Fang Chen's expression flickered slightly.
The surrounding people were furious but dared not speak out.
After beating the scholar, the Qingsong Country martial artist pointed at Fang Chen: "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 are talking big! What right does the Xiao family have to make you a matrilocal son-in-law?"
The scholar's cheek was swollen and red from the beating, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth, but right now 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 a dozen slaps, the scholar had still managed to stand, but upon hearing Fang Chen's words, he seemed to drain of all his strength and collapsed onto the ground.
The surrounding citizens of Great Xia wore dazed expressions.
If even the former Military God had married into the Xiao family as a matrilocal son-in-law, what hope was left for Great Xia?
"Hahaha, hahaha, the heavens are going to destroy my Great Xia, my Great Xia is bound to perish!"
The scholar suddenly laughed up to the sky, uttering treasonous words, yet the people around him remained silent, no one stepping forward to stop him.
"Who says Great Xia is going to perish? Even if the heavens want to destroy Great Xia, shouldn't they ask me first?"
Fang Chen said with a faint smile.
The scholar's laughter cut off abruptly, and he looked at Fang Chen with a mixture of shock and suspicion.
Without saying much more, Fang Chen looked at the Qingsong Country martial artist and asked, "What is your name?"
"The heavens want to ask you? How truly arrogant! Hehe, my name is He Longsheng. Does the prospective son-in-law have any instructions?"
The Qingsong Country martial artist let out a strange laugh.
"When I take up my sword again, you will be the first one I behead."
With a light chuckle, Fang Chen brushed past them.
Hearing these words, the group instinctively moved to react, but Fang Chen suddenly turned his head and glanced at them. His grayish-white, lifeless eyes seemed to condense a certain soul-steeining majesty, freezing them in their tracks.
By the time they snapped out of it, Fang Chen had already walked far away.
"A useless cripple, yet he still talks big."
The Qingsong Country martial artist muttered resentfully.
Yet deep down, he felt a lingering trace of fear; just now, Fang Chen's gaze had seemed capable of piercing human hearts and seeing through everything!
Strolling and drinking tea, Fang Chen eventually arrived at a small courtyard nestled in the outskirts of the Capital.
The courtyard seemed to have been untouched for a long time, covered everywhere in 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 were dressed in various attires; some looked like street vendors, some wore scholarly robes, some were brightly and gorgeously dressed, and others wore tight martial garb with long swords hanging at their waists...
And in Fang Chen's heart, they were the Great Xia Secret Guards, elite weapons forged by his own hands!
Chapter 4: Purple Lightning Talisman
"How have you all fared these past five years?"
Fang Chen turned to look at the crowd and smiled faintly.
In truth, he had always known of their experiences over the past five years; after all, whenever he had the time, his spirit would leave his body, and to him, the Capital of Great Xia held virtually no secrets.
"Heir, we have not fared well."
Someone suddenly spoke up.
"That's right, we haven't fared well! Every time we heard those bastards insult you, we wanted nothing more than to draw our swords and behead them, but the Heir forbade it!"
"Heir, it's been five years, and you've never once returned to this small courtyard. Coming here today—does this mean we are being reactivated?"
Someone asked.
The expressions of the crowd immediately lifted, looking at Fang Chen with boundless anticipation.
"My cultivation is now completely ruined. If I reactivate you, are you still willing to take orders under my command? Keep in mind that any one of you can easily defeat me right now."
Fang Chen said with a half-smile.
"Heir, who would dare?! As long as the Heir reactivates us, we remain the Heir's fiercely loyal Great Xia Secret Guards!"
A robust figure stepped forward, his tiger-like eyes sweeping over the crowd. His aura was formidable, clearly having reached the Peak Qi Burst Realm of the Human Profound Second Stage.
Such cultivation placed him among the top-tier experts in the country of Great Xia.
"Xu Ge is right! Following the Heir was never about the Heir's martial cultivation! Whatever the Heir commands, whether it's a mountain of blades or a sea of fire, we will charge through it!"
The crowd lowered their voices, seemingly afraid of being overheard by outsiders, but the determination in their words was absolute.
"Heir, the daughter of Wolf Commander Xiao is set to arrive in the Capital tomorrow. If we strike, we have a good chance of assassinating her midway, and we can keep our casualties under thirty percent!"
Someone said viciously.
"It seems none of you have been idle, getting wind of this news as well."
Fang Chen's lips curved slightly upward: "But you seem to have forgotten one thing. The reason the Great Xia Secret Guards are 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 defend Great Xia. With your talents, wasting them as assassins would be a pity."
"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; your action is not required yet. Xu Ge, stay behind. The rest of you, return to wherever you belong. If some are not currently in the Capital, you may relay the message on my behalf."
Fang Chen said with a faint smile.
The crowd was slightly startled, but the habits cultivated over a long time meant they never questioned Fang Chen's orders. Reluctant as they were, they could only silently disperse.
"Heir, what are your orders?"
Xu Ge's voice was calm, but the excitement on his face was fully exposed.
"I need a wolf-hair brush, top-grade cinnabar, and top-grade yellow talisman paper. Also, the Secret Courtyard is a bit dirty and needs cleaning up."
Fang Chen smiled.
Xu Ge froze for a moment, then nodded slightly: "Please wait a moment, Heir, I will go buy these things you mentioned."
About half an hour later, Xu Ge had bought everything on the list.
Rolling up his sleeves to begin cleaning the Secret Courtyard, he cast curious glances toward Fang Chen from time to time. Seeing him sitting in the courtyard writing and drawing on yellow paper with a brush, his expression gradually turned odd:
"Is the Heir drawing talismans? But isn't he blind... Oh well, thinking about it gives me a headache; the Heir must have a purpose for doing this."
Stopping his guesswork, Xu Ge focused on cleaning. To him, the reactivation of the Secret Courtyard today was a joyous occasion, and nothing else mattered!
"Among the introductory chapters of the Three Thousand Dao Methods, there are four types of talismans: the Vajra Talisman, the Wind-Walking Talisman, and the Herculean Talisman. These three belong to ninth-grade talismans with ordinary effects, but... the fourth, the Purple Lightning Talisman, is an eighth-grade talisman with terrifying might."
Fang Chen sat quietly for a while, glanced at the initial drafts he had drawn in front of him, and feeling they were about right, he began to mobilize the spiritual qi within his body.
Only by drawing talismans with spiritual qi could they take effect.
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 point—he couldn't even compare to his former self as a martial artist.
To turn the tables and overawe Qingsong Country, he needed a thunderous display of power!
Thinking that after a few tests, drawing the Purple Lightning Talisman would come naturally, Fang Chen only just pressed his brush down after mobilizing his spiritual qi when the qi in his body abruptly dropped by five percent.
Only then did he realize that drawing talismans consumed a massive amount of spiritual qi.
Not daring to hesitate, Fang Chen intended to finish in one breath to test whether his spiritual qi was sufficient to complete a single Purple Lightning Talisman.
As a result, not only was the spiritual qi consumption intense, but the wolf-hair brush condensed with spiritual qi also became uncontrollable. Just as he wanted it to go one way, it veered off in another, and the talisman paper was ruined instantly!
"Drawing talismans is no easy task."
Fang Chen grasped this truth.
Yet he soon discovered that the spiritual qi he had just consumed was recovering at an astonishing speed. This phenomenon was far from normal.
"Could it be that my soul is relatively robust, making my spiritual qi recovery rate abnormal compared to others?"
His thoughts stirred, and Fang Chen seemed to understand something.
Smiling, he resumed his focus on drawing the Purple Lightning Talisman.
This drawing session lasted a full day.
Night had fallen, but it made no difference to Fang Chen; his eyes were already blind, and over a hundred failed sheets of yellow paper lay piled beside the table.
The Secret Courtyard had been cleaned to a pristine state by Xu Ge, who was now standing quietly in the shadows of the courtyard, keeping watch over Fang Chen.
"How long is the Heir going to keep drawing... Tomorrow, Wolf Commander Xiao's daughter arrives in the Capital..."
Xu Ge grew secretly anxious inside.
"Almost there, this one should succeed."
Fang Chen picked up a fresh piece of talisman paper. Having accumulated over a hundred failures, he gradually mastered the techniques for drawing the Purple Lightning Talisman.
Fortunately, his spiritual qi could recover rapidly. Throughout the day, his qi had been completely depleted countless times, yet each time it bounced back to its peak at a visible rate.
Not only that, but he discovered that every time his spiritual qi was exhausted, the peak it recovered to 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 the 2nd Level Qi Refining!
Though blind, Fang Chen guided his brush with divine focus. The wolf-hair brush, infused with spiritual qi, danced across the yellow talisman paper like a dragon in flight, every forceful stroke carrying a dense aura of celestial immortal qi.
Time ticked by 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 heaven and earth frantically gathered here, merging into the Purple Lightning Talisman. In the pitch-black courtyard, a flash of lightning flickered and vanished!
"Was that thunder?! Or did my eyes play tricks on me!?"
Xu Ge snapped to attention, instinctively rubbing his eyes. The courtyard was dead silent, save for the figure sitting with posture as straight as a spear.
Yet he had clearly just seen lightning flash—was he just seeing things?
"Such a dense concentration of thunder spiritual qi. This Purple Lightning Talisman is indeed a success."
A rare smile finally broke across Fang Chen's expressionless face.
He could draw one Purple Lightning Talisman in half an hour. With four or five hours left until dawn, he could draw at least eight or nine more.
Chapter 5: Xiao Shennü
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 Refinement 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 depletion of spiritual qi.
Ordinary Qi Refinement Cultivators might exhaust their spiritual qi after a few failures, requiring days to recover to their peak.
Accumulating a hundred trials of experience could take 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 of terrifying might.
If Daoist Yunhe were present here, he would undoubtedly be shocked by the scene before his eyes.
Nine eighth-grade Purple Lightning Talismans already lay neatly before Fang Chen, and he was currently working on the tenth. He seemed immune to fatigue, his spiritual qi growing more abundant the more he used it—the only thing lacking 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 sweep past!
"In this world... are talismans truly real! I used to think they were just swindlers' tricks to fleece fools... The Heir is truly the Heir. Over the past five years, he has never truly given up!"
Xu Ge's spirits soared.
As the tenth Purple Lightning Talisman was completed, the thunderous anomaly manifested once more. Once the thunder spiritual qi merged into the paper, Fang Chen put away the ten talismans before him.
"Xu Ge, you have reached the Peak Qi Burst Realm, and your reputation in the Capital is gradually growing. Many people know you. Have you ever thought about no longer being a Great Xia Secret Guard one day?"
Fang Chen looked toward Xu Ge and smiled.
Panicking, the burly man felt his eye sockets instantly turn red: "Heir, what did I do wrong that you want to chase me away?!"
"When did I say I was chasing you away?"
Fang Chen laughed.
Xu Ge's heart let out a sigh of relief, and he hurriedly asked: "Then why did you say that? Your subordinate is a Great Xia Secret Guard for a day, and a Great Xia Secret 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 out into the open and help me show my face to handle certain matters. Once that happens, hiding in the shadows will no longer be possible."
Fang Chen said with a faint smile.
The reason the Great Xia Secret Guards had the word "Secret" in their name was because no one knew of their existence—not the Emperor, not the citizens of Great Xia, and not Qingsong Country.
Aside from Fang Chen, only his father Fang Canghail knew some inside details, but even that was just the tip of the iceberg.
The Great Xia Secret Guards carried out their respective duties on ordinary days, and no one knew their connection to Fang Chen. In the eyes of outsiders, they and Fang Chen were complete strangers.
If Xu Ge were to step out into the open, naturally he could no longer remain a Great Xia Secret Guard.
"Doesn't that mean I can 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 Secret Courtyard.
Xu Ge hurried to follow, casually asking: "Heir, how did you know the sun was about to rise? Could your eyes..."
"I still can't see a thing, but there are many things in this world that don't require eyes to see."
Fang Chen smiled with a half-smile.
Xu Ge half-understood, finally muttering: "Only the Heir could pull that off. If I were blind, I probably wouldn't even be able to walk down the road."
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 Secret Courtyard, a special procession arrived outside the city gates of the Great Xia Capital.
This procession numbered over a hundred people, and every single one of them rode giant wolves standing as tall as an adult man's shoulder. These giant wolves possessed silvery fur from head to toe and looked remarkably spirited!
Upon their backs sat martial artists wreathed in dense killing intent. Their movements were neat and uniform, expressionless, save for occasional flashes of faint contempt in their eyes.
Though it was early morning, the city gates were already open, and Great Xia soldiers were stationed at their posts, with citizens of Great Xia constantly streaming in and out.
Upon seeing this procession, their expressions changed drastically, terror flashing across their faces. Some were even frightened into turning around and fleeing.
This procession belonged to the Wolf Army, which had clashed with Great Xia countless times!
Their commander was Wolf Commander Xiao of the Xiao family, hailed as the number one Wolf Commander and strongest expert of Qingsong Country!
"Xiao Shennü has arrived!!"
"We welcome Xiao Shennü!"
Qingsong Country martial artists who caught wind of the news hurried over, and upon seeing the procession, their faces broke into joyous, excited expressions as they bowed repeatedly.
Seeing these Qingsong Country martial artists who usually ran roughshod over the Great Xia Capital acting so deferential to this group, the citizens of Great Xia wore increasingly complicated and fearful expressions.
In the center of this Wolf Army was a silver wolf that was even larger and more spirited. Sitting upon its back was a young girl, seemingly only seventeen or eighteen years old, with sparkling eyes. Her bronze-colored skin reflected a dazzling luster under the newly risen sunlight that made it difficult to look at directly.
Looking closer, one could see the girl possessed long, slender legs and a naturally exquisite face. As she gazed at the Great Xia Capital before her, a faint, elusive smile curved her lips.
This girl was none other than the daughter of Wolf Commander Xiao, crowned with the title of Shennü since birth—Xiao Shennü!
At that moment, a contingent clad in Great Xia military uniforms arrived outside the city. Seeing the Wolf Army, the lead general's expression shifted slightly before he looked toward Xiao Shennü, cupping his fists:
"I am You Longchang, Deputy General of the Western Tiger Camp, sent by imperial decree to welcome Lady Xiao!"
"You should have been waiting here long ago."
Xiao Shennü said offhandedly.
"I apologize for the delay; I ask Xiao Shennü to forgive me."
You Longchang's expression flickered as he suppressed his inner anger and explained in a low voice.
"Give him two slaps."
Xiao Shennü said indifferently.
Boom—
A figure shot into the sky from the Wolf Army, instantly appearing before You Longchang. Slap, slap—two heavy blows landed across his face before the figure zipped right back.
The movement was as smooth as flowing water; You Longchang hadn't even had time to react.
"Now I can forgive you."
Xiao Shennü smiled.
Absolute silence gripped the surrounding area. You Longchang's face was flushed red, his eyes brimming with humiliation, while the soldiers under his command trembled with suppressed rage.
This group of Qingsong Country Wolf Army thugs actually dared to openly beat a Deputy General of the Western Tiger Camp?!
"My Lord!"
Unable to hold back, several Western Tiger Camp soldiers placed their hands on the hilts of their waist blades.
"Do not act rashly. The one who just struck is at least an Early Qi Control expert, and Xiao Shennü is an honored guest named by His Majesty. If you offend them in the slightest, you'll likely lose your heads."
You Longchang said in a low voice.
Then, looking toward Xiao Shennü, he cupped his fists: "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 General Fang Manor. I expect to see Military God Fang in your imperial palace today—after all, this time, I came fully prepared with a magnificent red sedan chair to marry him."
Xiao Shennü smiled.
"Rest assured, Lady Xiao, someone has already been sent to transmit the message to the General Fang Manor. You will meet Fang Chen in the palace."
You Longchang said in a deep voice.
"Very well, lead the way then."
Xiao Shennü said with a beaming smile.
Chapter 6: A Tiger and a Sovereign Both
The General Fang Manor.
Fang Canghai sat squarely in the main seat. To his left sat a middle-aged beauty, while to his right sat a man resembling Fang Canghai by five or six parts, seated in a wooden wheelchair with a fox-fur blanket draped over his knees.
"Big Brother, Sister-in-law, I hear Xiao Shennü has entered the Capital. Have you truly decided to let Chen'er marry into the Xiao family as a matrilocal son-in-law?"
The middle-aged man spoke calmly.
"Little Uncle, I know you blame your big brother in your heart, and my heart aches for Chen'er too, but given the current situation, our Fang family has no other choice."
The middle-aged beauty sighed softly: "With Qingsong Country's hundred-thousand-strong Wolf Army, Great Xia no longer has any forces left to resist. After that battle five years ago, our Great Xia has grown weaker day by day while Qingsong Country continues to grow stronger. If Wolf Commander Xiao truly leads an army to attack, Great Xia probably won't last a year."
"Can't last a year... Heh... Heh..."
The middle-aged man muttered in self-deprecating laughter.
Just then, Fang Zhixue walked in and said in a low voice: "Father, Mother, Second Uncle, Big Brother went out yesterday and still hasn't returned..."
"Could Big Brother have already left?"
"Given your big brother's temperament, even if Wolf Commander Xiao arrives in person, he would still meet him. How could he possibly fear the daughter of Wolf Commander Xiao?"
The middle-aged man smiled faintly: "Chen'er is probably just taking care of some worldly matters before leaving Great Xia."
"Indeed."
Fang Canghai and his wife nodded slightly. They knew their son extremely well.
Sometimes, they almost wished Fang Chen would just vanish without a trace like this, where no one could find him. As for the consequences that might follow, they had no wish to think about them or manage them.