Amid a thunderous five-minute standing ovation from all twenty thousand spectators in the Grand Prefecture Martial Arena. Fifty-two-year-old Prefecture Lord Qin Zheng , at Rank 3 Mid, personally carried a carved jade box lined with red silk onto the center of Stage #1! Fifty thousand protected neighbors and a clean sweep of the prefecture trophies, Gu Changsheng thought warmly.
Now our family stove is bright enough to reach across the province, he mused.
Opening the jade box to reveal a fist-sized. Glowing golden-red fruit shaped like a miniature coiled dragon that filled the entire stadium with a rich. Marrow-cleansing fragrance, the Prefecture Lord presented the grand prize to seven-year-old Su Nuannuan and nine-year-old Gu Nian:.
“Young Champions of Frost-Pine Town! Not only did the two of you display peerless Rank 2 martial cultivation at ages seven and nine without injuring a single honest opponent. You also helped this Prefecture Lord expose a corrupt official and a Blood-Fiend saboteur!
Today, I award you this [Hundred-Year Spirit-Marrow Fruit], three thousand silver taels in scholarship funds for the Frost-Pine Elementary School. An official Golden Tax-Exempt Decree granting the [Gu Family Peace Pharmacy] the right to open branch clinics across all twelve counties of Azure-Cloud Prefecture!”
“Thank you, Prefecture Lord Uncle!” nine-year-old Gu Nian and seven-year-old Su Nuannuan bowed politely in unison, accepting the jade box and the golden decree with both hands.
Yet even as the twenty thousand spectators cheered the Prefecture Lord’s generous rewards, both children immediately turned their heads toward the stage stairs with sparkling. Expectant eyes—because twenty-nine-year-old Gu Changsheng was walking up onto the Championship Podium carrying the real prize they had been waiting for all week!
Setting the magnificent, three-foot-tall [Rank 3 Perfection: Golden-Dragon & Rainbow-Bunny Sugar-Painting Trophy] down between his son and daughter. Gu Changsheng knelt on one knee on the stage carpet, pulled two gleaming, embossed [Gold Star Honor Stickers] out of his apron pocket. Pinned one onto the front flap of seven-year-old Su Nuannuan’s pink schoolbag and one onto the chest pocket of nine-year-old Gu Nian’s yellow bunny apron!
“Nuannuan, this Gold Star Sticker is for winning First Place without drawing a single drop of blood. For making sure your opponents had warm blankets during their naps,” Gu Changsheng said warmly. Kissing the top of his seven-year-old daughter’s forehead before turning to his nine-year-old son and ruffling his hair with a gentle wink:.
“And Nian’er, this Gold Star Sticker is for protecting your school apron, sweeping out the arena’s trash with one swing of your pencil case. Knowing that a true Big Brother always lets his little sister have the first bite of the rainbow sugar bunny.”
Hearing his father whisper that last part, nine-year-old Gu Nian’s ears turned slightly pink with happy pride. He plucked two detachable spirit-fruit sugar paintings—a little golden dragon for himself and a little pink bunny for Nuannuan. Plus a tiny green sugar turtle with glasses for Grandpa Yao!—right off the base of the trophy!
Standing right beside the podium, fifty-two-year-old Prefecture Lord Qin Zheng , at Rank 3 Mid, stared in astonishment at the three-foot-tall, seven-colored maltose sugar sculpture. The plucked dragon and bunny regrew before his very eyes in ten breaths:.
“Patriarch Gu... unless this Prefecture Lord’s eyes are deceiving me, that sugar-painting trophy is infused with a genuine Rank 3 Perfection self-replenishing spiritual array! You forged a Rank 3 spiritual artifact out of maltose candy just to reward your children for winning a junior tournament?!”
“Children don’t care much for cold gold ingots or dusty jade plaques, Prefecture Lord Qin,” Gu Changsheng smiled, handing the Prefecture Lord a detachable golden sugar cloud from the rim of the trophy. “Try a bite—Grandpa Yao and I balanced the wildflower honey with roasted malt so it clears lung-heat and goes well with afternoon tea.”
Taking a bite of the crispy golden sugar cloud in front of twenty thousand cheering citizens, the Rank 3 Mid Prefecture Lord felt a warm. Soothing wave of pure culinary essence wash away ten years of administrative fatigue from his temples!
“Incredible!” Prefecture Lord Qin Zheng cried, bowing deeply to Gu Changsheng on the championship stage. “With Patriarch Gu’s family virtue and Doctor Qin’s benevolent medicine, Azure-Cloud Prefecture is blessed by the heavens!
Tonight, I invite your entire Frost-Pine delegation to stay at the Prefecture Governor’s Guest Villa as my honored guests!”
As Gu Changsheng, Auntie Qin, Grandpa Fu, and the fifty pink-aproned security uncles escorted the two newly crowned grade-school champions down the marble steps of the Grand Prefecture Arena. Twenty thousand citizens lined both sides of Central Avenue for a mile, tossing spring-blossom petals and cheering:.
“Long live Little Champion Nuannuan and Co-Champion Nian! Long live Principal Gu and Doctor Qin of Frost-Pine Town!”
Sitting high on Captain One-Ear Scar’s broad, pink-aproned shoulders. Hugging her [Jade-Turtle Plush Doll] with one arm and holding a pink sugar bunny lollipop in the other, seven-year-old Su Nuannuan waved happily to all the children in the crowd. Nine-year-old Gu Nian walked steadily beside his father’s left hand, checking the shiny [Gold Star Honor Sticker] pinned to his yellow bunny apron every five steps with a quiet, beaming smile!
That evening, inside the spacious courtyard of the Prefecture Lord’s Guest Villa where the Gu Family was hosted in honor, twenty-nine-year-old Gu Changsheng fired up his [Rank 3 Nine-Flavor Earth-Fire Chef Wok].
Following Grandpa Yao’s Golden Core culinary recipe, Gu Changsheng sliced the [Hundred-Year Spirit-Marrow Fruit] into twelve golden crescents. Simmered it with fifty-year blood-ginseng and tender spirit-duck into a bubbling pot of [Rank 3 Perfection: Hundred-Year Spirit-Marrow & Eight-Treasure Duck Soup]!
As the heavy iron lid lifted off the wok, a rich, golden-amber steam shaped like soaring cranes and swimming spirit-carp filled the villa courtyard!
Sitting around the warm villa lantern table, nine-year-old Gu Nian and seven-year-old Su Nuannuan each drank three brimming bowls of the golden marrow soup while crunching on their rainbow sugar paintings. Even Auntie Qin, Grandpa Fu, Little Snowball, and Captain One-Ear Scar’s fifty pink-aproned security uncles out in the front courtyard were each served a steaming bowl of the marrow-enriched broth!
HUMMM—BOOM! HUMMM—BOOM!
With the [Gold Star Honor Stickers] (each worth 5x Little Red Flowers = +25% permanent cultivation speed!) glowing on their clothes and the flaw-free [Hundred-Year Spirit-Marrow Fruit] essence surging through their meridians:.
- Nine-year-old Gu Nian stepped cleanly from Rank 2 Late into Rank 2 Peak Martial (Half-Step Martial Grandmaster — 10,000 lbs Chaos-Bone Force)!
- And seven-year-old Su Nuannuan surged straight from Rank 2 Early all the way to Rank 2 Peak Martial (Half-Step Martial Grandmaster — Honey-Empress Perfection) right alongside her big brother!
“Whoa! Dad, look at my hands!” seven-year-old Su Nuannuan giggled at the dinner table.
Gently pressing one small pink finger against a stone walnut on her plate and turning the rock-hard shell into fine powder without shaking the porcelain saucer underneath.
“Nuannuan and Big Brother Nian are both Rank 2 Peak just like Dad now!”
“And my Chaos Golden-Bone meridians are completely full from head to toe,” nine-year-old Gu Nian said, opening and closing his small fist as a faint, disciplined golden halo shimmered beneath his skin. “Grandpa Yao says that once we learn our first Rank 3 Internal Qi breathing manual, Nuannuan and I will be real Martial Grandmasters before we even start second grade!”
“Hahaha! Nine-year-old and seven-year-old Half-Step Martial Grandmasters!” three-hundred-and-eighty-year-old Grandpa Yao laughed heartily from beside his [Spice-Rack Spirit-Gourd], sipping a miniature saucer of spirit-marrow broth through his plush turtle mouth.
“In the entire Great Qian Dynasty, even the spoiled Imperial Princes in the Royal Capital don’t reach Rank 2 Peak until they’re twenty-two!”
[ DING! STAGE 7 TOURNAMENT COMPLETE — BOTH KIDS REACH RANK 2 PEAK! ]
* Protected Citizens: 20,000+ across Azure-Cloud Prefecture!
* Child #1 (Gu Nian, Age 9) : Rank 2 Peak! (1 Gold Star + 5.
Red Flowers = +50% Speed!)
* Child #2 (Su Nuannuan, Age 7) : Rank 2 Peak! (1 Gold Star + 3.
Red Flowers = +40% Speed!)
* Daily DP Income Surge : +176,000 -> +180,000 DP/day!
Late that night, after tucking both newly minted Rank 2 Peak grade-schoolers into their warm beds with Little Snowball curled at their feet. Twenty-nine-year-old Gu Changsheng sat alone by the study lamp and unrolled the [Half-Burned Map of the Flame-Scar Canyon Ancient Ice-Fire Ruin] that had fallen from Lin Fan’s torn robe.
The instant he laid his hand on the map, [Dad’s Plot-Spoiler Notebook] glowed with a solemn, icy-blue phoenix light and revealed the deepest secret of his family’s past:.
[ DAD’S PLOT-SPOILER NOTEBOOK — MOM’S SECRET & THE CANYON TRAP! ]
* Hidden Lore : Eight years ago, your wife [Luo Qingxue] did NOT.
abandon you and baby Gu Nian! She is an [Upper-.
Realm Rank 8 Star-Realm Sword Empress] who fled.
to the mortal world after discovering the.
[Heavenly Script Pavilion] was rigging mortal.
destinies!
* What Happened : Shortly after giving birth to Gu Nian, Luo Qingxue.
lured a squad of Upper-Realm Script Enforcers into.
the [Flame-Scar Canyon Secret Realm] 30 miles west.
of Prefecture City, sealed her [Frost-Phoenix Jade.
Hairpin] & a recorded message for you and Nian’er.
inside the deepest Ice Sanctum, and voluntarily.
allowed herself to be locked in [Sector 6 of the.
Frozen Astral Prison] so the Enforcers would spare.
your mortal world!
* Current Threat: Right now, crippled Lin Fan (10% Halo) and five.
dark-array masters have leaked a clue to lure you.
into Flame-Scar Canyon tomorrow morning—where they.
have rigged the ruin’s 10-ton iron gate and 30.
[Rank 2 Peak Lava-Rock Golems] to roast your.
entire family alive!
As Gu Changsheng read those glowing icy-blue lines by the quiet study lamp, the memories of the gentle. Silver-haired young woman who had smiled at him in their small Frost-Pine courtyard nine years ago—who had insisted on knitting baby Nian’er’s first. Tiny pair of yellow cotton socks by hand even though her fingers were made to wield an Upper-Realm Star-Sword—rose vividly before his eyes.
Every time eight-year-old and nine-year-old Gu Nian had looked at other children walking home from school with both a father and a mother. The boy had never complained aloud so he wouldn’t make his dad sad—yet Gu Changsheng knew how. Often his son quietly wondered why his mother had left when he was still in his cradle.
And now, just thirty miles west of Azure-Cloud Prefecture City inside the deepest ice chamber of Flame-Scar Canyon. Luo Qingxue’s own [Frost-Phoenix Jade Hairpin] and the voice-message she had recorded for her husband and son eight years ago were waiting for them!
Right beside the study lamp, three-hundred-and-eighty-year-old Grandpa Yao poked his fuzzy green turtle head out of his velvet basket, adjusted his tiny gold spectacles. Looked at the glowing blue phoenix runes on the map with solemn awe:.
“Patriarch Gu, this old man wondered for weeks how nine-year-old Nian’er could possess an Innate Sovereign Bloodline while your household was hidden in a quiet northern town! So Madam Gu is actually an Upper-Realm Rank 8 Star-Realm Sword Empress who allowed herself to be sealed in the Frozen Astral Prison to shield you and the boy from the Heavenly Script Pavilion!”
“She fought for seven days and seven nights right after giving birth just to hide Nian’er’s existence from the Upper Realm,” Gu Changsheng said quietly. His thumb tracing the frost-phoenix crest at the center of the parchment. “And tomorrow morning, Lin Fan and his five hired dark-array masters think they’re going to lure us into Flame-Scar Canyon and roast us with thirty Rank 2 Peak Lava-Rock Golems.”
“Hmph! Thirty Rank 2 Peak Lava-Rock Golems?” Grandpa Yao snorted, tapping his plush green shell with his flipper.
“Those ancient canyon golems are controlled by a central magma obelisk!
With this old man’s array knowledge and your Upgrade Box, we won’t just walk out unscathed—we’ll re-wire their core runes and bring all thirty lava golems home to plow our herb fields!”
Staring at the name Luo Qingxue glowing in icy-blue ink on the page, Gu Changsheng’s fingers tightened gently around the edge of the map as a profound warmth and determination filled his eyes:.
“So you locked yourself in an Upper-Realm prison for eight years just to keep me and Nian’er safe from the Script Enforcers, Qingxue... Don’t worry. Tomorrow morning, I’m taking our kids to pick up your hairpin!”