After he was done "praising the sun," Adrian sighed and laid down on the ground. He closed his eyes and replay the events that happened during these four years. 

During this time, he learned two new techniques and went under strict training and hardship every day. Every day was hell for him. Oh, and those "free days?" 

In truth, while the Vice-Patriarch called it free, Adrian was forced to study and learn about the world. Even though the clan wanted him to be strong, they wanted him to have common sense and knowledge as well. Education matters after all and at least he didn't have to go to school. Overall, the total amount of free time that he had was twenty days which the all the adults said wasn't bad. 

"Now then..." Adrian released the cultivation base. 

After four years, his cultivation was above the Xiantian realm and now he was a Zifu Disciple in both body and ki which was equivalent to Revolving Core martial artists. The Revolving Core realm and the Zifu Disciple realm were both quite similar as both required the consumption of as much energy as possible before breaking through to the next stage or realm. 

The Revolving Core realm focused on the dantian within one's body and condensing as much energy as dantian can do to obtain higher quality true essence and quicker true essence absorption rate. At Zifu Disciple, cultivators are required to absorb as much elemental essences as they can to expand their Violet Palace to the maximum size before entering the next stage. 

Both were similar, but ultimately different. One focus on condensation while the other on expansion. Adrian found it amusing how these different cultivation systems were so similar, yet so different at the same time. 

"San'er." A voice sounded behind him. He turned around and saw his parents. 

"Hey Mom, Hey Dad." He stood up and walked to them. 

"Oh, how much you've grown!" Meng Yue pinched his cheeks which made him blushed a little. 

"Stop, mom! You saw me a week ago!" 

"Oh, but that was as week ago! A lot can change within a week." 

Meng Yue usually greets and talks to him with smiles and laughter, but towards anyone else, even her husband, she was like a glacier. Exactly like her name, Meng Yue was cold and seemingly unreachable like the moon. Of course, she wasn't heartless. Using his knowledge, Adrian determined that his mother was, 100%, a kuudere. 

Tang Huotian only look at them with a smile before talking. "How about you show us how much you've improve in the last four years, San'er." 

"In that case, I'll spar with him." His mother offered.

However, his father denied. "No, you dote on him too much! You won't even let him see one of our spars after since he started cultivating. If you can't even do that, can you even raised your sword?" 

His mother stammered for a moment before pouting and biting her lips. 

"A little out of character, but she's still 'dere' after all." Adrian murmured to himself.

"Now then, let’s go fight in the hall!" 

.....

In the training hall, Adrian and Tang Huotian were each holding a wooden sword and standing exactly a hundred meters from each other. Meng Yue and the Vice-Patriarch were sitting on the side, judging the duel. 

"In this duel, there will be two rules. First, Tang Huotian must suppress his cultivation level to the peak of the Xiantian realm. Second, he's only allowed to use the first level of all his concepts," The Vice-Patriarch announced. "Now, begin!" 

Both fighters disappeared from where did stood and reappeared at the center of the hall, their wooden swords clashing. If not for the fact the swords were made from magical wood, they would've been broken by now. That included the wooden floor as well, which would've crack if not for being special as well. 

Tang Huotian immediately forced Adrian back and then slash out. Sword-intent came pouring at him and Adrian immediately used his sword-intent as well. 

Unlike the Endless Territories, the "Daos" of this universe were called concepts or laws and every one of them were divided into different levels. What's different about these concepts compared to Daos were that they were already fixed in place and one couldn't change it. 

Of course, one could use these concepts as they like, but they weren't as flexible as Daos. And so, because the laws of these universe weren't the complete same, Adrian would have to slowly comprehend them as he goes along. 

With the memories he received, he could at least enter the first level of the Concept of Sword. Fortunately, the strange power of the laws called "intent" still exist, and he simply copied one of the intent of a Sword cultivator to use. 

The two different sword-intent clashed against and decimated each other. 

Tang Huotian then put about twenty meters between him and Adrian. Suddenly, flames started to appear around him. He raised his right hand high and the flames gathered in his palm to form a large ball of flames. 

He threw the fireball and stood there, waiting Adrian's next move.

Like how a normal martial artist would react, Adrian held his sword up, waiting for the fireball to come in close and destroy it. Icy mist swirl around his sword like a snake as it waits for its incoming prey. 

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

However, this prey suddenly did something unexpected. 

At the time when Adrian was just about to swing his sword, the fireball split into five! 

Caught in surprise, he took a step back, but the five fireballs surrounded him completely. He wrapped himself in true essence and fully took on the attack. Of course, with a Zifu-level body, he could've taken that attack head-on, but if his body regeneration were to be shown, he would've been asked dozens of questions by the adults. 

Boom! 

Although his son just took a direct hit from his attack, Tang Huotian encase his heart in ice and appeared right behind him. He swung his sword and Adrian was sent flying dozens of meters. Even though it seemed like he struck him hard, Tang Huotian held back enough strength to only knock back the child rather than actually hurt him. 

Still, this attack made Adrian fall on his face which hurt quite badly. 

"Damn, can't he go easier on a nine-year old?" After rubbing his nose, Adrian stared back at this father. "Since you wanted a fight so bad, check this out!" 

Adrian willed the green mist in his body and executed a secret art that he created when he entered the Xiantian realm, the [Twin Lotuses of Fire and Ice]. Two enormous lotuses, one made from fire and the other of ice, revolving around him. If he created these lotuses using true essence, they would only be around the one meter in length and width. However, since he was pissed, he couldn't help but recklessly using the powerful green mist energy, making the lotuses over nine meters in length and width. 

Using his stage 1 heartforce as support and to control, he shot the two lotuses toward Tang Huotian. The ice lotus spun towards his left and the fire lotus spun towards his right. Even a fool could see that Adrian was using a pincer attack on his opponent. 

If he was using his original strength, Tang Huotian could simply stand there and take on the attack by covering himself in true essence. However, with just Xiantian-level power and true essence, the imminent feeling of danger welled in him. 

He jumped up, dodged the lotuses, and slashed out. Burning heat combined with sword-intent smashed into the two lotuses. However, contrary to what everyone including Adrian thought, the fire lotus and ice lotus actually obliterated the hot sword-intent and continued advancing towards their target. 

Tang Huotian's eyes revealed a hint of surprise before the true essence in his body increased to the Revolving Core-level and he smashed his palms against the lotuses. They immediately disperse.

Landing on the ground and smiling at Adrian, he said, "Good job, kid. You won." 

Meng Yue and Tang Xiaotian walked over alongside Tang Huotian and they all gathered around Adrian. 

"Nicely done, San'er." 

"This is my first time seeing San'er's self-created technique! I'm so proud of you!" 

"He's definitely stronger than I was when I was at the Revolving Core realm long ago." 

The three complimented Adrian and asked numerous questions. It was after he said that he was feeling tired did they allowed him to leave. 

He quickly returned to his room and replayed the battle in his head. Perhaps he had numerous flaws, but the most conspicuous one was the fireball. He was unaware that the opponent could simply the control his attack, even when it was already initiated. 

He took a quick mental note at whatever he done wrong before and then slept. At his level, one didn't need to sleep for years, but he did to calm down and relax after four years of stressful training. 

.....

Darkness descended as the moon hung high in the night sky. On the foot of Westwind Mountain, five guards garbed in dark-azure armor stood before the entrance to the mountain. 

They were the Silent Shadows of the Tang Clan, an elite squad personally trained by the Vice-Patriarch. Each of them were in the Divine Sea realm, but could fight against martial artists of higher cultivation realms. There were over thirty of them and they all protect Westwind Mountain, but every month, a group of five would change shifts to guard the entrance way to the mountain. 

"Have you all heard about the duel today?" One of them said. 

"What duel?" 

"Between whom?" 

The others asked while raising their eyebrows.

"The duel between the Second Lord and Third Young Master." Said the guard who first spoke. 

"Oh that one!" 

"I remember now! I heard one of the servants talking about it." 

The others' eyes flashed with understanding. During the duel between Adrian and Tang Huotian, there were a few servants who watched and saw the intense spar. The Vice-Patriarch noticed, but felt as though there wasn't a need to say anything. Having spectators wouldn't affect the duel in any way, so why not just let them stay? 

However, he didn't know that servants of the Tang Clan were extremely famous in the outside world for gossiping! They were the progenitors of rumors in the Cloudsea Country; the ancestors of "number one" headlines! How else do you think everyone knows that the Third Young Master, at age five, reached Houtian within one year of cultivation? The mouths of these servants could swallow the heavens! 

The Silent Shadow guards talked amongst themselves until an abrupt voice broke their conversation.

"Woah, this kid sounds pretty good!" 

"Who's there?" Weapons materialize on the guards' hands as they each took a stance. 

However, golden lights flashed in the air as the guard who just spoke collapsed onto the ground. 

"What the-" 

Golden lights flashed again as the other four guards black-out and fell as well. 

A chubby silhouette passed by them and then disappeared. It reappeared once again, but inside Adrian's bedroom. 

With his heartforce spread throughout and beyond the room, Adrian could sense anyone's presence. However, his heartforce failed to detect this unknown figure who was so close to him. 

 "Who-" Before Adrian could finish, the chubby figure raised its hand and the golden light flashed once more. 

The chubby figure picked up the unconscious Adrian and left through the window. However, the chubby figure returned again, wrote something on the wall, and then left. 

.....

The next morning. 

"Grand Patriarch! Grand Patriarch!" A male servant rushed into the Clan Hall. 

"What is it?" The Grand Patriarch casually drank some tea after asking. 

"T-Th-Third You-Young Ma-Master! Third Young Master has been kidnapped!" The servant stuttered. 

"Pfft!" Tang Haotian spew the tea in his mouth and it landed on the servant's face. "What!?" 

Pushing his true essence and cultivation base to the limit, Tang Haotian rushed to Adrian's room and saw a message on the wall, written in black ink. 

After reading the whole message, the Tang Haotian howled in rage. "ARGH!!!" 

That day, the Cloudsea Country and several other countries, kingdoms, and empires shook as the Tang Clan moved out and drew blood from anyone they had conflict with. 

Though many tried to stop them, the Tang Clan was too powerful and berserk. 

Since then, numerous rumors regarding the Tang Clan has spread like wildfire. One describe that their rage was so great, even Westwind Mountain shook for a whole month before calming down. 

However, no matter how angry the Tang Clan was, the Third Young Master has yet to be found. 

Since the day they returned, the Tang Clan closed all entrances to Westwind Mountain and refused to greet anyone, even if it was the current King of Cloudsea Country. 

..... 

In a faraway land from Cloudsea Country, a boy woke up while scratching his head. 

"Where the hell am I?" The boy said. 

"Oh good, you woke up." An old voice rang beside him. 

"Who's there!?" The boy leaped up to look for the owner of the voice. 

The boy then felt someone knocked his head with a fist and tears welled up in his eyes. "Ow!" 

The boy turned around and saw an old man who started to yell at him. 

"Unfilial disciple! Why haven't you greeted your master yet!?"