Chapter 150: He and We Are Not the Same

For Duan Qing, what happened at the banquet felt entirely like a dream—it was simply too unreal.

How could a seven-year-old child be a martial arts master?

He simply could not wrap his head around it.

Could it be that the child looked foolish precisely because she had cultivated to the point of foolishness?

Duan Yu’s eyelids twitched slightly. That was no friendly spar; it was clearly a one-sided beating...

Yet that little girl had truly exceeded all his expectations.

He recalled the day he met her on the street when Shangguan Yun'er had provoked her. In truth, if she had wanted to kill Shangguan Yun'er, it would have been effortless...

At this thought, a lingering fear gripped him.

The fondness and affection he had originally felt for the little girl gradually shifted after he witnessed Ji Tianxing make her move.

He had foolishly assumed she was just an ordinary little sister he could dote on and cherish, only to suddenly realize that was nothing more than his own wishful thinking.

In reality, this little sister occupied a position far, far higher than his own—a height he could never reach no matter how hard he tried.

It was like the difference between gods and mortals; how could a god ever truly be familiar with a mortal?

Apart from shock, Duan Yu’s heart was filled with a profound sense of loss.

Duan Qing naturally knew nothing of Duan Yu’s thoughts, nor did he know that Duan Yu had once crossed paths with Ji Tianxing.

He sighed again and continued, "In any case, the Ji family... is no longer what it used to be. With a daughter like that, backed by A-yan... from now on, we must maintain close ties with the Ji family."

The Ji family was already a rare martial arts clan within the court of the Yu Kingdom. Although they could not compare to those prestigious martial cultivation families and were merely small players, for a nation like theirs to have practitioners who could officially serve as government officials was truly extraordinary.

Even though every royal family kept trained martial artists to protect the nobility, those individuals had merely caught a glimpse of the threshold of martial arts.

When all was said and done, the Yu Kingdom was simply too small. In the eyes of the four great powers, such a nation was as insignificant as a speck of dust.

To the entire Martial Continent, it was even less worth mentioning.

Fortunately, however...

"Imperial Father, just who... exactly is Prince Rong?" Duan Yu finally voiced the question that had long rested in his heart.

Whether past or present, Duan Yu had never been able to fathom the true background of Prince Rong, Sikou Yan.

Though called a cousin, he had never even laid eyes on this supposed relative.

If it were merely outsiders, that would be one thing, but no one within the royal family had ever beheld this cousin's true face.

At times, it made him feel as though this Prince Rong were a non-existent entity.

Clearly, the identity existed, and the legends about him circulated, yet before that night's banquet, he had never once seen the man.

Duan Qing spoke with solemn gravity, "You only need to know this: he is not someone like us. A-yan does not belong to our tiny Yu Kingdom. You must respect him, and on no account must you ever offend him."

Hearing this, Duan Yu furrowed his brows tightly. To have his Imperial Father issue such a solemn warning—just who on earth was Sikou Yan? Wasn't he Prince Rong's adopted son? Wasn't he said to be his cousin?

If that were truly the case, why would his Imperial Father speak in such a manner?

"He... is not my real cousin? Is that it?" Duan Yu asked in a hushed, intense voice.

Duan Qing looked at him for a long moment before slowly replying, "Yu'er, in this Tianwu Continent, Sikou is an extremely rare compound surname. And there is only one family that stands at the pinnacle of power. However, that position is so overwhelmingly high that people only ever see the surface. They remain oblivious to everything hidden behind the scenes—including their very surname."