Destiny

From Qing's words and conduct earlier, Xu Yuan had already faintly guessed the identity of this elder known as Wuming. Yet now that it was truly confirmed, his feelings were still somewhat complicated. In the internal reports of the Prime Minister's Manor, there were virtually no records concerning the old man named Wuming, but abundant traces had been left about this maternal grandfather of his. Whether or not the truth had been doctored, the grandfather in those records was an out-and-out tyrant—autocratic, ruthless, and bloodthirsty. Yet watching the constrained, uneasy elder before him, who even showed a faint hint of ingratiating eagerness, Xu Yuan found it truly difficult to connect him with that tyrant of the Feng family from the past. After Xu Yuan and Ran Qingmo took their seats, Feng Yuanqin remained standing to the side, his eyes constantly sweeping back and forth across the room. He seemed to want to find something to entertain his grandson, but looking around, he found that aside from a few leisure books, the entire room held only old, worn furniture. His eyes, veiled beneath snow-white brows and lashes, looked slightly crestfallen. Soon after, though, Feng Yuanqin offered a gentle smile and said softly, "This old man has nothing here to entertain you with. Just... just have a seat for now." Hearing this, Xu Yuan quietly retrieved a tea set from his Sumeru ring and set it on the low table before him, though they were all mundane mortal items. The tea was Red Robe simmered tea from the shores of Xilong Lake—fragrant, but devoid of spiritual qi. The fire to boil the water was also lit with a fire-striker; not a single trace of spiritual qi was used throughout the entire process. A mere sliver of leaked spiritual qi had provoked Feng Yuanqin to strike with that terrifying claw earlier; if he were given spiritual tea to drink, trouble might genuinely break out. Even with his identity confirmed, Xu Yuan had not lowered his guard against the old man. Staring at Xu Yuan's movements as he brewed tea for a few breaths, Feng Yuanqin's eyes beneath his snowy brows unconsciously revealed a trace of reminiscence. Sitting down silently across from Xu Yuan and Ran Qingmo, he murmured softly, "You and Qian'er are truly alike." Xu Yuan's hands paused slightly over the tea utensils, and he glanced up at the old man across from him. "Alike in what way?" Feng Yuanqin replied gently, "The way you brew tea, and your temperament. The same caution, the same prudence. When that girl visited me in the past, she also lit the fire with a fire-striker." At this, his expression softened somewhat. "Though the tea she brewed was considerably better than your Xilong simmered tea." Xu Yuan showed a flicker of interest. "Oh? What tea did Mother usually brew when she drank here?" "Tianqingxiang, specially supplied by the Li family." "Too poor. Can't afford it." "......" Feng Yuanqin was left speechless. Before long, the spring water in the kettle began to bubble and boil. Warming the cups and pot, adding tea leaves, rinsing, steeping, and pouring. Skillfully completing the entire tea ritual, Xu Yuan used tongs to gently place the first steaming cup of fragrant tea before Feng Yuanqin. Wisps of tea aroma drifted through the dim room. Feng Yuanqin's heavily wrinkled hands gently caressed the side of the cup. Feeling its scalding warmth, he murmured subconsciously, "This tea's heat control is a bit off. Simmering it for a moment less would keep the fragrance pleasantly mild and just right, and—" Xu Yuan paused in pouring tea for Ran Qingmo, rolled his eyes, and cut him off: "You're free not to drink it." "......" Hearing that, Feng Yuanqin immediately gave an embarrassed smile and fell silent, quietly picking up the teacup to savor the fragrant, astringent taste of the tea. The modest room lapsed into silence for a while. Ran Qingmo kept her head down and drank her tea; she understood nothing of tea appreciation. The moment her cup was filled, she picked it up and downed it in one gulp. Meanwhile, Xu Yuan and Feng Yuanqin sipped their tea, chatting sporadically. Most of the time, it was Feng Yuanqin who took the initiative to raise topics. Unfortunately, just like the generational divide between elders and juniors anywhere in the world, the room fell into silence after a line or two. He would rack his brains to bring up another topic, only for silence to settle once more. Yet through their conversation, the doubts in Xu Yuan's heart gradually cleared away. The records about this grandfather in the Prime Minister's Manor internal reports had not been falsified. Though Feng Yuanqin spoke with utmost caution, fearing he might anger his grandson and send him storming off, the condescension that occasionally slipped through unawares testified to this elder's past autocracy. It was deeply contradictory. Once the pot of fragrant tea was drained and conversation had completely faded, Xu Yuan was methodically washing the tea utensils when the old man opposite watched his movements and suddenly whispered, "Changtian, how about Grandfather brews the next pot?" "Hm?" Xu Yuan uttered a slight murmur of surprise and glanced up at the elder across from him, catching an obscure look of anticipation in those aged, clouded eyes. Puzzled at first, Xu Yuan soon let out a quiet sigh in his heart. The old man thought he was getting ready to leave... So he was using this excuse to keep him around a bit longer. It was clumsy, yet strangely heart-wrenching. Pushing the cleaned tea set across, Xu Yuan smiled softly. "Of course. I recall you used to love tea tasting, Grandfather. But after several decades, do you still remember how?" Feng Yuanqin let out a visible sigh of relief. Stroking his white beard, he smiled with confidence. "Rest assured. Your grandfather was hailed as the Tea Sage back then. Your mother's tea craft was taught by me. If you're interested—" "No thanks. I'm just putting on airs of refinement." "Oh... is that so." Feng Yuanqin did not press further upon hearing this; from their earlier talk, he had already noticed that this grandson of his did not have the mildest temper. With that thought, Feng Yuanqin took the tea utensils, a quiet smile spreading in his heart. That sharp temper took after him, at least. Heh... good, very good... Feng Yuanqin's former reputation as the Tea Sage was by no means an empty title. The same Xilong simmered tea brewed with the same spring water, yet the fragrant tea prepared by this grandfather was more than a cut above what Xu Yuan made. Even the Great Ice Block, who knew nothing of the tea craft, unconsciously let out a soft "Huh?" after gulping down a mouthful. Seeing the two juniors' reactions, Feng Yuanqin smiled with immense delight and murmured softly, "Looks like this old man's craft hasn't rusted after all. In those days, even if that old fellow Li Huanzhong wanted a cup, it depended entirely on my mood. Changtian, whenever you want some, just come here to Grandfather. I'll brew it specially for you." Li Huanzhong—emperor of the previous dynasty, Li Yaoxuan's father. With that, Feng Yuanqin topped off Xu Yuan's cup once more. After hesitating again and again, he still asked softly, "Changtian, did you come to see Grandfather this time for a particular reason?" As the former patriarch of the Feng family, even after decades shut away from the sky, the sharp eye honed by long years in high station had not faded. Xu Yuan looked up at him and said softly, "Today is the first day of the New Year." "......" Hearing this date, Feng Yuanqin lowered his aged eyes for a few breaths before murmuring quietly, "The turn of the year has arrived again...? What year of Jiajing is it outside now?" "The forty-seventh year." "Seventeen years already..." Feng Yuanqin brushed his rough fingertips lightly against his coarse grey hemp clothes. Looking at Xu Yuan, he asked softly, "Has Qian'er been well all these years?" "......" Xu Yuan lowered his eyes and said nothing. Seeing his grandson's silence, Feng Yuanqin seemed to understand. He raised a hand to press against his aged face. "This old man told her long ago that such things must not be touched. Why must she fly in the face of the entire world? What a foolish girl." Hearing this, Xu Yuan asked softly, "You don't hate Mother?" After all, his mother had joined forces with his uncle to rebel against this grandfather. "Hate...?" Feng Yuanqin aimlessly fiddled with the tea set before him, his voice carrying a faint, subtle complexity. "Of course I hated them. In my lifetime, I wronged many people, but the only ones I treated right were your mother and uncle. Yet they betrayed me for an outsider..." With that, Feng Yuanqin smiled faintly. "Still, after all these years, even the deepest resentment has faded. Besides, what your mother and uncle did was probably my own doing..." "......" Claiming he had done right by his children, yet also claiming he had brought it upon himself... Listening to these conflicting words, Xu Yuan showed a touch of bewilderment. Feng Yuanqin glanced at Xu Yuan across from him and chuckled softly. "It seems your father erased that matter from the chronicles. Understandable. Such things were never honorable to begin with; it's hardly fitting for the younger generation to know." Xu Yuan asked softly, "Could you tell me?" "You want to hear a story...?" A gentle warmth entered Feng Yuanqin's eyes, followed by a soft sigh. "There isn't much to tell, really. Put simply, your mother and uncle brought your father along, besieged me while I was attempting to break through to the Saint realm, placed me under house arrest, seized power over the Feng family, and then announced to the world that I had perished from backlash during my breakthrough." He had been attempting to break through to the Saint realm over thirty years ago. No wonder when they met again in Cangyuan, this grandfather possessed a level exceeding one hundred. The thought flickered past, and Xu Yuan reined in his mind, looking at the old man opposite. "Why?" Why had his mother and uncle rebelled against their own father? Feng Yuanqin did not answer immediately. His fingertips gently traced the tea tray for a good while before he murmured, "Are there still records about me in your Prime Minister's Manor?" "...?" Xu Yuan did not understand why his grandfather suddenly brought this up, but answered nonetheless, "Yes." "A bad reputation?" "Autocratic and arbitrary. Anyone who defied your will was killed." "Heh... your father didn't deliberately slander me after all." Feng Yuanqin smiled and carefully refilled Xu Yuan's teacup, his voice dropping low: "The Feng family is a millennium-old clan with tangled, complex branches. Handled poorly, the Long family of the imperial capital is a cautionary tale right before our eyes." With that, Feng Yuanqin suddenly asked Xu Yuan, "You should know about the Long family's affairs, right? After the patriarch died, the various branches fell into infighting, severely crippling their own strength, until in the end your father reaped the spoils. "In the end, it was because old man Long was far too indecisive in life. He didn't consolidate power, couldn't bear to kill, and allowed his progeny to tear each other apart. "I, Feng Yuanqin, am not like old man Long Tianyu. If a millennium-old clan wishes to endure and flourish, it must centralize power cold-bloodedly. Those who are useful rise to hold power, while those occupying high positions who are useless must be purged." At this point, Feng Yuanqin clenched his fists tightly and said softly, "To guarantee the absolute secrecy of intelligence, I killed your mother's friends. To secure your uncle's right of succession, I killed your unruly younger uncles. To preserve the absolute power of the Feng family patriarch, I killed your maternal grandmother and brought the Feng family's maternal relatives under control. "These things may not have been what your uncle and mother wanted, but I was indeed paving the way for them. When my time came to pass, they would inherit a mighty, centralized Feng family. "This is the destiny of prominent clans. Even now, I do not believe I was wrong." The elder's body trembled slightly, his low voice carrying a rasp: "Changtian, under the sway of power, bloodlines are merely for lineage; family affection is no longer absolute." "......" The warm yellow glow of the room's sole everlasting oil lamp shone upon the elder's sunken eye sockets, casting his gaze into shadow and making it indistinguishable, as a wordless presence rippled out from his hunched frame. Xu Yuan kept his eyes downcast and said nothing. What his grandfather said was the truth. The Prime Minister's Manor was a rare exception; clans like the Feng and Long families were the reality of prominent houses. An inheritance of a single mu of farmland could drive a peasant family to fight to the death, let alone supreme power that could sway an empire. *Rustle...* Amid the silence, Feng Yuanqin straightened his robes. The imposing presence from a moment ago vanished instantly, turning him right back into that cautious elder as he smiled and said, "Heh... this old man got a bit carried away. Changtian, you don't need to dwell on it. It's all in the past now. "After so many years, this old man has long since let it go. Whatever one seeks during their brief visit to this world, it all returns to dust and ashes in the end." Feng Yuanqin lowered his eyes, lifted the porcelain cup before him, and took a small sip. "So, Changtian, if you ask whether I hate your mother, Grandfather's answer is naturally no. After all, she didn't approve of what I did, so I can understand her rebellion." Xu Yuan pondered for a moment before asking softly, "Then Mother's death because of the sect..." Tea dampened Feng Yuanqin's white beard, his aged voice low and hoarse: "Back when your mother came to visit me, she often told this old man much about what she and your father were doing. I cautioned her, but she didn't listen. Back then, I told her that one must bear the burden of the path they choose. "So don't think about getting me to step back into the world to avenge her..." At this point, Feng Yuanqin chuckled softly and said half-jokingly, "This old man hates that father of yours the most, and that father of yours would never let me, the patriarch of the Feng family, out." "......" Silence. Looking at the hunched form of the old man opposite, Xu Yuan nodded gently. Decades of paving the way without being understood, followed by decades of house arrest, introspection, and retrospection. The past had come to naught, the passion grown cold—nameless, without hatred, and without love. "Enough of that." Feng Yuanqin shook his head and asked softly, "With Qian'er gone, how is Jiuxuan doing?" Xu Yuan replied, "Uncle is doing very well. The tremors in the Black Prison a while back were caused by his slashes when fighting a Saint." "Ho, is that so?" A trace of relief appeared in Feng Yuanqin's eyes. "Except for that father of yours, he stood above his generation from childhood. With his cultivation now, I'm afraid this old man wouldn't last a single bout against him." "......" Once the floodgates of conversation opened, the grandfather and grandson talked about many, many things. Feng Yuanqin listened quietly to Xu Yuan's accounts—listening quietly as he spoke of the adopted daughter Qian'er had taken in, of the Prime Minister's Manor's current prominence, and of Chang'an's passing. He remained very calm, just as calm as when he heard that his own daughter had passed away, making no gestures of emotion. Yet when Xu Yuan spoke of the world's current state and the schemes he wanted to lay down, this former restorer of the Feng family offered Xu Yuan a few cautious pieces of advice. As they spoke, time slipped away unawares. When it all came to an end, Xu Yuan said his farewells and rose to leave, only to be called back by Feng Yuanqin. Under Xu Yuan's somewhat puzzled gaze, the elder walked slowly to his grandson's side and patted his shoulder with gentle eyes: "Changtian, if you have time, go take a look at Mount Xifeng outside the Feng family ancestral lands."