[I declare: The protagonist is a Cultivation Sage, waiting for the Spiritual Energy Revival version to be activated! Moreover, the protagonist has a system that can add experience points and proficiency, allowing the player to cheat and completely avoid increasing their cultivation through practice!]
In the small courtyard, the large locust tree had sprouted tender buds. Under the glow of the spring sun, they shimmered with vitality, brimming with life.
Xia Chen fell silent upon hearing the words of the green-robed servant. His mind drifted to the information about the Second Master mentioned by Xia Qian, the young servant.
The Second Master, Marquis of Andong Xia Yuan, was Xia Chen's biological father.
In Xia Chen's childhood memories, before the age of three, his father Xia Yuan had doted on him endlessly, showering him with affection. At three, during a martial aptitude test, Xia Chen was diagnosed with a crippled physique. Xia Yuan fell into a brief silence, but his gaze remained resolute.
"Though my son has a crippled physique, as my eldest, I will find a great opportunity to defy the heavens and change his fate."
The day after uttering those words, a demon tide erupted in Donghuang. Xia Yuan was appointed as the Demon-Suppressing Marshal, commanding an army of 100,000 in the eastern frontier. Xia Chen's mother, Su Xiaoxue, a powerful sorcerer, accompanied him on the campaign.
The young Xia Chen, unaware of what this meant, only wished to follow his parents to Donghuang.
But he was sternly refused, told that Donghuang was far too dangerous.
At just three years old, Xia Chen was left alone in the Marquis of Zhendong's residence. And so, fourteen years passed.
For the first three months, letters arrived frequently at the residence, along with demon beast blood essence sent to temper Xia Chen's flesh and blood.
After five months, the letters dwindled.
The young Xia Chen assumed it was due to the chaos of great demons in Donghuang, the ever-shifting battlefield consuming his parents' time and energy, leaving them no chance to write.
A year later, Xia Chen learned from the servants of the household that the Marquis of Zhendong's family would soon welcome another legitimate heir.
Upon asking, he discovered he had a younger brother.
His mother, Su Xiaoxue, who had joined Xia Yuan on the campaign, became pregnant again a month after departing.
After his brother's birth, letters from Donghuang went from one every three months to one every six months. By the time Xia Chen was six, they came only once a year, and the shipments of medicinal essences and blood ceased entirely.
Xia Chen had clung to the belief that the perilous battlefield of Donghuang, teeming with endless great demons, left his father, the army's commander, too occupied to care for him.
That was until he overheard the servants again. His younger brother, born on the battlefields of Donghuang and raised by his parents' side, had been tested and found to possess a peerless foundation, hailed as a heaven-gifted prodigy.
It dawned on Xia Chen then—he had been abandoned!
…
His memories drifted far until Xia Qian's voice called him back to the present.
"Second Master has sent a letter for you, Young Master!"
Xia Qian's face carried a trace of joy. The Second Master had finally remembered the young man—if he recalled correctly, the last letter had come three years ago.
Xia Chen calmly accepted the letter from Xia Qian's hands, his expression devoid of joy or sorrow.
He merely remarked with mild surprise, "Has something happened in the outside world?"
No letters had come in three years, and now one arrived so suddenly. Xia Chen sensed there was more to it than met the eye.
"Young Master, you're as perceptive as ever! It's great news! Second Master slew a Third-Rank peerless great demon in Donghuang—a hegemon of the Donghuang Mountains, they say. After this battle, the demon horde retreated a hundred miles, the demon scourge of Donghuang was swept away, and the might of our Dawu nation soared!"
Xia Qian, a year younger than Xia Chen at just sixteen, was still full of youthful exuberance. He spoke with uncontainable excitement, as if he himself had slain the Third-Rank demon.
"Everyone's saying that within a year or two, Donghuang might be fully pacified. When that happens, Second Master and Second Lady can return to court in triumph!"
The young Xia Qian's eyes sparkled with anticipation. After fourteen years, his Young Master could finally reunite with his family.
But Xia Chen's eyes held no trace of joy at the news. He had fully inherited the original Xia Chen's memories—not like in his past life, where logging into a game left him without the host's past. Here, it was as if he were a native, bearing all of Xia Chen's emotions, as though he had always been Xia Chen, only awakening his past-life memories two months ago.
He had grown accustomed to this free, unburdened life. Though he wasn't valued in the household and was something of an invisible presence, it was nothing like the melodramatic clichés of television—wicked servants bullying their master or looking down on him with disdain.
Now, with his parents returning, along with a younger brother he had never met, would his days remain so free and unrestrained?
After fourteen years apart, even the servants in the household knew more about Donghuang than he did. Though bound by blood, they were little more than strangers to him!
"Go on now. Oh, and tell the kitchen to double my midday meal today!"
Xia Chen gave Xia Qian a faint smile and a nod. The boy had been by his side since the age of four, and together they had weathered twelve springs and autumns.
In truth, Xia Qian was family too—a distant branch, split off over two hundred years ago, their blood ties now faint. But he still bore the Xia name, and it was this connection that had allowed him to be brought into the household as a child and raised by Xia Chen's side, a legitimate heir.
Xia Qian nodded, aware that his Young Master had been training diligently lately, his appetite growing accordingly. Still, he was stunned—doubling it again? That would mean eating enough for over twenty people!
As Xia Qian departed, Xia Chen lowered his gaze, his eyes settling on the scorched-yellow envelope adorned with a qilin pattern.
After a moment of silence, he extended a finger and lightly sliced it with his crimson blade. A drop of hot, vivid blood fell.
Instantly, the qilin pattern on the envelope flared as if provoked, radiating light. Faintly, the roar of a qilin seemed to echo.
The phenomenon lasted only a breath or two before the light subsided, and all returned to calm.
Xia Chen knew this was his mother Su Xiaoxue's handiwork.
Though the Spiritual Energy Revival had not yet begun, this was still a world of high martial prowess.
Some could stand against armies of ten thousand alone, cleaving great rivers with a single sword stroke—but those who reached such heights could be counted on one hand across the entire realm.
Most, even the powerful, remained within the bounds of ordinary humanity.
The system was rudimentary, divided into martial warriors and sorcerers.
In his past life, treating this as a mysterious and entertaining game, Xia Chen had simplistically labeled them warriors and mages.
Beyond that, this world had demons.
And Su Xiaoxue was a formidable sorcerer.
This letter was meant solely for Xia Chen, sealed so that only his blood could unlock it—a spell to prevent interception or prying, a craft beyond the grasp of crude martial warriors.
Xia Chen opened the envelope. The fine rice paper felt smooth and soft to the touch, but it bore only a few sparse words:
"In as short as six months or as long as two years, I shall return home. Also, by imperial decree, you, my son, are to marry the Second Princess. Perform well and do not tarnish the honor of our household!"
Every word was precious as gold!
That was Xia Chen's first impression of the letter.
The first half came as no surprise. With a great victory in Donghuang, where ranks spanned from Ninth to First—whether martial warrior, sorcerer, or demon—a Third-Rank great demon was a rarity across the realm.
Slaying such a beast after fourteen years of war signaled the end of the conflict in Donghuang.
Besides, Xia Qian had just told him as much.
What made Xia Chen's pupils shrink was the latter half—he was to marry a princess? The Second Princess? The future Empress?