Brian Clark thought about the few boxing forms that Mr. Grant had secretly taught him, and began to practice. He actually looked quite decent, full of vigor and energy.

The young man drew closer and closer to the covered bridge.

At the northern end of the bridge steps sat four people: a voluptuous and graceful beauty, holding a boy in a bright red robe in her arms. The boy held his chin high, like a general who had just won a great victory. At the other end of the steps, next to a tall old man with hair like frost and snow, the old man was softly comforting a little girl who was puffing with anger. She was exquisitely beautiful, like the most delicate porcelain doll in the world. Her tender skin, under the sunlight, was so translucent that the blue veins beneath could be clearly seen.

The two children had just finished quarreling. The little girl was on the verge of tears, while the little boy looked even more smug.

The old man was burly, like a small mountain. The woman beside him cast an apologetic glance, but the dignified old man ignored it completely.

At the bottom of the steps stood a young man surnamed Lu, the eldest legitimate grandson of the Lu family head, named Eric Reed. Perhaps it was truly the local land and water that nurtured its people—those born and raised in the small town always seemed to be better looking than people elsewhere. However, Eric Reed had long been hollowed out by wine and women, and in the eyes of the four sitting on the steps, he was even more unsightly. The Lu family owned the most dragon kilns in the town, both in number and scale, and it was also the surname whose descendants most often left the town to establish themselves elsewhere. Yet, the once high-spirited Eric Reed now looked nervous and pale, his whole body tense, as if the slightest mistake would bring disaster upon his entire clan.

The boy spoke in words the townsfolk could not understand, “Mother, is this Liu bug’s ancestor really that…”

Just as he was about to say the name, the woman immediately covered his mouth. “How many times did your father remind you before we left home? Here, you must never call anyone by name so lightly.”

The boy pried her hand away, his eyes burning, and lowered his voice to ask, “Does his family really still have the treasured armor and sword manual passed down through the generations?”

The woman fondly stroked her young son’s head and said softly, “The Lu family vouched with half their genealogy. Both items are still hidden in that boy’s home.”

The boy suddenly acted spoiled, “Mother, mother, can we trade treasures with the Xiaobai family? The armor we’re after is just too ugly. Think about it, if we could get that sword manual instead, we could use flying swords in our dreams to take heads—no one would ever know! Isn’t that way better than some turtle shell?”

Before the woman could explain the origins and reasons, the girl next to them had already burst out angrily, “And you think you can lay a finger on our long-lost mountain-guarding treasure? We’re here this time to rightfully return the item to its owner, not like some shameless people who come as robbers, thieves, or even beggars!”

The boy turned and made a face, then mocked, “Stinky girl, you said it yourself, it’s the mountain-guarding treasure—so what if it’s just about seniority? Is that so great?”

Suddenly, the boy’s playful expression changed. He stood up from the woman’s arms and looked down at the little girl with pity, like a schoolteacher scolding a naive child. “The great Dao is about longevity, defying the heavens is all about striving. If you can’t even understand this, how will you inherit the family business or uphold your ancestral teachings? You descendants of Zhengyang Mountain must raise the mountain by at least a hundred feet every thirty years. Stinky girl, do you think it was easy for your grandfather and father?”

The little girl lost her momentum, her spirits flagging. She hung her head and dared not meet the boy’s gaze.

The burly old man with frosty hair said in a deep voice, “Madam, though children’s words are innocent, if my young master’s Dao heart is tainted, you must consider the consequences yourselves.”

The woman smiled charmingly, pulling her now sullen son back into her arms, and replied with hidden sharpness, “It’s just children bickering, Senior Yuan, no need to make such a fuss. Let’s not ruin the thousand-year friendship between our two families.”

Unexpectedly, the old man was extremely hot-tempered and retorted directly, “My Zhengyang Mountain has stood for two thousand six hundred years. We repay kindness, never forgetting even after a thousand years. We repay grudges, never letting them last overnight!”

The woman just smiled, not stooping to argue.

On this trip to the small town, everyone bore heavy responsibilities—especially her. She had staked her own life, her son’s future, and her family’s legacy, all on this one gamble.

This woman, though dressed plainly, carried herself with great dignity. It was just that the townsfolk, unaccustomed to the ways of the world, could not see the mysteries within.

From beginning to end, Eric Reed kept his back to the steps of the covered bridge.

The first time he saw these distinguished guests at the Lu family mansion, his own younger brother, being young and impulsive, had momentarily forgotten their grandfather’s warnings and couldn’t help but sneak a glance at the beautiful woman’s chest. Their grandfather, shaking with rage, had him dragged out and beaten to death in the courtyard. It seemed that during the execution, his mouth was stuffed with cotton, so Eric Reed, who stayed with his grandfather in the main hall, neither heard his brother’s miserable screams nor saw the bloody scene. When the meeting was over and they went out to look for the boy surnamed Liu, Eric Reed stepped over the threshold and saw that the blood in the courtyard had already been cleaned away. Those four guests from afar, even the two children as beautiful as golden boys and jade girls, showed no reaction at all, as if this was only natural.