Chapter 207

I am Master's youngest disciple, and also the one with the highest talent.

But Master's gaze at me always carries a hint of worry.

Yet when he looks at my senior brother, it is all praise and reassurance.

That day, Master summoned all the disciples before him.

He held the lower volume of the True Explanation of Qi Fortune and said to my senior brother, "Your nature is pure, your conduct upright."

"Today, I will pass this lower volume to you. May you keep your original heart, follow the Heavenly Dao, and protect all living beings."

My senior brother knelt, clasping it with both hands: "Disciple will obey your orders and never dare betray your trust."

My heart burned with fury.

The True Explanation of Qi Fortune records all the supreme methods for controlling qi fortune.

The upper volume is orthodox cultivation; the lower volume is the supreme secret art of seizing others' qi fortune!

Why, though I have the highest talent, does Master not pass it to me?

Master glanced at me and sighed: "You are clever, but you always seek shortcuts; you must remember……"

I didn't catch a word of what came after—it was all the same old claptrap!

Fine, if you won't give it, I'll just take it myself!

The next day, Master wanted to spar swords with Senior Brother.

I added a pollen that could muddle one's mind into Master's daily meals.

The dosage was tiny—just enough to slow his reactions slightly, without him noticing.

All the disciples of the sect gathered, and the sparring began.

Given Master's cultivation, there should have been no mishap.

But just as Senior Brother thrust his sword, Master's movement slowed.

"Sss—"

The sword's edge slit Master's chest.

Senior Brother paled in shock: "I messed up! Please forgive me, Master!"

Master waved a hand: "It's fine; I just had a momentary lapse."

I watched Senior Brother's guilt-ridden face and smirked coldly inside.

Master was old, so even his external wound required taking medicine to recuperate.

Every time I decocted the medicine and attended to him, I did it myself.

All the senior brothers praised me for being the youngest yet the most filial.

On the third day after his injury, I brought him the bowl of medicine strong enough to corrode his heart vessels.

Master, unsuspecting, took the medicine bowl, drank it all in one gulp, and gave me a smile: "Thank you for your hard work."

The next day, Master's condition suddenly worsened.

He lay in bed, breathing his last.

Senior Brother knelt at the bedside, gripping his hand tightly, eyes red-rimmed, over and over saying: "Master, it's my fault! I'm unskilled…"

Master looked at him, his lips moving, as if saying something in his ear, but I didn't hear it.

Afterward, Master weakly closed his eyes, his hand slowly dropping.

Senior Brother slumped over Master's body and wailed in grief.

In the days that followed, all the fellow disciples grew resentful of Senior Brother, whispering behind his back.

They even said he, having just inherited the "True Explanation of Qi Fortune," couldn't wait to replace him.

That afternoon, Senior Brother alone went to Houshan, his expression dazed.

I quietly followed him.

On the cliff, the wind was strong, billowing his robes.

He heard my voice, turned to look at me: "Junior Brother, do you resent me too?"

Perhaps he just wanted to hear me comfort him.

But I said: "Not just me, Senior Brother—all your fellow juniors resent you."

"If not for your sword, how could Master have fallen ill beyond recovery? Senior Brother, what face do you have left to stand between heaven and earth?"

His face instantly turned ashen as paper, the light in his eyes fading bit by bit.

"So it turns out you think that way too."

He glanced at me, then at the bottomless cliff.

He gave a faint smile, leaned back, and plunged straight into the dark abyss.

I immediately returned, found the lower half of the "True Explanation of Qi Fortune" in his room, and left triumphantly.

From then on I mastered the full art of seizing others' qi fortune, my fortunes rose, and I became the National Preceptor of Da Xia.

Who would have thought, Senior Brother, that you didn't actually die.

You changed your name, hid in Lie State, and though you too held the title of National Preceptor, you never showed yourself.

It seems these years you've still been living in that ridiculous guilt, confining yourself to a self-drawn prison.

Otherwise, I couldn't have failed to know that there still exists such an expert as you in the present age.

Fine then.

When I emerge from my secluded cultivation, we brothers, who have quarreled all our lives, ought to have a final settlement.

Wu Luo ordered: "Go report to His Majesty—I intend to enter seclusion."

"Yes!"

The private dungeon of Ning Prince's Mansion.

Xiao Yuanhang stood in front of his younger half-brother Xiao Yuanhua.

Xiao Yuanhua had been imprisoned for many days; his physique was gaunt, his hair messy, his beard full, his whole body exuded a foul moldy odor, and he had long lost his former poise.

"Big brother!" he threw himself at Xiao Yuanhang's feet, "I know I was wrong, please let me out."

"Even if you just let me serve as a servant in the Prince's Mansion, it's better than being locked up here! Big brother! Please, let me out!"

"I was merely bewitched by that lowly woman, I was confused for a moment! Big brother!"

Xiao Yuanhang showed no expression: "Yuanhua, as a son of a concubine with no accomplishments, why do you dare to covet inheriting the Prince Ning's position?"

Xiao Yuanhua shrank back: "Big brother, you are the legitimate son of the principal wife, so you naturally don't know what it's like to be a son of a concubine."

Xiao Yuanhang frowned slightly: "Don't tell me these things! I'm asking you, who is backing you behind the scenes, giving you such ambition."

Xiao Yuanhua lifted his head to look at him: "Big brother, if I tell you, will you let me out?"

Xiao Yuanhang showed no reaction: "That depends on what you say."

Xiao Yuanhua realized this was his last chance; if he didn't speak now, he didn't know when he would get another opportunity.

He slowly withdrew: "Many years ago, when you returned from campaign, His Majesty bestowed generous rewards, the whole family celebrated, and after I finished eating your victory feast at the mansion, I went home."

"I discovered a person wearing a bronze mask sitting in my room."

"He said that as long as you were gone, he would support me in taking the Prince Ning's position."

Xiao Yuanhang sneered: "Since that person came masked, how could you trust him so readily?"

"Because, he showed me something."

"What?"

Xiao Yuanhua hesitated for a moment, then softly uttered two words: "Tiger Talisman."

The Tiger Talisman is used to mobilize the army; normally it is personally held by His Majesty!

Xiao Yuanhang's face changed drastically: "Is that true?"

Xiao Yuanhua nodded: "Thanks to you, big brother, I have seen it with my own eyes; I won't mistake it."

Xiao Yuanhang pondered: "Then what?"

Xiao Yuanhua instead began to evade: "I actually didn't want to either, big brother."

"But that person said, there is a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate; an illegitimate son will forever be no more than a dog at the legitimate son's side. If you want no one to look down on you in the future, this is the only way."

"Big brother, I really was just momentarily confused! Please let me out! I beg you!"

Xiao Yuanhang leaned forward, staring intently at him: "I ask you, after that, what did he have you do?"

Xiao Yuanhua's face changed dramatically; he retreated and shrank into the corner, shaking his head vigorously, and no matter how Xiao Yuanhang questioned him, he refused to utter a word.

Xiao Yuanhang flicked his sleeves and left, arriving at the quiet chamber where his former concubine, Fang Qingyan, resided.

Fang Qingyan wore no makeup, her hair was flower-white, as if she had aged ten or more years.

Xiao Yuanhang got straight to the point: "Have you ever seen a person wearing a bronze mask?"

Fang Qingyan's face changed greatly: "How do you know?"

Indeed!

Xiao Yuanhang continued to ask: "What did he say to you?"

Fang Qingyan looked at him and said softly: "Prince, your bearing remains as before."

Xiao Yuanhang furrowed his brows: "Cut the nonsense."

Fang Qingyan showed no fear: "Whatever the Prince wants to know from me, I can tell you. But you must agree to two conditions, otherwise I will die before I speak."

"Speak."

"Make Fu Shuer a legitimate daughter, record her in the genealogy, place her above that hateful girl, making her the eldest legitimate daughter of the Prince Ning's Mansion."

"And find her a suitable match of equal status; whenever Fu Shuer marries in grandeur, I will then reveal everything, without hiding anything."