Starting as the heir of a marquis's mansion, I gained access to a summoning system.

Afternoon, at the martial arts training ground.

The drizzle stopped, leaving the ground slippery. Zhao Tieshan ordered all the junior officers to take their soldiers to the drill ground for training, saying he needed to "test the waters."

Six junior officers, each with three to five men, took turns demonstrating swordsmanship, hand-to-hand combat, and archery. The order was good, but the skill levels varied greatly. Zhao Tieshan watched with a furrowed brow.

It was Dongfang Weiwo's turn. Liu Tie, Zhang Dashan, and Su Wen first performed a set of military boxing techniques, which were standard and unremarkable. Zhao Tieshan yawned and was about to wave them off when Dongfang Weiwo drew his sword and stepped forward.

"My lord, I request to practice swordsmanship alone."

Zhao Tieshan became interested: "Accurate."

Dongfang Weiwo took a deep breath. His longsword pointed diagonally at the ground. He stood motionless.

Three breaths later, he moved.

The sword light flashed like a bolt of lightning, exploding across the arena. The movements weren't fast, but every strike was perfectly timed—thrust, slash, parry, sweep, the transitions as fluid as flowing water.

What surprised Zhao Tieshan the most was that the young man's sword strikes produced no extra fluctuations of energy. It was as if every ounce of his strength was focused directly on the blade.

"Great!" A little flag bearer next to him couldn't help but cheer.

Zhao Tieshan remained silent. His eyes narrowed.

The layman sees the spectacle, the expert sees the technique. Dongfang Weiwo's swordsmanship is not sophisticated, one could even say it's rudimentary. But his sword sense is exceptional—that control over distance, timing, and force cannot be acquired through arduous practice; it requires talent.

What concerned Zhao Tieshan even more was that although the boy's cultivation was only at the mid-stage of the Acquired Blood Exchange Realm, his aura suddenly subsided and almost disappeared the moment he sheathed his sword—that was a sign of deliberate suppression.

"This kid..." Zhao Tieshan had a plan in mind, but didn't say it out loud on the spot.

Not far away, Shen Lian stood under the eaves, taking in everything. A slight smile played on his lips.

As evening fell, Shen Lian had someone summon Dongfang Weiwo to his duty room.

"Sit down." Shen Lian gestured to a chair. He poured himself two cups of tea and offered one to Dongfang Weiwo.

Dongfang Weiwo took the tea, but didn't drink it; he put it aside.

Shen Lian didn't mind and went straight to the point: "You're practicing the Dongfang family's 'Dragon Body Refining Technique,' right?"

Dongfang Weiwo's eyelids twitched suddenly.

—The "Dragon Body Refining Technique" is a closely guarded secret of the Dongfang family's direct lineage. Outsiders might not even have heard of it, let alone recognize it. How could Shen Lian, a mere centurion of the Zhenfu Division, possibly see through it at a glance?

A storm raged within him, but his expression quickly returned to normal.

"Yes."

"The fourth level, mid-stage of the Blood Exchange Realm. Fifteen years old. This speed isn't top-tier in the Dongfang family, but it's not bad either." Shen Lian picked up his teacup and blew on the steam. "But you deliberately suppressed your aura, making outsiders think you're only at the early stage of the Blood Exchange Realm. Why?"

Dongfang Weiwo remained silent for a moment: "Conceal your talents."

Shen Lian smiled. His smile was genuine.

"What a clever attempt to hide your abilities. You're just a lowly banner officer in a place like Qinghe City—who are you trying to impress?"

"Hidden for everyone to see." Dongfang Weiwo met Shen Lian's gaze. "You should know, sir, that in this world, those who stand out too much die quickly."

Shen Lian stared at him. After a long while, he slowly nodded.

"Interesting. I've been in the Zhenfu Division for over a decade and have seen many scions of prominent families come here to gain prestige. They all practically have 'Who's my father?' written all over their faces. You're quite different from them."

"My father is Dongfang Wudi."

Dongfang Weiwo calmly uttered the name, his tone completely unwavering, "But I don't want to rely on him."

The teacup slipped from Shen Lian's hand.

With a "thud," it fell to the ground, splashing tea everywhere.

Shen Lian didn't pick it up. He froze in his chair, his pupils suddenly contracting, and the composed smile on his face vanished completely, replaced by undisguised shock.

"...Invincible East?" His voice was a little dry, as if there was a wad of cotton stuck in his throat.

"Grandmaster Dongfang Wudi?"

Dongfang Weiwo nodded.

Shen Lian took a deep breath and slowly leaned back in his chair. His fingers tapped unconsciously on the armrest twice, then stopped. He stared at Dongfang Weiwo for a long time, his gaze no longer holding the casualness of an elder testing a junior, but rather a solemn re-examination.

"No wonder," he said in a low voice, whether he was talking to Dongfang Wei or to himself, "No wonder you were able to cultivate the 'Dragon Body Refining Technique' to the mid-stage of the Blood Exchange Realm at the age of fifteen... This technique is difficult for outsiders to even learn, and not every direct descendant of the Dongfang family can master it."

He paused, then gave a wry smile: "I just said you came here to gain experience. Sorry for the inconvenience."

"You flatter me, sir."

Shen Lian waved his hand, bent down to pick up the teacup, and casually placed it on the corner of the table. Although his movements had regained their composure, Dongfang Weineng could see that the turmoil in his eyes was far from over.

Dongfang Wudi – a top-tier Grandmaster-level expert of the Xuantian Dynasty, one of the pillars of the military, whose Blood-Weeping Army suppressed the barbarians in the northern border.

His son, instead of enjoying a life of luxury in the capital, went to work as a minor flag officer in a small border town.

This isn't gilding; it's jumping into a quagmire.

Shen Lian poured himself another cup of tea, took a sip, and seemed to be using this action to calm himself down. After a moment, he put down the teacup, his tone becoming more serious than before: "You just asked me why I could recognize the 'Dragon Body Refining Technique'."

Dongfang Weiwo watched him quietly.

"When I was young, I served in the army for eight years," Shen Lian said. "One year during the army-wide competition, I was fortunate enough to see Grandmaster Dongfang from afar. He only used one move to blast the peak Grandmaster on the other side out of the training ground. The method of channeling energy in that move and the way you concealed your aura when you sheathed your sword in the training ground just now are from the same source."

My thoughts raced like lightning in the East.

So that's how it is. It wasn't because Shen Lian knew the "Dragon Body Refining Technique," but because he had witnessed his father's power and remembered its unique characteristics. Even so, to remember a Grandmaster's method of channeling energy after only one encounter, and to recognize it in a young boy years later—

This Shen Lian possesses an observational ability far beyond that of ordinary people.

A mere centurion possesses such keen insight.

There's probably more to him than meets the eye.

"I have an errand to run the day after tomorrow. You'll need to come with me to Guangling Prefecture." Shen Lian took a file from a drawer and pushed it in front of Dongfang Weiwo. "Take a look at this first, so you have a general idea."

Dongfang Weiwo opened the case file. The first page clearly stated—

The White Lotus Sect's Guangling Prefecture branch issued a secret investigation order.

He didn't rush to read the rest of the content, but instead looked up and glanced at Shen Lian.

Shen Lian picked up his teacup, his expression returning to its previous composure, as if he weren't the one who had just lost his temper and knocked over the teacup. But Dongfang Weineng could sense that the atmosphere in the duty room was completely different from before.

A dilapidated kiln in the east of the city.

The night was as dark as ink. Dongfang Weiwo changed into a set of tattered clothes, smeared ash on his face, and squatted on an old locust tree about twenty feet away from the dilapidated kiln complex. Liu Tie was assigned to the other side to watch the rear.

The Six Doors said Liu San was hiding in this area, but they didn't know which cave he was in. Dongfang Wei had been squatting there for half an hour, and his legs were starting to go numb. He dared not move—there seemed to be a faint light deep inside the broken cave, flickering like will-o'-the-wisps.

"There it is." He pinpointed a cave dwelling on the north side. There were fresh footprints at the entrance.

He flipped down the tree and crawled forward, hugging the shadow of the ground. He was good at walking quickly on flat ground, but in situations where concealment was needed, he trusted the clumsy method of crawling on all fours.

When he was still ten paces away from the cave dwelling, he heard voices—

Liu San huddled in the deepest part of the cave dwelling, clutching a moldy quilt. He was shivering all over.

He regretted it. He regretted not dying with the master.

On the night Zhou Wenyuan died, he saw the men in black through the crack in the woodshed—they ransacked the study, shaking out all the books on the shelves. Finding nothing they wanted, they then stabbed the master in the heart with a sword.

Blood splattered on the wall, like a black flower.

Liu San should have run away then and there. But his legs were too weak to run. Only after the man in black left did he scramble and crawl away. He escaped the city overnight and hid in this dilapidated kiln that had been abandoned for more than ten years.

"Master... I'm sorry..." he murmured to himself, his face covered in tears and snot.

Just then, footsteps came from the entrance of the cave.

It wasn't just one person's footsteps. It was two people's.

Liu San suddenly looked up. A burly man in black blocked the cave entrance. The moonlight illuminated the outline of his fleshy face.

"Liu San?" The burly man's voice sounded like it was squeezed out from between rocks, cold and hard.

"I...I..." Liu San tried to deny it, but his teeth were chattering and he couldn't finish a single word.

"Don't be afraid." The burly man in black laughed, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "I won't kill you, as long as you hand over one thing."

"Wh...what is that?"

"Account book".

"I really don't know!" Liu San burst into tears. "The master never lets me see what he writes! Please, please let me go..."

The black-clad man's smile vanished instantly, replaced by an impatient, menacing glint in his eyes: "Don't know? You're his page, you've seen everything he wrote! Where's the account book? Speak!"

"I really don't know..."

"Then die."

The burly man in black struck out with his palm. Liu San felt a gust of wind hit his face, and everything went black—he fainted.

Chang Si looked at Liu San, who was lying on the ground, and spat out a mouthful of saliva in disdain.

"waste."

He bent down and searched Liu San's body. He found nothing. He then turned the cave dwelling upside down—only to find a pile of moldy straw and a few dead rats.

"Damn it," Chang Si cursed, standing up to leave.

Just then, he heard extremely faint breathing sounds outside the cave.

someone.

A fierce glint flashed in Chang Si's eyes, and he suddenly exerted force with his feet.

He burst out of the cave like a cannonball. He immediately spotted a dark figure about three zhang to his left, about to retreat—without a word, he struck down with his palm!

That palm strike came too fast!

Dongfang Weiwo didn't even have time to draw his sword; he could only dodge to the side. Chang Si's palm gust grazed his ear—scratching and burning his earlobe.

"Peak of the Acquired Divine Power Realm!" Dongfang Weiwo's heart sank. The gap was too great.

Chang Si's second palm strike arrived. This time, it went straight for the heart.

Dongfang Wei could not retreat any longer. He gritted his teeth, drew his sword, and thrust the tip straight into Chang Si's palm.

"bite--"

Sword and palm clashed, producing a metallic clang. Dongfang Weiwo felt an immense force emanating from the sword—his tiger's mouth went numb, and his entire arm trembled and went limp.

Chang Si grinned maliciously. His third palm strike was like Mount Tai pressing down.

In that instant, a sword light fell from the top of the cave dwelling—as fast as a shooting star!