After exchanging goodbyes with the senior agents, Li Ao opened up his mission interface.

The word ‘Retreat’ had turned into ‘Return’ at some point.

It was weirdly convenient how the system acted at times like these. He half-feared that he would be rudely teleported out once the army of ghosts had been killed.

Appearing in his room with a flash, Li Ao saw a bald head in his face.

‘’Huh?’’

Li Bo, wearing a dark robe, cast him a terrible glare. Li Ao could see his own reflection through the pupils.

‘’Grandpa, howdy—’’

‘’What grandpa you retarded boy!’’

Swiping his hand, the man cast an invisible grasp on Li Ao. The waves of Qi gathered and rotated him in the air like a ball.

‘’Hey, no, don’t do that, my stomach is sick—’’

‘’Shut up!’’

‘’Why does everyone in this family have anger issues!?’’

Li Bo froze Li Ao mid-air, smacked his nape, then returned to rotating him. ‘’Shut up!’’

‘’...you bully!’’

After a few seconds, the old man breathed out in relief and put him down on the bed.

‘’Your shoulders are pierced.’’

‘’Yeah, just recently.’’

‘’Ghost Qi runs rampant in your soul and meridians.’’

‘’I know, I know, terrible stuff!’’

‘’...your joints are bent and broken.’’

‘’Yeaaaah, I just worked them a little.’’

Li Ao, through his improved affinity, felt Li Bo’s nose burn the air around it..

Just as he sensed it, heaps of steam poured out of Li Bo’s nostrils.

‘’Your muscles are torn, skin is burnt, ribs are broken, and you sit here like it is nothing!?’’

‘’What?’’

‘’What what?’’

‘’What, I said.’’

‘’What!?’’

‘’Grandpa, I’m okay!’’

‘’How!?’’

‘’See—’’

Li Ao clapped twice with a smile.

When their sound died, a stream of bronze blood poured down his shoulders.

‘’...’’

‘’...’’

‘’I swear I’m okay. I’ll go and get treatment first, then—’’

‘’Then you will go back again? Do something even more dangerous?’’

‘’No no.’’

‘’Will you?’’

‘’Not yet, at least...’’

‘’Li Ao!’’

Li Bo slapped him.

Li Bo slapped his face without any cultivation base.

Feeling the sting, slowly turning his head, Li Ao cast a ridiculous gaze at his grandpa.

‘’What—’’

‘’Don’t begin with your whats and tomfoolery! When will you be serious!?’’

‘’I overlooked it once for the sake of your grandaunt! I overlooked it the second time when Anjing told me he cured you!’’

‘’But I—I will not overlook it again!’’

‘’What are you fighting against!? What are you fighting for!? What are you risking yourself for!? I don’t know what you are doing, Ao’er, but it is not right for you to do!’’

‘’You are young! You are talented—you are born into a good family! If you want strength or wealth, you can get them from us! I will be happy to provide so!’’

‘’Yet why are you so intent on hurting yourself!? Why are you so wilful!? Why are you ignorant of that fact!?’’

Heaving, Li Bo saw his grandson lower his head. He didn’t know if Li Ao’s shoulders trembled from shame or pain.

‘’Ao’er, there is no need for you to be hurt.’’

‘’...’’

‘’Look at me.’’

Li Ao kept his head lowered.

‘’Ao’er.’’

Li Bo crouched before his grandson and looked at his twisting face.

There was no trace of his slap.

‘’You said you needed time.’’

Li Ao softly nodded ‘’...I did.’’

‘’You said I needed to wait a few years.’’

‘’Right.’’

‘’How many years is that for you?’’

Hearing his whisper, Li Ao raised his head.

Li Bo seemed older beyond his years for most of his time.

Yet, now, even Li Ao could see him grow older by a few more years. Wrinkles flashed in and out of existence on his forehead.

‘’Last time, you were out for half a month, but returned a decade older to me. Next time, how old will you be?

''When I turn my head away, how many years will you be gone?’’

‘’I don’t care about knowing about your opportunity. I don’t want your opportunity. I don’t need your opportunity to support our family.’’

‘’I don’t need you to be anything, something.’’

‘’Please listen to me. I only need you safe and healthy until you grow up.’’

‘’How long will that be, grandpa?’’

Li Ao took a deep breath.

‘’I’m already over twenty, grandpa. When will I grow up in your eyes? When I go to the Four Saints Sect? When I reach Core Formation? Nascent Soul? Soul Formation? Will it be when I’m as old as uncle Anjing or Xuanhe?’’

‘’When will it be?’’

‘’Someday.’’

That simple word froze him. His grandpa’s soft voice made Li Ao swallow the erupting complaints in his heart.

‘’You will know it when the time comes. But that time is not now.’’

‘’...you don’t know it, either.’’

‘’Of course—Hell, I didn’t know it when it was my time!’’

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Snorting, Li Bo stood up and patted his shoulder. It felt almost assuring and warm.

‘’You cannot force responsibility. It has to come naturally.''

''How do I get prepared for it, then?''

''You don't. It comes, and you take up the mantle. Or do not.''

''Is that even a choice?''

''It might be. Don't dwell on it for now. Instead, tell me. Why are you so intent on using this...thing? What do you want from your opportunity?’’

Li Ao scratched his cheeks and realized his body felt a lot less pain.

‘This cheeky geezer.’

‘’...I have a master.’’

‘’You do?’’

Li Ao nodded and took out Bubbles. An understanding glint passed Li Bo’s eyes.

‘’She is related to a place. And this place is destroyed by powerful demons.’’

‘’Those beasts you brought were reared by them.’’

Li Ao nodded. Bubbles, seemingly still sick, went back into the spatial ring to eat some metal.

‘’How powerful?’’

Li Ao thought for a moment.

‘’Grandpa, how strong is someone who can create life?’’

Li Bo’s smile fell. Closing his eyes, he made a hand-seal and pointed down.

Li Ao’s vision swam black and white, then found himself in the dark family tomb lit by orange candle light. They were, however, sitting at an unfamiliar floor, most likely the third-level of the mausoleum where ancient ancestors slept. Dozens of blue-blinking formations covered the walls like spider-webs.

Just staring at them made his mind dizzy.

Or the lost blood. He was in a worse shape than he thought.

Planting his feet, Li Bo cast a green and blue barrier over them, which turned transparent and disappeared.

‘’Your question...’’

Li Ao understood.

‘’If what I heard is true, they killed the second one.’’

‘’The second?’’

‘’First one died to create life. Other was murdered with some human involvement.’’

‘’Demon-Bloods...’’ Li Bo frowned.

Demon-Bloods were those colluding with demons, or spawns of demons.

They were not the same as Demonic cultivators. Demonic cultivators were called Demonic to shame their unorthodox and evil ways.

Even they wouldn’t collude with demons, however.

‘’Ao’er...I won’t say it twice.’’

‘’I know! I know what I’m doing, I can swear!’’

‘’Can you?’’

Li Ao patted his chest. ‘’I swear on mom and dad.’’

Li Bo let out an exhausted sigh.

‘’Very well.’’

Sitting on their knees before the dusty tombs, the duo spoke in whispers out of respect.

Li Bo cast his eyes to the ceiling. His eyes seemed to pierce through layers of floors to look upon the sky. ‘’There is no cultivation stage that can create life.’’

‘’There isn’t?’’

‘’No. That right is reserved for special beings. They all, however, belong to the same level of cultivation.’’

A red light sparkled on Li Bo’s wrinkled finger and drew several words in the air.

Qi Condensation.

Foundation Establishment.

Core Formation.

Nascent Soul.

Soul Formation.

Ascendant.

Divinity.

Legendary.

Mythical.

Nine stages of cultivation.

‘’Only special beings at the Mythical stage can create life. They are the pinnacle of the Universe and all of them lord over a Realm.’’

‘’Mythical is the limit?’’

‘’It is.’’

Heavenly God, then, was a Mythical-level space creature?

His special being status was given from his birth, then?

‘’The esteemed being you talked about, do you know their name?’’

‘’Heavenly God. Or Immeasurable Sun, that’s his title I think.’’

‘’...it’s not her.’’

‘’Who?’’

Li Bo swept a hand at air. The glinting words turned into motes of purple light and dispersed.

‘’The one who stopped the Demonic Realm.’’

Li Ao’s jaw dropped. ‘’Wait wait wait! What about the Four Saints Sect? You said they did it!’’

‘’How could they? How could we?’’ Li Bo sighed. ‘'Ao'er, you need to understand— we are young. Too young!’’

‘’Compared to the rest of the Universe and Demons, the Four Mountains Realm is nothing! We are a higher realm indeed, but we are still incomparable to some lower realms.’’

‘’We were cut off from the Universe for tens of thousands of years. Our legacy as humanity is only one thousand and five hundred years old. Beasts? Two thousand years old!’’

‘’Even Dragons. They can only trace back to four thousand years ago!’’

‘’...Why?’’

''We still don't know. However...''

Eyes closed, Li Bo smiled, reminiscing some memories.

‘’Forty years ago, it was an out-of-realm stranger who changed all of it.’’

‘’He rallied me, Paragon, his disciples, your grandaunt and other noble clan heads, as well as the thought to be extinct Wei Family to form the Great Wei Empire. We joined hands to destroy the internal conflict within the human realm.’’

‘’You know how those days were. Duels on streets, disconnected cities ravaged overnight by beasts and demons. Everyone was so preoccupied by their selfish interests...if not for the Paragon, we long would have returned to being dragons’ slaves, if not worse.’’

‘’Paragon...’’

The mysterious past of the Four Mountains.

The living embodiment of purity, goodwill, kindness, mercy.

Once an enlightened being who brought world-wide peace, now an urn of ash displayed in Four Saints Sect’s Museum of Tragedy.

A cultivator who lived for people, worked for people, and died for people. People, in his eyes, encompassed all living beings.

That was why he was called Enlightened.

‘’The stranger later formed the Four Saints Sect to gather beasts and dragons, brought unknown knowledge to help the common populace, and called the Mythical-Being, Queen Mother Divanam.’’

‘’She broke the realm-isolating seal placed upon our world.’’

‘’Needless to say, without outside intervention, all life would long have gone extinct from the last demon invasion.’’

Li Ao slowly absorbed the information as he thought.

‘Queen Mother Divanam.’

Realm Lord of the Heaven and Earth Paradise of Queen Mother.

‘An out of realm traveler.’

Most likely a senior Universal Agent.

‘How closely related are we?’

Heavenly God’s Above, Six-Fold Immortal World, Heaven and Earth Paradise of Queen Mother, then the unknown Divine Temple of King of Kings.

These four realms were much too closely related to each other, then also close enough in distance to travel without using the agent system.

Li Ao knew the system attached great importance on the distance when pricing certain functions.

Hence, he had an inkling that, though great in number, the true distance between Four Mountains Realm and other realms were too close for comfort.

They were practically living in the middle of a giant whirlpool of myths and tragedies.

Weight found its way upon Li Ao's already tired heart.

‘’...we digress.’’

Shaking his head, Li Bo cast a grave look at Li Ao.

‘’How is your master related to this place?’’

‘’Her forging techniques are somewhat derived from Heavenly God’s heir.’’

Li Ao found Heavenly Son's techniques a bit too familiar for his liking. It didn't take long for him to understand Fan Yueyin didn't just reference his notes.

Very possibly, she knew more than mere notes of his.

‘’...what kind of a master do you have? How did you even get ‘her’ interest?’’

Li Ao showed a brilliant, handsome smile. ‘’Well, she said I was pretty unique.’’

‘’Your kind of retardation is indeed unique...’’

‘’You!’’

‘’I know when you lie, brat!’’

Sighing, Li Bo rose to his feet.

‘’Then you won’t stop.’’

‘’...I’ll take another break. When I understand everything, I’ll do as you ask.’’

‘’Is that so.’’

‘’Hey, I’m doing my best to compromise, alright!?’’

‘’You dare compromise with your grandfather!?’’

After being smacked on his nape, Li Ao found himself back in his room.

His grandpa floated towards the dawn-lit window.

‘’Grandpa!’’

The old man cast him a serene look. ‘’...what is it?’’

‘’I don’t exactly control it.’’

‘’What?’’

‘’Going away, I mean.’’

‘’I assumed...’’ Li Bo shook his head.

‘’Well, if you can’t control it, why not ask your master about it?’’

Saying his piece, Li Bo flew out.

Li Ao remained seated on his bed, dazed.

That was a choice, too...

Though his grandpa misunderstood the extent of his system, he could point out a very simple solution to his suffering.

Why not just ask Fan Yueyin?

Why not?

Gritting his teeth, Li Ao sat there, clenching his fists. Scenes of the chase, words upon the books and notes, lines from the hymn—they all echoed within his mind. The armored spirit, songstress, the one-eye demon, the first ghost he saw...

After a few minutes, breathing out, he stood up and checked his wounds.

Most grave ones had been stopped by a trace of purple flames. However, this purple flame Qi could only prevent their deterioration.

Noticing this, smiling, Li Ao walked out of his room and made his way towards Li Anjing’s pagoda.

On the corridor leading to the ponds, he stumbled upon the drinking Li Nan.

She cast a look at him, paled, and a shower of flames blasted her wine bottle into ashes.

‘’AO’ER, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!?’’

Li Ao glanced down at his bloody clothes.

‘’Fuck, I forgot again...’’