Six Realms Immortal Emperor

"Whoa!"

"Whoa!"

It was still early before sunrise; the rooster had only crowed three times, the sky was just beginning to lighten, and the morning mist had not yet dissipated.

From the deepest courtyard of the Eastern Mansion, a series of rustling sounds could be heard.

This is a martial arts family in Guangting Fort of Zihan Kingdom. There are three or four hundred people with the surname Dongfang alone. If you include the stewards and servants, the entire Dongfang family probably has over a thousand people.

To the north of Dongfang Prefecture, there was a large courtyard where the younger generation of the family had begun their daily morning practice. Most of them were teenagers, with a few under ten, all with innocent faces, yet practicing with great seriousness. They stood in neat rows, all dressed in simple, martial arts attire. Their movements were perfectly synchronized, making the entire martial arts training scene quite impressive—no wonder they were from a martial arts family.

The rustling sound that came from the courtyard just now was simply the sound of everyone practicing martial arts together, their clothes swaying.

Separated from the courtyard by a wall was a stable, and next to the stable were a few inconspicuous brick and tile houses. Although they were much better than the earthen houses of other families in Guangting Fort, they were somewhat dilapidated and out of place with the surrounding environment of Dongfang Prefecture.

With a creak, the wooden door of one of the tiled houses opened, and an old man with gray hair walked out.

His legs weren't very good; he walked with a limp. He stretched, glanced at the sky, and called out into the house.

"Jing Tian, ​​it's time to get up and feed the horses!"

"Alright, Dad!" a clear child's voice responded from inside the room. A sallow-faced boy climbed up from a wooden bed. He was covered with a dark yellow old cotton quilt, its original appearance unrecognizable, and it faintly smelled musty. The bed was nothing more than a few uneven wooden planks supported by a few bricks.

He quickly put on his shoes and ran out. He looked about eight or nine years old, very thin, and his clothes were somewhat worn, but there was a hint of delicate beauty in his eyes.

"Jingtian, hurry up and fetch some hay from the thatched hut, don't delay!" the old man said to him, and began to prepare to feed the horses. There were many people and many things to do in Dongfang Prefecture, so he had to take good care of these horses in advance.

"Don't worry, Dad!" Jing Tian replied. He rubbed his eyes, splashed cold water on his face, and then ran towards the thatched house.

"Oh dear, slow down, don't disturb their martial arts practice!" The old man came out of another house, carrying half a sack of soybeans, and hurriedly called out to him, afraid that he would cause some trouble.

Since the stables and thatched huts were on opposite sides of the courtyard, Jing Tian had to pass through the courtyard to fetch hay. He was already used to the morning exercises at the Dongfang residence, so he first peeked over the wall, and only dared to slip out after everyone had turned away, tiptoeing towards the thatched hut.

"Look, it's the little beggar!" Someone finally spotted him.

The Eastern disciples who were practicing martial arts all turned around at the same time and burst into laughter. They had never seen a disciple so dirty all over, looking like a beggar.

Xu Jingtian was suddenly at a loss, being stared at by so many people.

"Xu Jingtian, little beggar!" A boy of about ten years old, with fair skin, called out to him.

Xu Jingtian stuck his tongue out at him. This boy's name was Dongfang Sifeng, and he always bullied him.

"You're not allowed to call him that, he's our little stable boy!" A little girl with a ponytail muttered softly behind Dongfang Sifeng.

Dongfang Sifeng turned to her, made a face, and said, "Just yell, just yell! Who told him to be all dirty and ragged!"

"If you keep yelling like that, I'll tell Daddy! Humph!" The little girl pouted and threatened him.

This little girl's name is Dongfang Siyu, and she is the daughter of the head coach, Dongfang Shanzhan.

Dongfang Sifeng quickly turned back, still muttering under his breath, "You're the one protecting him. If I see him with you again, I'll smash his head in!"

"Little beggar, little beggar!" Many of Dongfang's disciples joined in the commotion. The ones who started it up were always with Dongfang Sifeng, bullying Xu Jingtian.

Xu Jingtian also saw Dongfang Siyu and waved to her, but pretended not to hear. Among these Dongfang disciples, only Dongfang Siyu treated him relatively well.

Just then, an angry shout rang out.

"What are you doing instead of practicing martial arts properly?" A man in his thirties walked steadily into the courtyard.

"Oh no, the instructor is here!" someone shouted, and everyone hurriedly turned around to continue practicing martial arts.

Xu Jingtian recognized him; this was Dongfang Siyu's father, Dongfang Shanzhan, and also the head instructor of Dongfang's disciples' martial arts training. Xu Jingtian also took the opportunity to slip away hastily. On his way back, he carried a large bundle of weeds on his back, buried his head under it, and ran towards the stable with his head down.

Dongfang Shanzhan saw this, smiled, and muttered to himself, "This kid is a bit like his father, Old Xu."

Xu Jingtian huffed and puffed as he carried the hay into the stable, while his father, Old Xu, glared at him with a fierce expression.

"You've gotten into trouble again, haven't you?"

"Dad, you heard everything?" Xu Jingtian smiled awkwardly and said, "It's alright, Dad. Let them call as they please, I'll just pretend I didn't hear them."

Old Xu's heart softened upon hearing this, and he said, "Child, it's all your father's fault. If only... if only I had given him to a rich family..." He stopped abruptly, as if realizing something.

"Dad, what did you say?" Xu Jingtian was startled, and his hands suddenly loosened, scattering the grass on his back everywhere.

"No, nothing?" Old Xu's eyes were slightly red, and tears were welling up uncontrollably, so he lowered his head, not daring to look at him. This child has a hard life, so filial and obedient. If he hadn't followed him, he wouldn't have suffered so much.

Xu Jingtian hurriedly knelt down on the ground, grabbed Old Xu's clothes and cried, "Father, it's all my fault. I will be obedient from now on and will never cause you any more trouble. You can't abandon me..." He misheard and thought that Old Xu was going to sell him to a rich family.

"Child, get up quickly. How could your father abandon you?" Old Xu pulled him up. Touching Xu Jingtian's thin bones, Old Xu felt a pang of sadness and couldn't help but recall the time he found him.

It was a morning ten years ago, in a ravine ten miles away from Guangting Fort, Old Xu, who was only forty years old, was driving his horse back to Guangting Fort.

"Giddy up! Giddy up!" he urged the horse while looking up at the sky.

It was a perfectly sunny day when I went out, but suddenly dark clouds gathered, the clouds hung very low, and a downpour could come at any moment.

The rain is coming and the wind is all over the building.

Getting soaked is a minor matter compared to the damage to the horse. The head steward's whip could strike him at any moment. If he doesn't drive the horses out of the valley before the rain, who knows what dangers they might face? If the horse stumbles and falls off the cliff, it's uncertain whether old Xu will survive.

Thinking of this, Old Xu couldn't help but shudder and kept urging the horse to gallop up the hillside.

Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate!

A flash of lightning and a clap of thunder shook the sky, followed by a deluge of raindrops the size of soybeans. In an instant, wind and rain raged, plunging the world into darkness.

Old Xu hurried as fast as he could, but he was still a step too late. Fortunately, there was a protruding rock on the other side of the hill not far away, under which he could temporarily take shelter from the rain.

To protect the horses, Old Xu quickly dismounted and ran towards them, holding the reins.

"Ouch!" The mountain path was slippery, and Old Xu couldn't see clearly. He stumbled and fell heavily to the ground. The herd of horses following closely behind him panicked. One hoof stepped on his thigh, and another on his chest. Old Xu tried to get up, but he was too weak and began to tumble down the mountain.

Fortunately, Old Xu had a quick wit and held tightly to the reins, thus escaping a terrible ordeal. Getting up from the ground, Old Xu coughed up a mouthful of blood, but he didn't bother to check his injuries and hurriedly led his horse uphill.

"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!" Old Xu kept sneezing. The rock wasn't big, just enough to hide under. To prevent the horses from getting wet in the rain, Old Xu had all the horses hide under the rock, while he himself stood on the outside of the rock.

After a long wait, when the wind and rain finally stopped, Old Xu limped up the hillside, leading his horse with a limp.

What was that sound?

Just then, Old Xu seemed to hear something, something that sounded like the croaking of frogs.

Wow! Wow!

But this is a hilltop, where would a frog come from?

"Wow! Wow!" The sound came again.

Could it be a baby crying? Old Xu was startled. He let go of the reins and limped towards the sound.

"Wah! Wah!" The sound grew louder and louder, clearly the cry of a baby. Where did this child come from in this desolate wilderness? Could it be that the adults have suffered some accident because of this downpour?

Old Xu went from walking to jogging, and although his legs were aching, he could bear it. He couldn't care less about anything else; if the baby were to get rained on on this mountain and then freeze for a while, what would happen? Wouldn't that kill him?

Old Xu ran as fast as he could and finally found him next to a large rock. The baby was chubby and fair-skinned, with delicate features and a high nose bridge. He was only wrapped in a thin cloth, and his hands and feet were constantly moving around.

Old Xu hurriedly took off his wet clothes, picked him up, and held him in his arms. Fortunately, there were stones to shield the baby from the rain, and the strips of cloth covering him were still dry, which Old Xu couldn't help but marvel at.

Judging from the situation, the baby was probably still breastfeeding. Old Xu looked around, but there was no sign of any adults. However, the baby was so adorable that Old Xu didn't have time to think about anything else and held him in his arms, feeling a surge of warmth in his heart.

Since he was a servant in the Eastern household, he had no money to marry a wife and no children.

The baby was amazing; upon seeing Old Xu, it stopped crying, opened its eyes wide, and looked at Old Xu with curiosity.

"Thank you, God! You've really opened my eyes!" Old Xu knelt down with a thud, hugged the child, and kowtowed three times.

This child must have been sent to him by a deity from heaven!

Heaven gave him this rain, and it also gave him hope for the rest of his life. If it weren't for this rain, he wouldn't have been lingering here; if it weren't for this rain, he wouldn't have found the baby. He should thank God and the gods in heaven.

With a "plop!", a string of small things fell out of the baby's swaddling cloth.

Old Xu looked down and saw what appeared to be a string of prayer beads. He quickly picked it up. These were items the baby always carried with him, and he had to keep them safe.

When Old Xu returned to the Dongfang residence, the news of him finding the baby on the mountaintop spread like wildfire throughout the mansion, with everyone secretly marveling at it. Even Dongfang Shanzhan's father, Dongfang Tai, who was the head of the Dongfang family at the time, heard about it.

Dongfang Tai sent someone to summon Old Xu, so that he could recount the whole story from beginning to end.

"This child will be yours from now on, and will take your surname," Dongfang Tai said after hearing the story. This old Xu was quite loyal to the family and always thought of the Dongfang family's interests.

"Thank you, Master Xu." Old Xu knelt down, deeply moved. He had been anxious and trembling since being summoned by the Master for questioning. He hadn't known whether the Master would allow him to adopt the baby, and upon hearing this, how could he not be grateful?

"Well, since you found this baby by chance, it must be fate." Dongfang Tai helped him up and said with a smile, "It's rare to see such loyalty to the Dongfang family, so I've already thought of a name for the child. He belongs to the Jing generation among the servants in the household, and since it's arranged by heaven, let's name him Jing Tian. What do you think?"

"Jingtian, Xu Jingtian. Very good, very good!" Old Xu was so moved that he kowtowed again. The head of the family, Dongfang Tai, was so good to him that he had even thought of a name for him.

It was also thanks to the head of the family taking care of the father and son that there happened to be a family member in the manor who had just given birth and didn't have enough breast milk. Several wet nurses were hired, and since there was more breast milk than they could drink, they squeezed it out and sent it to Xiao Jingtian. In the end, the baby was saved.