Ling Xiao was stunned. ’Lingzhi... Isn’t that my older brother?’ He had just never met him before. Lingzhi was said to have been training the Tiger Roar Assault Team on the family’s northern fief this whole time. That army was the Ling Family’s private force! Although it only numbered a mere three thousand men, its combat strength was ranked among the very best in the Lanyue Empire.

Ling Xiao saw a tall, burly man with a full beard look over at him, his bright eyes shining with irrepressible joy. Looking closer, Ling Xiao noticed the man’s eyes were even a little red-rimmed.

"Third Brother, are you alright?"

Five words, but they reflected an older brother’s endless care and concern for his sibling. Ling Xiao’s face was a little stiff as he nodded and said, "Big Brother, I’m fine!"

"Hahaha! Now *that’s* my little brother! I always believed you wouldn’t let some damn woman keep you down. And I was right! The Ling Family doesn’t raise cowards!" Lingzhi laughed heartily, intentionally shooting a triumphant glance at Qin Jian, whose expression had soured.

As expected, Qin Jian snorted. "Lingzhi, you petty bastard," he said coldly. "Do I really look like a villain to you? You actually followed me all the way here! You think I’d do something to your brother?"

"I don’t trust your character!" Lingzhi curled his lip as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "If you want a fight, fight me. What’s the point of picking on my little brother? You’ve lost to me before, and you still dare to come cause trouble for my third brother? Do you think the Ling Family is a pushover?"

"Piss off!" Qin Jian glared at Lingzhi, all his earlier cheerfulness and warmth gone. The two of them looked less like nobles and more like crude villagers, staring each other down like a pair of roosters puffing up their chests.

Ling Xiao gave a helpless shrug. ’So my big brother and Qin Jian already knew each other. They might have even traveled back together.’ He wasn’t sure what Qin Jian’s purpose in finding him was, but having just ordered clown to forcibly snatch the man’s treasure, he couldn’t help but feel a little awkward.

Not that he felt guilty. After all, Qin Jian had targeted clown first. This was only because clown was still in its cub phase. If it were an adult, these people wouldn’t last two swipes of its claws!

After staring at each other for a long moment, Lingzhi and Qin Jian both turned away with indignant huffs. Lingzhi said to Ling Xiao, "Third Brother, let’s go home. It’s been too long! Don’t pay any attention to this guy. He’s bad news."

Qin Jian retorted angrily, "Lingzhi, the grudge between us is our business! I want to befriend Brother Ling. What’s it to you?"

"Bullshit! Ling Xiao is my damn brother, so of course it’s my business!" Lingzhi’s face was full of scorn. "And another thing, who are you calling ’Brother’? Stop trying to get so chummy!"

"You... you son of a bitch! If you’ve got the guts, stop running your mouth and fight me!" Qin Jian was so furious that he drew his sword and pointed it at Lingzhi, roaring.

"A fight? Fine! You think I’m scared of you? Hmph. Just don’t end up like that pig-headed brother of yours, running home crying. How pathetic! Hahahaha!" Lingzhi laughed as he drew his own sword. "Jian-Jian, you’ve never beaten me. Are you sure you want to disgrace yourself again?"

"You dare call me Jian-Jian?! I’ll kill you...!" With a sweep of his longsword, Qin Jian sent a gray stream of Sword Qi shooting from the blade, slashing fiercely toward Lingzhi.

Lingzhi let out a long laugh and unleashed Hurricane Break. The resulting Sword Qi caused the nearby trees to tremble violently as leaves rained down. ’The person tending to the gardens tomorrow is going to be cursing up a storm,’ Ling Xiao thought.

Ling Xiao, however, was rather surprised. ’Qin Jian’s strength shouldn’t be any less than my brother’s, but this sword technique... it seems awful!’

’Could the great Bauhinia Clan, a renowned Northern Aristocratic Family, really not produce a single decent sword technique for its scions to cultivate?’

How was that possible!

As he continued to watch, Ling Xiao grew even more certain of his assessment. Qin Jian’s strength was actually *greater* than his brother’s!

Lingzhi was a Tier Five Great Sword Master, which meant that Qin Jian... had to be at least a Tier Six Great Sword Master! He was countless times stronger than his so-called "young genius" of a brother, Qin Kang!

There were many young geniuses in every nation these days, but few could truly walk far along the Martial Dao after reaching adulthood. A major reason for this was that cultivation grew exponentially more difficult the higher one progressed. This was especially true for the scions of wealthy noble families; very few of them could truly endure the hardship and dedicate themselves to training.

Although Lingzhi was weaker than Qin Jian in terms of raw power, he was completely suppressing him with his Middle Tier of the Celestial Level sword technique. Qin Jian was furious, his Sword Qi blasting holes in the surrounding trees and sending splinters flying, yet he couldn’t touch Lingzhi. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and stopped. "I’m done!" he roared. "Lingzhi, you bastard! Other than using your fancy sword technique to suppress me, what else can you do?!"

Lingzhi just smirked. "Jian-Jian, why don’t you save that question for your enemies on the battlefield!"

Qin Jian froze, not even bothering to protest being called "Jian-Jian." A somber look clouded his eyes.

’Another person obsessed with sword techniques,’ Ling Xiao mused, then said softly, "There’s no such thing as a useless sword technique. Even a Human Level one... what would happen if you mastered it to its absolute peak? Heh, I bet no one’s ever tried that, have they?"

"Ah!" It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck Qin Jian. He stood there dumbfounded, repeating blankly, "To its absolute peak? Mastered to its absolute peak!"

"What’s the matter, you moron? Stunned?" Lingzhi looked at Qin Jian with contempt and jeered, "I told you this a long time ago! I told you to master it to its highest level, that you’d be Invincible then. But you wouldn’t believe me! So how come you believe it the second my little brother says it?"

"That’s because you, you bastard, never mean what you say!" Qin Jian glared at Lingzhi. In truth, it wasn’t that he hadn’t considered the idea before, but he had never had a moment of such clarity. It was as if a door in his mind had suddenly been thrown open.

He couldn’t help but laugh at himself. ’All these years, I’ve been complaining about how unfair fate is. I was a genius Martial Artist, progressing faster than anyone my age, so why was I only allowed to learn the worst possible sword technique, a Lower Tier of the Human Level? Even some core family members, even high-ranking guards who don’t share the Qin name, could learn Upper Tier of the Human Level techniques! Some could even learn Lower Tier of the Earth Level techniques! Why couldn’t I?’

’It wasn’t until I grew up that I understood: in my family’s eyes, I am a disgrace. The very fact they permitted me to cultivate a sword technique was, to them, a monumental act of grace. Even though my strength has reached the level of a Tier Six Great Sword Master, I’m nothing more than a squadron captain on the family fief. So what if I obtained a net woven from Celestial Silkworm Silk from the Land of Extreme Cold and made a fortune catching and selling Magical Beasts? What was the point? The family still looks down on me!’

’Meanwhile, Lingzhi, who is a notch below me in strength, is already the one in power over his entire family fief, commanding three thousand heavily-armed soldiers!’

’If I had spent all the time I wasted complaining on my training instead, wouldn’t my strength have advanced even further? That’s right! A sword technique is static, but a person is dynamic! No matter what technique it is, it exists to serve its wielder!’

A smile of pure enlightenment spread across Qin Jian’s face. He bowed deeply to Ling Xiao. "Brother Ling, thank you so much. One day, if I have the chance, I will thank you properly!" After speaking, he glanced at Lingzhi and said in a low, serious voice, "Lingzhi... you bastard. Even though I can’t stand the sight of you, for these past few years... thank you. If I ever make something of myself in the future, I will not forget the kindness of you two Ling brothers! I owe you both a great favor. Farewell!" With that, he strode away, his men following close behind.

Watching Qin Jian’s retreating back, Lingzhi couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh. "Jian-Jian, why must you make things so difficult? Wouldn’t you have a much better future if you just came and worked with me, instead of sticking with that family of yours?"

He shook his head and muttered, "Ah, forget him. Third Brother, come on! Let’s us brothers find a place, get some drinks, and have a real talk!"

Ling Xiao nodded, a wry smile on his face. ’This big brother of mine... does he seem like a noble student who graduated from the Imperial Academy, an idol to thousands of young women? He’s... he’s practically a bandit!’