After questioning Dan Fang, Wei Tu stepped closer to the sickbed and took Dan Wu Ju's pulse.
Martial arts and medicine were deeply connected.
Having practiced martial arts for so many years and personally tending to Xinghua's health during pregnancy, Wei Tu was not an expert in medicine, but he was at least a competent third-rate physician.
"Just as Yan Gong said… old age cannot be cured by medicine."
Wei Tu sighed inwardly and began channeling his internal energy, stabilizing Dan Wu Ju's failing body.
He had no power to extend his Master's life.
But with his internal energy, he could at least keep him alive a little longer, preventing him from passing away immediately.
Time passed.
A quarter of an hour later—
Dan Yan Gong burst into the room, his expression full of rage upon seeing Dan Fang.
However, he did not immediately lash out.
Instead, he simply glared at her viciously before seating himself at the foot of the bed.
The siblings sat on opposite ends, both silently watching Wei Tu's actions.
After another moment of silence, Dan Yan Gong finally spoke.
"Wei Ge'er, what exactly are you doing?"
His brows furrowed as he turned his gaze toward Wei Tu, unable to understand why Wei Tu had been keeping his palm pressed against his father's chest for so long.
"I'm using internal energy to stabilize Master's condition," Wei Tu replied calmly.
By now, he was thirty years old.
He held the rank of an Eighth-rank Military Commandant, possessing both influence and strength within Qingfeng Prefecture's capital.
A thirty-year-old external martial artist who had awakened internal energy was considered a martial arts prodigy, though only within a single prefecture.
Over the years, alongside Fu Zhizhou and the others, he had not only investigated tales of immortal cultivation but also gathered information about Xiantian martial artists.
Through these findings, he had learned a crucial fact:
Many martial scholars who had obtained official martial ranks would typically find their Qi perception and awaken internal energy around the ages of thirty to forty.
Of course—
This only applied to the top twenty martial scholars in each examination.
When put into perspective, across Southern Mountain Dao, there were at least a hundred external martial artists who had successfully awakened internal energy.
And Wei Tu?
He had ranked seventh in the 27th year of Qing'an's Dao-level martial examination.
For him to awaken internal energy at the age of thirty was not unusual.
It did not make him an outlier or an easy target for jealousy or schemes.
"Internal energy?" Dan Yan Gong was momentarily stunned.
As Dan Wu Ju's only son, he knew that his father's lifelong pursuit had been to achieve Qi perception through external martial training—to step into the Qi Perception Realm.
Yet his father had never succeeded in this goal.
And now—
At only thirty years old, Wei Tu had already achieved it.
"No wonder…"
Dan Yan Gong's expression turned complicated.
He finally understood why his father had treated Wei Tu so well—almost as if he were his own son.
Wei Tu had fulfilled the martial dream that Dan Wu Ju had never accomplished.
The two most prized possessions of a martial artist—
A fine warhorse and a crafted bow.
Dan Wu Ju had given both to Wei Tu.
Together, they were worth at least three or four hundred silver taels.
Meanwhile—
Hearing Wei Tu openly declare his martial achievements, Dan Fang was equally stunned.
For a brief moment, she was grateful that she had not acted recklessly earlier.
She may not have witnessed the power of internal energy, but through novels and rumors, she knew its capabilities.
Though not capable of reviving the dead, it could still grant a dying person a final burst of energy—a final moment of clarity.
Time continued to pass.
After the duration of a single cup of tea, a weak cough broke the silence.
Dan Yan Gong and Dan Fang shuddered, their eyes snapping back to Dan Wu Ju.
At that moment—
The expressions of the two siblings were polar opposites.
Dan Yan Gong's eyes lit up with joy.
Dan Fang's face grew pale, a trace of unease flashing in her gaze.
"Father."
Dan Yan Gong immediately stood, stepping forward to support his father into a half-seated position, assisting Wei Tu.
"Thank you, Wei Ge'er."
Dan Wu Ju sighed, expressing his gratitude before turning his gaze to his two children.
"Thanks to Wei Ge'er's help, I now have a final chance to speak…"
But even as he spoke—
His expression dimmed with disappointment.
"Father, I was wrong!"
Dan Fang could no longer sit still. Lifting her skirt, she fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face.
"I won't scold you."
Dan Wu Ju took a few deep breaths, his chest rising and falling weakly.
"It was my failure as a father that led you astray."
He took the blame upon himself.
After that, he did not rebuke Dan Fang further.
Instead, in front of everyone present, he began making arrangements for what would happen after his passing.
The first matter he addressed—was Wei Tu.
He declared that when he had given the Qingcang horse, the golden-backed saber, and the three treasured bows to Wei Tu, it had been in name a loan, but in reality, a gift.
No one from the Dan family was to go to Wei Tu demanding their return.
Hearing this, neither Dan Yan Gong nor Dan Fang objected.
Silver and possessions were insignificant matters.
The true favor Wei Tu owed to their family was the real treasure—one that could secure the Dan family's prosperity for decades to come.
Both siblings understood this well.
Besides—
Even if they had the audacity, neither of them would dare try to take from Wei Tu like snatching meat from a tiger's mouth.
Next, Dan Wu Ju spoke about arrangements for Madam Gao, the woman who had cared for him for over ten years.
He gave her two choices:
She could remarry and leave the family, and he would send her off with a generous sum.
Or—
She could stay in the Dan household, and Dan Yan Gong would be responsible for ensuring she was cared for until her old age.
Madam Gao hesitated for a moment before choosing the first option—to remarry and leave.
Dan Wu Ju was not angered by this choice.
Instead, he instructed Dan Yan Gong to find her a suitable match and to gift her fifty taels of silver upon her departure.
Finally—
Dan Wu Ju spoke about his estate and how it would be divided between his two children.
"Yan Gong, as the eldest son, you will inherit the family's lands and house."
"As for the silver, you will take thirty percent, and the rest will go to your sister."
"I Yi Wu is a good child," he added.
Hearing this division, Dan Yan Gong nodded.
"Alright."
He then turned toward Dan Fang, waiting for her response.
For him, this arrangement was advantageous, so he had no reason to refuse.
Dan Fang clenched the letter hidden in her palm, her tears falling.
"I agree."
At this moment—
Dan Wu Ju, remembering their father-daughter bond, had not harshly punished her.
Instead, he had even left her seventy percent of the silver.
Of course, she would not refuse.
"Good."
Dan Wu Ju smiled faintly, turning his gaze toward Wei Tu.
"Wei Ge'er, now withdraw your internal energy. It is time for me to go."
Living to seventy years old and dying of old age—this was a fortunate passing.
There was nothing tragic about it.
"Yes, Master."
Wei Tu nodded and slowly withdrew his right hand from Dan Wu Ju's chest.
The next moment—
Lying in bed, Dan Wu Ju's face instantly lost all color.
His raised arm fell limply, his hand dropping onto the edge of the bed curtain.
"Father!"
A heart-wrenching wail filled the room.
But—
The one crying was not Dan Yan Gong.
It was Dan Fang, who had been kneeling on the ground.
She scrambled forward, throwing herself onto Dan Wu Ju's body, clutching his lifeless arm, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Father, I was wrong! I was wrong! Please wake up…"
"Even if you scold me, it would make me feel better. Just say something!"
…
…
Several days later—
Dan Wu Ju was laid to rest, buried in the mountains of Sanyuan Township, alongside his late wife, Dan Min.
Before leaving the Dan household, Wei Tu sought out Dan Yan Gong and requested two things—
The ancestral spirit tablet of Shi Ming and the incense burner from the family altar.
Dan Yan Gong agreed without hesitation.
He had no reason to refuse.
Upon returning to the prefectural capital, Wei Tu commissioned a carpenter to carve a spirit tablet for Dan Wu Ju.
He then placed both tablets side by side on an offering table in the outer hall of his home—
Just as Dan Wu Ju had done during his lifetime.
…
Time passed.
In the blink of an eye, two years went by.
And in those two years, one thing worth mentioning was—
As the eldest of the four sworn brothers, Kou Liang had finally awakened his Qi perception at the age of thirty-six, stepping into the Qi Perception Realm.
Then—
Not long after the annual gathering at Xuanhe Tower, Wei Tu felt something change within himself.
He sensed that his martial cultivation was about to break through once again.