Even Ming Li was scared of the punishment Sappy will undergo, so he quickly pulled back his consciousness in Sappy temporarily and breathed deeply as he said "This will be rough for him, I hope he doesn't die. I invested a lot in this."

After several days, Ming Li checked Sappy's situation. What he saw was all of the five were severely wounded on their whole body, where several lacerations can be seen.

They were all bleeding, however, they still repeated the same words, where they begged the sculpture of the deity to forgive them for letting a direct bloodline die.

On the side, a man walked towards the five and looked at them with pity as he lightly said "Brother, Please endure for a bit. I will do my best to help you.". Then the man walked away slowly as if he was thinking about something deeply.

Two days passed, and the tall man didn't come back to hit the five seekers more. Instead, five seekers at the fusion realm came to escort the kneeling seekers away. "Seniors, please forgive us, we are ordered to assist you all towards the second punishment. Please come with us without resistance."

All of them stood up and allowed themselves to be held by the fusion realm seekers away from the sculpture. However, Sappy was left with a fusion realm seeker and guided at a different direction, while the seeker said. "Senior, you are lucky, It seems like your punishment is over."

Sappy was puzzled why his punishment was over since every single one of them was part of the group assigned to guard the son of Hu Shuosan.

He thought deeply for a moment as he gritted his teeth and murmured. "It must be brother."

Sappy was assisted up to his place, where he was left sitting on a wooden chair at the center of the room.

Slow steps came towards the room, then the door opened where a gentle looking person approached Sappy while saying. "How are you brother?"

Sappy looked at his brother and said "I am fine brother Siyu, I was only punished up to the first level so don't worry too much."

Then he looked at his brother with a bit of resentment and asked. "What did you do to help me get away with the remaining four punishment?"

"Do not worry about it. The important thing is that you are safe." Hu Siyu replied while opening a bag filled with various pills.

He then took out three pills and gave it to Sappy. "Brother consume this, so that you'll feel better. The first level of punishment is only physical torture so you'll recover after a few days.

"Do not feel bad for your companions, they will surely survive the remaining punishments."

Sappy gritted his teeth and consumed the pills, he did not ask anymore what his brother offered the tribe to reduce his penalty, since he does not have a good relationship with him in the first place.

"Rest well brother." His brother then walked out of the room, leaving him completely alone.

...

In a room above the tall wooden tower where the voice of Hu Tao came from, Hu Siyu stood silently while listening to the words of his master.

"Do you regret your decision to give up a spot for the tribal successors for your brother who resents you?" Hu Tao said with closed eyes while meditating crossed legged. His complexion was swarthy with thick brows, and was wearing a long tribal robe. And the three horizontal lines in his forehead which were three inches in length each was the most noticeable on his appearance.

"No Tribe Elder, I made my decision knowing all the consequences. I am ready to face it for my family." Hu Siyu replied calmly.

Tribe Elder Hu Tao looked at him deeply for a while, then said. "You really have the qualities of a tribe leader. It's a pity that you lost your spot for your brother. Hu Shoushan only agreed to pardon your brother because his second son would have one less great competitor in the five tribal successor seat.

"Also are you sure that you will agree once to any of his request besides from giving up your spot?"

Hu Siyu simply nodded with resolve and looked at Tribe Elder Hu Tao.

...

In the room, Sappy was still pained from the various wounds he got from the penalty. But, the pain this time was more tolerable than earlier, and the wounds started to heal. He can easily walk alone now, which was the reason why Ming Li now started to interfere with his decisions.

The new skill of the marionette art now allows Ming Li to interfere in the decision making of the person controlled without them knowing. They would do anything, thinking that it was their own decision that led them to that certain action, but in reality, Ming Li was the one controlling him the whole time.

He has now decided to study about the tribe in some scrolls in the room which he did not find weird at all even though he have already read these scrolls to the point of memorization.

In the cave, Ming Li sat crossed legged grinning while muttering "I can't believe this art is so useful."

Now that he had this skill, he easily learned the basics of the tribe and how it works. He realized that the location of the tribe was at the center of the whole plane, and it is located at a place which connects the south from the north region of the plane. The Golden Phoenix Order, Black Spider Guild, Crystal Leaf sect, and Yang Clan was located at the north of the plane.

On the other hand, the Li Clan, Zhao Clan,  Blue Dragon sect, and the Divine Earth Sect was located at the south. While Ming Li met the Ten Great Merchant Union on the north, he now knew that they were actually located on both north and south being the only group who have power on both region.

Also, the Holy River Tribe was the guardian of the river, and they are the one guarding the passageway between the two region separated by the holy river. Anyone who wish to pass through the only path, would have to get their permission, or else they would be treated with hostility by the whole tribe.

This was a task handed over to them by their ancestors, and up until today it was being maintained. The powers on north and south does not want to offend the tribe, since long ago, there was a legend that the Zhao Clan had wanted to pass through the river by force to go to the north region where they brought almost all of their elders. The fight was equal for a while, but the Holy River Tribe slowly began to be pushed back by the Zhao Clan.

However, it was at that moment, that the Tribe Chief activated their control over the space distortion in the area. Rendering seventy percent of the seekers including the elders to suddenly vanish in the area never to be seen again.

That incident caused the fall in power of the Zhao Clan for many generation until they have recovered up to this day, and also caused every power in the north and south to be wary of offending, or starting a fight with the Holy River Tribe.

Ming Li was amazed of this new information. Everytime he gets this type of new knowledge he can't help but want more.

Also now that he knew that he was near the Holy River Tribe, and met someone who was surnamed Zhao, he was sure that he ended up in the south of the plane.

The space made him travel so far by simply tearing of a space in it. He realized the greatness of being able to control space which could allow him to travel extremely long distances without much effort.

After a whole day of continuous reading, a sudden knock disturbed Sappy's focus. Then Hu Siyu walked inside the room while saying "Brother, have you recovered?"

Sappy simply nodded and didn't look at his brother in the eye.

"Then come with me." Hu Siyu said as he went out of the door towards the open space outside their home.

Sappy followed his brother outside with a serious expression.

Outside, Hu Siyu was staring at the moon while the wind was blowing his hair as he said "Brother, I will be out for a mission for a while. I am not sure when I will be back. So while I am gone, be sure to take care of yourself and avoid any trouble. 

"Also, I will be leaving you a skill behind. Watch me carefully and gain grasp the skill. This was a skill passed down by our parents to me before they died. They told me to pass it to you when you are ready. 

"I believe you are prepared to receive the skill from our parents."

Sappy's eyes face became more serious as he stared deeply at his brother. He haven't heard of the skill and had no idea what it was about, however, the way his brother told him made it seem really important.

Hu Siyu then stood still for several breaths until his whole aura became as peaceful as still water. No ripples can be seen on it and every natural energy surrounding him seemed to have stopped, then he said "The first step is to be calm as a water."

Then, he moved both of his hands doing a slow flowing movement as if guiding the energy around him to flow along with his hands. "The second step is to control the flow."

Suddenly, the flowing energy erupted into a wild force when the movement of his hands hastened. "Third step is to strenghten,"

While talking, a wild gleam appeared on his eyes as he said "Fourth step is to create.". Then water materialized from the natural energy as if it could tear metal to shreds.

"And last step is to release!" He said those words while quickly gripping his fist creating a strong explosive force around him, making the stream of water shot forward at unimaginable speed while constantly moving in the pattern it was moving before the release. Allowing, several blades of water to materialize in the flow which directly shot towards a cliff face shredding a portion of it to pieces..

Sappy stared in amazement of the destructive power of the art. He have never seen anyone in the tribe use such a powerful art. Also, his brother was only at the seventh level of the soul realm yet, he created a destructive force almost equal to that of the peak of the realm.

Even Ming Li on the cave was awed by the display of skill of Hu Siyu. He had never seen a skill activated perfectly and precisely as he have seen today.

While he was struck with awe, his eyes glowed with enlightenment as a strong desire to try the skill welled up in him. It was obvious that the skill could be activated without going to so much trouble, however, Hu Siyu purposely did it to help Sappy learn the skill.

"I have no copy of the skill that you could read and learn. However, with your talent, I believe you could grasp it by simply watching my movement."