Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan, who were downstairs, didn’t know someone had decided their destiny. But they didn’t have to know this because they always had their destiny in their own hands.

Looking up along the countless steps, they felt like these steps were connected to the endless darkness. Mengman, who led the way, turned back and said indifferently, “Follow me.”

Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan looked at each other and then followed him calmly. Cha and the other four people were left at the bottom and guarded by tribesmen. Seemingly, not everyone could go upstairs at will.

Walking on the last step, Qin Yunuan, who had a sensitive smell, had clearly smelt something burned. Although the room had been ventilated and cleaned, Qin Yunuan was still able to smell it out. It smelt like the burned tortoiseshell.

As she expected, there was a small furnace made of stones in the middle. In it were red-hot cobbles, and near it stood a grey-haired man who was holding a tortoiseshell and observing it. A man, maybe at 40, stood next to the window gazing at Leng Changxi. His shrewd eyes and decent clothes made him different from anyone else in the tribe. He looked like a royal noble, calm and leisured, no matter what he did. He was the “King” who sat next to the window just now.

“Welcome our honored guests.” The “King” smiled and ordered the comely woman near him to serve tea to them. “Have a seat.”

The woman quickly picked out two clay-made cups from the cupboard and took some tea from a clay-made jar. Their tea was darker than that of Qi. After a closer look, Qin Yunuan assumed that it was native to the Yeren Valley. This man seemed very good at exploiting the Valley. He truly could be seen as the “King” here.

Mengman made a simple introduction. “This is my father, also the tribe leader. He gives us everything.”

The “King” wore a light smile, but it could be told that he was satisfied with the title.

The “King” titled his head and asked the augur, “How’s it going? Have you got the result?”

The old augur seemed troubled and raised his grey eyebrows. “I got a weird manifestation.” When he handed over the shell to the “King”, the shell broke into pieces without any sign and fell to the ground.

In augury, the broken shell was an ill omen. The “King” stood up at once and ordered while pointing at Leng Changxi, “Kill them.”

Mengman was the first one to react. But when he came close to Leng Changxi, he was stopped by the latter’s indifference and coldness.

In an instant, they heard a commotion downstairs. Because of the order, seven or eight men rushed upstairs.

“What do you mean?” Leng Changxi turned around a bit to shelter Qin Yunuan. He hinted to Cha and other people who followed tribesmen to rush upstairs to stay calm. “Mr. Mengman invited us here with difficulty, but you directly treated us to this right after we arrived. I think you should give me an explanation.”

The “King” squinted at Leng Changxi and curled his lip. He said, “Do I need a reason to kill you? Young man, why do you want an explanation? People like you are truly weird. In face of death, you still want a why as if this could change your fate. Sometimes, the truth is cruel, and it’s better not to know it.”

Leng Changxi held the spear and said, “What if I insist?” Everything seemed to happen without any reason. But something had foreshadowed it, namely the biggest secret buried in the Yeren Valley.

At once, the “King” changed his facial expression. He waved his hand in silence, a sign telling people to leave. All people, even Mengman, left except Qin Yunuan, Leng Changxi and the old augur.

It was quiet. After a long time, the “King” said, “You… you can practice Tongming Gate’s Qigong?”

Right at the moment Leng Changxi mobilized his genuine Qi to protect Qin Yunuan, the “King” sensed it. But for Leng Changxi, he hadn’t heard of Tongming Gate at all.

“Whether I can or cannot, so what?” Leng Changxi didn’t want to directly answer the question.

“Tongming Gate is a royal martial arts section in West Xia. Only royal members can learn its Qigong, whose strength is that as ancestors teach descendants generation by generation, its power grows. This is worthwhile.” The “King” explained.

Was there such a kind of Qigong? Qin Yunuan listened to the “King” carefully, and then he continued, “But it also has a drawback. If those descendants, who want a revolt, can easily learn the skillfully contrived Qigong from their elder generation, such martial arts will help them to do evil. In the early years of West Xia’s foundation, teaching descendants Qigong generation by generation indeed united the royal family to fight with foreign enemies together. But look at what happened later. Jing Donahue, the incumbent emperor in West Xia, has clearly banned royal members from practicing Tongming Gate’s Qigong. So, where did you learn it from?”

Jing Donghua, Leng Changxi’s father, was the most skilled Qigong master. So it made sense that Leng Changxi was better at internal skills than his peers. Even getting injured, he could recover sooner. Also, he learned martial arts faster than others.

Leng Changxi mimicked how the “King” spoke and asked, “Do I need any reason to learn it?”

The “King” was in a trance and then laughed. “Young man, I appreciate your arrogance. Despite that, you will still be killed later.” The “King” picked up the clay-made cup from the tea table near him. The cup was half full of lukewarm tea, and he emptied it. Then, he put his hands on the window and pushed, so leaving the window shade and exposing his whole body.

Qin Yunuan was in a trance. Not until this moment did she find that the “King”, who looked like an imposing commander just now, had a pair of atrophic lower legs. They were shriveled, weak and as thin as bamboos. Leng Changxi squinted because he saw that pair of deformed lower legs too.

However, the “King” wore a light smile. He pointed at his legs and said, “You don’t have to show mercy. Compared with those who lost more for they didn’t know when to let everything go, I’m fine because they all died.”

Two wheels were attached to his chair, which was very considerate; so that he could move around. The “King” moved to Leng Changxi and said with a smile, “20 years ago, I was a relatively famous blacksmith in my neighborhood. One evening, a man suddenly came to me and appointed me to take an urgent job. Without any hesitation, I agreed. But since then, I have found no way to come back. I, along with several dozens of blacksmiths, was locked in a large iron cage by a group of uniformed people. We were forced to take part in a cruel competition by presenting our craftsmanship one by one. Less qualified blacksmiths and those with poor skills were all killed right after their performance, even having no time to beg for their lives.”

The “King” sighed and continued, “Many old blacksmiths were really skilled, but they all died out of nervousness. Everyone was scared, but at that time, I was more thoughtful than them. Those uniformed men were in a hurry to find skilled blacksmiths but still dared to kill them. It meant that they were powerful, so I didn’t dare to confront them. Luckily, I survived and then was taken to this no-exit mountain after traveling a long way with my eyes covered.”

“You were taken to an arsenal?” Qin Yunuan asked.

“You really know something,” the “King” was a bit surprised. Then he shook his head and said, “At that time, we, blacksmiths, all were not very experienced so unqualified to work in the arsenal. We were merely responsible for building the warrior-horse array placed around the arsenal.”

“Warrior-horse array?” Having read Leng Changxi’s military works though, Qin Yunuan didn’t know this array.

“Yes.” The “King” seemed unwilling to explain more to Qin Yunuan. “There are many arrays and tricks placed outside the arsenal. Even a person who has the arsenal map may not be able to enter the arsenal alive. Later, some outstanding blacksmiths, including me, were picked out to work in the factory. However, we stressed out because of the three-year working system. Many of us planed a betrayal, intending to steal the weapon design drawing and sell parts of it to any country for a windfall. Therefore, factory workers started many revolts, and I joined the largest one. But on our way to escape, the design drawing we made much effort to steal fell to the ground. A man didn’t want to lose it, so he ran back to pick it up. However, he forgot that there were warrior-horse arrays everywhere, and he was killed by the trick he built by himself. I saw he was killed in person and got stunned. But I felt grateful more, grateful that I didn’t lose my life for those several design drawings.”

“So later, you settled in the Yeren Valley, and tamed native residents there to build your own tribe and even create a civilization?” Leng Changxi looked at the “King”, who truly was a king and a creator.

“You’re a genius,” Leng Changxi praised him. At once, complacency could be seen in the eyes of the “King”. But Leng Changxi then lowered his head and smiled. “But you’re more of a fool. You simply felt grateful that you didn’t die because of the drawings. However, you devoted more than half of your life to an arsenal which you haven’t walked into. After seeing your leg injury, I know for sure that it’s linked to the arsenal.”

The “King” said in a cold tone, “Right. I haven’t stopped finding the arsenal entrance, but I don’t how where arrays around it are placed. My legs got injured by accident seven years ago when I looked for the entrance. Two years ago, I already found the entrance, but the last gate turned out to be the biggest barrier stopping me from entering. It’s not because I have no key, but because the keyhole on the gate had been sealed by the melted iron. As a result, the only way to enter the arsenal is to break the gate through leveraging one’s internal skills. That gate weighs several thousand kilograms, so only people with Tongming Gate’s Qigong, the purest and most powerful Qigong in the world, can break it. There are not many Tongming Gate’s inheritors, and now, West Xia’s emperor has even banned people from cultivating it. So I spend much time finding the one who can break the gate and have waited for him for long. Finally, I find him.”