The beast who happened to be the guardian of the mountains acknowledged Liu as a noble mortal and allowed him passage through the mountains. The guardian gave him a map, it seemed unreadable to him but he took it nonetheless. He continued in his path through the mountains. He climbed a tree to spend the night as he needed to be out of the reach of dangerous animals that infest the land below.

He thought of the path he would have to take and he looked at the map once again. He had never seen held a map before. This was his first time seeing one and it had something that he needed but he remembered what his father always said. "No man ever gets lost on a straight path." Liu took those words to heart and went to sleep for the night.

He woke up the next day on the floor, he looked around and saw that he wasn't on the tree anymore.

"Maybe I fell down." He thought to himself and got up. He looked into the bag which was slung around his shoulder and saw that the map was still inside it and he continued on his journey.

As he walked through the mountains, he saw a settlement that was hidden in the forest. His grandfather had never mentioned anything like this to him before.

He walked into the village with absolute confidence. The villagers reared up their heads to observe the stranger in their midst. He had never once been seen in the village before and now he was here. The village head was summoned immediately and he arrived swiftly to the scene.

Liu was already surrounded by other villagers at the time the village head got there.

Qin Ji who is the village's current leader, moves through the crowd and walks toward Liu who tries his best to calm the other villagers down.

"State your business here." Qin says to Liu who raises up his hands in surrender. At that moment, Qin sees the mark on Liu's hand and knew what purpose the young man came for.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Come with me." Qin said to Liu and the both of them walked away towards Qin's inner chambers.

"Thank you sir." Liu said to Qin who was already sitting down and waiting for Liu to do the same. Liu didn't sit down and instead stood upright waiting for what Qin had to say to him.

"You can sit down." Qin said, making a gesture to the bed where he himself sat down as well. He cleared his throat as soon as Liu sat down and then he began. "That mark on your arm. I've seen it before." He said to Liu.

"You have?" Liu asked perplexed at Qin's words.

"Yes. I remember it from the war that happened a long time ago." Qin said to Liu which shocked the young traveller. His grandfather had told him that the mark appeared once every thousand years and here this man was telling him that he had seen it in the previous war.

"How old are you sir?" Liu asked. He looked at the man who was definitely aging but he didn't look that old.

"I knew you'd ask that question. Seeing as you'd know how many years it takes for that mark to appear." Qin said and then sighed. "I'm 1060 years old " Qin said which shocked Liu.

He has seen someone who survived from the previous war and that person is right I front of him and speaking to him no less.

"How did you survive the previous war?" Liu asked. He stared at Qin who cleared his throat and began speaking.

"Come in Jian." Qin said which shocked Liu. He didn't even stop to think that someone else might be listening to their conversation.

"What do you want?" Qin asked.

"Nothing sir. I just wanted to see what your guest looked like." Jian said shifting his gaze towards Liu. "The others told me you took him to your inner chambers the moment you saw him and they feared that it might be a charm."

"Those sort of things won't work on me." Qin said and then turned to face Liu. "This is our greatest warrior. His name is Jian." Qin said as he introduced Jian to Liu.

"And you are?" Jian asked as he offered his hand to Liu. "I'm Liu Xhikang." Liu said and the name resonated in the mind of Qin who was part of the battle a thousand years ago.

"Xhikang?" Qin said. His tone of speech was shocking to both Liu and Jian.

"What is it sir?" Liu asked Qin. He already had an idea of what Qin was going to say but he asked anyway.

"I've heard the name before. A thousand years before. It's the name of the man who lost in the all out war against the gods." Qin said to Liu. Jian heard it and was shocked. He stared at Liu wondering who the boy was.

"How did you know him?" Liu asked. He wanted to get as much information on his ancestry as he could.

"I fought against him in the war." Qin said which shocked Liu. The man who was helping him now was once an enemy to his ancestor.

"How?" Liu asked. Jian was confused at the way the conversation was going back and forth.

"I fought on the side of the gods." Qin said. "We won the war but the gods betrayed those of us who lived in the mountains."

"And now that you've seen the mark on my arm, what do you want from me? Are you going to kill me so I don't go on the same path as my ancestor?" Liu asked his tone of speaking changed and it showed a hint of hostility.

Jian stood in front of Qin to protect him from what seemed like an attack from Liu, but nothing happened.

"No I won't." Qin replied Liu. "Infact, I'm going to help you."