Chapter 2: Heaven’s Favored Talent

“Young Master, how was your outing yesterday?”

The next day, countless students and rich gentlemen of Willow Lake City who had attended the grand gathering talked excitedly about their legendary chance encounters with Fang Family’s Second Young Master. And no one knew how many secretly guessed what marvelous pleasures the Second Young Master Fang had experienced spending the night with Lady Qingmeng, drooling with envy. Yet, this Second Young Master Fang had already boarded the carriage at the back gate early in the morning.

Driving the carriage was his personal attendant, Xiao Qingliu, who leaned in from the front, a sly grin on his face.

Having stayed up all night, the Second Young Master Fang looked slightly weary, but his mood was good. He held several freshly ink-stained paper scrolls, flipping through them page by page. His smile widened as he looked, then he nodded toward the driving attendant, saying: “The fox’s tail showed itself. She was all earnest and proper in the first three volumes, hiding well. But she got tired and let her demonic nature slip later!”

The attendant lowered his voice: “So you mean…”

Second Young Master Fang said: “Make a stop at the wild tea shack outside the city. Offer five thousand taels of gold as bounty to eliminate her.”

Xiao Qingliu nodded: “Still using the old channels?”

Second Young Master Fang glared at him: “Would Young Master Fang go deal with her personally?”

Xiao Qingliu hurriedly pulled his head back, not daring to ask more.

Meanwhile, the Second Young Master lifted the carriage curtain and glanced outside. The carriage had already entered the main street. On the road, many well-dressed men could be seen, clearly hungover, staggering arm-in-arm, laughing and joking their way home to have breakfast with their wives.

“These fools…”

He gave a cold, soft laugh and let the curtain drop: “Throwing large sums of silver into the Pleasure Quarters, thinking they got a bargain, boasting about their romantic conquests. How could they know that this seemingly delicate young beauty is actually a man-eating demon? The silver wasted is nothing, but worse, while they wallow in one night of tenderness, she steals even the last few precious threads of their Innate Qi?”

Yet as he spoke, his brow furrowed slightly.

A single fox demon, practising her cultivation so openly in Willow Lake City… whose backing does she rely on?

This world indeed has fox demons and spirits, but it also has Qi Refiners. The city has its City Governor and the Divine Generals for defense. Outside, several Old Scholars from White Xiang Academy stand guard. With such keen, discerning eyes watching, shouldn’t these monsters hide far away? How dare they enter the city?

His expression gradually darkened.

Such troublesome matters… if it weren’t for the promise he made to that elder brother of his, he truly shouldn’t get involved.

How nice it would be just to focus on being a carefree playboy!

Thinking this, he picked up an old umbrella beside him. With force, he carved a new mark onto it.

By now, the umbrella bore twelve haphazard scratches.

Perhaps only Xiao Qingliu, driving the carriage upfront, understood their meaning. They stood for: the three river demons eradicated from Willow Lake City and its surroundings; the four great bandits who used Daoist magic to commit atrocities; one demonic sect that kidnapped children to refine elixirs; and the four demons stealthily living within the city.

“The Second Young Master is back!”

By the time the carriage arrived at the Fang Manor in the north of the city, Fang Cun was sound asleep inside.

Hearing that his riotous second son, who hadn’t returned all night, was back, Master Fang, having breakfast in the hall, angrily slammed down his chopsticks. Grabbing the feather duster by the door, he stormed out. Mistress Fang followed anxiously from the hall, endlessly trying to calm him down. Approaching the inner gate, they saw the stout housemaid carrying the groggy Second Young Master Fang on her back toward the main hall.

Incensed, Master Fang charged forward, shouting and brandishing the feather duster: “You hopeless disgrace! Where have you been fooling around again, huh! Perfectly good Nine Texts literature lies untouched, perfectly good cultivation arts remain unstudied! Ah! White Xiang Academy has reached out how many times? Ah! You find it too harsh, refuse to go! Can’t you put in some effort? Ah! Look at your elder brother! He entered the Academy at seven! By nine, he was accepted into a County Sect! Then look at yourself! Ah! All you know is cockfighting and gambling! And now? Now you’ve learned to haunt brothels too!”

His scolding was unusually fierce; the feather duster whistled through the air.

The maid carrying Fang Cun felt aggrieved: “You’ve been waving that duster all this time, took one swing… and it hit me…”

“Master, calm your anger! Look how worn out Cun’er is! Let him rest in his room first…”

Mistress Fang hurried over, pulling Master Fang and trying to appease him.

“Rest? Rest for what?”

Master Fang raged: “It’s all your spoiling! What has he become like this!”

Mistress Fang objected: “A hopeless one shows up, and you say I spoiled him? Then why don’t you take credit for Chi’er being so exceptional?”

Master Fang yelled: “Chi’er is obedient, and that’s thanks to me!”

Mistress Fang spat: “Nonsense! This disgrace is the one who takes after you!”

“This one takes after you!”

“That one takes after me!”

“…”

They started bickering. The maid beside them dared not join in – she’d seen this scene far too many times.

“Stop arguing!”

Fang Cun opened his bleary eyes and snapped impatiently.

Master and Mistress Fang instantly fell silent. Mistress Fang nudged Master Fang: “See? You disturbed our son’s sleep!”

Fang Cun said: “Father, I’m out of money. Allocate me some more spending money later.”

Master Fang, still furious, glowered: “I just gave you some! It’s gone already? You…”

Fang Cun turned away: “Mother, I’m out of money. Allocate me some more spending money later.”

Mistress Fang quickly replied: “Ahh, well my dear, go get it from the account room later…”

Fang Cun declared: “I’m sleepy!”

Master and Mistress Fang hastily moved aside, urging the stout maid to carry him quickly to his room to sleep. Only when their son’s back was nearly out of sight did Master Fang react, complaining to Mistress Fang: “See? You indulge him again! Handing over silver at the drop of a hat! Do you know how much he spends? More in a month than others spend in three years!… Careful! Don’t bump his head!”

Mistress Fang said: “It doesn’t matter even if it’s a lot. It wasn’t you who earned it anyway…”

Master Fang retorted: “I manage this household! How can you say it’s not mine?”

Mistress Fang countered: “If it weren’t for me raising Chi’er to be such a success, could your skills earn so much silver?”

Master Fang fumed: “Chi’er was taught by me too!”

Mistress Fang spat back: “Pfah! This disgraceful one is the one you taught!”

…

He woke up well into the afternoon.

Fang Cun crawled out of bed. A maid who had waited long presented him with bird’s nest soup. Fang Cun sipped a little, found it too sweet, pushed it aside, and saw a small wooden box already placed on the table. Opening it, he found over ten gold-tipped tally tokens inside, engraved with secret patterns. These weren’t for direct spending but vouchers to claim funds at the Fang estate.

Each token was worth three hundred taels of gold.

A young maid beside him reminded: “Madam said, Young Master, please spend a bit more sparingly. This is meant for one month…”

Fang Cun waved a dismissive hand and stuffed all the tokens into his sleeve pocket.

Over a dozen years had passed since his transmigration. He was thoroughly accustomed to this lavish life.

Though called Great Xia, this Great Xia was not that Great Xia. It was far more interesting!

Perhaps because this world was vastly larger than his previous life, or the existence of Qi Refiners, productivity here far exceeded that of his previous world’s ancient times. The prosperity and wealth here were things his former world’s history could never rival.

He’d been lucky to reincarnate into this world, into the Fang Family.

Even better fortune was this: the Fang Family had an elder brother, twelve years his senior, who turned out to be a peerless, heaven-defying genius.

Reading texts at three, awakening comprehension at five, entering the Academy at seven – from then on unstoppable, rising step by step, his immortal awe spreading far and wide. By now, he was long since one of Great Xia’s top prodigies, renowned throughout the lands and among barbarians. Naturally, this brought glory to the entire family. Though the Fang Family still resided in this small Willow Lake City, based purely on Elder Brother Fang Chi’s prowess, moving to Zhaoge, they could be a prominent clan.

Because of him, the Fang Family hardly needed to actively seek riches; silver poured into them endlessly.

And this was despite the family strictly following Elder Brother’s instructions, never daring to fully exploit their opportunities, acting only within Great Xia’s laws, never overstepping. Had they truly set their minds on wealth, the thought was unimaginable.

“Heh heh, others who transmigrated fight tooth and nail. Who gets it as easy as me?”

Sitting down smugly, Fang Cun let four or five maids dress him, put on his shoes, and wipe his face. He thought, quite pleased: his previous life’s memories had faded into near dream-like fragments over the long years here.

But among his recollections, he doubted any transmigrator had ever lived as luxuriously as him.

If he could live this grandly his whole life, age peacefully, perhaps even transmigrate back… why bother with that grueling path of Qi Refining?

The only real headache was probably the demon-exterminating mission his righteous elder brother had imposed on him. Must he really tangle with monsters and demon cultivators every day?

What nerve was misfiring?

…

Just as he contemplated this, sudden commotion erupted in the outer courtyard — frantic running mixed with heartbroken cries and wails.

Fang Cun frowned. Such disorder was almost unimaginable within the orderly Fang Manor.

“Go see what’s happened!”

He commanded. The maid who had finished lacing his shoes hastily bowed and ran.

Cloak settled on his shoulders, Fang Cun rose, already thinking about where to kill time that evening. At that very moment, the maid he’d sent to investigate bolted back in, tripping over the threshold in her haste. Utter terror drained her face of color. She shrieked: “Young Master… Young Master… it’s awful! Master has fainted! Mistress too… come quickly! Come quickly see…”

Fang Cun’s expression grew somber. He strode toward the door: “What happened?”

The maid cried out through choked sobs: “It’s the Eldest Young Master… news came from Zhaoge… Eldest Young Master… he’s dead!”

“What?”

Fang Cun whirled around. But his feet stilled.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally let out a low, soft sigh: “He held on for so long… it was hard on him…”