(Author: Hello! I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. As this is a side project, I could upload it frequently or randomly. It all depends on how hard it is to write the current chapter of my main story. You just can't rush your writing and have to let it flow. If an idea pops up, write it down with as much detail as you can. You can use it later or on another story to see how people react (like this one.) I hope you all enjoy the story. Feel free to give comments or suggestions you want me to use. It just might me write a chapter faster. By the way, this story will develop more slowly than my other stories as I don't have to rush my writing and take my time writing it. This is more of an informative chapter depicting the changes in the kingdom upon news of Shu's miraculous recovery. Well, here it is.)

------------Chapter 2: Changed Society--------------

Before the dawn of the next morning, news of execution of three clans and the discovery of Spirit Pulse in the second prince had spread all over the Yan Empire. People died everyday so the deaths of three clans did not matter much, but the discovery of the second prince did. What were princes? They were candidates for the throne! Everyone had known about the weak-willed, mute second prince and thought of him as a cripple. What good of a prince was he if he couldn't speak?

Many in the palace and among the nobility were scared. Each of the three clans were very powerful people in the empire. It would make sense to kill the bullies and their immediate relatives, but the entire clan? No one wanted to wrong the second prince of Yan anymore. Many people in the capital, at some point, would sneer and throw things at the worthless prince. He was just a mute, but they already considered him a handicap. Now he had become a Practitioner. To be a mage was every man's dream as it automatically made you as an equal to a lower noble. To be a Practitioner? Even armies would stop in the middle of combat to let you through if you were a Spirit Knight.

Mages were considered the priority in the Yan Empire and it was a nation famous for its armies of mages. However, Practitioners numbered too few, but were often more deadly than any mage. Why? It was because Practitioners lived a dangerous life. They would do anything to increase their cultivation. They even became numbed to death once they realize how much easier it is to become stronger by taking someone else's items. Mages? They lived in a luxurious, heavily guarded sanctuary or academy where they practiced their magic without fear of death.

Mages who knew healing magic were the most guarded and coveted in any nation. They were walking infirmaries.  Not only that, magic itself had no limits. All kinds of schools of magic existed. Even raising the dead was possible. This was what caused many people to learn magic instead of awakening their spirit energy. Why risk death when you could live a life of luxury and peace? However, mages bowed down to Practitioners in the end. That was an absolute fact that no mage dared to deny. Although the emperor was a little sad that he was not able to send his son to a mgae academy to heal his inability to speak and become a mage; he was glad that his son became a Practitioner.

Prince Xing was also glad Shu was no longer mute. People would no longer bully Shu and Shu would be sent to a martial sect. This meant that any would be assassins who would come after him would not dare take the risk. Princess Mei was also glad. Even though she disliked her brother, she loved him and was only envious that he could pick his own path. As a princess, it was a given that she would be married off to strengthen their imperial family's ties to another powerful force. No one knew how Shu had suddenly had a Spirit Pulse, or why he had lost some of his memories. Lu Shu had changed and so had people's views of him.

As the Spirit Pulse fully stabilizes in the body and forms upon the third stage of cultivation, there was no way to tell what affinities Shu had. After he awoke and ate breakfast, he was immediately summoned to the throne room and learned more about the world of Practitioners from his new father and General Meng Ce. As far as Practitioners were concerned, there were various paths one walked to immortality. Those paths were determined by three things: their combat style, their inner spirit, and the elemental spirit energy flowing in their bodies.

Needless to say, a Practitioner had to know how to fight bare-handed. It was the necessity and basic form of all combat while weapons were merely an extension and alteration of their combat style. Some people focused on strengthening the power of their body. Some focused purely on increasing their agility and speed while others focused on increasing their defenses. The weapon they choose afterwards should reflect their barehanded style. A body emphasizing on strength using a weapon dependent on speed, such as a dagger, was tantamount to asking for suicide.

The second aspect was what their Spirit Pulse turned into once the Practitioner reached the third stage of cultivation. During the first two stages, the Practitioner learns to detect spirit energy and absorb it into his body. As the spirit energy condenses within the body, it will naturally form a shape upon breaking through to the third stage. There are category types of spirits. They are known as beast, weapon, and armor spirits. The most rare and powerful type of spirit was an armor spirit.

The larger the spirit, the more powerful the armor spirit was. Upon reaching Spirit Knight stage, their true power would be realized as they could materialize the spirit on their body. Those who had armor type spirits boasted the best physical and spiritual defense. Very few people are born with the innate talent to form a complete armor spirit when they reach the third stage. Practitioners who had armor type spirits would be coveted by armies and sects across the globe. Not only that, they had one advantage no other spirit user had: the ability to use any spirit technique regardless of the elemental energy.

What was elemental energy? It was the spiritual form of an element. It is a known fact that those who practiced fire techniques could not practice water or ice techniques. Why? They were conflicting elements. The elemental energy within the Practitioner's Spirit Pulse would attack each other and the Practitioner would die. One could not use the elemental techniques of a conflicting element. If nature could not have them coexist, how could a Practitioner hope to have them exist in his own body. This was why those with armor type spirits were coveted. However, they were the most likely to die as they would be hunted by enemy sects or jealous peers.

The second type of spirit was a weapon type. Like the armor type spirit, Practitioners could materialize their weapon spirits. However, Practitioners who had weapon spirits were the most offensive. As they progressed through the stages, they could summon many copies of their weapon spirit. They were literally a walking army of flying weapons as they grew stronger. The type of spirit depicted their fighting style and they were most vulnerable of all Practitioners. They were the most numerous and the most diverse among Practitioners as their spirits were more flexible and capable of absorbing spirit energy more easily, allowing them to break through to the next stage the fastest. Practitioners who had weapon spirits may not be able to learn all of the techniques of the world, but they could choose what elements they wanted to learn. The only problem was that their spirits rarely evolved and those Practitioners had the least potential.

Finally, the last type of spirit was the beast spirit. Although not as rare as the beast spirit, they were the most tyrannical. The elemental spirit techniques they could learn were predetermined by what spirit they had. The more powerful and magical the spirit, the more powerful it was. Their spirits took the longest to cultivate to the next stage as those Practitioners had the most spirit energy in their body. They had the strongest and fastest bodies. Their agility and reflexes were also vastly superior. Although he didn't know it, Shu had a white tiger beast spirit because of the golden pearl he swallowed. It was also a variant, but that is something to be explained at another time. Beast spirits had the one ability envied or mocked by all: the ability to create their own techniques based on their spirit.

After Shu learned all of the information about Practitioners, he was allowed to roam the capital until night fall when he would enter the vault with General Meng and begin his new life as a Practitioner. The emperor wanted people to know that his son was no longer a mute. He wanted them to know he would become a Practitioner and to watch themselves in the future.

Once his son became a powerful Practitioner, it would be obvious he would ally himself and defend the Yan Empire from rogue mages and Practitioners. Even enemy nations would not mess with a powerful country backed by a Practitioner. Mages were next to nothing next to an expert Practitioner. While they could not kill the ruling house or army if they were a Spirit Knight or above, killing everyone else was fair game in the eyes of the Heavens. People flocked to powerful nations because it was more secure and easier to live peaceful lives.

Currently, Shu was touring the capital and browsing through the stalls. Four Spirit Shamans at the sixth stage of cultivation escorted him with ten others hiding in the shadows. People immediately smiled and politely bowed as they saw the second prince. They did not want to suffer the same fate as the tragic clans. Shu smirked a little as he could see the terror in their eyes despite the polite manners they displayed. He wondered how many of them wronged the former host of his body and saw a young girl the same age as him walk up to him with her arms folded.

She was pretty cute with long, black hair tied into a pony tail. It rested on her right shoulder and she stared at him with her big, brown eyes and seemed to give off a cold demeanor. She was tapping her foot repeatedly as if she had been waiting for him for too long.

"Uh, were you waiting for me?" Shu asked as he held a hand back to have the guards move behind him. As he had been a former wandering soul. he was exceptionally sensitive to spirit energy and sensed a very powerful Practitioner nearby. It seemed to be watching him and the girl.

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"You don't remember me?" the girl asked, her arms still folded.

"I have lost some of my memories," Shu said. "I don't remember anyone really."

"Well, I am Ivy Shao and you agreed to let me give you a makeover," the girl smiled triumphantly. "You were bullied because you looked weak. I'm gonna make you look like a prince."

"I am a prince and I don't want a makeover. Sorry," Shu said as he tried to walk around her.

"Hey! I said I am going to give you a makeover. Ugh, just let me give you one," Ivy said as she barred his path.

"You must come from a powerful martial art sect," Shu said as he gazed past her and looked at the direction of a hidden figure. "I don't know what I was like in the past, but I feel as if I was reborn. I will not allow others to bully me like the past me did. You want to give me a makeover as you are bored. You're empty inside and need some sort of entertainment. I am not that entertainment. You're beautiful and come from a powerful family. I'm sure they would not like to see you like this.

The hidden figure was disturbed at being detected while the girl said, "Fine, but I will see you change with my own two eyes! Where you go, I will follow. You'll see how wrong you are. You're training to join a sect in three years right? When it is time for you to select a sect, I will join that sect too! I won't allow a friend of mine to be looked down on by others!"

Shu stared at her silently and asked, "What do you know of this world? Why is it that some people do not look the same?"

They both looked around and saw some people with blonde skin. Some had black skin while others dark brown and light brown skin. Some had sand colored skin while others were as pale as the moon. Some of them had names that did not sound Chinese. Whatever Shu thought China was. It seemed that the ethnicities of his home world existed here. It even carried some of their names. One boy's name was Jafar while another's name was Alexander.

"I, I don't know," Ivy said. "They just travel from across the world like I did. I am not from the Yan Empire so my clan name comes second. You will not let me give you a makeover?"

"Heh. You still insist on that. I suppose I should allow you. The former me would have.," Shu said as he stared at the sky. "This world is truly dangerous. Practitioners and mages exist and I assume magical beasts and demonic cores do as well. I need to change my mindset if I want to survive. It is different now. I am no longer on the run. Nor can I escape into the sea of stars."

"What? What are you talking about?" Ivy asked while the hidden figure looked at him, startled. This was not the boy the hidden figure remembered Ivy meeting. His change was too sudden, too different.

"It's nothing. I will see you later. I have to being my training soon if I want to survive," Shu said and nodded at her before leaving with his guards, leaving Ivy confused and mystified while the hidden figure revealed himself.

"Lady Ivy, that boy is not the same one you met," an elderly man in black and gold robes said as he appeared behind her. "He was even able to detect me. Not even a Spirit Knight is able to do so. Moreover, how could he have such a strong Spirit Pulse? Something happened when he drowned."

"Was it a hidden expert grand uncle?" Ivy asked as she looked at the elderly man.

"I don't know. In any event, I do not sense any demons or intelligent magical beasts here. This empire is one not ruled by another being in the shadows. It is truly ruled by a human, but the blood of the royal family....I can detect traces of a bloodline I do not comprehend. They're descended from something. Something not human. How else can they rule their own kingdom and have such powerful mages among their bloodlines?" the man asked. "This is only my conjecture, but I believe this empire was founded by a demon ancestor, not an immortal ancestor as their records state."

"If the descendants of such a being are all so powerful, why were his family members all born as mages and not him?" Ivy asked. "He was born ordinary and had no talent in mana. Yet, he is no longer a mute and can became a Practitioner."

"Mana and spirit energy are two different things. Mana is uncommon and slowly builds as a baby matures. At the age of ten, the child can choose to be a mage or a Practitioner. They are two different things. The talent to be a mage is inborn. The talent to be a Practitioner is made. Spirit energy appears in the body through an outside source, such as an expert or very powerful artifact," the elderly man said as he shook his head. "Why do you insist on his company? Tired of playing with the other girls here?"

"He is interesting," Ivy said while her uncle discovered her true feelings.

"He does not remember you or your past friendship," the man said. "Come. My business is done in this empire. We must return to the clan. Are you really going to join the same sect as he?"

"Yes. If he is what you claim to be, then his future will be very interesting," Ivy said and they disappeared into the crowd.

Deep below the palace was a hidden sanctuary. In there lived the few ancestors who became Practitioners. They cultivated in secret and were the secret pillars of the empire. They cared little for the Mortal Realm but would protect it should their assistance be necessary. The emperor entered a white stone tower. Inside, statues upon statues were placed on a circular formation all the way to the top of the tower. In the center of the base floor were fourteen ancestors in pure white robes with a hood over their faces. One man was meditating in pure black clothes on a throne at the end of the floor. They sat in a pyramid formation facing the door. The weakest five were closest to the emperor with a row of four behind them, a row of three behind them, and a row of two behind them. The man in black was the most powerful and gave off a baleful aura as if he were not human.

"Lu Yi, ninety third emperor of the Yan Dynasty, greets the ancestors," the emperor said as he bowed on both knees and dipped his head low. "I bring news about my youngest child and second prince, Lu Shu. He is no longer a mute and has obtained a Spirit Pulse."

"He is truly not a mage? The first in twenty two generations?" one of the white robed ancestors asked.

"How is that possible? His blood is too diluted with human blood. He could not even be a mage as I did not detect any mana in him when he was born," another said.

"It was true, until yesterday. I know not how it happened, but the Great Ancestor's Blood stirs inside him," Lu Yi said respectively. "I fear for his life. Great Ancestor has many enemies and escaped here, to the Mortal Realm, but they have many followers. Should they discover his lineage...."

"Lu Yi," an ancient voice rasped, silencing the room as the black and gold robed man spoke. "His Spirit Pulse, is it golden or red?"

"G, Great Ancestor! It is truly an honor to hear your voice. It is red. His Spirit Pulse is red. I made sure no one, not even my royal physician, inspected it. One of the Great Ancestors distant descendants, General Meng Ce, will be training him under my orders."

"Yes. I believe he came here once. Not a member of my direct bloodline, but a Practitioner all the same," the Great Ancestor said. "Has he been given a Practitioner weapon and spirit techniques?"

"He is to select them, tonight, from the imperial vault," Lu Yi answered.

"Good. Be sure to give him this ring and warn him to never take it off. It will cloud the perceptions of all people of this Mortal Realm like the fourteen here. No one will know of his demon lineage. They will believe that his Spirit Pulse is golden like a human," the Great Ancestor said as he threw a red ring, three eyes in a triangular formation on the top, toward Lu Yi. "When he reaches the third stage of cultivation, bring him to me before he leaves to join a martial sect. He must know, these have, about his true lineage. Many of my descendants chose to ascend to the Mortal Realm. I...will leave in a few years time to return to the Immortal Realms. My wife should be finishing her closed door training soon. She is a human, so her cultivation is much slower than her children and our many, many descendants. I am afraid to admit that she has the worst talent in cultivation I have ever seen. How many centuries have passed and she is still on the ninth stage of Spirit Sage cultivation?"

"I will do as you command," Lu Yi replied and was stopped before he left.

"Our Yan Empire is small, but matters of the Mortal Realm do not matter. Once your son, Lu Xing, ascends the throne; you will stay at the palace and resume cultivating at your Spirit Master stage. Once you breakthrough and become a Spirit Sage, you will come here and tell your son about us. However, he is never to know about Lu Shu. The less people who know, the better it is to maintain its secrecy. To have a Practitioner of my blood line with my blood stirring within him, it is truly rare indeed."

"It will be done. I thank you for the privilege," Lu Yi bowed and left the tower, sighing with relief once he left the hidden sanctuary and sat on his throne. He was always intimidated as he sat among the most powerful people on the planet, even if it was his own ancestors. The world may have forgotten them or believed them dead, but he always met them when it came to the safety of the Lu clan. So what if their empire had shrunken and no longer one of the most powerful empires in the world? True power lied in the Immortal Realms. The more powerful the descendants, the more likely it is that the Lu clan will rule in the Immortal Realm.

"For now, I must give the ring to Lu Shu and take him to the imperial vault," Lu Yi muttered as a messenger told him Lu Shu arrived an hour later. "But what should he learn? What category will his inner spirit be?"

"Summon Lu Shu and General Meng Ce! They are to meet me in front of the imperial vault!" Lu Yi ordered while several servants and guards knelt and obeyed his command. The emperor sighed and left for the imperial vault. As he left, he wondered just what happened and how the Great Ancestor's Blood was influenced to awaken in Lu Shu's body.