At the moment he saw the hidden door, Sun Yixie immediately understood that his father wasn't about to discipline him but was about to pass on some kind of family secret.
With this inference, the behavior and words of Mr. Sun just now no longer seemed strange.
The secret passage behind the hidden door wasn't long; after just a few twists and turns, the father and son arrived in an underground stone chamber.
Mr. Sun casually took out a previously prepared fire starter and lit several oil lamps on the wall, illuminating the reasonably-sized stone chamber.
Sun Yixie surveyed his surroundings with his squinty eyes and spotted only three items throughout the entire stone chamber besides a few copper-made lamp stands embedded in the walls.
A weapon, inserted on an aged weapons rack.
A piece of soft armor, displayed on a stone platform.
A stone coffin, quite large, occupying almost one-fourth of the chamber.
"Yixie," Mr. Sun said after a moment, turning around with his hands behind his back and speaking in a deep voice, "do you know whose descendant our Sun family is?"
Upon hearing this, Sun Yixie's eyes spun, and he immediately responded, "Our Sun family has been prominent and esteemed in Eastern Wu for generations... Could it be a descendant of Sun Jian or Sun Wentai from the Three Kingdoms period?"
"Mm... correct," Mr. Sun nodded approvingly. "I've long heard, Yixie, that although you're illiterate and lack scholarly knowledge, your understanding isn't limited... You seemingly lack a talent for formal studies, but you do have some achievements in various knowledge." He paused, then continued, "You are indeed right; our Sun family are the descendants of the Emperor Wu of Eastern Wu, but unfortunately, due to the passage of time, our family branched out and went through several rises and declines, and our family records before fifteen generations are unavailable, so even I don't know whether our branch is direct or collateral."
"No worries. Liu Bei was also unclear and obscure, but he still ended up with the title of 'Imperial Uncle,' didn't he?" Sun Yixie said. "I will just say I'm the direct descendant of the Little Conqueror Sun Ce when I go out in the future. Can anyone even prove I'm not?"
"Hehe..." Mr. Sun was amused by his son, "Alright... in any case, our Sun ancestors were all men of talent, some advised the state and some achieved unparalleled martial arts..." He said, pointing at the three items, "And these three, are the 'secret treasures' left by our ancestors for those descendants who wish to pursue martial arts. I will pass them all to you today, so when you travel the martial world, you will have something to rely on."
"Oh?" Sun Yixie's first reaction was, "What, the literary ancestors were so stingy? They didn't leave any treasures?"
*Slap*—
Before he finished his thought, Mr. Sun slapped his son on the head: "Nonsense, the things of 'literature' are all in the classics. If you were willing to learn, would I have brought you here?"
"Yes, yes, my mistake," Sun Yixie said, covering his head, "Please continue, dad."
Mr. Sun snorted and first walked over to the weapon: "This item is a rare treasure, forged from a meteorite from beyond the skies, seven feet and two inches long (approximately 240 centimeters in the unit we are acquainted with), weighing only 20 'jin' (also in ancient units, slightly heavier than our current 'jin'), it's light, hard, sharp, and resilient… The prongs can pierce through steel like paper, slice iron like mud, and despite being light and flexible, it will not break."
Sun Yixie looked at the trident in front of him and his lips twitched, "Father... why did our ancestors decide to forge a trident when they obtained such precious material? Knives, spears, clubs, swords... wouldn't any of these have been more practical?"
"How would I know? It was made hundreds of years ago; whom am I supposed to ask?" Mr. Sun's response was rational. After speaking, he moved on to the second item, "Next this armor, rumored to be forged from Qilin scales and woven with Heavenly Silkworm Silk, impervious to cuts and unscathed by fire or water, as light as silk, warm in winter and cool in summer, and adjust to fit the wearer's form snugly."
"Wow!" Sun Yixie's eyes widened, "Am I not invincible if I wear this?"
*Slap*—
As soon as the words fell from his lips, he was struck on the head again.
"The martial world is perilous, don't think you are fully secure just because you have this armor. A true master, wanting you dead, won't be thwarted by ten such armors," Mr. Sun sternly cautioned.
"Heh... I was just saying..." Sun Yixie chuckled sheepishly.
Mr. Sun looked at his son, sighed, and then moved in front of the stone coffin, indicating with his eyes, "Yixie, shift the lid of the coffin carefully, and don't damage the floor."
"Oh, okay," Sun Yixie, not giving it much thought, instantly moved to push the lid of the coffin.
Unexpectedly... when he pushed with all his might, he realized the lid weighed at least a hundred 'jin', heavy "as hell" by his usual standards.
If it had been Sun Yixie from before his time travel, he probably couldn't have moved it alone. Fortunately, now at seventeen and having practiced martial arts in his childhood and frequently helped with physical tasks at the fish market, not to mention the regular fights, his physical capacity was just enough to push this massive weight.
"Wow, what's this?" After he shifted the stone coffin cover aside, Sun Yixie saw the contents inside.
It looked like dominos, neatly stacked with silver-white stone slabs filling the coffin, each roughly the size of a typical tombstone, with about twenty or more pieces altogether.
"Reversing Heaven and Earth," Mr. Sun spontaneously responded with those four words after two seconds.
"Huh?" Sun Yixie clearly didn't understand what exactly that meant.
Mr. Sun then explained, "These stone slabs house the martial arts secrets perfected by our Sun family through generations, including 'Reversing Heaven and Earth Heart Method' on the first slab — a superior internal mental method of our Sun family not to be taught outsider, foundational to all these unique martial arts here; thus its name embodies all the techniques found here."
"What the–?" Sun Yixie was exhilarated, "Dad, why didn't you bring this out sooner?"
"Why didn't you take martial arts seriously as a child?" Mr. Sun remarked, "If you had been willing to train earnestly, it wouldn't have taken too long, maybe just a year of persistence... I would have brought you here sooner. But remember how you had so many masters and couldn't stick with one past the first fortnight? Giving these to you then would have been detrimental."
"So... Dad, why have you decided to pass these on to me now?" Sun Yixie asked.
"Of course, because I'm worried you'd be at a disadvantage out there." Mr. Sun said, "Moreover, you've grown into a fine young man, managed the fish market thrivingly over these years, showing apt judgement. The timing now is just right."
"Mm…" Sun Yixie knew this was true; parents always care for their children, even if the children are disappointing, they would never want them to suffer.
After a few seconds of silence, a question that had troubled Sun Yixie for many years suddenly flashed through his mind, prompting him to hurriedly ask, "Eh? By the way, is our family tradition of reversing the order of characters in our names related to this 'Reversing Heaven and Earth'?"
"Exactly," Mr. Sun said, "It's from the ancestor who created the 'Reverse Heaven and Earth Heart Skill'; since his generation, our Sun family has followed this tradition when naming descendants."
"Does it have any significance?" Sun Yixie inquired further.
"Probably just for fun," Mr. Sun replied casually.
"Ah?" This response was more surprising than Sun Yixie had expected.
"Like I said, what's the use of asking me about things from hundreds of years ago?" Mr. Sun's reasoning was sound. Over the centuries, the initial appearance and motives behind so many so-called "traditions" might have been distorted or forgotten; this is true even for artifacts just over a century old, let alone those from several centuries or even millennia.
Seeing this, Sun Yixie decided to let it be, but then asked another question, "So... why did our ancestors write their martial arts on stone slabs? Isn't that very inconvenient?"
Mr. Sun appeared to have anticipated this question and answered without hesitation, "Bamboo slips, sheepskin, paper... these materials all rot or mold over time, potentially disintegrating in fire or water; having people memorize them can easily lead to errors..." He paused, "Our ancestors, with their foresight, chose these refined diamond-hard stone slabs to record the exclusive Sun family martial arts, ensuring that even after a thousand years, they could still be well-preserved."
"Whoa—HODO~" Sun Yixie seriously nodded, inadvertently letting slip a Japanese phrase.
Mr. Sun wasn't hearing this term from his son for the first time and roughly knew it meant "I see", so he didn't pay much attention and continued, "Yixie, it's over two months until Mid-Autumn Festival, and accounting for travel time, you should be leaving in about fifty days... There's a saying, 'Sharpening your axe will not delay your job of cutting wood.' For these fifty days, forget about the fish market business and focus on practicing martial arts. If you have questions, ask Huang more, as I see you two get along well... Hopefully, he can assist you to ensure you aren't bullied in the martial world."
"Ha!" Sun Yixie laughed, "Dad, rest assured, I'm usually the one who bullies others, not the other way around! With these three treasures, I definitely won't bring disgrace to the Sun family in the martial world."
"If that's true... then that's for the best," Mr. Sun still harbored some worries but hoped for the best outcome.