In a giant compound, two rows of barracks gave way to a massive training ground with a single building overlooking it.

On the training ground, many different men and women all of different shapes and sizes were exercising or hitting metal dummies with their fists or a weapon of sorts. On the balcony of the building overlooking the training ground, a man about 180cm tall looked down at the people training.

The man had messy brown hair and wine red eyes. The man gave off an imposing aura and despite his lean figure, he seemed like he had enough strength to wrestle a beast to the ground.

This man, if you hadn't already guessed, was Fang Xiong's Master and uncle, Master Long. Or known to most people as Commander Xiao Long or Commander Long. But unlike what Fang Xiong would usually expect to see on his Master's face, a serious frown was spread across Xiao Long's face.

He was pondering about the state of the world.

Not even a year after he'd left Fang Xiong to come back to the army, the Demon Dynasty started to push the limits of their diplomatic relations with both the Kin Empire and the Tian Empire. They wanted to expand onto the coasts of the continents of these empires and make colony bases.

Obviously, neither empire allowed this and a fight broke out causing the Demon Empire to throw a hissy fit and declare war on both the empires. The Fae threw their lot in with the Demon Empire and the Tian and Kin Empires, who already had a good relationship, allied themselves to fight against the other two empires.

This lead to a year of fighting, bloodshed, and slaughter on both sides. The fighting stayed away from civilian dense areas but Cultivators died on both sides by the dozen, and despite no civilians being killed, property damage and damage to the continents was going through the roof.

It got to the point where after a year, all 4 Empires came together and made a temporary truce while they started making a new man-made continent.

The new continent would be called the Battleground and would be made by all 4 Empires pooling their resources together and using Formation Masters to build the island. This took a year to make and wasted quite a bit of the resources of all the empires.

Xiao Long couldn't help but slam his hand down on the balcony rail in front of him. He couldn't believe the 4 empires agreed to this and even went as far as to use their soldiers like poker chips which they'd bet with on the Battleground to determine who won the war and who gets the other's territory or money.

He didn't quite understand how they expected it all to work but he was only a commander, an influential one, but still, only a commander who couldn't question the Empress of the Tian Dynasty.

Within the week he and all his subordinates would move to their new camp on the Battleground along with their allied Kin brothers and sisters. Xiao Long looked over the training ground again, before sighing and walking back inside thinking about how they were all being treated as nothing put private enforcers for the Empress.

. . .

Meanwhile, in an incredibly steamy room, a tall and broad-shouldered teen was doing some weird form of calisthenics.

He held his body in certain positions with his arms before then standing up and doing equally twisted and weird positions with his legs in squatting motions. Each motion made his muscles flex, showing off their perfection.

These perfect muscles covered his entire body in a shell of power, with each muscle perfect in its ratio of bulkiness and leanness; a perfect balance of strength and speed. The teen must have been about 186cm tall but with his back as straight as a spear, he looked even taller.

His wild black hair was tied in a ponytail behind his head and was covered in the water vapor from the air, just like the rest of his body.

Even behind the misty air, the boy's bright orange eyes shone like a pair of luminescent bulbs. Each breath he took in seemed to vacant the room of its available oxygen, like a giant beast, was breathing instead of a teenager.

The teen stopped doing his exercises and quickly washed his body with a few buckets of boiling water.

After doing this, he stood up and walked out of the room. Even doing this, his muscles worked in perfect unison, like a well-oiled machine, and it would cause whoever to look at it to wonder; How powerful would this teen be in combat?

As he exited the shower, as naked as the day he was born, he heard someone speak, "Xiong'er! Hurry up, your carriage will be here soon!" the teen, Fang Xiong grunted and hurried to his room.

Fang Xiong rushed into his room and put on some underpants and shorts before fishing out and putting on a loose fitting tank-top, not liking how trousers and shirts restricted his movements. He didn't put any shoes on for that same reason, they felt weird on his toes.

Looking at himself, Fang Xiong reviewed the progress he'd undergone during the 3 years.

He'd reached the 4th Layer of the Houtian Realm, and while this isn't that high of a cultivation, he'd found something out along the way.

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While Qi Cultivators only gained 500kg of strength per layer in the Houtian Realm, Ki Cultivators gained 700kg per layer. 200kg from the actual exercise needed to breakthrough and 500kg from them entering a new layer.

But for some reason, Fang Xiong gained 1000kg per layer. He'd worked out that he earned the same amount as other cultivators when he broke through to a new layer but he could gain a whopping 500kg just through training alone each layer.

So with his original strength before breaking through to cultivation being 1500kg, then 2500kg after, his strength was now 5500kg and he was now stronger than any Qi Cultivator at the 10th layer in the Houtian Realm in pure strength alone. Sadly he wasn't stronger than a Houtian 10th Layer Ki Cultivator, who would usually have 7000kg in strength at that cultivation.

This was good for him as he knew he'd always have an advantage even against Cultivators stronger than him but at the same time, it meant he'd have to find more and more extreme ways to breakthrough.

The weights his Master had given him only simulated up to the 10th Layer of a normal Houtian Cultivator, so as soon as he reached 7000kg in strength, the weights wouldn't increase in their heaviness and would soon become useless to him.

He worked out that by the time he broke through to the 6th layer, he would have to find a new way of straining his body or to just find heavier weights.

Fang Xiong shrugged his shoulders, he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, knowing there was no use worrying too much now and that he'd find a way to sort it out one day. He picked up 2 suitcases packed to the brim with tank tops, shorts, and underpants, as these were the only things he ever really wore whether he was training or not.

He didn't see the point in putting them in his spatial ring -- it was a waste of the important space in there -- and instead just carried them down the stairs as anyone else would.

He reached the bottom of the stairs only to see his Father pacing back and forth nervously. This sight caused a slight smile to spread on his usually stoic face, "I'm only going to an academy, father," Fang Xiong stopped before his smile disappeared and he spoke a bit more harshly, "I'm not like sister, I'll come back to visit you when I can."

Fang Shen's eyes shot over to his son before he reprimanded him, "Xiong'er, your sister is working hard to get stronger, neither of us can get angry at her for that. Especially you, you're just as bad when it comes to wanting to gain strength," Fang Shen's words caused Fang Xiong to avert his eyes, as he knew his father was completely right.

Fang Xiong, his eyes still averted, mumbled something, "Well it doesn't matter anyway, I'll be looking for her when I get into the academy anyway..." despite him mumbling, Fang Shen heard him and came up and put his hands on his boy's shoulders.

"Xiong'er, please...please don't let your first meeting between you and your sister for 3 years be a fight," Fang Xiong tried to shrug his father's hands off his shoulders but it proved to be useless as they stuck there like metal clamps, "Promise me, Xiong'er, promise you won't automatically try and fight her and that you'll at least try to be civil. Can you promise me that?"

Fang Xiong shifted uncomfortably, two sides of his mind fighting for what he should do. Fight his sister or see why she didn't want to come home.

He picked the latter in the end.

"Okay, Father, I'll try..." Fang Xiong looked his father in the eye to show he meant his promise. Fang Shen knew his son didn't go back on his word, so he clapped him on the shoulder before leading him outside.

"You'll no doubt pass the entry tests into the academy, Xiong'er, so don't worry about that," his father kept fretting about things like this even though Fang Xiong wasn't nervous in the slightest, Fang Xiong couldn't help but chuckle when he thought his father was doing this to placate himself and not Fang Xiong.

As they made it to the entrance of the Clan Estate, a luxurious carriage was surrounded by 4 other carriages just like how his sister's was. But unlike her convoy, his was made up of the best mercenaries his dad could afford to buy, instead of the subordinates his Master had from the Army last time.

Thinking of his Master, Fang Xiong wondered how he was doing.

Shrugging the thought off, Fang Xiong walked to the main carriage and opened the door before throwing his luggage in with little care. The multiple mercenaries gathered around the main carriage and bowed before doing a weird salute, "Young Master!" Fang Xiong wasn't sure how to react so he tried his best to smile in a reassuring way.

From the mercenaries perspective, a tall youth with a body of perfect musculature and a handsome face walked up to the main carriage and threw his bags in there. The men of the mercenary group looked at him in admiration, clearly knowing he packed a lot of strength in his body and would make a fine warrior, while the women of the group were all suddenly feeling thirsty as they looked at his well-built body and handsome face. Most of the men they were used to were muscular, yes, but they were very rarely as handsome as this youth.

So this led them all to be surprisingly respectful to him and saluted at him, what they didn't expect was his smile to look so predatory. His canines were slightly more pronounced than they were all used to and it slightly scared them.

Unaware of the slight fear to his smile, Fang Xiong walked up to his father to say goodbye.

As soon as he appeared in front of his father, his father pulled him into a massive bear hug. Due to their similar big sizes, they genuinely did look like bears hugging.

"Xiong'er, I know you wish to become strong but still," his father pulled away to an arm's length before looking at Fang Xiong with red eyes, "Look after yourself, okay?" his voice was cracking and the surrounding people could tell that he was using everything he had to not breakdown into tears.

Looking at his emotional father, Fang Xiong knew that he had to give him at least one thing less to worry about and nodded his head with an "Mhm" before they separated from their hug and his father gave him a wooden box, "It'll open in a month and it'll give you some knowledge on where you're truly from, my son," Fang Shen smiled before turning around and leaving.

Fang Xiong was shocked and decided to quickly put the box in his spatial ring for safekeeping. He wondered why he had to wait a month for the box to open but he figured his father knew best. Despite one side of him raging at the fact, his father had kept his heritage from him, the other side kept it from having any effect on his emotions.

Fang Xiong went and got into his carriage and before long they set off to the academy. It would be a long ride and it was still very early in the morning, so he decided to get some extra sleep in.

Lying down in his carriage, Fang Xiong felt the excitement burning in his gut. He'd finally be able to fight and go up against other people.

He so dearly wished to push past his limits and win, proving himself as a worthy person to his father, sister, and Master.