In ancient times, when spiritual energy between heaven and earth was abundant, spontaneous pregnancies indeed occurred frequently.
But with the vicissitudes of the seas turning into mulberry fields and the changes of the world, those old stories had long become legends or even myths. Who would believe that a woman suddenly became pregnant out of nowhere?
Moreover, that night, refugees had burst into their home. Her brother had been killed miserably, her father severely injured, and her mother barely holding the family together, too busy surviving to deal with the town’s idle gossip.
“I wanted to abort the child at first.”
The woman gasped for breath as she recalled the past.
“But no matter what I did—jumping into the river, swallowing arsenic, even attempting suicide—it all failed…”
Her mother had cried and begged her to stay alive. The mother, who had already lost her eldest son, could not bear to lose her daughter too. In the end, the woman could only flee the town and go to a nearby rural village to give birth.
“Later, he was born—a very fair and adorable child. But I couldn’t forget what had happened, so I planned to send him to the charity hall in town after his full moon celebration… But soon, a mountain flood erupted, the river burst its banks, and the deluge submerged the village and the town… I was swept away by the current and thought I would die, but your father saved me…”
She struggled to grasp young Zhang Sizhe’s hand and said softly, “Your father saw me floating on the water without dying and thought I had something special about me, so he took me back to the Zhang Family…”
Her hometown had been drowned by the flood, and she had lost all news of her family. With nowhere else to go, the woman sought refuge with the Zhang Family and eventually became the seventh madam of the Zhang Family head.
“Only after coming to the Zhang Family did I learn about immortals. Looking back now, it must have been that my family ancestors were favored by an immortal and possessed a treasure that protected the clan. That treasure had its own intelligence and required spiritual power, but I foolishly fed it blood food…”
The woman smiled bitterly. “I turned the spiritual object into something ominous, bringing disaster upon my family. My life of hardship and wandering was all because of my childish folly back then. Now, the Nine Spirits Sect has taken notice of your innate affinity for spirit beasts—undoubtedly because of what your mother did. Remember, fortune and misfortune are intertwined, retribution is real. Don’t force things, and don’t be too curious…”
She said many more things, mostly admonishing her son not to offend others and so on. Gradually, her breathing grew weaker and weaker, almost a murmur. “That child… is a bit older than you…”
Young Zhang Sizhe was already in tears, while adult Zhang Sizhe, hearing this, thought of Shen He’s age and let out a short, bitter laugh filled with intense resentment.
“What do you mean older than me? He’s clearly younger!”
Shen He, outside the window, stared fixedly at the woman. His heart was in turmoil as he greedily and excitedly gazed at her on the bed. Was he that spontaneously conceived child? Was she his mother?
Shen He nearly rushed in several times, but Xie Linlang firmly held him back.
Xie Linlang mouthed a reminder to Shen He: “The Nine Spirits Sect was destroyed decades ago. If Zhang Sizhe was once a disciple there, he’s much older than you. You two can’t be brothers.”
Hearing Zhang Sizhe mutter to himself now, combined with Xie Linlang’s reminder, a sudden sense of loss welled up in Shen He.
Yes, the ages didn’t match.
The scene abruptly went white. Young Zhang Sizhe knelt before his mother’s memorial tablet, burning paper money, but the next second, a sturdy servant entered and said that Zhang Sizhe didn’t understand etiquette, that inferiors shouldn’t move superiors, and that the Seventh Madam was just a concubine of unknown origin—holding a memorial in the house would bring bad luck. Then the servant added that Zhang Sizhe had been selected by the Nine Spirits Sect and shouldn’t waste time and opportunity; he should hurry to report, or the spot would go to someone else.
Shen He’s face turned exceptionally ugly. Though he had sold steamed cakes with his grandfather outside and seen plenty of dirty dealings in great clans, he was still extremely angry at this moment.
Xie Linlang, however, showed no emotional fluctuation. Instead, he carefully observed the twisted anger and helplessness on young Zhang Sizhe’s face, then looked closely at the hatred in adult Zhang Sizhe’s eyes.
Soon, young Zhang Sizhe left the Zhang Family. The next scene shifted to the grand gates of the Nine Spirits Sect.
At that time, the Nine Spirits Sect was considered a major immortal sect in the True Realm.
Zhang Sizhe and two others arrived at the gates and were led inside by an outer sect senior brother.
They registered with the sect, and the senior brother distributed basic supplies to the three: the Nine Spirits Sect’s Basic Secret Arts, the Beast Taming Secret Method, and basic knowledge about the sect.
Then the senior brother took them to the market at the base of the Nine Spirits Sect’s mountain gate, explained ways for low-level disciples to earn money through cultivation, and brought them near the Teleportation Array, saying that if they had enough spirit stones, they could use it to leave the sect and visit their parents at home.
As Zhang Sizhe followed the senior brother to familiarize himself with the market and pondered how to make money afterward, a black thunderbolt exploded in the sky.
Above the distant mountains where the Nine Spirits Sect was located, black flames unfurled like living creatures under the azure sky, forming a massive character for “Jiye.”
A figure shrouded entirely in pitch-black flames emitted a shrill scream.
“Nine Spirits Sect—all of you, die for me!!”
A massive, terrifying black barrier slowly descended from the sky like a falling meteor, sealing off the entire thousand-li radius around the Nine Spirits Sect.
