Taking off his mask and washing his hands with clean water, Fan Xian began to record the characteristics displayed by the corpse, then analyzed the possible illnesses, recording everything in detail in a large black leather book provided by his teacher, Fei Jie.

Having done all this, he finally stood up, his face pale, his long eyelashes trembling incessantly. "Teacher, is there anything else to do?"

Fei Jie looked at him, frowned, not expecting the little guy to be so courageous.

Before he could speak, Fan Xian finally couldn't hold back the nausea any longer, ran to the edge of the field, and with a "wah" sound, began to vomit desperately. Only when the discomfort subsided did he stand back up.

A trace of tenderness flitted through Fei Jie's eyes. He wondered if he was being too cruel by making a four-year-old child come into contact with these most terrifying things in life. Until he saw Fan Xian vomit, Fei Jie suddenly realized that only at this moment did Fan Xian truly seem like a little child, instead of constantly seeming like he had another soul hidden inside him.

"Forget it, let's just get a direct impression for now, we'll talk about it next time."

Before Fei Jie's words had completely faded away, he heard Fan Xian's clear, childish voice say, "It's a pity that Danzhou Port is a small city with too few deaths. Otherwise, we could find a fresh corpse."

Fei Jie's heart skipped a beat, and he slowly turned his head to face Fan Xian's pure eyes, not knowing what he wanted to see in them. After a long time, he said coldly, "Why..."

"Hmm?"

"Why aren't you afraid? Why aren't you angry that I made you do these things?" Fei Jie felt puzzled, frowning as he looked at the little guy.

Fan Xian lowered his head and said respectfully, "Because the teacher said he was going to poison someone to let me observe and learn. I'm very scared, so I'd rather come and dig up corpses."

"So, there are still things you're afraid of in this world."

"Yes," Fan Xian looked at him pitifully. "Xiao Xian is only four and a half years old."

"Being young is no excuse." Fei Jie nodded, then shook his head. "Although you are young, you may not understand some things, but you must know that as a bastard son of a noble, you may face many conspiracies and harms in the years to come. Sometimes, this kind of cheap sympathy is often a sharp weapon for killing yourself."

After saying this, Fei Jie had a strange thought that perhaps the child in front of him understood everything he said. At this moment, the morning light suddenly shone into Fan Xian's eyes as he half-raised his head, reflecting a very peculiar luster.

Fei Jie's heart trembled slightly, feeling that the little boy's eyes were very strange. He had used poison to kill countless people in his life. During the late Emperor's Northern Expedition, the poison he concocted had killed at least tens of thousands of soldiers of the Northern Wei Kingdom. If one were to talk about sins, he was destined to go to hell. But why, when he looked at the cute little guy in front of him, did he feel an uncontrollable fear?

After tidying up the dug-up nameless grave, the strange pair of teacher and disciple began to walk eastward, following the direction of the morning light. As they walked, Fei Jie suddenly asked, "You should be very curious, right?"

"Mm," Fan Xian hummed through his nose, a sweet smile tinged with shyness. "The teacher is very considerate to me."

Fei Jie never expected the child to give such an irrelevant answer. He said with a wry smile, "You can still smile at this time. I really doubt the maturity of your nerves and your brain."

"Smiling is better than crying."

"That's true." Fei Jie's gaze turned to the city walls faintly visible in the distance, and he frowned as he said, "Your father has a large estate in Kyoto, and there will be many people who will compete with you for the family property in the future, so you must become stronger and learn more."

Fan Xian didn't speak, but he was calculating in his heart. He had always heard that his father, Count Sinan, was very trusted by His Majesty the Emperor, so he had not been sent to a local post, but remained in Kyoto.

During the political turmoil in Kyoto two years ago, countless princes and nobles died in that coup. In the end, His Majesty the Emperor firmly controlled the situation and purged countless royal and noble families. Although his father was also a noble, he miraculously maintained His Majesty's trust, and his official position only grew larger.

But Fan Xian still couldn't understand what kind of family property would actually lead to his death, and would cause his father to invite a member of the most terrifying Overwatch Council in Kyoto to act as his teacher.

"I understand. Someone will definitely want to kill me in the future, so the teacher is teaching me to use poison because he's afraid I'll be poisoned to death."

"That's right. There are many ways to kill people, but the most convenient and least noticeable is to use poison." Fei Jie gently stroked his head twice. "My task is to teach you these aspects of knowledge within this year to ensure that no one can poison you in your food."

"Why now? Weren't you afraid that someone would poison me in previous years?" Some questions had to be asked clearly, so Fan Xian didn't dare to be afraid of letting the other party notice his maturity beyond his age, and continued to ask.

Fei Jie smiled, but there was some unspeakable sinister taste in his smile. "Because last month, Count Sinan's concubine just gave birth to a son, which means that you have one more competitor for the Earl's estate. And that concubine happens to have some connections with certain people in the Overwatch Council. Your father is worried that something will happen to you, but it's not convenient to send someone to protect you for a long time, because that would make you surface too early. So he arranged for me to teach you."

Fan Xian noticed that Fei Jie used two titles, Count Sinan and father.

"I am an illegitimate child," Fan Xian said with a sweet smile. "According to the laws of this country, I should not be qualified to inherit my father's title. The concubine shouldn't be too worried about me, right?"

"In this world, what can be said for sure?" Fei Jie replied casually. "Although Wu Daren has been secretly protecting you, he can't be your nanny after all. The poison in the food won't kill him, but it can easily kill you. And you don't know how many people will be buried with you if you die."

Fan Xian became more and more puzzled, thinking about what kind of power his father, whom he had never met, had in secret, which was obviously much greater than the power and ability that an Earl could possess.

……

……

As the morning light dawned, Fei Jie led him by his small hand towards Danzhou City. The two shadows, one tall and one short, fell on the ground and stretched into two long segments. Fei Jie glanced at his still pale little face. "Actually, the dead are the least scary."

"Yes."

"In the future, don't use that Zhenqi to control your emotions. If people's emotions cannot be properly vented, even if the tyrannical Zhenqi in your body is truly cultivated to the peak, you will only become a monster who can only kill."

"Yes," Fan Xian obediently dispersed the Zhenqi in his body, no longer forcing himself to suppress his fear and disgust for corpses.

At this moment, Fei Jie suddenly said, "There's still a piece of rotten intestine in your sleeve. Are you planning to braise it at home?"

"Ah!" A scream from a child and the sinister laughter of a certain wicked teacher echoed in the quiet suburban path.