Why do I have so many masters?

Sikou Tingfeng silently watched the black object wrapped in the sheets, her mind filled with tumultuous thoughts. In her subconscious, it should be a sculpted charcoal shaped into a human form or a Kunlun slave evenly sun-dried.

The Kunlun slaves come from north of Kunlun, entering with the nomadic merchants. They are mostly simple and blunt, unrefined by the teachings of the Central Plains, yet there are those among them who are loyal and brave. The most obvious characteristic is that they are much darker than the people of the Great Qin and the nomads of the Western Regions.

However, it's rare to see one this black.

This person stands out even among Kunlun slaves for his darkness, reaching a level of distinction, as if his shade underwent several dyeing processes before air-drying like coarse cloth.

She carefully examined the overall twisted charcoal again, or the very evenly sun-dried Kunlun slave, but in reality, a 'Fourth Rank' small grandmaster.

Unable to resist comparing it with every Kunlun slave she had seen in terms of darkness, and only after confirming from multiple sides that this person was indeed a shade deeper, did she finally let go of the matter, not caring as much as before, feeling satisfied, she carefully recollected everything about the name, and her expression grew increasingly solemn.

Xu Sixing, age forty-eight, channeled qi into the body at seven, officially became a Ninth Rank Martial Artist at ten, broke through the Longmen into Middle Third Rank at seventeen, and at thirty-eight, touched the Heavenly Sect.

This is a record that would cause ninety-nine percent of martial artists in the Jianghu to cover their faces and sigh, even lose their martial hearts, and fall into decadence. Yet, unlike his cohorts obsessed with martial arts, Xu Sixing's martial arts were unfathomably profound, his mind cautious and meticulous, his actions sophisticated.

He had abandoned readily available benefits multiple times, displaying grace in advancement and retreat.

Though in the Jianghu his reputation was mixed, it was universally acknowledged that within ten years, he was the genius most likely to push open the Heavenly Gate and glimpse the vast heaven and earth above it, of distinguished aptitude, at the peak of his fame, connected with many forces in the Jianghu, associating with the wealthy, never seen in humble attire.

Yet, at the peak of his fame, he provoked the Great Qin and was defeated by the Pillar of the State.

Defeated but not dead, he fled ten thousand miles away.

Then, from a prominent Jianghu hero, he became a first-class fugitive of Great Qin, forever unaccepted by heaven and earth afterward.

Fierce and tyrannical, shrewd and ruthless, arrogant and conceited.

He is a terrifying Jianghu villain.

A formidable person who can stop a child from crying at night.

An inadvertent martial genius who could have become a grandmaster, a refined gentleman remembered even a decade later.

Sikou Tingfeng, with a delicate yet cold face, couldn't help but lower her eyes.

Now the black substance lay on the ground, its legs twitching involuntarily due to the lingering Thunder Vigor.

At this moment, she felt an overwhelming sense of unreality and, for the first time as a martial artist, truly acknowledged the words of the ancient Master from three thousand years ago in her heart.

Better no books at all than to believe everything in books.

The woman's heart let out a peculiar sigh.

The ancients never deceived me.

As for the reasons behind this battle, there are many versions in the Jianghu. The three most plausible ones include: firstly, Xu Sixing aimed for a broken blade in the hands of that Pillar of the State.

The blade was once a Divine Weapon, now shattered, with only two or three parts of its spiritual essence left, insufficient to cause any supernatural phenomena.

But for a Fourth Rank Martial Artist who had touched the Heavenly Gate, he could leverage this spiritual essence to force an ascent, push open the Heavenly Gate, and at some cost, for a short period, use the powers a grandmaster martial artist could wield.

Additionally, it allowed him an early taste of the grandmaster realm, observing the journey from Fourth to Third Rank from above, with immense benefits for future attempts to open the Heavenly Gate. This was the explanation given by the Great Qin Imperial Court, credible and solid.

The second explanation suggests Xu Sixing indeed sought to advance to the Third Rank realm, not through theft but by fostering strength through battles, using the qi mechanism entanglements during encounters with grandmasters as leverage to break through current barriers.

As to why he chose that particular Pillar of the State, rumors in the Jianghu abound that it was because the true strength of a grandmaster far exceeds one who uses qi mechanisms to ascend, and among them, that specific Pillar of the State was particularly lacking.

This explanation clearly sprang from the Jianghu, laced with sarcasm and disdain towards the Great Qin and that Pillar of the State, barely stopping short of slapping a 'you're weak' label on that Pillar General's face and giving him a couple of smacks.

It's said the Pillar of the State flew into a rage, almost drawing his blade for a face-to-face, blood-boiling exchange with those insolent storytellers in a bout of true Great Qin manhood.

He was forcibly pulled back by the Prefectural Governor and Prefectural Chancellor of the County City, drowned in several jars of strong wine, thus sparing the storytellers from facing a grim fate at the hands of a grinning giant blocking their exit and receiving a severe beating after a day's hard storytelling.

Allegedly, the frontline officials at the county government office were drunk for a full half month afterward but received no punishment, feeling only gratitude and relief that the Pillar of the State still cared for their drinking limit.

Compared to the headache following a hangover and the paperwork piling up to the rooftop, what happened was utterly intolerable.

In particular, the result was equally appalling for both the Great Qin and the storytellers. To just imagine it was enough to make their mouths twitch, a spectacle too unbearably brilliant to view directly.