Only after the battle ended did Ryu realize he has been holding his breath in. He slumped to the ground as he slowly exhaled and inhaled air into his body.

“To be honest I’m surprised you were able to enter the inner part of the cave. Unless one reaches a certain level, they are usually killed on the spot.” The lady spoke to Ryu with a smile. Turns out there is a second restrictive spell inside the cave? Ryu guessed.

“Thank you.” Ryu said nervously. “Who are you?”

“I can’t tell you who I am. Maybe until you reach the Divine Domain. You can call me… Fairy Lady for now.” The lady said, revealing a childish expression. Ryu blushed and looked away.

“You are lucky that this foolish human offended the daughter of the Moth Queen. If it wasn’t for our old friendship, I wouldn’t have personally came to take action no matter who begged hehe but I did get to stretch my limbs for a bit.” She said casually, her laugh just made her even more attractive to Ryu.

Daughter of the Moth Queen? Oh right we did encounter a fire moth. Ryu thought back. For the Moth Queen to beg, who is this Fairy Lady?

“Now kid I’m going back to my slumber, I’ll give you a few hints so listen up.” She sat right beside Ryu, making him blush a little. Now that there’s no danger, Ryu is more aware than ever how gorgeous she is.

“In reality techniques are just cunning ways of utilizing your Qi. Unless it’s a special technique, anyone can achieve it. As long as their foundation is established well. It’s more important to understand the theory behind a technique then to use it brainlessly. The reason I’m telling you this is because I can see that you are chosen by the Qi as if they want to serve you. That’s unheard of in a human… yes clearly you are human. Interesting…” She spoke as if they were friends for years already. Ryu took every word to heart.

“Cultivating methods are different, they might refine your Qi a certain way so only some techniques will be suitable for you. However, you need to be careful because some methods will limit your growth later on. To reach a new level, not only will you need to cultivate enough Qi to fill up your reservoir. You also need to refine it. Once you reach a new level, your reservoir will expand and you’ll have to repeat the process. Some people do it through meditation, some people do it through battles where the continuous usage and depletion or their Qi allows them to reach new heights.” The fairy lady explained as Ryu kept nodding. He was too shy to ask her questions like he did with Alexis.

“Also it’s very important to strengthen your body and your reflexes. Although Qi can enhance your body, if your body is weak then the effects are limited. I suggest you learn how to convert your Qi into energy for your body that way you won’t be dependent on food. Here eat this for now.” She opened her palms, revealing her white silky hand and a pink fruit flew towards them from the side. She handed it over to him. She could tell he was famished. Ryu hasn’t eaten anything since he left town. As soon as he bit into the fruit, a surge of Qi rushed through his body and he feels as if he has been revived. “The Qi you cultivate by yourself is much easier to refine, the problem is that it takes much longer to fill your Qi reservoir. If you receive too much external Qi from these fruits for example, you might be unable to refine it properly since they have their own unique Qi that’s not compatible with yours. Some people get stuck at a level for life since they can’t remove the impurities from outside Qi.

“Now listen up, it won’t be anytime soon but once you reach the master domain, you can have a specialization. Every other domain afterwards will grant you one specialization as well. A specialization is not something you can train in. It’s a skill you acquire based on your knowledge or mastery over a subject. You make a condition and a contract with your Qi reservoir. It could allow you to use normal but complicated skills instantly and continuously without thinking. However, that would be a waste. Real masters have specializations that can’t be achieved from regular techniques. Things like space and time can’t normally be affected by Qi can be when using specialization. The stronger the condition, the more powerful the specialization is. You can’t change the specialization once you establish it. My advice for you is to get a specialization that’s able to grow and compliment your other specializations hehe.” She spoke as she suddenly got up. Ryu was a bit reluctant to see her go but he remained silent.

“Right now you are so weak still, you are only at the peak of the Intermediary Domain. Let me see… here’s my bracelet. I’ve injected part of my Qi in there, it should last a little over three years. During that time you can train here and the beasts around won’t bother you. However you must leave after three years, the inner sanctum of this forest is usually for the king beasts or those that have reached Supreme Domain to reside in.” She handed him the bracelet as she stretched. It was a plain bracelet but at the same time the simplistic design made it beautiful.

“Your Qi represents who you are but I’ve never seen one so pure. In fact I’ve never seen a transparent Qi before except in one other person.” She spoke as she yawned and took a few steps. “Anyways, this little evildoer over there seems to have left some goodies for you. Take it.”

“Fairy lady, in the future I’ll certainly repay. Action speaks louder than words, I promise I’ll return this favor.” Ryu bowed in front of her. He was never comfortable around Alexis but with her, Ryu could sense a boundless sparkling Qi from within her. His instincts told him that she is truly a nice person. She only let out a small chuckled and disappeared when Ryu lifted his head.

Little boy, don’t be so impatient. If we are fated to meet again then we’ll meet again. That evil man has been around for hundreds of thousands of years and was only in the early stages of the Sovereign Domain. You can come find me back here after you have reached the domains after that. Also the cave contains the legacy of the ancient ones, it’s not something that concerns you so don’t go in again. A message entered his brain.

Hundreds of thousands of years? Ryu gasped, he instantly felt discouraged.

There are a few humans that cultivate, practice martial arts and reach the same stage of beings with “true power” so it’s not impossible for us to meet again. She sent one last message to Ryu as if she could see his disappointed face.

Only after a few minutes did Ryu remember the incident inside the cave and wanted to ask her about the small changes made within his body. He didn’t trust Alexis one bit but he trusted this mysterious Fairy Lady completely. However she was gone.

Ryu contemplated on what she said and agreed that he was indeed too weak. Before he left his hometown he never thought he could have been killed so easily. Although he was shy, he still had full confidence in his ability. After beating Guan-Xia and Guan-Jia, he thought he was powerful. He sighed to himself as he realized how foolish he was.

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He collected Alexis’s rings and started searching inside them. There were eight rings in total. These storage rings had a much larger capacity as well, each one were the size of the school’s library. One contained an unimaginable amount of gold coins and other minerals that Ryu assumed to be valuable as well. Another contained exotic food and countless racks of wine. One ring contained a garden of herbs, potions and pills. Ryu was ecstatic, there must be something here that can cure grandpa he thought. However, thinking about his grandpa he became depressed and considered if he should go home right away.

He opened the next ring and found shelves full of weapons and armors. These were not your everyday equipment, Ryu could tell the quality of each were extraordinary, and there was enough to arm a small army. The next ring contained a bunch of research that Ryu didn’t look too much into. It was the only messy storage room with a whole bunch of notes. The one thing that did catch Ryu’s eye is a stack of maps.

Next was what he was hoping for, it was a small library full of manuals and other valuable books. Everything was organized very well. Half the library was filled with Rank 1-5 skills. There was still plenty of Rank 6-7 skills. However, there is one shelf label Rank 8+ skills. Diamond Finger, 1000 Ton Drop, Celestial Palm Strike, Sword Fusion, Tai Chi Fist, Tai Chi Sword, Boundless Soaring… Next was another shelf labeled cultivation methods. There was volume one of Shaolin Yi Jin Jing, Wudang Way of Heavens, Consummate Demonic Realm, Transcendent Knight Spirit… 

Ryu was completely certain that Alexis’s was not an upright person now. All these manuals were definitely stolen or copied from other sects. Some are even from other continents. Which continent is he really from?

The last ring had shelves full of crystals the size of his fist, there were thousands of them. These crystals were all labeled and arranged chronologically. After browsing through them casually, Ryu decided to try out the first crystal. Just as Ryu suspected, by injecting it with his Qi a flood of information entered his head. The function of these crystals seem to be snippets of diary-like notes.

-         The twins from the Moonlight City failed to enter the ancient cave. After searching for a whole century I’m afraid it’s another failure. Perhaps fear tainted their souls, the next one should enter wholeheartedly.

-         Must start taking a few jobs or else boss will be mad. It would be troublesome if he sends someone to see what I’m up to.

-         Ultimate Paradise City .The Zhang Family has paid 10,000 gold for the assassination of the Jin Family’s heir so their heir could marry the governor’s daughter.

-         Encountered a remote village south of Ariel Blade City, no pure souls found though. Extracted all their souls.

….

The pattern was similar, most of them were assassinations. These crystals are labeled every two hundred years, Ryu is shocked beyond belief by how many evil deeds Alexis has carried out in just one crystal recording. The world isn’t as simple as he thought. However the next line was even more shocking.

-         Frost Fire City. Wang family has paid 100,000 gold for the assassination of seven blacksmiths in the nearby towns and the theft of their secret manuals

The Wang family was responsible for teacher’s ancestor’s assassination? It must be why the Inferno Fist manual was in Alexis’s possession. Ryu was outraged, he secretly vowed to carry out justice. He decided to look for the most recent events, why was Alexis back in Frost Fire town? This crystal was pretty amazing. Just like the storage ring, with a single thought you can navigate to a certain part instantly and you can even search by key words.

-         The Raging Thunder Sect gave birth to a girl with a special bloodline. Rumored to have a dual element attributed blood. Current market value 2 million gold.

-         Raging Thunder headmaster lives up to his reputation and took five of my blows however he’s doomed by my corrosive devil poison.

-         The daughter is not inside the sect. After interrogating a servant, it is revealed that the daughter ran off with her bodyguard after a dispute over arranged marriage. Suspected of hiding in one of the eastern cities.

-         Haven’t found the special bloodline in two years of search but found a boy with the purest soul I’ve ever seen so far. However, there is a Wudang expert in the city as well.

-         Managed to convince the boy to follow me. Faint lights could be seen from the cave entrance for a day, I believe this one has finally succeeded!

So things are starting to make a little sense to Ryu. It was a coincidence that Alexis was there in town. As for the four assassins that went after him, Ryu is certain that it’s the Wang family behind it. He must have been afraid that someone from the Inferno Fist School will learn the truth one day and seek revenge.

In fact Ryu’s guess was right on the spot. Kwong knew that Ryu was going to be someone extraordinary in the future, he even got special treatment from Wudang! His fear was that Ryu will one day connect the dots based on the weapons the Wang family sells. Of the many blacksmiths manuals he has stolen, the Inferno Fist’s methods were the best and is currently used by his blacksmithing business. Kwong couldn’t be sure if all the blacksmithing manuals were stolen or not, if someone knew the fundamentals and saw a weapon made by his blacksmiths then they would know instantly that it’s made by Inferno Fist method.

Ryu sighed to himself again. The world is really not a simple place. Without strength, you could really die at any moment. There are people like Alexis that slaughter for a living. There are so many people scheming against each other. And there are beings like the Fairy Lady that can simply turn the heaven and earth upside down.

The Fairy Lady is right. I must get stronger. Training here safely for three years will be very beneficial to me. On top of that Alexis’s has stolen so much material for me to use. My body also seemed to have undergone a transformation inside the cave. I feel as if I’ve received a new body and my physical injuries have completely healed. After three years, I’ll definitely pay the Wang family a visit. I also need to find a cure for my grandpa. Determination stronger than steel could be seen in Ryu’s eyes.