Chapter 38

(PS: Four chapters in a burst, please give me recommendations, I really need your support~~!)

Twenty years ago, to be precise, it was over nineteen years ago, when Zhang Heng was only four years old. Even at that age, he could already remember things. When he was three, his father had already started training him, making him practice the family's traditional martial arts, the Zhang family's bow fighting technique, every day.

At that time, in Zhang Heng's memory, his home was in a peaceful small mountain village, one of the many unremarkable villages in the Bai Cao Kingdom. It was poor but peaceful, and he would wake up every day to the sound of roosters crowing in the countryside. In the morning, he would start by pulling the bowstring, doing it five hundred times, then standing in a horse stance, followed by practicing the techniques of the bow fighting technique and physical exercises, until lunchtime. In the afternoon, like most children in the village, he would play with cats and dogs, run around the mountains, and laugh.

Zhang Heng had never seen his mother. According to the old grandmother next door, his mother had died from complications during childbirth. Because the village was far from the capital, and even from the nearest town, there were only occasional traveling doctors. When his mother was hemorrhaging, no doctor could be found, and the local remedies were ineffective. Although this was the Bai Cao Kingdom, where many wild herbs existed, high-quality herbs were still beyond the reach of the villagers. Thus, his mother died at that time.

After his mother's death, Zhang Heng remembered that his father, who had always been strict, would return from hunting with large amounts of herbs and poisons. His father, who knew nothing about medicine, could not distinguish between these herbs and poisons. In Zhang Heng's memory, his father often said that when he grew older, he would sell all the iron pots and send him to study medicine in the town or the capital. These herbs and poisons were always sold to save up for his tuition.

The poor but peaceful life continued after Zhang Heng became aware of his surroundings. If this trajectory had continued, he might have become a man with dark skin, rough hands and feet, skilled in hunting, and possibly studying medicine in a third-rate school. He would have married a farmer's daughter, inherited his father's role as a hunter in the mountain village, or worked part-time as a third-rate doctor. After his father's death, he would have slowly aged in the black mountains and white waters...

Although he thought this way, as Zhang Heng grew up and lived in the affiliated school of the medical university, he felt that those years were the happiest, most joyful, and most beautiful times of his life after he became aware of his surroundings. There, he didn't have to scheme, didn't have to be submissive, didn't have to hide his sadness and force a smile, and didn't have to endure others' pointing and even bullying. At that time, he could laugh freely, run around, and...

Zhang Heng still vividly remembers the day when his father, with a big smile, hugged him and spun him around, something that had never happened before. Because he grew up without a mother, his father was always strict and showed little affection, let alone such intimate actions. On that day, his father hugged him for the first and last time.

After that, it seemed as if his father had changed. He no longer went hunting and was always smiling. Many strangers came to their house every day, and he had new clothes, snacks, and toys... It seemed as if life was getting better and better, until that day came...

On that day, many people broke into his house, and his father was pinned to the ground by two men. The group searched the house, and soon one of them found a notebook. The scene became chaotic. Zhang Heng didn't understand what the chaos meant, but he knew that he and his father were taken to a big city. From that day on, he never saw his father again...

In a daze, Zhang Heng didn't know how much time had passed. He was confined to a courtyard and not allowed to leave. He was given meals every day, which were better than what he had in the village, with meat and vegetables. However, he felt very helpless. Later, many people came to see him, asking about his father's daily activities, what he did, and who he met. At that time, Zhang Heng was young, and he didn't know many of the things he was asked about, so he could only answer vaguely or not at all.

It wasn't until many years later that Zhang Heng learned that his answers were used to frame his father, and his father committed suicide in prison. At that time, Zhang Heng was only about four years old...

After that, a serious middle-aged man came to him, made a series of announcements, and then he was sent to a primary school, living in the school dormitory and eating in the school cafeteria. He could see the serious middle-aged man every few months, and each time, the man would ask Zhang Heng about the details of his life in the small village, not missing any detail.

This life continued for six years, and then he entered another middle school, where the same routine continued...

The ridicule, isolation, insults, and even bullying from his classmates were just part of his daily life. He hadn't hurt anyone or done anything wrong, but it seemed as if it was intentional or unintentional that every time he entered a new school and met new classmates, the teachers would specifically emphasize his identity, including his surname, his father, and his background...

Then everything repeated itself, and he seemed to be a born sinner. Everyone looked at him with disgust, ridicule, and isolation, as if not doing so would not show their difference from him...

Zhang Heng had thought about defending himself, arguing, and even fighting, but it was all useless... He was alone, and the others were everyone in the country. No matter how he defended himself or argued, he would always be surrounded, both in words and actions. If he dared to fight back, he would always be punished by the teachers, from being confined to not being fed, all methods could be used against him. It seemed that no one cared about his nominal adoptive father, the most powerful man in the country, the National Medical University's scholar, Sid.

Zhang Heng almost believed that such treatment, and the requirement for everyone to treat him this way, was likely... Sid's doing.

So... what was the reason?

Was it to vent anger over his father's theft of his research results? Or was it... to force him to do something?

Although the treatment, isolation, ridicule, insults, and even beatings over the past twenty years had made Zhang Heng cautious and silent, almost not reacting to any external provocations or insults, and silently bearing the treatment that didn't belong to him, the emotions in his heart were not changed by anyone. He suspected... his father was innocent!

Just as Hao Qi said earlier, over the past twenty years, Zhang Heng had not stopped thinking about clearing his father's name, not stopped thinking about escaping his current life, and not stopped thinking about proving everything that happened. He was not a fool; he could clearly recall the events that occurred and the records the country had made. The biggest question was, how could a hunter who had only been to the capital a few times in his life enter the heavily guarded National Medical University, accurately find the scholar's laboratory, and then steal the research notes right under the nose of an Inner Force Realm expert? If there was someone who could do all this, then he himself would be no less than an Inner Force Realm expert.

This was a conspiracy. It was more likely that the entire country had conspired against his father rather than his father lying to the entire country!

This was such a simple matter. A hunter with no background, no status, no power, and no martial arts skills accidentally discovered something that could change the direction of the Bai Cao Kingdom's government, the cultivation of heaven-defying treasures, even if it was just one type of heaven-defying treasure. This was enough to change the entire Bai Cao Kingdom, and even the direction of the four major regions of the Blue Sea. Heaven-defying treasures often made it easier for people to become Inner Force Realm experts, and even for Inner Force Realm experts to purify their inner force, making it possible to become Inner Qi Realm experts. Otherwise, they wouldn't be called heaven-defying treasures.

Such a hunter obtaining such a thing, regardless of whether his claims were true, the mere possibility was enough to make the entire country take action, as can be seen from the initial treatment his father received, as Zhang Heng recalled.

What happened next? It was simple. Instead of a lowly hunter receiving such treatment, what if a respected and famous Inner Force Realm expert received it? If this Inner Force Realm expert sacrificed some interests and reached an agreement with other Inner Force Realm experts and the country, what would happen?

Clearly, his father was sacrificed by the country. His father... was forced to commit suicide!

Over twenty years, Zhang Heng had enough time to think through many things. He was not a fool, even if he acted like one, but his inner thoughts were known to no one!

He wanted to clear his father's name, find the truth. If his father was lying, he would atone for his father's actions. But if his father was wronged, forced to commit suicide, and sacrificed by the country, then...

He would seek revenge!

However, it was difficult, too difficult, so difficult that just thinking about it made him feel hopeless...

This was not the work of one person, or even a group of people. Even if Scholar Sid was the most likely enemy, a careful examination of his father's case clearly showed that this was a conflict between an individual and a country, a country's oppression and wronging of an individual...

Zhang Heng had no interest in medicine from a young age, or rather, he was repulsed by it. However, he was very interested in biology, especially in the study of biological environments, biological systems, and ecosystems. His occasional public statement was that he hoped to find the environment where heaven-defying treasures grew. In reality, everything was as Hao Qi had speculated. His father had likely accidentally discovered such a place and learned how to cultivate and mass-produce red-blue grass. His travels throughout the Bai Cao Kingdom and even beyond its borders to the mountainous regions on the border were to find such a place. His encounter with Hao Qi was also part of this search.

This had been going on for seven years since he graduated from high school...

Zhang Heng trusted no one. The entire Bai Cao Kingdom might be his enemy. Anyone who approached him, who was kind to him, might be trying to find clues to the possible treasure site. This had happened more than once. In his endless despair, someone suddenly treated him well, whether male or female, classmate, friend, lover, brother, teacher, or elder... All of these had happened. At first, Zhang Heng was moved and hopeful, even sharing his inner doubts and the possibility of his father's discovery. Afterward, he faced betrayal, insults, ridicule, and even more severe punishment and isolation...

Zhang Heng no longer trusted anyone, including Hao Qi this time!

How could it be so coincidental, the avalanche, the Inner Force Realm expert, the Bai Cao Kingdom, knowing about his father's case, wanting to help him clear his father's name, and...

There are no miracles in this world! No one will help you! No one will pity you! No one can be so kind! There are no such heroes as in novels! There are no...

He agreed because the other party had already sent an Inner Force Realm expert, showing that their patience was almost exhausted. He needed to prove that the treasure site might not exist, or might exist. Regardless, he had to agree and find a way to leave. He had to survive, find the truth, seek revenge or atone, regardless of which, he had to survive!

And this, before Hao Qi and Zhang Heng met, was his childhood...

A beautiful childhood!

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