“How are your days going?” Li Chyou asked him as they walked side by side. The First Young Miss had grown up in the two years he hadn't seen her. Of course, that was just in mannerisms. She was still 14 years old.

The youth smiled lazily, “Nothing much goes on.”

“Did you miss your Young Miss?” she grinned mischievously at him.

“When you left, almost everyone was saddened by your departure.”

Li Chyou made a thoughtful sound and asked, “Really?”

“Of course, who wouldn’t miss the spoiled First Young Miss?”

“I-I’m not spoiled anymore!” she hurriedly denied his words.

“I believe you,” the youth nodded. He changed the topic, “Well, Young Miss, I feel you’ve gotten stronger. How are things going in the Sect? Is anyone bothering you?”

“It’s…” Li Chyou sighed before continuing, “both rewarding and tough. To a certain extent, everyone’s scheming against each other. The resources aren’t enough for everyone to receive equally. The more promising you are, the more resources are allocated to you.”

“Is First Young Miss really that surprised about this?” the youth raised an eyebrow. It was afternoon and the sun was setting with a deep orange hue.

“N-No, I’m just- it just feels a bit unfair, you know?”

“But haven’t you taken advantage of this unfairness before?”

“Huh?” she stared at him with wide eyes. She had already stopped in her tracks.

Yet the youth walked a few paces before turning around. “Such kind of unfairness exists everywhere. It even exists in our clan as well.” The youth looked calm as though whatever he was saying had nothing to do with himself.

Before she could ask, he continued, “Young Miss is the daughter of the Patriarch. Hasn’t that allowed you to enjoy more resources than those not in your place?”

“B-But certainly my father understood my talent,” Li Chyou was stumped by his question. “If I was untalented then he wouldn’t have spent so much on me.”

“Isn’t that a bit arrogant? Boasting about your talent? If the allocation of resources really depended on talent, then those Core Disciples from your Sect have the right to get more resources than you. And also, regardless of whether you have talent or not, the Patriarch would spend his wealth on nurturing you. Actually, if it was the latter, he would’ve spent even more money to help you grow.”

“It’s because he loves me, isn’t it?” Li Chyou mumbled quietly.

“Exactly,” The youth smiled. “No parent would see their children be bullied, and that’s especially so in this world where the strong prey on the weak.”

Li Chyou seemed hesitant but after a while, she finally got the courage to ask, “W-Would that be the same for your parents?”

“Who knows?” The youth turned around and started walking again. “It’s not like I know who they are anymore.”

Li Chyou quickly started walking again and went beside him. As they walked side by side, she asked under the orange hue of the setting sun, “Are you happy?”

The youth turned his head to look at her. A language that he seemed to have kept buried in the deep recesses of his memory resurfaced. Was it because he had forgotten or did not have the time to remember it?

Or was it because he felt like he shouldn’t remember it? The youth smiled as he looked at her.

“אני אולי לא שמח אבל אני רגוע.”

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Why am I dreaming of this now?

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The youth opened his eyes. Everything was still blurry and he couldn’t make sense of his surroundings. His long hair that he always kept in a ponytail was stuck to his body. Just like his hair, every inch of his body was drenched.

The youth used his hands to push off the ground as he was lying face-first on the ground. As soon as he rose a bit, he coughed out some water along with the bits of food he ate this morning.

After he was done, he slowly stood up. His body felt weak and he wobbled with every step. He looked around and realized something. He was in a cave and it was dark all around. However, his eyes had already adjusted to it somewhat. So, he could at least walk around without stumbling.

He looked back at where he had woken up. It was on the shore of some underground pond. The pond was filled with azure blue water. The youth decided not to think about it. Even with his developed vision as a Qi Refinement Cultivator, he was barely able to see through the darkness not to mention looking around underwater.

The youth turned around. Opposite the pond, the cave extended into a pitch-black tunnel. However, the youth did not dive into the water nor did he go through the tunnel. He took off his wet clothes and squeezed the water out of them. After 10-15 minutes, he put the now wrinkled clothes on his body again. They were still wet but not drenched and dripping water like before.

He decided to rip a part of his cloth belt and use it to tie his hair up. There was something sticky on his lips and underneath his nostrils. He wiped at it with his fingers. In the dark, he couldn’t make out what it was but just from its consistency, he guessed that it was blood.

He must’ve hit the river too hard and got a nosebleed from the impact. The youth wiped the blood off. After he was drier, he started heading further into the tunnel. He didn’t dive into the pond again; he was in no state to do so.

As he walked slowly without balance, the fall made him feel exhaustion to the point where he was about to collapse. However, he did not stop being cautious. But in the end, it felt like this cave hadn’t seen any sort of life in the past century or so.

It was eerily silent. The youth shifted uneasily. He’d be a bit happy even if there were bones from dead animals. At least that way, he’d know that something was lurking inside. But now he didn’t know what to expect.

The tunnel seemed to stretch on for miles. The youth suspected that the darkness might be affecting his judgment. According to his biological clock, it has only been 20 minutes, so why did it feel like he was walking for hours?

After ten more minutes of walking, he finally saw a soft light glowing which marked the end of the tunnel. These thirty minutes felt mindboggling and disorienting.

As the youth passed the end of the tunnel, he came into another enclosure. The soft orange light he saw was from a solitary torch placed above a flat rock. On the flat rock was a book.

What the…? The youth looked at the book with a strange gaze. For being in an uninhabited cave, the book looked remarkably new. There was not a speck of dust on it.

The youth looked around vigilantly. There was no other pathway leading to this enclosure. The tunnel was the only way back. His vigilance didn’t lessen anymore by this fact.

Without anything else to do, the youth cautiously dragged his body over to the body. Despite how tired he felt, he was ready to evade with all the remaining energy in his body.

The closer he got, the heavier pressure he felt. This was the first time he felt this kind of pressure. It was not the oppressing aura of someone stronger than you, the beastly aura of strong Deviant Beasts nor the sinister aura of Murong Fang. If the youth was to word it, it was the pressure of a Monarch. An absolute being, someone you can’t help but recognize as above you. He felt the regality and majesty irradiating from the book. It was a pressure that tried to make him kneel.

The youth disregarded the ever-increasing pressure. Every step became heavier. He could tell that this was from the pressure and not his exhaustion.

Soon, he was right in front of the book. He could smell a faint herbal and medicinal scent from it. The fragrance seemed to slowly reinvigorate his tired bones.

He took a deep breath and looked at the book. It was dark green in color or maybe it was green in color, he couldn't tell clearly. There were a few characters on the cover. It read-

“Monarch of Hell’s Cultivation Art?” the youth mumbled under his breath. What’s a Cultivation Art doing here? He could not make sense of it. There were too many questions.

How old is this book? Who’s the ‘Monarch of Hell’? Why would they hide it here? The youth sighed. It was a bit frustrating not knowing things.

After looking at the book for a long time, he reached his hand out. It might be trapped. As soon as he had that thought, he hesitated. He did know why but the book seemed to be calling out to him. The same was for his body. It seemed to yearn for the book in front like one would their lover they hadn’t seen for a few days.

The youth finally gave in to his temptations and grabbed the book. Contrary to his belief, there were no traps! The pressure dissipated as well. He looked around a bit to see if anything had changed. Nothing was new.

He turned his attention back to the book. Slowly, he opened the book. The first page had no introduction, no index, or preface. Instead of any of those, there was a drawing.

It was painted in an eastern style. The strokes of the brush seemed to meld into the pages. The drawing depicted odd scenery. It was a drawing of a meadow but the skies were bright red with yellow clouds. The ground was full of red grass even the trees had red leaves on them. In the middle of the meadow stood a man, he was dressed in red with gold borders on the sleeves and edge of the pants. He had a regal face as though he had descended from nobility. Yet just like the strange background, the man had a peculiarity as well. He had a pair of ram horns growing out of his forehead.

The youth tried to turn the page. At that moment, he was pushed back a few paces by some unknown force. The book that had dropped from his hands was floating in the air. The pages kept flipping at an impossible speed with no signs of ending.

“Haah!?” as he expressed his surprise, the pages started glowing. Its light illuminated the entire cave.

Eight wisps of different colored lights flew out of the book and shot straight towards the youth. As he got ready to defend himself, the lights flew around and circled him.

After repeated shocking events, the lights flew in front of him and started transforming. The youth clutched his head. He couldn’t even keep up with what was happening anymore.

After their transformation was done, the youth saw that eight figures stood or rather, floated in front of him. They looked slightly transparent. Before he could look at their features clearly, a deep voice resounded throughout the cave, “How interesting.” The voice was calm but full of amusement.

The youth looked over to the speaker. It was the man from the portrait.