How could I possibly foresee the future and know so many things!”

Grace Harper tapped William Harper on the head, her face brimming with laughter. “I’ve noticed you’ve been acting more and more strangely these past three months, so I’ve been desperately asking around for news. That’s how I heard about the Old Mother of Wushan from that girl Emily. I can’t believe you, little rascal, actually suspect your aunt of deceiving you?”

“Aunt, you really aren’t tricking me?”

William Harper looked utterly stunned and suddenly cried out. Overcome with excitement, he lost his footing and kicked a boulder the size of a human head down the mountain.

He listened for a moment, and only after a while did the thunderous crash echo up from the foot of the mountain, making William Harper break out in a cold sweat.

Just when he was about to give up, to suddenly hear such news made it truly hard to contain the surge of excitement in his heart.

Grace Harper was even more nervous than William Harper. At that moment, her face turned as pale as paper. She gripped William Harper’s wrist tightly, said nothing, and hurriedly pulled William Harper to a safe spot before scolding angrily, “Chang Kong!

How could you be so careless!

Are you trying to scare your aunt to death?”

—It really was dangerous just now. If Grace Harper hadn’t been holding onto him, William Harper could very well have slipped and fallen off the cliff.

“Come on, I’ll take you to Wushan right now!

You brat, you nearly scared me to death!”

Grace Harper dragged him, forcibly pulling him down the mountain, not wanting to stay in this dangerous place a second longer.

“Thank you, Aunt.”

William Harper whispered his thanks, the flame of hope rekindled in his heart. Though he stumbled all the way as Grace Harper pulled him along, his face was full of determination.

Seventeen years have passed like this—so long as there’s even a sliver of hope, I cannot give up!

William Harper clenched his teeth and made a promise to himself.

……

.

Chapter 9: The Eccentric David Bennett

※※※ Wushan is located within the jurisdiction of Lingyun City in the Shuiyun Kingdom, and Lingyun City lies to the north of Qingyan City. To reach Wushan, one must travel north, passing through Qingyan City along the way.

Qingyan City is the southernmost major city of the Shuiyun Kingdom, facing the Nine Southern Tribes of the Southern Barbarians. It is a strategic fortress fiercely contested by military powers.

The city walls of Qingyan City are built entirely from the sturdy blue rock found on Qingyan Mountain, where the The Harper Family resides, hence the name Qingyan City.

It is said that a hundred years ago, the Nine Southern Tribes were strong in both soldiers and horses, and many powerful celestial warriors emerged among them. They repeatedly gathered the armies of all nine tribes to attack Qingyan City, attempting to break through the gates of the Shuiyun Kingdom and seize the fertile lands of the Central Plains.

Sixty years ago, a powerful celestial warrior named Arthur Reed emerged from the Nine Southern Tribes. Known as the “King of Warriors of the Nine Tribes,” he was recognized as the sovereign by all celestial warriors of the Southern Barbarians, his strength reaching the Bagua Heaven Realm of roaming the sun with the spirit!

It was under his leadership that the Nine Southern Tribes united, launching several fierce assaults on Qingyan City, even breaking through its gates multiple times to rampage, burn, kill, and plunder within the city.

With the tacit approval of the “King of Warriors of the Nine Tribes” Arthur Reed, many Southern celestial warriors took the opportunity to enter the Central Plains of the Shuiyun Kingdom, carrying out bloody massacres against the major celestial sects and families, seizing spirit stones, elixirs, divine weapons, and rare treasures. Many sects and families of the Shuiyun Kingdom were wiped out.

The atrocities committed by the armies and celestial warriors of the Nine Southern Tribes in the Shuiyun Kingdom finally enraged one of the two great celestial sects of the Central Plains—the Tianshan Qiankun Sect!

The sect master Philip Ward of the Qiankun Sect left Tianshan alone and went to the sacred land of the Nine Southern Tribes, Tianlang Mountain. There, among the many Southern celestial warriors, he slew the “King of Warriors of the Nine Tribes” Arthur Reed, and tore out the last three pages of the Southern celestial warriors’ secret manual, “The Divine Archery Manual of the Nine Tribes,” which had been kept in Tianlang Mountain’s sacred land, and calmly took them away!

At the same time, the three great elders of the Qiankun Sect, along with Philip Ward’s five disciples, descended from Tianshan, leading the remaining experts of the major celestial sects and families of the Shuiyun Kingdom in a bloody battle against the celestial warriors of the Nine Southern Tribes at Xueyu Mountain. They won a great victory, causing countless Southern celestial warriors who had entered the Shuiyun Kingdom to die miserably, their bones forever left on Xueyu Mountain.

With Arthur Reed dead and the Southern celestial warriors suffering a crushing defeat at Xueyu Mountain, the Southern army fell into chaos. Without a leader, the armies of the Southern Barbarians fought on their own, were heavily defeated by the Shuiyun Kingdom, and had to flee back to the south in disgrace.

Having lost the last three pages of “The Divine Archery Manual of the Nine Tribes,” the Nine Southern Tribes have not produced another “King of Warriors of the Nine Tribes” to this day. Their armies have never recovered, and the tribes have instead turned on each other, leaving them with no strength to unite and attack the Shuiyun Kingdom again. Thus, Qingyan City has enjoyed sixty years of peace.

After tearing away the three pages of “The Divine Archery Manual of the Nine Tribes,” Philip Ward left a message: every ten years, the Nine Southern Tribes must select a young celestial warrior under the age of thirty to go to Tianshan. If Philip Ward deems him worthy at a glance, the last three pages of the manual will be returned to the Nine Tribes.

Since then, every ten years, the Nine Southern Tribes select a talented young envoy, gather all kinds of rare elixirs, spirit stones, and treasures, and set out from the south, crossing the Yunmeng Marsh, passing through Qingyan City, and then heading straight for Tianshan.

However, in the past sixty years, the Nine Southern Tribes have sent five such talented youths, each carrying a wealth of rare treasures, elixirs, and spirit stones. After enduring countless hardships to reach Tianshan and meeting the Qiankun Sect master Philip Ward, all they received were ten words—five times, “Not acceptable”!

Each time the Nine Southern Tribes received the words “Not acceptable,” they could only swallow their bitterness and wait another ten years to send another envoy.