When he came into the world, a spectacle of white light eclipsing the moon spanned the sky.
The books said it was an auspicious omen.
Yet from Xu Changge's own judgment after reading that description in his childhood, that white light was either a grand spell formation or a manifestation of his father's Dao domain.
It seemed many in this world had not wanted him to be born.
When Xu Changge was still in swaddling clothes, the Prime Minister's Manor had not yet moved into the inner city, standing alongside the ranks of imperial kin and noble peers within the Imperial City.
To the left was the Prince of Langya's Manor, and to the right was Marquis Wucheng's Manor.
Compared to these two noble houses whose histories reached back centuries, the Prime Minister's Manor covered only a few dozen mu, resembling a child caught between two burly men.
And it was within this modest manor that Xu Changge grew up.
From the day he learned to walk, he could constantly hear boisterous shouts echoing beyond the courtyard walls.
Outside the side gate of the east wing lay a narrow riverside path. The river was three zhang wide, lined with weeping willows that stayed perpetually green. After Jingxiang Academy closed its doors for the day, children of the Imperial City's dignitaries and nobility would gather there to scuffle, play, and fool around.
The young Changge had once felt curious about the noises outside.
Unfortunately, his mother told him he could not go out, so he put the thought out of his mind.
Once he was old enough to know better, he spent all his time within the manor walls.
Perhaps by nature, young Changge was quite fond of this quiet, solitary life, though he was especially fond of staying by his mother's side.
His mother was a woman whose beauty defied description—scholarly, gracious, gentle, and captivating.
It was only a pity that both she and his father were always occupied. Only in the evening, after dinner had concluded, could she spare two hours to teach him how to read and write.
In time, young Changge grew accustomed to this routine.
When he was three years old, his parents became busier still, able to spare only enough time each day to share an evening meal with him.
Fortunately, he had already learned most written characters by then and could visit his father's study to pick out books to read on his own.
Aside from that, a chance encounter led young Changge to become captivated by the koi beneath the pavilion of the outer courtyard's waterside arbor.
Whenever the koi darted through the pond, young Changge could see faint, shimmering lines tracing their paths.
From then on, what he did most often was sit by the water's edge, gazing blankly at the swimming fish.
His small back would remain seated by the pond for an entire day.
On his fourth birthday, young Changge spent the day by the pond as usual.
Yet when dusk fell and he glanced back, he found his mother had returned at some unknown moment and stood quietly behind him.
Her red lips were pressed together as she watched him, her swan-like eyes carrying a hint of worry.
Young Changge could not understand that worry, so he did not ask.
However, from the day he followed his mother back to her courtyard, two women began tailing him wherever he went, circling around him all day with rattle drums, bells, and other trinkets.
At first, Xu Changge thought they were casting some sort of spell on him.
Only after inspecting his own body repeatedly using the methods recorded in his father's books—and finding nothing amiss—did he confirm one conclusion in his heart:
These two were fools.
Yet judging by the occasional remarks he overheard from the guards and servants in the manor, everyone else seemed to think he was the fool.
They whispered that Chancellor Xu and the head of the Feng family had sired a child with an afflicted mind.
These rumors appeared to have spread outside the estate as well.
Whenever Xu Changge passed the east wing's wall along the river, he would hear children outside shouting, "The Xu family fool is out to play!" before bursting into laughter and scattering.
It seemed to be an insult, but young Changge felt not the slightest ripple within his heart, continuing his daily routine as before.
Until one day, young Changge met the man in white.
It was an overcast day.
Thick, brooding clouds hovered across the sky, while low rumbles of thunder resembled the roars of a gargantuan beast.
As young Changge sat watching the fish by the pond as usual, a quiet, indifferent voice suddenly reached his ears:
"Do you sit here every day merely to watch the paths of their swimming?"
"......"
Jolted from his thoughts, Xu Changge suddenly noticed a pair of boots in the corner of his vision.
Lifting his gaze, he saw a man clad in white standing beside him.
His age was impossible to discern, but the look in his eyes provoked an irritation in Xu Changge that he had never felt since birth.
An inexplicable irritation.
Like two identical creatures repelling one another.
So young Changge ignored him. After a single glance, he went right back to watching the fish.
The man in white said nothing more either, quietly standing beside him to gaze down at the koi darting haphazardly across the pond.
One stood, one sat, for an entire day.
As the sun neared the horizon, young Changge pushed himself up with his small body and headed back to the inner courtyard for dinner.
From beginning to end, he did not look at the man in white again.
And after uttering that first sentence, the man in white made no move to speak to him either.
The next day.
After a night of rain, the manor was steeped in the fresh fragrance of damp earth, with glistening drops of water clinging to the tender green twigs.
When young Changge returned to the pond as usual, he found the man in white already standing there.
Xu Changge paused in his tracks, staring dubiously at the man for a moment.
His instinct told him the man must have stood there all night.
Yet the rain had poured heavily the previous night, and the man's robes were entirely dry, so he had likely just arrived before him.
Still without a word between them, Xu Changge sat down in his customary spot.
Another day passed in total silence.
Then came the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day...
Later, young Changge learned from his mother that the man in white was her elder brother—his maternal uncle.
This did nothing to change Xu Changge's opinion of the man, but after so much time spent in each other's presence, his impression of him improved considerably.
If nothing else, ever since Feng Jiuxuan's arrival, those two annoying, foolish women had not bothered him for a long time.
Finally,
after two months of silence, young Changge answered Feng Jiuxuan's question from their first day:
"How did you know?"
Young Changge began learning swordsmanship.
This maternal uncle was in fact a master whom his mother had specially found for him.
Under Feng Jiuxuan, young Changge held a sword for the first time, and for the first time learned the meaning of pain.
If annoyance was young Changge's first impression of Feng Jiuxuan, then perfection was his second.
Whenever he passed the manor's martial grounds in the past, Xu Changge would occasionally linger to watch the guards and retained elders sparring upon the platform.
Those men were powerful indeed, but amidst their blade glints and spells, he could always see vague, shimmering lines.
Feng Jiuxuan was different. Young Changge could see no lines upon him at all.
In the past, he had only felt this with his mother, but on his uncle, that sensation was even more pronounced.
As for his father...
Young Changge could not perceive a single thing from him.
Like the profound, unfathomable stillness of the dark night.
As his training deepened, Xu Changge had his first real sparring match with Feng Jiuxuan.
That evening, when young Changge returned to the courtyard as usual, his parents were already seated at the table, conversing softly as they waited for him.
When he climbed onto a high stool, picked up his bowl and chopsticks, and prepared to eat,
Xu Changge noticed his father freeze visibly upon seeing him, before turning his face away as if suppressing laughter.
His mother, typically as gentle as calm water, snapped her chopsticks in half with a crisp *crack*.
Young Changge had returned bruised and battered, his nose swollen and face black and blue.
The next morning, young Changge developed a third impression of his maternal uncle:
Petty.
Those were the exact words his mother spat as she rushed to the martial grounds, brandishing her flowing sleeves and pointing right at the uncle's nose.
Watching the sheepish awkwardness on the face of the uncle who had always worn the same stoic expression as his own, young Changge felt an inexplicable sense of gloating.
Yet what followed only proved the point.
This uncle truly was quite petty.
His strikes grew even heavier, though he never aimed for the face again.
Young Changge did not dislike his uncle's pettiness; if anything, he found it somewhat childish.
This routine of daily beatings continued until he turned six.
His uncle handed him a cultivation manual, telling him he could now formally begin cultivating.
In the days that followed, sparring sessions became less frequent, and most of his time was spent on his own cultivation.
Yet during cultivation, he liked to divide his focus.
He had discovered that circulating his technique caused the illusory lines in his vision to grow clearer.
At first, he would cultivate while sitting by the pond, watching the darting koi.
Gradually, however, the lines in his vision began to overlap with the fish.
Young Changge did not understand what they were, but instinctively felt he should observe people next.
His cultivation spot shifted from the waterside arbor in the outer courtyard to the top floor of the east tower. Sitting on the edge of the high eaves, he could overlook the fools gathering by the willow-shaded riverside.
Though it was entirely one-sided, this was truly his first encounter with peers his own age.
Watching the behavior of those children slowly bred doubts within him.
He could not fathom why they would spend half a day playing with an ant nest, let alone why they would plaster mud over their companions' faces.
There really are so many fools in this world...
When he was seven, young Changge climbed to the top floor of the east tower as usual. Just as he was preparing to watch the "koi" by the river while cultivating, a gaze suddenly fell upon him.
Young Changge was somewhat surprised, as this was the first time one of the "fools" had noticed him.
It was the "king" of the fools.
A chubby fellow so fat his eyes were squeezed into narrow slits, whom the other fools called the Young Prince.
Their eyes locked for an instant, and young Changge saw a line appear on the fat boy's body.
It looked as though he was about to grab some mud and throw it at him.
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than a clump of river mud cleared the courtyard wall and splattered against his white robes.
Seeing that his throw had hit, the fat boy clutched his belly and roared with laughter.
Seeing his reaction, young Changge became even more convinced that this group was a bunch of fools.
That "mud incident" seemed to serve as a beginning. The fools began throwing mud at him every day.
Their aim was poor, however. Most of it went wide, and only a few ever struck his robes.
Another year went by in this fashion.
Young Changge was eight.
That year, his mother became pregnant again.
It was also that year that his mother told him he could go outside and play with the other children.
Young Changge stared at his mother's radiant, earthly smile, thoroughly bewildered.
Play?
With those fools?
He would rather cultivate.
Young Changge voiced his objection, but his mother refused to listen. Plucking him up like a little chick, she tossed him out of the Prime Minister's Manor:
"No, children your age must play with other children! Changge, you're turning into a little old man!"
*Sigh...*
Young Changge felt a headache coming on.
It seemed his mother had turned foolish as well.
Given how those fools had behaved over the past year, they were bound to cause trouble the moment they saw him outside.
If that happened, he wouldn't be able to cultivate in peace.
Events unfolded somewhat differently from what young Changge anticipated.
He had stepped out at midday, but the fools arrived only in the afternoon.
A dense crowd of people.
Over the past few years, the children coming to play here had grown far more numerous than before.
The oldest among them were already twelve or thirteen.
All of them were the scions of imperial kin and prominent nobility. Xu Changge figured they had likely received instructions from their elders to curry favor with that "Young Prince."
For compared to the pure laughter outside the manor years ago, their exchanges had become thick with flattery in recent years.
Flattery aimed entirely at this Young Prince of the Prince of Langya's Manor.
The nature of their play had also shifted.
Sitting atop the east tower cultivating, young Changge had witnessed the evolution of these fools.
From playing with ants and poking bird nests, to playing at running a magistrate's office and interrogating prisoners, to strolling with birdcages, and now to gossiping about bedchamber secrets with their maidservants.
Young Changge had read books and understood roughly what they meant by male and female intimacies.
Moreover, sitting up on the east tower, he had watched with his own eyes as the Young Prince groped a girl from his entourage in a nearby alleyway.
A group of boys had stood laughing at the mouth of the alley, keeping watch for the fat Young Prince.
Young Changge remembered that the girl had looked thoroughly unwilling, yet had not dared utter a sound, likely because her parents had instructed her beforehand.
Afterward, that girl never appeared again.
Yet the fools' behavior only grew bolder.
That alley became a scene of licentiousness.
Sometimes it was the maidservants they brought along; other times it was the lower-status companions among them, whether girls or boys.
Some were coerced into submission, while others seemed to revel in it.
Occasionally, the fools would spot the calm gaze watching them from the rooftop and hurl stones up at him.
Young Changge did not care, as the stones were harmless.
Still, his mother would worry, so young Changge usually used the finger-sword technique his uncle taught him to shatter the stones in midair.
As he pondered these memories, the boys clad in luxurious ceremonial robes noticed him. After a round of astonished murmurs, they came sauntering forward with leering smiles and surrounded Xu Changge.
Over a dozen boys formed a semicircle around him. Xu Changge sat calmly on a stone mooring post by the riverbank.
"Is that the Xu Changge from the Chancellor's Manor?"
"Yeah, looks like him. I used to see him sitting on the roof all the time."
"Probably got jealous and sneaked out."
"What would a fool know about jealousy?"
"He's quite handsome, though. Should we let him join us?"
"You call that handsome? Doesn't he piss you off? The kid acts so arrogant, just like that Young Marquis."
"What's the use of acting arrogant? Didn't Mu Hongli still get beaten up by the Young Prince last time?"
"He hasn't said a word while we're talking about him. He really is a fool."
"Maybe he's just aloof. Our Young Prince loves that type best~"
"All right, shut up, all of you."
The noisy chatter was cut short by a smiling voice. The fat Young Prince looked around the circle. "Let's first ask what the young master of the Chancellor's Manor has in mind."
With that,
the plump youth made a show of dusting off his clothes, walked over, and asked with a beaming smile:
"Little brother Changge, want to come play with us?"
"......"
Xu Changge was not in the habit of responding to fools. He kept his eyes fixed on the water before him.
He had noticed that up close, the lines within the river were far more intricate and shifting than those on the fools behind him.
The small eyes on the Young Prince's fleshy face narrowed into slits. Reaching a hand toward the child's shoulder, he said with a grin:
"Your elder brother asked you a question. Why don't you answer?"
Young Changge felt the lines behind him shift.
It disgusted him.
He had seen that this Young Prince seemed to harbor a penchant for boys.
*Mm... I should cut off his hand.*
Just as the thought arose, a girl's voice filled with disgust rang out from behind the crowd:
"Tang Xiangsheng, aren't you revolting?"
The voice was youthful, yet brimming with fierce spirit.
Xu Changge had no interest in the voice—likely just another fool. But sensing the lines behind him retreat, he set aside the thought of striking for the moment.
The voice provoked a jeering retort from the crowd:
"Young Prince, why did your family's maid-born bastard run out again?"
The chubby youth replied with a lazy smile:
"My manor doesn't keep her under lock and key. Once her wounds healed, of course she'd come out."
"Sounds like she wasn't beaten hard enough last time."
"She loves sticking her neck out. How about we make her lie in bed for three months this time?"
"Suit yourselves."
"Heh, the girl's quite pretty, though," a somewhat immature voice said, tinged with lechery.
The silk-clad fat youth wasn't angry upon hearing this. He snorted with a laugh:
"If you're interested in her, you'd better have your father send a formal marriage proposal. Otherwise, you're insulting the dignity of my Prince of Langya's Manor."
"Forget it, then. Given your family's standing, it would have to be as a principal wife. I don't want to be tied to a foolish woman like her."
"Then we're making our move, all right?"
"Just remember not to kill her. Even if born to a maidservant, she's still a daughter of our Prince of Langya's Manor, born of a concubine."
"......"
Listening to the commotion behind him, Xu Changge remained tranquil.
The girl who spoke seemed to possess a Ninth Rank cultivation, but most of the boys behind him were at least Eighth Rank.
And the fat boy behind him was already in the Sixth Rank.
A fight with no suspense whatsoever.
To stand up for someone without the strength to back it up—she truly is a fool...
As the thought crossed his mind,
that fleshy hand reached toward him once more, accompanied by a low, smiling whisper:
"I'm sorry, little brother Changge, to make you witness such a—"
*Buzz—*
Before the sentence could finish, the fat boy leaped back several zhang with sudden agility, his squinting eyes filled with shock and uncertainty.
He looked at the slender back, then down at his own hand, deep bewilderment in his eyes.
A razor-sharp edge had just grazed the edge of his wrist.
Had he not dodged in time, his hand would have been severed cleanly at the base.
And that was not even the most shocking part.
What shocked him was that during that strike, an overwhelming despair had gripped him—a feeling that the blow was impossible to evade.
It defied logic.
This kid was merely in the Eighth Rank!
Before him, the small silhouette had already risen from the stone post, step by step.
Adding the two-foot height of the mooring post, Xu Changge looked down calmly at the fat boy several zhang away, his peripheral vision catching a glimpse of the outspoken maiden.
It seemed he had misjudged her.
She actually possessed some skill, managing to put up a decent resistance against a pack of Eighth Rank youths.
Just as that peripheral glance darted over, Tang Xiangsheng suddenly lunged forward to grab him, his rolls of fat quivering, his slit-like eyes gleaming with an excited sneer:
"You're the one who struck first, little brother Changge!"
"......"
Turning his eyes back, Xu Changge frowned slightly.
This was the first time he had fought anyone other than his uncle.
He could see no lines on his uncle, but at this moment, countless phantom silhouettes flickered before his eyes.
The phantoms drifted like grains of sand, before coalescing into a single point.
Amidst his confusion, Xu Changge slowly raised his hand, locked onto the point where the lines converged, and struck out sharply.
*Smack!*
A crisp crack resounded. The fleshy face twisted and deformed under the impact, and the hefty figure flew backward, crashing into the boys surrounding the girl.
The unexpected impact of his bulk knocked down several of them, creating an opening for the trapped girl. Like an agile monkey, she darted straight to the boy standing atop the stone post.
Xu Changge paid the girl no attention, casting his eyes down to stare at his own palm.
What was that just now?
He did not understand.
Just as he was about to ponder it, he felt his hand seized by the girl.
His brows drew together immediately.
He disliked physical contact with others.
Yet before he could voice any protest, the girl took him by the wrist and bolted along the riverbank, rebuking him as she ran:
"Are you an idiot?! Run!"
"......"
Hearing that, young Changge's frown deepened.
Staring at the back of the girl whose long hair whipped in the wind, he debated whether to slap her as well.
In the end, he decided against it.
Even among fools, there were degrees.
The girl before him did not seem entirely foolish; though he did not need it, she had acted to save him.
They sprinted full tilt along the path.
In the end, limited by the girl's cultivation, the two of them were cornered in that very alleyway as the sun set in the west.
The evening dusk washed over the world, coating everything in gold.
Watching the pack of youths striding toward them with menacing glares,
young Changge cast an expressionless glance at the girl beside him, who was propping her hands on her knees and panting for breath.
Seeing his look, the girl glared right back at him.
"......" young Changge.
He wanted to hit someone again.
Yet no sooner had the impulse arisen than the girl stepped forward to shield him, whispering:
"Hey kid, hurry and run. My surname is Tang too; they won't dare do anything serious to me."
Hearing this, young Changge nodded and turned to leave.
"......"
Seeing this, the girl grew frantic with anger:
"You're really running?!"
"......"
Young Changge halted his steps, looked back, and stared at her in silence.
Gritting her fine teeth, the delicate beauty stamped her foot in exasperation and waved him off:
"Fine, fine, get lost, quickly! Adults never come around here; they always pick this spot when they want to do bad things."
This time, young Changge did not leave immediately. After staring at the girl's slender, trembling frame for several breaths, he asked:
"You say no adults will come here?"
"Huh?"
The girl was taken aback, but nodded instinctively. "Right. The family living in this manor had their property confiscated. To avoid suspicion, nobody comes near this place for now."
Young Changge nodded.
"Oh."
"'Oh'?!"
Staring at the handsome, deadpan boy, the girl fumed, "Are you running or not?!"
Young Changge replied calmly:
"Up to you."
The girl clenched her fists instinctively. Had the situation permitted, she would have loved nothing more than to plant her fist right in his face.
Catching her breath, she snapped in a youthful voice:
"Leave or stay, what does it have to do with me?!"
"All right then."
Young Changge gently tied back his long hair, folded up the sleeves of his cyan robes, and walked at an unhurried pace toward the group of youths.
Seeing this, the girl hurriedly grabbed him, scolding in annoyance:
"Are you an idiot?! I said that in anger! With your cultivation, those pieces of trash will beat you half to death!"
"......"
Pausing in his tracks
with his back to the sinking golden sun,
young Changge turned his head slightly. His handsome profile was bordered by a rim of gold, his voice calm:
"Who told you I would lose?"
With that, he shook off the girl's hand and said coolly:
"And don't touch me so casually."
"......"
Leaving the girl gaping at him, her face contorting with rage, the boy strode toward the mouth of the alley.
When it all ended, the sky was already hung with a sea of stars, casting pristine moonlight across the ground.
Standing before a mound piled high with the bodies of the youths, young Changge, bruised all over, stared quietly at his own palm.
He had won.
Yet,
he still could not understand.
He did not understand what those lines that revealed themselves during the fight truly were.
As he was lost in thought,
a sharp sting suddenly came from his cheek. Young Changge turned his head to see the girl dabbing at his wounds with a silk handkerchief.
Seeing him look over, the girl smiled sweetly at him:
"You're pretty strong... Hurting, isn't it? Mother said to use ointment—"
*Smack!*
Young Changge swatted her hand away, his brows knit tight:
"I believe I told you: don't touch me so casually."
"......"
The girl froze. Then her exquisite features twitched twice, and a dangerous smile curled at the corners of her lips.
The very next instant,
Young Changge suddenly saw those intricate lines manifest before his eyes once more.
Only this time,
he had no energy left to dodge.
*Bang!*
The girl planted a fist squarely onto his handsome face.
The force was so great it knocked him flat onto the ground.
Frowning, young Changge tried to get up and fight back, only to see the girl plop down and straddle his waist.
*Bang!*
Another punch.
Young Changge simply lay still on the ground.
His assessment of the situation made it abundantly clear that in his exhausted state, he was no match for this girl.
It was better to simply lie flat.
Seeing the boy stop resisting, the girl straddling him suddenly felt a pang of guilt. She gave a soft huff:
"Smug jerk."
As she spoke, she retrieved a plaster her mother had brewed from her bosom. While applying it to Xu Changge, she muttered under her breath:
"Such a temper when someone's tending your wounds. You really don't know when someone's being good to you."
"......" Young Changge lay on the ground with his face turned aside, saying nothing, enduring it in silence.
Time seemed to slow at that moment. Starlight draped over the boy and the girl, cloaking them in a silver veil.
Looking at young Changge, who had been wrapped up like a zongzi, the girl smiled with satisfaction, her eyes curving like crescents.
Having finished, the girl rose from his waist and turned to walk toward the Prince of Langya's Manor.
At that moment, young Changge slowly sat up, stared at the girl's retreating figure, and called out:
"Hey. What's your name?"
"......"
The girl paused in her tracks. Her eyes blinked, and she turned back with a playful smile:
"Why? Want to thank me?"
Young Changge brushed the back of his hand against the cheek she had just struck, saying calmly:
"Once my injuries heal, I'm coming to find you."
The girl's willow-leaf brows twitched. Taking a deep breath, she huffed:
"Come on, then! I'm about to break through to the Eighth Rank too!"
"So what is your name?"
"......"
Suppressing the urge to beat him up again, the girl tossed her long hair and walked away into the distance without looking back.
After a long pause,
underneath the starlit sky, a youthful girl's voice, carrying a cold huff, drifted slowly into young Changge's ears:
"I live across from your house. My name is Tang Weijun. Make sure you don't look for the wrong person."
Chapter 604