Chapter 12: Fulfillment
Chapter 12: Fulfillment
Chen Mu had anticipated some trouble after taking in Wang Ni, but it arrived sooner than he expected.
On the third evening after welcoming Wang Ni, a man with a shifty appearance showed up at his door.
"Yes?" Chen Mu opened the door and saw the man standing there.
The man, upon seeing Chen Mu, rubbed his hands and said with a smile, "Are you Big Chen, the official? I am Wang Zhao. I heard that my uncle passed away a few days ago, and you helped with his burial. As his nephew, I only just found out, and I feel terrible. I must thank you, Big Chen, for not letting my uncle's body be exposed in the wilderness."
As he spoke, he forced a mournful expression.
Chen Mu replied calmly, "Just call me Chen Mu. I was a neighbor to Uncle Wang, so there's no need for formalities."
Wang Lao Han had passed away quietly, and Chen Mu had handled it discreetly, causing little disturbance to the neighbors. Yet, in less than three days, a distant relative of Wang Lao Han had come knocking on the door. They must have heard the news and rushed over.
Chen Mu had asked Wang Ni about this, and after Wang Lao Han's family incident, none of these so-called distant relatives, including Wang Zhao, had come to visit. It was clear what they were after as soon as they heard the news.
Indeed.
After feigning some mourning, Wang Zhao immediately looked into the house and said, "My niece is only ten years old, and she's already lost her parents. As her uncle, I can't let her be homeless. I've troubled you these past few days to take care of her."
As he spoke, he called out to the house, "Ni'er, I'm your distant uncle, and I've come to take you home."
Wang Ni, who was with Chen Yue, shuddered slightly at Wang Zhao's words and looked hesitantly at Chen Yue beside her. Chen Yue gave her a thoughtful look and then leaned down to whisper something in her ear.
Wang Ni nodded slightly, then walked to the door and called out softly, 'Uncle.'
Chen Mu's expression remained unchanged as he watched Wang Ni. He looked at her with a gentle gaze and said, "Ni'er, do you can either follow your distant uncle back home or stay with Yue'er as her sister."
When Chen Mu took in Wang Ni, he didn't follow many of the usual procedures, including changing her registration. In the past, the standard process would have been either adoption or registering her as a slave, but with the current bureaucratic corruption, these rules were more symbolic than practical. In other words, the final say belonged to the powerful and influential.
Chen Mu had a good idea of what this distant uncle was up to. He had come rushing over so quickly, probably intending to take Wang Ni back before Chen Mu could register her. After all, Chen Mu was just a patrol officer, not someone with power and influence.
"Grandfather said to listen to Brother Mu," Wang Ni replied, her body half-hidden behind Chen Mu, her small head barely peeking out as she spoke softly, not daring to look at Wang Zhao.
At her age, she couldn't fully understand everything, but she knew that these distant relatives had never visited Wang Lao Han, and she had barely seen them a few times in her life. To her, they were almost strangers compared to Chen Mu, who had saved her in her time of need, and the words of Wang Lao Han. In her little heart, she had a small sense of clarity.
Hearing Wang Ni's response, Chen Mu smiled slightly.
Wang Zhao's face, however, turned sour.
Chen Mu looked at Wang Zhao and said calmly, "Uncle Wang entrusted me to take care of Ni'er before he passed away, and I agreed. Yue'er also likes her and treats her as a little sister."
Wang Zhao's face turned grim. "Since my uncle said so, then I ask you, Chen, to take care of Ni'er for a while. But I remember my uncle had a deed for a house..."
If Wang Lao Han had left instructions and Wang Ni showed this attitude, it would be inappropriate to forcibly take her. After all, Chen Mu was still a patrol officer. But the old house left by Wang Lao Han's family, with its two rooms, could not be given away to others.
Seeing that Wang Zhao was no longer hiding his intentions, Chen Mu also smiled coldly and said, "The deed left by Uncle Wang naturally belongs to Ni'er. Are you, her uncle, planning to take it by force?"
Wang Zhao's face turned pale, then red. He glanced at the patrol sword at Chen Mu's waist but ultimately didn't dare to make a scene. He turned and left in frustration.
Chen Mu watched Wang Zhao's figure disappear into the alley and calmly closed the door.
He then turned to Chen Yue, who had run out of the house, and smiled, saying, "Was it you who taught Ni'er to answer like that?"
"No," Chen Yue said, pulling Wang Ni close and hugging her as they entered the house. "I just told Ni'er to say what she feels is right."
"Oh," Chen Mu said, shaking his head with a smile. Looking at Wang Ni, who still seemed a bit confused, and Chen Yue, who appeared cute and clever, he felt at ease. He realized that Chen Yue was not only gentle and charming but also quite cunning.
But that was fine; at least she wouldn't be taken advantage of.
After having dinner with Chen Yue and Wang Ni, Chen Mu sent them to the bedroom and stayed in the barn alone. He planned to practice his sword skills all night.
It wasn't just because Wang Zhao had suddenly shown up, but also because Chen Mu was only thirty points away from accumulating enough experience. With a night's work, he would surely reach his goal. And he had been waiting for this day.
In the pitch-black night, the barn was unlit, and one could not see their fingers in front of their face. But even without sight, Chen Mu was intimately familiar with every detail of the barn—the stove, the water pot, and more. He brandished his blade, creating a chaotic wind that swirled around him, yet he remained as steady as a rock, never once touching the stove or the walls.
Not a glimmer of blade light was visible, only the constant howling of the wind.
"Aura..." Chen Mu muttered to himself.
Having mastered the Gale Blade Technique, he sought to take it even further and achieve perfection in the Blazing Wind Blade Technique. To do so, he needed to comprehend the elusive concept of 'Aura', a mysterious concept that even the secret manuals failed to clearly define.
In reality, Chen Mu had been diligently practicing the Gale Blade Technique for nearly six months, hoping that through his hard work and understanding, he could grasp this so-called 'Aura' and make a breakthrough. However, after six months of relentless practice, the only noticeable changes were slightly increased arm strength and greater stamina. There were no other advancements.
The technique's mastery had already peaked at the Great Proficiency stage.
"Aura... it's the wind's aura, the aura of a gale. But how to grasp it is not merely a matter of changing the technique," Chen Mu thought to himself.
Even someone with average understanding, he knew, could achieve Great Proficiency in the Gale Blade Technique with ten years of dedicated practice. But this final step to perfection had stumped countless blade practitioners; it was no ordinary challenge.
Perhaps it required more than just practice and understanding. Maybe it demanded actual combat against numerous opponents, honing skills in various situations, and facing life-and-death struggles to capture that fleeting glimmer of insight and emerge as a butterfly from its cocoon.
Time passed slowly.
The next day, as the first rays of dawn slipped through the cracks in the barn door, Chen Mu stood in the center of the barn, his blade sheathed. He bathed in the warm glow of the morning light.
"It seems I can't comprehend it on my own after all," he sighed.
After a night of fruitless practice, he still couldn't grasp the subtleties of the blade aura. But then he thought of the many who had practiced the blade their entire lives, only to be stuck at this point, and he felt a sense of relief. He summoned the System Panel.
[Martial Arts: Gale Blade Technique (Perfection)]
[Experience: 3000 points]
Upon reflection, he realized that these 3000 experience points were the fruit of his six months of hard work. Using them to break through to perfection in the blade technique was no different from achieving it through his own understanding; in both cases, he relied solely on himself without depending on others.
Chen Mu closed his eyes and, with a thought, chose to enhance his skills.
Buzz! The 3000 experience points were instantly consumed.
In an instant, countless immersive scenes flooded his mind—blood-soaked battles, life-and-death struggles with various opponents, from rogue blade practitioners to battlefield soldiers, from trap-filled escapes to mountain-top skirmishes. Each scene felt incredibly real, as if he were living it. In a fleeting moment, all these experiences were compressed into an instant, propelling him directly to his destination.
In reality, the sum of these experiences was less than the years of additional practice he had gained when advancing from Rank 2 to Rank 3 in the blade technique. Yet each scene was incredibly perilous.
Nearly every encounter was a brush with death, and each memory seemed to skirt the edge of mortality. It was at these countless life-and-death moments that his blade technique finally revealed its brilliance. All the techniques he had mastered seemed to transform into countless 'threads' in his eyes, chaotic yet grand. But among them, one thread stood out, weaving through them all.
That was... Aura!
Chen Mu's eyes snapped open.
He gripped his patrol saber tightly and performed a light, swirling motion in the air.
This was not a move from the Gale Blade Technique but a spontaneous action. Yet, it still stirred up a blade wind, creating a small whirlwind that lifted a few straws from the ground.
No longer bound by the technique, each move now carried the aura of a gale, and he had finally emerged from his cocoon, reaching the pinnacle of his art.
Perfection in the Gale Blade Technique!
Dozens of practitioners had toiled for over a decade to reach Great Proficiency, but very few could step into the realm of perfection and comprehend the blade aura. Chen Mu, in less than nine months, had finally joined their ranks.
While it was hard to quantify the extent of his power after achieving perfection in the blade technique, he could say that within the outer city and the nine streets, there were not many who could best him. Even ten martial artists would struggle to get close, and with a blade in hand, he was a match for dozens.
In the past, such skill would have easily earned him the title of Martial Scholar.
Even now, he could easily become a Patrol Chief or even a Deputy Leader in a formidable gang like the Crimson Gold Gang, securing a high-ranking seat among the leaders.
If achieving Great Proficiency in the blade technique gave him some strength, then reaching perfection granted him the power to truly change his status and gain a degree of freedom. The choice of how to use this power was his alone.
(End of Chapter)
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