Eastern Han-Qin Empire — Thousands of Miles Away from the Gu Family — The Jiang Family
In an elegant courtyard sat a stunningly beautiful young girl. Her eyes were like still water, and she quietly rested on a stone bench beneath the pavilion by the pond, gazing at the fish swimming below. In her gaze, there was a hint of sorrow, a touch of melancholy.
The girl’s name was Jiang Lianxin.
Once the brightest and most dazzling genius of the Jiang family…
Now, she was a cripple — someone who needed servants just to help her walk.
“Tap, tap…”
Footsteps echoed softly, breaking the quiet of the garden.
The visitor was also a young woman. Though not as breathtakingly beautiful as Jiang Lianxin, she was undeniably lovely. Her features even bore some resemblance to Jiang Lianxin.
Jiang Lianxin turned her head. When she saw who it was, she paused briefly, then quickly returned to her calm state.
She had thought it was a servant coming to help her back to her room, but to her surprise, it wasn’t. It was her half-sister — Jiang Baiwei.
Jiang Yunkong, the current patriarch of the Jiang family, was father to both Jiang Lianxin and Jiang Baiwei.
Jiang Lianxin’s mother was Jiang Yunkong’s third wife, who died not long after giving birth to her. Jiang Baiwei’s mother was the second wife.
Though the two were sisters, their relationship had never been close.
Jiang Lianxin was cold and aloof by nature, devoting herself entirely to cultivation. She had few friends.
Jiang Baiwei, on the other hand, had always been jealous of her.
Jealous of how their father favored her more.
Jealous of how the family’s resources were all given to her.
Jealous of her beauty, her talent, her everything.
Her jealousy twisted her heart beyond recognition.
Looking at the sorrowful girl before her, Jiang Baiwei felt a wave of satisfaction rising inside. She had waited a long time for this day.
“The patriarch has decided to marry you off to that trash from the Gu family.”
“To think that the once greatest genius of the Jiang family — the dream goddess of countless young heroes — is now going to marry into a declining backwater clan. What a joke.”
In truth, Gu Changqing wasn’t a complete waste. He wasn’t a genius, sure, but he wasn’t useless either. Still, in Jiang Baiwei’s eyes, the heir of a remote border town family was already being flattered by being called trash.
Any direct descendant of the Jiang family could outshine him in talent.
Yet despite being mocked by her own sister, Jiang Lianxin remained calm. Her beautiful eyes held no emotion as she replied:
“So you came here just to laugh at me?”
“If that’s the case, there’s really no need.”
“I’m just a cripple now — someone who can’t even eat, sleep, or dress without help. Mocking a cripple won’t bring you much satisfaction.”
Jiang Baiwei’s lips curled with a faint smirk.
“How could you think that, my dear sister? I came to thank you.”
“If you hadn’t become a cripple overnight, the one being married off to that Gu family trash… might very well have been me — Jiang Baiwei.”
“Tell me, don’t you think I should really thank you?”
“But then again, a cripple matched with a loser—what a perfect pair!”
Jiang Lianxin looked at her calmly. “No need to thank me.”
“Jiang Lianxin, deep down, you must feel so resentful, right? Once the top genius of the Jiang family, the daughter of the patriarch, and now you’re being married off to the heir of a small border town family. A man even our most average direct-line descendants could outclass! A total disgrace!” Jiang Baiwei’s delicate face gradually twisted with spite.
The calmer Jiang Lianxin remained, the more unsettled Jiang Baiwei felt. This wasn’t the reaction she wanted to see.
Jiang Lianxin continued leaning against the stone pillar, still watching the fish in the pond. “There’s nothing to feel resentful about. Right now, I’m just a cripple—a person who can’t even walk without help. What right do I have to look down on anyone? If others aren’t looking down on me, that’s already a blessing.”
In the days that followed, the marriage between the Gu and Jiang families was finalized. The wedding was set to take place in a week.
Preparations at the Gu family began immediately.
Meanwhile, Gu Changqing didn’t waste a moment either. While continuing his cultivation, he also began researching how to restore Jiang Lianxin’s shattered Sacred Bone.
The Heart Sutra of the Pill Emperor recorded many pills that could restore a Sacred Bone, but most of them required extremely rare ingredients. Forget the small Gu family—even a powerhouse like the Jiang family, among the elite in the Han-Qin Empire, would struggle to gather them.
Fortunately, fate always offers a way out. After a long search, Gu Changqing finally discovered a powerful restorative elixir called the Seven-Mystic Soul Revival Pill (Qī Xuán Fù Líng Dān).
The Seven-Mystic Soul Revival Pill was originally created by the Greenwood Pill Emperor. It was classified as a fourth-grade pill, yet all of its main, guiding, and supporting ingredients were only third-grade.
Crafting a fourth-grade pill without a single fourth-grade herb sounded nearly impossible—but the Greenwood Pill Emperor had made the impossible possible.
Even better, the three required ingredients were not especially rare.
Gu Changqing immediately sent people out to find them.
In terms of cultivation, Gu Changqing had made astonishing progress in just the past few days. In less than seven days, he had broken through multiple realms—rising from True Spirit Realm Stage One all the way to Stage Four!
Three whole breakthroughs!
Gu Changqing was dumbfounded.
So this is what an Emperor-tier cultivation technique feels like?
What Gu Changqing didn’t know, however, was that the Mystic Emperor wasn’t an ordinary “Great Emperor.” A technique created by someone like him could hardly be considered an ordinary “Emperor-tier” cultivation method.
Just mastering the first chapter of the technique had already multiplied his ability to absorb spiritual energy by dozens of times!
It was unimaginable how fast his cultivation speed would become once he mastered the second, third, and even fourth chapters.
Beyond that, Gu Changqing had also gained a basic mastery of the Heaven-Slaying Sword Formation (Zhuxian Sword Array).
The only downside… was the quality of the four swords that made up the array—they were, quite frankly, trash.
One was a third-tier spiritual sword, and the other three were only second-tier.
But even so, these were already the best four swords Gu Changqing could get his hands on.
Just a day ago, Gu Changqing had left the city specifically to test the power of the sword formation.
The result? It stunned him.
The moment the sword formation activated, Gu Changqing felt like he was the sovereign of heaven and earth within its domain!
He had the distinct feeling that, if he faced his own father—a Tribulation Realm expert at the third tribulation level—within the formation, he could defeat him with ease!
Unreal!
The boost provided by the sword formation far exceeded even what the Tai Xuan Scripture (Tai Xuan Jing) had given him.
Without the sword formation, Gu Changqing, with the help of the Tai Xuan Scripture, could maybe fight someone one or two realms higher than him. But if the gap was too big—say, against a first tribulation-level expert—he’d still be instantly crushed.
After all, large realm differences weren’t easily overcome. And Gu Changqing had only just begun cultivating the first chapter of the Tai Xuan Scripture.
But with the powerful Zhuxian Sword Formation, that gap could be completely bridged!
Once the formation was active, Gu Changqing’s realm didn’t change—but his sword techniques were amplified by the formation’s power!
The power boost could be 200%, 500%, maybe even 800% or 1000%—Gu Changqing wasn’t entirely sure.
The amount of boost depended on the quality of the four spiritual swords used in the formation.
And this much insane amplification came from just one third-tier sword and three second-tier ones…
What if he replaced them with fourth-tier, fifth-tier, or even sixth-tier swords?
“Damn.”
Suddenly, Gu Changqing felt overwhelmingly broke.
If only he had enough spirit stones, he could upgrade all four swords in the array to at least third-tier!
Rate and review this novel on NU to help people find this novel. Bonus chapters on reaching milestones.
Happy reading!