Under the morning sun, two figures clash with swords.
They look alike at a glance.
One is slightly taller, his movements smooth and controlled, his posture relaxed.
The other is younger, leaner, carrying strength but lacking restraint.
It is less a fight than a lesson.
The younger lunges first, anger written into every step.
Merin blocks the strike with minimal effort.
His wrist turns, guiding the blade aside, and before his brother can recover, Merin locks their swords together.
A short step forward—
A precise kick.
Merin's foot lands in his brother's belly.
The younger body lifts from the ground and crashes backwards, breath knocked out of him, sword spinning free.
Merin reaches out calmly and catches the falling sword by the handle before it touches the earth.
He looks at his brother on the ground and speaks evenly.
"Get up."
His little brother glares at him, jaw clenched, and forces himself upright.
Merin tosses the sword back.
The younger catches it and attacks again, movements sharper, anger heavier.
The exchange lasts only a heartbeat.
Merin steps in, redirects the strike, twists the hilt from his brother's grip, and shoves him down again.
The sword clatters away.
The sun continues to rise.
Again and again, the scene repeats.
Each time, the outcome is the same.
Each time, Merin's voice remains calm.
"Get up."
By the twentieth time, rage finally overflows.
His little brother screams.
Wind energy erupts around him, violent and unstable.
A sword manifests in his hand—pure white, its body flawless, a small green crystal set into the handle.
Light-green radiance shimmers along its edge.
A spiritual weapon.
He swings.
A roaring wind blade tears through the air toward Merin.
Merin has been waiting for this.
He dodges before the blade fully forms, his body blurring as he closes the distance in an instant.
He grabs his brother's wrist mid-swing, twists sharply, and the spiritual sword slips free, falling to the ground.
Merin steps on the blade, pinning it.
"You failed," he says.
His little brother cries out in pain as the pressure on his wrist increases.
Merin releases him and steps back.
"You failed," Merin repeats.
"I told you how much anger you have."
"Do not release your spiritual weapon."
His brother is a spiritual weapon refiner.
Their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness.
If the weapon is damaged, the refiner is injured.
If it is destroyed, the refiner may be crippled for life.
Merin trains him without softness.
Not out of brotherly affection.
Merin has lived too long for that.
In the beginning, in his earliest reincarnations, he felt attachment to his birth families.
That faded with time.
With each rebirth, with each century added to his existence, those feelings thinned.
He has lived for more than a thousand years across countless lives.
He will live again.
Be reborn again.
Have another family again.
This family is not something he clings to.
It is simply where he was born this time.
Training his brother is repayment—
cause and effect.
Nothing more.
His little brother retrieves the spiritual sword and draws it back into his dantian to nourish it.
"I understand, Brother," he says quietly.
"It won't happen again."
Merin nods.
"Go wash up," he says.
"We'll meet at the breakfast table."
His little brother nods and walks away.
Merin follows at a distance, then turns back toward his own room.
Returning to his room, he enters the bathroom and finds a full bucket of water that a servant had prepared earlier.
He removes his clothes and begins washing himself, the cool water running over his body and washing away sweat and dust.
After cleaning himself, he puts on fresh underwear and steps out.
From the drawer, he takes out a pill bottle.
Merin sits on his cultivation mat, opens the bottle, and takes out a slightly larger snow-white pill.
A week has passed since the raid.
His team did not find the murderer of Toga, but the reason behind the murder was uncovered, and a hidden slave ring was exposed.
With that, the mission concluded.
Lieutenant Tan personally rewarded Merin with five hundred merit points.
Including Merin, the team had six members.
Merin kept one hundred merit for himself.
Gong Qiu and the rest divided the remaining four hundred merit equally.
Using the merit and paying an additional hundred gold coins, Merin exchanged for the Snow Ginseng Pills in his hand.
He obtained five of them.
Each Snow Ginseng Pill is three times as effective as an ordinary ginseng pill.
Merin swallows the pill and closes the bottle.
As the pill dissolves, energy spreads through his body.
Merin begins cultivating immediately.
His muscles vibrate under precise control, his bones responding as the medicinal energy refines them from within.
An hour later, the improvement stabilises, and the surge of energy fades.
Merin opens his eyes.
"If I cultivate with Snow Ginseng Pills," he says quietly to himself,
"Then in two weeks, I'll be able to enter the second stage of the Blood Seal realm."
His earlier calculations using ordinary ginseng pills required two months.
Satisfied, Merin stands and leaves his room.
In the garden, he sits at the breakfast table with his younger brother.
Morning light filters through leaves overhead as servants bring food.
Housekeeper Chen stands nearby and says,
"Duan Lin, tell your elder brother what you've learned at the academy."
Duan Lin studies at the Spiritual Academy of the capital.
Merin never attended—he has no need.
But Duan Lin does.
His cultivation path depends on understanding spiritual weapons, and Merin knows it would be difficult to teach him properly while unable to cultivate himself.
So this year, Duan Lin was sent to the academy.
Hearing the housekeeper's prompt, Duan Lin's eyes brighten as he turns to Merin.
"Brother," he says eagerly, "I ranked first again in this week's combat competition."
Merin is not surprised.
After training with him weekly, failing to rank first would be strange.
"And the theory subjects?" Merin asks.
Duan Lin's expression falters.
In a low voice, he reports his results.
Merin listens calmly.
"You must study harder," he says.
He does not berate him.
In the cultivation world, practical strength matters more than theory, and Duan Lin did not fail—he ranked between fifth and tenth in all theory subjects.
Merin continues,
"You should also learn a side profession."
Duan Lin hesitates.
"I've been thinking about it," he says,
"But I can't decide which one."
Merin looks at him calmly and asks,
"What do you have in mind?"
Duan Lin gathers his thoughts.
"Learning Spiritual Weapon refining will help my cultivation and let me advance my natal weapon faster."
"Pill refining can help you and the family."
He pauses.
Merin studies him for a moment and says,
"I hear an and."
Duan Lin lowers his voice slightly.
"I also like paper puppet refining."
Merin nods slowly.
"You don't need to learn pill refining for the family or me," Merin says.
"We can buy ready-made pills or hire pill refiners with money."
Duan Lin shakes his head.
"That only works for low- and mid-grade spiritual pills."
"Not for high-grade or top-grade pills."
Merin replies evenly,
"I work in the Divine Guard."
"I can exchange merit for resources."
"You don't need to worry about that."
Duan Lin looks down for a moment.
"I still want to help the family."
Merin's tone remains steady.
"Then learn paper puppet refining."
"And also learn the basics of spiritual weapon refining."
"If you reach a high level in paper puppet refining, it will help the family in many other ways."
Duan Lin nods slowly, the hesitation easing from his expression.
As they finish eating, hurried footsteps sound across the garden path.
A servant runs in, breath slightly uneven, drawing Merin's attention at once.
"Lord," the servant says quickly,
"Someone from the Divine Guard has come."
"He said it's urgent."
"Lieutenant Tan called for you."
Merin stands immediately.
He leaves the garden, returns to his room, and changes into his Divine Guard uniform with practised speed.
For faster travel, he mounts his horse rather than taking a carriage and rides straight to the Divine Guard headquarters.
Entering the building, he moves swiftly through the corridors and heads directly toward the lieutenant's office.
He knocks.
"Come in."
Merin steps inside.
Lieutenant Tan sits at the far end of the room, posture straight, expression serious.
Across from him stand two people in captain uniforms, with a table between them.
Lieutenant Tan looks up and says,
"Merin, we were waiting for you."
The two captains turn.
Merin recognises one immediately.
Captain Ye Ran.
The other is a man he has never met before, tall, sharp-featured, his expression composed and restrained.
Merin steps forward and stands beside Ye Ran.
"Sorry for being late," Merin says.
Lieutenant Tan waves a hand.
"Today was your rest day."
"You don't need to apologise."
Lieutenant Tan continues,
"I called you here for an urgent mission."
"You will complete it together with Captain Ye Ran and Captain Zhao Wenjie."
Merin nods.
Captain Ye Ran speaks,
"Lieutenant, can you explain the mission now?"
Lieutenant Tan's gaze hardens slightly.
"Merin uncovered the illegal slave ring," he says.
"And the mastermind behind it has been identified."
The unfamiliar captain's brows draw together.
"Who?" he asks.
Lieutenant Tan answers without hesitation.
"The Shen Family of Anxi Town."