“Please explain more respectable founder.” Ryu said politely. To his knowledge, for an essence to revive into a body that isn’t his is nearly impossible. The body had to be extremely compatible to his original body. Prince Na’Vi is currently fusing his essence back to his original body inside his tomes but even that will take a long time.

“If I am not mistaken… my body should be preserved inside the Lin Province’s capital. As mentioned before, I have a special bloodline that allows me to be the master of fire. Not only that… I’ve mastered the Beast Fusion technique. This is exceedingly rare for someone with a special bloodline since the rate of success is much lower. The salamander essence from earlier is my partner. There is no way that they would have the heart to dispose of such body!” Exoe’s voice got even more excited.

“That’s wonderful news!” Sheng and Seo-Yon said together at once.

“Ryu, you must help the founder out!”

“Right Ryu, we should repay the founder for his kindness.”

“I’ll do my best but to sneak into the capital… I’m afraid my power is far from sufficient.” Ryu said helplessly. The capital should have at least one Sovereign Domain expert from what he gathered. That is Alexis’s level, even if Ryu went all out he wouldn’t last a minute. The greatest weakness Ryu faces against someone with much higher cultivation is a direct clash with Qi. Even if Ryu has stronger skills and methods, Ryu has to avoid a raw Qi battle. With each level and especially domains, the quality of Qi increases greatly. It’s like comparing a higher voltage against a lower voltage.

“You mentioned that you have a clone in the Yasha Province… is that a True Specialization? I once met an opponent that could create a double of himself.” Exoe said inquisitively. A True Specialization was a mythical thing that even he didn’t have. True Specialization can’t be mimicked except with another True Specialization but the odds are low since specializations needs to match your innate talent and characteristics.

“Yes, I can create a double of myself like you said.” Ryu replied. This was unlike Ryu to tell a direct lie, especially in front of his grandpa. However, a few seconds ago the Infinity Tomes swarmed in front of him to warn him about something. He had no idea what they were trying to convey to him but he trusted the tomes. He had not told his grandparents that he can have more than one clone or that he had multiple specializations.

“Amazing… there is hope then. What’s your name young one?” Exoe asked.

“My name is Ryu.” Ryu said politely.

“Ryu… good. Here is all my possessions that I have collected. It is yours”

The room was suddenly filled with various items from nowhere. Swords, armors, scrolls, manuals, spiritual pills and potions, blacksmithing items, Qi enriched herbs, and much more were laid bare around them.

Ryu’s grandparents nearly died of multiple heart attacks. They had never seen such wealth gathered in one place. The sheer amount of Qi contained in some items is enough to overwhelm them to death if not for Ryu’s protection. Never in their wildest dreams could they see such wealth. Ryu pretended to be mildly surprised as well. The founder Exoe was only in the Emperor Domain, Alexis was in the Sovereign Domain. That was two domains higher so naturally the items Ryu inherited from Alexis was much more vast and impressive. Na’Vi’s group also gifted Ryu a bunch of things that were a thousand times more precious than anything Alexis had.

“Don’t be shy, it’s all yours now.” Exoe said smugly. He was not a shy person and liked to be admired every now and then.

Ryu browsed around and took a few cultivating materials that could help him. Alexis and Na’Vi’s group only had high level cultivating material that would be detrimental to Ryu’s current state. Ryu took various pills and herbs around the King Domain level that could help people at the same level as Ryu to gain a few levels but Ryu would be lucky if he even gained half a level. There were some equipment in the Emperor Domain level that Ryu casually picked out. He took three sets of armors. One had electricity surging through it, another emitted enough heat for a whole town and the last one looked like it was made of glass but would freeze anything that touches it.

“Did you craft these yourself?” Ryu asked as he noticed his initials on all three sets of elemental armors he took.

“Of course! These are all my creations! Don’t just take armor, a real man has to be on the offensive. Take these weapons.” Exoe announced with pride as a pair of gauntlets, a long sword, a slim bow and a gigantic axe flew towards him. All items were pure white in color but radiated a bloody red luminosity. Their shapes were all remarkably domineering and matchlessly sharp as if they could penetrate any objects. “These weapons were forged from the horns of the Triple Horned Slaughtering Rhino, a Supreme Domain beast!”

Sheng and Seo-Yon looked in awe, they didn’t even know what the Supreme Domain is but judging by the looks of the weapons was enough for them to surmise they are priceless treasures. Even though these weapons had no essences, they were still extremely powerful and valuable. To blacksmith a weapon with an essence would require millenniums of training and countless trials and errors. The difficulty is increased exponentially when crafting an item with essence rather than without. Ryu accepted them graciously. If he didn’t, it would be suspicious and out of the ordinary.

Ryu picked up a few manuals that seemed to contain tricks regarding fire and ice manipulation that even he didn’t know before but nothing major stood out until Ryu saw a black pearl. The pearl itself looked ordinary but it was anything but ordinary. It had complex micro symbols embedded all over that covered its whole surface, making it black. Inside the pearl contained an essence that rivals the founder’s for sure. It seemed to be struggling to be free. To contain and seal such a powerful essence required an unprecedented expert in enchanting.

As Ryu picked up that item, the founder was about to say something but decided against it. Lastly Ryu saw a few crystals and the founder explained that they were the rare martial skills he recorded from the supreme experts that held him captive in a dungeon as mentioned earlier. The founder himself only deduced a few moves since they were only recordings. Ryu took the crystals as well.

“So Ryu, you should be much more confident now right? It’s the perfect time since some generals might not even be in the capital. I’m already well versed in the secret passages as well, what do you say?” The founder cut straight to the point after Ryu finished parsing through his stash.

“Okay, why not.” Ryu replied. “It’ll take me day to get ready. One question, how come lady Yuni isn’t waking up?”

“Her injuries are much more severe, she’s in a suspended state. If I were to recover my body… the first thing I’ll do is to save her personally.” Exoe said with a frown.

“Ryu are you sure you’ll be okay?” Sheng asked.

“Grandpa don’t worry I’ll be fine. If my clone dies, it won’t harm me in any way.” Ryu replied with confidence, he didn’t want to worry his grandpa. Sheng nodded and Seo-Yon offered to show the founder around the current Infernal Fist School.

Ryu took them back to the surface while the founder followed closely. His grandparents were ecstatic that the founder was still alive and the founder seemed to be in much better mood too after Ryu agreed. Ryu excused himself to be alone so he could prepare and departed from the group. Once Ryu was alone in a room, the tomes opened up and wanted to share a few images of what the Mind Tome extracted from Exoe.

Ryu frowned and asked if the tome tried to eavesdrop into his thoughts and it nodded in a guilty way. However the specialization contracted with the reservoir from the Mind Tome only works when someone is of lower cultivation and not guarded completely by Qi. Due to Exoe’s weakening essence and strong emotions, the tome picked up a few memories that Exoe had strong impressions of while he narrated.

A rough teenage by the name of Exoe was on the streets of what looks like the Blazing Tempest town back in the days. He was shoplifting and getting in trouble with the authorities. Later he was found by an eccentric blacksmith that taught him the basics of cultivation and blacksmithing. He also met a girl, Lina, in his childhood. By chance he discovered a crimson red pearl that awoken his abilities from his bloodline, allowing him to manipulate and absorb fire.

So far this kind of matched what the founder had said. He failed to mention the girl or the mysterious red pearl though. The next series of images came.

Exoe was seen holding a bloody knife over a body of a middle aged man. He quickly ran out and met with Lina, the sight of blood terrified her and she fainted. Before he could do anything else he was forced to flee the town with his master.

The next image they were in a metropolis in the Xu Province. During this rough time Exoe’s teacher, Juang, was critically wounded by an expert while protecting Exoe. Exoe accidentally provoked a guild. In order to earn enough to save his master, Exoe had to participate in underground dog fights where gambling was involved. However, these fights were brutal and Exoe ended up taking the life of a contestant. A few more deaths followed in the same manner. The red pearl from earlier tried to convince Exoe to stop killing but was ignored.

The scene skipped to a future date. Exoe and his master had opened up a successful shop in the metropolis. He got into a huge argument with his master once his past was revealed to him. Later the same girl from before, Lina, came into the metropolis with a child. Exoe saw this and became enraged so he set off on a journey after a falling out with his master.

Later in an unknown cave, Exoe got the attention of a mysterious hooded figure after utilizing his fire devouring ability. This expert was extremely powerful and also used a profound but strange set of fire arts, he singlehandedly slayed a pack of unicorns in the matter of seconds. These majestic creatures were at least in the King Domain by Ryu’s estimate. Exoe then begged to be his disciple. The hooded figure tentatively agreed only if Exoe is competent enough to carry out some tasks.

The subsequent images were a few more years ahead now. Exoe was watching from the sidelines with the same hooded stranger along with two other men. In front of them, two supreme experts were having an earth shattering battle on top of a mountain that lasted many days. Tunnels were drilled through the mountain and clouds were parted from the shockwaves of these two experts. In the end the two supreme experts became mortally wounded. The two unknown men observing were grieving for the two experts when suddenly the mysterious hooded figure’s hand flew out and killed them both. He then proceeded to take a jade pendant from each of them. Exoe on the other hand rummaged through their bodies and took the rest of their possessions.

Another scene followed, it seemed a few years had passed and Exoe looked much older now. The same mysterious expert and Exoe stood in front of a huge gate with endless symbols engraved on it. With a key in hand, the gates opened and they stepped in.

“That key… it looks similar to the one I took from Mr. R’s group!” Ryu exclaimed. “Also that Jade pendent… if I’m not mistaken, the Drunken Master Du-Bai has it too!”

Next thing that was shown was Exoe absorbing an extreme large source of black flames that seemed to swallow all lights around them. These flames looked sentient and he had difficulty absorbing them, as he absorbed his skin turned darker as black Qi surged through his veins.

“Don’t do it, that demon is too malicious for you to handle! It’ll corrupt you!” The red pearl pleaded with Exoe not to do it but the expert grabbed the pearl and sealed it with countless enchantments.

“So the sealed orb I took is the same orb in the memories…” Ryu said to himself as he continued watching.

“The essence you just consumed will undoubtedly propel you to new heights you have never imagined! I’m going into closed door training for the next hundred thousand years, only wake me up in the Halls of Resurrection if something urgent comes up.” The hooded figure said as he dismissed Exoe.

“So the founder performed the Beast Fusion with that monster… he absorbed an evil essence for power!” Ryu said disappointedly.

Later the scenes jumped into to an arena, Exoe was wearing a blue uniform.

“You… your hand was too heavy, there was no need to kill him!” A stern voice shouted from an elder in Taoist robes.

“It’s his fault for being weak! The strong is right and the weak is wrong.” Exoe sneered back.

“You… you will never be a Wudang core disciple!” The elder shouted as he tried to control his anger.

“I don’t need to join such a petty sect, I’ll reach the pinnacle of the real martial arts myself!” Exoe voice echoed as the scene changed once again.

“Master!” Exoe cried out as he saw his first master’s grave. He had just returned to the metropolis but found out his master Juang had been murdered. This just fueled his anger, “Heavenly Flames Sect… you’ll pay for this!”

A sea of blood was shown next as Exoe slaughtered endless disciples inside a sect. Deadly black flames plagued the whole sect. During the confusion he found the current heir to the sect and kidnapped him. After a thorough torture, it was revealed that his aunt and mother are still alive. Exoe rescued his aunt and her son and relocated them back to his home town. Seeing his relatives for the first time seemed to have calmed his blood thirst temporary.

Ryu was speechless. He had sensed that the founder was full of hatred earlier but he never imagined him to be a blood thirsty demon. The memories he sees now were all snippets. When the founder narrated his past, the real events passed through his mind and got recorded by the Tome.