Fang Chen’s expression shifted slightly.
The people around them harbored anger but dared not speak out.
After striking the scholar, the Qingsong Kingdom martial artist pointed at Fang Chen and said, "If you don't believe it, ask your Military God here, and see if I'm lying or telling the truth!"
"M-Military God Fang, tell us they're just talking big! What reason does the Xiao family have to make you a matrilocal son-in-law!"
The scholar’s face was red and swollen, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, yet he stared fixedly at Fang Chen, as if waiting for something.
"The Xiao family did indeed propose marriage."
Fang Chen said softly.
Hum—
Even after taking more than a dozen slaps, the scholar had managed to remain standing, but upon hearing Fang Chen’s words, he seemed to lose all his strength and collapsed onto the ground.
The surrounding Daxia citizens wore blank looks.
If even the former Military God was to become a matrilocal son-in-law of the Xiao family, what hope was left for Daxia?
"Hahaha, hahaha, Heaven wants to destroy my Daxia, my Daxia is doomed to fall!"
The scholar suddenly laughed wildly up at the sky, uttering words of treason, yet the people around him remained silent, none stepping forward to stop him.
"Who says Daxia is going to fall? Even if Heaven wants to destroy Daxia, shouldn't it ask me first?"
Fang Chen said with a faint smile.
The scholar’s voice cut off abruptly, and he looked at Fang Chen with a mixture of shock and suspicion.
Without elaborating, Fang Chen instead asked the Qingsong Kingdom martial artist, "What is your name?"
"Even Heaven has to ask you? How utterly arrogant. Hehe, my name is He Longsheng. Does the son-in-law have any instructions?"
The Qingsong Kingdom martial artist let out a strange laugh.
"When I take up my sword again, you will be the first one I behead."
Fang Chen gave a light chuckle and walked straight past them.
Hearing those words, the group instinctively tensed to move, but Fang Chen suddenly turned back to look at them. His ash-gray, lifeless eyes seemed to condense a certain soul-piercing majesty, freezing them in their tracks.
By the time they snapped out of it, Fang Chen had already walked far away.
"A cripple, yet still spouting such big words."
The Qingsong Kingdom martial artist said with a disgruntled huff.
Yet deep down, he felt a lingering trace of fear; Fang Chen’s gaze just moments ago had seemed capable of piercing the human heart and seeing through everything.
Strolling and drinking tea, Fang Chen eventually arrived at a small courtyard nestled on the outskirts of the Capital.
The courtyard appeared to have been uninhabited for a long time, covered everywhere in a layer of dust. Fang Chen stood quietly for a moment before suddenly speaking:
"You're here."
"Heir!"
Pairs of emotional eyes looked toward Fang Chen. At some point, dozens of figures had filled the courtyard. These people wore varied attire—some dressed like street vendors, some in scholarly robes, some in brightly colored, lavish garments, and others in tight martial outfits with long swords hanging at their waists...
And in Fang Chen’s heart, they were the Daxia Shadow Guards, sharp weapons he had forged with his own hands!
Chapter 4: Purple Lightning Talisman
"Have you all been well these past five years?"
Fang Chen turned to face the crowd and smiled faintly.
In truth, he had always known the experiences of these people over the past five years. After all, whenever he had nothing to do, his divine soul would leave his body; the Capital of Daxia held virtually no secrets from him anymore.
"Heir, we have not been well."
Someone suddenly spoke up.
"That's right, we haven't been well. Every time we heard those bastards insult the Heir, we wanted nothing more than to draw our swords and cut them down, but the Heir forbade it!"
"Heir, five years have passed, and you never once came to this courtyard again. Does your coming here today mean we are being reactivated?"
Another person asked.
The crowd’s spirits instantly lifted, and they looked at Fang Chen with intense anticipation.
"My cultivation is now entirely crippled. If I reactivate you, are you still willing to take orders under my command? Keep in mind that any one of you could easily defeat me now."
Fang Chen said with a half-smile.
"Heir, who dares?! As long as the Heir reactivates us, we remain the Heir's loyal Daxia Shadow Guards!"
A robust figure stepped forward, his tiger-like eyes sweeping over the crowd. He possessed an impressive aura, having clearly reached the Qi Burst Peak of the Second Realm of Human Profound.
Such cultivation made him a top-tier expert within the Qingsong Kingdom.
"Xu Ge is right. Following the Heir, we have never cared about the Heir's martial cultivation! As long as the Heir gives the order, we will charge through mountains of blades and seas of fire!"
The crowd lowered their voices, seemingly afraid of being overheard by outsiders, but their resolve was unwavering.
"Heir, the daughter of Marshal Xiao Wolf will arrive in the Capital tomorrow. If we strike, we have a good chance of assassinating her midway, and we can keep casualties under thirty percent!"
Someone said viciously.
"It seems none of you have been idle, even knowing about this news."
The corners of Fang Chen’s mouth curled up slightly. "Yet you seem to have forgotten one thing: the reason the Daxia Shadow Guards are called guards is to protect and defend, not to act as assassins. I don't need you to kill people for me. The only thing you need to do is protect Daxia. With your talents, it would be a waste to be assassins."
"Heir, what should we do then?"
Xu Ge asked in a low voice.
"I came here today to reactivate you. All you need to do is wait quietly; there is no need for you to make a move yet. Xu Ge, stay behind. The rest of you, return to wherever you came from. For those not currently in the Capital, you can pass the message along on our behalf."
Fang Chen said with a faint smile.
The crowd was slightly stunned, but the habits cultivated over a long period meant they never questioned Fang Chen’s orders. Reluctant as they were, they could only silently depart.
"Heir, what are your orders?"
Xu Ge’s voice was calm, but the excitement on his face was unmistakable.
"I need a wolf-hair brush, top-grade cinnabar, and top-grade yellow talisman paper. Also, the Shadow Courtyard is a bit dusty; it needs a good cleaning."
Fang Chen smiled.
Xu Ge was slightly taken aback, then nodded lightly. "Please wait a moment, Heir, I will go purchase these items."
About half an hour later, Xu Ge had bought everything on the list.
As he rolled up his sleeves to begin cleaning the courtyard, he cast curious glances toward Fang Chen. Seeing Fang Chen sitting in the courtyard, brush in hand, writing and drawing on yellow paper, his expression gradually turned peculiar:
"Is the Heir drawing talismans? But isn't he blind... Never mind, thinking about it gives me a headache; the Heir must have a reason for doing this."
Xu Ge stopped guessing and focused on cleaning. To him, the reactivation of the Shadow Courtyard today was a great joyous occasion—everything else paled in importance!
"Among the introductory chapters of the Three Thousand Daoist Techniques, there are four types of talismans: the Vajra Talisman, the Wind-Walking Talisman, and the Vigor Talisman. These three belong to the ninth-grade talismans and offer ordinary effects, but... the fourth, the Purple Lightning Talisman, is an eighth-grade talisman with astonishing might."
Fang Chen sat quietly for a moment, glancing at the preliminary drafts he had drawn. Feeling they were sufficient, he began to mobilize the spiritual qi within his body.
Talismans only took effect when drawn with spiritual qi.
The Purple Lightning Talisman was Fang Chen’s target for today. Having just stepped onto the path of immortality, his cultivation was merely at the starting line, incomparable even to his past self as a martial artist.
If he wanted to turn the tables and overawe the Qingsong Kingdom, he needed thunderous methods!
Thinking that after a few test runs, drawing the Purple Lightning Talisman would come naturally, Fang Chen found that the moment he actually mobilized his spiritual qi and put brush to paper, the spiritual qi inside him abruptly dropped by five percent.
Only then did he realize that drawing talismans consumed a vast amount of spiritual qi.
Not daring to hesitate, Fang Chen intended to finish it in one go to test whether his internal spiritual qi was sufficient to draw a single Purple Lightning Talisman.
Not only was the spiritual qi consumption fierce, but the wolf-hair brush infused with spiritual qi also became uncontrollable. Intending to move one way, it veered off in another, and the talisman paper was ruined on the spot!
"Drawing talismans is no easy task."
Fang Chen understood this truth now.
Yet he soon discovered that the spiritual qi he had just expended was recovering at an astonishing speed—a phenomenon that was far from normal.
"Could it be that my divine soul is particularly potent, making my spiritual qi recovery rate extraordinary compared to others?"
His thoughts stirred, and Fang Chen seemed to understand something.
He smiled and resumed his focused effort on drawing the Purple Lightning Talisman.
This process lasted an entire day.
Night had fallen, but it made no difference to Fang Chen, who was blind to begin with. Over a hundred failed sheets of yellow paper were stacked beside the table.
The Shadow Courtyard had been cleaned to a pristine state by Xu Ge, who now stood quietly in the courtyard's shadows, keeping watch over Fang Chen.
"Just how long is the Heir going to keep drawing... Marshal Xiao Wolf's daughter is arriving in the Capital tomorrow..."
Xu Ge grew secretly anxious inside.
"Almost there. This one should succeed."
Fang Chen picked up a fresh sheet of talisman paper. With over a hundred failures of experience under his belt, he had gradually grasped the technique for drawing the Purple Lightning Talisman.
Fortunately, his spiritual qi could recover rapidly. Over the course of the day, his qi had been exhausted countless times, yet each time it returned to its peak at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Not only that, he noticed that every time his spiritual qi was depleted and restored to its peak, it grew slightly stronger. In just this single day, his spiritual qi had increased by twenty to thirty percent!
Before long, it might even be enough to condense a second immortal vein and advance to Qi Refinement Level 2!
Though blind, Fang Chen moved his brush with divine precision. The wolf-hair brush, charged with spiritual qi, swept across the yellow paper like a soaring dragon, every vigorous stroke carrying a rich aura of celestial spirit.
Time ticked away second by second.
This time, he finally completed a Purple Lightning Talisman without a single flaw.
As he executed the final stroke, a surge of thunder-attribute spiritual qi from the heavens and earth converged wildly, sinking into the talisman. Within the pitch-black courtyard, a flash of lightning flickered and vanished in an instant!
"Was that thunder?! Or did my eyes play tricks on me?!"
Xu Ge snapped straight up, instinctively rubbing his eyes. The courtyard was dead silent, save for the figure sitting with posture straight as a ramrod.
Yet he had clearly seen a flash of lightning just now. Was he just seeing things?
"Such dense thunder spiritual qi. This Purple Lightning Talisman has indeed succeeded."
A rare smile finally broke across Fang Chen’s expressionless face.
It took him half an hour to draw one Purple Lightning Talisman. With four or five hours left until dawn, he could draw at least eight or nine more.
Chapter 5: Goddess Xiao
Fang Chen did not yet know that the Purple Lightning Talisman—which seemed quite simple to him now—was an extremely difficult threshold for ordinary Qi Condensation Cultivators to cross.
The talisman was far too intricate; the slightest error would ruin all previous efforts. Beyond that, the greatest difficulty lay in the consumption of spiritual qi.
An ordinary Qi Condensation Cultivator might exhaust their spiritual qi after just a few failures, requiring days to recover to their peak.
Accumulating a hundred attempts of experience could take several months, and some might fail a thousand times without ever successfully completing a single Purple Lightning Talisman.
After all, this was an eighth-grade talisman with astonishing might.
If Daoist Yunhe were present, he would undoubtedly be astonished by the scene before him.
Nine eighth-grade Purple Lightning Talismans already lay before Fang Chen, and he was currently drawing the tenth. He seemed immune to fatigue, his spiritual qi multiplying the more he used it. The only thing he lacked was time.
Xu Ge had long since realized he wasn't hallucinating, because every time Fang Chen finished drawing a talisman, he could see a flash of lightning dart across the air!
"In this world... talismans actually exist! I thought they were all just tricks used by wandering charlatans... The Heir is truly the Heir; these past five years, he has never truly given up!"
Xu Ge’s spirits soared with excitement.
With the tenth Purple Lightning Talisman completed, the thunderous phenomenon appeared once more. As the thunder spiritual qi merged into the paper, Fang Chen put away the ten talismans before him.
"Xu Ge, you have reached the Qi Burst Peak, and your reputation in the Capital is growing. Many people know you now. Have you ever thought about stepping down as a Daxia Shadow Guard one day?"
Fang Chen looked toward Xu Ge and smiled faintly.
Xu Ge panicked instantly. The burly man’s eyes turned red in a split second. "Heir, what did I do wrong that you want to chase me away?!"
"When did I say I was chasing you away?"
Fang Chen smiled.
Xu Ge’s heart relaxed, and he hurriedly asked, "Then why did you say that? Your subordinate is a Daxia Shadow Guard for a day, and a Daxia Shadow Guard for life!"
"Five years ago, the soldiers by my side died in battle one by one. I need someone to stand by my side, to step into the public eye and handle matters for me. Once that happens, it will no longer be possible to remain hidden in the shadows."
Fang Chen said calmly.
The reason the Daxia Shadow Guards bore the word "shadow" was because no one knew of their existence—not the emperor, not the citizens of Daxia, and not the Qingsong Kingdom.
Aside from Fang Chen, only his father, Fang Canghai, knew a few inside details, but even then, it was just the tip of the iceberg.
The Shadow Guards performed their respective duties on ordinary days, and no one knew their connection to Fang Chen. To outsiders, they were complete strangers.
If Xu Ge were to step into the public eye, he naturally could no longer remain a Daxia Shadow Guard.
"In that case, wouldn't I be able to follow by the Heir's side day and night?"
Xu Ge looked utterly shocked.
Fang Chen smiled and nodded.
"I'm willing, I'm willing!"
Xu Ge said excitedly.
"The sun is about to rise. Let's return to the General's Manor."
Fang Chen walked out of the courtyard.
Xu Ge quickly followed, asking casually, "Heir, how did you know the sun is about to rise? Is your vision..."
"I still can't see a thing, but there are many things in this world that don't require eyes to see."
Fang Chen said with a half-smile.
Xu Ge understood half-heartedly, finally muttering, "Only you could pull this off, Heir. If I went blind, I wouldn't even be able to walk properly."
In his heart, the Heir was invincible throughout the world, the goal he would chase for the rest of his life!
As the two left the Shadow Courtyard, a special procession arrived outside the gates of the Capital.
The procession consisted of over a hundred people, each riding a giant wolf as tall as a grown man's shoulder. These giant wolves possessed silver fur all over and looked exceptionally majestic!
Atop their backs sat martial officers wreathed in intense murderous intent. These officers moved in uniform unison, expressionless, save for occasional flashes of faint contempt in their eyes.
Though it was early morning, the city gates were already open, and Daxia soldiers were at their posts while citizens streamed in and out continuously.
Upon seeing this procession, their expressions changed drastically, horror painting their faces. Some were so frightened they turned and fled.
This procession was none other than the Wolf Army, which had clashed with Daxia countless times in the past!
Their commander was Marshal Xiao Wolf of the Xiao family, hailed as Qingsong Kingdom's foremost Wolf Army commander and strongest warrior!
"Goddess Xiao has arrived!"
"We respectfully welcome Goddess Xiao!"
Some Qingsong Kingdom martial artists, catching wind of the news, rushed over and revealed looks of joyful excitement upon seeing the procession, bowing repeatedly.
Watching these Qingsong Kingdom martial artists—who usually ran amok in the Capital—behave with such deference toward the procession, the Daxia citizens wore increasingly complex and fearful expressions.
At the center of the wolf cavalry was an even larger and more majestic silver wolf, upon which sat a young girl. Seeming only seventeen or eighteen years old, her eyes were bright and lively, and her bronze-colored skin reflected a dazzling sheen beneath the rising morning sun.
Looking closer, one could see the girl possessed long, slender legs and naturally exquisite facial features. As she gazed at the Capital of Daxia before her, the corners of her mouth lifted in a faint, imperceptible smile.
This girl was none other than the daughter of Marshal Xiao Wolf, crowned as Goddess Xiao since birth!
At that moment, a troop wearing Daxia military uniforms arrived outside the city. The leading general's expression shifted slightly upon seeing the Wolf Army, and he looked toward Goddess Xiao, cupping his fists:
"I am You Longchang, Deputy General of the West Tiger Camp, here by Imperial Decree to welcome Lady Xiao!"
"You should have been here waiting much earlier."
Goddess Xiao said indifferently.
"It is my fault for arriving late. Please forgive me, Goddess Xiao."
You Longchang’s expression flickered as he suppressed the anger in his heart and offered a low explanation.
"Give him two slaps."
Goddess Xiao said casually.
Boom—
A figure soared from the Wolf Army, appearing before You Longchang in an instant. Slap! Slap! Two heavy blows landed across his face before the figure retreated just as swiftly.
In and out like flowing water; You Longchang had no time to react at all.
"Now I forgive you."
Goddess Xiao smiled.
Dead silence hung in the air. You Longchang’s face burned red, his eyes filled with humiliation, while the soldiers under his command trembled with suppressed rage.
This group of Qingsong Kingdom wolf troops dared to openly assault a Deputy General of the West Tiger Camp?!
"General!"
Unable to bear it, a West Tiger Camp soldier rested his hand on the hilt of his waist saber.
"Don't act rashly. The person who just moved is at least an Imperial Qi Early Stage expert, and Goddess Xiao is an honored guest named by His Majesty. If you provoke them even slightly, you'll likely lose your head."
You Longchang said in a low voice.
He then looked toward Goddess Xiao, cupping his fists once more. "Since Lady Xiao has forgiven us, I will say no more. His Majesty is already waiting in the imperial palace. Please, Lady Xiao..."
"Remember to send someone to notify the Fang General's Manor. I expect to see Military God Fang Chen in your imperial palace today. After all, this time, I’ve prepared an eight-bearer bridal sedan to marry him."
Goddess Xiao smiled.
"Rest assured, Lady Xiao, someone has already been sent to deliver the message to the Fang General's Manor. You will see Fang Chen in the palace."
You Longchang said in a deep voice.
"Very well. Lead the way."
Goddess Xiao smiled sweetly.
Chapter 6: Both Tiger and Lord
The Fang General's Manor.
Fang Canghai sat squarely in the main seat. To his left sat a middle-aged matron, and to his right sat a middle-aged man who bore a five-to-six-part resemblance to Fang Canghai, seated in a wooden wheelchair with a fox-fur blanket draped over his knees.
"Big Brother, Sister-in-law, I heard Goddess Xiao has entered the Capital. Have you truly decided to let Chen'er become a matrilocal son-in-law of the Xiao family?"
The middle-aged man asked calmly.
"Third Brother, I know in your heart you blame your big brother, and my heart aches for Chen'er too, but given the current situation, our Fang family has no other choice."
The middle-aged matron sighed softly. "With Qingsong Kingdom's hundred thousand wolf troops, Daxia no longer has any military force to resist them. Since that battle five years ago, Daxia has grown weaker by the day while Qingsong Kingdom continues to grow stronger. If Marshal Xiao Wolf truly leads an army to attack, Daxia probably won't last a year."
"Can't last a year... Heh... Heh..."
The middle-aged man muttered to himself in self-derision.
Just then, Fang Zhixue walked in and said in a low voice, "Father, Mother, Second Uncle, Big Brother went out yesterday and hasn't returned..."
"Could Big Brother have already left?"
"Given Big Brother's temperament, even if Marshal Wolf Xiao himself arrived, he would meet him face-to-face. How could he fear the daughter of Marshal Xiao Wolf?"
The middle-aged man smiled faintly. "Chen'er is probably taking the opportunity to handle some worldly matters before leaving Daxia."
"Indeed."
Fang Canghai and his wife nodded slightly, knowing their son all too well.
Sometimes, they almost wished Fang Chen would just vanish into thin air like this, where no one could find him. As for the consequences that might follow, they didn't care to think about them, nor did they care to manage them.