Chapter 20: Star Luo Empire

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Feng Qin couldn't believe what he was seeing. His mother, Sheng Li, was standing before him. She was supposed to be in the capital city, working in their family restaurant.

Why the hell is she here?!

"What are you doing here, Mom?" Feng Qin managed to ask, still in shock.

Sheng Li walked towards him, her eyes narrowing in concern and guilt as she saw the injury on his abdomen. "I'm here on a mission from the King. We received intelligence that this bandit group was planning something big, so I was sent here to investigate and take them down."

Feng Qin was further shocked.

The Heaven Dou Empire is ruled by its one true royal family and the emperor, but it wasn't truly united under one banner. The empire is made up of numerous states and large cities and those states were ruled by their own lords of nobility but every noble of the empire, whether they be kings or dukes, answers to the one true emperor of the empire.

The River Scale Kingdom's royal family, the Shi Clan, was the one who controls the capital city and other villages in its area. It is also where their kingdom's strongest spirit master, a Spirit Emperor, resides as their family guardian.

As a normal citizen and average Spirit Master of the River Scale Kingdom, Feng Qin had only seen the king and other members of the royal family a handful of times, and most of them was because of events.

"Wait, the king!? Since when did a restaurant clerk become some kind of mercenary for the king to investigate a bandit group?!"

Sheng Li raised an eyebrow and slightly smirked as she walked towards him, retorting, "And since when did I or your father tell you that we weren't? Though mercenary isn't the proper job description."

"Wait, Dad is in this too?!"

"No. He's a few kilometers out clearing another bandit group that was threatening to destroy a village if the kingdom doesn't pay their ransom, which we obviously won't since they sent Feng Long to deal with them."

Feng Qin was speechless.

Actually, for his entire life he had never actually seen his parents' spirits but still...

Feng Qin snorted, he wryly smiled and touched his temple. "I never knew. All my life, my parents were some extraordinary spirit masters..."

"Little Qin..."

He shook his head, holding his abdomen, he bent his back straight and looked at his mother with a solemn expression. "I wanna know, why. Tell me, for the last 12 years of my existence, why I wasn't told about this or be trained by you both? You both said to me, to my face, that you would support me so why is it–Ha. Is it because I was too weak and trash..." Feng Qin wouldn't normally speak to his mother with such disrespect, but the unstable emotions he had been feeling up to now; being kidnapped, finding out a whole another world and mercilessly killing normal people, came to a boiling point.

Now suddenly finding out that the normal parents he'd been growing up with had been hiding the fact they were Spirit Masters, especially since his mother looked and sounded powerful to the point that the king hired them, he became emotional.

"No!" Sheng Li had clearly heard him with her sharp hearing and interrupted him with a fierce glare. She came to a stop in front of him as she looked at him, her eyes softened with a complicated expression. "No. We, we didn't tell you because of your spirit or spirit power. No. Gods no. Even if you had a powerful spirit or heaven defying talent, we still wouldn't have told you."

"This secret job of ours... we took an oath. Your father and I swore, with the king as witness, to never reveal our true identity in the event we bore children. Did you know? When we found out what spirit you awakened, we were immensely happy."

Sheng Li sighed heavily, embracing her son into a tight hug. Tears "It's not because you were weak or trash, Little Qin. It's because we wanted you to have a normal life. Walk down the path of a Spirit Master, we would gladly support you. Any path you'll take in your life, and we would gladly support you with everything that we can do. But our burdens, our sins, are not something you should bear in your lifetime. No child should ever take, not in a hundred thousand years or more, the responsibilities of their parents."

"We made our choices, and we will live with it with the rest of our life. But little Qin, you shouldn't live with it. So please, understand that I won't tell you what we do. It's for the best and your safety. We love you, with all our hearts."

Feng Qin closed his eyes and silently sucked in a breath. He wouldn't cry. He wouldn't. Because he promised himself that he wouldn't cry unless someone he loves dies.

A man could bleed, but not cry. One of the many principles his dad told him and he would live by it.

Truly, his parents love him...

"Hm. I-I understand."

Sheng Li sighed, separating herself from her son, she took out a healing ointment from her pouch and said. "Here. I'm so sorry for attacking you like that little Qin, but we need him alive. This one, is one of many members of a secret organization that's been existing for as long as five thousand years, with the sole goal of drowning this entire world into chaos and destruction."

Feng Qin warmly smiled at his mother and graciously took the ointment. "Thanks mom. Though I gotta ask, why is this guy still asleep?" he turned to stare at Xi Huang, still soundly asleep on his chair as if everything was fine and that there wasn't three people in the room that wanted him dead.

"Oh I had someone sneak a sleeping drug designed as a incense stick into his room an hour ago. The drug would immediately take effect after the entire incense stick is burned out, which it did a few minutes ago. I waited it till now, just in case there were still some lingering scent of the drug..."

On the side, Long Yuyin, still in her beast spirit body transformation, dumbly looked at the mother and son duo, not moving an inch. Afraid that the mother would put her

T-This is awkward... Long Yuyin's expression turned into a mix of shy and curious. 'So that's master's mother. She's so pretty! And strong!'

Long Yuyin, who had been watching the interaction between the two, was surprised at the revelation. She had no idea that Feng Qin came from such a powerful family, and her respect for him only grew.

'I can see where master gets her strength and b-beauty from.' She shyly thought as she silently withdrew her spirit transformation.

Feng Qin noticed Long Yuyin's gaze and softly cleared his throat, causing her to jump and quickly avert her eyes.

Sheng Li noticed her son's actions and teasingly raised her eyebrows, "Oh? Do you have a crush on our little Qin here, little girl?" she chuckled, making Long Yuyin blush in embarrassment. Though her eyes twinkled for a moment when she took in Long Yuyin's appearance.

She inwardly sighed, wondering if this was pure coincidence or a work of fate.

Feng Qin's face turned red in embarrassment as he waved his hands frantically, "No! No, Mom. We're just... friends that got to know each other when we found ourselves in the same situation and worked together to get out."

Sheng Li smirked, not believing him completely, but letting it go for now. "Well, we can't stay here for too long. I need to inform the king of our findings and take this guy into custody before he wakes up."

Feng Qin nodded, applying the ointment on his wound and wincing slightly at the gentle sting. "Yeah, let's get outta here. I wanna finish my adventure."

Sheng Li was surprised and said, "You still want to continue on your journey?"

Feng Qin grinned. "What? You think some kidnapping and fighting through a horde of bandits could stop me? I've got a spirit to train, mysteries to solve, and a world to explore!" His eyes gleamed with excitement and determination.

"D-Don't worry, ma'am. I'll protect m–him in your stead." Long Yuyin quickly spoke up and went to his side, inwardly scolding herself for that slight slip up. As much as she wanted to call her master master, she instinctively knew that it was a bad idea and would harm her master.

Sheng Li, shocked in seeing the girl's determination, glanced skeptically at her son who turned away and whistled suspiciously.

She still clearly remembers a certain black haired beauty from the Star Luo Empire.

'Sigh. Just like his father.'

Sheng Li chuckled, ruffling her son's hair affectionately. "Alright then, let's go. But first, let's make sure this guy won't be causing any trouble." She glanced at Xi Huang, still soundly asleep on his chair.

Feng Qin nodded, standing up and stretching his muscles. After a moment, he walked over to Xi Huang and with a flick of his finger, sealed the man's spirit power.

"There. He won't be causing any trouble now."

Sheng Li was shocked and looked at her son with wide eyes. "When did you learn that?" Normal people wouldn't have seen it but with her superhuman senses it was quite clear. Her son had perfectly and accurately hit a certain spot on the man's body, a spot that she only learned from her time in 'that place', called an acupuncture point or pressure point.

And Feng Qin hit the exact points to seal Xi Huang's channels to prevent him from using spirit power with just a single toothpick he took from the table and infused it with his spirit power.

Not only that but she was too concerned at seeing her son and having him learn who she was to think about what she had seen prior.

A deadly and sharp sword intent unlike any other. It was overbearing, unparalleled, it was like she could be cut into pieces the moment she moved.

The only reason she had was because that pressure wasn't directed at her.

'This kid...'

Feng Qin shrugged. "Just a basic technique I picked up while on the road. I didn't think I'd actually need to use it."

Sheng Li wryly smiled. Liar. She knew her son, any mother would know if their son was lying. But since he wasn't willing to divulge such information, then there must be a reason for it. She chuckled and rubbed his head. "Alright. If there's nothing else, let's get outta here. The police of a nearby city are heading here in half an hour, they'll take care of everything."

Half an hour passed by after they left the bandit hideout and chatting for a bit, Sheng Li finally went on her way back to the River Scale Kingdom.

"Goodbye, mom. Though..." Feng Qin muttered as he watched the fleeting cloak of his mother vanishing into the horizon. He shook his head and turned around, wearing a brown cloak that mostly covered his body, he smirked as the sky slowly darkened with the bright stars coming to light.

"You could've at least told me where we were before you left."

He completely forgot to ask for a map and the location of where they were. Oh well. This was more interesting anyway.

"Master?" Long Yuyin, wearing the same cloak, tilted her head as she walked up to his side.

"It's nothing." Feng Qin chuckled and took a step forward. "Now, let's continue our adventure. Our next stop, Wu Tan City!"

Unbeknownst to him however, he was a long ways away from the ancient city. Instead, he was going deep into a kingdom that was part of the second empire of the Douluo Continent, Star Luo Empire; Sky Fortune Kingdom.

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