"Giddy up!"
Shi Feng kicked the horse's belly firmly with his legs, causing the black steed, which had previously been walking leisurely on the mountain path, to cry out in pain. It bolted forward, stirring up clouds of dust.
Xiuling Mountain was lush with greenery, brimming with life. The mountain's scenery was so breathtaking that it had been named for its elegance.
At the foot of Xiuling Mountain lay a village called Xiuling Village.
The villagers primarily subsisted on farming, working from sunrise to sunset.
Now, as the sun was setting, the sky was filled with a reddish glow, signaling the approach of dusk.
Shi Feng looked at the low-rise houses that began to appear before him. There were pairs and groups of farmers returning home along the road, and a bunch of children running and playing between the houses.
There was a plump boy around eight or nine years of age who had bullied Shi Ling some time ago. Seeing the chubby boy, Shi Ling stuck out her little tongue at him and made a face.
Seeing Shi Ling's mischievous behavior, Shi Feng affectionately rubbed her little head.
"Eh? Aren't those the Shi family's boy and girl? Why are they riding a big horse?" A farmer carrying a hoe wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to the person beside him.
"Indeed, those are the Shi children. How do they have a horse? They couldn't have gotten it through some foul means, could they?" Another person added.
"This is a serious matter. Those who own a horse are not ordinary people. Such shameless acts could bring trouble to our entire village. We'd better tell the village chief right away."
"Yes, you're right. Alas, to do such a thing at such a young age, what will they become when they grow up. I've heard a schoolteacher say, 'If a son is uneducated, his father is to blame.' Truly, a child with no fatherly guidance will end up with such behavior!"
The two of them talked amongst themselves as they quietly made their way to the village chief's house.
Of course, Shi Feng was unaware of their conversation. Seeing that the villagers looked at them with surprise, Shi Feng did not bother with it and spurred the black horse on towards his home.
Having been away for a day, his mother must be worried by now.
She had carried him for ten months, giving him a new lease on life and allowing him to be reborn. She had raised him with arduous care, and he had called her 'mother' for fifteen years.
Shi Feng had come to accept the woman in his memories as his real mother, without any rejection in his heart.
A dilapidated wooden cottage gradually came into view—it was the home where Shi Feng had lived for fifteen years. A small yard fenced with hedges lay in front, and behind it was Xiuling Mountain.
Shi Feng dismounted from the black horse, carried Shi Ling down, and tied the horse to a stone post in the yard.
Just then, a heart-wrenching cry came from inside the house: "Ah! No!"
"Mother?" Hearing those cries, which were unmistakably his mother's, Shi Feng's complexion darkened. He hurried towards the house, lifting his right foot to kick the wooden door open with a loud "bang".
Inside the humble, dimly lit house, his mother was dressed in coarse fabric, her hair disheveled, appearing utterly disconsolate. Her face was deathly pale, her eyes red and swollen, and tears covered her cheeks.
At the moment, she was kneeling on the ground, clasping tightly onto the right leg of a man dressed in a white robe, her body trembling slightly.
The man appeared to be in his thirties, stood roughly 1.8 meters tall, and had a full forehead, defined eyebrows, and sharp features, making him look as if he were carved from stone.
This man's expression was icy, his hands clasped behind his back, standing there like a drawn sword, an air of vigor about him.
"Martial King Realm?" Shi Feng immediately recognized the man's cultivation level.
"Who are you?" Shi Feng asked sternly, rage boiling within him as he began to gather power in his hands.
At that moment, the man also turned to look at him.
"Feng'er, you mustn't be disrespectful. He is... he is your father," his mother said tremulously, looking at Shi Feng.
"Father?" Shi Feng's brows furrowed, and his expression grew even darker as memories slowly surfaced in his mind.
"Mother, why do others have fathers, and I don't?" A five-year-old Shi Feng, just starting to understand the world, asked his mother.
His mother, affectionate as ever, patted little Shi Feng's head and said with a smile, "Because, Feng'er, your father isn't ordinary like the other fathers. Your father is a great hero, fighting for our country on the battlefield right now."
At the age of seven, "Mother, Fatty San called me a bastard, said I have no father, wuu."
"Don't listen to their nonsense, Feng'er. You're not a bastard. Your father is a great hero."
When he was eight, "Mother, why hasn't father come to find us? Does he not want us anymore?"
"How could that be? Why would your father not want us? I believe that one day, your father will come for us on a magnificent horse, all grand and splendid. I believe that day isn't far off."
As Shi Feng grew older and more sensible, he seldom asked about his father again. But he knew in his heart that his mother always hoped for his return, yearning for the man in her memories to come and fetch her in grandeur.
Yet he never expected his father to return today, nor did he anticipate such a scene.
"Mother." At that moment, Shi Ling also rushed into the room, running toward her mother.
"Heh." The man looked at Shi Ling and let out a cold chuckle, a hint of derision crossing his icy face, "Bai Yue'e, you say you've been waiting for me for fifteen long years. Is this your so-called faithful waiting? Heh." He said, pointing towards Shi Ling.
"Jintian, it's not what you think. Ling'er... Ling'er is a child I found in the mountains seven years ago," his mother, Bai Yue'e, desperately tried to explain through her misery.
"Heh," Shi Jintian said with a cold smile still on his face, "It doesn't matter whether you picked him up or broke morals to give birth to him, none of it concerns me. Take this."
As he spoke, Shi Jintian handed a piece of white paper to Bai Yue'e.
Bai Yue'e bit her lips tightly and shook her trembling hands, desperately pleading, "Jintian, don't do this. Do you remember how we went through so much hardship together back in the day, how I gave up everything for you, and how we finally managed to be together despite all odds?
Do you remember the solemn vows you made, saying you would love and cherish me for the rest of your life?
Do you remember the day you joined the military and we said goodbye, you said you'd definitely return to give me a better life, and I said I would wait for you forever?
Jintian, have you forgotten all of these?"
Bai Yue'e looked up with tear-filled eyes at Shi Jintian's unfeeling face.
"Take it!" Shi Jintian's voice was unwavering as he commanded sternly.
Shi Feng could no longer stand by and watch, he stepped forward and snatched the white paper from Bai Jintian's hand.
At the top of the paper, the words "Divorce Letter" were the most eye-catching.
"Hahaha, excellent, truly excellent!" Shi Feng faced Shi Jintian and laughed loudly.
"Feng'er you…" Bai Yue'e was at a loss.
Ignoring Bai Yue'e, Shi Feng confronted Shi Jintian and shouted, "After being gone for fifteen years, my mother waited for you, a heartless scoundrel, for fifteen years, what did you come back for!"
"How dare you!" Shi Jintian bellowed in anger, raising his hand and swiftly aiming a palm strike at Shi Feng's head.
With the Martial King's strike, the air around seemed to solidify; Shi Feng felt as if a massive mountain was pressing down on him. Under this strike, he had absolutely no power to resist, not even the capacity to move a muscle.
"No!" Bai Yue'e let out a loud scream. Despite her weakness and years of being bedridden, she somehow found the strength to let go of Shi Jintian's right leg, stood up, embraced Shi Feng, and pushed his body down, using her own back to meet Shi Jintian's palm strike.
"No!" This time, it was Shi Feng who screamed frantically, his eyes turning blood-red.
As the strike was about to land, knowing that his frail mother would definitely be killed by the impact of the Martial King's power,
"Hmph!" Shi Jintian let out a cold snort and abruptly stopped his hand just before it hit Bai Yue'e, but the residual power from his palm still burst forth, all of it striking Bai Yue'e's back.
Shi Feng only felt the warm body hugging him jolt violently; then, a stream of fresh red liquid spilled from his mother's mouth.
Looking at her face, full of suffering and pale as death, Shi Feng felt his heart wrenching intensely.
"Feng'er…" Bai Yue'e gently stroked Shi Feng's face with her right hand, smiling sorrowfully at him as she did, "Mother… can't go on… you must… take good care of yourself… take good care of… Ling'er…"
"Mother!" Shi Ling clutched at Bai Yue'e's clothes and began to cry as well.
"Ling'er… my dear…" Bai Yue'e smiled as she reached out to touch Shi Ling's face, but in that moment, her hand paused midair.
"Ah!" A mouthful of bright red blood sprayed out, and her body collapsed to the ground, fainting.
Shi Feng was quick to catch Bai Yue'e, preventing her from hitting the floor.
"Foolish!" Shi Jintian coldly dropped these words and turned to leave.
As he reached the door, Shi Feng stared at that heartless figure and ground his teeth in fury, shouting, "Shi! Jin! Tian!" Each word burst from between Shi Feng's clenched teeth.
Shi Jintian stopped in his tracks, turned around, his face still as cold as ice, devoid of any emotion.
"The suffering my mother has endured all these years, the pain she suffered today, one day, I will make you repay it a thousandfold!" Shi Feng shouted coldly, his eyes filled with murderous intent. At that moment, he wished he could cast this depraved monster into the Netherworld Purgatory, to suffer the eternal torment of Ten Thousand Ghosts Bite.
"Humph," Shi Jintian snorted dismissively and left without another word, vanishing from the house.
"Wuu wuu wuu... Mother... Mother..." Shi Ling continued to sob, her little face covered with tears.
Watching Shi Ling cry her eyes out, turning her into a little tear-stained kitten, the fierceness in Shi Feng's face finally began to ebb.
Life had been harsh for the little one. Soon after she was born, her biological parents had abandoned her. Her mother had found her while picking wild fruits in the mountains, and because she wore a green Jade Pendant carved with the character "Ling" on her chest, her mother had named her Shi Ling.
The little one was always so well-behaved, far more understanding than other children her age. Over the past years, as her mother's health declined day by day, cooking, cutting medicine, washing dishes, and cleaning her mother's body were tasks she helped him with.
The little one was like his shadow, following him wherever he went.
She was his true little sister.
Fondly patting Shi Ling's little head, Shi Feng comforted her softly, "Good girl, Ling'er, with brother here, mother will be fine."
Shi Ling looked up, her eyes brimming with tears and a pitiful look on her face as she gazed at Shi Feng.
"Stop crying, look at your little face, all smeared with tears." Shi Feng gently wiped away the tears from Shi Ling's face with his sleeve.
"Good girl, go and boil a pot of hot water for your brother," he said, patting her little head again.