“Mother, there’s no need!”
w.a.n.g Chong hurriedly turned her down.
“Why?”
Madam w.a.n.g was surprised. She didn’t think that w.a.n.g Chong would react in this way.
“Chong-er, I’m doing this for your welfare! Actually, I should have gotten you a teacher long ago. This only happened because of your father’s absence and my negligence. Listen to me this time round!”
“Mother, wait a moment first. The Kunwu Training Camp isn’t opened yet, right? Let’s talk about it some time later.”
w.a.n.g Chong tried to avoid the topic.
w.a.n.g Chong knew that his mother was doing it out of goodwill, but given his present condition, he didn’t need a teacher. Rather, it was more fitting for him to become a teacher for others instead.
Bringing in a teacher who was ignorant of his condition might constrain him instead. He would have to think twice before doing anything, and he wouldn’t be able to operate freely as he wished to.
Take for example, the secret alchemist organization. Given how the other party was tutoring him on his martial arts, it was just a matter of time before he found out about it.
Once the secret leaks out, the entire w.a.n.g Clan would be implicated by the matter, and all of w.a.n.g Chong’s past efforts would have been in vain.
“What do you mean by wait a moment! By then, it will already be too late. Preposterous! Listen to me, I’ll find a suitable teacher for you. This matter is settled then!”
Madam w.a.n.g finally brought our her seniority as a parent. It would be too late to start cultivating by the time the Three Great Training Camps open. To treat this matter so lightly, this was no different from fooling about!
“Sigh, mother. I’ll tell you the truth then. Actually… I already have a teacher!”
Seeing his mother’s determination in this matter, even going to the extent of deciding on his behalf, w.a.n.g Chong decided to ‘confess’.
“You have a teacher?”
Madam w.a.n.g was shocked.
“Indeed! Mother, didn’t you realize that my cultivation has grown significantly recently? Didn’t I defeat the grandson of Duke of Xu, Xu Xuan, back in the Four Quarters Emba.s.sy? Actually, I already have a teacher. Furthermore, it’s uncle who a.s.signed him to me.”
At this crucial moment, w.a.n.g Chong hurriedly brought out Uncle Li Lin. As an expert in the Imperial Army, Uncle Li Lin’s name was extremely persuasive.
“Your uncle?”
As w.a.n.g Chong expected, as soon as mother heard Uncle Li Lin’s name, she immediately frowned. However, she didn’t pursue the matter any further.
“It’s indeed possible for your uncle to find a teacher for you. After all, your uncle is from the Imperial Army, and the royal palace is filled with experts. Given his capability, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a good teacher for you.”
Madam w.a.n.g finally relented.
w.a.n.g Chong hurriedly made use of this intermission to change the topic, winning him some laughter from his mother. When he left the room, he hurriedly wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead.
“I have to inform uncle on this matter to ensure that there are no lapses in our stories.”
w.a.n.g Chong thought. Even though he had used uncle as a s.h.i.+eld for the time being, w.a.n.g Chong didn’t dare to get careless. His mother might not be a difficult person, but she wasn’t someone easy to fool either.
Who knows when she will suddenly feel inspired to ask about this matter.
“Looks like I have to bring forward my plan then!”
w.a.n.g Chong thought as he recalled a matter. Leaving his home, he rode on his carriage all the way to the Wei Residence.
“w.a.n.g Chong, hahaha! You’re finally back!”
Upon hearing the news of w.a.n.g Chong’s arrival, Wei Hao immediately dashed out excitedly. He stared at w.a.n.g Chong so pa.s.sionately that it felt as though his eyes were about to tear a hole through him. A month of absence and Wei Hao looked significantly bulkier than before. He also seemed much more spirited as well.
Furthermore, there were a few scions who were following behind him.
“When I heard that you left the city, I visited your residence a few times but even your guards didn’t know where you went. Right, these are a few followers I have accepted recently. Tao Chun and Liu Jin, hurry up and pay respect to Young Master Chong!”
Wei Hao laughed heartily as he gestured to the duo behind him.
“Paying respect to Young Master Chong!”
Upon hearing Wei Hao’s words, the two scions quickly bowed. When they lifted their head, their eyes stopped momentarily on w.a.n.g Chong, who was still within the carriage. Slight fear could be seen in the depths of their eyes.
There was no one in the Eight G.o.ds Pavilion who hadn’t heard of w.a.n.g Chong.
“Seems like you’ve been getting by well recently!”
w.a.n.g Chong looked at the two scions in surprise. Wei Hao was a well-known ‘lone wolf’ in the Eight G.o.ds Pavilion, and other than w.a.n.g Chong, he had no friends.
To think that this fellow would actually find himself some followers!
“It’s still alright! I’m doing fine these days!”
Initially, w.a.n.g Chong visited Wei Hao because he had some matters to ask of him, but he shoved it aside for the moment.
“Hehe, true! You don’t know how obedient that lad Gao Fei is after I beat him up. Heh, did that lad Su Bai think that it’ll be that easy to get me? Now, in the Eight G.o.ds Pavilion, I, Wei Hao, am a powerful figure. No one dares to stand in my path now!”
Wei Hao patted his chest gleefully.
“Haha, Youngster Wei, don’t think that you can pull that one over me. Do you think that I don’t know you?”
w.a.n.g Chong immediately exposed his lie. After which, he beckoned him to come onboard the carriage.
“Come up, I have some things I need to talk to you about!”
“Oh. You two should return first, I will find you two later on.”
Seeing w.a.n.g Chong put on a grave expression, Wei Hai instructed the two scions before diving into w.a.n.g Chong’s carriage.
Soon, the carriage started moving. Wei Hao took a seat opposite to w.a.n.g Chong.
“w.a.n.g Chong, what’s the matter?”
“Wei Hao, do you remember the person I told you about the last time? The one that I asked you to find for me?”
“Zhang Munian?”
“No, the other one. It can’t be that you’ve forgotten about it?”
w.a.n.g Chong asked worriedly.
“Ah, you mean that.”
Wei Hao immediately understood what the other party was talking about.
“I’ve conducted the matter regarding the Charity Hall exactly as you’ve said. Now, there are more than thirty branches set up around the capital, and every day, we’ll spare some porridge, clothes, and blankets to vagrants. However, the daily expenditure for it is extremely high, and the money you gave me is running out. As for the elder you asked me to look for, I’ve asked my men to keep a lookout for him but there’s no response yet.”
After the matter at the Bluebottle Pavilion, under the plea of his uncle, w.a.n.g Chong sold the first Wootz steel sword to Zhao Fengchen at a price of 37000 gold taels.
w.a.n.g Chong gave half of the sum to Arloja and Ablonodan, the other half to Wei Hao. It was then that w.a.n.g Chong requested him for a few favors.
The first matter was to set up the Charity Hall.
In his previous life, when the w.a.n.g Clan became dest.i.tute, w.a.n.g Chong ended up roaming the streets, and he experienced bitterness, disdain, humiliation, hunger, and coldness.
It was because he had experienced this life and accepted the help and charity of others that he was able to empathize with the plights of other vagrants.
Regardless of which time-s.p.a.ce continuum one was in, even in the most prosperous era, there were always dest.i.tute, exiled vagrants and beggars.
There were many reasons for their poverty. Some of their clans had fallen, just like w.a.n.g Chong; some of them were born with disabilities; some of them had met with disasters; some of them had suffered great traumas; some of them had lost the land which they made a living on…
Regardless of the reason, there was a tragedy behind every single one of them!
It was because of his personal experience that w.a.n.g Chong thought of establis.h.i.+ng this Charity Hall to help those in need, just like how those anonymous strangers helped him in his previous life.
This was one of the wishes w.a.n.g Chong had from his previous life!
Other than that, he was also looking for a mysterious old man.
There were several things that w.a.n.g Chong sorely desired in his previous life, but never got a chance to obtain! Even at the brink of death, these things remained unfated with him.
One of them was Su Zhengchen’s 《Art of G.o.d and Demon Obliteration》. In the battle at the capital, Su Zhengchen slaughtered thousands of foreign invaders alone with his earth-shattering sword art, thus dulling their powerful offense.
Right after this unparalleled technique showed its edge and took the world by shock, it was buried with Su Zhengchen in the rubbles of the capital, destined to remain lost for eternities to come.
In the days ahead, there were countless desperate battles where such a powerful divine technique was required, but regretfully, no one possessed the knowledge or capability to fill the gap.
In w.a.n.g Chong’s previous life, whenever people spoke of this technique, they couldn’t help but sigh regretfully.
Other than that, there was also the 《Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art》.
During the battle against the foreign invaders in the Central Plains, there was a particularly exceptional individual. Without any weapons, he was able to slaughter innumerable foreign invaders.
All of the foreign invaders who stood before him died tragically, reduced to dried rotting corpses.
The strength that this individual displayed with the 《Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art》 in the war against the foreign invaders didn’t pale in the least to Su Zhengchen, who fended off an entire army in the capital by himself.
In that catastrophic era, it was publicly recognized as one of the Five Mystical Arts!
However, it was a pity that even though that person had managed to obtain this unparalleled divine technique, his talent was simply too lacking. His fighting experience, reaction speed, agility, nimbleness, and adaptability couldn’t match up to the caliber of this divine technique.
Everyone thought that this mystical art was wasted on that person’s average talents.
However, it was after that person’s pa.s.sing that everyone realized that it wasn’t the case.
When that person was twenty-seven to twenty-eight, he was working as an employee for a wealthy clan. He didn’t have much of an achievement in martial arts, or rather, he didn’t even have an interest in it.
However, he had a strength that very few possessed—a kind heart. Even on normal occasions, he would help those in need.
One day, out of some sheer coincidences, he actually saved a peerless old demon. When that demon was younger, he committed many evil deeds. The blood of countless people dyed his hands, and his name was a topic of fear in the pugilistic world.
However, he was betrayed by his comrades, and eventually, he ended up being saved by the young man. After which, his nature suddenly changed. Abandoning his evil self, he started to commit himself to doing good instead, thus becoming a kind and compa.s.sionate old man.
This old man forced him the young man to accept his 《Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art》 and guided him to an entirely different route from what he had been walking on.
As though trying to redeem for his sins, as well as to alter the kind young man’s ordinary const.i.tution, the elder eventually gave up his strength and life to channel all of his energy into the other party, thus creating an unparalleled expert.
On the other hand, due to excessive loss of strength, the old man died.
Thus, this ordinary young man turned into a top-notch expert overnight! In order to repay the old man’s kindness, the kind young man forced himself to become cruel and callous to exact vengeance on those who had betrayed that old man then. He ended up walking on the same path as the old man, a path that he was unwilling to take from the very start!
—w.a.n.g Chong had never seen that person before, and all of these were stories that the kind young man spread out himself.
If a person treads on a path which he disliked, then even if he were to succeed, he wouldn’t be happy.
When a person of ordinary talents with no interest in martial arts stepped into the pugilistic world to repay another’s kindness, his fate was already sealed.
Eventually, the unparalleled expert who inherited the 《Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art》, due to his lacking battle experience, fell into an encirclement by those foreign steel cavalries and died.
As such, the 《Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art》 became lost!
Back then, w.a.n.g Chong hadn’t become the Grand Marshal of the Central Plains yet, and the martial artists of the Central Plains had also yet to organize the grand gathering to open up all martial arts to everyone yet!
Similar to the 《Art of G.o.d and Demon Obliteration》, it became one of the greatest regrets of the martial artists of the catastrophic era!