Chapter 1865 - 335:

He knew that his talent ceiling had long since been reached.

If his own son were grown, he'd be here by his side weeding as well; at this age he'd already be able to understand and listen, and when they went back for breakfast, he'd probably even be able to explain it all to his old dad.

Xiong Shan couldn't help thinking to himself: Son, you need to hurry up and grow; this kind of free insight and guidance, leaving it with your dad here is just wasted for nothing.

"Breakfast time!"

Aunt Liu's voice wasn't loud, and this field was fairly far from the house, yet every time her call still managed to land precisely.

Uncle Qin tossed the farm tool in his hand to Run Sheng, told him to head back first; the village was going to organize work on the irrigation canal soon, and he needed to go check the canal up ahead.

Run Sheng walked off carrying the tools.

Xiong Shan followed Uncle Qin to the old canal.

Uncle Qin crouched down, reached out to cover his chest, let out a muffled groan from his throat, and a thread of fresh blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

Standing to the side, Xiong Shan felt as if he heard a beast's roar at his ear, and he couldn't help being startled.

When he'd steadied himself, he lowered his head and looked toward Lord Qin Li.

Just now it must have been Lord Qin Li being injured that caused his ordinary-person disguise to rupture for an instant, his true aura leaking out.

Deliberately helping their own Jiang Shangren would inevitably incur karmic backlash.

The Heavenly Dao is sometimes easy to fool, but that depends on the person.

Most of the time, thinking you can fool the Heavenly Dao is sheer delusion.

Even if Uncle Qin used those three father and sons earlier as a lead, and it was even his sigh directed at Xiong Shan, he still couldn't avoid it.

Back then, Uncle Qin and Aunt Liu had served as teachers to Run Sheng and Yin Meng, one transmitting "Qin's蛟 Observation Method," the other teaching Poison Technique.

After that lesson, Uncle Qin and Aunt Liu both suffered backlash; Uncle Qin ran into danger while out on assignment and was gravely wounded; Aunt Liu was tortured into skin-and-bones by the dishes Yin Meng cooked.

But at that time Run Sheng and Yin Meng had only just started following Xiao Yuan to walk the Jianghu, their strength was not great, so this level of backlash was still within what Uncle Qin and Aunt Liu could endure.

Moreover, it was a price they'd already foreseen and chosen to pay, an in-time remedy the old lady made for Xiao Yuan's lampflame self-immolation and hurried departure to walk the Jianghu.

Now...

"Pff..."

The blood he'd thought he could suppress ended up spurting out after all.

It splashed into the canal in front of him, dyeing a patch dark red.

"Lord Qin Li..."

Xiong Shan was about to speak in concern when he realized Uncle Qin was smiling.

"That kid has actually improved this fast."

Though they didn't address each other as master and disciple in daily life, Run Sheng had always regarded Uncle Qin as his teacher.

By the intensity of the backlash he'd just suffered, Uncle Qin could clearly feel out the level of Run Sheng's current strength.

Even though he'd spat blood, he still felt very gratified.

"Lord Qin Li, are you alright?"

Xiong Shan moved to support Uncle Qin, but Uncle Qin gently pushed him away.

"It's nothing serious; I just need to recuperate a bit."

"Lord Qin Li, you're truly good to Run Sheng."

"He's one of our own."

"Yes, that's right, you're absolutely right."

Uncle Qin looked at Xiong Shan and, very seriously, spoke again: "Your son is one of our own too."

"Heh heh."

Xiong Shan's mouth split in a wide grin; he didn't dare be reserved, didn't dare be modest, didn't even dare say a "how could I" for fear the other might take it literally.

The nickname "Beng Beng" had been chosen by Xiao Yuan, and Xiao Yuan was the future—and in fact even now already counted as—the legal head of the Qin and Liu Families' gate.

Thus, according to old custom, Beng Beng for the moment at least counted as a named disciple of the Family Head of the Qin and Liu Families; calling him "one of our own" was more than justified.

On top of that, the child's spiritual acuity was almost visible to the naked eye; there was hardly any Jianghu force that would refuse a child with that kind of aptitude.

Uncle Qin had the clan's future on his mind. Xiao Yuan was still young in age, but he already belonged to this generation.

The clan's next generation would be the future children of Xiao Yuan and Alii and the current Beng Beng and the rest.

The reason it was "the rest" was because that night, after sending those two resentful babies at Big Beard's house to "reincarnate" for Tan Wenbin, Xiao Yuan had returned home and, on the second-floor terrace, called those two resentful babies back again.

What happened at home, unless Xiao Yuan deliberately concealed it, was impossible to hide from Uncle Qin's perception—whether it was the cat-faced old lady coming earlier to celebrate her birthday or the newly built Daoist Field in the rice paddies behind the house.

So, although Tan Wenbin himself still didn't know that his two godsons, whose Merit had attached to him and whose lives had been bound up with his, were currently "lining up" to become his own biological sons, Uncle Qin knew, Aunt Liu knew, and the old lady knew.

And then there was Lin Shuyou's True Monarch System, which from the start was a bloodline inheritance.

The upward conduit of inheritance—for instance, his current divination for the Lin Family—was more like a temporary loan, whereas the downward inheritance, that is, Lin Shuyou's future actual children, would be able to perfectly inherit all the power of the True Monarch.

In addition there were Run Sheng and Yin Meng. What exactly Run Sheng counted as now was something even Uncle Qin didn't know; but Yin Meng was the one and only authentic bloodline of the Yin family in the present generation.

Emperor Fengdu had never cared much about the Yin Family, but that didn't matter; it depended on whether there was any force and anyone to help him fight for it.

Uncle Qin felt a kind of sweetness after hardship.

If the winds and rains stayed favorable, then the next generation of the Dragon King's Court of both families would surely be able to shoulder the clan's revival of its inheritance once more.

Wiping the corner of his mouth, then rinsing his hands in the canal, Uncle Qin stood up and said to Xiong Shan:

"You go back and eat breakfast too, then come back to load the goods."

"Let me take you back first."

"No need."

"Lord Qin Li, there's something I don't understand..."

"Speak."

"Why is the effect of karmic backlash on you so direct?"

"Is directness such a bad thing?"

"That..."

"Every Dragon King's Court has its own research and understanding of the Heavenly Dao. For us, rather than letting this karmic backlash strike at some unforeseeable time in the future, or end up dragging in unrelated people around us, it's better to have it act directly on ourselves and erase the debt."