In the next moment, he pushed aside these trivial emotions, recalling the information Wei Yuan had given him.

His birth mother was called Ji Baiqing, the blood sister of the Lord of Hidden Dragon City. She was a dual cultivator of both martial and qi arts, at the Eighth Rank Qi Practitioner and Seventh Rank Qi Absorber levels respectively. Twenty-one years ago, after returning to Hidden Dragon City from the capital, she had been confined, never leaving her quarters.

He took a deep breath, stepped into the courtyard, and gently knocked on the closed door.

After a brief silence, a gentle female voice, suppressing excitement and tinged with nervousness, came from within:

“Come… come in…”

In all these days, no one had ever visited here. She could guess who had come.

Xu Qi An pushed open the door. The first thing he saw was a wall hung with ink paintings, with tall stands on either side supporting evergreen potted plants.

On the left was a four-panel screen, with a bathtub behind it.

On the right hung a pearl curtain, behind which were a round table and a bed. A woman in plain-colored robes sat at the table, wisps of sandalwood incense rising around her.

She had a round, oval face that could express both joy and anger beautifully, with exquisitely refined features, though touched with a faint melancholy. Her lips were full, her hair coiled high. Though no longer young, her beauty hadn’t diminished at all, suggesting she must have been an exceptional beauty in her youth.

*If I had inherited her looks, I wouldn’t have needed the Rebirth Pill to improve my genes…* While Xu Qi An was examining her through the pearl curtain, the woman behind it was also studying him, her eyes glistening with what seemed to be tears as she softly said:

“Ning Yan?”

That “Ning Yan” came out surprisingly naturally and smoothly, as if she had practiced it countless times in private.

…Xu Qi An considered for a moment, but still couldn’t bring himself to say “Mother,” so he just gave an expressionless “Mm” in response.

Ji Baiqing showed a hint of disappointment, but quickly spoke again with hidden hope:

“Come sit at the table and talk.”

“Alright!” Xu Qi An lifted the curtain and sat at the table.

Throughout this process, the woman kept watching him, her gaze moving from his face to his chest, from his chest to his legs, examining him up and down, as if trying to make up for twenty-one years of missed observations all at once.

Regrettably, no matter how carefully or intently she looked, she could never recover those lost twenty-one years.

The atmosphere was inevitably a bit stiff as these two people—who should have been closest yet were most estranged—sat together.

After a moment, Ji Baiqing sighed and broke the silence:

“When you were born, you were still in swaddling clothes. In the blink of an eye, twenty-one years have passed, and you’ve grown so much.”

Her eyes held both joy and regret. In this era that valued legitimate eldest sons, the feelings normal parents held for their first child were incomparable to those for later children.

Xu Qi An thought for a moment, then asked:

“Back then, since you had escaped to the capital, why did you return to Hidden Dragon City?”

Ji Baiqing’s eyes dimmed as she said softly:

“Xu Pingfeng had stolen half of Great Liang’s national destiny. The Director only needed to kill you to return that destiny to Great Liang. I feared the Director would discover my identity and dared not stay longer.

“Moreover, I had disrupted Xu Pingfeng and the clan’s grand plans. They needed someone to vent their anger upon. If I hadn’t returned, they might have been driven to desperate measures. Then not only would you have been in danger, but my second brother and sister-in-law might have been implicated as well.”

*Perhaps the Director was already watching you from the Eight Trigrams Platform…* Xu Qi An nodded and gave an “Mm” in response.

Ji Baiqing looked at him, hesitated for a long while, her hands silently clenching into fists, then said softly:

“Do… do you hate me?”

Xu Qi An thought for a moment, then shook his head and said:

“I detest Hidden Dragon City and Xu Pingfeng, but I don’t hate you.”

Just these words made Ji Baiqing burst into tears. She cried, yet smiled, as if resolving a long-held wish, untying a knot that had bound her heart for years.

“For twenty-one years, I thought of you constantly, yet feared meeting you—feared that you would hate me.”

Xu Qi An said in a deep voice:

“If I hated you, I wouldn’t have spared Xu Yuanshuang and Xu Yuanhuai’s lives in Yong Province.”

“I know, I know…” she said, her face covered in tears.

A few minutes later, she composed herself, wiping her tears with a handkerchief, and said:

“Now Hidden Dragon City’s line is devastated, the Yun Province army has collapsed, and Xu Pingfeng and my elder brother can no longer pose a threat to your safety. However, he is still a Second Rank Artificer—you must be wary when pushing him to desperation.”

Truthfully, she was reluctant to mention such matters that went against human ethics.

But between husband and son, she chose the latter without hesitation. The former was from an arranged marriage, and over these many years, she had become utterly disappointed in Xu Pingfeng, even coming to hate him deeply.

Xu Qi An was the son she had carried for ten months, her legitimate eldest son. The weight of these relationships needed no explanation.

Thus, fearing Xu Pingfeng might seek revenge in secret, she felt compelled to warn him.

Xu Qi An said flatly:

“He’s dead. The Lord of Hidden Dragon City is also dead. I killed them myself.”

Ji Baiqing froze, staring at him blankly. After several seconds, she said in a trembling voice:

“Really?”

Xu Qi An gave an expressionless “Mm,” and then watched as her expression shifted from blank to complex, difficult to describe exactly what emotions it held.

After a long while, she asked softly:

“What about Yuanshuang and Yuanhuai?”

“They’re imprisoned in the Bureau of Astronomy,” Xu Qi An said.

Another silence followed as Ji Baiqing sat in a daze.

Xu Qi An took the opportunity to stand, saying:

“Tomorrow I’ll take you back to the mansion. Stay in the capital from now on—your sister-in-law hasn’t seen you in twenty years.”

He felt his birth mother needed some space to be alone, time to bid farewell to and commemorate the past.

*Stay in the capital…* A glimmer of light finally passed through Ji Baiqing’s colorless eyes.

Xu Qi An left the small courtyard and headed straight for the Night Watchers’ prison. In the dark, damp interrogation room, he found San Gong Qian Rou, her face shadowed and unsatisfied.

By the charcoal brazier lay a bloody, mangled human form.

The various offices throughout the capital were full of Yun Province army commanders. Not all who surrendered could be pardoned—in fact, even ordinary soldiers would be exiled as convict laborers.

“Keep an eye on my birth mother, don’t let her do anything foolish. I’ll come to get her tomorrow.”

Xu Qi An looked at the beauty he hadn’t seen for half a year.

Truthfully, he had completely forgotten about San Gong Qian Rou. The most troublesome aspect of the technique for blocking heavenly secrets was that it related to karma rather than cultivation rank.

For example, if Sun Xuanji blocked a random passerby, even if Xu Qi An were a Martial God, he wouldn’t remember that passerby.

Because he had no relationship with the passerby, no karmic connection.

Xu Qi An and San Gong Qian Rou were ordinary colleagues, and their karmic connection was too shallow. In contrast, someone like Song Tingfeng, an old employee, would feel some disconnect upon seeing the torture devices San Gong Qian Rou had invented in the prison.

“What’s it to me if she lives or dies?”

San Gong Qian Rou sneered.

Unlike others who had witnessed Xu Qi An’s rise and series of glorious deeds, whose attitudes had changed naturally, San Gong Qian Rou couldn’t develop a god-like fear of this minor patrolman in such a short time.

Thinking of how San Gong Qian Rou used to mock him and put on airs with her Fourth Rank cultivation, Xu Qi An said:

“If anything happens to her, I’ll send you to the courtesans’ quarter to receive guests. Even Lord Wei won’t be able to save you.”

San Gong Qian Rou’s expression changed as she gave a cold snort.

Xu Qi An left the prison and went to sit at Spring Wind Hall for half a quarter-hour, sharing tea with Li Yuchun, then found Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao to arrange a visit to the entertainment houses to listen to music the next day.

…

Under the azure sky, an auspicious cloud drifted seemingly slowly but swiftly, soon returning to Jing Mountain City.

Nalan Tianlu gazed into the distance at the desolate Jing Mountain and sighed:

“Jing Mountain ranked eighth among the Nine States’ blessed lands, rich in spiritual energy and earth veins. Before marching to Shanhai Pass, this mountain was lush and verdant, full of spiritual birds and beasts, with hundred-year-old jade ginseng everywhere.

“I never expected that upon returning home, it would be in such a state.”

The spiritual energy of Jing Mountain had been completely drained by Great Shaman Salun Agu, originally meant to empower Jeanne and help her kill Wei Yuan.

Who would have thought Wei Yuan would summon the Confucian Saint and break that killing move?

In the distance, seabirds soared, gliding over the sea’s surface, occasionally diving to catch prey in the waters.

Dong Fang Wanrong looked at the sparkling sea surface in surprise:

“The sea has signs of life again?”

Her last visit to Jing Mountain City had been when ordered to welcome back the Rain Master Nalan Tianlu from the Western Regions.

Dong Fang Wanrong clearly remembered that at the time, the coastal waters had been completely dead, with no fish or shrimp in the sea, and no birds in the sky.

Hearing this, Nalan Tianlu glanced at the sea.

Soon, he descended the auspicious cloud, bringing his disciple to land on the cliff by the sea.

Salun Agu, wearing a plain hemp robe with a white beard covering half his face, had been waiting for some time and said with a smile:

“Jing Mountain City finally has a master again.”

Nalan Tianlu had originally been the city lord of Jing Mountain City.

“Greetings, Great Shaman!”

Nalan Tianlu gave a bow, then went straight to the point:

“Has the Shaman God divined the specific time of the great calamity? And the details?”

Salun Agu shook his head slightly, looking toward the distant high altar and the young man wearing a crown of thorns atop it:

“When the Shaman God breaks through the seal, all will become clear.”

Nalan Tianlu asked no more, sighing:

“To think Xu Qi An has already advanced to First Rank Martial Artist. Since the Martial Ancestor, the Central Plains haven’t seen a First Rank Martial Artist in five hundred years.”

The respectfully attentive Dong Fang Wanrong beside him was momentarily lost in thought at these words.

Her earliest encounter with Xu Qi An had been on the way to Lei Province when her sister Dong Fang Wanqing had conflicted with him.

At that time, Xu Qi An had been under a seal and couldn’t even defeat Wanqing.

In just four months, he had become a First Rank Martial Artist.

Dong Fang Wanrong felt like she was witnessing history, with an inexplicable sense of vicissitude and sighs welling up in her heart.

Salun Agu said:

“I wasn’t wrong in my assessment. Xu Qi An, like the Confucian Saint, is most likely a person born of destiny. I’ve lived for thousands of years and never quite understood the Central Plains. In the current age, there are three people born of destiny.”

Nalan Tianlu asked:

“Which three?”

“Wei Yuan, Xu Pingfeng, and Xu Qi An,” Salun Agu said. “Among the three, only Xu Qi An has reached this step. If he had advanced to First Rank Martial Artist half a year earlier, at the Battle of Jing Mountain City, the Shamanic Divine Sect would likely have been erased from the Nine States.”

Nalan Tianlu didn’t argue.

Dong Fang Wanrong was startled and gathered her courage to ask:

“Great Shaman, are First Rank Martial Artists truly so formidable?”

She found it hard to believe. Though the Shamanic Divine Sect had lost the Battle of Shanhai Pass and wasn’t as prosperous as the Western Buddhist Sect with its abundance of experts, they weren’t weak. They had two Third Rank Spirit Masters and the Great Shaman himself at First Rank.

At this moment, she saw her teacher Nalan Tianlu’s expression suddenly change as he turned to look skyward.

Dong Fang Wanrong followed his gaze and saw a figure walking through the void step by step as if climbing invisible stairs.

His cloud-embroidered cyan robe fluttered in the wind, his hair bound by a jade crown, his feet in cloud boots. His features were handsome—he looked both like a noble young master and an immortal in exile.

*Xu Qi An…* Dong Fang Wanrong’s pupils constricted.

They had just been speaking of him, and he appeared.

Salun Agu narrowed his eyes and said flatly:

“What are you doing here?”

Though his tone was calm and his voice not loud, Xu Qi An, standing in the distant sky, seemed to hear clearly and responded with a smile:

“I heard First Rank Martial Artists can sweep through all major powers, so I came to practice.”

*He… he wants to destroy Jing Mountain City?!* Dong Fang Wanrong’s face turned pale as she unconsciously moved closer to Nalan Tianlu, only to find her teacher’s expression extremely grave, as if facing a great enemy.

Xu Qi An took a step forward.

*Boom!*

He collided with a wall of energy—the entire area within a hundred li of Jing Mountain City was rejecting him, refusing his entry.

Salun Agu pressed one hand to his waist and suddenly drew forth.

*Crack!*

A black shadow swept across the sky, striking Xu Qi An violently, tearing his cyan robe to reveal unblemished flesh beneath.

“Tsk, that stung a bit.”

Xu Qi An smiled: “Why don’t you continue? See if that God-Striking Whip can drive out my Primordial Spirit.”

A First Rank Martial Artist’s essence, energy, and spirit were unified—they no longer had weaknesses. Even shamans and Daoists who specialized in Primordial Spirit techniques couldn’t drive out his spirit.

He pressed one hand against the invisible barrier, his arm muscles suddenly bulging, tearing his sleeve.

*Boom!* Energy erupted, destroying the “momentum” condensed by heaven and earth. Space, like a mirror, was forcibly shattered by the martial artist’s violence.

The windstorm stirred up by the energy swept across Jing Mountain, blowing Dong Fang Wanrong away. The entire mountain shook violently, its body cracking, stones tumbling.

*Crack!*

Suddenly, Salun Agu’s robe split across his chest, revealing a whip mark. His pupils grew slightly vacant as if losing consciousness for an instant.

His Primordial Spirit had been shaken.

Xu Qi An dove down like a meteor toward Jing Mountain City.

During his descent, his chest suddenly caved in, showing exaggerated wounds that healed instantly.

This was Salun Agu’s Death Curse technique.

As a seasoned First Rank Great Shaman, he could wound a martial artist of the same rank, but with a martial artist’s terrifying recovery ability, such injuries were meaningless.

Salun Agu extended his right arm in defense. In that instant, he seemed to merge with Jing Mountain beneath his feet, becoming impregnable, becoming indestructible.

This was one of the Great Shaman’s two major abilities:

First, Borrowing Heaven and Earth’s Momentum.

Drawing power from heaven and earth for his use, unlocking different states based on natural phenomena.

Borrowing volcanic eruptions to move like fire, borrowing thunderstorms to move like lightning and wind, borrowing mountain momentum to stand unmovable as a mountain.

*Boom!*

Xu Qi An didn’t slow, crashing violently into Jing Mountain, collapsing half the main peak. The mountain face collapsed, earth and rock tumbling down.

In Jing Mountain City, figures rose into the air as shamans frantically fled, keeping their distance.

They fearfully watched the collapsing Jing Mountain.

Salun Agu still stood in place, not moving an inch, though the mountain beneath his feet had collapsed, leaving him floating in the air.

When mountain-borrowed defense failed to stop Xu Qi An’s instant strike, he used the Great Shaman’s second ability—merging with “heaven and earth” to leave a projection in place.

This was one of the world’s supreme life-preservation techniques.

Its drawback was limited uses—it couldn’t be used endlessly. There was a three-breath interval between uses, and it could only last fifteen breaths before the true body had to return to the projection’s location, making it vulnerable to martial artists lying in wait.

*To think even the Great Shaman can’t gain any advantage against him…* Dong Fang Wanrong, hiding in the distance riding the wind, witnessed this scene with trepidation.

*Rumble!*

The altar began to shake. From the stone statue wearing the crown of thorns, a vast black energy erupted, condensing in the high sky into a blurry face that coldly looked down at Xu Qi An.

In the distance, the shamans prostrated themselves in the air, crying out “Please, Divine Shaman, slay the enemy!”

*Crack…* Xu Qi An twisted his neck, bones making sounds. He raised his head to look at the Shaman God in the sky and grinned:

“Try to kill me.”

The Shaman God merely gazed down coldly.

Salun Agu sighed:

“Say it. Why have you come?”

“To collect some interest, and gather some intelligence.” Xu Qi An stopped attacking, standing amid the rubble. “What is the great calamity? What does your Shamanic Divine Sect know about the Gatekeepers?”

Salun Agu pointed at the face in the sky and smiled:

“If those are your two questions, you can ask Him yourself. But if you want to gather intelligence, I have something we can trade.”

Xu Qi An remained noncommittal.

Salun Agu said:

“In ancient times, there was a god-demon called ‘Great Wilderness.’ He was of the same rank as the Venom God and also survived that great upheaval, though his spiritual essence was damaged. So he disguised himself as a descendant of the gods and demons and hid overseas.”

“The White Emperor is Great Wilderness?” Xu Qi An raised an eyebrow.

*So ‘Great Wilderness’ isn’t a descendant of gods and demons, but a genuine god-demon who once ranked alongside the Venom God? No wonder his true form is so terrifying, far surpassing First Rank… No wonder he’s so concerned about the Gatekeepers and the great calamity—because he was a participant in that upheaval back then…* Xu Qi An understood many things in an instant.

“This intelligence isn’t valuable enough.”

Xu Qi An stretched his muscles and said:

“Continue!”

The crown of thorns atop the Shaman God’s statue suddenly flew up, transforming into a black light that landed on Salun Agu’s head.

In an instant, the Great Shaman holding the God-Striking Whip and wearing the crown of thorns seemed to become the master of this world.

He smiled and said:

“Very well!

“It’s been many years since I’ve whipped a First Rank Martial Artist. Let me let you taste how I made the Founding Emperor run all over the Northeast back then.”

Xu Qi An smiled as he put on a scholar’s cap, a Nation-Steadying Sword in his left hand and a Peace-Maintaining Blade in his right.

He smiled and said:

“Whoever runs is a grandson!”

…

The next day.

In the morning mist, Xu Qi An, Song Tingfeng, and Zhu Guangxiao left the entertainment house refreshed. Xu Qi An mounted his graceful mare and rode with the two toward the Night Watchers’ Office.

They had spent the night in the entertainment house, listening to music, drinking, and watching plays—a rare leisure time.

He no longer dallied with ordinary women now, fearing to exhaust the beauties.

Zhu Guangxiao had paid the bill.

Song Tingfeng complained:

“The court hasn’t paid salaries for two months. Ning Yan, if this continues, you’ll have to treat next time.”

Xu Qi An said expressionlessly:

“Oh, then we won’t go to entertainment houses anymore.”

“…” Song Tingfeng cursed:

“A mighty First Rank Martial Artist, yet still so miserly.”

*If I have to pay to go to entertainment houses, there’s no fun in it…* Xu Qi An ignored him, his mind replaying yesterday’s battle with Salun Agu.

“Sigh, it’s truly difficult for First Rank practitioners to determine victory or death between them. Fortunately, he was the grandson yesterday, not me.” He muttered to himself, casually wiping his face to change back from Xu Er Lang’s appearance.

His current status and position certainly weren’t suitable for visiting entertainment houses anymore.

Next time he planned to wear his second uncle’s face to the entertainment house.

Entering the Night Watchers’ Office, he went straight to the small courtyard to see his birth mother.

Seeing him arrive as promised, Ji Baiqing smiled gently:

“I haven’t seen Xiaoru in twenty years. I wonder if she’ll still recognize me as her sister-in-law.”

The faint melancholy in her brow had dispersed as if she had bid farewell to the past and been reborn anew.