Book 7: The Son of Heaven
Chapter 44: A Very Big Tree
In the heart of late spring, trees of all kinds stretched their limbs and sprouted tender green leaves. Dongyi City, nestled near the sea, was bathed in moist ocean breezes day and night, causing spring to arrive earlier and more swiftly here than elsewhere, with its essence lingering longer.
No one knew how many years this great green tree in the suburbs had stood. Its trunk stood tall without any intention of piercing the heavens, while countless lush leaves formed a magnificent canopy, resembling a large, benevolent umbrella that blocked the sun and cast a sprawling shadow, offering shelter to those entering or leaving the city.
The tree was so enormous that its shade covered several acres of land, attracting many travelers to rest beneath it. The gnarled roots protruding from the soil resembled the sturdy bodies of dragons, exuding a sense of steadfastness. The Fourth Swordmaster, Fan Xian, and the young emperor temporarily rested beside these roots. This peculiar trio did not draw curious glances from passersby, likely because Dongyi City had always been home to many eccentric and extraordinary individuals.
Sitting on the roots, Fan Xian felt the coolness beneath him. He did not know what kind of tree this was, nor did he bother to investigate. Instead, he lowered his head to search for ants or dung beetles rolling balls of manure among the roots but found nothing.
"How old was she then?"
"Five or six? Seven or eight?" The Fourth Swordmaster, seated in his wheelchair, frowned and thought for a long time. It seemed the passage of time had blurred his memory. He spat on the ground and said, "Anyway, she was just a little girl."
"How old were you then?"
"Probably in my teens?" The Fourth Swordmaster scratched his head and said, "You know my mind has never been sharp. I can never remember such complicated questions."
"I don’t consider one’s age to be a complicated question."
"Geniuses are always different from ordinary people in certain aspects," the Fourth Swordmaster retorted coldly, clearly indifferent to Fan Xian’s sarcasm.
"The other side of genius is idiocy," Fan Xian said lazily, glancing at him. "Of course, the whole world knows you were an idiot as a child."
The Fourth Swordmaster said nothing. Instead, his gaze met Fan Xian’s, as if trying to find traces of the past in the gaps between the roots.
Standing coldly to the side, the young emperor, Zhan Doudou, watched this old and young pair indulge in their foolishness, feeling somewhat disdainful. The three of them had traveled here peacefully, but according to conventional reasoning, the young emperor’s status was naturally the most noble. However, it was clear that neither the Fourth Swordmaster nor Fan Xian cared much about this.
The Fourth Swordmaster and Fan Xian seemed to have developed an interest in searching for ants and showed no intention of leaving the great green tree. The young emperor frowned slightly, thinking that her officials outside the Sword Cottage must be worried about her. Moreover, she had no idea what would happen next and was concerned that this pair might reveal her vulnerabilities. Feeling slightly anxious, she said softly, "Lady Ye is no longer here. Even if you stay and look for three years, you can’t expect her to come back to life."
This statement seemed to state a fact but carried a piercing undertone. The young emperor’s wit and quick thinking were on full display here. In the Sword Cottage, the Fourth Swordmaster had only briefly mentioned persuading Fan Xian to rebel, but she had grasped some vague clues and now试探性地 brought them up.
Upon hearing this, both the Fourth Swordmaster and Fan Xian looked up at her, making her feel somewhat uneasy. Fan Xian shrugged and said, "I just think ants are more interesting than people."
The Fourth Swordmaster looked at Fan Xian and praised, "When your mother accompanied me in searching for ants, someone asked us the same question, and she gave the same answer."
As the Fourth Swordmaster recounted with some delight, Fan Xian smiled, as if a scene from many years ago unfolded before his eyes.
A snot-nosed idiot crouched under the great green tree, watching ants move and fight. He might even have untied his waistband and urinated on an ant nest. Passersby and residents of Dongyi City all knew this idiot’s identity. As they walked by, their eyes held pity and disgust, but no one bothered to speak to him.
Then, a blind young servant, holding a little girl’s hand, arrived from afar in Dongyi City and came to this great green tree, where they discovered this... idiot, so engrossed that he paid no attention to anything around him.
The exquisitely beautiful little girl crouched curiously beside the idiot and asked, "What are you looking at?"
The idiot glanced at her impatiently and said, "I’m watching ants."
The little girl nodded and began to watch the ants with him, continuing for a long time. Eventually, someone nearby could no longer stand it and reminded the young servant that this idiot was the young master of a prominent family in the city, albeit a fool, and that he shouldn’t let his young lady stoop to such foolishness.
Hearing this, the little girl, without standing up, smiled and said, "I just think that sometimes, ants are much more interesting than people."
Clearly, the meaning behind these words was far more mature than what her small frame suggested. However, the passersby under the tree did not notice this. They only thought, "Whose young lady is this? So pretty, so clean, like a fairy stepped out of a painting. It’s a pity to see her crouching with the city’s most famous idiot."
Then the little girl waved her hand, and the blind young servant, who was as cold as ice, crouched beside the two. Although he did not want to crouch, to him, crouching and standing made no difference. Since she wanted him to crouch, he crouched.
……
"Back then, there were three of us too," the Fourth Swordmaster continued his reminiscence, scratching his itchy cheek and saying hoarsely, "We watched the ants fight for half a day, and then I invited them to my home."
"Your home?"
"My dead father was the former city lord of Dongyi City. Didn't you know that?"
"Oh, I’ve heard of it. But it was many years ago. Your dead father died by your sword long ago. It just slipped my mind for a moment."
"The city lord’s mansion was huge and luxurious." Suddenly, Sigu Jian grinned. "But the place I lived in was like a doghouse. Because I was an idiot, my dead father despised me the most, and my mother was just a maid. You understand what I’m saying, right?"
"Yeah, I’ve read many similar stories." Fan Xian nodded. No one in Dongyi City dared to discuss Sigu Jian’s past, but that didn’t mean the Supervision Bureau hadn’t researched it. He had long since gained a clear understanding of Sigu Jian’s origins and knew what a humiliating and neglected life the idiot of those days had lived in the city lord’s mansion. It was only today, however, that he learned Sigu Jian’s birth mother was a maid—a maid who had likely died many, many years ago.
"Your mother and Wu Zhu were the first friends I made in my life," Sigu Jian said with sudden seriousness. "Even though the place I lived was terrible and I couldn’t even offer them a cup of tea, they didn’t look down on me. They still went with me."
"Perhaps because I was an idiot back then, I didn’t see any problem with it. But obviously, many people in the city lord’s mansion thought it was inappropriate and couldn’t accept two strangers living in the mansion, especially with the idiot young master. So, a few days later, Ye Zi and Wu Zhu left the city lord’s mansion. I didn’t mind anyway. During the day, I always went out to watch ants, so I’d just drop by the place they rented to hang out."
"I truly had no idea you had such interactions with my mother and Uncle Wu Zhu."
Sigu Jian frowned coldly and said, "Has Wu Zhu never mentioned the old days in Dongyi City to you?"
"No." Fan Xian sat on a tree root, idly poking the soil with a thin branch as he replied, "Uncle’s memory has gotten much worse over the years."
"Oh, that kid Wu Zhu—his memory has worsened?" Sigu Jian suddenly burst into laughter. "Isn’t that just like how I was as an idiot back then?"
Fan Xian glared at him but then shook his head with a bitter smile. "Do you know... where my mother and Uncle Wu Zhu... came from?"
This was a question that had haunted him for over a decade. Although he could vaguely guess some of it, and Old Xiao En had mentioned a few things before his death outside the Western Mountains near Shangjing City, the old man’s account only explained his mother’s origins—not Uncle Wu Zhu’s.
According to Xiao En’s account, he and Ku He had endured immense hardship to reach the periphery of the Divine Temple, where they found Ye Qingmei. The two of them rescued Ye Qingmei from the temple but got separated along the way. At that time, Ye Qingmei was only four years old, and it would be two years or even longer before Sigu Jian saw her in Dongyi City.
What was Ye Qingmei doing during that time? How did Uncle Wu Zhu come to be by her side?
In Xiao En’s recollections, Ye Qingmei seemed deeply worried about someone in the temple, unable to let go, which was why she resolutely left. Was that person... Uncle Wu Zhu?
...
Hearing Fan Xian’s question, Sigu Jian grew extremely quiet. It was a long time before he spoke softly, "At that time, I naturally had no idea where they came from or where they were going... but I gradually figured it out later."
He turned slightly, his deep, tranquil eyes fixed on Fan Xian. "Don’t you already know where Wu Zhu came from?"
Fan Xian lowered his head and remained silent for a long time. Uncle Wu Zhu was a monster. Uncle Wu Zhu didn’t age. Uncle Wu Zhu didn’t practice internal energy. Uncle Wu Zhu was good, incredibly powerful. So, Uncle Wu Zhu... He smiled bitterly and said, "Even if Uncle Wu Zhu came from the Divine Temple, what about my mother?"
"Nonsense! The blind man is an emissary of the Divine Temple. Your mother was his master, so of course she was a fairy from the Divine Temple. Otherwise, how could she, all by herself, have stirred up so much trouble in this world?" Sigu Jian snapped irritably, as if Fan Xian’s question was entirely superfluous.
Yet Fan Xian didn’t think his question was unnecessary. He reflected bitterly: Mother Ye Qingmei, like himself, clearly possessed a soul that didn’t belong to this world. What connection could she possibly have with the Divine Temple?
Fan Xian and Sigu Jian spoke with fervor, reminiscing with sighs, but their voices were naturally contained, not disturbing anyone under the large tree. However, the Northern Qi emperor had been standing beside them all along, quietly listening to everything. As she listened, her face gradually turned pale, and her hands trembled within her sleeves.
She never expected that under this large tree, she would hear such shocking secrets. Finally, she understood why a young man like Fan Xian, from the very beginning, possessed a confidence—even arrogance—that others could hardly match. He dared to show such disdain for a mortal emperor, dared to sit as an equal with a grandmaster like Sigu Jian, dared to boastfully discuss the world and attempt to control everything in his hands.
The young emperor knew that Fan Xian’s mother was Ye Qingmei and had vaguely heard that he had a blind master behind him. But only today did she learn that the Miss Ye of those years and that blind master actually had an inexplicable connection to the Divine Temple.
What was the Divine Temple? It was a deity floating above the nine heavens, coldly observing the sufferings of the mortal world without the slightest emotion. It was a will beyond the mundane, the legendary guardian of the earth. Yet no one knew where the Divine Temple was or what it truly was—aside from Master Ku He, who had seen it with his own eyes.
Ku He kowtowed before the temple for three days and attained the skills of a grandmaster. Under the large green tree, Miss Ye encountered Sigu Jian, and Sigu Jian transformed from a snot-nosed, older idiot into a peerless swordsman, a powerhouse of his generation. And then there was the Emperor of Qing...
The young emperor’s short eyelashes trembled uncontrollably. From the time of the Great Wei Dynasty to the present, everyone under heaven had wished to see the Divine Temple with their own eyes, to seek the shadow of the heavenly path from the elusive and vague. Wasn’t it precisely for immortality that the Emperor of the Great Wei had sent a team of thousands north to search for the temple?
So, behind Fan Xian, there actually lay the shadow of the Divine Temple. The Northern Qi young emperor glanced at Fan Xian’s profile, her heart filled with shock and complexity.
...
Fan Xian took a deep breath and said, "As for what happened later, I should know some of it. After my mother lived in Dongyi City for a few years, she started engaging in business. That led to the later Ye Family and the current Southern Qing’s Internal Treasury."
"The development of things is never this straightforward." One-Eyed Swordmaster raised his only remaining arm and竖起一根手指竖立一根手指, "Even if Ye Qingmei were a deity, she couldn’t have accomplished everything back then without any help. She needed assistance."
Fan Xian furrowed his brows, looking at One-Eyed Swordmaster as he said, "You?"
"That’s right, me." One-Eyed Swordmaster said coldly, "Although I was an idiot, I was still the young master of the City Lord’s residence. As long as I controlled the City Lord’s residence, the Ye Family’s merchant house could naturally operate unimpeded in Dongyi City."
"I understand." Fan Xian lowered his head and said, "The encounter under the big green tree might not have been a coincidence. To put it another way, before she entered Dongyi City back then, she already knew the situation inside the city, which is why she chose you."
"Wrong. The encounter was an encounter." One-Eyed Swordmaster said coldly, "At least, I insist on believing so. If she were looking for a collaborator, there were plenty of better candidates than me. The knowledge in her mind was enough to attract immense wealth, and the existence of the blind man ensured she had no real enemies in this world."
"During those few years before engaging in business, what were you actually doing?" Fan Xian didn’t argue the point further.
"I continued watching ants, then practiced swordsmanship. Then one day, that old poison expert Fei Jie arrived." One-Eyed Swordmaster yawned, as if prolonged recollection was quite taxing for him.
"Oh, my master said that the most glorious achievement in his life was turning an idiot in Dongyi City into a Grandmaster." Fan Xian laughed.
One-Eyed Swordmaster sneered, "I just tended to overthink things, it’s not like I was a true idiot. Becoming a monstrous Grandmaster—what does that have to do with Fei Jie?"
Fan Xian’s eyes curved with a smile as he said, "Then it must have something to do with my mother."
One-Eyed Swordmaster fell silent for a moment, then also laughed. "Your mother could pass the Tianyi Dao techniques to Ku He, so of course she could pass a set of sword techniques to me... However, I am a genius. The sword techniques your mother taught were useless; what truly mattered were the ones I comprehended later on my own."
"Hmm, you seem even more narcissistic than I imagined." Fan Xian shrugged, though he knew this Grandmaster was speaking the truth. Even if the One-Eyed Sword Art was one of the techniques Ye Qingmei stole from the Divine Temple back then, achieving the state of a Grandmaster as a mortal required immense talent, perseverance, and luck.
"The meaning of genius comes in many forms." One-Eyed Swordmaster’s eyelids drooped, as if they might close at any moment and never open again. "Your mother once said that my genius lies in focus and indifference."
"Someone who can watch ants move house for ten years isn’t easy to find." One-Eyed Swordmaster said hoarsely, "An idiot who used a thin wooden branch to poke tens of thousands of ants to death, one by one, is even harder to find. I was lucky to meet your mother and Wu Zhu. Your mother was also lucky to meet me in Dongyi City."
Fan Xian remained silent for a long time, pondering these words inwardly. He thought about how, decades ago, the continent was turbulent, giving rise to countless figures of extraordinary talent and skill—those with great perseverance like Ku He, those with immense obsession like One-Eyed Swordmaster, those capable of extreme endurance like His Majesty. And it was during that time that Ye Qingmei, bringing Wu Zhu with her, escaped from the Divine Temple and encountered these figures.
Regardless of realm or luck, in terms of talent and willpower alone, no one in the current era could compare to those powerhouses before they became Grandmasters. Hai Tang couldn’t—her master dared to eat human flesh; Fan Xian couldn’t—his emperor father could endure the supreme agony and despair of having his meridians shattered; Wang Shisan Lang couldn’t—his swordsmaster teacher saw human life as inconsequential. The young people of this generation each had their own flaws and shortcomings. This gap, he didn’t know how much time and hardship it would take to bridge, to finally touch that paper-thin barrier between heaven and man, and ultimately leap over it to become a true Grandmaster.
"Everything is fate." Fan Xian sighed, looking at One-Eyed Swordmaster.
One-Eyed Swordmaster looked at Fan Xian with a strange expression and said, "Do you want to learn? If you want to learn, just say so."
Fan Xian’s heart stirred, knowing that this Sword Sage was now offering to teach him something. A bitter smile involuntarily appeared on his face as he said softly, "I think you should already know—I’ve already learned it."
One-Eyed Swordmaster said coldly, "I’m talking about the true One-Eyed Sword Art."
...
...
Fan Xian’s heart shook. He remained silent for a long time, then suddenly spoke, "Actually, there’s no real difference. The key lies in the person. Our generation of young people still can’t compare to your generation. Of course, this gap might gradually narrow, but even if you laid out everything from the Divine Temple before me, what if I couldn’t master it?"
He felt infinite emotion inwardly. The techniques his mother had stolen from the Divine Temple back then seemed to have been passed to these several Grandmasters respectively. Apart from Ye Liuyun’s Flowing Clouds Freehand, whose origins were somewhat unclear, the others had been sufficiently proven.
Outside the Divine Temple, Ku He, at the cost of severe injury, rescued the four-year-old Ye Qingmei and then received his reward from her—the supreme method of the present-day Tianyi Dao.
Although One-Eyed Swordmaster’s sword art was comprehended on his own through exceptional spirit and obsessive focus, it was clear that without the encounter under the big green tree, an idiot would have remained an idiot. Without stimulation, how could he leap levels and advance?
As for the little yellow booklet that had always followed Fan Xian, the first volume was the Tyrant Path, and the second was the Kingly Path. After twenty years, he now naturally understood that this was something his mother had left for the emperor back then, and then the emperor, somehow through Wu Zhu’s hands, had left it for him.
It was the Tyrant Path technique that gave Fan Xian a sense of defeat. No matter what, he couldn’t break through to the Kingly Path realm. He had also learned the Tianyi Dao’s energy method, but it hadn’t helped qualitatively. Even if One-Eyed Swordmaster today truly had the so-called ‘true’ One-Eyed Sword Art to pass on to him, what use would it be?
The legacy Ye Qingmei left scattered across this world had gradually been gathered back by Fan Xian. One more piece wouldn’t make much difference.
"Ye Qingmei grew into a towering green tree in Dongyi City back then, and I, relying on the sword in my hand, gained status within Dongyi City, becoming the partner who removed pests beside her great tree." One-Eyed Swordmaster said softly, his eyes slightly closed, "If you can’t master it, you keep practicing. A tree doesn’t grow easily."
Fan Xian smiled, walked under the towering green tree, gently patted the trunk, and said, "I’m not afraid of having too much to digest. Since you insist I learn, then I’ll reluctantly give it a try."