Long Zhou sat cross legged in the back of the cave with his eyes closed his purple hair messily fell over his shoulders. The cave was in a dormant volcano and was filled with fire qi. He hungrily absorbed the qi, using it to strengthen his bones. He felt his bones heat up, and he gritted his teeth. He had to endure this pain and burn out the impurities in his body. It had been a couple of months since Long Mu left Long Zhou and Long Gaoya alone in the mountain range. Long Zhou felt that he was quickly approaching the 3

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realm of the refinement realm. When the moon what at its highest point Long Zhou opened his eyes. Long Gaoya was asleep at this point as he grabbed his sword and walked out of the cave stealthy.

Long Mu told them to minimise the amount of food they eat and if they need to eat to keep to, bread and water. The impurities of animals and plants will reduce the cultivation speed during the refinement realm. As its name suggest the refinement realm was the start of the cultivation path and in this realm, they refined their body. First you purge the impurities from your bones, which will allow you to produce pure blood. Then you purify your blood even more, to be able to hold more qi, and nutrients, so you can grow and strengthen your organs.

If you keep introducing more impurities into your body by eating animals, you will cut your cultivation speed by 90%. Most people ignore that you can use the blood and meat of profound beasts to further purify your body. Long Zhou hated how fragile this body was compared to his demon body and he was going to do something about it. As he dashed through the forest, he let his senses reach out. Now he would be able to feel everything in a 50m radius, he felt many normal animals running around. They were useless to him; normal animals and profound beasts were different. Profound beats are animals that cultivate, for example a wolf that cultivates would have no difference between it and a normal wolf apart from strength speed and durability. Hundreds of years later when it gains intelligence is when the real difference shows itself.

They will start to be able to use the elements in its daily life and would pass on its blood line to the next generation so they will be born with the power to control the elements and have some intelligence. Then thousands of years later they would look almost nothing like wolves. They would be bigger, grow more heads, their fur colour changes and sometimes they would grow other animal parts like horns or wings. Profound beats have their own rankings, a rank 1 profound beat goes from around 5

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refinement realm to the 5

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level of the spirit refinement realm. A rank 9 profound beast would be at the peak of Rinzana realm and would need at least 5 peak Rinzana realm cultivators to kill it.

Long Zhou felt a profound beat to the left of him, he felt its energy, a rank 1 profound beast. ‘An injured rank 1 profound beast. I am in luck I was looking for a rank 0 profound beast.’ Without second thought he turned and dashed towards it, not bothering to conceal himself any longer. ‘This will be a close fight but if I play it well, I should be able to win comfortably.’ He thought as he cut of the profound wolf. From one look Long Zhou could tell that it became a rank 1 profound beast only recently. He smiled to himself as he pounced from the shadows and plunged his blade into the side of the wolf. It howled in pain and leapt back eyeing Long Zhou. Growling it leapt at him and with a sidestep the wolf sailed right past him.

As it landed, he dashed forward and used the wound already on the neck of the wolf to lop off its head with one clean strike. He skinned the wolf and found a gem in the chest. “An underdeveloped core, shame.” He placed the red core into his pocket and started a fire. He cooked the wolf right there and ate it hole, using it blood to wash it down. Long Zhou devoured every bit he could, he even cracked open the bones for the hidden treasure inside. A profound beast is filled with treasures and you could eat the with no qualms unlike the human cultivators you kill.

 He closed his eyes and continued to cultivate this time using the purer blood, meat, and marrow to further refine his bones. Soon the sun rose, and Long Zhou hurried back to the cave where he and Long Gaoya were training in. He kicked her as he walked in “Wake up. Father is coming.” The last words made her jolt up, she had reached the 4

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level of the refinement realm. From one look Long Zhou could tell that her bones were much purer than his and she had already started on purifying her blood. If they were to spar now, even with Long Zhou’s immense experience, she would most likely win.

“How do you know? You did not go out again, if he finds out I will get in trouble too.” She said as she poured herself some water. Long Zhou ignored her as he laid down to get some sleep. “I lied… need someone to…. watch the cave.” He said as he drifted off to sleep, or he would have liked to when Long Gaoya poured an entire jug of water on him. “That’s what you get. Now go fill it up, or maybe I will let it slip that you like eating meat even though father told you not to.” She threatened him though her fake smile.

“Fine I will do it, and I would have you know that I eat profound beasts, it helps with cultivation. Maybe you would know that if you paid any attention to father when he teaches us.” Long Zhou said as took the jug from her hands. It took him but a moment to dash to the stream near by and fill the jug. “So, are we going to spar, or are you going to stay focused on cultivating?” Long Zhou said as he entered the cave only to find her already cultivating.

“Zhou’er, you are cultivating well but are still lacking when compared to Gaoya. Wake her up from her cultivation, we are leaving.” Long Mu said as he placed his hand on Long Zhou’s shoulder, he walked by him and started to pack some things. Long Zhou kicked Long Gaoya and she opened her eyes. “You will not be returning to this mountain range for a while. Instead, you are going to join a sect as outer disciples. You shall hide your first names nobody can know that you are related to me. When the time comes, we shall meet again, and I will tell you some thing you need to know. If you hear of my death you need to head here as fast as possible and the things, I need to tell you will be in this gem. Only you 2 will be able to see and use it but only after my death. Your father is about to do some dangerous things. I will soon become the enemy of the country; you do not know me. When you are 15 years old you both need to head to the capital, you will either meet me there or I will be dead.”

“Zhou’er come we need to disguise you. Your purple hair and eyes are beacons for the people who chased you as a child. Keep your hair dyed and eat this pill, it will change your eye colour to back. Gaoya, nobody can ever see that birthmark on your back. Just like the hair and eyes of Zhou’er, it will bring you trouble that you are not old or strong enough to deal with. Hold your questions, I will answer it when you get to the capital for the Chu countries sleeping dragon competition. I heard that the one in 5 years will be special.” After he said that he suddenly disappeared. “Head to Red Star city, and enter the Scarlett Dragon Sect.”

Long Zhou looked around and even tried to extend his senses but could not find a trace of Long Mu. He looked at Gaoya and saw her tearing up, “Do not worry Gaoya, father is the strongest he can not die. We are just going to see him in 5 years.” He said while hugging her. She hugged him tightly as she started to quietly cry in Long Zhou’s arms. “I know, but I have a bad feeling. I don’t want him to leave. Why can he not take us with him?”

After Long Zhou dyed his hair black and they collected their weapons and some supplies, they left the cave that they called home for the past 4 years of their lives. For Long Zhou it was not a long time but for Long Gaoya it was where she spent almost half her life. She did not want to leave so Long Zhou had to pull her by hand through the forest. He extended his senses and dodged many profound beasts, with Gaoya sulking there was no way they would make it out of the forest if they constantly fought with every profound beast that they found. They stumbled onto a carriage that was somewhat guarded.

“Whose there? Come out and we will let you live.” A guard in blue amour said as he looked in their direction with his spear levelled. Long Zhou came out with Long Gaoya in tow. “Kids? What are you doing here? Where are your parents?” the guard questioned, he never let down his guard and sill pointed his spear at them. “I am Shan Zhou, and this is my sister Shan Gaoya. Our parent were bringing us to Red Star city to enter the Scarlett Dragon Sect, but we were attacked by profound beasts and they died. We managed to get a way but that was a couple of days ago.”

The guard eyed them suspiciously, while another rode up on his horse. “They don’t seem to be lying. That girl is clearly shaken up. We are headed to Red Star City; we should give them a ride.” He whispered to the first guard. They exchanged a look and the first guard walked back to the carriage. The guard and the man in the carriage talked for a while then the carriage door opened. “We can take you to Red Star City get on and do not make a fool of yourselves.” He said sternly as he walked forward “Li Peng, time for us to switch get off the horse.”

Long Zhou pulled Long Gaoya to the carriage as he looked at the two men, they were both in the earth realm so clearly this person was wealthy enough to have 2 earth realm cultivators guarding him he should be able to pay for and extra horse. Long Zhou wondered as he walked closer to the carriage, he got his answer. The carriage was damaged, they were clearly attacked, ‘no wonder the blue guard was so on guard when they came.’ Long Zhou thought as he pulled Long Gaoya into the carriage. Looking around he saw a man in his early 40s with a red beard and long flowing hair that went up to his shoulders. He had a scar under his left eye that quickly disappeared into the forest that was his beard. He gave of an aura of a man that had seen many battles and was at the peak of the sky realm. Next to him were 2 kids a boy and a girl, they were the same age as Long Zhou. The boy stared blankly at them while the girl was humming to herself and daydreaming out of the window.

“It is sad what happened to you parents. Shan Zhou and Shan Gaoya, was it? Why are you heading to the city anyway? Commoners like you will find it hard to get in.” he asked. He seemed to know more not know how we can get in. But we must get in. Mother and father died bringing us here so we could join the Scarlett Dragon Sect. "We need to join, or their deaths will be in vain.” His words were not just for the man in front of him but for Long Gaoya who was still hugging his arm. They had another meaning that he hoped that she understood. ‘we have to get to the capital in 5 years to meet father. We have no other choice, and we cannot let ourselves get weighed down by sadness or we will let him and our future selves down. Long Gaoya vice like grip soften up and he could start to feel his blood flow into his arm again.

The man smiled at these words, and his eyes seem to look away as he was remembering something. “I like you kid. You have guts and drive. The army could use someone like you, I know General Yun Feng himself would be impressed by you if he heard those words. You want to join the Scarlett Dragon Sect, they are one of the strongest Sects in the country, they get thousands of young cultivators such as yourself who aspire to enter yet less than a hundred are let in. The pass rate of their exams is less than 1%. What makes you think you can pass? What makes you think that they will let in a commoner like you?”

He felt that this man would be their ticket to the Scarlett Dragon Sect’s test. ‘Since he is a man in the military he should be devoted to the nation and bringing up how detrimental it is to the nation should pull on his heartstring enough to help us out’ Long Zhou thought to himself. “We cannot fail. That is why we will pass. Why would they not let somebody in if they are commoners, that will just reduce the amount of talent they can get their hands on. Also, all nobles were commoners at some point be that in the distant past or just a hundred years ago. Not letting somebody into your sect because of class is illogical and will negatively affect the sect development overall. When the individual sect’s growth is compromised the country’s, growth is too. This will lead to danger and even the fall of a nation. The greatest threat to any nation is arrogance and any division based on anything other than talent and performance is the most dangerous form of arrogance.” Long Zhou said.

The man looked at Long Zhou with a weird expression but ended up smiling. “I really like you boy. I have always thought this, and it is good somebody that is has no connections the military has said it out loud. You are wise for a 10-year-old. And lucky for you I can pull some strings and get you into the exam. The rest will be up to you. I have your names, but I have not given you mine. I am Chi Feng. This is my son Chi Long and my daughter Chi Fei.”