Back at the Azure Dragon Sect, the sun was already setting, the battle between Cao Bai and Shao Ya just finished, with Cao Bai having the obvious advantage throughout the whole battle. What surprised everyone, especially Cao Chen, was that Cao Bai did not wear her usual over-sized male battle armor for the battle against Shao Ya, instead she was wearing a beautiful white hanfu dress.

‘’Looks like your tomboy daughter finally decided to act like a woman Chief, I wonder why…’’ said Tianshen with a chuckle.

‘’You better take care of my daughter in the future Tianshen’’ said Cao Chen with a serious face.

‘’I think the chief misunderstood my relationship with Cao Bai, we are just acquaintances’’ said Tianshen to Cao Chen with a half apologetic look.

Then he added ‘’but her talent isn’t half bad, plus I like the honorable warrior attitude she has. Does chief want me to take her in?’’

Cao Chen understood what Tianshen meant. He saw the tremendous progress that the people close to him had and he would lie if he said that he didn’t want the same for his daughter.

‘’I don’t know what you did to make those two disciples so strong in such a short amount of time, but if you are willing to give the same opportunity to my daughter, then I would have to trouble you with her’’ said Cao Chen with a smile.

‘’You misunderstood again chief, what those two achieved until now is a result of their hard work. All I did was to show them the path, either they can walk that path or not, will depend only on them, same goes for Cao Bai’’ said Tianshen seriously.

Cao Chen looked at Tianshen with a curious look. This youth in front of him was a mystery that he felt he would never uncover. Of course he had his suspicions about his identity, there were many rumors of old ancestors reincarnating and getting a second chance at life. Some were born with memories of their past life, and some others without. But Cao Chen did not understand the profound forces that were at work behind reincarnation, his knowledge was limited to the Azure province and the Blue Cloud country. In the grand scale of the world, Cao Chen could not even be considered a village boy.

Cao Chen suddenly said ‘’Tianshen, the tournament will go on a ten hour brake before we proceed to the semi-finals, can I have a word with you in private later?’’

Tianshen saw the serious look in Cao Chen’s face and replied ‘’of course’’ with a smile.

Cao Chen then stood up and said ‘’Everyone can take a rest now, the tournament will resume in ten hours. Now that we have our final five contestants, since it is an odd number, two of you will have to fight a preliminary battle to determine the four semifinalists. Again, the two people that will have to fight the preliminary battle will be decided by random, that way it is fair for everyone. I will see all of you back here in ten hours, you can go back to your respective areas now’’

While people were on the move, the elders stood up and then flew away to their respective peaks, except Kong Zhi, he was joined by Kong Feng and they took off in the direction of the infirmary.

Cao Bai then approached her father while avoiding Tianshen ‘’Father, are we going back?’’ she asked.

‘’Yes, let us go’’ he then grabbed Tianshen and Cao Bai by the shoulder and was about to fly when Cao Bai asked with pouted lips ‘’Why is HE coming with us?’’

‘’Bai’er, you should be more respectful to the legacy disciple, plus, I have things I wish to discuss with him, that’s why he is coming with us’’ said Cao Chen, and then immediately flew off while taking both of them with him.

Cao Bai had a dissatisfied look on her face throughout the way and was avoiding Tianshen’s gaze.

Tianshen was not taking it to heart, he met countless girls that acted the way she did in his previous life.

They soon arrived at the main peak and Tianshen saw the now familiar tower with a coiled dragon around it. This tower looked like a relic of the past glory of the Azure Dragon sect. Tianshen still remembered the promise he made to Cao Chen on the night he became the legacy disciple, and he intended to fulfil that promise.

When all three entered the tower, the servants welcomed then with a bow and one of them said ‘’If Chief wishes to have dinner, everything is prepared’’

‘’Thank you but no need. Bai’er you can go cultivate, I and Tianshen will be in the main hall’’ said Cao Chen with a serious face.

Cao Bai saw her father’s expression so she knew that he had something serious to discuss with Tianshen. She decided to not inquire any further.

‘’Alright father, I will be in my room cultivating if you need me’’ she said. After that she threw one last glance at Tianshen, turned around and left.

Cao Chen gestured Tianshen to follow him, they soon arrived at the main hall. That was where Tianshen became the legacy disciple not so long ago.

Cao Chen shut the door behind him and walked towards a window that had a beautiful view of the whole sect and the night sky.

While still with his back to Tianshen he spoke ‘’Tianshen, you noticed what I saw today at the talent test, what do you think?’’

Tianshen’s face became serious ‘’than Jin Ju obviously did not use all of his soul power, which means he tried to hide his real potential. If I didn’t know better I would think that he was just hiding it because he wanted to surprise everyone in the competition and get first place. But his overall lack of interest in this tournament contradicts that, not to mention the fake smile that never leaves his face. That guy is trouble for sure, as to what kind of trouble, I do not know’’

‘’I already deduced that much myself, some of the elders probably did too. How would you suggest I handle it? I can’t afford to put the sect at risk’’ said Cao Chen while still looking out of the window.

‘’You are the Chief, that decision lies with you. But I have the feeling that the Chief didn’t bring me here just to ask my opinion about a certain disciple’’ said Tianshen.

Cao Chen turned around and looked at Tianshen, and then said ‘’Tianshen, I recognize that your ways are mysterious and despite your age, your knowledge is vast, of course I am interested in your opinion’’

‘’The Chief doesn’t have to beat around the bush with me, you can ask me whatever you want. If I can answer, then I will’’ said Tianshen with a serious look. He already had an idea why Cao Chen brought him here, it was inevitable considering what happened with the Ice God sect and Wentian’s and Bingyue’s rapid growth.

‘’Then excuse me if I’m rude, but I do have one question for you, I’ve been contemplating it for a while but I can’t figure it out. Who are you really? Something tells me that it was not a mere coincidence when we met outside of that cave’’ said Cao Chen with a serious expression. He was also being cautious because if his speculations on Tianshen being a reincarnated ancestor were true, then he did not want to be disrespectful.

‘’Either our meeting outside of that cave was a coincidence or not, I’m not sure. Fate works in mysterious ways. As for who I am, even if I told you, you would not understand unless you have a sense of the true scale of the world you live in, which you don’t, not even close in fact. Now if your next question is to ask me to explain to you the true scale of the world, you better think hard before you ask that question. I really don’t mind telling you since it was never my intention to hide knowledge from the people that deserve it, but you have to think if you can handle it first’’ said Tianshen seriously with his hands crossed behind his back.

Cao Chen was surprised by how straightforward Tianshen was, even though he did not get a straight answer from him, by what he just heard he could assume that his own speculations weren’t far from the truth.

‘’The true scale of the world I live in?’’ thought Cao Chen. He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t curious. Even though by the Azure province’s standards he was considered a top expert, he was aware that in the rest of the Blue Cloud country there were people that could kill him easily.

Not to mention the neighboring Green Cloud country and beyond. He never travelled there himself but he read once in the ancient records of history that the Blue Cloud country was just one of the nine countries that made up a big continent. He also read that the Blue Cloud country was the smallest and the weakest one in terms of cultivation. The ancient records said that some of the cultivators in those countries reached the peak of cultivation and could destroy mountains and evaporate seas with just the flick of a finger. But that was as far as Cao Chen’s knowledge went.

‘’So I assume you are a reincarnation of some ancestor from a big faraway country? Asked Cao Chen with a curious and excited face. If Tianshen indeed was a reincarnated ancestor from a faraway country, it was Cao Chen’s great luck to meet him, it meant that his sect could indeed reach the top of the Blue Cloud country with his help.

‘’Since you are asking further, I take it that you are prepared for what you are about to hear?’’ asked Tianshen. Then he walked towards the window that Cao Chen was standing next to and looked out of it into the starry sky.

‘’Try me’’ said Cao Chen with a serious look. But on the inside, he was trembling with excitement.

Tianshen sighed while looking at the starry sky, then turned around and looked at Cao Chen. His expression became solemn as he said ‘’Let me tell you a story. There was once a small fish born inside a small pond. The quality of the water inside the pond, personal luck and how hard a fish works determines how much a fish will grow. This fish worked very hard, its luck was fairly good and the water in its pond was decent. It kept growing and growing while at the same time competing with the other fish in many ways, then at some point it became the biggest fish inside the pond and it no longer fitted. It started looking outside and realized that there are more ponds like the one it lived in, some even bigger with better water quality and with bigger fish inside them. Sticking to its unquenchable thirst for knowledge and further growth, it took a leap of faith and jumped into another pond bigger than its own. There it continued to grow even more and again became the biggest fish, now since it was much bigger, it could see much farther, it looked outside again, but this time it realized that what it initially thought was a bunch of ponds, was actually a huge lake. Then the process repeated, it became the biggest fish in the lake and looked outside to find that it wasn’t a lake, but a sea. Then it realized that the sea was actually a part of a huge ocean, and this ocean connected with countless other oceans to from what then looked like an endless body of water. Against all odds and after countless sacrifices and near death experiences, the fish became the biggest in that huge body of water, again it gazed outside and realized that there are other bodies of water similar to its own. By this time, it was wondering ‘who created all of this?’, so it became the biggest fish in all known existence because it thought that in that way it could look even farther so it would get the answers it was searching for. ‘It worked before right, why not again?’ it thought to itself. But then after countless tries, the fish slowly became aware that further growth is impossible, and nobody was able to give it the answers it was looking for… then came regret, loneliness, sadness…It wanted to return back to its original small pond but it couldn’t fit there anymore… so it decided that it would prefer death instead’’

At this point Tianshen turned and looked at the starry sky again, his deep blue eyes reflected the stars perfectly.

Cao Chen was not stupid so he could connect two and two together. He understood that Tianshen was talking metaphorically. The small pond was the village or city one is born, then you realize there are other cities and villages, those cities and villages are part of a country, the country is part of a continent, the continent is part of a planet, the planet is part of a star system and so on. By now Cao Chen understood that Tianshen was basically saying that there are more cultivators outside in the starry sky, and even more beyond that.

‘’What kind of power did those people have? What does it take to go out there? How does Tianshen know all of this?’’ questions were popping up in Cao Chen’s head on after another.

These thoughts made Cao Chen tremble. He did not know why he was trembling, but what he knew for sure was that it was not fear or excitement. It felt more like a sense of insignificance, it was an indescribably depressing feeling. A feeling that he never experienced before. At this point, he did not want to know more, he feared that knowing more will drive him mad.

Tianshen turned around and looked at the obviously distressed Cao Chen, he looked dazed and was staring at nothing. Tianshen walked towards him and patted him on the shoulder ‘’snap out of it, you may be a small fish in a small pond now, but I promise you that I will make you the biggest fish in your pond’’ said Tianshen with a smile.

Cao Chen then regained his composure and forced a smile. He really needed some time to digest all of that.

‘’I’m hungry, let’s eat. I hope you have some good food here’’ said Tianshen with a smile while walking towards the door.

Cao Chen followed behind him. While looking at his back, another question popped up in his head ‘’is it possible that this youth in front of me is the fish from the story?’’