"I can do it! It’s just the pain of studying, right? I can take it! What else?"
Wan Ze said seriously, "Also, starting tomorrow, you’ll practice horse stance every day to build up your body. We’ll start with ten minutes and gradually increase the time."
"Let’s start today!" Wan Xiaoyu decided instantly, unable to wait.
Wan Ze gave his sister a surprised look. ’Heh, what an overachiever,’ he thought.
Just then, the communicator in his pocket vibrated. It was a call from Tie Qingyang. He was clearly well-informed; as soon as he heard there had been trouble in Wan Ze’s residential complex, he called immediately to express his concern.
"It was a small issue. A false alarm," Wan Ze said, walking over to a window a little farther away with the communicator. His tone was light and cheerful, and he didn’t reveal any specific details.
’It was better not to say too much about this kind of thing. The fewer people who knew, the better.’
Tie Qingyang was a perceptive man. Hearing that Wan Ze didn’t want to elaborate, he quickly changed the subject, bringing up the matter of the Martial Arts Observation Painting from before. "The original owner of that painting contacted me again. I wonder if Younger Brother Wan is interested? If it’s convenient, we could schedule a time to visit him together. It’s a rare opportunity."
"I am." Wan Ze’s eyes lit up, his interest piqued. He thought for a moment. "Let’s make it in the next couple of days. I’ll contact you once I’ve settled a few things here."
"Sounds good. I’ll wait for your call."
After ending the call, Wan Ze looked over.
Sure enough, his sister was already in a corner of the living room, holding a proper horse stance. Her little face was beet red, but she was still holding on. He didn’t disturb her, simply finding an empty space nearby to assume his own stance and begin his standing-post Cultivation.
One big, one small, each working hard.
That evening.
Their parents came home from work... and the sky fell.
"What happened? Even a robbery wouldn’t require smashing up the house like this, would it?"
"A film crew was shooting a scene and accidentally wrecked our place," Wan Ze said with a straight face.
Wan Xiaoyu added, "Yeah, very accidentally..."
"Then where are they?" his mother asked, both shocked and furious.
"They already left."
"I’m furious! I’m filing a complaint! I’m going to complain until they’re ruined!"
"Mom, don’t be angry... They gave us some compensation..."
"Compensation? That’s not good enough! Our perfectly fine home..."
"Fifty thousand."
Wan Ze suddenly unzipped his schoolbag, revealing stacks of brand-new banknotes inside.
Both of his parents were stunned.
A moment later.
"...Well, never mind then. It’s not easy working on the road, shooting films. It must have been an accident."
"I suppose..."
The family sat in the guesthouse, their eyes glued to the thick stacks of cash in the box on the table.
His parents began discussing what to do next.
"With the house smashed up like that, can we even salvage anything useful? A lot of that stuff has been with us for over a decade..." Father Wan said, his voice full of heartache.
"Don’t worry. I already asked my senior brothers from the martial arts hall to help me move out all the important things. They’re in these boxes. It’s just some old appliances and clothes that don’t fit anymore that we didn’t take. We can always get new ones later," Wan Ze explained.
His parents were used to being frugal. At first, hearing that most of their old things were gone, they still felt a pang of regret and hesitation.
But then their gazes swept over the thick wad of compensation money on the table, and they thought about how their son had a point.
’Out with the old, in with the new. Besides, the compensation amount was far beyond their expectations.’
"Sigh, I guess this is the only way," Father Wan sighed. "But what are we going to do in the meantime? We can’t stay in a guesthouse forever, can we? It’s too much of a waste of money."
"I’ll push the renovation company in the next couple of days, tell them to hurry up," Mrs. Wan calculated. "But even after it’s done, we’ll have to air it out for a while before we can move in..."
"Let’s stay here for now," Father Wan said, looking at the surroundings. "This place doesn’t seem too far from my work. I’ll check the bus routes tomorrow."
The two of them discussed the arrangements back and forth. Although there was a sense of helplessness, much of their gloom was washed away by the unexpected windfall.
Wan Ze listened quietly from the side. Once they had more or less finished their discussion, he stood up and said he was going to the martial arts hall to train.
...
「In the blink of an eye, the weekend arrived.」
His parents had specially arranged for time off. Carrying big and small bags filled with fruit and nutritional supplements, they brought Wan Xiaoyu along for a special visit to the Dragon Eagle Martial Arts Hall to see Situ Bai.
"Director Situ, we’ve been meaning to come and thank you for taking care of Ah Ze, but we’ve both been so busy with work. We’re so sorry it’s taken us this long to visit." His father’s attitude was sincere, and his mother chimed in with repeated thanks.
Wan Xiaoyu was a sweet-talker, calling him "Grandmaster Situ" one after another, which kept a constant smile on Situ Bai’s face.
Situ Bai had the family stay for a simple meal at the martial arts hall, and the atmosphere during dinner was congenial.
Regarding the true events that had occurred at the residential complex, Wan Ze and Situ Bai both maintained a tacit understanding and didn’t mention a single word.
It wasn’t until after the meal, when his parents left first with a tired and sleeping Wan Xiaoyu, that Situ Bai called Wan Ze into a quiet room.
The old man’s expression became solemn once more.
"The official autopsy on Jie Zhengyang’s body is complete. The preliminary report... is not optimistic."
A chill ran through Wan Ze’s heart, and he couldn’t help but ask, "Could it really be... a result of the ’Cell Godhood Theory’ system? They actually figured it out?"
Situ Bai nodded slowly, confirming his suspicion. "His body... was extensively modified. Most critically, deep within his brain, we extracted an unidentifiable, mysterious substance. The total amount was minuscule, only about one microgram."
"One microgram? That little?" Wan Ze was astonished. He had personally witnessed Jie Zhengyang’s final, terrifying form—swollen and inhuman. It was hard to imagine that the source material responsible for such a transformation was a mere microgram.
"Perhaps most of it was released and dissipated during the fight or upon his death. Or perhaps... that’s all there ever was." Situ Bai shook his head, his gaze heavy. "The Core of the problem right now isn’t the quantity, but the quality. With our current knowledge, we are completely unable to analyze what that substance is. Its principles of operation, its origin, its stability... everything is unknown. What’s even less clear is to what extent those lunatics from the Secret Palace have mastered this substance, or technology. Is this just a preliminary experiment, or can they already mass-produce it?"
Situ Bai’s heart was heavy.
He had a very bad feeling... The world, he feared, was about to undergo an unimaginable, cataclysmic change because of this stuff.
This change could potentially subvert many existing norms.
Situ Bai had never been a conservative stick-in-the-mud. He knew full well that the Martial Dao, and even science, required progress and exploration.
But all exploration should have its limits.
"You practice martial arts to strengthen the body, clarify the mind, see your true nature, and even to protect your corner of the world. But if someone pursues Power and ultimately turns themself into a thoughtless monster that only knows how to kill, even using that Power to slaughter the innocent... that is a complete deviation from the Martial Dao, and even a betrayal of the basic decency of being human."
If such a twisted path were to become known and pursued by more people... the consequences would be simply unthinkable.
"The Secret Palace is, at its core, a group of madmen. I can only hope things haven’t progressed to the stage I’m imagining," Situ Bai sighed softly.
He changed the subject abruptly, suddenly asking, "That day you fought... you weren’t using your full strength, were you?"
Wan Ze froze, not expecting his master to suddenly ask such a thing.
Situ Bai chuckled and cursed good-naturedly, "You little rascal, still trying to hide things from me? I went to the scene afterward and investigated it carefully. The traces left by your fight, especially the degree of destruction in the woods at the end... it already exceeds the scope of a normal clash between Blood Tempering Realm Martial Artists. It’s even approaching the destructive force of the Refining Viscera Early Stage."
He looked Wan Ze up and down, his tone filled with emotion. "Honestly, if I hadn’t watched you train step-by-step to get here, I would suspect... you were some little monster wearing human skin."
"Master, I..." Wan Ze’s heart tightened slightly, and he subconsciously wanted to explain.
But Situ Bai waved his hand, cutting him off. His gaze was gentle. "You are my, Situ Bai’s, closed-door disciple. You are the successor I have chosen to inherit my legacy. There’s no need for extra words, and I won’t ask. Hiding your blade in its sheath is wisdom, but revealing its edge when the time comes is the true nature of a Martial Artist. Remember, in practicing martial arts, you must know when to lie low, but you must also have the courage to fight and risk it all."
"When I was your age, the country wasn’t as stable or prosperous as it is now. There was war and chaos everywhere. One time, our village was raided by horse bandits. I had only just started training back then. I was young and full of vigor, and relying on my bit of strength, I risked my life to kill the bandit leader who was charging at the front... and guess what happened?"
Situ Bai gave a self-deprecating laugh. "The villagers who survived not only didn’t thank me, but many of them complained, saying I shouldn’t have struck a killing blow, that I would bring the bandits’ revenge down on the whole village."
"But they didn’t stop to think. If I hadn’t acted then, would those bandits have just let it go? The village’s grain would have been plundered, the women and children abducted, and the remaining elderly probably wouldn’t have survived the winter."
"I could have chosen not to act, but that is not my path."
"So, it was then that I came to understand a principle..."
He looked at Wan Ze and shared some of his deepest thoughts. "The Martial Dao is not the brute courage of a common man, nor is it misplaced compassion. It is a form of wisdom born from weighing the options, and... decisiveness. On the premise of protecting yourself, you kill all enemies. Concession might be a form of tolerance, but your enemies do not deserve it."
...
Situ Bai left.
Wan Ze mulled it over for a moment, then resolutely resumed his training.
The matter with Jie Zhengyang had served as a wake-up call.
’The enemy is getting stronger, too...’
He took a deep breath.
And began to train with his head down, pushing himself hard.
’Get stronger!’
’Only then will I have the right to crush all my enemies!’
’Even the potential ones!’