Chapter 11: The Elder, Master of the Five Spirits

Chu Xiong noticed Chu Junhan tilting her head, lost in thought. He assumed she didn’t understand what had just been said—after all, how could a four-year-old child grasp such twists and turns?

“Yan’er, do you prefer Chu Han or Chu Junhan?” Chu Xiong affectionately ruffled her little head once again.

“Father, I like Chu Junhan,” she replied, her voice still soft and childish, evoking tenderness from those around her.

Chu Xiong gently patted her shoulder. “Very well. From now on, you will be my youngest son, Chu Junhan!”

Chu Junhan nodded obediently, never expecting that in the end, she would choose her own name. Was everything already destined?

“My dear, just now, when Master Cen was leaving, he spoke to me and asked me to convey a message to Yan’er,” Xi Feng had quietly entered, gently cradling Chu Junhan in her arms.

“What did he say?” Chu Xiong glanced at his daughter, barely four years old—what could she possibly understand?

Xi Feng stroked Chu Junhan’s head. “Since you’ve taken the first step, you must proceed cautiously with every move. Do not be impatient for quick success.”

Once again, Chu Junhan’s mind buzzed. Had he seen through her? It seemed Cen Song was no ordinary man. No wonder he had persuaded her father in her previous life to give her the name Chu Junhan.

Compared to Chu Junhan’s shock, Chu Xiong simply looked puzzled. “What does the old gentleman mean by that?”

Xi Feng shook her head, equally confused. “I don’t know. I asked him myself, but he only stroked his beard and said that the will of heaven must not be revealed.”

It was natural for Chu Xiong and Xi Feng not to understand, but Chu Junhan did!

What Cen Song referred to was likely her plan to disguise herself as a boy and carve out a place for herself in this chaotic world. Who was he, truly?

“Father, who was that old gentleman just now? Why have I never seen him before?” Chu Junhan could no longer suppress her curiosity. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched by someone unseen, and this sense of being exposed to the open while her observer lurked in the shadows made her uneasy.

Chu Xiong affectionately tapped her nose. “Yan’er, have you already forgotten what I just told you? From now on, your name is Chu Junhan. There is no more Chu Ruyan in this world. Do you understand?”

“Father, I understand. But you still haven’t told me who that old gentleman was,” Chu Junhan pleaded, clutching her father’s large hand.

What parent doesn’t dote on their child? Faced with Chu Junhan’s pleading, Chu Xiong’s heart melted. Who cared whether a four-year-old understood or not? “Cen Song, known respectfully as Master Cen, is a remarkable strategist, well-versed in the art of war. As a hermit living on Mount Five Spirits, he is also called Master of Five Spirits. He rarely leaves seclusion, but whenever he does, great changes shake the world.”

“What kind of changes?” Chu Junhan pressed further.

Looking at the eager little face before him, Chu Xiong explained kindly, “The last time Master Cen emerged from seclusion was at the fall of the Great Kang Dynasty. In just a few short months, uprisings erupted across the land, ushering in the turbulent times we live in now.”

The last time he emerged…

The Tianqing Kingdom was founded three years after the fall of the Great Kang Dynasty, and she had been born in the seventh year of Tianqing’s establishment—Tianwu Year Seven. In the eleventh year of Tianwu, her father had bestowed upon her the name Junhan and sent her to Pingzhou to study needlework…

“What’s wrong, Han’er?” At Chu Xiong’s request, Xi Feng had also begun to call her by her new name. The name Ruyan would now be forever buried in the hearts of her parents.

There were still many questions Chu Junhan wanted to ask her father, but she feared that asking too much would arouse suspicion. She could only purse her lips and say, “Mother, I want to play with Sister Yingdie.”

Her thoughts were a tangled mess. She needed a quiet place to sort through everything she had learned today—especially regarding Cen Song. He was not someone to be underestimated.