Xue Chang rubbed his nose a little more as the need to sneeze rose up again.
"Are you sure you aren't sick?" Zhao Wei crossed his arms together as he raised an eyebrow and looked at Xue Chang in a questioning manner.
"I mean, I don't really feel sick."
"You don't FEEL sick, but in truth..."
Xue Chang chuckled a little as he responded, "Come on father, you know me better than that. Besides, even if I wanted to get sick this body is incapable of it."
The dinner table got quiet after Xue Chang said his part.
Xue Mei and Zhao Wei were happy to see their son again.
"You haven't been visiting us lately, is everything alright at your place?"
Finally Xue Mei found a topic all of them could talk about.
Hearing his mother's words, Xue Chang's eyes brightened as he shot up quickly, "Yeah, I have Tian Hai and Tian Kai taking care of me. But not only that, have you heard? They've begun cultivating now!"
"Hmm? They've started upon the path of cultivation? That's a rare sight. Where did they find a suitable technique for it?"
It was surprising for people who haven't cultivated at a young age to start later in life. After all, the path was a long and treacherous one. If one did not get a head start then they would lose some valuable time.
"Umm I'm not sure, I think they must've met a master or something though."
"Well as long as nothing bad happens because of their choice then it's okay. Also I've finished looking over the manual you've given me. To be honest, I can't really see any flaws to it. Tian Kai is much brighter than he seems to be able to come up with things like this."
Zhao Wei was talking about a set of martial arts that Xue Chang had given him to look over. He said that Tian Kai had been working on his own unique style of martial arts.
Little did he know that this was actually Xue Chang's work he was reviewing.
In order to hide the truth about his activities, he was using Tian Kai as a scapegoat.
"The idea in itself is novel, and while every movement is simple without a lot of driving force, I can tell that this was well thought out. Each move by itself is without substance, but when put all together it creates a wondrous flow that forms a powerful stream. And if this can be advanced a little bit more, that stream will become a raging tide."
Zhao Wei had to give full marks for the technique. While it was quite straightforward at first, there were many complex parts hidden deep within it.
Xue Chang heaved a sigh of relief when he heard his father's comments.
He would use this same method frequently whenever he thought of changes to make in his original art.
Unlike cultivation techniques, which he could use the formations he saw in the air for, there was no precedence to be observed.
He couldn't just look at a martial arts and the aeon would immediately tell him how to improve it. No that wasn't how it worked.
Martial arts were something artificially created by humans to obtain the strength to fight against creatures that were stronger than them.
But because it isn't just naturally, the aeon didn't hold any real jurisdiction over it.
This meant that he had to put in three times as much effort when making skills than he did when making techniques for cultivation.
So he used his dad, who had more experience when it came to fighting, to see the quality of his works.
After all Zhao Wei finished looking over the art, he turned to his son as he spoke in a nostalgic tone.
"Speaking of cultivation, maybe I have some news that can help you. Have you heard about condensed earth fire?"
When Zhao Wei mentioned it, Xue Chang thought back to the past few days and how his guards have been diligently cultivating in the pit.
He also thought back to how he had to buy more clothing for them everyday due to their original clothing constantly burning up whenever they got near the lava.
"Actually I have heard a bit about it. Tian Hai once mentioned that he knew a guy that could help procure them some earth fire to train with. And they're currently cultivating with it right now."
"Oh? Is this friend of theirs named Yong Heng?"
Xue Chang nodded vigorously without fear or shame. Despite being Yong Heng himself, he did not fear having his identity discovered by his family. After all, who could possibly connect such a powerful and mysterious hunter with a strange background, to him?
"Funny how he's mentioned twice in one day within this household."
"Hmm? What do you mean by twice?"
"Well a couple of guests came over recently wishing to purchase some earth fire from me. Unfortunately I didn't have any supplied to me, so I had to reject them. But I did remember hearing about this mysterious Yong Heng having access to the rare resource himself, and as such I recommended they search for him and attempt to negotiate for the price over some of it."
Zhao Wei recalled the story that occurred just a couple of hours ago to his son.
"So we had guests like that recently? It's kind of rude that I wasn't here to see them." But Xue Chang thought back to his current appearance and thought that maybe it wasn't so bad after all.
"Well it doesn't matter, besides the less people that know of you the better. It's still too dangerous to reveal yourself just yet."
Xue Chang nodded in agreement as he prepared to leave. He couldn't spend too much time with his family else people might notice.
before he left, he gave both his parents a hug.
Xue Mei lightly combed her son's hair while giving him a light kiss on the forehead, "Make sure you take care of yourself for me okay?"
"I will mother...I'll be off now."
________
Without another word, he faded into the night. His short, stubby legs carrying him off into the darkness.
"I'm worried Zhao Wei, he seems cheerful and happy but I feel like he's hiding something."
"I know, but we can't force him to tell us anything. I can see it in his eyes. A determination for something that he never had before. If he ever needs our help, I'm sure he will ask. And of course we will help, no matter what it is...because he is our son."
________
Xue Chang slowly made his way back toward his villa quietly.
he passed by many closed shops and empty vendors on the street along the way. But off into the distance he could see bright lights flashing into the night sky. Evidence that the city wasn't dead just yet, as bars and parties still gave life to the silent streets.
But just a short distance away, Xue Chang noticed something.
Tian Hai and Tian Kai were meeting up with a man and a woman in the middle of the night. Suddenly his eyes brightened as he watched Tian Hai step up to the women and began to whisper something in her ears.
"it can't be... does Tian Hai... have a secret lover!"
His imagination ran wild as a plot was built within his brain.
A man who served a young master was brought around everywhere. He, without the notice of the young master, met up with a girl in the middle of the night. In fear that his boss wouldn't allow him to continue the relationship, he could only bring her over whenever he was out!
And as more and more fantasies were conjured up within his mind, Xue Chang could help but secretly whisper to himself, "Don't worry, I'm not a bad person! I'll make sure your romance goes well."
and with that thought in mind, he quickly charged forward toward the four people.
"Tian Hai! Tian Kai!"
Hearing the shouts of a young child off in the distance, the four people turned around to find someone rushing toward them.
"Y-young master!"
"Ha ha! I didn't know you had friends over! If I knew that I would've been here earlier to greet the guests."
Tian Kai stepped up and opened his mouth to try to explain, but before he could Xue Chang stepped over to the side and grabbed Lou Ning and Lou Lan by the hands.
"you must be the friends of my guards, come come inside. Any friend of theirs is a friend of mine."
Lou Lan had no idea who the child in front of them was, but he could tell that the two people he had just been talking to stayed silent in a show of respect.
Lou Lan opened his mouth to explain himself, "Um actually, we are-"
Suddenly a sharp kick smacked him in the shin. He fell to the ground grabbing his leg in silent agony as his cousin, Lou Ning, stepped forward, "Yes! We are friends! And we were just talking about how we needed a place to stay for the night. But it seems that you don't have enough rooms..."
Xue Chang's mind wandered once more as he thought about her words. This women wanted to stay here for the night? With Tian Hai! Can it be!
"What do you mean! We have plenty of rooms. Come on in, I welcome you."
Lou Ning smiled in triumph as she picked up Lou Lan and stepped toward the mansion.
Passing by Tian Hai and Tian Kai whose mouths were agape, she mischievously stuck out her tongue at them.
Meanwhile the guards just stood there, not comprehending what had just happened.
Tian Hai looked over to Xue Chang seeing him hold a thumbs up toward his direction.