The moon hung in the sky as Xi Shen walked with Yang Su up to Fei Yin and Fang Chen.
Fei Yin turn towards Yang Su and said, “Brother Su, congratulations on your breakthrough.”
Fang Chen nodded and gave a thumbs-up as well, but he was secretly feeling shocked in his heart. The aura Yang Su was giving off after his breakthrough was extremely different from before. He didn’t know how to explain it but compared to him who was in the Sea Expansion Realm, Yang Su’s aura felt abnormally stronger.
Fang Chen wasn’t one to feel jealous of anyone or think himself to be inferior, but it still irked him that despite just entering the Sea Expansion Realm Yang Su felt powerful enough to possibly go toe to toe with him.
‘How can he be so powerful? He’s two to three years younger than me but he’s caught up with me in cultivation. No, even among the hidden geniuses I have seen within the Academy his talents could be compared to them or even surpass some of them. He only took less than a year to reach the Sea Expansion Realm, that in itself shows his potential is enormous.’
When that thought flashed across Fang Chen’s mind, he firmly said in his heart, ‘I won’t lose! If I can fully comprehend my Master’s Nine Swords of Slaughter I wouldn’t fall behind him or any of the hidden geniuses in the Academy.’
Yang Su felt Fang Chen’s sudden intense gaze and he didn’t understand why he was staring so intently at him.
Xi Shen could see the battle intent in Fang Chen’s eyes.
‘I guess as one of the Inner Academy’s top geniuses he has the pride to never lose to anyone and strive to become strong. Well, this is good, competition between Faction members would be unavoidable and they would always want to outperform each other.’
But then Xi Shen turned to Fei Yin. He was an anomaly, he didn’t seem to have that spark most disciples have in the cultivation world. He was a genius himself, having become a Sea Expansion Realm in less than two years after joining the Outer Academy right before turning fourteen.
This was because his desire for revenge had pushed him to squeeze out the full extent of his hidden potential to the max. And in a year and a half, he moved from the early Foundation Realm to the Late stage. His cultivation speed was one of the most talked-about topics when it had happened, and he even received a moniker, ‘Cultivating Demon Yin.’
During that one year, he used every and any method to increase his cultivation. Taking on dangerous missions, spending days in seclusion, every minute was used to cultivate. No one had known what drive him to be that obsessed with cultivating, but after what happened in the Battle Arena the word had spread.
So Xi Shen can understand why Fei Yin didn’t have that spark to compete amongst disciples. He must be feeling drained after spending so long only focused on cultivating.
Xi Shen then said, “Alright, let’s return to the village, I have a few things I want to discuss with everyone.”
Fei Yin and Fang Chen nodded before the group headed back to the village.
Reaching Yang Su’s home, his mother and father were there waiting with Bai Xiaofung.
Yang Su’s mother upon seeing Yang Su’s pale complexion and somewhat tattered robes, had tears well up in her eyes before she rush to hug him.
“Oh my Su’er what happened to you, are you hurt? Your not hurt are you?”
Yang Su’s mother examined every part of her son’s body, frightened that he could be badly hurt.
“Mother I’m fine, it’s okay I’m fine.”
Yang Su immediately began consoling her, as he knew why she was reacting so badly to seeing him injured.
Yang Su’s father came up to her side, place his hands on his wife’s back, and said, “Honey, you don’t need to worry so much. Glow has become a cultivator so he’s able to defend himself, and he has friends that could help him if he’s ever in danger.”
Yang Su’s father’s words were sound, but his wife suddenly slapped his hand away and said, “That’s why I never wanted him to leave home and become a cultivator, it’s so dangerous in the outside world. What if I end up losing my Su’er like our first son, what would I do then? I can’t go through so much heartache again.”
Yang Su’s mother broke down sobbing while holding Yang Su tight in a huge. Yang Su himself felt a pang in his heart upon hearing the mention of his older brother.
Yang Su felt sad that he made his mother so worried as well, he never want to see her like this.
Yang Su’s father was standing off to the side, and next to him was their youngest son. Even though he was too young to understand fully what was going on, he was still tearing up at seeing his mother crying.
Yang Su’s father too felt sad upon hearing the mention of their dead older son, but he chose to allow Yang Su to pursue cultivation because he didn’t want him to not be able to defend himself. They won’t be alive for long, so if they kept him shelter all this while, this cruel world would eat him alive when they're gone.
And surely enough, Yang Su’s father’s doubts were washed away when he saw his son come home. It confirmed his decision was right.
Turning to his wife, he sighed heavily in his heart.
‘A mother’s love for her child knows no bounds.’
A saying that was common in this world, but that love can become a shackle in the child’s heart if that love isn’t shown in douses.
“Yang Su, carry your mother into the house so she could rest. And reassure her that you're fine.”
Yang Su nodded his head at his father’s words before he lead his mother into their house.
His younger brother followed them as well, leaving Yang Su’s father and the others outside.
After a period of silence, Bai Xiaofung spoke up and asked, “Mr. Yang, might I ask what happened to Yang Su’s brother?”
“Ugh”
Bai Xiaofung suddenly let out a groan from being elbowed in his side by Fang Chen.
It was really insensitive to ask such a question, but Yang Su’s father only smile a little and said, “You are friends of my son, so it isn’t really a bad thing to let you know. Some years ago when Glow was younger he and his older brother were confronted by slave traders on their route back home, after selling coal to a nearby village. From the story Glow had told me, his brother had led the men in another direction giving him a chance to escape. I rushed to where they were ambushed and followed the trial, but I came upon a cliff in the end. I saw blood and marks of a scuffle that led to the edge of the cliff. As a father I know my Min’er, he was always headstrong and brave. When he saw that he was going to get captured he must have taken the jump. I went to the base of the cliff, but I only found pieces of his clothes, the river must have swiped away his remains.”
Those last words hung in the air, as Bai Xiaofung and the others widen their eyes in surprise.
They were all thinking to themselves that Yang Su’s brother must really have nerves of steel, to rather died than become a slave.
Silence reign between them for some time, and Fang Chen was glaring at Bai Xiaofung for creating such an atmosphere. It was only when Yang Su returned and his father left that the tension eased somewhat.
….
…
..
Several kilometers from the village, four dark silhouettes were dashing through the forest like specters in the night.
The four demonic disciples had solemn expressions as they move through enemy territory, but that wasn’t the reason why they were solemn, it was that they had just witnessed a shocking Heavenly Tribulation.
“That was a Heavenly Tribulation, right? That was where the volcano mountain was, was there an expert there who was meditating?”
One of their voice echoed out.
Another demonic disciple then responded, “I don’t know, we could barely see anything past the dark clouds, some power was preventing us from seeing what was happening inside, but I heard that there are some extremely old monsters that are hidden away in seclusion around random places on the Maple Continent. It's scary to think that there could be one cultivating in that volcano. Maybe he was using the Divine Fire Spirit Stones to cultivate?”
That demonic disciple shivered as he had just scared himself by saying that.
The demonic disciple who spoke first and was being carried by the female demonic disciple said, “That Fang Chen is not normal, he has the title of a Chosen like senior brother Gu. Despite being in the Sea Expansion Realm, he has some terrifying sword technique that uses his bloodlust to increase his killing ability.”
“That other Celestial Academy disciple was no ordinary disciple either, I had to take the bedevilment pill to battle him on even ground. Now it’s going to take me half a year's time to get rid of the pill's after-effects.”
The demonic disciple that had battled Fei Yin said as he gritted his teeth in hatred.
The female disciple who had been silent until now spoke up and asked in a distasteful tone, “Senior brother Gu, we suffered such a loss and have nothing to show for it. Why did you suddenly order us to leave like that? If we had just used the Soul Devouring Formation to wiped out that village instead of going around in secret trying to excavate the Divine Fire Stones, we would have made a profit.”
The other demonic disciples became deathly silent when they heard her talking to Gu Mo like that.
But contrary to his usual reaction to such disrespect, Gu Mo only snickered and said mockingly, “Wipe out the village? Haha, you must be brave or completely stupid. Do you know who I got the information from that there was Divine Fire Spirit Stone under that village?”
Hearing this, the other demonic disciples became confused, as Gu Mo hadn’t told them how he obtained the information.
Gu Mo’s voice then went on to say, “That piece of information was given to me by our eldest brother. And when he did the condition he gave me is that I was to never harm anyone in that village.”
*******
Word Count: 1793
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