Chapter 17: How Do You See Me Now?

Ning Xuan slowed his steps and slowly stood in front of a row of white walls, standing straight, his head slightly raised, his eyes flickering with a complex expression.

The voices in the study in the distance gradually quieted down. The two people in the study were obviously talking in a lighter and more hidden way.

However, just a few words were enough for Ning Xuan to glimpse the tip of the iceberg of the truth.

This was a truth about his family.

This world was obviously not as he, and not as most people perceived it to be, a world with only low-level martial arts.

The imperial court of this world had a very mysterious power. This could be vaguely deduced from “Great General Qin Shanjun,” “dragon qi,” and “Heavenly Master realm.”

And his father’s true identity was, in all likelihood, a member of this mysterious imperial court.

He didn’t know what his father had done before the age of thirty-five, but he knew that at that time, his father already had a descendant, a descendant whom he hoped could inherit his mantle. This person was the one who “called himself his older brother.”

But that mysterious imperial court did not seem to allow his father to do so.

He could roughly guess the reason.

To avoid the situation of a “hereditary local emperor.”

Ning Xuan could completely imagine that with his father’s prestige, as long as he gave an order, many forces in the surrounding prefectural cities would flock to him. This was still under the condition that he was just a pretty boy dandy. If it were a person who had completely inherited his father’s mantle, then it would truly be a “private world,” and the mysterious imperial court would definitely not allow it.

Therefore, his older brother could not be exposed.

Therefore, his birth also became a matter of course.

In order to deceive others, his father had him with his mother.

He was also logically raised to be a dandy who ate, drank, and gambled, so as to put the mysterious imperial court at ease.

Speaking of which…

He had inherited wealth and honor from his father, while his older brother had inherited ability, danger, and a bumpy road.

Now, his father’s qi and blood seemed to be declining. Even if Ning Xuan was unwilling to admit it, he could feel that his father did not have many years to live. In his seemingly refined body, his flesh and blood had already decayed to the point of an old man in his eighties.

Therefore, a marriage was imperative.

That mysterious imperial court obviously had rules, and these rules were to completely transfer the “possible hereditary successors” away from their original land, so the imperial court wanted him to get married.

His father also had his father’s plans. His father had to consider him, his mother, and the entire Ning family, so he tried his best to get him a marriage that was already considered not bad from his father’s own perspective.

Moving to the Hanzhou Ranch and marrying the illegitimate daughter of the Qin family was essentially not much different from marrying into her family.

But General Qin must be very powerful.

His father’s idea was: it’s okay to be wronged a little, who isn’t wronged? As long as you live a peaceful and prosperous life, it’s good.

For a moment, Ning Xuan couldn’t tell who his father was biased towards.

Suddenly, his thoughts drifted a little.

He remembered when he was a child, his father took him horse riding, riding on the ancient plains, seeing all the flowers, and telling him “fairy tales from another world” that he had heard from somewhere; his father carried him on his back, ran around, held his hand, and taught him to fly a kite. He didn’t scold him when he made a mistake, in short, he doted on him to death…

For his father to have reached this step, Ning Xuan could already imagine that his father was definitely a ruthless and decisive person with ambition, otherwise he would not have taken this step.

But such a father had once given him the best tenderness in his life.

In this life, his father was his real father.

Therefore, he should cooperate with his father.

Don’t let his father’s plan have any variables.

Don’t put the whole family in danger because of his own willfulness.

In this way, he could fulfill the father-son relationship of this life.

“Hanzhou Ranch…”

In front of Ning Xuan’s eyes, a boundless, white-cloud-filled grassland seemed to have appeared.

He sent Xiao Jie away to avoid angering his legal wife; he tried his best to behave himself under someone else’s roof, carefully concealing his power, only revealing a little at a time to gain status; that legal wife was an illegitimate daughter, and would occasionally be a punching bag at home, and he would need to be the punching bag among punching bags, to be a person who was a good-for-nothing on the surface, but was actually getting stronger and stronger, and at the same time, he would think every day, “One day, one day…”

At night.

In the Ning family’s study.

Old Master Ning was not yet asleep.

The door of the room was pushed open again.

Old Master Ning looked at the young man who walked in with a gentle and kind smile, and then said, “I knew you couldn’t sleep and would definitely come to ask me for a clear answer. I had the cook prepare wine and dishes long ago. By the way, have we, father and son, ever drunk together?”

“Dad.”

Ning Xuan interrupted him.

Ning Taiyi looked at him with interest, smiled and said, “Do you have a surprise for Dad?”

Ning Xuan nodded.

Ning Taiyi’s smile faded, and he stood up and said solemnly, “Dad is looking forward to it.”

He said he was looking forward to it, but he was actually not looking forward to it. He had even guessed what his son was going to do: nothing more than being restless, thinking he was a martial arts prodigy, and wanting to refuse to marry into Hanzhou because of this.

He had great tolerance for his son’s “immaturity,” so he wanted to listen to his son’s words seriously first, and then slowly persuade him to understand: in this era, martial artists are just more chewy flesh, just cannon fodder on the battlefield of the new era, just trash.

However, to his surprise, Ning Xuan said calmly, “Dad, I know that you must have considered everything carefully when you do things. This time, the marriage you arranged for me at the Hanzhou Ranch was also a decision made after considering all aspects.”

Ning Taiyi was stunned for a moment and said, “My Xuan’er has grown up.”

Ning Xuan said, “It is precisely because of this that I don’t want there to be any variables in Dad’s plan.”

Ning Taiyi said curiously, “What variables?”

Ning Xuan said, “Dad, can you tell a person’s level by observing their qi and blood?”

Ning Taiyi nodded.

Ning Xuan said, “Then how do you see me now?”

As soon as his voice fell, he no longer concealed the calm qi and blood in his body. Even if he did not use the Heavenly Demon Record, he was already a being with a constitution of 2.2.

If before his words fell, his qi and blood were just a calm small river, after his words fell, the qi and blood immediately boiled, rolled, and roared.

He clenched his fists, and fine and tough muscles rose like steel bars. He raised his eyes, like a ferocious beast in the midnight jungle that chose people to devour. His aura was powerful, like a wolf smoke, pressing down on people so that they could not breathe, and making people shiver with fear.

He was truly a monster in human skin.

After Ning Xuan’s own constitution broke through 2.0, he had faintly felt that this “2.0” was very likely the limit of a martial artist.

To break this limit, external force was needed.

And he had a natural external force – the Heavenly Demon Record.

He had easily broken through the impossible limit that was extremely difficult for others.

Ning Taiyi’s pupils showed a look of gradually disbelief.

The next moment, he suddenly said sternly, “You’ve been infected with the demon plague?!”

Ning Xuan was stunned, “What demon plague?”

Ning Taiyi strode forward and anxiously pointed at his forehead.

This refined old man suddenly shone with golden light.

He closed his eyes, obviously checking Ning Xuan.

After a long time, he put away his finger and said in a somewhat dazed voice, “You… you haven’t been infected with the demon plague? Impossible, without being infected with the demon plague, it’s absolutely impossible to practice to this level. You… you…”

Ning Xuan said honestly, “I have been training hard every day, it’s not just talent.”

Ning Taiyi said, “How did you train?”

Ning Xuan told him about his daily training.

Ning Taiyi was obviously a little confused. He rubbed his forehead and said, “Xuan’er, you go and rest first. Let Dad sort it out, sort it out.”

P.S.: It’s summer vacation. I’m traveling with my family and children today. I took a train all morning. After lunch, I rested for a while and have been writing in the hotel. I’m posting the first chapter now.

The updates may be a bit late these few days, but there will definitely be no less. I’ll explain the reason in advance, sorry, sorry.