Time slowly passed after the incident and now fifteen years have passed since the ground shacking incident and things have now died down. The man after leaving behind the Xie Clan, left behind the name as well and took on the name of “Ji”.

With this, every last relation they had to the Xie Clan had been severed and from now on, they were nothing more than strangers. During the first few months of leaving the Xie Clan, the Ji Clan established itself in the Myriad Beast World. After taking control of a central island, they took control of the dozen of smaller islands surrounding it and then settled down. Their territory was quite big but considering their strength, it was actually quite small.

Several smaller Sects, Academies, Clans swore their loyalty to the Clan and the Ji Clan became the Overlord of the Seven Mist Islands. The Ji Clan Founder, Ji Long, had many friends and acquaintances due to his upright and charismatic character, so there was no difficulty in inviting several Array Masters to set down Guarding Formations, Qi Gathering Formations and Attack Formations on each of the seven islands. The next ten years were quite busy as the Ji Clan kept upgrading their territory and every force that previously had no choice but to bow their heads, now saw the Ji Clan in a new light. Although they had come and declared themselves Overlords, they weren’t actually that bad. If something happened to one of the forces under them, they didn’t shy away and were the first to extend a helping hand. Not to mention that, the annual offering they had to give was pretty much non existent. Within these fifteen years, a lot had happened on these islands but no one could refute that, ever since the Ji Clan had become OverLords, things had only gotten better. Due to that, no one had any bad feelings towards these OverLords any more. They weren’t unreasonable, overbearing or bleeding them dry.

Instead they only brought one benefit after another and also helped them grow stronger.

***

Fifteen years had passed since the fateful day that Ji Long had left the Xie Clan and ever since then, a lot of changes had happened to his family. His now crippled son had grown to become a fine young man now, despite not being able to cultivate. His character was as upright ass his fathers and despite being allowed to do everything that he wanted, he wasn’t arrogant. He was well loved by his peers despite his disability.

Even though he couldn’t cultivate, he could still see the flaws of others cultivation and by pointing them out, he had gained the trust and respect of many of the peers. When all of the children of the clan had been training under a master, the boy had sat at the side and observed them. Even though he could join in on the training, he had never missed a single training session and due to that, he could help out others. He was able to observe both the instructor and all the other children from the side, he was able to point out the differences of how they did it and how the instructor did it.

His keen eyes even earned the praises of many instructors but inside their eyes, the boy could see sadness and helplessness. All of the instructors had come from the Xie Clan so they knew that when the boy had been born, his talent had been something that would only come by once in a million years. However, due to the treacherous plot of the other elders of the Xie Clan, he had been thoroughly crippled.

Even Divine Pills, Origin Realm Healing Arts Masters were helpless in trying to help him heal. However, the boy never let any of it get him down, he kept reading, attending training sessions and kept acting like every other person. Besides training, his favourite activity to pass the time was drink tea in a mediocre shop inside the Ji City. He was a regular client there and he even had his own usual spot by the window that overlooked the river.

Every day at three in the afternoon, he would step in the door and he didn’t even have to say anything any more as a hot cup of tea was already waiting for him on the table of his usual spot. All of the other regular customers quietly cupped their hands in greeting and the boy always returned the greeting with a smile before sitting down at his usual spot and slowly drinking his tea.

All of the regulars in the quiet little tea shop knew who the boy was but what surprised them was that even though he was such an important figure, he never was arrogant. No one would dare to do anything to him if he acted arrogant but he never did. He was always polite, kind and charming. When the boy sat down, all of the other people in the shop also returned to what they were doing. Some were chatting quietly, some were reading, some were just enjoying the tea.

Time slowly passed and the boy also quietly enjoyed his tea as he gazed out of the window. His short, pitch black hair, his azure blue eyes and refined face were the subject to many young ladies whispers but right now, all things were tranquil as he there were no outsiders here, only the usual regulars who were all familiar with one another.

As time slowly passed, an unfamiliar figure entered the shop. All of the regulars eyes turned sharp when they glanced over and they all adjusted themselves to intervene as soon as need be. What made all of the regulars on the edge was that the person that had entered was wearing a long black robe that covered his or her entire body and on its face was a blank white mask. As the figure seemed to scan the shop, his eyes stopped on the lonely figure sitting at the window side table. Seeing this, all of the regulars exchanged glances and nods with one another.

They had all grown up in this town and when the Ji Clan took it over, their lives got several times better. They no longer had to fight tooth and nail for scraps. They could feed their families and even set aside some money for dowry and for their own cultivation. These people weren’t weak, every single one of them was at the very least a Foundation Establishment Cultivator with some even reaching Core Formation. In a random Sect, these people would be pretty high up amongst the ranks. As the figures eyes stopped on the boy, he started moving closer to him. Suddenly, one of the Core Formation Experts stood up and appeared before the masked figure.

With a serious expression he asked, “May I ask, can I help you with something?” The figure stopped for a moment and didn’t say anything. He ignored the Core Formation old man and started walking towards the boy again. Seeing this, all of the other cultivators also stood up and started rushing towards the figure. However, the figure seemed to anticipate this as he suddenly sped up and a dagger appeared in his hand.

Seeing this, every ones eyes turned wide as they quickly summoned their weapons and shot them towards the figure. However, the figure managed to dodge all of the attacks aimed at him as his hand shot out and plunged deep into the boy’s chest. “NO!”

The boy wasn’t a cultivator so expecting him to react was absurd. The boy looked down as blood flowed from the corners of his mouth. Seeing this, the figure seemed to pause for a moment before hurriedly extracting the dagger. Just as he was about to bring the dagger down again, all of the people in the tea house had arrived within their attack range. Seeing that he could not accomplish his mission, the person clicked his tongue as a paper talisman appeared in his hand.

He infused some Qi into it as he hurriedly threw the paper talisman towards the boy. As it made contact with the boy, it suddenly lit up and turned into a streak of light that disappeared with the boy. Seeing this turn of events, all of the people in the teashop were enraged. Although they weren’t friends with the boy, they all had a favourable opinion of him. In addition to that, he had helped them on several occasions by simply talking. He was a mortal and his outlook on life was different than theirs, a simple conversation had sparked an insight in them that helped break through a bottle neck.

Now these people truly flew into a rage as they didn’t hold back in their efforts to capture this person. Without much trouble they managed to subdue him and seal his cultivation base so that he wouldn’t be able to self destruct. Just when they managed to subdue him, the people from the Ji Manor had arrived. After recounting everything that had happened and handing over the person responsible, they were all brought to the Ji Manor to answer to Ji Long.

After recounting everything that had happened to him as well, they were all afraid of being held responsible. As they all dreaded what was about to come, Ji Long only let out a deep sigh as he cupped his hands and said with sincerity, “I thank you for at least trying. Although, you failed, you gave your hardest the moment my son experienced trouble. At least for now he is alive, so you have at least saved his life and I, Ji Long, can’t thank you enough.”

All of them were stunned before they quickly bowed deeply and apologized for not being able to protect the boy. After talking for a bit, they left. Ji Long’s eyes turned cold as he put his hand on the robed figures head.

***

In a completely dark cave, a flash of light suddenly appeared. When the light faded, a bloody body appeared on the ground. The figure was Ji Long’s son, Ji Curo. There were even more wounds on the boy than before. Just as the boy felt his consciousness fade into darkness, he suddenly felt a gentle breeze take over him as his wounds closed. When the bleeding stopped, he could move a bit, although very painfully.

The boy couldn’t open his eyes, so he resorted to crawling around the ground with coping around with his hands. As he crawled on the ground, he suddenly felt a rocky surface in front of him, however, it seemed more like scales. Feeling the obstruction, he slightly changed course as he kept moving in an another direction. After crawling around for what seemed like days, he laid limp on the ground. He was completely exhausted, starving and thirsty to no end.

As he laid there, he felt his mind slowly slip away. He turned to his back as chuckled as he said hoarsely, “So this I how I die…. I wonder what Dad is doing right now….” As he thought that, he let out an amused chuckle as he thought back to his life and how his Father is probably in a flying rage right now. As he felt his consciousness slip more and more, he suddenly felt a gentle energy envelop his body and lift him from the ground. He tried to open his eyes again but cold only fail to do so. During the Spacial Transport from the Talisman, his body was riddled in wounds as it was suicide for a mortal to do something like that. Being able to survive was a miracle in itself.

When the gentle power raised him from the ground, Curo’s mind turned clearer as his body seemed to be recovering again. After raising to a certain height, he heard a deep voice inside his mind, “Who are you boy?”