Chapter 6: The Gu Family

Warriors are those born with innate battle qi. On this continent, battle qi is the ultimate standard for measuring whether a person will be able to protect their home and defend their country in the future.

Of course, battle qi is divided into three grades: superior, middle, and inferior.

When children reach a certain age, the royal family personally uses precision testing instruments to determine the grade of the battle qi they possess. If it is superior-grade battle qi, it means this person can later serve as a Great General or a Grand Marshal of the armed forces. As for middle-grade battle qi, they can only hold minor seventh-rank official positions. As for inferior-grade, there is no other way; go and be a common soldier.

Naturally, this battle qi is also divided into ten levels. Generally, what people are born with is only the primary level; if one is exceptionally gifted, it might be level two or three. But it is undeniable that as long as a child is tested and found to possess battle qi of the superior or middle grades, they will be personally sent to the Royal Academy for cultivation, which would be the glory of their entire family.

As for Summoners, that is a mysterious profession that makes the entire Cangming Continent tremble at the mere mention of its name. With a flip of their hands, they can summon clouds and rain; with a mere crook of their fingers, they can destroy thousands of troops in an instant. This terrifying profession is something that makes countless people go crazy with desire.

Legend has it that hundreds of years ago, a Summoner who suddenly appeared on the Nanzhao Continent almost allowed Nanzhao to unify the entire Cangming Continent. If it hadn't been for the fact that the magical beasts he summoned were swallowed whole by five flood dragons that suddenly soared out of the sea while crossing the Luojia Sea, the Haoyue Dynasty would likely have ceased to exist long ago.

Therefore, one can see just how powerful and maddening a profession the Summoner is!

However, it is a pity that while warriors are common, Summoners are like rare treasures. To this day, apart from one appearing in the Nanzhao Continent and one in the Ziming Kingdom, no others have ever appeared on the entire Cangming Continent. Thus, in the current Cangming Continent, warriors still dominate half the sky.

And as warriors, the Gu family of the Haoyue Dynasty is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding families.

Lan Lengshuang, daughter of the former dynasty's Prime Minister, is the current matriarch of the Gu family.

The Gu family is divided into two main branches. The legitimate branch, Gu Zhong, was born to Lan Lengshuang, while the collateral branch, Gu Ruhai, was born to a concubine taken by Lan Lengshuang’s husband.

After her husband died, Lan Lengshuang divided the Gu estate into two. The east side belonged to the legitimate Gu Zhong, while the relatively more prosperous west side was occupied by Gu Ruhai.

Once this news spread, the Emperor of the Haoyue Dynasty at the time, who was in his prime, called his Crown Prince to his side and said, "This woman, Lan Lengshuang, must not be underestimated!"

Indeed, by doing this, Lan Lengshuang appeared to be giving the best to the concubine-born Gu Ruhai, but in reality, the eastern side of the Gu estate sat upon a vein of profound spiritual energy, which was extremely conducive to nurturing gifted and intelligent life.

Therefore, later on, all two sons and one daughter under Gu Zhong were found to have superior-grade battle qi upon testing. Furthermore, they were born with level-two battle qi, which was already extremely rare in the Haoyue Dynasty. To have three such children appear at once was even more remarkable.

In contrast, although the collateral son Gu Ruhai had three sons and one daughter, his eldest son and daughter died prematurely for no apparent reason. Moreover, the third son Gu Liufeng’s newly wedded wife, Mu Ya, a young lady from a wealthy family, was suddenly declared by the State Shaman to be possessed by a demon just as she was about to give birth. Subsequently, Lan Lengshuang dragged her before the Yin-Yang Mirror in the ancestral hall, and after a single strike followed by a cup of poisoned wine, two lives were lost instantly. How tragic that situation was!

Fortunately, the second son, Gu Liunian, recently had a pair of fraternal twins. Although Gu Liunian himself is only a middle-grade warrior, for the Gu family, which had not seen twins in hundreds of years, Lan Lengshuang finally came to visit in person. After all, they were still the flesh and blood of the Gu family, were they not?