Chapter 5: Butler FuAfter having been scolded for nothing first thing in the morning, Ye Sheng’s expression was dark as he sat by himself in the courtyard.

“I wonder how many people on Earth have successfully made a breakthrough?” Ye Sheng focused his attention on his dantian, Earth.

Up until now, 107 people had managed to learn one of the three techniques he’d passed on to them, and reached the Beginner stage. However, it was still going to be a lot longer before they would be able to reach the Acquired Level First Stage. When he’d checked, he’d seen that everyone was still working hard on cultivation, but, based on their current rate of progress, it was going to take at least a week for them to make any breakthroughs.

“They will still need at least a week to make any breakthroughs, and I can only add on to my strength from the strength of these people.” Ye Sheng frowned. A week was a little too long to wait.

Besides these 107 people, a few hundred others had succeeded in their cultivation and started to arrive at the Beginner stage. This made Ye Sheng’s understanding of these three techniques grow even deeper than it had been before.

“Once the next batch of people reach the Learnt stage, I’ll hit the Beginner stage,” said Ye Sheng with great anticipation.

Learning martial arts was split into the Learnt stage, the Beginner stage, the Accomplished stage, the Mastery stage, and the Perfection stage.

Ye Sheng had already reached the Learnt stage for all three techniques, and as long as 100 Earthlings reached the Learnt stage of each technique, he would reach the Beginner stage of those techniques.

The difference between the Learnt and the Beginner stages was quite large, especially when it came to duels. If someone at the Learnt stage of a particular technique fought with someone who was at the Beginner stage of the same technique, the person at the Beginner stage would definitely defeat the other soundly.

“I’m now stuck within Ye Manor, and there’s no way I can leave. I don’t have any money, so even if I got out of here, there’s no way I could buy any manuals,” Ye Sheng thought helplessly. He needed a lot of manuals, because once he passed these manuals on to the Earth, the more people learned these techniques, the better it was for him.

“If…if Lord Ye would allow me to learn martial arts…no, I don’t have to actually learn any martial arts. I just need to go to the Manuals Library to have a look, copy those manuals, and pass them down to Earth. That would do too,” Ye Sheng suddenly had an idea, but soon he abandoned this thought.

Lord Ye would never allow him to learn martial arts.

Ye Sheng was reminded of one incident. When he was not much older than ten, Ye Sheng noticed how all his older brothers were practicing martial arts, so he plucked up his courage and asked to see his father because he wanted to learn martial arts also. But Lord Ye wouldn’t see Ye Sheng and only had his butler send him a message.

“All who practice martial arts are reckless in one way or another, and your mother is of despicable birth. Even though she was taken into this house, she cannot rid herself of this background. And as a son to one of despicable birth, practicing martial arts can’t be part of your education. Study hard, and part of my estate will be given to you when you leave the Manor in due course.”

When the young Ye Sheng heard this, his heart was filled with sadness. He was also his father’s son, but the difference in treatment between the brothers was so great. And all this was just because his mother was of despicable birth?

Before the Reincarnation Sect was destroyed, his mother was someone who even the Emperor of Great Qin had received personally.

When Ye Sheng thought about all this, he felt a terrible pain inside. Because he was the son of one of supposedly despicable birth, he had been stripped of all his rights.

Even his cousins were allowed to practice martial arts. Only Ye Sheng was forbidden to learn.

“Why won’t you let me learn martial arts?” Ye Sheng felt that this was a very strange thing, and he simply couldn’t find any explanation for it.

Lord Ye was the top-ranking official in Great Qin and the most highly skilled martial artist in the land with 1 million troops at his command. Why would he be bothered about whether the son of one of his concubines learned martial arts?

But Lord Ye had repeated to Ye Sheng time and time again that he was not allowed to learn martial arts.

This was very strange indeed.

While Ye Sheng was still sitting and thinking about all these things, a skinny figure walked into the courtyard and stopped in front of him, saying, “Young Master Twelve, Master is at home and wants to see you.”

Ye Sheng was startled out of his multitude of thoughts and stood up as he looked at the skinny man who was standing in front of him. “Father is back so soon?”

The skinny old man was an old servant who had served Lord Ye since he was a child. He was known as Butler Fu.

Butler Fu had no expression on his face as he said, “Nobody can predict what Master does. The first thing he did after returning from the army was to summon both yourself and Young Master Thirteen. Hurry along now, don’t make Master wait for too long.”

Ye Sheng dared not dillydally. This man was Lord Ye, his father and the most powerful person in all of Ye Manor. He couldn’t afford to offend this man.

He quickly tidied himself up, then followed Butler Fu toward the main hall in the central court.

Ye Manor was huge. It was so huge that there were fake mountains, bamboo forests, and a lake big enough to sail a boat inside it.

The places where Ye Shen could go were very limited and were basically just the areas around the small courtyard where he lived. He could only enter the main hall of the central court once a year for the annual ancestral worship rites, and then, even when he was inside, he had always been placed in a far corner and was never qualified to stand right in the middle.

This time, Ye Sheng was right in the middle.

Next to him stood Young Master Thirteen with a grouchy face. Every now and then he would look at Ye Sheng with an unfriendly expression and a hateful look, but he was too scared to actually attack Ye Sheng.

The entire court was empty except for only Ye Sheng, Ye Qing, and Butler Fu.

Lord Ye was on his way.

Ye Sheng stood quietly and didn’t fidget or seem anxious at all.

But Ye Qing couldn’t stand still. He was an active person and was used to being able to do anything he wanted around the house, so he wasn’t used to standing still and waiting for anything. He asked, “Butler Fu, where’s Father?”

Butler Fu replied in a quiet voice, “Master has gone to greet the Old Lady first. Please be patient.”

Ye Qing’s eyes lit up as he said, “Grandma loves me the most. I’ll go and greet Grandma too!”

Butler Fu immediately frowned and shouted at him, “Stop right there!”

This shout came from absolutely nowhere and shocked Ye Qing out of his wits. He just stared blankly at Butler Fu.

Ye Sheng had been silent all this time, but even he could feel his heart shudder a little. Butler Fu’s cold shout had carried some Qi with it, and the reverberation of the shout had struck Ye Sheng’s head, which now felt a little painful.

Thankfully it hadn’t been aimed at Ye Sheng, but at Ye Qing.

Ye Qing was at Acquired Level Sixth Stage and was considered to be above his peers, but he had still been shocked by this shout.

“Young Master Thirteen, Master said that both of you should wait here for him, so you shall wait here. Master will come when he is finished greeting his mother. You are too used to having your own way around here all the time. Don’t you know what happens if Master gets angry?” said Butler Fu emotionlessly as he stared straight at Ye Qing. His staring made Ye Qing’s hair stand on end.

“I was wrong, I will just wait here.” Ye Qing thought about what his father was like when he got angry and quickly admitted defeat. He went back to standing exactly where he was.

Butler Fu glared coldly at Ye Qing. But when he noticed how Ye Sheng was quietly standing up straight, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes. He hadn’t expected Ye Sheng to be so calm and steady.

“If only Young Master Twelve and Young Master Thirteen could exchange personalities,” sighed Butler Fu quietly to himself.

No matter how steady or well Ye Sheng performed, his birth alone had determined that he could never compete with Young Master Thirteen.

They remained like this. The main hall of the central court was very silent as Ye Qing stood just like Ye Sheng did, silent and with a grouchy expression.

But his posture was very lazy, and he was feeling extremely indignant especially after he’d gotten shouted at by Butler Fu before. How dare a servant shout at him?

“If you weren’t my father’s personal butler, I wouldn’t let you off for sure. You’re so old but you refuse to die. How can you still be alive after living for so many years?” Ye Qing silently cursed in his heart.

Ye Sheng, on the other hand, closed his eyes slightly and started thinking about what Lord Ye would say when he arrived.

Would he reprimand Ye Sheng like the Old Lady had?

Or would the two of them be hit by a paddle 50 times each as punishment?

Or would he only punish Ye Qing?

Ye Sheng felt that the last option was definitely impossible. Ye Qing’s mother’s family had too much influence, so Lord Ye wouldn’t punish Ye Qing just for Ye Sheng’s sake.