"Children playing war," he muttered. "How dull."

Dusting off his sleeves, he finally arrived in front of Xiao Jun, quietly stepping down over the ground with a deep sigh, "Still not showing respect; how arrogant?" he remarked while staring over Xiao Jun.

Xiao Jun, on the other hand, was still as confused as when he died once here. "Who... are you?" he muttered in a daze.

"... To think my bloodline will also have donkeys being born in dragon's skin," he frowned, before releasing yet another deep sigh. "Remember the name and remember it well.

The name of this venerable one is Ao Shen, the ancestor of your bloodline as well as the one who goes by the title of 'The Peerless Sage.'."

"Ancestor?" Xiao Jun muttered in a daze, "My bloodline even has ancestors like this? I thought we were descendants of farmers, though?" He was lost in a daze, his thinking capacity incapable of comprehending its own greatness; it was pure chaos in his mind until finally the realisation hit his mind like a nuke.

"The humble descendent greets the ancestor!!!" Xiao Jun fell over all four of his limbs, falling down over his knees as he repetitively bowed to Ao Shen's feet again and again.

"... This one is a bit slow in mind," Ao Shen muttered a bit hesitantly before a little smile seemed to have emerged over his face. 'But the soul seems pure enough.'

Ao Shen nodded and finally commanded, "Rise." Xiao Jun immediately stood up, and Ao Shen turned back and questioned, "The situation of my descendants doesn't look so good in this era, right?"

"Uh? Well, our family was good a few years ago, but then my father's business got lost, and we suffered some debt issues here and there, and now..." Xiao Jun sighed in exhaustion.

"So 'you' are the jinx bringing misfortune to my bloodline?" Ao Shen scoffed and turned his head away towards the huge chamber.

"I'm not exactly a jinx, Ancestor! How should I put it?! It's just the misfortunes started to happen when I was around; there is a difference!" Xiao Jun tried explaining, but all he got was a scornful look from Ao Shen.

"Heaven has become arrogant, trying to punish me with such a descendent?" Ao Shen murmured and turned his arm towards all the treasures and fortune inside the chamber and what seemed like a vacuum.

He devoured everything within the vacuum that emerged from the tip of his arm, sucking up every little thing in this huge chamber and placing it inside the sub dimension he commanded himself.

And shaking his head, he diverted his attention towards Xiao Jun, "Either way, this won't do. I have too much pride to just sit and watch as my children crawl and fall."

Ao Shen nodded and started to make his way outside. "Do you have that device? It was called a 'smartphone,' right?" Ao Shen questioned

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"Ah? Yes!" Xiao Jun seemed a bit startled as he took out the phone from his back pocket, handling it to Ao Shen, who seemed to be using it as if he had been using it for years already.

"Didn't you say you just woke up recently?" Xiao Jun, who watched that sight, couldn't help but to question, "I did," Ao Shen replied.

"I just copied the memories from those guys I squished before," he explained lazily, and just some searches were all it needed for him to confirm the situation with the current world.

'It has really fallen, huh... Well, it's recovering fast since even I have awakened now, to think while I was asleep there will come an era without Qi in the world, but well, maybe it's fate? I got to see some funny devices without disturbing the laws of existence.' Ao Shen chuckled with his eyes set on the smartphone in his hand.

"I think I will love this era more than the boring peaks and mountains from before." Ao Shen chuckled, 'The ordinary people of the current world are only aware of 6 cultivation realms.

Qi Condensation, Foundation Building, Core Formation, Golden Core Realm, Nascent Soul Realm, and Immortal Ascension—these little realms, like Nascent Soul, are considered a big deal; it's truly pathetic.' Ao Shen scoffed, but with a frown, his gaze fell over Xiao Jun.

"But if the world has fallen this low... Just how in the world are my descendents still so weak in the world? I couldn't sense a shred of Qi inside your body before; have you really never cultivated in life?" Ao Shen questioned, staring at Xiao Jun with widened eyes.

"Of course I haven't; the cultivation techniques are crazy expensive. Just a basic one costs more than my 8 months' salary. How can I afford such a thing given my financial situation?" Xiao Jun explained

"... So you are just broke?" Ao Shen muttered in disbelief, pinching his forehead with increasing stress. "To think there will come a day when I will watch the blood of a dragon crying about pennies..." he muttered with an increasing frown.

"This won't do! This won't do at all," Ao Shen shook his head. "This pathetic descendent is hurting my pride more than any of my enemies ever did."

"And you are hurting my emotions now." Xiao Jun frowned but was immediately smacked on his back. They finally stepped outside the jade gates, which also vanished the moment Ao Shen walked out; the chamber behind turned into stones and dirt, collapsing as both Ao Shen and Xiao Jun walked out of the cave, finally entering the woods.

"Human settlements have developed, I see..." Ao Shen remarked with his glowing pupils; his eyes seemed to see more than just what was right in front of him; he could see through many things at enormous distances.

"You can see all that from here?" Xiao Jun questioned in surprise, 'Even a mere village is at least a hundred miles away; he can see that?'

"I can see things even beyond that; you can't?" Ao Shen sarcastically scoffed, and with a finger, he quietly tapped Xiao Jun's skull. The moment Ao Shen's fingers touched his head, his dragon-like eyes suddenly lit up.

His eyes vision instantly expanded up to several dozen miles, capable of looking at things in detail he never even imagined, just how monstrous a tiny ant can be when seen up close and how majestic an eagle can be while riding the clouds—all can be seen without any effort.

"It's amazing..." Xiao Jun muttered in shock; Ao Shen, on the other hand, just scoffed at amusement, 'That's another way to look at it; with weak descendants, I might have more time to have fun in this new era.'

"There is so much more to explore, though." Ao Shen remarked with a smile, but his steps paused midway as he turned to look at Xiao Jun.

"Learn to hide your horns," Ao Shen instructed Xiao Jun, and with just a snap of his fingers, the horn emerging from Xiao Jun's forehead vanished as if it was never there to begin with.

"Oh? We can do that?!" Xiao Jun said in surprise, and Ao Shen was just amused at his reactions and said, "Let's visit your residence."

"It would be an absolute honour! Ancestor! We just need to walk out of these woods; I will place an advance cab booking and—"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ao Shen coldly scoffed, and with a snap of his fingers, he remarked, "When I said about visiting your residence, I meant right this instant."

By the time he finished his words, both Ao Shen and Xiao Jun felt the space around them suddenly shaking and vibrating at an unknown frequency, and suddenly the two vanished from the middle of the woods, and in an instant both were seen standing in a dark, single-room apartment.

"Huh?" Xiao Jun's eyes seem to have lost light in them; he stood there like a petrified piece of rock, while Ao Shen, on the other hand, was just amused. He switched on the lights of the apartment.

It was literally a very small space apartment with humid walls and a collapsing ceiling; it was as if this place was in ruins that could collapse any time.

There was just a little bed over in the corner of the room and Xiao Jun's clothes lying around all over the place along a bunch of quick instant noodle wrappers piled up in a corner.

"Wow, my descendants actually live in gutters now. I'm not even enraged at this point." Ao Shen scoffed; Xiao Jun seemed too embarrassed to meet his gaze.

An awkward silence took over the whole atmosphere, but just Xiao Jun was thinking it couldn't get any worse; heaven heard his calling.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!!!*

"Xiao Jun!! I know you are hiding inside you rat!! Who the hell will pay the rent! It's already the 5th date of the month! Where the hell have you been hiding for the last few days? You dare not pick up my calls?! That's it! Take your garbage and leave my apartment! Hey! Open up, you little rat!"