Bloodline Tree – [Clan Building]

“Hey, Tianren. You think you could ask your brother to teach me some moves?” Shu Tianren’s cousin, Ren Zhang, asked.

“Why don’t you just ask him yourself? He’s your cousin too.” Tianren asked. They were all in his grandfather’s courtyard, practicing martial arts. His brother was only a few feet away, swinging his sword.

“I…never mind,” Ren Zhang said shyly.

‘Is Hu so scary?’

Ren Zhang was 10 years old, just like his brother, but he was a lot more timid.

“I know it looks cool to wield a sword, but it doesn’t improve your martial arts at all. You’ll be better off focusing on that for now. Maybe you can become strong enough to go out and find a sword art in the future. It won’t be too late to practice then.” Tianren advised.

“Yeah,” Zhang nodded, “I’ll do that.”

Tianren nodded, pleased that he had discouraged another one of his cousins from practicing swords. If they all started clamoring for his uncles to buy swords once they left, Tianren would surely get a scolding.

Zhang left, and Tianren continued practicing. He didn’t slack off just because he had advanced at a young age. He knew he was still very weak.

When he advanced to the 3rd-grade stage, his father had told him he was talented, but only here in Baishu Village. His talent wasn’t anything special in bigger cities. He would probably be able to advance to the 1st-grade without much effort, but if he wanted to go further and reach the Innate stage, it was important to improve as fast as possible, so his vitality would still be strong once it was time to break through to the Innate stage.

Since his father seemed to expect him to reach the Innate stage in the future, Tianren obviously couldn’t settle for anything less.

After practicing for a while, it was time to eat. His second brother stopped swinging his sword and came up to him, with Tianxu trailing close behind.

“Where is Tianan?” Tianren asked, looking around.

“I don’t know. He probably ran off to play again,” Tianhu answered with a shrug.

Tianren frowned slightly, “We’re supposed to stay around grandpa’s house these days.”

His brother looked unconcerned.

Tianren ignored him and was about to go look for his third brother when he spotted Tianan returning further down the road.

“Why did you run off again?” Tianren questioned.

“I didn’t run off! I was close by the whole time, don’t worry,” Tianan answered with a relaxed smile.

Tianren couldn’t be bothered to scold him; he just told him to hurry inside.

‘Thankfully, little Xu is always hanging around Hu. If he took after An, I’d never be able to relax.’

The dining table was packed with people. Besides his own family, his grandfather had several of his cousins over these days. One of his uncles also seemed to have stopped by for dinner.

Tianren also spotted a pretty girl his age that he hadn’t seen before.

‘Another cousin?’

His uncle seemed to have noticed the looks and spoke up, “This here is my little sister-in-law, haha. She was visiting Ling’er, but seeing her a little bored, I thought I’d bring her over to meet some kids her own age.”

His uncle paused and looked over. “Tianren, why don’t you sit here and keep her company?”

Tianren blushed slightly but listened to his uncle and went over.

“Hello, I’m Li Xia.” The girl introduced herself with a bright smile.

“Shu Tianren,” Tianren responded stiffly.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to do much speaking, as his grandfather soon took over the conversation around the table as usual.

“I heard that the Liang family’s bakery finally brought the Che family out of business. Just like that, the Liang family has another monopoly. I’m sure it won’t be long before they have the Che family fields in their hands too,” His grandfather said, shaking his head.

“I’ve heard there was a lot of foul play involved,” His uncle said with a frown.

“Does the Liang family ever do anything without foul play?” His grandfather questioned. He then turned to Tianren and his siblings and warned, “You need to remember not to be arrogant like the Liang family in the future. Your father has built a very successful business from nothing, and you can now enjoy much better conditions than most. But a filial child should build upon the foundation laid by their parents, not rest comfortably on it.”

Tianren and his siblings all nodded along. He always found it strange how his grandfather talked so well of their father when he wasn’t around, but as soon as they met, they would argue.

“Well, let’s not focus on that sad business anymore. Even the Liang family can’t do anything to our families. That’s the importance of strength.” His grandfather said in a passionate voice.

“I heard some people went to the Chunsi Office to complain,” Tianan spoke up with a raised arm, “Won’t the Liang family be punished if they’ve done bad things?”

His grandfather sighed and spoke carefully, “There is no justice in this world. Only strength. Remember that.”

Hearing those words, Tianyue blurted out, “The wheel of justice grinds slow, but grinds fine.”

The adults at the table all looked over at Tianyue in surprise.

“Haha! Looks like Tianren isn’t the only little genius in the family. Well said, little Yue. Well said!” His grandfather said, laughing happily.

Tianren rolled his eyes along with his brothers.

‘Isn’t that just the line following the ‘Yi’ character in the ‘Hundred Characters of the Shu Family’?’

Of course, he wouldn’t expose his little sister in front of everyone. Looking at her face, she seemed a little embarrassed by the praise.

Tianren himself was well aware of how easy it was to be praised as a genius by just talking about the things his father had taught them.

When he started practicing with his cousins a few weeks ago, he had experienced the same thing.

He could say what he assumed was basic knowledge, and all he’d get back were blank stares.

Even things he thought martial artists should know, they were entirely clueless about.

Tianren had always thought his father was the smartest man in the world. And after a few weeks of spending time with people outside the family, he was sure of it.

“What was that thing Tianren said last week?” His uncle asked, spurred on by Tianyue’s wise words.

“I know!” Zhang yelled out excitedly, “He said, ‘Victorious warriors win first, then fight. While defeated warriors fight first, then seek to win.’”

“Yes, that’s it!” His uncle said, nodding and smiling.

Tianren felt his cheeks heat up under his siblings’ stares.

“Truly a gifted bunch of children,” His grandfather said with a pleased smile.

“How about this one,” His brother Tianan said, clearing his voice, “‘Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across.’”

But there was no exclamation of praise this time. His grandfather and uncle looked confused before asking, “Who taught you all of this?”

Tianren almost laughed out loud at Tianan’s crestfallen face.

“Couldn’t I have come up with it myself? Maybe I’m a genius!” Tianan argued.

“Did my brother-in-law teach them all of this?” His uncle turned to his mother and asked, ignoring Tianan.

His mother’s face blossomed into a proud smile and answered, “That’s right. He has always been working very hard to educate the children properly.”

“Well, not bad,” His grandfather said, nodding.

“I never thought those schools were much use, maybe I should give it a try with one of the kids. What do you think, Qian’er?” His uncle asked.

“Learning is never wrong,” His mother answered, “But it’s expensive to send them to school, right? If you have the money, it’s better to spend it on resources for martial arts training. You can just teach the kids yourself.”

“That’s right,” His grandfather said, nodding along in agreement.

“But…what do I teach?” His uncle asked with a blank look.

“How should I know? Didn’t I marry a competent husband to take care of it for me?” His mother asked with a bright smile.

His uncle just sighed and went back to his meal.

“Who is your dad? Does he know a lot?” Li Xia asked from beside him.

“Er, well, my dad is my dad,” Tianren answered, not quite understanding the question. “But he probably knows more than anyone else. At least here in the village.”

“What does he do? Is he an Official?” Li Xia asked, blinking her eyes curiously.

“No. He’s just a farmer,” Tianren answered, “Or, well, I guess we mostly have workers doing that now. These days, he spends most of his time brewing wine.”

Tinaren continued talking and asking questions in return. It didn’t take very long before he relaxed.

Since he didn’t play around with other kids much, he was usually at a loss for what to say. But it had gotten better over the past few weeks. He got along well with his cousins, at least.

When everyone had finished eating, Tianren and the other kids rose from the table to go outside again.

“Hu, are you going to practice with your sword again?” Tianren asked his brother.

“Yeah,” Tianhu said, nodding.

“Remember to keep an eye on Tianan this time, it’s about to get dark,” Tianren reminded.

“Why can’t you watch him? I already have little Xu with me all day,” Tianhu said, looking a little exasperated.

“I…I can go be on my own,” Tianxu spoke up from behind, doing his best to hide the nervousness in his voice.

“Oh, no no. Stick with me. It’s fine,” Tianhu hurriedly clarified, looking a little panicked.

Tianren secretly treasured the rare sight of his flustered brother.

‘I guess that looks a little bothersome, too.’

“Tianan, stay around me for the rest of the day.” Tianren turned and instructed his brother, “If you run off again, I’m really going to tattle on you to Dad when he gets home.”

“Fine,” Tianan said, rolling his eyes.

“Who is going to look after me?” Tianyue asked, jumping into the group and waving her arms around excitedly.

“Weren’t you reading?” Tianren asked.

“I’m done. Now I want to play,” Tianyue said. “By the way, brother. Did you fool our cousins and uncles?”

“What do you mean?” Tianren asked.

“Well, I didn’t expect them to think I came up with that line about justice. I was so surprised that I didn’t have time to clarify. But you must have said that thing about victory and defeat several days ago, and they still thought it was you.”

“Er,” Tianren was a little stumped. He had tried to clarify, but he didn’t put much effort into it since he didn’t really care what they thought. But now it seemed like he had been showing off on purpose.

“Brother Ren,” Tianan said with a wide smile, “So you’re this kind of person. I never knew.”

“What are you saying? I just couldn’t bother to explain,” Tianren said.

“Brother Ren is a braggart!” Tianyue yelled, trying to hold in her laughter.

Tianren’s face darkened.

“Brother Ren is angry. Run!” Tianyue yelled out.

Tianan immediately followed after, taking the chance to get away.

“Stop!” Tianren yelled, but they just ran even faster.

Ren Zhang and Li Xia also broke off and ran after them. Tianxu seemed to want to run off too, but he still stood by his brother obediently in the end.

“What a pain,” Tianhu said with a sigh. He grabbed Tianxu’s collar and took off running.

Tianren was left behind alone, his face twitching in annoyance.

‘Damn! They’re going to get lost. I just know it.’

In the end, Tianren ran after his siblings, playing along in their little game.

Several hours later, Tianren was finally alone, sitting in the courtyard, watching as the sun went down.

His siblings had all been gathered and were now inside the house, eating a few leftovers to fill up on energy.

Tianran relaxed and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Closing his eyes, he felt grateful that his siblings were his mother’s responsibility for the rest of the night.

A while later, he heard someone approach. As he opened his eyes, he spotted a familiar figure looking down at him with a smile.

“Dad! You’re back,” Tianren said, hurriedly getting on his feet.

“How have you been? Is everyone alright?” His father asked.

“We’re fine, Dad. The others are all inside. How was the trip?”

“It was good. I’ll tell you all about it inside,” His father said. “Let’s go.”

Just as Tianren was about to follow him inside, his father turned around and ruffled his hair. “You’ve worked hard. Thanks.”

Tianren smiled. Suddenly, a weight he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying around for the past few days seemed to lift off his shoulders.