Chapter 67 - 65: Final Arrangements
After questioning Shan Fang, Wei Tu walked to the sickbed and took Shan Wuju’s pulse.
Medicine and martial arts were two sides of the same coin.
After so many years of practicing Martial Arts, as well as nursing Xinghua back to health, Wei Tu’s knowledge of medicine was far from profound, but he could at least be considered a third-rate physician.
’It’s just as Brother Yanguo said. He’s in his twilight years; no medicine can cure him.’
Wei Tu sighed to himself and began to use his Inner Strength to regulate Shan Wuju’s body.
He was powerless to extend Shan Wuju’s life, but he was capable of using his Inner Power to keep him breathing and prevent him from dying immediately.
Time slowly trickled by.
A quarter of an hour later.
Shan Yanggong burst into the living quarters. His face filled with rage when he saw Shan Fang, but he didn’t lash out immediately, merely shooting her a few harsh glares.
The two of them sat separately, one at the head of the bed and one at the foot.
They silently watched Wei Tu.
After half a quarter of an hour, Shan Yanggong broke the silence in the room. He frowned at Wei Tu and asked, "Brother Wei, what are you doing?"
He didn’t understand why Wei Tu was keeping his palm on his father’s chest.
"I’m using my Inner Qi to regulate Master’s body."
Wei Tu explained simply.
At this time, he was already thirty years old.
He was an Eighth-Grade Military Officer and possessed a certain degree of background and strength within the Prefecture City of Qingfeng Prefecture.
An External Martial Master possessing Inner Qi at thirty years old was considered a Martial Arts genius, but only within the confines of a single prefecture.
Over the years, aside from inquiring about legends of the Immortal Families, he and Fu Zhizhou had also gathered some information about "Innate Martial Masters" and learned some common knowledge.
Many Martial Artists who had passed the Military Examination would find their Qi Sensitivity and develop Inner Strength in their thirties or forties.
Of course, these so-called "many people" were limited to the top twenty candidates of each provincial Military Examination.
Therefore, when counted up, External Martial Masters with Inner Qi were not rare in Shannan Dao; there were at least a hundred of them.
And Wei Tu happened to be the seventh-place winner in the Shannan Dao provincial Military Examination in the 27th year of Qing’an.
For him to possess Inner Qi at the age of thirty was not out of the ordinary, so he didn’t need to worry about being a "tall tree in the forest."
"Inner Qi?" Shan Yanggong was stunned.
As Shan Wuju’s only son, he knew well that his father’s lifelong Martial Arts ambition had been to find Qi Sensitivity through External Pile Training and enter the "Qi Sensing Realm."
But he never imagined that Wei Tu, at only thirty years of age, had already achieved what his father, Shan Wuju, had failed to do his entire life.
’No wonder...’ Shan Yanggong’s expression became complicated.
He finally understood why Shan Wuju had treated Wei Tu so well, practically raising him as a second son.
Wei Tu was the one who had fulfilled his father’s final Martial Arts wish.
A Precious Horse and a Carved Bow.
The two greatest treasures of a Martial Artist.
Shan Wuju had gifted them all to Wei Tu.
These treasures, in terms of value, were worth at least three to four hundred taels of silver.
Meanwhile, when Shan Fang heard Wei Tu mention his Martial Arts Realm for the first time, she was also startled, feeling relieved that she hadn’t acted rashly just now.
The wondrous uses of Inner Qi.
Although she had never seen it with her own eyes, she knew a little about it from various storybooks and rumors.
While it couldn’t bring the dead back to life or flesh out bare bones, it could grant a dying person a final moment of lucidity...
The time it takes to drink a cup of tea passed.
Following a faint, aged cough, the Shan siblings both started, their gazes refocusing on Shan Wuju.
At that moment, the siblings’ expressions were polar opposites.
Shan Yanggong’s eyes showed pleasant surprise.
Shan Fang’s face paled slightly, a trace of worry appearing in her eyes.
"Father." Shan Yanggong cried out, then stood up to help Wei Tu prop Shan Wuju up into a half-reclining position.
"Thank you, Brother Wei," Shan Wuju said gratefully, then turned his gaze to his two children.
"Thanks to Brother Wei’s help, I have a chance to say a few words..."
Shan Wuju sighed, a look of disappointment on his face.
"Father, I was wrong." Upon hearing this, Shan Fang could no longer remain seated. She lifted her skirt and immediately knelt on the floor, tears streaming down her face as she spoke.
"I won’t scold you." Shan Wuju gasped for a few breaths, his chest rising and falling erratically.
"It’s my fault as a father for not teaching you well." He took the blame upon himself.
Next, Shan Wuju did not reprimand Shan Fang. Instead, in front of everyone, he began to arrange his affairs for after his death.
First, Shan Wuju addressed the matter concerning Wei Tu. He stated that when he had given the Cyan Horse, the Golden-Backed Saber, and the three Treasure Bows to Wei Tu years ago, he had called it a loan, but it was, in fact, a gift.
The descendants of the Shan Family were not to use this as a reason to demand the items back from Wei Tu.
When he finished speaking, Shan Yanggong and his sister naturally had no objections.
Money was a trivial matter.
The favor owed by Wei Tu was the important thing—that was the guarantee that could ensure the Shan Family’s prosperity for decades to come.
The two siblings were clear on this point.
Besides, even if they had the audacity, they wouldn’t dare approach Wei Tu and "snatch food from a tiger’s mouth."
Next, Shan Wuju spoke of the arrangements for Mrs. Gao of the Shan Family, the young woman who had cared for him for over a decade.
Shan Wuju gave Mrs. Gao two choices: one was to remarry and leave, in which case he would provide her with gold to return to her hometown; the other was to have Shan Yanggong provide for her in her old age until her death, allowing her to live out her days in the Shan Family.
After a moment’s hesitation, Mrs. Gao chose the first option: to remarry and leave the Shan Family.
Shan Wuju was not angered by her choice. Instead, he instructed Shan Yanggong to help her find a good family to marry into and to give her fifty taels of silver upon her departure.
Finally, Shan Wuju spoke about the arrangement of his property—that is, the arrangements for Shan Yanggong and his sister.
"Yanguo, you are the eldest son. You will inherit all the family’s farmlands and the residence."
"As for the silver on the books, you will take thirty percent, and the rest will go to your sister."
"Yiwu is a good child."
he said.
Hearing this arrangement, Shan Yanggong said, "Fine," then turned his head to look at Shan Fang, waiting for her response.
This distribution plan was favorable to him, so of course he wouldn’t refuse.
"I agree," Shan Fang said tearfully, clutching the letter in her palm.
Now, out of consideration for their father-daughter bond, Shan Wuju had not been overly harsh with her. Instead, he had even given her seventy percent of the money on the books.
Of course, she wouldn’t refuse.
"Good." Shan Wuju smiled and looked at Wei Tu. "Brother Wei, you can withdraw your Inner Qi now. It’s time for me to go."
To live into his seventies and die of old age was a joyous passing; he naturally didn’t find it tragic.
"Yes, Master."
Wei Tu nodded and withdrew his right hand from Shan Wuju’s body.
The next moment, the light in Shan Wuju’s face, who was half-reclining on the bed, rapidly faded. His raised arm instantly fell, landing on the bed curtains.
"Father!"
A loud cry rang out.
The cry came not from Shan Yanggong, but from Shan Fang, who was kneeling on the ground.
Shan Fang scrambled up from the floor and threw herself onto Shan Wuju, clutching his arm in inconsolable grief.
"Father, I was wrong, I was wrong, please come back to life..."
"If you just scold me once, I’ll feel better. Just scold me once."
...
...
「Several days later.」
Shan Wuju was buried in a mountain gulch in the Shan Family Stronghold of Sanyuan Town, interred together with Mrs. Min of the Shan Family, who had passed away several years prior.
Before leaving the Shan Family, Wei Tu found Shan Yanggong and asked for the Spiritual Tablet and incense burner that Shan Wuju had used in his living quarters to worship his grandmaster, Shii Ming.
Shan Yanggong readily agreed to this and did not refuse Wei Tu’s request.
After returning to the Prefecture City, Wei Tu commissioned a carpenter to carve a Spiritual Position for Shan Wuju.
He placed the two Spiritual Positions together on an altar in the outer hall of his living quarters, making offerings day and night.
Just as Shan Wuju had in life.
...
...
「Time passed.」
In the blink of an eye, another two years went by.
During these two years, it was worth mentioning that Kou Liang, the eldest of the four sworn brothers, finally found his Qi Sensitivity at the age of thirty-six and advanced to the "Qi Sensing Realm."
And not long after that year’s gathering at Xuanhe Tower, Wei Tu also felt that his own Martial Arts Realm was on the verge of another breakthrough.