BOOM!
A thunderclap caused by lightning spread across the land!!
"Oh no! The Third Young Master has been struck by lightning!!"
This sound, also caused by the lightning, spread throughout the entire Mo family courtyard in a very short time. Everyone habitually froze for a moment, then habitually—
Continued with their work!
It seemed that everyone's reaction to this news wasn't the expected panic, but rather very calm acceptance!!
The Mo family was a great clan famous for weapon forging on the Divine Martial Continent. While their forging techniques weren't the absolute best on the continent, they were definitely first-rate. Such families with special skills were very popular even if their martial prowess wasn't outstanding—simply put, the Mo family was in high demand.
In the Heavenly Wind Kingdom where the Mo family resided, they were a top-tier family. In Qingyun City where they were located, they were one of the great families with formidable influence!
Naturally, the Third Young Master of such a family would receive much attention. However, judging by the Mo family's reaction, this Third Young Master seemed to have some special... problems.
Indeed, there were problems, and almost everyone knew about them—at least in Qingyun City, virtually everyone knew.
Everyone knew that the Mo family, this great clan of Qingyun City, had a Third Young Master who was completely useless—extremely, utterly useless, practically good for nothing.
Not only were his meridians unable to cultivate any martial techniques, but his mind was also a bit slower than normal people's. In other words, his intelligence wasn't high!
However, even so, the Third Young Master's parents still loved him dearly and hadn't given up on him.
Upon hearing that the Third Young Master had been struck by lightning, his parents immediately rushed over. They saw their son was now charcoal-black, his life hanging in the balance.
At this moment, both parents looked extremely worried, and his mother was so anxious that tears flowed...
"What happened?" the Third Young Master's father asked in a deep voice. "Why did he get struck by lightning again?"
Again? Why use the word "again"?
Regarding this question, everyone remained silent—no one responded.
"Where is Xiaoyao?" After a while, the Third Young Master's father spoke, his tone clearly displeased. It seemed this Xiaoyao was either connected to this incident or was simply very unpopular.
"Xiaoyao is... he should be in his room, or maybe the study, or perhaps the kitchen, possibly the sword-forging room, maybe the alchemy room, the mechanisms room..." The surrounding people began to answer, seemingly listing every location in the entire Mo family estate.
"That's the same as saying nothing. Where is he now? Find him for me! I want to ask if he's been teaching the my son nonsense again. How many times has this happened?!" the Third Young Master's father roared.
"We'll go find him right away... This Xiaoyao is too unpredictable. Others are servants, he's also a servant—why is he always running around everywhere?"
"That's because every place needs his help with odd jobs. He's a low-ranking servant—anyone can order him to do work."
"Stop talking and hurry up and find him, or the Second Master will take his anger out on us!!"
"Right, no matter what he's done this time, he'll have to take responsibility himself. We don't want to get dragged into this!!"
...
In a very remote area of the Mo family estate, surrounded by rare herbs and plants—a paradise of medicinal herbs—this was the Mo family's herb garden, cultivating rare varieties found in the markets.
The herb garden naturally supplied the Mo family's alchemy room and was its foundation!
Though the Mo family was a weapon-forging clan, they also had some minor achievements in pill refinement and could produce ordinary pills.
However, this was limited to ordinary pills, at most slightly superior ones. For better, higher-grade pills, they had to purchase from specialized alchemy families.
When everyone found the herb garden, an eighteen or nineteen-year-old youth was pulling weeds and tending to the medicinal plants. This youth was the one everyone was talking about—
Xiaoyao!!
"You're in trouble—the Third Young Master has been struck by lightning..." came a cacophony of voices.
"Ah, the Third Young Master was struck by lightning again? This time it really has nothing to do with me! I haven't left the herb garden all day—Old Seven can testify!!" Xiaoyao said very innocently.
From Xiaoyao's words, it was clear that previous incidents had been related to him, such as—
"Even if you were here, it doesn't matter. Who told you to carelessly tell the Third Young Master that being struck by lightning might make him smarter? Now whenever there's lightning and thunder, he climbs to high places carrying iron rods as lightning rods—you taught him that too."
"...I was just talking casually. Talking isn't illegal, and besides, being struck by lightning really can make you smarter!!" Xiaoyao seemed oblivious to the danger and continued discussing the matter. Perhaps because this wasn't the first time, he'd grown accustomed to it.
"You still dare to say that!"
"What? This isn't the first time anyway. Just save him, and punish me afterward." Xiaoyao said indifferently. This wasn't his first experience with such incidents—each time he received minor punishment, doing heavy and difficult work.
"This time is different—the Third Young Master is dying..."
"What? But the Third Young Master knows some martial arts and has strong resistance..."
Though he couldn't cultivate techniques, he could still practice basic skills. Despite being slow-witted, the Third Young Master had always worked hard and had excellent physical condition.
"How would we know? Stop wasting time with this kid. Someone grab him and take him to the Second Master for judgment..." Everyone directly seized Xiaoyao and marched him away, their movements equally practiced—apparently this wasn't the first time either.
"Hey, hey, I haven't finished the work here yet. Can't you wait a bit..." Xiaoyao cared more about completing his work.
"...We'll have someone replace you. What you need to do now is come with us!!"
"..."
Thus, everyone escorted the "criminal" Xiaoyao to where the Third Young Master lay. Waiting for him were the furious parents and others, plus some who were gloating and watching the excitement.
At this moment, the Third Young Master was receiving treatment from the Mo family's physicians, but judging by their expressions, the situation seemed critical.
"Xiaoyao!" the Third Young Master's father said in a deep voice. If the Third Young Master didn't still have a thread of life left, he probably would have already attacked Xiaoyao.
A low-ranking servant was completely insignificant to him as the Second Master—he could kill him at will.
"Present! Second Master, what do you need me for?" Xiaoyao stood at attention as if undergoing inspection.
"What do I need you for?" The Second Master's face twitched slightly. "What do you think? Why did you say that being struck by lightning would make someone smarter?"
"I heard it from someone!" Xiaoyao replied, thinking to himself that this had already been discussed—why ask again?
"From whom?" the Second Master asked, apparently having forgotten he'd asked before.
"I don't remember... it was like the second nephew of Old Seven's sister-in-law's..." Xiaoyao rattled off a complicated chain of relationships, and his answer seemed to explain why the Second Master was asking.
"..."
The Second Master frowned. He felt Xiaoyao probably wasn't lying, because this answer was so complex and identical every time—it shouldn't be something made up on the spot.
Of course, the Second Master had also had people verify this, and there really was such a person who had indeed interacted with Xiaoyao and chatted many times. The person himself had forgotten what he'd said and might have mentioned such things.
"Regardless of who it was, if anything happens to my son this time, I'll make you join him in death!" the Second Master said coldly.
"...How is this my fault..." Xiaoyao looked very innocent, though he didn't seem to care or be afraid. He faced everything so calmly that this personality made him somewhat special even among the low-ranking servants.
If he hadn't grown up in the Mo family since infancy, people would definitely suspect he was an undercover spy!
Xiaoyao had been found by the Mo family head outside. At that time, the family head was leading the Mo family's elite to attend a martial arts gathering. On the road, they discovered an abandoned baby in the wilderness and decided to adopt the child.
Xiaoyao had been in rags then, clearly from a poor family, with nothing on him except a small jade pendant. The jade quality seemed decent, though the craftsmanship was poor—such items weren't very valuable and could be found anywhere.
The only difference was that this small jade pendant had several roughly carved characters that were somewhat blurred, with "Xiaoyao" being the two clearest characters—or rather, the "only" two clear characters.
Thus, Xiaoyao got his name!
The Mo family had searched the area but found no one, and even waited several days to no avail. So they adopted the baby, though only as a servant, not as an adopted son or anything like that.
If they did that, the Mo family might end up with countless adopted sons.
Xiaoyao had learned to be a servant from childhood and could adapt to any situation, so he appeared everywhere in the Mo family estate, doing what servants should do.
He seemed to learn everything quickly and worked very conscientiously, so he was welcomed everywhere and called upon to help with various tasks.
However, everyone seemed to pay no attention to exactly how much Xiaoyao knew or to what degree he'd mastered these skills. Everyone only cared that he could do what they assigned and do it well.
After all, Xiaoyao was just a low-ranking servant in the Mo family. Who would care about such a lowly servant? If not for this incident with the Third Young Master, most people probably wouldn't even know him.
Continue in Next Chapter