In the high North East of the Wind Serpent Continent is the Vermilion Empire.

One of its most prominent cities is Morning Star City. A city of merchants and scholars. Though far from the capital, Morning Star City is just as prestigious.

A few miles outside of the city is a small clan that appeared in the night, eighteen years ago, and have kept to themselves ever since. Only entering the city to restock provisions or to sell off the parts of demon beast that they've hunted.

The Clan compound covered a little over one-hundred acres and surrounded by high walls made of tungsten ore.

In the courtyard, the Clan's young master practiced his spear arts like a man possessed by vengeful spirits. Under the heat of two suns, the young master moved with habitual precision and fluidity. Leaping across the courtyard, the young master thrust his spear forward and shattered the training dummy with the tip of his spear, finishing his martial set.

The sound of approving applause filled the courtyard as the young master wiped himself clean of sweat. He then handed his spear to a servant and walked over to his mother and man adorned in white robes embroidered with golden threads.

"Mother, who is this?"

"Yuan'er, this is your Uncle Gu Long. He has come to see you." his mother replied.

"Ouyang Ziyuan, I was good friends with your father. Together, we were born and raised in the Broken Spear Sect. Sworn brothers we were and if It wasn't for sake of our Broken Spear Sect, I would never pull my nephew into my political affairs."

"Speak straight and speak true Uncle Gu Long,"

Gu Long chuckled to himself then replied, "Zhao Lijin plans to marry his daughter, Zhao Fei Fei, to the third prince of the Wind Serpent Empire."

Ouyang Didi frowned at the revelation. Though Ziyuan remained a lot more composed than his mother.

"And what does this have to do with my Ouyang Clan?"

"Everything!" Gu Long shouted. "Your father was killed by Wind Serpent Imperial assassins, your father and Zhao Lijin agreed upon a marriage contract that is still valid, and whether your clan admits it or not, you are all a part of the Broken Spear Sect. If we ignore this, Zhao Lijin will take over the sect and the Huyan Kingdom will be his next conquest!"

Ouyang Ziyuan is a well built young man. Six and a half feet tall, well-defined muscles that rippled with power, and a chiseled face. He is headstrong, decisive, and a stone wall to all who seeks to harm his clan. As his bronze skin glistened with sweat, he looks to the sky and exhales.

"Patriarch Gu… out of respect for my father's memory, I will fulfill the contract. Though, it's my mother's decision as Clan Leader, if we returned to the sect as a clan. You should expect me in two months."

"Three months, that is the day of the core disciples exam. All clan heirs are eligible. If you arrive anytime sooner without your clan, Zhao Lijin will definitely go for your life. "

Ouyang Ziyuan nodded his head and Gu Long was escorted from the compound.

"I don't trust him, mother."

"Yuan'er, you don't trust anybody. That man saved your father more times than I care to admit. If he needs your help, you should uphold your father's debt as his son. Especially if it means obstructing Zhao's plans."

Ziyuan frowned as he watched Gu Long leave. "Does he have a daughter?"

"One, Gu Lan, she is a year older than you." his mother replied.

"Then I should have been betrothed to her. Apparently, father didn't trust him that much."

"She is sick, destined to die at 25." his mother spoke with a sad voice. "Gu Long thought the betrothal would be a waste of your father's political currency."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Hmm, we'll see how trustworthy he is in time."

Ouyang Ziyuan then left the courtyard as his mother shook her head.

Ouyang Ziyuan struggled internally as his servent girl undressed him. He then stepped into the bathtub and sunk into the steaming hot water to calm his mind.

'If we return, who's to say we aren't inviting destruction' Ziyuan clutched the Ouyang pendant around his neck as he thought about his father. 'Father, sacrificed himself to save the clan… But to maintain the clan, I feel we must go back. What will mother do?'

"Ahh!" Ziyuan suddenly cried out as he smacked his neck, killing a bug.

"Young Master... Are you okay?"

Looking into his hand, the insect was a tiny glob of mush and past identification. Ziyuan whipped his hands and went back to relaxing in the hot bath.

"Everything is fine. Wash my hair."

The servant nodded as she grabbed a bottle of cleansing liquid. Ziyuan then thought nothing more of the bug or clan affairs as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of firm slender hand messaging his scalp.

On the far side of Ziyuan's room, a woman stood in the shadows, undetected by all. She grinned at a job completed and the easiest 100,000 demon slips she had ever made. She pitied Ziyuan for a moment before vanishing without a trace of her ever being there.

As Ziyuan drifted into a light sleep. The water in his tub began to boil. Bubbles rose and popped causing steam to feel the room. Within the bathtub, Ziyuan was none the wiser, to him, the tub was lukewarm and comfortable.

Sssss.

"Ahh," the servant jerked away at the surprising burning pain.

The pendant around his neck began to tremble and hum. Ziyuan finally started to stir and just as he was about to awaken, something trapped his soul and yanked him back into a slumber. His body jerked and he suddenly erupted in flames, setting his room ablaze.

"Young Master!"

the Servant tumbled backward as she gawked at the sudden combustion of flames that engulfed Ouyang Ziyuan

"What is happening?!"

In the courtyard, a servant bowed and replied, " First Elder, it's Young Master Ziyuan, his room mysteriously burst into flames and now it's intent on swallowing the entire compound."

The First Elder frowned and began to revolve his Qi. His energy erupted. For a moment it contains the fire before he's blown back and spits up a mouthful of blood onto the gravel walkway.

"First Elder!" the clan cried out.

"This...this fire is far from ordinary. Clear the clan vault immediately! I'm afraid this fire is too difficult to deal with. It must run its course."

The Ouyang Clan raced against the mysterious raging fire to carry out the First Elder's orders.

"Elder Shenxiu, Where is Yuan'er?"

"I'm sorry, Didi. Ziyuan was in his room when the fire started."

Ouyang Didi's qi began to fluctuate as the full might of her cultivated spewed from her and pressed down on the people in the courtyard.

Pah pah pah pah pah! Thud! Ouyang Didi's body hit the ground. Behind her stood a middle-aged woman with icy blue eyes and silver-white hair.

"Take the Clan Leader away," she ordered.

The clansmen bowed to the Second Elder, Ouyang Delan, and immediately took Didi away from the fire to rest.

"Ahh Elder Delan, my love," said Shenxiu.

"Haa, don't you 'my love' me." Delan barked at her husband. "You shouldn't have told her about little Yuan."

" Continue to sense for signs of life, we need to find the first young master!"

__________________________________________________

Within Ouyang Ziyuan's mindscape, a Nine-Headed Divine Phoenix feather landed on the surface of his sea of consciousness.

The surface rippled with an odd gentleness that made Ouyang Ziyuan extremely uneasy. The feather burned with heavy intensity. The power of the energy waves alone should have disrupted his sea of consciousness, yet it was more nourishing than destructive.

The event became even odder when a cool refreshing feeling washed over Ziyuan when he should be burning.

"This... My sea of consciousness..."

In the Infernal Abyss, the world of cultivation consists of three routes of cultivation, External, Internal, and Mental. The mental cultivation is based in the mindscape, strengthening and transforming the sea of consciousness to increase mental energy.

A coveted art monopolized by the Pill Kingdom and their conclaves. Mental cultivation techniques are only gifted to the highest achieving alchemist, inscriptionist, and forgers.

To feel it for the first time, Ziyuan was experiencing something exhilarating.

The Nine-Headed Divine Phoenix feather in Ziyuan's mindscape is actively purifying and increasing the density of his sea of consciousness. His mental cultivation rapidly raises to the 4th stage human realm, now on par with External and Internal cultivation.

Woosh! The feather finally burst into ashes and a man that favored his father appeared.

"Father?!" Ziyuan cried out in disbelief.

"No! I am Ouyang Ziyuan."

Ziyuan was confused. "I am Ouyang Ziyuan," he said.

The older man smiled and said, "We are Ouyang Ziyuan. But like the Nirvanic Cycle of the Nine-Headed Divine Phoenix. We are and we are not the same."

"What?" asked the young Ziyuan. " What's so special about the Nine-Headed Divine Phoenix?"

"Haha, I forgot how uneducated I was in my younger days. The Nine-Headed Divine Phoenix dies in flames just like the regular phoenix. Though, it incarnates into past self. Each life is marked with a new head until a total of nine."

"What happens after the ninth incarnation?"

"A much higher realm of cultivation."

The older Ziyuan chuckled as he thought of the realms he couldn't touch in his past life.

"So, I become a Nine-Head Divine Phoenix in the future? Did I find a Legacy or Pheonix Blood Essence? "

"Haha, none of the above. In our Ouyang Pendant, there is a Nine-headed Divine Phoenix Feather and an incarnation technique. But you will not know about that or any of the treasures within the pendent until later in life. Too late if I'm being honest.

The Wind Serpent Imperial Family has ambitions greater than Mount Tai. They will begin to annex power in preparation for the Imperial Father's breakthrough to celestial ascension."

"That's impossible!" the young Ziyuan shouted.

"It is, There are many hidden experts in this world and when the Imperial Father reaches that level, it will be cataclysmic. Everyone we love will die. Unless I do something about it," The older Ziyuan faded away like a phantom.

Appearing in front of his younger self, Ziyuan drove his hand through his younger's chest. A moment later, the Nine-Headed Divine Phoenix feather within the younger Ziyuan's Ouyang pendant ignited. The two Ziyuans then merged, becoming one.

Flashes of the great war ripped through his mind, followed by his birth and the destruction of his clan, a time when he was crippled in the Broken Spear Sect, and salvation granted to him by his wandering teacher.

Events of the past, present, and future melded together into one coherent memory bank.

When Ziyuan awakened, the compound was burned to cinders and he lay in a pile of ashes and embers.

Ziyuan groaned as he rolled over and weakly pushed himself up. In the distance, he could hear the sorrowful weeps of his people.

On his two feet, Ouyang Ziyuan walked out of the razed building, naked and covered in soot that clung to his body from head to toe. Even the thick white streak that ran through his obsidian black hair was unrecognizable.

Many of the clansmen were in awe of the sight. Their young master had survived the baptism of flames that even the elders could not touch. And even though the elders couldn't sense any life, Ouyang Ziyuan was now standing in before them, unscathed and in perfect health.

'I, Ouyang Ziyuan, have returned.'