Chapter 1: An Unstable Situation (1/2)

Black Cloud City. The Nie clan.

As night fell, the plainly dressed Nie Qian leaned against the windowsill and stared at an artificial hill outside her window as her mind wandered.

Inside the room, Nie Tian, who just turned one, impatiently pushed away his wet nurse. Mouth stained with milk, but eyes fixed on Nie Qian, he mumbled, “Meat, must eat meat...”

His wet nurse, Zhou Ma, became embarra.s.sed and chuckled, “Miss, look...”

Nie Qian snapped back to reality and gave the adorable yet strong Nie Tian an intense glare before she jokingly taunted, “This little b.a.s.t.a.r.d has already had two bowls of ground meat today but shows no interest in his milk. Now he wants more meat. I don’t even know if he can properly digest it.”

“Meat, need meat...” Nie Tian was still jabbering with a smile on his face.

Nie Tian’s charming smile reminded Nie Qian of her late younger sister. Feeling a bit soft-hearted, she nodded to Zhou Ma.

Zhou Ma then brought out a bowl of finely ground meat and laid it on the table. Nie Tian’s ink-black pupils immediately flashed. Then he grabbed a spoon and started deftly digging in, his chubby little face filled with satisfaction.

Hearing Nie Tian eating caused Nie Qian to feel bothered for no apparent reason. “Little Yue, how many kids are going to attend the drawing of lots tomorrow?”

Nie Qian popped the question abruptly.

The servant girl, Han Yue, who was standing by the door, hesitated and softly replied, “Miss, all the one-year-old babies in the Nie clan surnamed Nie will attend. Once every five years, immortals from Cloudsoaring Mountain will bring spiritual tools to reward the Nie clan for their hard work over the years. No parent of a one-year-old child would want to pa.s.s up that opportunity.”

The Nie clan was notable in Black Cloud City. However, this world respected the powerful Qi warriors above all else. Almost every mortal clan offered service to them. The Nie clan was no exception.

The Qi warrior sect that the Nie clan clung to was the Cloudsoaring sect, which was located on Cloudsoaring Mountain not far from Black Cloud City. At the heart of Cloudsoaring Mountain, there was an abundance of Fire Stones, which were a low-ranked type of spiritual material that Qi pract.i.tioners used to improve their cultivation. The Qi warriors of the Cloudsoaring sect were busy with cultivation all year long, and thus, unwilling to waste time on extracting the low-ranked Fire Stones themselves, they had members of the Nie clan do it for them.

Generation after generation, the Nie clan had offered the extracted Fire Stones as tribute to the Cloudsoaring sect in exchange for their protection.

Additionally, other than protecting the Nie clan from oppression from other families in Black Cloud City, Qi warriors of the Cloudsoaring sect would also bring low-ranked spiritual tools to the Nie clan every five years in order to test the cultivation potential of the Nie children through the drawing of lots.

Upon birth, every child would possess a somewhat special attribute, like metal, wood, water, fire, or earth. Some children would carry rare attributes, like lightning, electricity, wind, cloud, or frost. Qi warriors of the Cloudsoaring sect would bring a number of low-ranked spiritual tools that possessed the different attributes.

The children and spiritual tools that shared the same attributes would be drawn to each other. In this way, a child’s attribute could be determined, and then his parents could provide well-directed a.s.sistance and help the youngster achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Qi warriors of the Cloudsoaring sect would trade those low-ranked spiritual tools for the Nie clan’s loyalty, so all the spiritual tools brought to lot drawing would be gifted to the children with matching attributes.

Though useless to the Qi warriors of the Cloudsoaring sect, those low-ranked spiritual tools would be of great help to the Nie children’s cultivation and become a suitable spiritual tool for a long time.

That was why the whole Nie clan would seethe with excitement at the lot drawings that would only happen once every five years. Every parent with a one-year-old child would consider it to be the most significant moment of that child’s life, and would be drawn to the event like a vulture to flesh.

This time was no different.

Nie Qian frowned. “Answer me, how many kids are going to attend this time?”

“Seven,” Han Yue replied softly, bowing her head deeply.

“Little Tian is exactly one year old and is surnamed Nie,” Nie Qian said coldly. “Why didn’t anyone inform me to bring Nie Tian to this lot-drawing convention?”

“Miss...” Han Yue forced a smile as she looked up at Nie Qian and said in a low voice, “Nie Tian is the child of your younger sister, but she is... just like you, a girl, and she didn’t mention who Nie Tian’s father was before she pa.s.sed away.”

“According to the rules of the Nie clan, only the children of legitimate sons have the right to attend the lot-drawing conventions every five years. Children of the daughters of the clan have no such right.”