Time flew by like a galloping horse. In the blink of an eye, little Qin Ren was already three years old.
On this day, after finishing the ancestral rites, Qin Xiaoyao called his two elder sons, Qin Feng and Qin Lei, into the grand hall. He poured himself a cup of tea, preparing for his annual fatherly lecture. Beside him sat Tie Linger, holding baby Qin Ren in her arms, smiling warmly as she looked at her two older sons.
"Qin Feng," Qin Xiaoyao asked his eldest, voice calm but commanding, "What do you want to become in the future?"
"I want to be a great hero!" the eight-year-old replied, full of conviction. "A sword-swinging warrior who fights for justice and protects the weak!"
Qin Xiaoyao nodded with pride. "Very good. You have ambition. Here—this is the Slanted Moon Seven-Star Sword, the very blade I carried while roaming the martial world in my youth."
Qin Feng received the legendary weapon—one of the Seven Divine Artifacts of Jianghu—with glowing eyes, overwhelmed with joy.
"And you, Qin Lei?" Qin Xiaoyao turned to his second son. "What is your goal?"
"I want to be a great hero too!" roared Qin Lei, who had only trained for one year but already had a voice like thunder. "I'll root out evil and defend the innocent!"
"Excellent!" Qin Xiaoyao handed him another Divine Artifact, the Furious Lightning Blade. "This was the weapon I used after I made my name in the martial world!"
Qin Lei struggled to lift the massive blade—three inches taller than himself—but held on tightly, his small face flushed red with effort and pride.
Meanwhile, little Qin Ren was still sucking on his fingers. Watching his brothers beam with excitement, he sneered childishly, "Sheesh… what's the big deal about some rusty sword and broken blade? Pathetic. When I grow up, I'm gonna be a flower thief and woo every beauty under the sun!"
His words made Qin Feng and Qin Lei gape at him like he was a monster. Even Tie Linger stared at the toddler in shock. But Qin Xiaoyao? His eyes sparkled as he slapped his thigh and laughed aloud.
"Hahaha! Excellent! A true chip off the old block! I'll teach you two secret arts that have long been lost to the world: the Burning Passion Inner Force and the Storm-Reversing Divine Skill!"
Tie Linger chuckled sweetly, gazing sideways at her husband. "Xiaoyao, back in the day, you really were quite the romantic rogue."
Qin Xiaoyao's face went pale. He coughed awkwardly. "L-Linger… that was before I met you! Ever since we married, I've been—haha—look, such nice weather today…"
Qin Ren yawned, mumbling as he burrowed into his mother's arms, "Whipped by your wife… A real man should have three wives and four concubines…"
Qin Xiaoyao and Tie Linger stared at each other in stunned silence.
Tie Linger smiled like spring but spoke through gritted teeth, "You've raised a wonderful son."
Qin Xiaoyao threw up his hands. "This has nothing to do with me! He's with you all day!"
When Qin Ren turned five, he officially began training in the family's martial arts.
Qin Xiaoyao was a true martial genius, a master of all eighteen weapons. His most fearsome art was his palm technique—Heaven-Shading Hands—which, except for his burly brother-in-law Tie Kongshan, had no rival under the heavens.
His three sons were all natural martial prodigies. Qin Feng loved the sword, so his father taught him the Starlight River Sword Art, powered by the Great Celestial River Qi. Qin Lei was born for the blade, so he learned the Furious Lightning Blade Technique, driven by Thunderclap Qi.
Qin Ren, however, had no interest in conventional skills. His obsession was with lightness arts—leaping rooftops, scaling walls, vanishing like a phantom in the wind.
Left with no choice, Qin Xiaoyao passed on to him the world's greatest lightness technique—The Freewind Step.
Strangely enough, while Qin Ren was mediocre at everything else, he took to Freewind Step like a fish to water. In just two years, he was already soaring across eaves and slipping through walls. By the time he turned seven, there wasn't a rooftop in the city he couldn't dance across!
In the year 790 of the Great Qin calendar, Qin Ren was seven.
Once again, the family gathered in the hall after the annual ancestral rite. As tradition demanded, Qin Xiaoyao sat the three sons down for a lecture. Tie Linger brewed him the finest tea; he sipped slowly, eyes half-lidded in satisfaction.
"Qin Feng," he asked, "why do you train in martial arts?"
Now twelve, Qin Feng's swordsmanship was already well-formed. With his striking good looks and flowing presence, he was on the path to becoming a true gentleman swordsman.
"To uphold justice and protect the weak!" Qin Feng declared boldly.
"Well said!" Qin Xiaoyao nodded with pride and flicked a glowing pill into his son's hand. "This is the Heaven Spirit Pill, refined from the thousand-year-old Snow Lotus of Mount Helian. It will grant you thirty years of internal power!"
Qin Feng bowed deeply, eyes shining with gratitude.
Qin Xiaoyao turned to the second. "Qin Lei, why do you train?"
Though only ten, Qin Lei stood taller than his older brother, a small mountain of muscle. He boomed, "To crush the wicked and bring peace to the people!"
"Excellent!" Qin Xiaoyao clapped, producing another gleaming pill. "This is the Blood Spirit Pill, forged from the millennium Blood Orchid of Changbai Mountain. Another thirty years of inner power—yours!"
Qin Lei grinned from ear to ear as he received it.
Finally, Qin Xiaoyao looked at his youngest, stealing a nervous glance at his wife before coughing lightly. "Qin Ren… why do you train in martial arts?"
Qin Ren didn't even blink. "So I can leap across rooftops and spy on beautiful girls more easily."
The silence was deafening.
Then—slam! Qin Xiaoyao slammed the table with joy. "YES! That's my son! Now that's the kind of goal I can get behind!"
He reached into his robe and pulled out a glowing golden pill, grinning ear to ear. "Here! The legendary Diamond Pill—made from Dragonroot of Dragon Abyss, Tigerfruit of Roaring Gorge, and Five-Spirit Ginseng of Spirit Mountain! Not only will it boost your internal strength by sixty years, it'll also make you invincible—unbreakable—unstoppable—your golden spear will stand firm for all eternity!"
"Ahem…" A chilling cough echoed from behind.
Qin Xiaoyao froze. He slowly turned to see Tie Linger standing with a smile that could freeze fire.
"Such a powerful pill," she said sweetly. "And you just give it to Qin Ren? What about Qin Feng and Qin Lei? Isn't this… a bit too biased?"
Qin Xiaoyao shrank under her gaze. "The other two… I, uh… already took them myself. How else would I have two hundred years' worth of power? And how else could we have three tiger-strong sons in seven years…?"
"Still making excuses? You're nearly fifty, and you're still whipped…" muttered Qin Ren, rolling his eyes. He snatched the pill from his father's hand and turned to leave. "I'm off to train. That Heaven-Shading Hand you taught me isn't bad. I can already punch clean through a roof tile."
And just like that, he walked out, leaving the rest of the family speechless in his wake.