Martial Cultivator

Chen Chao didn’t mind. He squatted down, looked at the little girl, and asked, “What do you want to say?”

The little girl walked over, pressed her little head against Chen Chao’s, and lowered her voice, saying, “I know you’re very powerful. You can make my father do anything. But... if I don’t get my teacher to make me his final disciple, can you not make my father do those dangerous things?”

Chen Chao didn’t speak, only replied telepathically, “Then who should do those dangerous things? Should other people’s fathers automatically go do them?”

The little girl frowned slightly, continuing in a soft voice, “You’re right, but he’s my father. If I don’t speak up for him, who else will?”

Chen Chao smiled, patted her shoulder, and asked gently, “If you could choose, you’d want to do those dangerous things yourself, not have your father go, right?”

“Yes, yes. But I’m still too young. Can you let my father not do those dangerous things for now? When I grow up, I’ll repay it myself.”

Chen Chao thought for a moment and said, “But your father doesn’t think that way. What then?”

The little girl didn’t say anything.

Chen Chao smiled. “It’s okay. I’ll try not to let your father do dangerous things, and you don’t need to think about repaying him in the future. Just grow up well. Eat your candied haw when it’s time, alright?”

The little girl said, “Candied haw? I can buy it for you. My father’s grandmother gives me New Year’s money every year. My mother always says she saves it for me, but she leaves a little for me. I’ve saved a lot. It’s just a pity that Grandmother will never give me New Year’s money again.”

That trip to Yellow Dragon Prefecture last time had already been the old woman’s final journey. After fulfilling her last wish, she naturally had no regrets in this life.

When she returned to this small town, the old woman passed away that very night. Although Jiang Wanfu had expected it, he was still deeply saddened.

How did that old saying go? When your parents are alive, no matter how old you are, you always feel there is still a wall between you and death. But once your parents are gone, you are face to face with death.

In the end, Chen Chao said he would stay in the town for a few more days, so there was no rush regarding that matter; they could talk when there was time. Jiang Wanfu also said that in two days he would invite Chen Chao to visit the sect. The Myriad Blessings Sect was just a small sect, and now that they were submitting to Great Liang, not a single person would remain here.

They would bring their whole families and head to the Divine Capital.

Chen Chao nodded and agreed to visit the Myriad Blessings Sect in three days, then prepared to go downstairs alone.

After Chen Chao went downstairs, Jiang Wanfu came to his daughter, squatted down, and asked, “What did you just say to the Lord Warden Commander?”

The little girl’s eyes darted around nonstop, looking extremely cute, but she pretended she didn’t hear him.

Jiang Wanfu said helplessly, “One stick of candied haw.”

The little girl still didn’t speak, only pouted her lips.

“Two sticks?”

Jiang Wanfu glanced helplessly at his wife in the distance. She too looked helpless. This daughter of theirs, who spoiled her into this? You don’t know?

“My good girl, can’t you tell Father what you said? Father just wants to know whether you said something you shouldn’t have. If you really did, Father can at least fix it afterward.”

“Roast whole lamb? Thanks, Dad. When are we going to eat it?”

The little girl tilted her head adorably.

Jiang Wanfu lowered his head and looked at his little daughter, completely defeated. “Tell Father, and Father will bring you to eat.”

The little girl grinned brightly, stretched out a finger, and hooked it with her father’s.

Only then did the little girl smile and say, “I told him just now that he’s nowhere near as good-looking as my father.”

Jiang Wanfu covered his head and sighed.

......

......

During the next two days, Chen Chao kept to himself and did not even go across the way for steamed buns again.

At dusk, however, that small courtyard welcomed an unexpected guest.

It was Madam Redcloud.

After not seeing her for many days, Madam Redcloud was still as full of charm as ever. When she walked, even Chen Chao could not help but inwardly praise the fine sight.

But that praise could only remain in his heart. Such words absolutely could not be spoken aloud.

After opening the door, Chen Chao said helplessly, “Madam, is something the matter?”

Madam Redcloud leaned against the doorframe, striking a particular pose. It looked casual, but Chen Chao still subconsciously retreated half a step.

“Oh my, oh my, Your Excellency, a martial artist at the end of the Nepenthe Realm, someone who dared to fight the Demon Emperor to the death, how is it that you’re afraid of a weak woman like me, your subordinate?”

Madam Redcloud looked at Chen Chao as if curious, but the things hidden deep in her gaze were concealed very well.

Chen Chao fell into silence.

Madam Redcloud sighed and said, “Your Excellency, aren’t you inviting this subordinate in to sit for a bit? Well, of course. A great figure like Your Excellency, how could you spare a glance for a small nobody like this subordinate?”

Chen Chao had no choice but to answer directly, “You came because of Su Hu? If that’s the case, you can simply say so. But I also need to make something clear first. I have not had even half a thought about Miss Su. Madam should advise her on that...”

“She likes you. What does that have to do with you?!”

For some reason, Madam Redcloud suddenly looked upset. She glared at Chen Chao and said, “You don’t like her, so she’s not allowed to like you?”

When she spoke, her chest rose and fell sharply, making that side of her figure even more dramatic. But Chen Chao did not look; he only looked into Madam Redcloud’s eyes.

“Madam once had a daughter, but due to an accident she passed away. Later, you felt Su Hu resembled your daughter, so you raised her as your own?”

Chen Chao recalled the things he had seen earlier, and combined with Madam Redcloud’s recent actions, he naturally understood the situation.

“I can understand. But there is something you might not have thought through. If I have no interest in her, I should tell her directly and sever her hopes. It may hurt in the moment, but it is the quickest way for her to move on. A lifetime is very long. Letting her affections stay tied to me forever, is that a good thing? I don’t think so. So if I’m cold to her now, it may seem heartless, but in the long run, it’s not wrong.”

Chen Chao looked at Madam Redcloud and said calmly, “Madam surely understands this reasoning. You just haven’t thought it through for the moment.”

Madam Redcloud hesitated for a moment, but she eventually regained her composure from her earlier loss of control. After a long time, she finally asked, “Not even the slightest possibility?”

Chen Chao smiled and said, “To put it politely, it’s that I won’t like another woman. To put it less politely, the girl I like is so outstanding, practically the most outstanding in the world. Since I’ve already seen such a girl, why would I ever like another who is far inferior to her?”

“Can’t find any excuses, can you?”

These words left Madam Redcloud speechless. Yes, once a man already had the finest woman in the world in his heart, why would he ever like other, ordinary women?

There was no answer.

Madam Redcloud opened her mouth but stopped again.

Chen Chao rubbed his brow and said softly, “There isn’t so much reason to it. I like that girl because, even when she didn’t need to say anything, she chose to speak. Even when she didn’t need to step in to help me, she still did. It has nothing to do with how outstanding she later became. I like her probably because she is simply herself. That’s all.”

......

......

A man walked across the sea, passed through a thin layer of mist, and finally arrived at a sea island.

Walking on the island’s beach, that tall man dressed in emperor robes left a string of continuous footprints on the sand.

Some deep, some shallow.

He looked like a very ordinary man, walking on this not-so-ordinary sea island.

After walking along the shore for a while, the man began heading toward the interior of the island. Passing through the island, a thin layer of mist rose once again before his eyes.

The man stood there and took a look into the distance, as if seeing a certain daoist who had once comprehended the dao here. But that fellow had long since died, body perished and Dao extinguished.

Both of them had once been the most formidable powerhouses in the world, and afterward both stepped across that threshold. But even though both went from Nepenthe to Fuyun, Daoist Wuyang merely stood inside the door, not far from the entrance; one could even say he was pressed right against that door. But he himself had long since taken great strides into the main hall.

Now the world spoke of the likes of Chen Chao, Yun Jianyue, Yu Xiyi as once-in-a-thousand-years geniuses, able at such an age to step into the end of Nepenthe, rare in this era.

But before them, the true genius of this world was actually the man before him.

Born as a martial artist, taught by no renowned teacher, having no supreme manual to study, and even having to take time to be an emperor, which hindered his cultivation.

Yet even so, he stepped into Nepenthe early, and afterward stepped into the end of Nepenthe, almost single-handedly holding up the heavens of the Great Liang Dynasty.

So when one day this emperor broke free of his restraints and devoted himself properly to cultivation, his realm naturally advanced by leaps and bounds.

What Daoist Wuyang? Cultivated for more than a hundred years just to barely reach that realm? Isn’t that shameful?

What Demon Emperor? Lived for several hundred years, and still lost to Us?

The Great Liang Emperor shook his head and took a step forward.

The white mist dissipated, and before him appeared a vast land.

But in truth it was still a sea island.

A land formed by countless sea islands.

The Great Liang Emperor narrowed his eyes and looked ahead, gazing across ten thousand miles.

This place was not the territory of Great Liang. What a pity.

At this moment, a voice sounded from ahead, “Chen Che, it was all a misunderstanding. We will find a way to compensate you. Let this matter be concluded here, how about it?”

There was a hint of pleading in that voice.

But the man who had arrived here only gave a contemptuous smile. Why didn’t you do something earlier? Now you want to offer compensation? Too late.

In the end, the Great Liang Emperor only left behind two words.

“Not concluded.”