Chapter 54: Visitors From The Nie Family!
Translator: AstralGhost Editor: Kurisu
Wu Bo nodded lightly. As a member of the Nie family, it was only right for Nie Yun to pay a visit to the Ancestral Mansion which held the ancestral tablets of his family.
However, since it was already very late, and the sky was beginning to get darker, Nie Yun would rather make the trip in the morning.
***
Bei Feng sat atop his bed, rubbing his eyes as he looked out of the window lazily. The sky was still dark and even the roosters in the village had not awakened. In actuality, the amount of sleep Bei Feng needed was becoming lesser and lesser. If he so wished, he could just spend 3-4 hours a day sleeping and it would be enough to feel completely refreshed!
The reason he still stuck to his current sleeping routine was simply because of habit. After tidying up his bed, Bei Feng washed his face and put on fresh clothes. Then, he began heading up the mountain.
Before long, he emerged from the mountain, once again covered in filth and sweat. The daily cultivation of the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique had been completed with no complications.
The grand completion stage of the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique was not something that could be achieved just because one wanted to. And since it couldn’t be forced, Bei Feng maintained a very calm mindset as he practiced. When water flows, a channel is formed. When the time was right, he would naturally be able to cross to the next level without any effort.
Bei Feng’s improvement rate after eating the Blood God Fruit could only be described as stellar. Apart from the mysterious aspect of mental power, his strength and speed had been greatly improved.
This kind of feeling, not unlike an unceasing evolution of his body, caused Bei Feng to sigh with emotion. Looking back, he had come so indescribably far from his former sickly state…
By this time, Nie Yun and Wu Bo had also awoken. As usual, there was already a car and chauffeur waiting for them, ready to bring them to wherever they wished to go.
As it wasn’t far, it did not take long for the two to arrive at Qing Ling Village. A group of seven or eight men had arrived before them and were lined up by the village entrance. As soon as Nie Yun and Wu Bo’s car appeared, the group quickly arranged themselves in a disciplined manner as they bowed at a 90 degree angle before the car.
Nie Yun and Wu Bo stepped out of the car and looked at the clear skies with light smiles on their faces. As they walked, the group of men also lined up silently behind the two.
Bei Feng had returned to the mansion and was currently taking a cold shower. The icy well water splashed over his lean body, causing a light, smoky mist to appear in the clear morning air. The chilly water, which would have normally sent him leaping like a startled cat, had little to no effect on the current Bei Feng. Rather, he actually found it somewhat comfortable!
“It’s Monday again…” Bei Feng mumbled as he put on a fresh pair of clothes and looked at the date on his mobile phone.
Shrugging, he retrieved another bucket of water from the well and grabbed a clean, white towel from the kitchen before heading to one of the many rooms in the old mansion.
This room was located at the core of the mansion. An elaborate bronze lock, which had been polished till it shone, hung on the door.
Bei Feng retrieved an old key and inserted it into the lock.
“Kacha!”
A crisp sound rang out as the lock clicked open.
“Ge Jiiii!”
The dilapidated old wooden door screeched open with a creepy sound, just like the ones in haunted houses in horror movies.
As the morning sunlight streamed into the room, one could see that there were actually very few decorations in this room. In fact, there were only rows upon rows of ancestral tablets, which sat atop a huge elevated ancestral altar in the center of the room! They were so numerous that, at a glance, it was actually impossible to tell just how many ancestral tablets were in there!
Corroded by the long passage of time, it was hard to tell what material the ancestral altar was made of now. As a result of being baptized and infused with incense smoke for innumerable years, the ancient altar gave one a feeling of abstruse profundity.
A small incense burner the size of a fist occupied the front central position of the altar. The incense burner was crafted entirely from copper, and it looked simple and elegant. Countless leftover incense heads littered the inside of the incense burner.
Bei Feng soaked a towel into the bucket of water, wrung it dry, and began to carefully clean the numerous tablets.
This was a habit ingrained in him since childhood. But due to work in the city, he was left with no choice but to stop caring for the ancestral tablets for a period of time.
At first, Bei Feng didn’t understand why his grandpa took such great care of the ancestral tablets, wiping them thoroughly every week without fail. The old grandpa was surnamed Bei, and yet, all these ancestral tablets carried the surname Nie! He had been wondering about this matter many times in the past, and even asked his grandpa about it once.
He still remembered how the old grandpa replied back then. “The Nie family had shown great favor to my Bei family ancestors in the past. In return, my Bei family became the keepers of their ancestral tablets of our own accord.”
Although he didn’t know what this ‘great favor’ was, since his grandpa was willing to care for the ancestral tablets, he would do the same.
That was because the old grandpa had also shown great favor to him!
Two hours passed, and Bei Feng had finally finished cleaning the entire ancestral room. Now, the room looked completely different. It seemed much fresher, and was sparkling clean.
Bei Feng lit three sticks of incense and stuck them in the incense burner. Immediately after that, a few thin columns of smoke rose into the air and swirled around the ancestral room.
Satisfied, he locked the old wooden door and left.
“Bang, bang! Bang, bang!”
“Hello? Is there anybody home?”
Bei Feng had just finished breakfast and was putting away the utensils when a series of knocks came from the main door.
“Ruff, ruff!”
As their size grew bigger, the guts of the two little wolfdogs had also grown together with it. With their increased confidence, these little wolfdogs also became much naughtier. They would often spend the majority of the day running about the yard and creating a din. As soon as the knocking sounds rang out, they immediately dashed to the main door, barking madly as if they wished to bark the door down.
“Hi, who are you looking for?”
Bei Feng opened the door, looked at the large group of people gathered before him and asked cooly.
“My surname is Nie.”
Nie Yun stood forward, a faintly discernible smile on his face.
“You must be the current generation’s watcher, right?”
Nie Yun asked lightly as he stepped into the mansion without waiting for Bei Feng’s invitation.
Based on Nie Yun’s words, Bei Feng could roughly guess who this group of people were. Therefore, although he frowned as Nie Yun stepped past him, he did not do anything to obstruct him.
“Yes,” Bei Feng replied blandly after a brief pause.
“Where are my Nie family’s ancestral tablets? As a descendant of the family, I should offer a stick of incense since I’m passing by.”
Nie Yun completely disregarded Bei Feng’s tone. Bei Feng was nothing more than an ant in his eyes. He would simply ignore the ant if he was in a good mood, but if he happened to dislike the sight of it crawling about in front of him, he could easily squash it to death at any moment.
“It’s this way, follow me,” Bei Feng walked off directly, leading the host of men to the Nie family ancestral room.
“You guys wait outside,” Nie Yun directly commanded without turning around as he entered the ancestral room together with Wu Bo.
Bei Feng stood to the side with a bored expression. So these guys were people from the Nie family? This should be the first time they’ve come over in years. He didn’t recall ever seeing the Nie family’s people visit the old mansion in the past.
Nie Yun and Wu Bo stepped into the ancestral hall and looked around the clean room and the spotless ancestral tablets with a hint of praise in their eyes.
“Not bad, this generation’s watcher is quite meticulous with his work,” Wu Bo nodded with a light smile on his face as he looked at the fresh sticks of incense still burning on the incense burner.
“En, definitely not bad. The kid at least had the heart to put in some effort,” Nie Yun nodded his head as well. Following that, he went forward, picked up a stick of incense, lit it and bowed deeply before the ancestral altar before sticking the incense in the incense burner.
A moment later, the two emerged from the ancestral room. “You did pretty well keeping this place in order. Take this. There’s a million yuan inside. Use it to patch up the Ancestral Mansion a little bit. As for the remainder, you may keep it as payment,” Nie Yun said blandly as he handed an atm card to Bei Feng.
“I…”
“There’s no need for say anything, this is something your family deserves,” Bei Feng was swiftly interrupted by Nie Yun as soon as he opened his mouth.
“But…”
“Keep it, I can tell based on your current circumstances that you must be living in poverty.”
Bei Feng tried to speak again, only to find a wrinkled and aged hand raised before his face as a wheezy, ancient voice interrupted with a tone laced with pity.
Wu Bo looked at poor and hardworking young man before him with a face full of praise. The more he looked at Bei Feng, the more he found the kid to his liking. He was not arrogant or impetuous, and was also not greedy for material wealth. Young people like this were incredibly rare nowadays!
With their goal now accomplished, Nie Yun had no interest to linger in the countryside anymore. Signalling for his men to follow him, the group quickly departed from the old mansion.
“No, you bloody fool! You didn’t even tell me the PIN to access the card!”
Bei Feng stared dazedly at the empty yard, feeling like he had just had sex with a dog.
“The PIN should be 000000, right?”
Bei Feng’s eyes lit up in understanding. That’s what people often did on TV at least.
Stowing the card away excitedly, Bei Feng decided that he would try out this brilliant plan the next time he went to the bank.
It was a mercy that Nie Yun and Wu Bo had left in a hurry. Otherwise, if they could hear the excited ramblings of Bei Feng right now, they might first spit out a mouthful of blood before swatting the little rascal to death with a single slap!
Finally having calmed his heart from the thrill of receiving a million yuan just for cleaning a room, Bei Feng returned to the yard, where he began to practice the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique’s movements once more. The more he practiced, the more he felt that the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique’s movements were wide-ranging and profound!
‘This set of movements is really extraordinary! Could it be that they were only created for the exact purpose of being paired with the breathing technique? Maybe it’s possible for it to be trained into a martial technique?’
Bei Feng was in the middle of the third movement set when a sudden thought struck him.
