Boss Ji.
Those two simple words, falling upon the crowd in the Lin Residence, were nothing short of earth-shattering.
"Master Lin is... handing his family business over to that Ji Family’s son... to Master Ji?!"
"Gasp, why so suddenly? Even if the Third Young Master schemed for the family fortune and tried to murder his own father, the Lin Residence has relied on its Boss to dominate the mountain roads and oversee the guards. Over the past twenty or thirty years, they painstakingly carved out trade routes through the eighteen linked mountain towns in the surrounding area."
"They’ve opened so many shops under their banner, selling mountain goods, medicinal herbs, and animal products..."
"A steward once made a rough calculation. After paying out the monthly wages, the master could earn a net profit of eight hundred taels of pure silver without lifting a finger. That’s ten thousand taels of snowflake silver a year! Not even the County Magistrate would trade that!"
"Eight hundred taels... In Anning County, that’s a top-tier business, a first-class operation. Maybe it’s nothing in the Prefecture City, in the world of large-scale trade and big business."
"But here in Anning County, besides the Three Major Professions, how many other legitimate businesses can earn this much? And he’s just giving it away?"
"Tossing away a fortune, an absolute fortune! To think that just two or three months ago, this Master Ji was a mere groom in the stables. Back then, he’d walk around with a wooden blade at his waist, practicing his swings as if no one else was there. We all laughed at him. Once he’s the boss and the Lin Residence effectively becomes the Ji Residence, he won’t... come back to settle old scores, will he...?"
For a moment, a faint sense of panic rose through the crowd.
Cai Ling’er’s ears twitched. She, who had originally been completely uninterested in the family business of this minor household, couldn’t help but glance over, a little moved.
"Three months ago, you were just a mere groom in this small county residence?"
She gazed at the strong line of Ji Xiu’s back.
She saw the Broken Jade Great Bow slung across it—the very one she had forged and tempered for him, weighing dozens of pounds. His Bone Tempering Skill was so profound it seemed to have penetrated his very marrow. After the recent battle, a faint white steam now rose from his body. The sight was truly shocking.
Cai Ling’er had only thought Ji Xiu was lucky. He had encountered Duan Chenzhou, the heir to the Celestial Blade School—a school once considered number one among all the Daoist schools, other martial schools, and grandmasters in the Prefecture City.
She believed that even though he was living in this backwater, he had received the best possible training from a young age, putting him on par with the direct lineages of the great clans in the Prefecture City.
But the whispers from the crowd, and the looks in their eyes as they gazed at Ji Xiu, could not be faked.
’In other words...’
’Ji Xiu hadn’t reached this level simply because he met Duan Chenzhou early in his training and was immediately chosen as the successor.’
’Instead, he had risen from a mere groom to this state in just a few short months?’
Legend had it that the Great Xuan Founding Emperor Venerable shattered the nine great shackles and attained the Human Immortal Dao Fruit. Only then was he able to wrest his empire from the hands of countless Outer Daos across the world and establish the dynasty that lasts to this day.
In his youth, the heavens collapsed and the earth crumbled, the world fell into chaos, and he was reduced to chewing on tree bark to survive. It was only through his unyielding will and overwhelming fortune that he was able to rise.
’Even if Ji Xiu’s youthful experiences weren’t as extreme, they could still be called comparable, couldn’t they?’
Hearing Cai Ling’er’s question from behind him, Ji Xiu’s lips curved into a smile. He gave a slight nod to Lin Zhenhai, then said nonchalantly:
"That’s right."
"Three months ago, to survive, I sold myself to the Lin Residence for three taels of silver."
"I couldn’t have survived otherwise. I had no other choice."
Ji Xiu looked at the familiar corridors within the Lin Residence, his hands behind his back. His tone was nostalgic, and he paid no mind to the whispers of the fools around him, who thought their lowered voices wouldn’t reach the ears of a Martial Artist.
Ever since he first gripped that wooden blade and began his unceasing, arduous training, he had never considered it a disgrace.
If not for the Lin Residence, if not for this difficult path he had once walked, how could he constantly remind himself not to fall into complacency?
The fearful whispers of the servants, grooms, tenant farmers, and guards reached his ears, all of them afraid he would retaliate.
But to Ji Xiu’s ears, these whispers instead brought memories—memories that had become hazy and forgotten after all he had been through—surfacing in his mind once more.
It made him exhale a long breath into the cold winter air, and he couldn’t help but break into a carefree smile.
"A hero’s origins don’t matter, and the path you’ve walked is no cause for shame."
"If I hadn’t sold myself as a groom, how could I have gotten the silver coins to find a way to survive in the bone-chilling autumn wind?"
"How could I have heard about the affairs of Martial Artists from Guard Qin, and thus knocked on Master Duan’s door to be taught the Celestial River Saber Technique?"
"Without the bumps and hardships of practicing the saber, the difficult and rugged path, how could I..."
Qin Biao, his head buried in the vast crowd, was trembling with fear. And then he saw him: the young man who had once bowed his head meekly before him, begging to be taught martial arts, the one who had seemed utterly delusional in his eyes. Now, Ji Xiu stood before a young woman with bright eyes and pearly teeth, dressed in satin—a woman more radiant and stunning than any of the young mistresses of the residence. With a spirited point of his finger, he singled Qin Biao out from the sea of servants. The shock sent Qin Biao dropping to his knees with a THUD, his teeth chattering. Just as he was about to start kowtowing repeatedly, Ji Xiu’s tone suddenly shifted, his words ringing out like steel:
"Tempering my marrow and bones to forge a great dragon, practicing archery, horsemanship, and Alchemy Skill all at once—how could a mere mud-legged peasant like me have a day like today?!"
RUSTLE!
In that instant, as Ji Xiu’s voice rang out, those servants who had once gossiped about him were so frightened their legs nearly gave out, their hearts pounding in terror!
However, the young man simply flicked his sleeve.
"The world’s malicious words are like arrows, like bolts from a crossbow, chilling one to the bone and not allowing a moment of complacency."
"But it is precisely because of this that I was able to ignite the fire in my chest, to become Master Duan’s student, to practice a lethal saber, to master my Martial Stance, to enter the Mountain Dao... and arrive where I am today!"
"This, too, is fate!"
Ji Xiu threw his head back and laughed heartily. When his laughter died down, he waved his hand and led the County Soldiers away.
To become rich and not return to one’s hometown is like wearing embroidered silks in the dark.