Both Fanghong and the Ancestor gulped. They didn’t doubt Zhi’s words but they felt that something was up. The Ancestor said, “If you have something as heaven defying as this, it would be no problem for you to create an army of Origin Realm experts with the duplicate in the Primadorial God Realm. It would literally be killing two birds with one stone.”

The three all knew what made this technique truly precious. It was the fact that a clone of you from the Primadorial God Realm will be left behind. If Origin Realm experts were generals, then Primadorial realm experts were Commanders. It is an unspoken agreement that Origin Realm experts wouldn’t be deployed until the final fight. When one side ignores that and decides to send out an Origin Realm expert, the other side will do the same.

When the fight would initially sway their way, it may end up with reversed scales. The Ancestor looked at Zhi suspiciously, “Why do you offer us this technique? I mean, something as precious as this needs high requirements and also why do you trust us with a technique as precious as this?” Zhi just let out a weak smile as he said, “If there was one thing that I learned in the Ancient Battlefield, it was that one man’s strength is limited. You need to have someone as crazy as you stand behind you. When you go against all odds, they need to be the people who either laugh or sigh and then charge in right after you, not thinking of the consequences at all.”

This smile was filled with loneliness as he remembered the one person he ever trusted his back to. He had no idea what she was doing right now but if destiny willed it, they would meet again. Hearing this, the Ancestor and Fanghong did not know whether to laugh or cry. It was obvious that Zhi was planning on fighting against the world. While the Ancestor was ready to accept the proposal of Zhi, Fanghong was hesitating.

Even though he had been by Zhi’s side all the time after they reunited, they were like strangers. More like acquaintances. However, there was still a very obvious barrier between them. It was very obvious that neither of them knew how to take the first step and sit down to talk about it all. Fanghong blamed himself for what happened to Zhi but Zhi didn’t blame him for it. He knew very well that he couldn’t do anything about it at all if he could have, none of it would have ever happened. Zhi saw that Fanghong was hesitating and he knew very well why.

So, he threw one orb towards the Ancestor and said seriously, “This technique has very high bodily and Soul requirements. You can familiarize yourself with the technique first, if you have completely understood it and made all the preparations, you can seek me out again.” The Ancestor took the orb and thought for a second before he seriously nodded his head. He pushed the orb into his chest and as it merged with him, large amounts of information entered his head. He took a moment to let all the information flood in before tactfully leaving. He gave the two a glance before leaving but swallowed the words he wanted to say. When the Ancestor had left, Zhi scattered the second orb and collected all of the foods on the table.

He stood up and said to Fanghong, “Follow me.” Fanghong didn’t know what to make of the situation so he just nodded and followed Zhi. They walked the winding path and soon reached the Gravestone. Everything in a 10 meter radius had become a forbidden zone in Dragon Cross. Everyone knew that his place was the Gravestone of the Island Master’s Mother. There were beautiful flowers planted all around, with only a few spots of grass. When Zhi and Fanghong arrived, they gathered quite bit of attention. Fanghong’s cultivation was very profound and Zhi was also unique.

None of the younger generation could feel what it was but he felt very different from the others around. The aura was something completely different. However, every senior that saw him cupped their hands and respectfully bowed. Zhi didn’t bother with it at all and walked straight through the formations surrounding the Gravestone. When Fanghong saw the Gravestone, his heart stirred. When Zhi arrived at the patch of grass in front of the Gravestone, he looked at it deeply before turning his eyes towards Fanghong. Since they were both inside the Formation, no one could hear what they were talking about.

Zhi took out a bottle of sake from his Spacial Ring and said to Fanghong, “This acquaintance type relationship is honestly exhausting. It is time we talk things through.” Hearing this Fanghong nodded and sat down opposite of Zhi, the spot Zhi gestured to him. Fanghong took out two little cups and passed one to Zhi. Zhi filled up the two cups and after taking a sip started, “I have never blamed you for what happened. Even when I was in the Ancient Battlefield, I never did because I understood that you would not have let it happen in the first place if you could.” After saying so Zhi took another sip indicating to Fanghong that it was now his turn to speak.

Fanghong felt embarrassed but after taking a sip he said, “For the past ten years I never gave up hope that you would be alive. I kept searching for you and when I finally felt your Mother’s Soul Ripples, I felt as though an enormous burden had been lifted from my shoulders.” He looked at his sake melancholicly and continued, “I was very happy when I finally found you but when I heard where you had been for the past ten years, I just felt as though I had failed as your parent.”

A tear fell from his eye as his voice choked up, “Because I had been away, you had to suffer. I have been to the Ancient Battlefield myself, so I know very well how dangerous that place is. No matter how I tried, I just couldn’t imagine how you managed to survive in a place like that.” He wiped his eyes and continued, “I honestly felt as though I should die. When you were struggling to survive, I was just roaming around nonchalantly. It made me think about what would have happened when you hadn’t run into the Xi Clan. If they hadn’t helped you escape from there, you might as well had died there and I would never had known about it.”

These were the honest feelings that had been locked down deep inside Fanghong. Although people viewed him with pity for roaming around 10 years to locate a son he might never find, he knew very well that Zhi had been through so much more. He felt that no matter what he did, he would never be able to make it up to him.

Zhi raised his head from the sake cup and said, “Even still, I have never blamed you. Although I had met my fair share of deadly situations, it wasn’t all that bad.” After he said so, he put a hand on Fanghong shoulder and smiled, “Even though that place was like Hell, I also met other people there and one of them was the only person I would ever fully trust my back to.” Hearing this Fanghong’s eyes widened as he smiled, “To find a brother who you can trust your back to blindly, those are very rare and extremely hard to come upon.”

Zhi refilled their emptied cups and said, “It wasn’t a brother but rather a sister. She was the same age as me and she was thrown in there as a part of trial by fire. When we first met, the two of us tried to kill each other.”

After saying so, he let out a little laugh before continuing, “Our sights were on the same prize, so our interest collided. As we kept fighting with each other, neither of us had the edge.” Hearing this Fanghong was honestly surprised but seeing how warmly Zhi was smiling, he knew that it was a happy story. He smiled as he asked, “Then what happened?” Zhi just sighed as he said, “Just as we were about to kill each other, a three Horned Demons showed up. Seeing that Demons, the both of us froze and before we knew it, they had surrounded us and we had ended up with our backs against each others. Even though we both had fought against each other to the death a few minutes prior, we both understood the fact that the only way either one of us could survive was by relying on the other.”

Zhi took a sip of sale before he continued, “When the fight was over, both of us survived however, I had my left arm completely broken and my left leg was also on backwards. She was not in any better condition but what mattered was that we survived. When the fight was over, the both of us set our sights on the corpse again.”

Zhi let out a bitter laugh before saying, “It was then that we realized that the corpse had been wiped clean by someone ages ago. So basically, we had both fought each other to the death for nothing. However, after using the Flame of Life, I managed to heal her and in return she helped me heal by getting me to a cave and staying on guard for me.”

Zhi refilled the cups as he said, “At that time, I was nine years old and so was she. She had been thrown to the Ancient Battlefield for a month but she wasn’t given any food or anything. Only things she had were the clothes on her back and an ordinary short sword. Nothing else.” Zhi just concluded saying, “After I gave her some food and cleared up some misunderstandings, we decided to work together to increase out survival change. For the next 5 years we fought side by side and when her trial by fire ended, she promised to one day come and get me out form there.”

He then took out a jade pendant with a fairy emblem and said, “This thing has a Tracking Formation embed into it. With this, she will be able to find me, so if the Heavens will so, our paths will cross again.” Zhi took a sip of his sake and after seeing that both of their cups were empty, he refilled them. He then asked Fanghong, “That is the basic summary of my past ten years. Now then, tell me about yourself, like how did you and Mother meet and what did you two go through together and so.”

Fanghong thought for a second as before he started, “Well, I’ll be honest, before meeting your Mother I was quite the arrogant prick.” After saying so, he let out a laugh, Zhi also let out a laugh. Fanghong continued, “Since I was the rising star of my generation, I got very complacent. Although, I never knew my Mother or Father, the Clan did their best to raise me. After I started showing signs of being a Genius, they started to invest more in me. As a result my ego also grew.”

He took a sip before saying, “When I met your Mother, I was outside wandering around. I was also quite the playboy back then and when I saw your Mother, I felt as though I had to obtain her. However, she rejected all of my advances.”

He let out a self mocking smile as he continued, “For the next few years, I kept pursuing her, trying to please her the best I could. Imagine my surprise when she just yelled at me saying: “What the heck do you want, I am busy. Go chase some other skirt.” After being told off like that, I also decided to move on. It was obvious I could not obtain her at all. In time I actually forgot her and moved on with my life.” He took a sip of sake and looked at the Gravestone remembering something.

He then continued, “I met her again when she saved my life when I was out on a mission. My mission was to chase down and kill a rogue cultivator that had massacred many innocents. However, I underestimated him and overestimated myself, if it weren’t for your Mother showing up back then, I would have died then and there. However, she managed to save my life and for some reason, this time, she confessed to me.” Fanghong looked at the Gravestone tenderly and Zhi asked, “Where is Mother from?”

Fanghong just shook his head as he said, “I don’t know. Every time I asked about it, she told me that I didn’t need to know and that it didn’t matter. However, the Clan she was from was something that was not from our Realm.” As Fanghong said that, Zhi’s eyes widened to the size of carriage wheels. Zhi asked in stupefied, “Mother was not from our Realm? How do you know?”

Fanghong cast his head down as he said in a grave tone, “After your Mother died and you went missing, a young man in white robes appeared before me. His cultivation base was extremely profound even though I was in the Primadorial God Realm, I was suppressed by a single glance.” He shook his head as he continued, “When he appeared before me he told me that I had seriously disappointed him. He told me that Xiaomei had been as the Favoured Daughter to a very powerful Clan that existed outside the Realm and she had paid a very huge price in order to come and save me. After doing so, she completely cut off all ties with the Clan and married me.”

Tears started streaming down his eyes as he looked upwards, “It killed me inside when I learned that she gave up everything to be with me but I had actually allowed her to get killed. The young man also told me that you were still alive and we would definitely meet again. At that time, I didn’t dare to believe him outright but it was my last hope, so I clung to it.” Suddenly, Zhi remembered something from the time he had just been thrown to the Ancient Battlefield. It was when he had just arrived and he didn’t have any food, so he started losing consciousness from hunger.

Just before he completely blacked out, he remembered a young man appear before him. Zhi asked suspiciously, “Did the young man have short golden hair and his pupils were like mien but only the crimson part was golden?” Fanghong thought about it for a second before he asked in astonishment, “How did you know about it?” Zhi shook his head as he said seriously, “The only reason I ingested the Guardian Fruit was because he showed it down my mouth. At that time, I had nearly lost consciousness from hunger and since I didn’t see him anywhere afterwards, I just thought I was hallucinating. However, before he forced me to eat the Fruit, he looked at it and said that it was a very fine specimen of the crystallization of the Insights of Life and Death.”

Since Zhi had been very young at the time and he had been on the verge of losing his consciousness, he honestly thought that he had made that scene up and soon forgot about it. Now that Fanghong told him about the young man, he remembered it. Fanghong had a complicated face on as he asked, “Does that mean, that it was him that saved you? But how did he know that we would meet again?” As Fanghong asked that, Zhi also started wondering about that. They both reached the same conclusion, it wasn’t a fluke that Zhi had survived ten years in that Hell.

The young man had been guarding him from the shadows all the time. However, this brought on the question, why? In the end, they could not find a plausible answer to that question. Since, they couldn’t find the answer to that question, they decided to move on. The sat there and told each other stories of their life through the night. As a result, the barrier that existed between them had disappeared and they had finally grown closer to each other. When morning finally came, they just refilled their storage of bottles and continued talking. They only ended it after 3 days had passed. Now that the two of them had gotten rid of the thorns and shackles on their hearts, they both felt relieved by a lot.

Fanghong even said that he might have a chance to reach the Origin Realm now, so he will first try to do so himself. Zih had also felt a huge burden lift from his shoulders so his mind was extremely clear as he headed back into his secluded meditation.

***

On the roof of a distant building in Dragon Cross, was a young man in white robes. His golden hair and eyes would be very eye catching but for some reason no body could see him. He could hear the whole conversation that Zhi and Fanghong had and he just smiled warmly as he murmured to himself, “Lil’sis Xiaomei, Your big brother will make sure that the man and child for, who you gave up everything you had, will survive. It doesn’t matter which of those bastard will try to kill them, I will never let it happen.”

As he reached towards the end, his tone turned cold as he looked towards the distant sky and his eyes seemed to pierce through the skies as he coldly looked at it.