“Come on! Drink up more!!”

  “Haha! Our little Da Wei has finally got himself a woman who can handle him!”

  “Hey!!”

  My embarrassed and frustrated shout did nothing to dampen the dirty mouths of old Feng and Chief Chen, who just ughed and drank from my personal collection of alcohol, the same collection that Jin Tianrui took out without telling me after we returned.

  I really need to discipline this disciple of mine about rummaging through my stuff like that.

  Old Feng cpped my back with his monstrous strength, making me hunch a little bit before speaking again.

  “You know that what I said is the truth. While there are many young women in the vilge who fell for you in the many years you spent here, they could not handle your ignorance regarding their feelings and your general weirdness compared to every other man in the vilge.”

  His eyes softened as he looked at me in a way that I only ever remember seeing from my mother when I was a kid.

  “Putting aside all the jokes, I really am happy that you found someone worth sharing your life with and someone who truly loves you instead of going after you for their personal profit. It is a privilege that not everyone has in this world.”

  The sudden somber tone of the old bcksmith and the serious look on Chief Chen made me sit up a little bit, realizing that they were going to start talking about serious stuff now.

  “…When is the ceremony?”

  “We have decided to hold it a year or two ter. Since the Yin Long Empire and the Baihu Empire are on the verge of war, we decided to postpone the ceremony for more peaceful times. Meanwhile, she will be going back to the capital to handle the affairs as is her duty, while I work on fortifying our vilge and the surroundings.”

  Chief Chen nodded at my words as we fell into a comfortable silence.

  “What about the Holy Lands?”

  At Old Feng’s words, my thoughts churned, and my frustration and fears rushed to the surface.

  It was only thanks to Xiang, who helped hold back these emotions by taking them onto himself, that I did not end up being blinded by them.

  ‘Thanks’

  ‘Don’t mention it. I have long since learned to suppress these emotions since I’ve lived with such emotions all my life. Putting that aside, Old Feng is right, what are you pnning to do about the Holy Lands?’

  ‘Frankly, I have no idea. I knew that I would have to face the Hidden Heavens Holy Land sooner or ter after Yin Lingxi told us about our true identity, but I never realized that Da Ling also faced the same problem as us.’

  ‘True. Even in my past life, no one, not even I, knew that the girl who took the continent by storm and became the peerless genius who defeated me was actually someone from the direct lineage of the Crimson Realm Holy Land.’

  When we returned to the vilge yesterday, we were welcomed with much fanfare and celebration that sted the entire night.

  The teasing and congratutions that Lingxi and I received from all of my friends were enough to make even someone as thick-skinned as me feel embarrassed, so I can’t even imagine how it must have felt for Lingxi, who was the center of attention and scrutiny by most of the old folk of the vilge.

  But it was Da Ling’s reaction that I was mostly worried about.

  While I had no experience when it came to raising children or having a family of my own, I still had some knowledge about how children behave, thanks to the easy access to information that I had in my world through the internet.

  Particurly, I knew how adopted children tend to be insecure and would not allow anyone else to get close to their families.

  Thankfully, Da Ling did no such thing and made me feel ashamed for even thinking in such a way about her.

  When the little genius who achieved the Nascent Soul realm at such a young age learned about what had happened in the secret realm and my current retionship with Yin Lingxi, her first reaction was to scrutinize Lingxi, trying to see if she was harmed in some way by that natural treasure and the subsequent fight.

  Once she was sure that Yin Lingxi was fine, she jumped into her arms and started to speak excitedly.

  I don’t know what they talked about since Lingxi isoted their voice through a technique, but given the joyful looks on both their faces, it must have been something good.

  Even Jin Tianrui’s family joined in on the fun. Jin Tianrui and his father, Jin Tiejun, sat down with us men and drank while talking about how things went, while his wife, Lan Zhijian, and Jin Tianrui’s sister, Jin Ruiying, sat with Yin Lingxi. Little Xing, my lucky bck cat, purred contentedly as she y on my p throughout the night before leaving in the morning, probably to hunt for some vermin in the forest near my home or to lie down on the mound under which I store all the remains of my hunts.

  By the morning, when all the celebration had died down, Old Feng, Chief Chen, and Old Li took me aside to tell me about what events had taken pce during the time we were gone.

  The various incidents, Da Ling’s ascension into the Nascent Soul realm, Jin Tianrui’s pns, the progress with my factories, and the various trade deals and contracts for establishing train routes.

  Then, they informed me about the bad news.

  The sudden arrival of the two cultivators in the tter stages of the Soul Transformation realm, belonging to the Crimson Realm Holy Land, whose objective was to take away Da Ling, either willingly or through force.

  Thankfully, my barrier worked as intended and suppressed their cultivation, allowing my vilge to be left unscathed even after this incident. But I knew better than anyone how petty cultivators are.

  There is no doubt in my mind that those two will be back for revenge or to take away Da Ling by force. This meant that I would have to start preparing for a rge-scale conflict with the Crimson Realm Holy Land.

  A daunting, but doable task given my current cultivation realm. Yet, it is better to be safe than sorry.

  ‘Xiang, start working on modifying those Heaven-grade Body cultivation techniques we have. I’ll need to start working on strengthening the people of our vilge.’

  ‘Already done. I’ve been prepared for a day like this for more than a year now. But, there is one thing you need to understand, David.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘It is good that you are strengthening your people for the coming conflict, but aren’t you ignoring your own improvement a little too much?’

  ‘I don’t get it. Aren’t I already in the Soul Transformation realm?’

  ‘Yes, you are. But don’t forget, your cultivation is an anomaly that has no precedence. You are in uncharted waters when it comes to your powers, abilities, and their drawbacks. What if something goes wrong when you are in the middle of a fight because you do not understand what you are truly capable of?’

  ‘…Point taken. What do you suggest?’

  ‘Start working on your spear arts again. I understand that you no longer wish to pursue the Dao of Swords thanks to our shared trauma, but your mastery of the spear, derived from my own experience, is no joke either. Start refining your spear arts seriously and manifest Spear intent as soon as possible.’

  His words made me flinch as I was reminded of how much I had neglected my other techniques in favor of my Fist arts.

  Long ago, when Xiang and I were not on as good of terms as now, I had been stubborn and did not wish to practice the Dao of Swords simply to spite him and differentiate myself from Xiang.

  But, as time passed and we learned to trust each other, I wished to start practicing with the sword.

  It was in those times that we discovered one of the many consequences of Xiang’s death in his timeline.

  Specifically, the trauma that he unknowingly held after being killed by Yan Ling in his timeline.

  The brutal death he went through traumatized Xiang in such a way that he and I can no longer hope to pursue the Dao of Swords.

  We can still use it if need be, and we can wield the weapon just fine, but we can no longer manifest the sword intent, the pinnacle of Sword Mastery, and neither can we advance our sword arts, no matter how much we practice. Our very body instinctively hesitates whenever it holds a sword, as our souls are reminded of the brutal and painful death that Xiang went through, making it impossible for us to gain any insight into improving our sword arts.

  Shaking my head to get rid of those depressing thoughts, I replied to Xiang’s suggestions.

  ‘I’ll get to working on my Spear arts as soon as possible. Any other suggestions?’

  ‘…I think you should start working on those weapon designs that you wanted to spread across the mortals. But instead of giving them to the mortals, only give them to our vilge.’

  I felt shocked at his words.

  ‘But, didn’t you say it was too dangerous to entrust mortals with that kind of a power?’

  ‘And I still believe that, but these are desperate times. Besides, I am not telling you to give those weapons to the mortals of the other vilges and towns, but to the people of our vilge, who are all made up of Body Cultivators now and very much loyal to you and their homes.’

  ‘….Very well. I’ll start working on those. Looks like the future is going to be quite hectic for us once again.’

  ‘That it is. Not to mention our so-called family who may or may not be able to track us.’

  ‘…..this is bullshit. Why is the world so bent on taking away our peace and quiet like this?’

  ‘Because, according to your own words, we are the main characters of this world.’

  ‘I am the main character? No thanks!’

  ‘I think Da Ling is more of a main character than us’

  ‘Point. But, enough specution, let’s get to work.’

  I sent a silent acknowledgment of his words and started formuting pns to defend my home.

  Author Notes:

  Read 8 Chapters ahead on Patreon: http://patreon.com/Ruijard1