Father stopped dead in his tracks."Ah. We"ve been spotted."
I raised my head and saw mother standing in a power stance, blocking the doorway.
"Did you have fun putting our child inches from death, Carlo?"
Father gulped nervously.
"I didn"t see him there?"
It was halfway between a question and a statement. Whatever it was, it wasn"t going to help him.
"And you think that that"s better? Huh?"
"No?"
Father"s sheepish semi-question sent blazing fury into the mother"s eyes. She didn"t have any qi but… she had a different kind of power.
"I"m banning you from doing this," she waved her finger in a sa.s.sy circle, "for a week!"
"Please, you know how hard I"m trying…" father groaned.
"You," she interrupted, "need to settle down! You have a son now! First you poison him, now this…"
She turned around and started to walk off, letting out one last quip.
"There"s no war here Carlo."
In contrast to her previous tone, this was quieter and tinged with sadness. Father stood still, watching her walk away. When she was out of earshot, he whispered in my ear.
"She"s just mad about last week."
As he carried me back to my nursery, I couldn"t help but feel that father had missed the point slightly.
There was no doubt in my mind now that father was a skilled cultivator and fighter. I was desperate to hear his stories and learn his combat techniques, but I could wait.
Fighting had no place in my current lifestyle. Building my physical, spiritual and mental bases was the best use of my time.
Later that day, father brought me into the study to test my cultivation strength. He placed the crystal on my chest, but the light didn"t change.
"Hmm," he mused, "still Middle Warrior Grade."
He rubbed my head and smiled at me.
"You have amazing control for your grade!" Somewhat bitterly, he added, "And you"re thirteen years ahead of me…"
I had achieved another minor breakthrough, but my level had stayed the same? Shattering my soul must have brought my cultivation down a step.
Over the coming week, I consolidated my progress and expanded my soul. What interested me most was exploring the house.
Despite her strict gestures, mother"s anger was focused on father. As he was restricted, I was released, free to roam.
The library was an interesting place, but a "library" was perhaps too generous a description of father"s book collection. Only a few books dotted the many shelves.
From their t.i.tles, I gathered that they covered three topics. Military tactics, historical accounts of battles, and cultivation techniques.
I was only able to see bits of what he wrote each day, but he seemed to be a military historian. Father was clearly a man who lived and breathed war.
Mother was a strong woman, but in a different way. When she wasn"t spending time with me, she did ch.o.r.es at an inhuman pace.
She was a clean freak, and every room I entered was spotless. An impressive feat, given the floor s.p.a.ce.
There was a large meeting room next to the study, with a beautifully bright dining room behind it. The kitchen and pantry were connected to the dining room in the far corner of the left wing.
My nursery seemed to be a converted spare bedroom in the right wing. Mother slept in the bedroom beside me, and father slept in the only bedroom in the opposite wing.
The first time I went on a secret night time adventure, I found out why he slept there. His snoring put the rumble of his Ocean Parting Strike to shame.
I wanted to see what was outside the walls. I crawled through the circular doorway and out of the house.
A winding path led down a sloping valley and into a sleepy town. Low, tiled roofs glowed in the pale moonlight. One proud building stood apart from the rest.
It lay on the outskirts of the town, built in a style similar to imperial eastern architecture. A sprawling complex of gardens, large courtyards and cottages spread out behind it.
I channelled qi to my eyes to see if there were any cultivators. While the bulk of the town was dark, golden qi leaked from the cottages.
A multi coloured miasma smothered a mountain which lay some distance from town. I could just about see a small courtyard and a wall dotted with towers at the base of a cliff.
That must have been where I went to see Crow. As for the complex, I desperately hoped that it was some kind of sect.
Satisfied with what I had seen for the night, I crawled back to the nursery. I was careful to wipe off every speck of dirt before climbing back into my cot.
Over the next months, the weather grew colder, and the nights longer. This was no problem for me, as my hands were full adapting to my growing body and soul.
My qi capacity was nearly five times greater than when I started, but I had no breakthroughs. One night, I tried to get a better understanding of them.
In the books, they came with explosive power increases. I hadn"t felt anything like that. Maybe I was just too weak to notice the difference?
Also, what caused them to happen? I brought my mind back to the events leading up to each breakthrough. I realised that they followed shortly after I broadened my understanding of qi.
If the novels had taught me anything, it was that rushing cultivation levels was weak. Fortunately, I had plenty of time to reach the peak of Middle Warrior Grade, whatever that was.
In the daytime, I had gotten fed up of waiting for information. I started simple, asking my parents "wa.s.sat?" about various small things.
I had also started walking a bit, relying on some encouragement from father as a cue. Now I could walk, mother let me play outside, as long as I stayed within the walls.
Four months had pa.s.sed without incident, when father had some new, interesting visitors.
One crisp morning, a family showed up at our door. Father came out of his study to greet them, but he stopped a few feet away.
The father of the family walked up a few paces, stopped, then clicked his heels and saluted. For a few seconds of awkward silence, he held the pose.
Father snickered, and the man started laughing. They broke the stand off and paced towards each other, then shook each other"s hands.
"How"s retirement treating you, old b.a.s.t.a.r.d," the man jovially chimed.
"Not as bad as you!" father laughed in response.
They came together for a ma.s.sive bear hug. Father towered head and shoulders over this man and enveloped him.
I realised I didn"t really know how tall father was. I could guess large distances, but I had no precise scale of reference for smaller ones.
"I heard you got your first little boy! Sorry I didn"t come to see you sooner, my youngest"s been a handful."
"Don"t worry about it," father chuckled.
He walked over to the mother, kissing her on both cheeks.
"Lovely to see you Lucia, how"s Tony been treating you?"
She sighed, "Well enough, but I wish you taught him how to be a man!"
Father laughed, and Tony shook his head.
Mother came out into the courtyard and beckoned Lucia over.
"Come on in! Bring the kids!" She turned and directed her voice to me "Oscar, you come too!"
I hopped down from the bench and waddled over to her. We sat in the dining room, with a gorgeous view over the cliffs.
"How old is he now?" Lucia asked.
"He"s just turned ten months. Time flies!"
Lucia sent me a look of confusion.
"And he"s walking so well already?"
My heart skipped a beat. Had I blown my cover?