On the night of Jiang An'an's birthday, everyone had a wonderful time — except that Jiang Chen mourned he had no time to show off his cooking.
When the gathering broke up, Zhao Yan went home.
He sat quietly in his study for a while before he heard the door push open.
"Thank you for your trouble today, Uncle Deng." Zhao Yan sprawled casually in his seat, but his tone carried real respect and closeness.
The man called Uncle Deng — the Zhao household steward — stood properly, and said with a warm smile: "That Candle-Burning Spear is a fine weapon. Each generation brings its own genius. I feel I'm growing old."
"Not at all. Walk the street and people will take you for my older brother."
Uncle Deng's expression did not change. He only said: "Rank has its place."
Zhao Yan opened his mouth — he wanted to say something, but knew it would do no good. He fell silent.
It was Uncle Deng who spoke: "I never imagined that at my age, my next task would be buying sugar dolls for a little girl."
Zhao Yan grinned, shameless: "Trouble and thanks to you, Uncle Deng."
"That little girl is very cute."
Zhao Yan puffed up: "Of course! She's my little sister!"
Uncle Deng looked at him and repeated: "She is very cute."
The smile vanished from Zhao Yan's face.
On that handsome face, almost always careless, a trace of grief appeared.
He was silent a long moment. Then: "I understand."
...
The day after Jiang An'an's birthday, a jade bracelet arrived from Lady Song — a birthday gift for An'an. It had been delayed a day by the long road.
With it came a jade pendant for Jiang Chen. The flattery was obvious: she feared he would block her from contacting her daughter.
An'an said nothing about the gifts, but she clearly loved them. She stored them carefully in her little chest.
For Jiang Chen, the encounter with Xiong Wen had instantly doused the pride he felt after winning the Three-City Trial's first-year championship.
But this battle had paid well.
First: after killing Xiong Wen, the Dao essence in his Celestial Palace had surged. His foundation was close to complete.
Second: Zhu Weiwo, having fulfilled his task of slaying the Heart-Devouring Demon, was more than fair — he waved his hand and allotted five hundred points of Dao merit to Jiang Chen. Word was, Zhu Weiwo himself had earned over six thousand points on this mission. Yet his score on the merit list had gone down, not up — down to barely a thousand. No one knew what treasure he had spent it on.
Compared to Jiang Chen and the others scraping together a hundred points, true powerhouses had no trouble at all earning merit.
As for the last gain — the black candle that had appeared in his Celestial Palace.
It was probably treasure, but no matter how Jiang Chen studied it, he could not make it yield its secret. The priority now was his foundation. The candle could wait.
With five hundred points of Dao merit as a windfall, Jiang Chen naturally wanted to buy Meridian-Opening Pills for Zhao Yan and Jiang An'an. Zhao Yan, as an academy disciple, could trade a hundred points for one directly. Jiang Chen's own exchange quota was still untouched — that would go to An'an.
Zhao Yan accepted the merit without hesitation, even grinning: "Third brother, I've had my eye on a law sword worth five hundred merit. I've saved a little — could you make up the difference?"
Jiang Chen, flush with wealth, was generous: "How much do you need?"
"Four hundred and ninety-nine."
A single point!
"..." Jiang Chen kicked him. "Get lost!"
But after a moment he sighed: "I need to keep a hundred points to trade a pill for An'an. The rest — three hundred — is yours."
"No!" Zhao Yan stopped him.
"Why?"
"Give me the merit, sure. But think again about An'an's pill."
Jiang Chen did not understand: "Isn't it better to open the meridian as early as possible? If you're worried about the dangers of the extraordinary world, don't be — I don't plan to send An'an to the academy anyway."
Academy training came with heavy government subsidies — and with them, duties the disciples could not refuse. Cleaning the official roads, hunting down heretical cultivators, and so on. Danger was unavoidable.
Jiang Chen had the Deduction Platform, so he did not worry about arts, and he could teach An'an himself. In the end, he did not expect her to become a powerhouse. He only wanted her healthy, with some power to protect herself.
Zhao Yan smiled bitterly: "It's not that opening the meridian early is bad."
He hesitated, then said: "If you want to open An'an's meridian, don't use the academy's pill."
Jiang Chen frowned deeper: "Is there something wrong with the academy's pills?"
"No, nothing like that." Zhao Yan said plainly: "The pills the city academy can trade for are the lowest grade. The big brother is at the age where he can't wait. An'an is young — she can wait. If you want to open her meridian, you should get her the best you can, so her path ahead is smoother.
I'm not saying the lowest-grade pill closes the road to the Dao. Many powerhouses rose from the worst conditions. But it's harder.
Before today, I wouldn't have said this. In a place like Maple City, people fight each other bloody for a Meridian-Opening Pill — just having one is rare luck. But after you killed Xiong Wen, an elder of my family said you have a chance. A chance to grow. You can get a better pill for An'an later.
An'an is my little sister too. I want her future to have less hardship."
Jiang Chen digested this in silence. He had always known his youngest sworn brother had secrets. He had never pried. Just as these brothers never pried into how he got the key to the Ethereal Realm.
But now it seemed Zhao Yan's hidden secrets were bigger than he had imagined.
If nothing else — this level of insight into the cultivation world was not something an ordinary family could raise a child with.
Fang Heng, of Maple City's three great surnames, had betrayed loyalty itself over a single Meridian-Opening Pill. Yet in Zhao Yan's mouth, the pill was nothing.
And he knew: if not for An'an's pill, Zhao Yan would never have spoken these words.
"Do Meridian-Opening Pills have grades?" Jiang Chen asked.
"Of course. You know the main ingredient is a Dao meridian stripped from a demonic beast. Beasts are strong and weak, and so are their meridians. Do you think pills made from different grades of meridian are the same?"
"The pill you got from Zhuo Lie is no ordinary thing. The elder in my family said your meridian-opening was perfect — that it unlocked your full potential."
Jiang Chen was silent.
He studied the little earthworm true spirit in his Celestial Palace for a while, and could not see how it fit with "perfect meridian-opening."
Wasn't this just the lowest grade — the Earthworm meridian?