Mr. Carter was furious. He stormed over and shouted, "Don’t you know your younger brother has already come back? We’ve waited for you for so long, and where did you run off to drink with others? Even if you went drinking, couldn’t you have sent a servant to deliver a message?"

"Who did I go drinking with? Ask him!"

Eldest brother David Carter lost his temper, pointing at Henry Carter's nose and yelling, "This good-for-nothing, got kicked out of the Immortal Mountain, made our whole Carter family lose face, and that’s not even the worst of it—now that he’s back, he still can’t behave, and even beat up the young master of the Jiang family! You ask who I went drinking with? I went to apologize to the Jiang family’s young master! As soon as I entered the city, the Jiang family stopped me, saying this good-for-nothing injured their young master and they were going to report it to the authorities. If I hadn’t been drunk and apologized, the constables would have come knocking already!"

Henry Carter looked at his furious elder brother and said nothing.

He didn’t know if his brother was truly drunk or just pretending, truly angry or just putting on a show, but the way he kept calling him "good-for-nothing" without mercy made it clear that the bond they’d built years ago had grown very thin. Seven years was enough to change a person’s heart.

"You... you... what did you just call your brother?"

Mr. Carter actually already knew about Henry Carter injuring Jiang Yuechen, but he hadn’t brought it up. Now, hearing his eldest son repeatedly call Henry Carter a good-for-nothing, he was displeased, his hands shaking with anger.

"Hmph, he is a good-for-nothing. Why can’t I say it?"

Concubine Harris came out of the room, took a towel from a servant, and wiped David Carter's face, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

"I had a reason for hitting the Jiang family’s young master. Didn’t he tell you?"

Henry Carter said calmly, suppressing his anger as he picked up a cup and drank in silence.

"What reason? Nonsense!"

David Carter stormed into the room, slapped the wine out of Henry Carter's hand, and cursed, "Look at the young master of the Xiao family, then look at you. How do you have the face to come home? He became an official disciple of the Immortal Mountain and still treats people kindly. Who in all of Four Symbols City doesn’t praise him? And you? Expelled and disgraced, and you even beat up the Jiang family’s young master over a tofu seller. How capable you are!"

"Exactly! Hmph, like attracts like. Every day you stuff her with silver and it’s still not enough, and now you’re fighting for her. Do you even know who the Jiang family’s young master is? He’s a precious one. You hurt him—can you afford to pay for it?"

Concubine Harris chimed in, her words even sharper and more cutting.

Chapter Six: The Evil Servant

"You... you stop shouting! I’m not dead yet!"

Mr. Carter was so angry he lost control, suddenly rushing over to David Carter and slapping him across the face.

"You... why are you hitting my son?"

Concubine Harris rushed over and butted Mr. Carter, nearly knocking him over, shouting desperately, "It’s fine for your second son to cause trouble, but my David can’t say a word? You’ve always protected that good-for-nothing, protected him when he entered the Immortal Mountain, and now you’re still protecting him after he’s been kicked out. Do you have to drive the two of us out and give the whole family fortune to him before you’re satisfied..."

"Sigh..."

Henry Carter sighed, rubbing his temples wearily.

He had enough power to kill everyone in this mansion in a second, but when it came to things like this, what could he do?

Concubine Harris kept wailing endlessly, while David Carter instead sat down in silence, saying nothing.

Mr. Carter just sat in the grand master's chair, fuming, puffing away at his water pipe.

"Looks like, even being this low-key isn’t necessarily a good thing..."

Henry Carter was unhappy, said nothing, and got up to return to his room.

His elder brother and stepmother had become so mean simply because he’d been expelled from the Immortal Sect and they looked down on him. In this situation, sure, he could strangle them both with one hand, or show off some supernatural power to scare them, but what would be the point?

Back in his room, Henry Carter sat for a while, then prepared to clear his mind and begin cultivating.

Just then, Mr. Carter quietly walked in. He sat by Henry Carter's bed, silently smoked his water pipe for a while, then finally sighed and said, "Don’t take your brother’s words to heart. The Carter family business hasn’t been handed over to him yet. This is your home. Now that you’re back, no one can say anything. Just stay here in peace!"

Henry Carter smiled, but didn’t tell his father that he’d be leaving soon, not wanting to worry him.

After a while, Mr. Carter tapped his pipe, as if making up his mind, and said, "I’ve thought it through. Since you came back from the Immortal Mountain, there’s been a lot of gossip. It can’t go on like this. How about this: you always liked martial arts as a child, so I’ll spend some more silver and send you to the Sword Hall to learn swordsmanship. You already have a foundation from the Immortal Mountain, so it shouldn’t be hard for you. Besides, today you beat the Jiang family’s boy into a pig’s head, and he’s been learning swordsmanship for three years! That shows your talent is much greater than his..."

"The Sword Hall?"

Henry Carter was slightly taken aback, thinking of Master Leng.

That sickly, skinny old man was the founder of the Sword Hall lineage in Four Symbols City.