Book 2 - Fame Spreads - Chapter 18.1 - Returning Favour

The shade of trees and mist shrouded the forest as the autumn wind rustled through.
Xie Mingjin, who had rushed away from the battlefield with all his might, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Behind him were seven attendants of Xie residence. These attendants were either orphans adopted by the Xie family or the successors of their great grand ancestors who had themselves served the Xie family.
If they were discovered to possess cultivation talent, they would be bestowed with Internal Energy cultivation techniques. However, their final accomplishments were quite limited. Attaining the seventh layer was already considered quite extraordinary for them.
This was not only related to their talent and provided techniques, but also to the limited allocations of resources to them.
However, the attendants raised by such means were nevertheless extremely loyal and devoted to the Xie residence and wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice their lives for the family’s cause. They were far more dependant than the spongers who were only attracted by the riches and power.
This moment, as Xie Mingjin suddenly stopped, the forty-year-old attendant who held the most seniority in their group cupped his hands and said, “Elder young master, this place is not safe. You should quickly leave.”
A peculiar glint flickered in Xie Mingjin’s eyes as he asked in a lowered voice, “Xie Mingsan, tell me honestly, why did father go there?”
That middle-aged attendant faintly started, then bitterly smiled and said, “Young master, since your father has already decided, you don’t need to rack your brains, and quickly get out of this place.”
Xie Mingjin glared at him once and said, “So, father has not gone to recruit that person but to stall the long-armed raccoons?”
Xie Mingsan didn’t utter a word.
Xie Mingjin snorted, turned around, and left. Xie Mingsan immediately blocked his path and said, “Elder young master, you can’t go back. Otherwise, all of the lord’s effort will be in vain.”
A faint killing intent flickered in Xie Mingjin’s eyes as he said, “Xie Mingsan, you are a father’s personally selected attendant. Don’t tell me you will silently watch him throwing his life away?”
Xie Mingsan faintly shook his head. His gaze quite calm, not evading the former’s at all, “Elder young master, calm down a bit. The lord’s words were correct. If you go, you will only be a burden to him. With you away, the lord’s chances of escaping will increase by a lot.”
Xie Mingjin coldly said, “If my father doesn’t come back, then?”
“Impossible,” Xie Mingsan faintly shook his head and said, “I believe the lord will certainly come back.”
After pausing a bit, Xie Mingjin slowly said, “If father doesn’t come back, I will enter the mountains and challenge those two long-armed raccoons myself.”
Everybody blankly stared. With his insignificant strength of seventh layer, entering the mountains and battling the two long-armed raccoons was simply following the path to his own death.
If Xie Grace truly didn’t return, he wouldn’t be the only one dying.
Xie Mingjin’s took a deep breath and said, “All right, I will follow you all…” Saying up to here, he suddenly exerted his feet and circumvented Xie Mingsan, rushing ahead.
The complexions of the seven attendants instantly paled before one of them asked, “What should we do?”
Xie Mingsan’s figure moved, following after the Xie Mingjin while saying, “Chase.”
The seven attendants simultaneously chased after the latter. However, they all had varying thoughts inwardly.
Although Xie Mingjin was their elder young master, he possessed an outspoken, straightforward temperament, unlike other members of influential families’ young generation. Moreover, his way of dealing with affairs was somewhat that of taking everything for granted. If he’d been born in an ordinary clan, this kind of temperament wouldn’t have amounted to much. However, in a clan that possessed a legacy of millenniums, this wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
The reason Xie Grace had entered the forest was to actually teach him the law of the jungle. However, from the present scene, it seemed it hadn’t been too useful.
As the trouble reached up to the neck, the elder young master had failed to heed reason in the end. Even though he clearly understood that he would worsen the situation by going there, he was still not willing to quietly leave.
Although the cultivation of the seven attendants and that of Xie Mingjin was the same, both at the seventh layer, the techniques they had learned differed vastly. Especially, the agility technique which Xie Grace had imparted to his son. It was far out of their reach. Fortunately, Xie Mingjin’s experience was quite lacking and had to pause again and again in order to confirm the direction. Otherwise, they would have been left far behind.
At the beginning of the chase, they had felt extremely anxious. However, in the end, they had instead calmed down.
They had already given up on their lives when they had first encountered the long-armed raccoons. Currently, it merely amounted to a bit of delay, nothing more.
As the group eventually scuttled out from behind a big tree, they first saw a section of open land and also a strange scene on the ground.
He Yiming’s entire attention was focused on the blade. A few moments ago, the twelfth form of [Splitting Mountain Thirty-Six Mountains] had surprisingly aroused a certain power in the void. The profound mysteries of such a power that originated from the nature itself were simply inconceivable.
He clearly knew that although this strike was quite powerful, it shouldn’t have been able to directly sever the arms of long-armed raccoons, killing them instantly.
The reason it could accomplish this feat was that, at the time of its deployment, it aroused a certain force of heavens and earth, creating a miraculous effect.
Killing two spiritual beasts in one blade strike, this was definitely the might pertaining to Xiantian realm.
However, this strike was the result of He Yiming infusing the Rolling Boulder Fist into his blade, then building up its might for a long time, and eventually using a Xiantian blade technique for an instantaneous deployment.
This strike not only contained the might of [Splitting Mountain Thirty-Six Forms], but also the accumulated might of Rolling Boulder Fist. Precisely because he’d assimilated the two into one, he’d been able to arouse the unfathomable and mysterious Worldly Qi.
If the circumstances were to be changed, allowing He Yiming to use the [Splitting Mountain Thirty-Six Forms] since the beginning, it definitely wouldn’t bring forth such immense might.
However, since the might of this move had stepped beyond the limits of Houtian realm’s boundaries, triggering a response from the Worldly Qi, a mere trace of Xiantian realm’s power in his blade strike had instantly killed two spiritual beasts.
An exceedingly high leveled blade strike had allowed He Yiming to sense the Worldly Qi for the first time. For a Houtian cultivator, this was an extremely rare insight. Momentarily, all thoughts in He Yiming’s mind had vanished, and he’d completely immersed in comprehending that feeling.
Although his surroundings hadn’t undergone any change, in his perception, the wind of the forest or rather the sound of faintly swaying trees carried by the wind, and even the slender world of insects which lay hidden in the vegetation, exuded a mysterious feeling.
In his spiritual perception, this world constituted a fictitious setting. He didn’t need to open his eyes to explore his surroundings, and his explorations were far more vivid and real than the capabilities of an eye.
The current him seemed to be like his former self, when he’d eavesdropped on Xu Right and others in the Xu castle.
At that time, he’d used his hearing power to create a three dimensional image in his mind. However, that image seemed amateurish in front of the current one. The two simply couldn’t even be compared.
As he was indulged in this mysterious perception, he suddenly sensed an overflowing killing intent before several quickly rushing people appeared in his perception, coming towards him. The appearance of these people seemed to have cause a sudden disruption in his spiritual sense, jolting him out of this mystical realm.
He suddenly lifted his head; his gaze involuntarily carrying a trace of malice towards Xie Mingjin and the rest.
However, the latter didn’t pay attention to him and emotionally shouted, “Father, are you alright?”
Xie Grace’s complexion turned as pale as possible. He’d faintly perceived He Yiming’s situation. Being disturbed during such a rare moment of insight, if He Yiming turned out be short-tempered, he could easily kill them all to vent his anger.
With the strength He Yiming had recently revealed, even if the latter didn’t use that exceedingly frightening Xiantian battle skill, he could easily leave behind both the father and son for all eternity.
However, he never expected that after hearing Xie Mingjin’s voice, He Yiming’s expression not only didn’t show any signs of flaring up, it even seemed to be calming down extremely quickly.
Xie Mingjin’s cry had reminded him of the familial love. He’d already been away from He manor for three months now. After two months, it will be the new year. Although his agreement with his grandfather stated his return within three years, he’d already decided to spend the new year at his home.
Only three months had passed since he’d left his homeland for the first time, but he’d already started to feel concern about his family members.
Although previously, he used to enter closed-door cultivation for several months straight, only after he left the manor did he realize that these two situations were completely different.
Xie Mingjin’s cry for his father immediately touched his soft spot, and thus, he naturally failed to preserve his anger.
Seeing Xie Grace’s pale complexion, Xie Mingjin immediately paled himself in fright before quickly rushing to his father, “Father….”