A strong and courageous man would be revered by hundreds; a hero would revered by thousands. As for the one and only Great Ning Empire...naturally, it was revered by the entire world. It was not known when it began, but religious activities to pray for blessings started springing up in the Ning Empire’s neighboring countries. The earliest sightings of it could be traced back to its next-door neighbor, the Nanyue Empire - every year, on the ninth day of September, the day where the founding emperor of the Great Ning Empire ascended the throne, the Zhaoli Empire’s emperor would personally lead the civil and military officials to pray for Great Ning’s blessings. Thereafter, he would secretly throw in one more line in his prayers...that Great Ning would not mobilize their army or wage a war on them. To put it simply, every year, he would pray for their safety against war... One might find it ridiculous. However, the reason why the Zhaoli Empire

Shen Leng felt that he was obligated to save Meng Changan. However, he could not help but think about how he had been trained in the Academy of Classical Learning in Changan city and hence, he should be strong enough. If that was the case, why was he caught?“You brat!”One of the bandits knocked on Meng Changan’s head, “You are so vicious at such a young age - a few of my brothers got killed off by you. Even though that means more money to be split amongst the rest of us, you are extremely loathsome. If not for you...” “Shut up!”Another person glared at him and said, “Let’s lock him up here first and talk later.”The few bandits jostled Meng Changan before turning around and leaving. Meng Changan fell to the ground. Since he was tied up tightly, even if he wanted to stand up, he could not do so. Shen Leng jumped out from behind the goods and used all his strength to cut the ropes binding Meng Changan w

The Mengs had a huge yard. After all, Mr. Meng was considered a wealthy man in Yulin town. However, no matter how big their yard was, they did not dare to build a house that was too tall. If the government officials said that he had disobeyed regulations, he could go bankrupt and his family could be homeless, even though he might be the sea bandit, Bai Litu, that nobody was aware of. When Meng Changan found Shen Leng in his dilapidated room, he was squatting in a corner in a daze. He looked traumatized, - as though he had lost half his soul.“Come on!”Meng Changan raised his voice, and then sighed, “Are you really planning on taking Shen as your last name?”His father just died, but his obstinate nature forbade him to cry. No matter how terrible he felt, he refused to cry.“Ya.”Shen Leng’s reply was simple and direct. He sounded more stubborn and decisive than Meng Changan. “What are you g

Initially, Shen Leng assumed that they were going to somewhere very, very far away. But after Mr. Shen walked him into a small yard, he thought about it carefully and realized that it would only take a day’s journey to get to Yulin town from where they were. “Go chop some wood!”Shen Cha Yan was very familiar with this place. The moment she walked into this place, she shouted those four words at Shen Leng. Thereafter, she went to open the windows in every single room. This place was not that far from the riverbank, hence it was rather humid. Shen Leng was very exhausted, but he did not say anything. After looking through the yard, all he could find was a very blunt ax. He could not find a whetstone; if he wanted to use this ax to chop some wood, he would not be able to gather sufficient wood even by tomorrow morning. Mr. Shen walked up to Shen Leng, “Where’s the scabbard?”Shen Leng took out the scabbard of the smal

Before daybreak, Shen Leng had already gotten out of bed. He drew some water from the well and washed up, before going to the morning market in the nearby village to buy some vegetables and meat. Ever since the day he joined them, he had taken on the responsibility of managing their finances. Both Mr. Shen and Shen Cha Yan were extremely pleased with this arrangement. After all, one of them was too lazy to manage finances, and the other one had not a single clue when it came to managing finances. After he went back to the Daoist temple, he started cooking. He fried some eggs and shredded meat, and cooked some noodles. Very soon, the aromatic smell of food came wafting through the air from the kitchen. Mr. Shen stretched and went out of the door. Following his daily routine, he watered the pine tree that was right outside the kitchen. This pine tree was something that he cherished most in this place. After all, he personally planted it at that time.