"Gege, let's go outside, okay?"
Qin Hao tugged on Qin Feng's sleeve, his wide eyes brimming with expectation.
"Go outside?"
Qin Feng nearly rolled his eyes into another dimension.
Sure, he looked like an eight-year-old kid, but deep down, he was a chessmaster-level villain-in-training.Did his little brother think he could just step out into the world like a background character?
As the great hope of the Qin Clan, Qin Feng had never set foot beyond the family city.
Not because the elders forbade it—but because Qin City itself was basically a nation.
With over ten million bloodline descendants, all cultivators, all trained from birth, the Qin Clan had earned its title as the Supreme Family of the Archaic Realm.
In fact, the eastern territories of Great Xia weren't ruled by the emperor at all.Qin Clan was the real power. In the east, people might not know the name of the emperor, but they bowed when they heard "Qin."
That's what happens when royalty and aristocracy split a world in half.
"Gege~ pleeeeease…"
Qin Hao clung tighter, pulling the universal pity protocol on his elder brother.
Too bad—it had zero effect on Qin Feng.
If you were a cute little sister, maybe I'd consider it.
Still, Qin Feng hesitated.
Despite everything, he did want his brother to have a "normal" childhood.So, after a moment's thought, he nodded solemnly.
"Alright. You go wait for me outside. I'll tell Mom first."
"Yayyy!!"
Qin Hao cheered like someone who didn't know what traps lay ahead.
As for Qin Feng?
He sprinted home with all the grace of a snitch on commission.
"Moooom! Hao ran away from home again!!"
"Ding! Host has falsely accused the Chosen One.+200 Villain Points!"
The nearby guards didn't even blink.They had seen it dozens of times over the past five years.
If they guessed right, next came the feather duster.
Moments later—
Yun Xiyue stormed back, carrying Qin Hao like a sack of potatoes.
"Mom! Don't be mad! It was my idea! I told him we could go out and play!"Qin Feng put on his noble big brother mask with award-winning sincerity.
Qin Hao nodded furiously beside him, eyes full of admiration.
Which only made their mother even more suspicious.
"My eldest son is taking the blame? Hah! Who's he trying to fool?"
She glanced between the two—
One: Gentle, composed, polite.The other: Chaotic, cheeky, one tantrum away from a demolition spell.
"Same womb. Same genes. How did I get a sage and a storm?"
"Why can't you be more like your brother?""You're always causing trouble, running off…!"
Yun Xiyue launched into strict-mom mode, scolding Qin Hao with righteous fury.
But behind her—
Qin Feng was making faces.
Tongue out. Nose wrinkled. Eyes crossed.The whole package.
Qin Hao tried to hold it in.He really did.
But—
"Pfff—HAHAHA!!"
"He's laughing! He's laughing while being scolded!"
That was the final straw.
Yun Xiyue activated full self-psychological warfare mode:
"He's my son… I can't hit him…If I hit him, I have to comfort him…If I injure him, I have to heal him…This is my fault—I didn't raise him right…But if I forgive him, won't he just do it again!?ARGHHHH—!"
Her inner beast roared free.
"MOM! Please—he's just a kid!!"Qin Feng threw himself in front of his brother, like a hero in a tragedy.
Only… he had a willow switch in his hand.
Yun Xiyue snatched it.
"Perfect. I was looking for this!"
The guards outside visibly winced.They'd expected the feather duster.The switch was way worse.
And just as the scene was about to turn into a discipline drama—
🎶 Music. Trumpets. Hoofbeats. Thunder. 🎶
From afar, an imperial procession blazed through the skies.
Nine mountain-sized beasts pulled an extravagant golden chariot.Behind it, flying warriors on spirit beasts darkened the sky like a migrating storm.
"If equipment had a +20 glow, this squad was straight-up +30."
"The Lin Clan of Tianxin City."
Qin Feng recognized the crest instantly.
Where Qin Clan ruled as an internal bloodline dynasty, the Lin Clan ruled like warlords—a semi-independent vassal state of the west, commanding armies and legendary cultivators alike.
This was not a social visit.
"Later, my boy,"Yun Xiyue muttered as she dragged her sons home to prepare.
🔔 Gongs and drums thundered through the city. 🔔Thousands of elite Qin cultivators gathered to greet the guests—and flex their ancestral muscles.
Even Qin Feng and Qin Hao were dressed in full formal attire, standing beside their father Qin Tian.
No longer the goofy "cheap dad,"Today he stood tall like a war god incarnate.
From the chariot stepped a cunning-eyed nobleman—a smile full of daggers.
"Brother Qin Tian! So many years apart—I've missed you terribly!"
"Haha! Brother Lin Hao! I've missed you too!"
No one could tell how much of that was true.
Then Lin Hao's gaze shifted to the brothers.
"These must be the famed twin prodigies, eh? Born three years apart, I assume?"
He was here for one reason only:
Marriage. Alliance. Strategy.
Qin Clan wanted to secure allies before the imperial family could move against them.Lin Hao brought his only daughter—to choose one of the boys as her future betrothed.
"Indeed."Qin Tian proudly gestured.
"This is the eldest, Qin Feng—he bears the destiny of a future Emperor.""And this is the younger, Qin Hao—possessor of the legendary Supreme Bone."
"Supreme Bone? Hmm… I've read of such things in ancient texts.""But this 'Emperor's Destiny'—I'll believe it when I see it."
A cold voice interrupted.
Out stepped a young girl, six or seven, in embroidered robes.Delicate as jade. Sharp as a blade.
Lin Xiner, princess of Tianxin.
"Xiner! Mind your manners!"Lin Hao snapped—but the girl only rolled her eyes.
She gave Qin Feng a bold, challenging look, then snapped her fingers.
Out stepped a tall, graceful teenager—around fourteen, with sharp features and an ice-cold aura.
"This is Lin San—my new personal servant.""Wanna prove that Emperor Fate of yours? Fight him."
Qin Feng narrowed his eyes.
"This Lin San… definitely not just a background character."