Chapter 22: The Huang Family’s Embrace

“Where am I…?”

Hearing no idea how long he had been unconscious, Lan Wu Xi awoke to find himself sprawled across a large bed, the unfamiliar surroundings confirming that he was no longer within the palace walls.

“I remember, in the end, I collapsed onto…”

Lan Wu Xi pressed a hand to his head, slowly piecing together fragments of memory. He vaguely recalled defeating Yun Tianqi and, in a rather public display, collapsing onto Huang Yao Yue. All things considered, it didn’t seem too terrible; perhaps even quite favorable.

“Wait a minute! I collapsed onto *that* person? So this place is…?”

Only then did Lan Wu Xi fully register his situation. He hastily scanned his surroundings, realizing with a jolt that he was almost certainly in someone else’s home. Upon closer inspection, the arrangement and exquisite craftsmanship of the furniture exuded the aura of a prominent family. Even the quilt draped over him… no, wait! Why did it carry the faint scent of lavender?

Lan Wu Xi tentatively pinched a corner of the quilt and brought it to his nose, his face flushing crimson in an instant. The scent was unmistakably the unique fragrance of a young woman. Could this place be…?

Not daring to pursue that thought, Lan Wu Xi hastily banished the scandalous notions from his mind. He then gently peeled back the quilt and quietly rose, discovering that his clothes had been changed at some unknown point. His original garments were neatly arranged on the bedside table, with a fresh pair of shoes placed beneath the bed.

Such attentive hospitality left Lan Wu Xi feeling rather abashed. He had never experienced such treatment at home. Indeed, a prominent family was truly different; at his own house, he was constantly bogged down with managing bills and countless other tasks. He was, after all, a cultivation genius, and any other father would surely worship and serve him like a living Bodhisattva.

His own father, however, paid him no such regard. If a beating was due, a beating he received; if familial punishment was warranted, it was administered without hesitation. Crucially, to prevent Lan Wu Xi from using his spiritual energy to resist, Lan Baotian had even spent a fortune to acquire a spirit-binding bracelet from a friend. Unless he willingly touched it, any cultivator wearing it would find their spiritual energy instantly sealed, rendering them indistinguishable from an ordinary person.

Thus, whenever Lan Wu Xi caused trouble, his father would employ this very method to discipline him, leaving Lan Wu Xi in utter misery. Even now, his backside throbbed faintly at the mere recollection.

Naturally, the lashings were delivered with a bamboo cane, so banish any other thoughts from your minds. After all, as his father often remarked, striking the face was absolutely out of the question. His son had, at the very least, inherited some of his own handsomeness, and if his face were ruined, how would he ever ‘woo’—no, rather, ‘attract’ young ladies in the future? Their family, after all, only had Lan Wu Xi as their sole portable heir-producing machine.

Thus, the familial punishments naturally fell upon his backside. It was a place no one would typically notice; surely, no one would intentionally strip Lan Wu Xi of his trousers just to inspect it.

Pushing open the grand doors, a shaft of sunlight streamed in, causing him to instinctively raise a hand to shield his eyes. Before him lay a small, meticulously crafted garden, the sheer scale of its blossoms suggesting a history spanning many years. For some inexplicable reason, as Lan Wu Xi gazed upon the scene, a faint sense of familiarity washed over him, as if he had been here before.

Following his intuition, Lan Wu Xi walked to the pavilion in the center. His hand instinctively reached out to trace a corner of the structure, where he felt a subtle unevenness. It turned out to be two small figures carved into the surface, appearing quite ancient.

Gazing at the slightly blurred figures, etched by an unknown hand, Lan Wu Xi found himself chuckling. He vaguely recalled doing something similar in his own childhood… but no matter. He couldn’t remember the details anyway; it was all in the distant past.

Despite the crudeness of the carvings, it was still discernible that they depicted a small boy and a small girl. The artists couldn’t have been very old. Could it have been a prank by the children living here?

“Speaking of which, shouldn’t I be going to…”

“Cough, cough!”

“Who’s there?!”

Lan Wu Xi, lost in thought, was startled by a sudden series of coughs from behind him. His nerves instantly tightened, and he spun around, adopting a defensive stance as he demanded warily.

“Easy, easy now. No need for such a fiery temper, young man. I am merely an old passerby.”

An elderly man, clad in yellow robes, waved a dismissive hand with a gentle smile as he explained. Though Lan Wu Xi’s body slowly relaxed, he continued to eye the elder with suspicion, his gaze betraying a profound distrust. After all, how could anyone who could appear silently behind him be an ordinary person?

“May I ask, esteemed elder, who you are? This junior finds it difficult to believe that someone capable of appearing silently behind me is an ordinary person.”

“Haha, you don’t recognize me? That’s right, back then you… never mind. I am the patriarch of the Huang family. Others usually call me Patriarch Huang, but you can simply call me Elder Huang.”

The old man, who introduced himself as Elder Huang, chuckled softly, his conversational tone akin to speaking with a long-lost friend. He displayed none of the imposing gravitas one might expect from the patriarch of a prominent family, treating Lan Wu Xi entirely as a junior. However, Lan Wu Xi’s own state of mind was far from relaxed; his thoughts were already beginning to unravel.

“The Huang family? Isn’t that…? Could it be!”

A daring realization flashed through his mind. Only then did Lan Wu Xi grasp the delicate nature of his situation, leaving him utterly at a loss for words.

“There’s no need to be so tense. After all, we’re practically family, so you needn’t be so reserved. Moreover, you just rescued my granddaughter; by all rights, I owe you another favor this time. Ah, indeed, the new waves push forth the old. Truly, he is his father’s son!”

With a tone of approval, Elder Huang commended Lan Wu Xi before turning to leave. Seeing this, Lan Wu Xi quickly followed suit.

‘I can’t believe that person is the Huang family’s esteemed daughter. No wonder those people were… But why did he say ‘another’ favor? Did I mishear? Hmm, it must be. And that ‘son’ he mentioned probably wasn’t even referring to me. Yes. That’s definitely it!’

With these thoughts, Lan Wu Xi’s anxious heart instantly settled. He never imagined that by sheer coincidence, he would end up associated with a powerful family like the Huangs. Moreover, their attitude towards him seemed quite friendly, devoid of any great family’s typical arrogance. Perhaps he could use this opportunity to build a good relationship, and perhaps, in the future, even rely on them to escape some calamity.

Soon, Lan Wu Xi followed Elder Huang into the living room. Upon entering, Lan Wu Xi immediately spotted a familiar figure: none other than Huang Yao Yue.

Huang Yao Yue had long since noticed Lan Wu Xi trailing behind Elder Huang. A flicker of delight appeared on her face, only to be quickly suppressed.

“Grandpa~”

Huang Yao Yue scurried over, then glanced meaningfully at Lan Wu Xi before hesitating slightly and speaking softly.

“Oh, you’re awake. I actually thought you’d be sleeping for a few more days…”

“Indeed! Fortunately, I’m blessed with great fortune and a long life. I thank Miss Huang for her kindness.”

“No, no, no, it was clearly my…”

“Hahahaha, there’s no need for you two to be so bashful with each other. You’ll be family from now on, so why be so reserved?”

Elder Huang laughed heartily, watching his nervous granddaughter. He had never seen her so timid and shy. It seemed this Lan Wu Xi truly possessed some skill, just as his father had said. Thinking this, perhaps giving away his precious granddaughter wouldn’t be a complete loss.

“Grandpa~ Don’t talk nonsense! You’re old enough to know better than to be so shameless~”

Huang Yao Yue’s cheeks instantly flushed crimson as she chided him. Lan Wu Xi, too, awkwardly scratched his head.

‘This Elder Huang is quite amusing with his words. I almost took him seriously for a moment. These old folks really do love to tease young people.’

“By the way, what technique did you use to defeat Yun Tianqi? I’ve never heard of such an overbearing move.”

To prevent her grandfather from saying anything more embarrassing, Huang Yao Yue quickly changed the subject. This also piqued Elder Huang’s interest, and he looked at Lan Wu Xi expectantly.

“It was just a cultivation method I stumbled upon. I suppose it was my luck, really. Back then…”

Lan Wu Xi then spun a tale about accidentally entering an ancient master’s cave, passing a series of trials, and naturally acquiring the cultivation method. Of course, all of this was fabricated, cobbled together from the tropes of the fantasy novels he used to read, with a few minor adjustments.

It wasn’t that Lan Wu Xi was particularly cunning; he genuinely didn’t know the name of the cultivation method he used to defeat Yun Tianqi. He only remembered that when he was a child, his father took him to an unnamed temple—though it was more like a grand Buddhist sect guarding a region.

He even recalled the purpose of his father bringing him there: apparently, he wanted him to participate in a Buddhist aptitude test. At the time, he only remembered being led to a pillar, where a crystal-clear orb floated. Following their instructions, he placed his hand upon it. Instantly, countless visions surged into his mind: demons and monsters of all kinds, azure dragons soaring across the nine continents, followed by a dark and desolate scene of war, with countless corpses piled upon the ground, blood flowing like a sea.

He saw innumerable cultivators, capable of flying and burrowing through the earth, frantically rushing towards a single spot. At that location, a black ring of light formed a pillar, and countless world-shattering techniques failed to approach its center by even an inch. People’s eyes glowed with fanaticism, as they rushed forward like moths to a flame, perishing beneath that unattainable light, their souls scattered.

Lan Wu Xi had no idea what had driven these people to such reckless abandon. Even though the surrounding ten-mile radius was already a bloody storm, cultivators continued to pour forth, surging into the fray.

Blood flowed like rivers and seas, bones piled up like mountains.

Slaughter, death…

This continued for a very long time. Lan Wu Xi progressed from initial nausea and disgust to a dull acceptance. Finally, after an unknown period, the black pillar abruptly receded. Then, a figure suddenly appeared in mid-air. With a mere snap of their fingers, the countless corpses and skeletons that littered the ground instantly turned to dust. All things vanished in that moment…

Lan Wu Xi remembered nothing after that. When he awoke, he found his hand resting on the crystal orb, which now emitted a dark, ominous color. The person in charge of the test merely sighed helplessly and waved a dismissive hand, disheartened. And so, Lan Wu Xi was led away. No one noticed, however, that after Lan Wu Xi left with his disappointed father, the crystal orb, symbolizing hope and Buddhist enlightenment, suddenly cracked with a ‘bang’.

Though the test result was disappointing, Lan Wu Xi inexplicably gained a cultivation method in his mind.

Every time he thought of it, Lan Wu Xi felt fortunate that he hadn’t been chosen back then. He wondered what possessed his father to want him to become a monk; otherwise, his remaining twenty years truly would have been spent in a Buddhist monastery.

Meanwhile, that cultivation method gradually took shape in his mind, finally flashing through like a series of vivid illustrations. However, the cost of executing its techniques was enormous. Even a cursory understanding of it evoked a sense of danger, hinting that it might even require sacrificing one’s lifespan.

Thus, Lan Wu Xi had always treated this cultivation method as a forbidden art, only to be used in life-or-death situations. Yet, with just one or two moves, his stamina was instantly depleted, revealing just how terrifyingly consumptive this method truly was.

“That’s how it happened.”

After a few minutes, Lan Wu Xi finished his story, observing Elder Huang and Huang Yao Yue’s incredulous expressions. Beads of cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead, and like a thief with a guilty conscience, his eyes darted left and right, unable to meet theirs directly.

‘Did I make that sound too fake? Surely only a fool would believe it…’

“Hmm… I see. Indeed, the continent is full of hidden talents, and countless powerful elders live in reclusion. Your encounter is a testament to your good fortune.”

Elder Huang stroked his beard and nodded, seemingly convinced by Lan Wu Xi’s fabricated tale, while Huang Yao Yue wore an expression of envy and admiration.

‘Holy crap!’

Making up for yesterday’s missed update. Hehe, it feels so good~