11

Lightly touching the wrist of his right hand, Xu ZiRong’s face turned unreadable. Once upon a time, a really obvious scar was located there. Even after he became a Nascent Soul cultivator and became capable of changing his body, he did not erase that scar.

That scar was the result of the time where he had fallen down the cliff and almost fell to his death, and the scar was something he had carved onto himself as he struggled madly on a sharp stone. It was also at that time where he completely cut off the last tie that connected him to Xu family. That scar was used to remind him, to not forget all the shame and suffering Xu family gave him!

“Father,” holding Xu ZiRong’s hand, Xu ZiYan slowly walked into the dining room.

The dining room was very spacious. What was placed in the middle of the room was a table that was sufficient enough to sit more than a dozen people.

Xu Xiao sat in the seat of honor, and to his right was an empty chair.

Xu ZiYan knew that the empty chair was especially prepared for him. You could tell from this chair that in the Xu family, his position was merely second after Xu Xiao’s.

Of course, this chair assigned to Xu ZiYan didn’t mean he had any real power. It was rather completely a status. He was able to sit on that chair not because he made a lot of contributions to the Xu family, but because of Xu family’s future expectations of him.

A cultivating family like the Xu family, in order to reach its own interests, would give all of their resources to the talented disciples in the family. This had nothing to do with being fair or not fair, because if Xu ZiYan was in charge of such a family, he would have done this as well.

From the point of view of the current Xu family, with Xu ZiYan’s Lightning Heavenly Spiritual Vein, becoming a Core Formation cultivator was practically certain as long as he wasn’t too stupid.

And for Xu family, adding another Core Formation cultivator to their middling family had an unimaginable effect.

Any huge aristocratic family needed patrons and talents to be able to develop over time. In the past the Xu family grew just like this, and Xu ZiYan, in the eyes of Xu family, would be their most dependable supporter in the future.

After all, in this world, the relationship between family and the relationship between a master and disciple were the most reliable connections one could have. As long as they didn’t go crazy, the cultivators from a cultivation family were usually more caring to the families they came from.

The Xu ZiYan who was currently enjoying this kind of treatment from his family would naturally have to bear the corresponding obligations. But although he did not volunteer to enter this body, he also didn’t wish to escape.

This was because there was no one in the Xu family who treated him badly, so he obviously didn’t bear anyone any hate.

In his memories, although there were a lot of people from the Xu family who had bullied Xu ZiRong, ultimately the one who did the most was Xu ZiYan. Other people would not be bored to the point of bullying a small child.

As for the select others, they were only trying to please the higher ups above them. It could be said that in the whole Xu family, Xu ZiYan was the only one who had such malicious loathing for Xu ZiRong.

In the blink of an eye, Xu ZiYan had already understood his own position. This time, a lot of things did not happen. Since Xu ZiRong didn’t suffer any torment, he could totally live happily with Xu ZiYan in the Xu family. Taking this route would be much safer than becoming a blood devil. In the very least, if the situation with the blood-sucking bugs really happened, Xu ZiRong wouldn’t be the one to carry such a big and black pot¹.

As for the original Xu ZiYan’s mother, Xu ZiYan could only quietly whisper a sorry, for he did not have any intentions of taking revenge for her. After all, in the end the culprit of her tragic end was Xu Xiao. The original didn’t retaliate against Xu Xiao for revenge, so he, someone who had no grudges against Xu Xiao, had even less reasons to do it.

Other than the empty chair beside Xu Xiao, the other chairs were already taken by the rest of Xu family’s children.

These children were all the talented kids from the branch families. To be able to eat in this room, it was a good indicator of their strength.

There were both young children and young adults. The oldest seemed to already be twenty, and the smallest only looked around eight or nine. Most of those with a comparably profound mind all gave Xu ZiRong an examining look, while the younger ones stared at this new addition because of pure curiosity.

Xu ZiRong looked shy as he hid behind Xu ZiYan, and from time to time he would secretly peek at them. He looked to be somewhat timid.

A small child’s fear of strangers, everyone could understand it.

Many of the people watching them had that kind of idea expressed in their eyes, and when even more people noticed how Xu ZiYan was holding onto Xu ZiRong’s hand, he gave the other a friendly smile.

Xu ZiRong bowed his head slightly in order to hide the deep-seated hate in his eyes. He knew most of the people in this room, and these people left him indescribable pain in his memories.

He did not dare to raise his head, afraid that the head Xu Xiao would notice the hatred in his eyes. He was confident in deceiving these children with his mask, but to confront the wily old fox Xu Xiao, he didn’t have the slightest bit of self-assurance.

If one asked him who he had hated the most in the Xu family, then that was undoubtedly Xu ZiYan. But if one were to ask who he had blamed the most, then it was nevertheless Xu Xiao.

Back then, if Xu Xiao had not brought him back to the Xu family, he might have had a hard life in that small town but he wouldn’t have been bullied as much.

Father. This title was supposed to bring warmth and protection, but in Xu ZiRong’s eyes it could only correspond to an ice-cold face.

For even though he lived in the Xu family for so many years, he had never seen Xu Xiao smile at him once.

Feeling stifled and unable to restrain himself, the violent feeling in his heart began to stir once again. Both of his eyes began to gradually become tinted in blood-red. Xu ZiRong knew that if this continued, there was no doubt that Xu Xiao would notice something abnormal. With the temperament of the other person, towards this kind of danger, Xu ZiRong would for sure be killed in advance. Although the current Xu ZiYan was very caring to him, once Xu Xiao decided something, Xu ZiYan and his sixth layer of Qi Condensation stage had absolutely no power against him.

In addition....

Xu ZiYan might not necessarily be truly opposed to it.

Thinking of that, the corner of Xu ZiRong’s mouth revealed the hints of a sneer. Even until now, he still did not know what Xu ZiYan was up to. But for him to believe that the current Xu ZiYan held absolutely no hostility against him after only an afternoon of contact? That would be absolutely impossible!

“ZiRong? What’s wrong?” Xu ZiYan was slightly concerned with the noise that sounded beside his ear.

Xu ZiRong shook his head whilst it was drooping. He absolutely did not dare to raise his head right now. After all, his pair of bloodshot eyes was impossible for an eight-year old child to have.

“Do you feel unwell?”

“No....just....there’s so much people.” Xu ZiRong used the softest tone he could muster to say those words.

As expected, Xu ZiYan didn’t have any doubts. Smiling, he comfortingly patted his head: “Do not worry, big brother is by your side. All the people here will be your friends in the future, so rest assured.”

Xu ZiRong jeered at that in his heart with ridicule: friends? A blood devil like him never needed things like friends!

Hanging his head, Xu ZiRong only tightly grasped Xu ZiYan’s hand. Xu ZiYan was also unconcerned, and just thought that the small child who had to suddenly meet so many people was just a bit scared of strangers.

He held Xu ZiRong’s hand and slowly walked over to his chair. Looking at all the seated people, he turned to the two waiters at the side and said: “Go and add another chair.”

The moment he uttered his words, the dining room was suddenly plunged into a shocked quiet. All the people who had been quietly whispering to each other stared at Xu ZiYan, which was followed by a look to Xu Xiao.

Xu ZiYan’s voice was not loud, but it was enough to let everyone hear. Making such a gesture was also something well-thought out.historical

In the Xu family, he as the young master still had a lot of authority. He wanted to show everyone his attitude toward Xu ZiRong through today’s performance, and to also let everyone know not to bully Xu ZiRong.

The two waiters who heard his words didn’t immediately move, and instead they both glanced at Xu Xiao.

Xu Xiao took his sweet time to slowly wipe his hands with a pure-white towel, before he set the cloth down and coldly rebuked: “Did you not hear the young master’s order?”

When the two waiters heard this, they were startled and rushed over to grab a chair. Xu ZiYan’s expression didn’t change at all, and he only looked at Xu Xiao as he said: “Father, we can serve the meal now.”

Xu Xiao gave Xu ZiYan a deep look before saying in a profound tone: “Start the meal.”

It was only then did everyone pick up their chopsticks and started eating.

In the beginning, the atmosphere was still a bit tense. But after a while, and seeing that nothing had happened, the children quickly pushed what had happened before toward the back of their minds as they began to discuss some of their current cultivation problems.

Xu ZiYan, after saying the words he did to Xu Xiao, no longer opened his mouth to say anything else.

On one hand he was facing a cheap father, who always gave him the feeling as if the other was a cunning sales person in a mall he had to gather all his guts to face. His heart always felt very pressured. On the other hand, he had taken the place of the other’s son. Even if he had all the memories, and knew what would happen in the future, he was still worried that he would suddenly expose something.

In this cultivation world there was something called possession. If the other party thought Xu ZiYan had possessed his son, then he would be in big trouble. With his little cultivation of sixth layer of Qi Condensation stage against Xu Xiao’s cultivation level that neared Core Formation, he could only wait to be trampled to death.

While Xu ZiYan was currently feeling guilty at heart, he did not know that at that moment Xu Xiao was feeling happy about his son’s growth.

The news of how Xu ZiYan had banished Ruo Qi from his courtyard was placed onto Xu Xiao’s table almost right after he had made his previous decisions. He usually did not monitor his son like that, but Xu ZiRong’s appearance made him really want to know his own son’s reaction.

He had to say, before the reactions of Xu ZiYan made him feel quite disappointed. In his point of view, twelve years of age didn’t count as being young anymore, but Xu ZiYan still had the reckless and impulsive personality as he did before. Even if this Xu ZiYan did not like Xu ZiRong, he still should not have shown that so clearly on his face and let other people know. If he did that, should something bad happen to Xu ZiRong in the future, wouldn’t everyone know it was Xu ZiYan who did it?

Whether it was being a cultivator or being a normal person, the people who stood in a clearing would always suffer more than people who stood in the dark.

The author has something to say: (paraphrasing since it’s pretty long but author is just explaining that in a normal world, bullying the mistress’ child is normal, and the only difference here was the degree of bullying. Xu ZiRong just believed that there was no one good in Xu family, for even Xu Xiao brought him back to be used as a tool. The other children bullied him to get into the graces of Xu ZiYan. Of course, it didn’t mean he was right, it was just he had twisted too much at that time to see clearly.)

^{1. Basically Xu ZiYan is just saying that Xu ZiRong won’t be falsely accused of a crime like what happened in the original novel.” ?}