Chapter 20: Old Master Ji

Even if Madam Chen had killed Li Xiaodie, he could not allow her to die. Madam Chen’s family was a branch of the renowned martial Chen clan; if anything happened to her, and the Chen family came seeking accountability, even his own General’s Manor would not escape unscathed.

He snorted coldly and fixed his gaze on Ji Tianxin, his face dark and eyes icy, still trying to gauge Ji Tianxin’s cultivation.

No, impossible. How could such a young child have reached the Return to Origin stage?

He spoke in a deep voice, “Men! Seize her for me!”

He was determined to uncover the truth behind this girl’s cultivation.

Su Qing immediately swept her eyes over everyone present, ready to strike at any moment.

Ji Tianxin remained silent, but the chill in her eyes sent shivers down everyone’s spine.

Another fight—how troublesome.

She frowned slightly.

“Stop!”

At the height of this tense standoff, a voice like thunder suddenly boomed from outside the hall!

Though the voice was old, it was deafening, as if it could make one’s very heart leap from their chest.

A powerful aura instantly enveloped the entire space. Except for Ji Tianxin, everyone else was frozen as if rooted to the spot, unable to move a muscle.

The servants, trembling with fear, fell to their knees, too terrified even to breathe audibly.

“Hm?” Ji Tianxin let out a surprised sound.

This was… in the language of the Sky Martial Continent, this was… the Fifth Layer of the Enlightened Aperture stage?

The Enlightened Aperture stage was above Marrow Cleansing. In any nation, those who had reached such cultivation were exceedingly rare.

A martial artist at the Enlightened Aperture stage could, with a wave of the hand, slay a hundred men, and their lifespan could exceed two hundred years.

Ji Tianxin had not expected that the Ji family would still have a master at the Enlightened Aperture stage.

“Father!” Upon seeing the elderly man enter, Ji Huaili’s face lit up with excitement and reverence.

Ji Tianxin slowly turned to look at the newcomer.

He was an old man who, though appearing to be a little over fifty, revealed by his bone age to Ji Tianxin’s eyes to be over a hundred years old.

The aura of breakthrough still lingered around him; he must have just emerged from closed-door cultivation.

It seemed he had only recently advanced.

“Who was it just now who dared to fight here?!” That surge of power had startled him out of his seclusion! Such strength—he had never sensed before!

Though difficult to detect, at that instant, he was in the midst of advancing and his perception of the surrounding energies was at its sharpest.

To think that such a master would appear in the General’s Manor! He had to come forth to pay his respects, but also out of concern that such a powerful figure might become an enemy of the manor.

So, the moment his breakthrough succeeded, he came out at once!

He paid no heed to Ji Huaili, instead scanning the hall in search of someone.

At last, his gaze settled on Su Qing, who stood beside Ji Tianxin.

Here, the only unfamiliar person with cultivation he could sense was this twelve- or thirteen-year-old girl.

He was astonished, yet also suspicious.

Astonished that someone so young had already reached the peak of Marrow Cleansing—such prodigies were one in ten thousand. Was she from some major martial clan? Or perhaps a hidden sect had raised her on rare elixirs?

Yet he doubted, because the power he had sensed earlier was not something someone at the Marrow Cleansing stage could produce.

Su Qing watched the old man warily.

“It was me,” Ji Tianxin answered.

The old master of the Ji family was startled, then finally lowered his gaze to Ji Tianxin.

He did not react for a moment, but after a brief pause, waved his hand dismissively. “Little one, don’t make trouble.”