A Decade had passed since the day in the secret cave and Li Wu had grown from an infant to a dashing young man. Usually, people could start cultivating at five years old, however, the white robed man didn’t give Li Wu any arts to cultivate but rather always told him, “In the future, you will understand why.”
Although this always annoyed the little Li Wu, he didn’t bother the old man. Since he could remember, this old man had always looked after him, however, he had made it explicitly clear that he was not his Kin. The boy had tried to probe something out of him but the old man always gave him a smile and said, “It will all become clear soon enough.” Since the old man never gave any clue, little Li Wu was also out of luck. Since he could not do anything about it, he spent his days wandering around the small city they were living in. Inside the city, there lived two Clans that always fought for supremacy.
Although they didn’t go to a full blown war, the younger generation was always competing and one expert after another always mysteriously disappeared. The enmity of the two Clans was known known even in the nearby cities. However, what puzzled everyone was that the old man had bought a mansion with a sizeable piece of land in the heart of the city, the exact land that the two Clans had always been fighting for.
The two Clans had quieted down after the arrival of the old man and neither Clan seemed to even breathe too loudly in front of the old man. The origin of the man was a complete mystery. He just appeared one day with the infant Li Wu in his arms. Where he came from, what his cultivation level was or even what his name was, those things were all a mystery. However, one thing was certain, neither of the two Clans dared to lift even a finger against the old man or the young boy.
Although the Ancient Bamboo City wasn’t an Imperial City, it was a city that had been standing for countless years. No matter how one looked at it, for a ten year old, it was a shameful matter to not cultivate, however, no one dared to make fun of Li Wu.
Although it was only a rumour, many people still felt a chill run down their spines when they heard it. The rumour had it that the Crown Prince of their Saint Brilliance Kingdom had at visited the city to meet the old man. However, he had not known when to act humble and it had ended with the Crown Prince being crippled. The Royal Family had been enraged by this and sent their Top Experts to bring in the old man, but with a single glance, these Top Experts had exploded into a bloody mist. After that encounter, the man had gone directly to the Imperial City and after that, the King had released a Decree that anyone that dared to scheme against the old man, should be prepared to face the entire Kingdom.
This statement had baffled many people but no one dared to question the Decree. In their eyes, the Saint Brilliance Kingdom was a superpower that could wipe their entire Bloodline off the face of the world with a sweep of their hand. Although everyone were puzzled to see the young Li Wu not cultivating, none of them dared to say anything. Everyone would always throw peculiar and questioning glances at him but no one dared to make it obvious.
Like this, Li Wu-s life had been full of laughter and happiness. However, one day, just as he was planning to go explore around the City again, his steps suddenly stopped at the gate of the Mansion. His escorting guards were all startled but before any of them could ask if everything was okay, Li Wu suddenly grabbed his head with both of his hands and released the most soul piercing scream that silenced the entire city.
At the same moment the scream started, the old man was already there and had established a protective ward around him. Following the scream, all of the top experts of the City rushed to the mansion only to be met with the old man’s cold gaze. It was obvious without a word that should any one of them step even half an inch closer, they would die without a corpse. As cold sweat started running down their backs, the old man withdrew an ancient looking sword from his Spacial Ring as he stared at the young Li Wu inside the ward with ice cold eyes.
Everyone were clueless as to why this unfathomably strong old man was looking at the young boy as though he was facing the strongest nemesis in his life. When the young Li Wu finally stopped screaming, his hands limply fell to the side as he looked at the sky with lifeless eyes. Time seemed to stop as the old man’s aura began to grow. The boy’s eyes suddenly changed into a profound and complex gaze as he looked at the old man.
The old man said in a freezing voice, “The Heavens my fall but….” As he intentionally ended the sentence there, his gaze was as cold as ice as he look at Li Wu. Li Wu stood up and looked at the old man with a cold smile, “The Twelve Judges will shoulder it.” Hearing this, the old man sighed heavily in relief as he dispelled the ward. With a single glance at the young Li Wu, all of the top experts of the city felt cold sweat run down their backs. That gaze was no longer that of the innocent young boy that always ran around the city. His gaze now….
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It contained a myriad of things but what people recognized the most was that his gaze now contained the coldness they had never seen before. His gaze alone was domineering enough to make them all gulp. If Gods blocked his path, he would slay Gods, should it be a Devil, he would slaughter the Devil.
“This brat…. He is not of this world.” It was unknown who had said it but all of the experts present could not help but nod inwardly at this statement. The old man then glanced at them and waved his sleeve. Seeing this, the experts immediately understood that this was their signal to scram and all of them returned to their dwellings. The two looked at each other for a moment before the old man threw Li Wu a black ring. This was Li Wu’s Cosmic Ring that he had entrusted to the old man before.
Li Wu accepted the ring and just as he put the ring on his finger, the old man said, “My part of the promise is done. I will now return to the Sleeping Dragon World. I await the day you march back up there with your back straight.” Li Wu gave a wide smile as he said, “I have passed the biggest hurdle, awakening my memories, now all that remains is to once again climb over a mountain of corpses to the top.” Hearing this, the old man gave a slight nod before he slowly rose up and waved his hand.
An earth shattering vortex appeared in the sky and the old man gave Li Wu one last look as he said, “We shall await for your return. Our Myriad Realms Domain has been too dormant recently…. The other Domains seemed to have started to think that our Domain has become a pushover.” Li Wu gave a nod and said nonchalantly, “Even a paper tiger would dare to bear his fangs in front of a dying lion. Although our Domain can’t be counted as one of the strongest, we are no dying lion either.” Hearing this, the old man let out a chuckle and said, “Well said, we are waiting for you at the top old friend.” With that the old man flew into the vortex and the vortex slowly closed.
When the Vortex had completely closed, Li Wu looked at the spot for a moment before he turned around and walked inside. Since this event had alarmed the entire mansion, all of the servants and guards were gathered in the courtyard. As their gazes followed the completely changed Li Wu, Li Wu gave a deep sigh and said, “From today onwards, I will be the Master of this Mansion. If anyone wants to leave, they are free to do so.” Hearing this, all the servants looked at each other in puzzlement and the Head Steward finally said, “We have watched Young Master Li grow since before Young Master could speak. Young Master has always been kind to us and Old Master had taken all of us in, not caring one bit about our backgrounds. We are deeply in debt of the Li Clan.” Hearing this, Li Wu gave a smile and said, “Everything will stay the same as before, however, don’t think that because Da Hui left, we are with no means to hold this ground.” Hearing this, all of the servants put on a wry smile. Actually, none of these servants were weak.
The guards were all at the Core Formation Realm and the Captains were at the Peak of the Realm. The Commander of the Guard was at the Early Nascent Soul stage, the same stage as the Head Steward. Inside a Mortal World like the Ancient Saints World, Nascent Soul level Experts were the highest level Experts. Once one passed the Mortal Tribulation and ascended to the Immortal Realm, they would have to leave this world. Mortal Worlds could not withstand the presence of an Immortal.
However, as with everything, there are always exceptions. By using certain Artefacts or Arts, one can seal their cultivation to the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm and descend to the Mortal Worlds. However, since they couldn’t cultivate this way, people rarely used this method. This was typically only used when someone was hiding from enemies or when someone at the end of his lifespan with no prospects of advancing his or her cultivation sealed their real cultivation and descend to a Mortal World to either find enlightenment or look after a branch of their Clan or Sect.
Besides these invincible existences who have travelled further on the path of cultivating, Nascent Soul Experts were the Ancestor level people in Mortal Worlds. These two, the Guards Commander and the Head Steward were both people that were on the level of Top Experts in this Ancient Saints World.
No matter which Sect or Clan would welcome them with open arms to be their Ancestors. Golden Core Realm Experts were the Elites of the World and they were Elder level characters across all of the Mortal Worlds. Li Wu’s Mansion had nearly a thousand people as servants and guard. Besides the two Nascent Soul Experts, two thirds of the rest were all at the Golden Core Realm. No matter which Ancient Sect or Clan saw this line up, they would be extremely reluctant to start a feud with this Mansion.
The whole Kingdom was too focused on the old man with unfathomable cultivation and they actually forgot to check the strength of the rest of the people in the mansion. Now that the old man had left, the Mansion closed it’s doors for a while until the glamour outside would die down a bit. The protective formations on the Mansion were personally established by Da Hui, a person that had reached the highest levels of cultivation in the Domain. Unless it was someone that had managed to pass the second, Earth Tribulation, they would be unable to even as much as to scratch these protective formations.
A week passed by since Da Hui had ascended to the higher Realms. Li Wu was talking with the two Nascent Soul Experts of the Mansion about the Mansions future and what they were going to do from now on.
Suddenly, their conversation was cut short when suddenly, a huge boom resounded on their Front Gate. Hearing this, Li Wu’s face darkened as a shout followed, “Brat of the Li Clan, get out here right now.”