Chapter Thirty-Nine: Third Brother, Chen Fan

In the blink of an eye, only three days remained until the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The entire Capital Prefecture had shed its previous gloom. No longer concerned with the droughts in Xijiang and Jiangnan, the people were busy with various preparations for the festivities. It was said that the Left Prime Minister had resolved the root cause of the drought: a "drought demon" capable of scorching the earth for a thousand miles even before it had fully matured. This legendary tale, embellished by the intentional exaggerations of local storytellers, had greatly bolstered the reputation of the Left Prime Minister, Xie Jing. Alongside him, several martial arts experts who had participated in that battle also gained fame.

"Heaven-Earth Sword" Chu Ming, hailing from the Tyrant Sword Manor, was only a fourth-rank expert in reality. Yet, by the time his story reached the capital, he was being portrayed as a swordsman whose mastery rivaled that of Li Qingzhou from the Taixu Dao Sect. Other experts, such as "Lone Sail Daoist" Zong Xingyou and "Secret Transmission Monk" Wushen, also saw their names spread far and wide.

However, in the face of the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, these stories were soon cast to the back of the citizens' minds. Beyond the usual elaborate lantern displays seen during the Lantern Festival, they were busy preparing all sorts of pastries, hoping for a year of reunion, peace, and harmony.

For Chen Yi and his peers, this marked the beginning of a transition to the next phase of their lives. After classes concluded for the day, Ning Xue and Gu Tiangang announced that the first cohort of students at the Xingwu Academy had completed their training.

"Rest for four days. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, simply wait at home," Gu Tiangang said, a sense of deep emotion in his heart. For Chen Yi and the others, it had been a mere month, but for him, it had felt like years. He had been constantly worried that these exceptionally talented prospective disciples might vanish, just as the students under Gongye Shou had. He was also deeply frustrated by his own poverty. Whenever he recalled how Chen Yi had looked at him with hopeful eyes a month ago, asking for a bottle of Qi-nourishing pills, only for him to be able to produce just half a bottle, he felt an unbearable sense of shame. As the Vice-Abbot of the prestigious Taixu Dao Sect and a great cultivator at the second-rank Spirit-Wandering stage, being unable to provide even a single bottle of pills was humiliating. If word got out, he would surely be the laughingstock of all other Daoist sects.

Because of this, he had sent a message back to the Taixu Dao Sect, ordering those bastards skilled in alchemy to prepare a hundred bottles of Qi-nourishing pills for him. He was determined to "wipe away his shame" in front of Chen Yi once he returned to the mountain gate!

"Thank you, Masters, for your guidance. We will wait patiently at home," Chen Yi and the others replied, bowing respectfully. Everyone felt a sense of relief; their time at the Xingwu Academy had finally come to an end.

In truth, during this past month, the cultivation of Chen Yi and his peers had progressed by leaps and bounds. They had originally expected that it would take until they formally joined the Taixu Dao Sect to reach the upper stage of the ninth-rank Mortal Realm. Unexpectedly, under the influence of the Qi-nourishing pills, Lin Xueru broke through after only five days. She was followed by Du Yanqing, Wei Letian, and Du Yan, with Chen Yi, Wang Yongnian, and Wei Xiaoyun being the last to breakthrough.

It was only then that Chen Yi learned the foundation-building assessments of the others. Except for him and Wang Yongnian, the other five had all been rated "Excellent." This led Chen Yi to suspect that this might be why the old Daoist had treated them differently. What he did not know was that the foundation-building assessment only measured the optimal effectiveness of one's innate bloodline and the items grabbed during their "first-year test." A person’s true talent could not be fully captured by such an assessment. This was also the primary reason that limited the number of disciples inherited by Daoist and Buddhist sects.

As Gu Tiangang often said, the legacies of different sects had their own strengths and weaknesses, with no clear superior. The key was finding the right disciple to inherit the martial arts and techniques passed down through the generations.

In addition to their cultivation, the bodies of Chen Yi and his friends had been further strengthened by the effects of the body-tempering pills. The most direct evidence was that all seven children had grown significantly in height over the month. The tallest, Wei Letian, had grown from three feet eight to four feet two, while the shortest, Du Yan, had shot up from three feet two to four feet. Chen Yi had grown to exactly four feet one, fifteen centimeters taller than when he had sparred with Ning Xue. Furthermore, his strength, speed, and reaction time had all seen varying degrees of improvement, allowing him to better unleash the power of his sword techniques, which were now at the "minor accomplishment" stage.

To put it in perspective, if he were to face those two seventh-rank human traffickers now, he could defeat them both with a single strike. By his own estimation, he had the strength to handle a sixth-rank Return-to-Origin expert, and if conditions were right, he could even kill one in a single blow. As for a fifth-rank Core-Condensation expert...

"I'd just have to give it my all!" After gaining a basic understanding of the characteristics of each martial rank, Chen Yi had a clear perception of his own abilities—neither belittling himself nor becoming arrogant. The gap between the fifth-rank Core-Condensation stage and the sixth-rank Return-to-Origin stage might only be one rank, but the difference in power was like that between heaven and earth. At the very least, Master Ning had mentioned more than once that many immensely talented individuals were stuck at the fifth-rank Core-Condensation stage, unable to advance for the rest of their lives.

Of course, when she said this, Chen Yi could detect a hint of pride in her voice—for Master Ning herself was a fifth-rank Core-Condensation expert! It was said that the speed at which she reached this level at the age of sixteen ranked her within the top one thousand in the entire history of the Taixu Dao Sect. Beyond this, Master Ning had privately told Chen Yi that there would be a surprise waiting for him once he arrived at the Taixu Dao Sect. Chen Yi found himself quite looking forward to it. He wanted to see what kind of surprise the Taixu Dao Sect had prepared for him.

...

Not long after, escorted by his granduncle and Ding Sansi, Chen Yi returned to the Marquis of Wu'an's estate by carriage. He saw Xia Wanwan and Zhou Wanyi chatting and laughing outside the Fanghua Garden. Zhou Wanyi was holding a child in her arms who was still in swaddling clothes.

"Yi'er is back! Come here." Seeing him, Xia Wanwan waved quickly and pointed to the child in Zhou Wanyi's arms, smiling, "This is your younger brother, Chen Fan."

Chen Yi stepped closer, glancing at Zhou Wanyi before looking into her arms. "He's asleep."

His third brother, Chen Fan, was not yet a year old. His features were just beginning to settle, but the way he slept was carved from the same mold as Chen Taiping.

"When he grows up, I hope he becomes as promising as you," Zhou Wanyi said, looking at him with a warm smile.

"If we're talking about being promising, Yuan'er is the one," Xia Wanwan said, patting Chen Yi on the head with a laugh. "It is truly a great blessing for the Marquis's estate that Yuan'er was able to join Wuliang Mountain."

"It's nothing, really..." Chen Yi realized then that the news of his eldest brother joining Wuliang Mountain had finally arrived—fully two months later than Chen Taiping's family letter. *Eldest brother, I hope nothing has happened over there.*