In the Scarlett Dragon mountain range of the Chu country on the Scarlett Flame continent, Zaatox regained consciousness. He was wrapped up in a blanket, being carried by someone. He could not see the face of who was carrying him, but he was rocketing through the forest. He resisted the urge to cry, and he closed his eyes and felt around him. ‘She is panicked, and we are being chased. An interesting start. I should burn these auras into my mind. Five enemies and an ally. All six are at the sky realm, with this woman being slightly stronger than these men.’ He slowly fell asleep.
When he woke up next, he was in a cave, he felt an unbearable hunger. ‘I should not ignore my hunger, but if I cry, I could alert the men searching for us.’ He shook his body as much as he could to get her attention. After a minute she finally looked in his direction and Zaatox got his first look at her. She had red hair and piercing blue eyes, under her left eye she had beauty spot, and a ‘this is beneath me’ expression. On her neck she had a red mark that Zaatox could not make out. Now that he had her attention, he held his stomach and started to tear up. She instantly understood and rushed to him. Her blue ring shined a little and a bottle appeared as she picked him up and began to feed him.
“Shhhhhhhh. It will all me fine Zhou’er. You cannot cry; it will bring a lot of problems for me. Why am I talking to him? It is not like he can understand me. Zhou’er, why did I call him that? He is not my child to name.”
A year later she left the mountain range and lost the men that were following them. They were only traveling so slow as she had to suppress her cultivation. If not, they would have been found already. She pulled a blue gem out, that had some inscriptions on it. A million-kilometre sound transmission gem. It glowed, then she put it away and started to make her way to a ruin thousands of meters away.
A couple of days later he woke up to the women talking to a man. “He is your child. Keep this a secret, my master does not want this to get out, she will talk to you in 10 years when she comes out of seclusion. She also has a message “Treat our child well, even though he is a bastard. If not, you shall feel my wrath.” Zaatox listened intently, as he was shoved into the man’s arms. Zaatox looked at her, the woman who saved his life from his pursuers. ‘She isn’t my mother, but she might as well be. This year she had taken care of me and protected me when we were found by the pursuers. I am indebted to her. I wonder who the people chasing us are, who do they work for? Who is the woman who gave birth to me?’
“Thank you for meeting me here. Take care of Zhou’er. The Prince’s men have found my trace again, get out of here. I shall deal with them. Thinking they need only 5 to deal with me, this constant disrespect pisses me off.” She said as the red mark glowed on her neck, her eyes turned red as she started floated into the sky. “Zhou’er, you have become close him haven’t you. The famed Ice Flame, getting attached to a child. I am shocked. Goodbye.” His father said as he walked away nonchalantly. Zaatox turned around and looked at Ice Flame as she fought 4 people in the distance. ‘Where is the 5
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one?’ Zaatox thought. Like the man was answering his question he landed in front of them. “Lord Yun, why do you have this child with you?” he asked in a respectful tone. He clasped his left hand over his right hand that was in a fist. “His existence his against his highnesses will. Hand him over to me.”
“No need to salute. There is no need for you to know why I have this child or think that I will hand over my friend’s son over to you.” Zaatox’s father said as he inched closer to the man. “Now, the fewer the people who know a secret the better. I am afraid that you will have to die. If you do it yourself, I will look after your family after you are gone Ling Shen. That is why you joined the army; you will have no need to worry for them. I, Yun Feng, am a man of my word and have never and will ever go back on a promise.” As he said this his hand reached out. Ling Shen looked at him and smiled. “Look after them well, general. But answer this servant’s question first. Was I ever useful to you, and the country?”
“The queen and I will miss your service.” With that Ling Shen smiled as blood streamed out his eyes, nose, and mouth. Yun Feng grabbed Zaatox hard as he dashed forward. ‘Oh, my father is at the peak Rinzana realm. It seems like he is one of the most powerful people in this country. Hmmm it seems like the other 4 will also be in lower realms, unless I am unlucky to be in a weak country on a weak continent compared to them. Yun Zhao has a nice ring to it.’ After a couple of hours, they arrived at a small house on the outskirts of a small city. “Long Mu come out; you owe me a favour.”
A skinny old man walked out and looked at Yun Feng. “You, what do you want? Who do you want me to kill? Please tell me it is that annoying cunt Mu Kon.” He then looked down and saw Zaatox in Yun Feng’s arms. “Oh no. I am not raising somebody else’s child. You and Chu Long are the same. What did I do in a past life to deserve this? If I could go back in time to meet my past like I would kill him myself.”
“Stop pitying yourself. So, Chu Long brought his bastard child here too. See we trust you to raise our kids for us as you are the best master in the country and if our children grow up under your tutelage then I can die without regrets. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Come to the capital of the Chu country in 15 years. I will take him off your hands then.” he said as he tossed Zaatox to Long Mu. “If he dies, I will hold you responsible. His name is Long Zhou now. Bye!” he said then vanished form sight. “Get back here you bastard. I will kill you in your sleep. I know you live.” Long Mu shouted in the sky, after an hour of constant shouting and insulting he walked back into the house, and there asleep was a baby girl with black hair. She was sleeping in a crib in the middle of array and he placed Zaatox. “Some good has come out of my life. Even if I cannot have children, I will be able to pass on my lineage. The Chen family better watch out, we the Long family are not all dead yet.” He laughed as he places some profound beast gems on the array can cut his arm. “Raise Long Zhou and Long Gaoya. I am now your father, and you shall avenge our family.” The inscriptions on the floor started to glow red when the blood touched the array. Zaatox felt his blood starting to boil and the girl next to him started to cry as she woke up. ‘I should cry. Act normal for as long as possible.’ He started to make himself tear up and in a couple of seconds he started to burst into tears.
‘Long Zhou didn’t cry for a couple of seconds. His endurance is insanely high for a child. I wonder who his mother is. There is now way a child of the Yun family can produce a baby with such willpower.’ After a couple of minutes, the array slowly turned off. Long Mu’s arm healed itself and walked up to the crib. Both the children were asleep as he picked them up. His normally stern and angry face turned into a smile. It succeeded on both. When he looked at these children, he did not see the faces of the men who abandoned them to him, but what he saw was his hopes and dreams. These were the ones who would fulfil his failed promises and regrets. A tear slowly revealed itself in his eyes as he burnt the house down.
‘This man was at the peak of the Rinzana realm but fell to early Rinzana realm after he failed to ascend to Lord realm. The soul burns are not recent they came to be around thirty years ago, and he did not just fall 6 small realms of power. He lost the ability to have children. As for his grudge against this Chen family, what should I do about it. I think I will play with this family. It is the least I can do for the man who will raise me. There are 15 realms of cultivation, 7 lower and 8 higher. Each realm has 9 small realms except for one. From what I have seen from this country it will take me 50 years to reach the peak of the Rinzana. From Lord to becoming a True God will take at least a millennium, that is if I stay in this realm. This will be difficult to say the least.’
9 years later and Long Mu was walking through a forest. His cultivation had reached the 8
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of the Rinzana realm. Long Zhou and Long Gaoya flowed closely behind him. Today was the day that they could start cultivating and Long Zhou could not wait. They walked into a cave that they called home and waiting in the middle was a crystal that they had never seen there before. “What is that father?” Long Gaoya asked curiously as she poked the crystal. “That is an elemental crystal. It will tell us your affinity to the elements.” Long Mu replied. “Gaoya place you dominate hand on the crystal. Reach out with your soul.” He guided Long Gaoya.
The crystal slowly started to glow a deep red with flashes of grey. “Fire and wind, good. They work well together. Dual elements are rare, as expected of my daughter. Now Zhou’er your go.” Long Zhou placed his right hand on the elemental crystal. It was warm to the touch, as he let his soul energy enter the crystal. The light in the crystal grew the more soul energy it sucked from him. Then the light turned azure with deep strands of red. “Lightning and fire. That is an unexpected and powerful combo. Now this is your first lesson on cultivation. Your elements are your life blood. It is how you will attack and defend. It will define you fighting style. A cultivator with the earth element can focus on speed but will still be the slowest out of all the elements.”
“All living beings are filled with energy, positive or negative qi. Light being the most positive qi element and dark being most negative qi. Lightning and fire are more on the positive side of the spectrum, earth is the only element in the middle and wind and water being more on the negative qi side. The more you cultivate the closer your internal energy becomes like the elements you use. In your case Gaoya you would be in the middle. When your internal qi is positive you will be weak to negative qi and vice versa. Gaoya you are a special case, you will be somewhat resistant to both positive and negative qi like earth elemental cultivators. Since you both have fire we shall focus on that element. There are 8 realms the refinment realm, spirit refinement, qi control, soul realm, manifestation realm, earth realm, sky realm and Rinzana realm. All the realms but the soul realm are broken down into 9 sub-levels, cultivators in the first 3 sub-levels are called early, next 3 mid and the last late. For example: Early earth realm and Late earth realm. the diffence in power between these two are like night and day.”
"There are realms above Rinzana realm but nobody has reached it in centuries so you do not have to worry about it right now. I will teach you it when you get to the Sky realm. What else do you need to know right now? I think that is about it, now onto how to cultivate."