Raising Orphans, Not Assassins

Tieque Villa, the back room of the reception hall.

"So..."

Chen Ye looked strange, looking at the respectful Zhang Zhiling in front of him and said, "In twenty years, you want me to protect Tieque Villa?"

Zhang Zhiling said seriously, "That's right!"

After listening to Zhang Zhiling's explanation of the cause and effect, Chen Ye felt it was absurd.

Three months ago, the leader of the Shenji Sect made a prediction, predicting that there would be a great disaster in the Jianghu in twenty years.

Zhang Zhiling had practiced Daoism for many years, and he felt something in his heart. He also used the Taoist tortoise divination technique to make a divination for Tieque Villa.

The divination was very ominous. A fallen nest and signs of destruction.

Zhang Zhiling didn't believe it, and he made three divinations in a row, all showing that Tieque Villa would be destroyed in twenty years.

Everyone in the manor was slaughtered, and no one was alive.

Even though Zhang Zhiling was in Jianghu twenty years ago and had experienced countless storms, he was at a loss and helpless when he saw this situation.

He took the risk of prying into the secrets of heaven and made another divination.

It gave Tieque Villa a glimmer of hope. The secrets of heaven are vague and cannot be peeped into, but Zhang Zhiling used the authentic Daoist deduction method.

There are fifty great ways, forty-nine are derived from heaven, and one is created by man.

He used his own lifespan to divine the way to survive.

"So, spreading the news in the martial arts world that you want to accept a successor on July 4th, is to find me?" Chen Ye had a strange expression.

He never expected that the martial arts legend from twenty years ago, Qing Xuzi, Zhang Zhiling, came up with the trick of "successor" to find him.

"How do you know I will definitely come?" Chen Ye looked at Zhang Zhiling and asked curiously.

Zhang Zhiling sighed and said, "I don't know."

"The hexagram shows that there is only a 30 out of a 100 chance that I can find you."

When he said this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "I don't even know if you are a man or a woman, what you look like, how good your martial arts are..."

"I only know that on the fourth of July this year, there is a glimmer of hope for Tieque Villa. The hope and I have a cause and effect of inheritance."

Zhang Zhiling's eyes showed helplessness and luck. He finally found the person shown on the hexagram.

Chen Ye looked deeply at Zhang Zhiling in front of him.

At this moment, Qing Xuzi didn't look like a martial arts legend. He was just an ordinary middle-aged man who was worried about his family.

"This is gambling." Chen Ye said lightly.

"But I won the bet." Zhang Zhiling looked at Chen Ye with a firm look in his eyes.

Chen Ye sat on a chair in the back room, tapped the table with his fingers, and said lightly: "Is Xie Fei your man?"

"He is from the Guandong’s Xie family. I had him as a backup." Zhang Zhiling did not sit down, but stood in front of Chen Ye and explained: "If we can't find you, the Innate Qi Skill cannot fall into the hands of side doors and others with left-handed methods."

"So Xie Fei didn't dissolve his internal strength?"

Zhang Zhiling nodded: "Except for the first-grade realm, that can see whether you have dissolved your internal strength, others can't see it."

Chen Ye smiled: "Interesting, how do you know that the person you are looking for is me?"

Zhang Zhiling also smiled: "You don't have internal strength, but you can pass the first selection. I have been traveling in the Jianghu for several years and reading all the Taoist classics. I have never seen such a situation."

"How long can you live?" Chen Ye suddenly asked.

Zhang Zhiling looked serious and held up three fingers: "Three days."

Is this the price of prying into the secrets of heaven?

Chen Ye heard from the little blind boy on the road that Zhang Zhiling practiced the Innate Qi Skill, and when he reached perfection, his life span could easily exceed a hundred years.

Zhang Zhiling is only in his forties now, but he only has three days left to live.

"Although the method of deduction is magical, every time you pry into the secrets of heaven, you will pay a price."

Zhang Zhiling sighed and said, "Young Master is not an ordinary person. I used the tortoise shell to predict the fate of Tieque Villa three times, and the price was only three years of life."

"But the divination of that ray of life exhausted my life span."

Chen Ye's expression changed slightly.

Is the reason why Zhang Zhiling is dying because of him?

Could it be related to the system?

Chen Ye pondered secretly.

If you want to predict him, you will pay a huge price?

Chen Ye was silent for a moment, then said calmly: "You want me to help you, what price can you pay?"

Zhang Zhiling took out a two-finger-thick book from his arms, put it on the table next to Chen Ye, and said solemnly: "This is Innate Qi Skill."

"It is rumored in the Jianghu that this skill was created by me, but it is not true. Back then, I read all the classics of the three sects of Daoism and found that there were three sections of content that were consistent within the three sects. I realized that there was a mystery inside, and spent two years extracting this volume of "Innate Qi Skill" from it."

Zhang Zhiling took a deep breath and said slowly: "This is authentic Daoism, and the source cannot be traced. Because I practiced the internal skills of the three sects of Daoism, my internal strength came from the skill, so I could barely practice it."

"But in the end, it was a change of skills, and I could only practice to great success and enter the first-grade realm. I could never break through the master realm in my life."

At this point, Zhang Zhiling's tone was a little lonely and emotional.

Chen Ye picked up the two-finger-thick "Innate Qi Skill" and flipped through it twice.

He felt strange.

The top-notch inner strength method in the martial arts world was now in front of him. And it was Zhang Zhiling who offered it to him.

Chen Ye felt a little unreal, as if he was in a dream.

"I have not passed this skill to the three sects of Daoism. The one in front of you is the only one in the world."

Seeing that Chen Ye was unmoved, Zhang Zhiling took a deep breath.

In one breath, he said, "In addition to this skill, I am willing to pass on my lifelong internal strength to you."

"Within two hours, you will have forty years of innate internal strength and become a top-level master in the world."

"But this method has its flaws. The internal strength is not cultivated by you, so you will stop at the first level like me."

"Or, I will use my internal strength to strengthen your muscles and marrow and lay the foundation for the skill. In the future, you will get twice the result with half the effort when practicing the "Innate Qi Skill."

Chen Ye was silent, and his fingers that were tapping the table stopped.

Suddenly, Zhang Zhiling looked outside the door and said coldly, "Who is it?"

The red painted wooden door of the back room was slowly pushed open, revealing a little head.

It was a little girl with two hair buns.

The little girl looked three or four years old, with a delicate and graceful figure and a pair of clear black eyes, looking very lovely.

"Daddy..." the little girl shouted crisply.

Zhang Zhiling's cold expression softened, and he said softly, "Xuanxuan, go find your mother. Daddy has something to do now."

"Daddy said he would fly a kite with Xuanxuan..." The little girl named Xuanxuan pouted, somewhat dissatisfied.

"Xuanxuan!" Zhang Zhiling stiffened his face and was about to scold.

Chen Ye smiled and said, "Since you promised the child, you must keep your word."

Chen Ye looked at the little girl standing at the door and smiled, "Little girl, stand outside the door and count a hundred. After counting, your daddy will take you to fly a kite."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Really?" The little girl's big black eyes showed joy.

Zhang Zhiling glanced at Chen Ye and nodded at his daughter.

"Okay! Daddy is not allowed to lie to Xuanxuan this time!" The little girl ran outside and closed the door.

The sound of counting came from outside the door.

"One, two, three..."

The back room fell silent again.

Chen Ye said to Zhang Zhiling calmly: "Other people's internal strength is always theirs."

"I've taken the skills away. If there is a disaster in Tieque Villa in twenty years, I will help."

After saying that, Chen Ye paused for a moment, and he glanced at Zhang Zhiling: "You don't have much time left, spend more time with your family. If this internal strength has nowhere to go, you might as well build a solid foundation for your daughter."

Chen Ye bowed slightly and took a step.

He appeared in front of the door of the back room in an instant and pushed it open.

"Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-three..."

The little girl with two buns stood by the door, counting on her fingers.

Chen Ye smiled at this: "Your father said he knew he was wrong and planned to go fly a kite with you in advance."

"You don't have to count, your father is waiting for you inside, go quickly."

The little girl opened her eyes wide, her face full of surprise: "Really?"

The little girl leaned over to look at the back room.

Zhang Zhiling stood there, with a hint of confusion in his eyes.

"Go quickly." Chen Ye pushed the little girl gently.

"Daddy!" The little girl ran into the back room and hugged Zhang Zhiling's legs.

Chen Ye looked back at Zhang Zhiling and said nothing.

One step forward, the ground shrunk into an inch.

The figure appeared thirty feet away.

After a breath, the figure disappeared.

Zhang Zhiling looked out the door absentmindedly, with shock in his eyes.

In an instant, he crossed thirty feet.

This kind of light skill, even the master may not be able to do it?

What's more, that person has no internal force!

"There is such a strange person in the world..." Zhang Zhiling looked outside and sighed.

The other party actually looked down on the internal force that he had cultivated for his whole life.

From the sound, the man should be only about twenty years old.

"In twenty years..."

At this moment, Zhang Zhiling's eyes were as hot as flames.

He now believed that the Tieque Villa in twenty years would be safe and sound under the protection of that person.

"Daddy... Daddy... You lied to Xuanxuan again."

Zhang Zhiling came to his senses when he heard his daughter's dissatisfied voice beside his legs.

A smile appeared on his gentle face, and he laughed heartily and picked up his daughter.

"Okay Xuanxuan, Daddy will take you to fly a kite right now!"

A moment later.

A swallow kite flew over Tieque Villa. A middle-aged man held a little girl in his arms, holding the kite string in his hand. The little girl's silver bell-like laughter echoed interlaced with the middle-aged man’s gruff one.

No one would associate the middle-aged man in front of him with the legendary figure who roamed the world 20 years ago.

He was just an ordinary father.

A father who cared about his family.

TL Notes:

Red Painted Wooden Door

Little Girl with Two Buns

Swallow Kite