7 Nine Transformations Pill, and several amazing tier 5 to 6 healing herbs. It was already lucky enough for the An family to have tier 1 herbs, which were several steps higher than the tierless common herbs. As for tier 2 herbs, these are already treated as extremely precious resources, while they had never even had the chance to see a tier 3 herb before. It could be seen from this that this tier 7 pill and tier 5 and 6 herbs were extremely precious. Of course, they would never be able to afford it even if they sold all their family possessions a hundred times over. But, who was to say that the immortal couldn’t?

An Guang called over his precious grandson. Although he really didn’t want his grandson to go over there, potentially placing him in a dangerous position, he was the one who had met the immortal previously. And An Qinghe had already expressed the intentions of wanting to be the one to deliver any messages to the immortal, so An Guang could only grit his teeth and helplessly have him do so.

An Qinghe happily trekked past the mountains to journey to the cave where the immortal was recuperating and where the source of the little light was. Although he himself had little interest in cultivation, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t interested in those immortals who did cultivate. It was like how many people enjoyed watching sports, but didn’t want to play the sports themselves. An Qinghe was the same.

It took him almost half a day to reach the cave, in which he once again proceeded to bow respectfully. “Honorable Immortal, this little one’s grandfather wanted to alert you that Black Iron City has an auction in one month in which they are selling off a tier 7 Nine Transformations Pill, a tier 5 White Sun Flower, a tier 5 Thorny Purple Rose, a tier 5 Ice Heart Jade Lotus, and a tier 6 Fairy Wing Peony.”

Yue Bingluo was only half-heartedly listening. After all, he wasn’t lacking in these sorts of things. Tier 7? He even had tier 8 and tier 9 pills! But then, he suddenly straightened up at the last one, a tier 6 Fairy Wing Peony. Of course, normally such a thing was not anything important to him. But the key point was that this Fairy Wing Peony was something that he currently didn’t have on him, but was perfect in subduing the foreign Qi in his wound. Usually he carried all manner of things, especially those herbs and pills that could perfectly counter Ye Ying’s arts, but who knew that that bastard had recently picked up some profound technique from who knows where, and was thus able to severely injure him like this? After a few days of analyzing, Yue Bingluo now knew the tier 7 Fairy Queen Peony, of which was the evolved form of the tier 6 Fairy Wing Peony, would be able to perfectly counter the peculiar Qi that infested his wound. Of course, the tier 6 version would work, only that the effects would be lesser than what Yue Bingluo desired. Who knew that this little mortal family actually had some use?

With a flash, the beautiful white clothed man appeared at the mouth of the cave, glancing down at the blind An Qingluo, who was tilting his head, a puzzled expression on his face as he was suddenly grabbed, almost shocking the living daylights out of him. “H-honored Immortal?” He asked, waving a hand at his guards, who were about to launch themselves at the cold and dignified man.

Yue Bingluo snorted. “Don’t worry, we’re going to your family’s estate.” He said, and with what seemed like a single step, he had disappeared, leaving the guards far behind as he reappeared in the middle of the estate.

“Young Master!?” One servant exclaimed, shocked as she saw her Young Master carried under the arm of a devastatingly handsome immortal dressed in all white. Another servant quickly went to notify the Grand Master and Master, who were here in a heartbeat, already having been pacing about the entire half day anxiously waiting for An Qinghe to come back. Who could have expected that he came back… carried by the white robed immortal like a sack of flour?

Father and son looked gaping at the handsome man who had under his arm a delicate beauty, like a demon king kidnapping the princess - not! “H-Honorable Immortal, if my grandson has…” An Guang began with a nervous expression, his eyes continuously glancing toward An Qinghe worriedly.

Yue Bingluo frowned. It wasn’t like the boy was a virgin sacrifice and he the Beast Emperor, so what were they so worried about? He scoffed, setting down An Qinghe carelessly, leading to the young man coughing up blood violently. After all, An Qinghe had a delicate constitution, already shocked from being teleported here by the immortal, this rough handling was a bit too much for him! His poor, weak little heart completely couldn’t take it! Meanwhile, Yue Bingluo was stunned silly. This handsome immortal had never dealt with humans before, and all those who surrounded him were talented cultivators. He obviously didn’t know that just a little carelessness from him could lead to injury! Just how delicate was this person!? He felt inwardly frustrated, frowning as a cold aura leaked out from him, causing An Qinghe to tremble and forcefully repress his coughs.

As for the father and son duo, their hearts were wrenched with worry, but they didn’t dare come forward to help An Qinghe, the little bit of aura leaking out already completely suppressing them. Yue Bingluo coughed, reigning in his aura once he noticed. These mortals were really too delicate, extremely bothersome! Even so, they had truly helped him out, so he scanned the three generations of An family with his cold and perceptive eyes.

With a flash, he had taken out three items - two were beautiful pale green jade slips, and the third was a pill bottle. He tossed all three items to An Guang, saying with a cold voice, “The jade slips are the Misty Rain Flowing Water Sword Technique and the Heaven’s Essence of Life Cultivation Technique. The pill bottle contains a life saving pill. As long as the person is not dead, and the one who inflicted injuries does not exceed the Heavenly Lord realm, then that pill will heal them.” In other words… that pill could be counted as another life? Heavenly Lord realm, he says it so easily, but everyone knew that Heavenly Lord realm experts were experts amongst experts?

Cultivation in the world went from Body Refinement, Qi Gathering, Qi Manipulation, Heavenly Scholar, Heavenly Lord, Heavenly Creation, Divine Heart, Divine Emperor, and finally, Divine Immortal. Of these, only the Divine Immortal could be considered truly reaching immortality, while the others only had extended lives - even so, mortals all referred to cultivators at the Heavenly Scholar realm and above as “immortals”. Body Refinement cultivators could only be considered martial artists at best, while one truly stepped into cultivation in the Qi Gathering realm. From there, there was yet another large turning point when ascending to the Heavenly Scholar realm, as Heavenly Scholar realm experts could fly! Then, surpassing the three Heavenly realms were the Divine realms, which were once again another turning point, as Divine realm experts were beings who could overturn the heavens and earths with a single flip of the hand.

Of course, to a family like An Qinghe’s, they would rarely ever have the chance to even interact with a Heavenly Scholar, let alone someone as great as a Heavenly Lord expert. Thinking up to here, the worship in the eyes of the family increased by tenfold, thinking that they had truly encountered a dragon amongst dragons! Wouldn’t they be scared silly if they knew that the man before them was actually a Heavenly Creation expert?

An Guang glanced once again at his grandson, thinking… could the pill heal his grandson’s weak heart and blind eyes? This glance did not escape Yue Bingluo’s eyes, and he also turned to look at An Qinghe, his eyes sweeping the young man up and down with a measured and calculating gaze. A faint flicker of surprise flashed past his face for a single moment as he soon turned thoughtful, pondering on something momentarily. “That pill cannot cure your grandson,” he said, immediately turning An Guang’s hopeful expression into one of disappointment, which he quickly hid in fear of angering Yue Bingluo. “Your grandson’s weak heart and blind eyes are the result of a very rare and unique physique, difficult to detect and even more difficult to awaken. I never thought that I would encounter such a thing here.” Of course, even if it was difficult to detect, Yue Bingluo was a Heavenly Creation expert, the proud head disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, a genius amongst geniuses! What had he not seen? Under his eyes, even such a rare and hard to detect physique was lay bare before him, clear as day.

Yue Bingluo continued, not giving An Guang or An Yun a chance to interrupt. “Even if his constitution is awakened, at this point in time it is highly unlikely that he will recover his sight. But, if he is able to awaken his physique, then no matter what, all the sects will fight over him to become their disciple!”

Hearing this, An Guang and An Yun were not happy at all, and had completely paled, glancing at each other. They were surprised to find that An Qinghe actually had such an amazing constitution, unawakened he was like a weak carp, but once awakened he would become a dragon! But, this didn’t make them happy at all! An Qinghe, in their eyes, had always been the weak and delicate young child who needs protection, too good and innocent for the harsh and cold world! Of course, this was a great exaggeration, as even if An Qinghe was more innocent and kind than others, he was certainly not an idiot. But, for An Guang and An Yun, who doted on An Qinghe with all their hearts, this matter always seemed to escape them and in their eyes, An Qinghe was still the cute and innocent little bun who had still yet to walk, never growing up in their eyes. Even if they admired the strong cultivators in their hearts, they knew that the cultivator’s world was not for the weak!

Yue Bingluo was surprised at the reaction of the two, but after thinking for awhile, he realized why. An Qinghe had been born with a weak heart and even later becoming blind. Together with the clear loving treatment of his father and grandfather, his delicate body that had probably never experienced hardship… One could tell that he was treated as an extremely precious pearl, fiercely doted on and spoiled! It was clear that they were worried that he would be unable to survive in the dog eat dog world of cultivation, where one must shed blood, sweat, and tears to climb to the top.

He thought for a moment before finally deciding that he wouldn’t say anything more. After all, although those little things he had already given them were not much in his eyes, they could be considered precious treasures for the An family, enough to repay them for their work. In the end, it was just information of the tier 6 Fairy Wing Peony, and it was not like they had directly saved his life. After another moment’s thought though, he took out another two jade slips, handing them to An Qinghe. “The first jade slip is the Observing the Hundred Worlds Cultivation Technique. This is, though not especially suited for your physique, currently the best cultivation technique for you, being gentle and stable, not requiring much effort, and though slow, still able to cultivate to a high level. As for the second jade slip, this has the Spirit Eyes Technique, which has the chance of being able to cultivate the Divine Eyes. Although it won’t allow you to regain your sight, you will be able to see Qi, making it so that you can perceive your surroundings. Although this technique is extremely difficult to cultivate, combined with the cultivation technique I am giving to you and your innate physique, it will be much easier for you. Even if your physique is unawakened, it should still have some effects.” He didn’t mention anything else, even though he knew that the last fact was the most important… If, on the off chance he was actually able to cultivate in the Divine Eyes, then he would be able to see fate itself, thus becoming a figure that all the great sects of the hundred worlds would kill to obtain! This wasn’t even mentioning his special physique, that would already have the sects in this world fight over him.

Once he was done giving them these items, he left, not thinking any further. To be honest, despite this man’s great fate, it would only bring him misfortune and not fortune. It was also part of his own kindness that he didn’t offer An Qinghe a place in his Heavenly Sword Sect.

An Qinghe rubbed the jade slips, which seemed to radiate an inner warmth that comforted his very soul. “In the end, he never even revealed his identity…”

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