Chaotic Times and Disasters: I Hunt Down Martial Arts Masters and Become a God

The next morning, an imperial decree arrived, summoning Fu Qing to the palace for an audience.

Fu Qing changed into his official robes and followed the eunuch into the palace. After passing through many palace gates, when he met Ling Yushu in the imperial study, the more than three-hundred-year-old Emperor of Jingguo was sitting behind his desk, flipping through a memorial, with a cup of steaming tea beside him.

He heard footsteps, looked up, put down the memorial, and a rare smile appeared on his face.

"You're here? Have a seat."

Ling Yushu pointed to the chair opposite the imperial desk.

"I have read both An Sheng's and Yu Xi's battle reports. You performed well in the secret realm. You killed the Ice Armored Giant Rhinoceros on the snow mountain all by yourself, and you also drove away the Gu worms in the ancient city with your blood."

"What's remarkable is that the Xiahou family has fought with the Feng clan for generations, but they've finally backed down with you."

"Your Majesty flatters me. Everything in the secret realm was accomplished through everyone's joint efforts. I was merely doing my duty."

"It's my job?"

Ling Yushu picked up her teacup and took a sip.

"You must have a lot on your plate... By the way, did you find any special treasures in the secret realm? Like that precious seal we recovered from the Jun family's vault? I heard from Yuxi that the inscription on Qingming Jushi's tombstone mentioned something like that..."

Fu Qing recalled the warning from Yunnan: "A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime." The Nine Seals had already stirred up countless disputes, and even the closest people could not be told.

He remained expressionless and calmly replied:

"There are many treasures in the secret realm, but most of them are spiritual herbs and weapons. There are thousand-year-old ice lotus and cold iron ore on the snow mountain, and there are a few pieces of armor in good condition in the ancient city. The pills and jade slips left by Qingming Jushi in the Heavenly Palace have also been distributed to everyone."

"As for the imperial seal—I have never seen anything like it."

Ling Yushu looked at him for a few moments, smiled, and didn't ask any further questions.

"Very well, the things in the secret realm depend on fate. If you can't find them, you just can't find them. The main reason I called you here was to reward your performance in the secret realm..."

He waved his hand, and a eunuch brought over a tray covered with red silk, on which were placed several ingots of gold and silver and several bolts of silk.

"These are my rewards to you. I know that your achievements in Quzhou are enough to qualify you for the rank of General of the Central Army... In principle, you should be promoted to a higher rank, but you are still young. If you are promoted too quickly, there will be no more rank to bestow upon you in the future! I will record your achievements in this secret realm for now and calculate them together next time."

Fu Qing rose and bowed, "Your Majesty, I thank you for your great kindness."

"No need for formalities. Go back and rest for a few days. There are still many things the court will need you for."

Fu Qing left the imperial study and walked along the palace path, the old emperor's expression flashing through his mind...

...

Having a rare moment of free time, Fu Qing entrusted the rewards he received from Ling Yushu to Song Yawei for safekeeping, and then took his two wives on a tour of Jingjing City.

He ate at each of the restaurants and teahouses on Zhuque Street, strolled from one end of the city to the other in the temple fair market in the west, and also took the opportunity to visit the weapon shops and pharmacies in the east.

At the temple fair, Song Nini looked like a sparrow that had fallen into a rice jar, with a candied hawthorn in her left hand, a roasted chestnut in her right, and half a piece of osmanthus cake stuffed in her mouth, her mouth full of crumbs.

She squatted in front of a sugar figurine stall, unable to move, and tugged at Fu Qing's sleeve, insisting that he buy a rabbit-shaped sugar figurine for his daughter.

Fu Qing took out a copper coin and bought two items, a rabbit for his daughter and a tiger for his son.

Song Yawei bought new clothes and toys for her two children at the clothing store next door, but didn't buy any new clothes for herself.

Fu Qing saw her hesitate at the shop entrance for a long time before finally coming out empty-handed, so he pushed her inside, picked out a few light blue and pale yellow dresses, and stuffed them into her arms.

"You are now the wife of a Lieutenant General, yet you don't even have a decent dress to wear when you go out. People who don't know better will think that I, Fu Qing, am abusing my wife. The Emperor's reward this time is enough for our family of five to live on for several years. Don't try to save me money."

Song Yawei was still holding her skirt, wanting to say something, when Fu Qing had already taken out his silver to pay the bill.

Song Nini rolled her eyes sourly from the side.

"My brother-in-law is biased! He only buys things for my sister and not for me!"

"ha?"

Fu Qing chuckled and pinched her cheek.

"Take the money, buy whatever you want, I'm not stopping you..."

After saying that, he pulled two more clothes from the shelf and stuffed them into her arms. Only then did Song Nini leave the shop, satisfied with the new clothes.

The two children giggled as they looked at the rattle above their heads from their cradle.

The daughter reached out to grab it but missed, and pouted as if about to cry. The son stood quietly beside her, clutching the cloth tiger and watching her with an expression as if he were watching a farce that had nothing to do with him.

However, when Fu Qing held him, he would occasionally smile, very faintly, like his mother.

He also liked to grab Fu Qing's nose, pinching it with his five little fingers and refusing to let go. Fu Qing had to rub his chin against his little hand every time to get him to let go.

...

Yu Fu would come over to visit every few days, always bringing a lot of food.

The Xuan Tian Stone Tablet that he carried back was placed in the most conspicuous position in the main hall of the Yu family mansion by his father, Yu Guangtian, who would boast to everyone that it was brought back from the secret realm by his son.

Yu Fu sat on a stone bench under the jujube tree, peeling chestnuts, and told Fu Qing that Pei Qing had become much more well-behaved lately.

"He heard in the cafeteria that Brother Fu had broken through again in the secret realm, and his face turned green on the spot. Now he avoids us when he walks, afraid of running into you."

"Pei Qing?"

Fu Qing tilted his head and thought for a moment, finally remembering that there was such a person.

"Fatty, I had completely forgotten about this guy if you hadn't mentioned him."

"Hahahaha! Pei Qing would be furious if he heard that! He'd been hiding from you for over a month, living in fear, and you hadn't even thought of him!"

Yu Fu laughed so hard he almost rolled off the stone bench.

...

Suwen would come every few days to give Fu Qing acupuncture and test medicine.

Her new generation of compressed medicine has basically taken shape in the secret realm and is now undergoing final adjustments. Each time she comes, she carries a bulging medicine chest filled with various newly prepared pills and silver needles.

Fu Qing always frowned at the bitterness of his medicine, but he never complained—he knew that Su Wen had put more effort into preparing his medicine than into anything else.

The two children can crawl now and have an astonishing amount of energy.

My daughter is especially restless. She crawls very fast and will tumble out of her cradle and run around all over the place, putting whatever she can grab into her mouth.

Once, Suwen was sitting at a stone table flipping through a pharmacopoeia when a little girl crawled up to her feet, reached out to snatch the pharmacopoeia, grabbed a corner of a page, and put it in her mouth.

Su Wen turned his head to look, gently took the book from her hands, lifted her up with one hand and placed her on his lap, pinched her little arms and legs, and felt her bones and muscles. The corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly.

"This child has good bones and muscles; she'll have a better foundation for martial arts than most people, just like her father."

She bounced her daughter on her lap, and the daughter giggled and reached for her silver needle pouch. Suwen held the pouch high so the daughter couldn't reach it, and with her other hand she steadily supported her so she wouldn't fall. She looked down at the child, a smile still on her lips.

Song Yawei saw this scene from the side and smiled gently.

The son sat quietly at Suwen's feet, looking up at her as she played with her younger sister.

Suwen looked down at him, lifted him up and placed him on her other leg, felt his pulse, and after a moment softly hummed in agreement.

"If you have a constitution that tends to be cold and are prone to catching a cold in winter, you can use warm medicinal herbs to soak in a medicinal bath to regulate your body."

She looked up at Song Yawei and said, "I'll write you a prescription later."

"Thank you, Dr. Su."

Song Yawei took the two children and placed them in the cradle. When Su Wen got up, she had already returned to her expressionless state and continued to organize her medicine box.

Once, Song Nini was picking vegetables in the yard when she saw Suwen using silver needles to draw blood from Fu Qing's wrist through a low wall.

Suwen's technique was as swift as killing a chicken. With one needle, blood flowed down the silver needle into the porcelain bottle. Fu Qing frowned as he watched his blood flow out, while Suwen stared expressionlessly at the markings on the porcelain bottle. The two of them, one in pain and the other indifferent, created an indescribably strange scene.

She couldn't help but whisper to Song Yawei, who was hanging clothes to dry next to her.

"Sister, isn't Suwen too good to her husband? She comes to give him acupuncture every few days, more often than she goes to the pharmacy to see patients. Is her only patient her husband? Doesn't she care about the other patients?"

Song Yawei hung a small garment on the line without turning her head. "Doctor Su is treating my husband. Only she can suppress the Gu poison in his body. Don't overthink it."

"oh."

Song Nini, who wasn't very bright, didn't think much of it and lowered her head to continue picking vegetables.

After hanging up the last piece of clothing, Song Yawei turned to look at her younger sister squatting on the ground humming a tune as she picked green beans, and sighed softly.

Sometimes being a little naive is a good thing; she didn't know that others were after her man.