Zhao Jian was stupefied by the energetic return of Bai Heng after his long disappearance in his class.

Zhao Jian, popularly known as ‘Elder Zhao’ among the portal lords celestials was the master of almost all the nine ranks of the portal formation skills thus many portal lord young celestials idolized him and it was every young portal lord celestial’s dream to become this old man’s disciple. His fame was all over the Empire, not only among portal celestials but also other generations were informed of his unlimited portal formation skills.

There were six main stages of portal skills, first was the magic portal formation which was the earliest and had only one rank even a new-born portal celestial could create unknowingly, it was just a small portal that could be regarded as a ‘amateur stage’. The second was the Energy portal formation that was subdivided into first rank and advanced rank.

The third skill was Air portal formation this also had only one rank and wasn’t a hard level. The fourth stage, Electromagnetic portal formation skill that was also divided into two ranks, early and advanced ranks respectively, this was the pretty hard stage among the portal celestials’ formation skills and required strong Qi foundation.

Only a few portal celestials were able to reach the fifth stage which was the Fire portal formation skills that had only a single advanced rank. Most of the celestial’s maximally made it to the fourth stage but even the ones who managed to reach the fifth rank could only to use their ability partially.

The sixth and the toughest stage that only one celestial was known to accomplish within the whole Empire, the Timeline portal formation skill, this was the rarest type of portal formation skill that all portal celestials could only dream to bring about.

Though Zhao Jing was the only one who could pull off the timeline portal formation skill but he also had only achieved the earliest rank and thus couldn’t fully utilize this ability. Along the Empire’s history there were very least to none portal celestials who advanced to the last stage but no one ever came across them.

Thus, Teacher Zhao remained to be the best among all portal celestial and was chosen to train and prepare the younger portal celestials ready to serve the imperial palace.

Only one person was never interested in his teachings among all celestials and even dared to turn down his lessons, Bai Heng. He was always the laziest among the disciples and slacked off with every chance he got, he always complained that his teacher was purposely bullying him and in the end he decided to drop off the classes and chose to live as a mediocre among the talented noble celestials.

Teacher Zhao had an eye for Bai Heng, he knew that this boy was not an ordinary one. He noticed this during his teachings, all other young celestials trained hard and even took months for them to master a single stage but this was a very different for Bai Heng, though the immature youngster didn’t realise his talent his master immediately recognised it in a few month of training.

Unlike his peers, Bai Heng started his training at a very late age, most of them started training at the age of six to seven but Bai Heng’s parents always thought their son was too young to begin his training so they delayed until he was twelve.

Zhao Jian at first looked at this student of his with pity as he was the oldest in the class of amateurs but chose to help him with all he could after all being a teacher he had to look after his student.

Only in three months after joining the classes, Bai Heng was able to complete the Magic portal formation along with the two rankings of the Energy portal formation skills which for any normal student it would take at least a year or two to reach that far making him reach the second rank in the shortest period of time among all other students.

After seeing this, Zhao Jian realized this boy was no ordinary portal lord and could become the Empire’s treasure.

If he could master three stages in three months then what could he achieve in three years? ‘He could even surpass his skills and become the next legendary Portal Lord celestial of the Empire’ he thought.

Zhao Jian decided that he would focus on this boy and upskill him, to his disappointment, Bai Heng disappeared from his classes after three months of training only accomplishing second rank of the portal celestials and never attended the lessons from then on.

Teacher Zhao tried to convince his parents to bring the boy back but they only said,

“Elder Zhao, Let our son go back for lessons when he is comfortable enough, we don’t want to push him in fact he is still too young to worry about that”.

And with that being the case Teacher Zhao decided to let Bai Heng go believing he would be back after a year all two but five years went by and the boy never returned to attend classes with that being the case,

Zhao Jian later decided to let the boy choose his path though he was hurt ‘such a waste of talent’ he thought to himself.

Today Bai Heng knelt in front of surprised Zhao Jian, asking him to take him back as his disciple.

Though Teacher Zhao was fond of this teenager’s talent but he was still disappointed in his undisciplined behaviour so he turned a cold shoulder to him but being as stubborn he is, Bai Heng kept pestering the old man,

“Shifu, I am well aware of the mistakes I did in the past but am asking for your forgiveness and I accept whatever punishment you will give me”, he pleaded.

The old man brushed his long white beard gently with his right palm looking at the kneeling boy in front of him with an angry gesture,

“Young Man, do I look like a joke to you?”, Elder Zhao asked,

“You left this place five years ago, throwing tantrums and even dared to slander me to your parents then today you just appear like a ghost in front of me calling me ‘your shifu’ and you think that is going to change a thing?”, he added with a hoarse irritated tone.

Bai Heng kowtowed to him thinking,

‘Old Man you think I love doing this? If it was possible I would never step these premises for eternity but that maiden has given me a number of sleepless nights, she keeps referring me to an incompetent fool not even willing to tell me her name’ .

After the encounter the other night, Bai Heng for two consecutive weeks has been going back to the palace backyard to meet the beautiful maiden he met that night but all his effort went in vain as he never even got to know the first letter of the maiden’s name.

This was a humiliation to Bai Heng, he had never been turned down all his life and his pride was more hurt after being called ‘an incompetent useless guy’. It would be okay if other people called him that but this fairy was an exception plus how could he face Huang Hui like this after he proudly declared to return to him with victory?

So he thought if he could level up his skills a little then he’ll be competent enough to face this nameless fairy maiden again and at least gain her attention

But things didn’t go his way even this Old man wasn’t making it any easier for him either,

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“You haven’t trained for years, I’ll have to see if you’ll satisfy me enough to take you back”, the Elder spoke suddenly interrupting Bai Heng Ocean of lewd thoughts.

Zhao Jian stood up from his round, yoke back chair and walked past the kneeling Bai Heng,

“If am not satisfied you’ll have to find a new master and if I accept you back you’ll have to take your full punishment otherwise don’t bother me again”, he added walking away.

Bai Heng stood and followed him to the training grounds, it has been five years and only a few disciples he had trained with in the past were present at this moment and most of them seemed to have reached at most the third stage, some the fourth and only very few the fifth rank. Bai Heng had to again join the amateurs which was a complete insult for him, all his fellow disciples looked at him with either scornful, displeased or underrated expressions on their faces.

Some amateurs were even surprised,

“Why is he training with us? Isn’t he supposed to be at least in the second rank of the fourth stage now?” they questioned one another,

“Maybe he had some disabilities that’s why he joined this late”, the other suggested with a mocking tone.

Hearing all this Bai Heng’s heart stung, was he really that weird? I mean some portal celestials only had basic skills right? But he wasn’t any portal celestial, he was a noble so it’s understandable for others to be shocked by the fact that at his age he didn’t have any basic skills.

That evening, Bai Heng went back home wasted, he had managed to convince his master to take him back by showing his level of skills.

Of course he mastered all his previous ranking skills and surprised everyone on the ground, not training for five years but still showed his abilities fully was quite shocking even Zhao Jian never expected this much but to do that he had gone through some internal physical tortures since his training foundation was weak. He felt as if most of his internal body, organs where flipped up-side down, the exhaustion was unexplainable.

Elder Zhao punished him by telling him to clean the training grounds in a one year period of training not skipping a single day and he also only agreed to train him if he trains to the final highest ranking without delaying even a single minute of training that includes getting to the training grounds at 5a.m. sharp before anyone, Bai Heng accepted all these conditions reluctantly, he was well aware of his own intentions he only planned to train for some time and stop sooner after acquiring enough skills to impress the fairy maiden in the palace.

Entering the main hall, Bai Heng found his parents chitchatting about some issues, after noticing her son’s worn out appearance, Bai Ying Yue gasped,

“Aiyoo! Xiao Heng, Why are you so drained?”, she asked stepping forward to hold her about-to-pass out son,

“Ma, don’t worry I just got tired from training after a very long time”, Bai Heng explained.

His parents glanced at each other, “Did you go seek for Elder Zhao?”, his father questioned with a stern expression,

Bai Heng just nodded he was too tired to speak, his mother looked at him with pity,

“Just go and rest, don’t strain yourself too much it’s not good for your body”, Bai Ying Yue spoke softly to her son.

Bai Heng bowed to his parents and left to his room without uttering any other word, in the past he would complain to his parents about his master but today he left quietly after all he knew he was wrong this time the old man did him a big favour.

Back In the main hall Bai Heng’s parents sat silently after sending their son away to his room, as if a cold shiver ran down her spine, Bai Ying Yue felt nervous all over sudden, she looked at her husband who was staring at the floor with a frowning face,

“Honey, it has begun right?”, she asked with a worried voice, Bai Jianguo sighed with resignation,

“Am afraid so, it’s a difficult truth but it’s time we accept it”, he replied,

“Am scared, he won’t survive this”, he concluded and silence engulfed the whole hall again.

The fate they have been afraid of this whole time has now arrived and they had no choice but wait for the outcomes.

*************************************

In the dark room that was only illuminated with candle lights, five upright figures sat in U-shape set-up with the leader sitting at the platform above the floor level. No one could clearly tell the appearance of these people that attended this small gathering, except for the silhouette their faces were covered with darkness.

The leader spoke out loud with scaring voice that made his subordinates submit to him immediately,

“Why is there no news yet? Are taking my silence and patience for granted?”, he asked furiously.

The four subordinates were silenced by the uproar from their leader, after sometime one of them stepped in front of the leader and bowed while clasping his hand with respect,

“My Lord, please don’t be infuriated for this subordinate before you brought a good news”, he explained but his voice wasn’t steady due to fear, there was a small tremble as he spoke.

The leader gave him a ‘mmh’ sound as a go ahead for him to keep speaking, the nervous subordinate cleared his throat and proceeded explaining,

“There is current progress on the matter concerning those ‘ children of sacrifice’, my Lord”, he confidently explained , hearing this the leader stood abruptly like a lunatic he went down and grabbed the shoulders of the latter,

“Did you say ‘children of sacrifice’ what did you find?” he asked looking at his subordinate with expecting eyes, he let go of his subordinated and began laughing out loud like a lunatic,

“I have waited for fifteen years and finally there is news”, he spoke with excitement, he walked back to his post and sat attentively waiting for explanation,

“My Lord, there are no clear clues regarding this issue but we have a person who is directly connected to this case”, he added.

The leader made a confused gesture, “And who is that person supposed to be? Is it someone I know?”, he asked, the subordinate directly replied ,

“My Lord knows this person, he is the youngest son of the Portal Lords heirloom, Bai Heng”.

“That boy? Isn’t he just a playful kid that goes around the Empire doing nothing but chase beauties”, the leader asked. The subordinate released a small chuckle,

“Indeed my Lord knows this boy pretty well but there is more to him than what you hear so do not underestimate him at all”, he replied.

The leader just nodded at his subordinate’s explanation,

“So, how did you handle this?”, the leader asked.

“Don’t worry my Lord, everything is set into place and the plan is going accordingly soon we’ll get absolute results soon”, the subordinate convinced his leader.

*******************************************

Only one week left to the examination week, Da Chao was getting nervous thinking about the battle between his best friend and Gao Chen’s gang, he knew his friend was strong but he still wasn’t confident enough Guang Liu would be able to take the whole gang down. He knew how ruthless these bullies could be, ‘What if his best friend dies on that day?’ He thought.

No, no he should have faith in his best friend’s strength but still risk, a hard smack snapped him out of the wonderland he had been for a while,

“Ouch! What is wrong with you?”, he asked glaring at Guang Liu who just sneered,

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that? You have been in space like the whole day, What’s on your filthy mind?”, Guang Liu shot him a question but the latter said nothing just staring at his friend.

“Dude, don’t look at me that way it creeps a hell out of me and you’ll never be my type”, he said ironically,

Da Chao rolled his eyes with dismay, ‘and here I was worried about this asshole, forget it they can kill him if they want’, he giggled to his thought only to get another smack behind his head,

“Dude! Snap out of it! You are creeping Ying-er out”, Guang Liu spoke with an annoyed expression. Da Chao’s patience was now drained he smacked Guang Liu back,

“Can you stop being annoying? You are being no different from Gao Chen now, you know? Am freaking worried about you in that fight after the finals and all you become is a pain in the ass!”, he yelled and stormed out of the restaurant leaving Guang Liu and Ying-er speechless they knew well how short-tempered Da Chao was but he caught them off-guard this time.

“Liu-ge I think you should go after him and apologize I guess you know what he is like when he gets angry”, Ying-er suggested and Guang Liu ran out after his friend.

Ying-er stayed back finishing her lunch, “I hope they clear things, they always end up in quarrels”, she muttered to herself. Suddenly her phone rang her grandpa’s number popped on screen

“Hello!”, Ying-er replied to the call after long hesitation, the reaction coming from the other side of the call scared her,

“Ying-er your grandfather was taken to the hospital! Hurry and go see him!”, she recognized the voice of the caller it was the middle-aged woman working for them as her grand-father’s caretaker.

Ying-er’s grandfather wasn’t very old and was also very wealthy but had a few healthy issues that arouse from time to time, after the death of Ying-er’s parents all she was left with was her grandfather, the two loved each other and cared very much about one other.

After receiving the news Ying-er sent a short text to Guang Liu on what happened and headed to the hospital.

A short while later, Guang Liu and Da Chao arrived at the hospital and followed the directions they were given by Ying-er to her grandpa’s room, the moment they entered Old Wang was sitting on the hospital bed and chatting to his cheerful granddaughter. Ying-er noticed their presence and sprang from her sit, walked to them grabbed their arms and brought them closer to her grandfather.

“Grandpa, these are my university seniors and my closest friends”, she spoke joyfully, Old Wang gave out a soft laughter shifting his gaze from Da Chao back to her granddaughter and finally to Guang Liu, soon after looking at Guang Liu a low unnoticed gasp left his mouth but not Guang Liu nor his friends noticed the old man’s reaction towards him.

The three chatted for a while and got more familiar with each other but along the talk Old Wang’s continuously threw secret glances at Guang Liu which sometimes the latter kind of noticed that but he just thought it was because the old man wasn’t familiar with them at was being curious of him.

Later, Guang Liu and Da Chao left Ying-er alone with her grandfather a little while after they left her grandfather spoke out,

“Ying-er, that calm senior earlier…”, he just began and Ying-er understood who her grandfather was referring to,

“Ahhh! Liu-ge?! Does grandpa like him?”, she asked with a wide smile on her face, Old Wang chuckled at his granddaughter’s words,

“Yah, he is a nice child but ….”, he murmured with an extremely quiet voice that Ying-er couldn’t hear even a single word that left his mouth,

“Huh?! Grandpa what did you say?”, she asked with a pouty face, the old man smiled at her and replied to her,

“Nothing, just be nice to him, he may need someone one day”.

He said no more but Ying-er didn’t seem to pay any attention to her grandfather’s words she just grinned at him,

“Okay, Grandpa Ying-er will take good care of her seniors Liu-ge along with stubborn Chao-ge, he is looks mischievous but he is also nice and caring”.

She endlessly kept blabbering this and that about her seniors to her grandfather for the rest of the time she spent in the hospital.