Shi Song followed behind Shi Wei and opened the door of the house. After entering it, Shi Song sat down on the nearest chair as he was quite exhausted after that long walk back from the hospital. Even with his Yinjin energy, he still felt drained. This was when he thought of his father. Without the Yinjin energy strengthening his father's body, Shi Song wondered how exhausted his father would be. Furthermore, Shi Wei had to carry Shi Song from Silversnow mountain to the hospital!

What Shi Song forgot was that before Shi Wei paid for his hospital fees, he had some money left to ride the Rapid Transition System. The only reason they walked back from the hospital was because they had almost no money left!

Because Shi Wei had a low income, their house was very small compared to the average sized houses found everywhere. However, their house did have a basement, which wasn't that special as their neighbourhood, Luon neighbourhood, was full of poor people. This led to the emperor of Qiya Dynasty not caring about them. With the little amount of money they had, the houses could not be built upwards due to the expenses, which was why basements were created. Rather small ones that is.

...

"What happened at Silversnow mountain which caused you to fall into a 3 day coma like that?" Shi Wei asked.

Thinking that it would not be a good idea to speak of what truly happened, Shi Song quickly thought of a reply which could perfectly answer his Father's question without raising any suspicion.

"I was forced to hike up the mountain by my classmates as I lost a bet for the test. We had wanted to explore the mountain as we heard that there was something paranormal happening on it. That was when my old illness acted up and I fainted." Shi Song told his Father.

"Your old illness acted up again? Alright, for this week, you are not allowed to go out of the house anymore for the week. You also don't have to go to school. Do you understand?" Shi Wei sternly said.

"What? Why?" Shi Song replied. He thought that his reply was quite smart, until he realized how much trouble it brought him. He had wanted to return back to Silversnow mountain in order for him to trace the source of the Yellowish-white Yinjin energy as the normal density of Heaven and Earth energy in his neighbourhood only allowed for very little conversion of Yinjin energy, so much so that it was almost invisible.

"But..." Shi Song tried to refute Shi Wei's words, but it only made it worse.

"No 'buts'. You are to stay at home for the rest of the week unless I give you the permission to leave. Go to the basement now until you know what you have done wrong!" Shi Wei bellowed while staring Shi Song in the eyes. Swallowing up his anger, Shi Song turned and left for the basement. He slammed the door behind him and even locked it before walking down the stairs leading to the basement room.

"Damn my Father, He is so unreasonable!" Shi Song released his frustration as he pounced onto the bed in the basement room. Unbeknownst to him, Shi Wei stared blankly at the basement door, his eyes filled with worry and concern.

"This is the first time we truly had a dispute like that." Shi Wei sighed. "But I know that faint aura radiating from his body. I cannot be wrong... So familiar.. Just like hers before they took her... I hope Shi Song would not turn out the same..."

...

After fully giving vent to his frustrations, Shi Song felt suspicious about why his father grounded him in the basement instead of the usual bedroom whenever he did something wrong. Looking around, he felt that the basement was quite plain and desolate with the colour grey spreaded all over the room.

"I might as well explore the room to look for something that can entertain me in the meanwhile." Shi Song decided. After looking around, Shi Song went to the nearest cabinet and started flipping through its contents.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Shi Song soon found a photo album within all the other useless items. It was one of those old and traditional ones, with the pictures printed on paper with ink instead of projecting it onto the surrounding air.

"So this was how my mother looked like. Haha." Shi Song sighed. His mother, Li biyu, had disappeared when he was only 3, so he had almost no memories of him and his mother at all. Seeing how happy his Father and Mother were when together, he yet again wondered why Biyu would leave Shi Wei and disappear.

"Oh, looks like my mother was a technologist!" Shi Song gasped. Seeing how his Mother was dressed in that smart white coat, as well as some of the recognisable apparatus he learnt in school, Shi Song deduced that his Mother's job was a technologist, which was one of the more valued and higher end jobs. A technologist would try to advance the current technology available to mankind, allowing mankind to grow and prosper.

After flipping through the photo album and finding nothing but unimportant everyday photos, Shi Song combed through the second cabinets contents.

"Hm? This object seems peculiar..." Shi Song looked at the ancient, dusty book in his hands.

Blowing off the dust on the cover, Shi Song judged that the book was really old, almost twice as old as he was! There was a faint, yet special sort of mysterious aura that was attracting Shi Song. Flipping the cover, Shi Song started reading the contents found in the book.

Looking at the first page, Shi Song saw a line of characters, characters of a language he did not understand.

“This...” as Shi Song stared at the entire page of those mysterious characters, he felt an entire wave of information rushing into his mind. His mind was like the beach, with wave after wave of information rushing and bashing against it. Shi Song realized that his mind was being filled with endless cultivation facts and techniques, as well as the history of cultivation. However, Shi Song’s mind, as well as his cultivation level was far too weak, and although he could understand the endless waves of information, he could not remember it.

Accompanying the monstrous wave of information was a gentle and feminine voice, one that Shi Song was familiar with, one that he had heard before when he was very young.

“Shi Song, listen well. They are a lot of reasons why I left you and your father, and I need you to trust me, to commit all of the words you hear to memory. The ancient cultivation methods are not lost at all. For you to be able to hear this message is prove that you have awakened your sixth sense. You have to work hard, and continue along this path. There is no other way to turn back, for you have to be prepared for them. They know that you have embarked on the path of cultivation, and will do anything they can to stop you. Leave this place, along with all my research and memories with you. Hopefully, you will be able to reunite our entire family as a whole.” Shi Song could hear the gentle voice, filled with mourning and grief, ending with a frustrated sigh at the end…

BOOM

Explosions rang out as they pulled Shi Song out of that ephemeral state. Opening his eyes, he felt an incredible sense of danger. Although he wanted to solve the mysteries behind the ancient book as well as his confusion, his senses were screaming at him to escape as fast as possible.

“Father!” Shi Song shouted as he rushed up the stairs, slamming the door wide open, the previous frustration and anger he towards his Father completely gone There, he saw Shi Wei, eyes wide open as blood oozed out of his seven orifices. Shi Song saw a blade covered with magical incantations etched in his Father’s body, making it seem like the weapon of the heavens.

The moment Shi Wei saw Shi Song, his eyes

flickered with anxiousness and worry. He mustered all his might as he pointed behind Shi Song, voice filled with anger as he tried to warn Shi Song, but all that came out was a gasp.

Shi Wei’s tears were at the corner of his eyes as he watched Shi Song getting beheaded at the neck, the blood trailing from the open wound as the severed head rolled towards Shi Wei.

“I am sorry...”

Shi Wei muttered under his breath as his life flickered on its end.

He felt incredible guilt, for failing his beloved wife’s last request, as well as his selfishness that had caused his precious son’s death. All he wanted was for his son to become a strong cultivator, strong enough to bring back his wife...