《The Rise of Purple Phoenix》 1 Trash "I truly crossed over to another world" a young man sighed as he walked through the busy market which looks like it was from a storybook with medieval buildings There were some selling pills, weapons, unknown beasts. As he walked he even saw some were selling human as salves His name is Lloyd. He was originally from earth was a normal college student and planned to live a simple life but was stuck in an accident. As his life was ending he woke up here this morning. At first, he thought it was a dream but it was too realist and pinching himself he finally believed he got a second chance in life. Instead of being born as a baby he woke up as 14 years old boy. He got the original body''s memories from which he got to know that this world is a world of cultivators. Here strong prey on weak. Strength and strong backing one can live as he pleased. He was both lucky and unlucky at the same time he was born as second young master of one of the top clans in the kingdom at this point he was he was total bliss and he felt like thrown from heaven as he came to know that he can''t cultivate. Strength defines everything rules don''t matter as long as one is stronger than another party, so since he can''t cultivate he is just a mortal and he was known as the trash of the clan. His clan is phoenix clan. It is said that members of the Phoenix clan were descendants of Phoenix. But in this realm, there were two Phoenix clans one was fire phoenix clan and the other ice phoenix clan. From he knows before was born both clans hated each other had a lot of fights. The young master from fire phoenix clan and young miss from ice phoenix clan both fell in love and lot of drama later somehow both clans agreed and fighting between both clans stopped and became in-laws and those two were his parents. His Father''s name is Alder Fenix and his mother''s name is Esvele Fenix His full name is Lloyd Fenix. He has two brothers one older and other younger. His both brother is said to top talent in the history of both clans. His older brother Derek Fenix inherited purest fire phoenix bloodline clan even seen and his younger brother Leland Fenix inherited purest ice phoenix bloodline so his mother''s family came and took his Leland to their clan so he can train in ice phoenix power to fullest while he can''t manifest any of both bloodline. Even if one doesn''t have bloodline he/she could cultivate but for some reason, he can''t cultivate. Because he can''t cultivate he can only have a lifespan of a mortal human maximum of 60-70 years while his family members can longer as one''s lifespan increases as one''s cultivation increases. From he what know cultivation stages starts from Tempered Body Origin-(lifespan increased to 150 years) Earth-(lifespan increased to 200 years) Sky-(lifespan increased to 300 years) Heaven-(lifespan increased to 500 years) Each stage is further divided into 9 stages. Above the heavens stage, there are even more stages but he didn''t know about them. Original Lloyd was stubborn and forced cultivate which resulted in his death and he occupied his body. -BEEP- As he was walking he heard a sound, he looked around to find its origin -BEEP- -BEEP- -System initiating- -1%.....5%.....10%....32%...- Words started to appear before him, floated in front of his eyes. He was stung for a second and looking around he noticed that no one can see it. -40%...55%...59%- "what the hell is this" -70%....81%....92%....95%...99%- -100%- -System-initiated- -Scanning host- -"Hello host, I am the system. I am here to help the host to fulfill his wishes."- As Lloyd wondering what these words are, he heard a voice calling himself system. He looks around and asked, "Where are you?" -"Are you asking about me. I am within yourself and talking directly to your mind"- "Within me!!!, Who are you? What do you what?" -"As I told you I am system and I will help you any way you want"- -scan completed- -"host, it seems like your soul is not fully synced with the body. Do you want to sync it and complete your transmigration?"- "you know about my transmigration?" Lloyd panicked -"Yes, I was sent with you for transmigration"- "who sent you?" -"I don''t know"- "What do you Know?" -"I know that it is very important to sync your soul and body or it will cause side effects as it is not your original body"- "What!!!... Can you sync it?" -" yes, I can but it will take 15hrs and during that time host will be unconscious. So find a safe find before sync"- As system said he thought of the safe place and it strikes him. What place is safer than his home. As one of the powerhouses of the realm where could he be safer He then turned and rushed to this clan. After he enters he could hear whispers such as trash, waste, garbage from his clan members. He didn''t stop as it was same as his childhood. He finally reached home. His home plain courtyard seen during ancient times. His home was near his parents home. After he reached 10 he asked his parent to let him live separately. They agreed and during meals he eats with his parents and elder brother. He didn''t have any servants and even servants pity him and those eyes he could not stand it. So he didn''t have any servants. He cleaned his home and sometimes during his mother''s personal maid cleans while he was out. He reached his bedroom and laid on his bed "system start sync" -Sync initiated- As he heard those word he lost conscious. 2 Bloodline and Family The next day Lloyd woke up feeling refreshed as he went to a full body massage -sync complete- -scan initiated- -scan completed- -displaying status- Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- health Cultivation- none Bloodline-fire phoenix, ice phoenix (blocked each other) Seeing his status his eyes focused towards his bloodline, "system, what does it mean by blocked each other?" - "host, due to the bloodline of ice and fire both cancel each causing host weak body and vein blockage. Because of it, the host couldn''t cultivate"- Hearing it he finally found the reason for its problem which causes him a lot of problems and even dead "Is there any way to solve my problem?" _ "there are three ways 1- Remove both bloodlines 2- Remove one of the bloodlines 3- Fuse bloodline Of the 3 ways system recommend fuse as host get both bloodline power"- "It can fuse!!!!.... I can get both ice and fire" Lloyd was excited hearing that almost fell from bed "can you, do it?" - "fuse bloodline"- "yes" -warning fuse will cause pain across your body and it will feel like want to die and it is advisable to be awake during the process to get maximum efficiency- -fuse staring- Lloyd''s body started to heat up and he started to sweat heavily but it was just stared the pain just as if he was thrown into hot was his half of body caught on flames and other half started to freeze and skin was covered in ice Ice and Fire started to switch places Lloyd was bearing pain not to cry aloud. If anyone saw him now they will see a man burned and freeze at the same time and his body started to break down After 15 mins, a purple radiance appeared on his chest and traveling toward across his body - fuse completed- -new bloodline created- -healing host- After a purple glow, his body started healing and a purple bird appeared on his back and just as it appeared it disappeared. -bloodline skill activated (Phoenix rebirth)- After some time, Lloyd opened his eyes. There was a purple glow in his eyes. He was naked sitting on his bed which was destroyed during bloodline awaking. He got up and felt his body. He felt like a strong power trying to break out of him -Refreshing status- Name- Lloyd Status ¨C Healthy Cultivation- Body Tempering 9th stage Bloodline- Purple Phoenix Skills- Phoenix rebirth (Bloodline) After seeing his stats, he was shocked "System, why did my cultivation increase?" - "due to rebirth, host''s body was remodeled which increased host cultivation"- "so that''s it. So, I can cultivate and become strong" _ "yes, the host can cultivate and since host process purple phoenix bloodline it will boost host talent"- "Purple phoenix .... huh ¡­., so what do I do to get cultivation technique" - "your bloodline is first in the universe. So, there is not cultivation for it but you could create it"- "create cultivation! How can I do it... Wait a sec since my bloodline is created from both family bloodline how about I cultivate both family phoenix art ... that''s it" He got up and head out his home looking up he could see it is just past noon and time for lunch. He walked towards the main hall. Since his father is the leader of the clan he has access to clan library which stored cultivation technique and martial art skills so he could ask for permission to browse. Normally as a young master, he could go as he pleases but since he can''t cultivation previously he didn''t care and didn''t get past Clan library is clans treasure which keep secret art and is the foundation of the clan so it is guarded strictly all hours so to enter one must process pass even for a clan leader a.k.a his father since there is some technique to change one body and impersonate as anyone so pass is needed. That was clan rule which even his father could not break. He reached the main hall and greeted his parents "Lloyd where the hell where you last night, even missed dinner and breakfast this morning" his mother looked at him angrily. His mother was a natural beauty looked like girl nearing 20 but actual above 30. One can''t guess age by looking someone in this world. He noted this in his mind as some day one sees a 10-year-old cute girl and think of petting her but she could be a powerful figure hated physical contact which will lead to death. His mother has beautiful blue eyes like a pearl and her long braided black hair. Tall with an athletic figure with graceful movement like one seen in movies "I was tired and slept early yesterday and woke up late," Lloyd said to his to mother and was little scared. His mother is a kind mother and a good wife but when angry even his can''t manage her and he escape from since she would take her anger on him. "give it a rest, will you. He is a boy so he will want some freedom and he will have some secrets" his father said while sitting for lunch. His father has well build body with strong muscles. He has black eyes with a shade of crimson color in them with a well-breaded face. "okay I will let you off this time but you should come to meals on time next time on informing me beforehand," his mother said and sat. he also sat. "Bro, I thought you will get more scolding seeing how angry she was yesterday and I could have thought to enjoy it," a young man said while on the door with a smile on his face. This young man was Derek his brother 2 years older than him with eyes just like his father. He has medium height and lean build. He looked just like father if he pumps up his body with muscles. "shut up and remove that smile on your face or should I help you with it," his mother said with a scary smile on her face which sent a chill to everyone in the room. "no, mother ¡­.... my sweet kind mother why should you be trouble with some small issue" saying that Derek came to the table and sat down and said, "come on let''s start I am hungry" trying to divert attention. "bring the food" his father order and maids standing brought food one by one. It was a large buffet and Lloyd eats 3 times than normal. "looks like my hunger increased," he said to himself. 3 Fire Phoenix Ar After lunch, Lloyd went to his father and got the pass "what got into you?!. Asking for a pass which you had no interest till now" his father asked him surprised after giving him the pass "just nothing, just want to flip through some book. I am bored recently and decided to go to the library" Lloyd said and just as he wants to head to the library he thought of something [ Is phoenix art in the library?] "Dad, can I find phoenix art in the library" "No," he said while looking his son while thinking [Why is suddenly asking about Phoenix art. since has no phoenix bloodline he can''t use it. So why? Is someone forcing him to find about it] "Lloyd, ..... is someone forcing you for phoenix art?" he asked his son seriously Seeing his father full commando mode and ready to beat someone. He was startled. [Does he not have trust in me. Why would someone force me] while thinking Lloyd said "dad, no one forcing me I was just asking so I could look through it" "it''s all right if no one behind you. We can''t let someone outside the clan get phoenix art and the most important thing is if your mother finds out you are mingling with the wrong crowd...¡­. I can''t even think, what she will do?" "if it''s about Phoenix art, it is not written but transferred from one generation to other orally. If you want to learn it as a father I am the one who should teach you" saying he pulled out two chairs made Lloyd sat down and with a wave of his hand a red barrier appeared. It will block others from listening in. "listen carefully and memorize" saying that he started to recite phoenix art Lloyd listened but he couldn''t understand a major part of it. After a while, his dad finishes reciting. -beep- -Fire Phoenix art obtained- -wish to learn it- -yes/no- Who would say no?. he said yes telepathically to the system. Next sec a large amount of information appeared in his mind.it was phoenix art. He closed his eyes to browse through it. Alder looked towards his son whose eyes are closed but moved time to time [ did he memorize all of it. I had my father recite me 28 times till it got it] he was surprised by his son''s actions -Fire Phoenix art learned- Still, Lloyd didn''t open his eyes and trying to communicate. ''system, why do I all phoenix art in my mind. What do you mean by obtaining phoenix art'' - ''host, the system is connected to every part of host even soul.so anything seen, heard, sense by the host will be recorded and important data extracted like phoenix art and help host memorize faster''- ''so, and I can memorize anything once seen like photographic memory'' - ''yes''- - ''host, the system can also analyze any type of data''- Lloyd was surprised and happy that he got the system Alder saw his son open his eyes. He said, "have you memorized it?" "yes," Lloyd said still feeling happy and light slime on his face Alder was surprised but was happy that his son was smart but put on the normal face without any expression "then dad, I will see you later" Lloyd got up left Seeing the leading figure of his son, Alder got an idea ''since he has super memory I should try to make him a scholar'' he knows his son couldn''t cultivate so being a scholar is a not a bad thing and with his memory, he could make name for himself. ''Esvele will be surprised when she hears about it'' Lloyd went straight to the library since he has two reasons to come here. One was to obtain martial skills since even though he was tempered body 9th stage he knows nothing. he was like muscle brute without knowing how to use any of muscles. since phoenix art can only be cultivated after one reached origin stage. Another reason is he wants to learn more about the world. After a while, he reached the library. It looked majestic three-floor mansion. Guards can be seen patrolling at regular interval. Rows of steps are at entrance towards upper levels. By the entrance, an old man can be seen sitting at the table. He has a long white beard. From what he knows that old man is one of clan elder and librarian. "good afternoon elder" he greeted the old man "Ohh!! ... is it young master Lloyd. What brought you here" Old-man was surprised. From what he knows Lloyd never entered the library "I am just here to browse some book," Lloyd said "okay you are permitted to enter ground floor and first floor. To enter the second floor, one must be the origin stage to pass through barrier placed on the stairway to the second floor and be earth stage to enter the third floor" Hearing it he thanked the elder and entered the library. 4 Library After entering the library, rows of shelves of books appeared before his eyes. He can see books as far as he could see. Cultivators keep knowledge above everything. Knowledge is power. One can''t train in a skill without knowing full details above them. Skill is created by the senior martial artist after years of tempering. But those super cultivators can''t come and teach every signal person. Cultivators need resources so they sometimes sell martial arts they created. Various clans and sects collect them by exchanging resources. Which they learn or teach to their juniors. After asking around from fellow junior clan members who in the library he learned that in the ground floor all technical skills books like an animal(ordinary), plants, various species of magical beats¡­. etc. They also have documented history. From the first floor onwards manual for cultivation and martial skills. While browsing for books on the ground floor, a book caught his attention because of its name "How to start cultivation for dummies: part 1" Seeing title, he kind of interested in it. He took the book and opened it. It was a thin book with a few pages. ''if you are reading this you are interested in cultivation. Before starting there are some things to keep in mind. Cultivation is a long and lonely path. You may physically and mentally be damaged. Sometimes you may go mad. So, those without a very strong will and endurance, close this book and live a mortal life'' After these words rest of the pages where bank. He turned the page. ''so, you will want to cultivate.so be it. I will introduce about cultivation world and basic knowledge'' ''normally human is mortal without a power. Cultivation is going against the will of heavens. So, the first stage is the foundation stage known as tempered body stage. Foundation is everything so without solid foundation one will never reach higher level'' ''tempered blood stage refers to tempering body ready for future stages. It strengthens the skin, muscles, bones, and organs.'' ''during the first two stages, it strengthens skins. Third to fifth stages strengthens muscles. Sixth to seventh stages strengthens bones and eighth to nine stages strengthen organs'' After which he saw the various diagram for human exercise to strengthen the various path of the body ''after one reaches peak tempered body stage one can start the cultivation technique'' ''human has 3 dantian. Lower dantian below naval. Middle dantian in between chest. Upper dantian in between eyebrows'' ''when a reaches origin stage qi started to form in lower stages. That''s when one truly starts cultivation. Ways to form qi is taught in your respective cultivation manual'' ''one can''t be called true cultivator if one doesn''t master the martial art. It helps to bring full power and potential to play during battle. There are several types of martial arts like attack type, defense type, movement type'' ''cultivation technique is of two types they are qi cultivation and body cultivation'' ''martial art and cultivation manual are ranked serval stages with respect of power, ability and the minimum requirement for their learning'' ''rank 0, rank 1, rank 2,...¡­. Respectively and further divided into 3 types like early rank 0, middle rank 0, peak rank 0.'' ''rank 0 manual''s minimum requirement is tempered body stage, rank 1 manual''s requirement is the origin stage. Every increase of one rank increases requirement by one major realm''. These were last pages of the book. He closed it, placed it back. ''system have you recorded everything'' -yes- ''upload everything to my mind'' he said to the system. He just read it and didn''t remember it but he has a cheat system so why care. After receiving a data, he continued his search. He went through some books, from which he got to know a lot about this world. The name of the country in which he lives was called Agrausa. it was surrounded by vast snowy mountains in the North. Desert on the west. Massive forest towards the east and sea on the south. It was totally isolated country. The city he lived was called Harle which was at the center of the country closer to the capital of the kingdom. The kingdom exists for 10,000 years. His clan was one of top 10 clans in the kingdom. It is said that king was sky middle stage cultivator and guarded by heaven stage cultivator. From what he knows his father was genius of the previous generation was only early sky stage. While his mother was peak earth stage. 5 Skills and Slave Marke After browsing through. He even recorded a book about magical beats and herbs and went towards the first floor. The first floor was like the ground floor but smaller. It contained books about the tempered body. There were also books of previous generation''s experiences and their tips about the tempered stage. Since qi is only generated in origin stage, all martial arts of tempered body consist purely on physical conditions. So, all martial arts are like basic fist art, basic sword art, basic spear art which creates a foundation for rank 1 martial art learned with consist of qi. After thinking for some time Lloyd decided to select sword art, fist art and shadow step which is a movement skill. It also has rank 1 manual edition which completes it, in which one can move fast so that the will only see a shadow. -obtained basic sword art- -obtained basic fist art- -obtained shadow step (incomplete)- After leaving the library he went to his mom esvele to get ice phoenix art. Even though his parent is powerful cultivators they didn''t find him being tempered body 9th stage since it is just tempering the body like exercise didn''t use qi which can be sensed and another reason is they know their son couldn''t cultivate. They tried many methods and pills for him to cultivate since his childhood which all resulted in failure. They thought that their son is just interested in cultivation technique. After he reached home he called for the system ''system, analysis both phoenix art and create an appropriate phoenix art for me'' -starting analysis- -estimating completion- -estimated to be 10 days- ''so, it will take ten days'' he thought. Seeing the condition of his room he was annoyed. He was too lazy to clean the room. ''now I started cultivation it will be too troublesome to manage home himself. I should have a maid ...¡­. But with all maid in the clan, if he asked his parent they will arrange him one but he has secrets. Mainly about his purple phoenix bloodline. He the progenitor of this bloodline and third phoenix bloodline in the country. He doesn''t want others to know about it until he was strong.'' ''um..... what to do? ...¡­.. that''s it! why don''t I buy a slave'' A slave is branded with a slave contract with their master. It makes them listen to every command of the master. After check in his money pouch, he found 2000 gold coin which was his savings. As a young master of the Phoenix clan, he gets 500 gold coin a month as allowance. In this world, currency is the copper coin, silver coin, gold coin and royal coin. 1 copper coin equal to 1 dollar on earth. 1 silver coin is equal to 100 copper coins. 1 gold coin is equal to 100 silver coins. 1 royal coin is equal to 100 gold coins. 10 silver coin will be enough of a middle-class mortal family to live a month. After he left the clan toward slave market. Unlike his brothers who are famous for being the future heir of the clan, he was not known to others outside the clan. A lot of people know about the second young master of the Phoenix clan but hardly anyone saw him. The previous Lloyd didn''t like to socialize. He was always in his room training. hardly ever left. Slave shop was another end of the city. He walked slowly while enjoying scenes of the city. There was horse carriage passing by from time to time. One partial carriage got his attention because it was a high-end carriage like one used by clan. It was pulled by massive horses twice the size of a normal one. ''system, what type of horse are they?'' - ''they are wind horse, a rank 1 magical beasts. They are normally used by rich people. They travel 20,000 KM per day. Using wind qi as boost, they can travel faster than any other horses known''- ''amazing!!.... those crest on its side which he doesn''t know.'' ''which clan are they?'' he thought ''From the direction, they are going they will reach Phoenix clan. Maybe some big shot clan came to meet father'' After he reached the slave market. He was greeted by middle age fatty. He introduced the prices of slaves. Prices depend on age, sex, and cultivation. For a mortal slave, price ranges from 50 silver coin to 50 gold coins. For the tempered body, slave price ranges from 100 gold coin to 1000 gold coin. "Oh!... I could like tempered body slave, better be a female with a good look" Lloyd said. "of course, sir we have 197 slaves on the tempered body. Among the 78 are females. With few exceptions, all are beauties" the fatty grinned. Since higher the sale higher commission he gets. After he took Lloyd to slave area. All of them in prison. He followed fatty for sometimes. "these are all mortal slave. Tempered body slaves are kept up ahead with stronger prison due to their strength" fatty said, "how does one become a slave?" Lloyd said. "one status is reduced as a slave when one commits a great crime or one gets sold as a slave. Sometimes parents sell their children as a slave for money. Sometimes due to debt one will be sold as a slave" fatty said while thinking. "Ohh!... I would like a non-crime slave. I don''t want any trouble caused by her and she should able to do household works" Lloyd said while thinking "okay" fatty said After we reached tempered body slave area "you over there, assemble all female non-crime slaves with household skills" fatty order a man who was looking after the slaves. After a while, 5 female slaves were assembled in a line. All of them was a beauty. But their eyes were dark, head held down like there was no hope left in life. Who would have hope if one becomes a slave? "Sir, all of them are tempered body 2nd stage except this one she is tempered body 1st stage" saying it he pointed out. "if you want higher cultivation level they will be crime based slave" fatty said Lloyd looked towards them ''system scan them'' -scanning initiated- -scan completed- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Slave 1 Name- ????? Status- malnourished Cultivation-tempered body 2nd stage Bloodline- None ¨C ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Slave 2 Name- ????? Status- malnourished Cultivation-tempered body 2nd stage Bloodline- None ¨C ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -Slave 3 Name- ????? Status- malnourished Cultivation-tempered body 1st stage Bloodline- None ¨C -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -slave 4 Name- ????? Status- malnourished Cultivation-tempered body 2nd stage Bloodline- phoenix(fire) (50%)¨C ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Slave 5 Name- ????? Status- malnourished Cultivation-tempered body 2nd stage Bloodline- None - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lloyd saw all the status. "huh" When he one of them has phoenix bloodline he was surprised. He looked at her and decided and pointed towards her and said, "I will take her" "Okay sir, It will cost 250 gold coins," fatty said Lloyd took 250 gold coins from the punch and gave to him. "thank you for your purchase sir. If you drop one drop of blood on the slave crest in between her chest. She will be yours" fatty said excitedly while weighing the coins. Lloyd cut his finger and let a drop a blood on the crest. After it glowed which indicated slave contract completion. "follow me," Lloyd said to her and left slave market with her. 6 Lefea clan and Fiancée On a backyard of a house, a young man is sitting on a rock cultivating. Red qi can be seen emitted from him. Qi can be seen dancing beside him. If one focused his eyes and looked very carefully one can see a light projection of a bird on the back of the young man. The projection appeared to disappear at any moment. The bird is the size as small as a fist. It was red in color. It was the image of a phoenix. This young man is Derek Fenix. He was trying to condense phoenix from his bloodline to reality. He was current at origin 7th stage. In the origin state, a bloodline cultivator must bring their respective creature into reality. Then only he/she can enter the earth stage. Since he has phoenix bloodline he must learn how to do it. During this process purity of bloodline increases. After reaching a certain level of purity then only he could condense a phoenix. "I managed to tap into my bloodline and bring this projection. Even though it may be an illusion." He opened his eyes and said felling excited. Normally only peak origin 9th stage cultivator can do it. Just as he was going to practice it again a servant came running towards him and said, "young master, clan master requests your presence" "what is dad calling me for?" he asked confused. Normally his father won''t disturb during this time of the day as he knows his son will be cultivating. "I don''t know," the servant said with his head hung low. "Okay" saying that Derek got up and went towards main clan house. "did you see that carriage just now. It had a crest of Lafea clan?" a youngster said to another youngster beside. Hearing about Lafea clan coming. He thought ''is Lafea clan a middle-class clan. What are they doing here?'' Fire Phoenix clan was an upper-class clan in the kingdom. While Lafea was middle-class family located at the south of the country. After he reached the main hall he saw his parents talking to a man while laughing occasionally. Beside the man was a young lady. From looks, she was slightly older than him. He entered and greeted his parents. "Derek greets uncle Dixon and his daughter Kalea," his father said to him pointing towards the man and young lady. "Hello uncle Dixon and lady Kalea" Derek greeted them. Dixon was looking at Derek from top to bottom with smiled and said, "good ¡­..good" and continued talking with his father. Derek couldn''t understand what''s going on. He moved closer to his mother and slowly he said, "Mom, what''s going on?" Esvele looked at her confused son''s face and smiled and said, "Dixon and Kalea are from Lafea clan. He is an old friend of your father during his younger days. He came today to fulfill a promise your father and he did during younger days" "What promise?" Derek asked "Marriage," she said. "whose," Derek asked surprised "yours and Kalea," she said and smiled "wh...¡­.WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Derek voiced echoed through the hall. "what the hell you are shouting for?" his father turned towards him and asked. With his cultivation, he heard everything talked between mother and son. "dad, are you serious about the marriage. I am still young you know" he asked his father "what young. You are an adult. Your marriage will be decided by us. I called you so that you could see your future wife. Now go and show her around the city" his father said seriously. Derek was currently 16 years old. Here one reaches adulthood when he/She reaches 15 years. "for a cultivator, 16 year is younger and¡­." Derek couldn''t finish he heard his father saying "what are still doing here? Get going" "yes," he said and left the hall with Kalea. Seeing his son leave Alder turned towards Dixon and said, "Brother, don''t mind about him. He is still childish" "it''s okay," Dixon said seeing his daughter leave with Derek. He thought both of them are a good pair. After leaving the main hall he looked to Kalea. She was a beauty. She has fair skin with a round face. She has black pearl-like eyes with black hair. She has a tiny nose and moist lips glittered due to sunshine. She has a curve body. She wore a light blue dress. "Lady Kalea, forgive me for my earlier action. It just that they never told me about having a fianc¨¦e and calling me suddenly, showing her and saying that I am marrying her. I was shocked. Till now I haven''t considered about marriage as cultivator has a long lifespan" Derek said while looking at her while feeling embarrassed. "it''s okay. My father told me about it a few days earlier. I was also shocked" Kalea said while giggling looking at Derek''s face. Seeing her smile, he was enchanted. He blushed and thought ''Having her as a wife is not a bad idea'' Building up the courage. He leaned towards her and asked, "My lady Kalea, where should I take you?" "show me all the famous places in the city," she said "Okay, my lady. It''s a date" Derek said Hearing him say it is a date, she blushed. 7 System upgrading Lloyd suddenly stopped his step and asked his slave, "What is your name?" "my Lord, my name Taenya," she said. "Where are from Taenya" Lloyd asked. He is interested in her phoenix bloodline. Normally bloodline is never allowed to flow outside of the clan. Nobody knows about her bloodline since there are only two ways to test it. One was to get tested by bloodstones. Which created an image of the bloodline beast. Bloodstones are rare community even for the top clan as it is said to be extinct. Another method is commonly used and simple method is to reach the origin stage. In which one can tap in bloodline and form image of the beast. Since both methods were impossible for her. Her bloodline remained secret. "I was born here at Harle, my lord," she said "stop with ''my lord''. Call me master. Now tell me about your parents" he asked "yes, my lor... I mean master, I only had a mother, I didn''t know about my father. She died of illness" Taenya said but there was sadness in her voice. "how did you become a slave," Lloyd asked. "one day a middle age came to me asking for money. He said that he gave money as a loan to my mother. I said my mother never owned anyone any money and argued. Later he brought officials and forced for money. Since I was broke, he sold me to slave market" she said After hearing about her story, he knows it was a sham. He looked at her feeling sorry for her. He took 10 gold coins and gave her and said, "Since you are familiar around here. Go and buy yourself some clothes and meet me at the gate of Phoenix clan" Seeing gold coins, she was surprised as said, "master this is too much.!!" Seeing he face he smiled and said "it is not all for clothes. Since you are my maid from now on you must use it when I order you in future" Hearing this she was relieved and she left. He had to send her away because a few mins before, the system was bashing non-stop inside his head. -beep- -beep- -beep- -beep- -beep- -beep- -peculiar energy detected, which is useful for the system- -Host please found his source- ''okay¡­. Okay, stop beeping inside my head'' ''where is this energy'' -15 KM from the host- An arrow pointing to a direction appeared before his eyes. Lloyd followed it. It led towards the park middle of the city. In the middle of the park, there was a lake. It was a naturally formed lake, way before the city was built. A park was built around it. He came towards the lake and asked, ''Where is it?'' -800 meters downwards- ''are you saying it is inside the lake'' -yes- Lloyd paused for a while and jumped into the lake. He could see varieties of fishes swimming by. He swims downwards. After a while, the light becomes dimmer and pressure of water increasing. For him, with his tempered body 9th stage, this pressure is nothing. After a while it got so dark he couldn''t see his own hands. He wanted to go back. The only thing which kept him going was a notification from the system -200 meters- -120 meters- -90 meters- -50 meters- -20 meters- -5 meters- -1 meters- - destination reached- After hearing system, he felt a solid object in front. He touches it. -Energy confirmed- -Absorbing- He then saw light generated from the object. Later it shone brightly. Everything was seen before him. The object, the system was so interested was a rock. He confused. ''system, what''s so special about this rock?'' -this rock is a meteor. It was from outer space. It processes unique universe energy- After a while light dimmed and it was pitch black again. -energy obtained- -system updating- On hearing, the system was updating he was excited. He wanted to just wait for a while here but he was running out of oxygen. He swims upwards and reaches the bank. -system updated- -new features added- -analysis power improved- -fire and ice phoenix art analysis completed- -new phoenix art created- -purple phoenix art obtained- -transferring data to host- Lloyd got phoenix art to match his bloodline. He was excited. -mission shop opened- -refreshing status- --------------------------------------------------- Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- tempered body 9th stage Bloodline- purple phoenix EXP- 0/50 ----------------------------------------------------- Seeing the EXP in his status he was confused. It just like game character back on earth. He asked system, ''what''s with EXP'' -EXP is experiencing point of the host. The host can earn EXP by defeating your enemy or complete mission given by system- ''Ohh... mission... show the available missions'' ---------------------------------------------------- Mission 1- learn any attack skill Details- learn an attack skill to minor completion Reward-15 EXP ---------------------------------------------------- Mission 2- learn any movement skill Details- learn a movement skill to minor completion Reward-15 EXP ------------------------------------------------------------- Mission 3- cultivate purple phoenix art Reward-20 EXP --------------------------------------------------------- 8 Origin stage and Bloodline awakening On a sunny day, a youth can be seen practicing with a sword. He swings it so beautifully. He was moving back to fro and side to side. His legs can''t be some by normal eyes. If one saw him right now one will be mesmerized. He was Lloyd. He was practicing basic sword art and shadow steps for last 15 days. He already completed all basic body tempering exercised a few days ago. Now he could control his body efficiently and move in the way he wants. Martial skill takes time to practice and a lot of effort. So mastering a skill is divided into stages When one master a skill 25%, it is called minor completion When it is 60% it is called major completion. When one master it to 90% it is called peak completion. If one completely masters the skill it is called perfect stage. Mostly every cultivation will have minor completion in all his skills. Only after one practice to minor completion then only one can use the skill in battles. Otherwise too many flaws will appear which enemy will take advantage of it. which may even cause death. -mission completed (learn any attack skill)- -mission completed (learn any movement skill)- He finished practicing and went for a bath. As he laid in the tub he thought about all the thing happened for past few days. Half a month ago, he was back on earth studying for college, watching anime, reading novels and enjoying the prime of his life with his friends. On his last day, he got drunk. His girlfriend just left him. That day was raining. He left bar was heading home when a thunderstruck him. Then he woke up here. He sighed and said, "system, bring up my stats" -------------------------------------------------------- Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- peak tempered body 9th stage Bloodline- purple phoenix EXP- 30/50 Skills- basic sword art (25%) basic fist art (20%) shadow steps (25%) ------------------------------------------------------------ Lloyd saw his mastery of the skill. He reached minor completion for basic sword art and shadow step. But his basic fist art stopped at 20%. He need actual combat for more practice. He got up and went out of the bath. Taenya prepared his change of clothes. At first when she heard him say he was second young master of Phoenix clan Lloyd Fenix when froze for few moments. After showing her his house. He later mentioned her to his parents. Taenya finally settled in his home after few days of maid lessons from his mother''s personal maid. Unlike on a day, he met her in the slave market now she was cheerful. She was 21 this year. She was a mature beauty. He taught her body tempering exercises. He can see her practicing during her free time. "Taenya, later I am going for close cultivation. So later go to my mother and say that I am tired and tell her, ''I will not attend dinner tonight'' " he said to her. He went to his room sat cross-legged on his bed and started his new Phoenix art. He wants to break to the origin stage. Clan meet is will held 3 months later. There will be a martial art tournament among the younger generation. He wants to remove his trash from his name. Since he is already peak tempered body 9th stage, he body foundation is fully built for gathering qi in his dantian and break to origin stage. Qi started gathering from the surrounding towards his dantian. -mission completed (cultivation of purple phoenix art)- -level up- The purple glow started from his dantian and run across his body. His body starting shaking. He heard a sharp screech of Phoenix in his head. His bloodline awakened. -scanning host- -refreshing stats- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- origin 1st stage Bloodline- purple phoenix EXP- 0/100 Skills- basic sword art (25%) basic fist art (20%) shadow steps (25%) ---------------------------------------------------- He continued to cultivate till morning to stabilize his cultivation. He eyed opened his eyes excited but next moment he smelled a nasty smell. He looked down and found black gluey material all over his body. He knows this was impurities extracted from his body after reached origin stage. He held his nose to block off the smell and headed for a bath immediately At that moment, Lloyd didn''t know because of his advancement and awaking of bloodline, a huge commotion was caused all around the world. When he woke his bloodline yesterday, every bloodline cultivator in the world felt a tremor of bloodline indicating new bloodline has emerged. 9 Parents found ou Both clans of ice phoenix and fire phoenix bloodline said they are the true heir of Phoenix and others are just cheap imitation. it caused hated between both clans. Now the truth about his purple phoenix bloodline got out. His parent and some members of the family will support him but there some among both families, who will hate him. Due to the marriage of his parents, they are already at the edge of their sanity. Because of the clan war, a lot of their loved one died. If they found about his bloodline. they may even go crazy and use every power at their disposal to eliminate him. Because his bloodline he can imitate any of both bloodline. After thinking about it he decided to imitate he has fire phoenix bloodline. During this cultivation last night, he found that he can control fire or ice separately. For some reason, he couldn''t control both at the same time. They cancel each other. When he asked system about it replied that ice phoenix art and fire phoenix art are never meant to be fused. It only described how to cultivate fire and ice separately. If he wants he cultivate both elements, he needs to find their common point and learn to fuse both elements. Then only he could fully unleash his full bloodline power or find an elemental cultivation art based on cultivating both elements at the same time and fuse it with purple phoenix art. For bloodline cultivators, they must cultivate their bloodline art. No other cultivation will work for them. Bloodline cultivators are few in number. Majority of cultivators don''t have a bloodline. When they reach peak tempered body stage, he/she must decide on which element should they choose and find elemental cultivation art based on the element he/she decided and reach the origin stage. Now he reached the origin stage, his parent will find about his cultivation when they laid eyes on him. After exiting his house to go towards his parent''s house for breakfast. He felt strange from the surrounding. ''what''s going on?'' he thought. As his parent''s house is at the centered most location of the clan, he could see elders of the clan walking by. But today he didn''t saw any of them. Even Phoenix clan juniors couldn''t be seen. He could only see the normal disciple of the clan. They join the clan to help them cultivate with help of clan resources. In return, they work of the clan. At that time he didn''t know that all of it was caused by him. Due to tremor caused by his bloodline, all bloodline cultivator felt fear in bones. He underestimated system, during the fusing of his bloodline, the system also purified his bloodline to his origin. His bloodline purity almost close to 100% which only processed by mythical beats. His only rival in purity is the phoenix itself. When one gain bloodline, its purity will only be below 50%. With the passing of generation purity decreases. His bloodline purity can be explained by his bloodline skill (phoenix rebirth) which only proceed by phoenix itself. He reached his parent''s home but his parents were not home. He asked servants and found of out his parents were in a clan meeting. Just as he was leaving, he brother came. Lloyd saw words floating above Derek''s head saying, ''origin 7th stage'' This was a new feature he got after system updated. Just by looking, someone, he found to find out their cultivation. Derek stared at his brother feeling confused. He could feel qi from his brother his brother indicating his brother just reached the origin stage which is impossible since knowing his brother couldn''t cultivate. Derek disappeared from his original location and appeared in front Lloyd. Lloyd couldn''t even follow his brother''s movement. Derek held Lloyd''s hand and sent qi to check if really his brother reached origin stage. "you could culti...¡­..cultivate. and ... reached org...¡­origin stage" Lloyd could see the excitement from his brother''s face. Derek adored both of his brothers very much since childhood. He was sad when he found out his brother couldn''t cultivate. But now his brother reached the origin stage. "yes, I can cultivate..." Lloyd couldn''t finish his word when his brother disappeared. "I should tell mom and dad about this" Lloyd could hear Derek''s voice echoing. Few seconds later "whaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTT!!!!!!!!!!" Lloyd could his father''s voice from far. Next moment the front door of his parent''s house flew away with a big bang. Alder came in front of Lloyd of and held his son''s hand. "it''s true, you really could cultivate," he said his son. Tears started flowing from his eyes. Till now his only regret was his second son not able to cultivate. Now his son could cultivate he couldn''t hide his excitement. Next moment his mother also came after his father held his hand. After a while, she hugged her son and she also cried. These were the tear of joy. Seeing his parents like that Lloyd felt warm in his heart. Shortly after Derek also came. When saw this scene he was happy. But he came closer and saw his father, he was shocked. His father was crying. Leaking from both his eyes and nose with a creepy smile on his face. It scared the hell out of him. If one saw a full muscular man standing there crying. Leaking from his nose and eyes he with a smile he will also feel the same. ''dad, I know you are happy for the brother. I am also happy but you are clan master of one the top clans. You are the face of the clan. You shouldn''t drive by feeling.'' Derek thought in his mind and don''t dare to say it. 10 Danger Approaching After a while, Alder calmed down. He looked at his son and felt phoenix bloodline within him but he couldn''t differentiate which one his son inherited. His or Esvele''s. Some low-clan members have low purity, so much as one can''t differentiate. He thought his son may have low purity. Being a bloodline cultivator is both boon and ban. Bloodline cultivators cultivate faster than other. But they are shackled by their bloodline purity. From this, he was happy and worried. Happy because his son could cultivation. Worried because of his low-level purity, maximum his son may reach in his life may be peak origin stage even after purification in origin stage. if he found out his son''s bloodline purity reached almost 100%, he may really puke blood and say, ''you rascal, I could more worried about my future progress than yours'' "Lloyd, what''s your bloodline?" Alder asked. Hearing Alder, Esvele, and Derek also sensed they couldn''t identify which phoenix bloodline Lloyd has inherited. Lloyd showed them his right hands to them. He channeled qi towards his right hand. A crimson flame appeared above his hand. Fire Phoenix aura can be sensed from the flame. Seeing the flame, Alder almost lost control of his feelings again. Esvele happy for her son but inside she felt little sad. Among her sons only her third son Leland inherited her bloodline. "come on, I will show you how to control your flames," Alder said to Lloyd. He then started to explain his experience of controlling flames. "with greater control of flame, you can do this" saying this he showed Lloyd his hand. From his hand, phoenix flames gathered and it morphed into phoenix made of fire. It flew from Alder''s hand and circled above them and finally, it landed on Lloyd''s shoulder. It issued a cry of Phoenix and disappeared. Seeing this Lloyd''s eyes glittered with excitement. "how was it?" Alder said with a smile seeing his son''s glittering eyes. "amazing!!" Lloyd said. Lloyd tired to do it but couldn''t. He hasn''t reached that level of control yet. After a while, he turned to his father and asked "oh....father, what was the commotion in the clan" Hearing his asking about it smile on his disappeared and turned serious "new bloodline appeared in the world yesterday. From the tremor, it was concluded that its purity is higher than all the other bloodline. That person will reach peak level cultivator of this world. So, all clan is trying to find that person to join them. Since he is still origin stage, if they can help that person till he reaches a high level in cultivation, they may gain a super cultivator and improve their clan power" Alder said Hearing his father, Lloyd knows that he was the one all of them searching for. "Did anyone found who he/she is? What bloodline he processed?" he asked his father feeling worried inside. "no, nobody knows about him/her and what bloodline he/she process," Alder said and after a moment he continued, "but I say he says that person really has bad luck" "Why?" Lloyd asked confused. "if he/she joins a clan, all another clan will try and kill him/her. Since they don''t want others to rise above them and if he/she is a rouge cultivator he can''t get resources for his development unless he is in a clan. What a bad luck" his father sighed Hearing his father, Lloyd felt fear creeping inside him and thought ''what the hell!!!, I am already the member of Phoenix clan. If anyone finds about my bloodline I am done for. I should really hide it until I get stronger otherwise nobody will know how I die'' Feeling the approaching danger, he felt urged to increase his cultivation faster. He left his parents'' house and called for the system ''what''s my status'' -refreshing stats- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- origin 1st stage Bloodline- purple phoenix EXP- 0/100 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) basic sword art (25%) basic fist art (20%) shadow steps (25%) ---------------------------------------------------- . -new mission available- ----------------------------------------------------- Mission- reach Earth stage Details- your bloodline caused other to kill you. So, get stronger Reward- bloodline skill (Summon Spirit) --------------------------------------------------- ''what''s summon spirit skill'' -please reach earth stage for more information- Hearing system asking him to reach earth stage to know about new bloodline skill. He didn''t know what to say. He continued to ask about the skill but got the same reply. ''what''s the faster way to increase my cultivation'' he asked the system -to improve your cultivation, kill the magical beast and gain EXP to level up- When he heard system he finally realized that it was because of the system he reached the origin stage faster by gaining EXP. Currently, he was at minor complete in skills. He wanted to improve it to major completion before fighting any magical beasts. Normally when cultivator practices a martial skill, it will take months to reach minor completion. Years to reach major completion. Decades to reach peak completion. Centuries to reach the perfect stage of skill. But no one has the time of centuries to live. So only ancient cultivator with strong cultivation has ever reached this stage. Because of the system, he could learn and practice skill faster. He only needed 15 days to reach minor completion. He asked his Derek''s help to practice. He reached major completion in next 20 days by using Derek as a battle partner. 11 The Hunt Part 1 After mastering martial skills to major completion. Lloyd went to the library to get rank 1 shadow steps. The one he got earlier was a simplified version of it. Now he reached origin he wanted to get a complete skill. -new skill obtained- ---------------------------------------- Shadow steps A series of footwork to move faster and smoothly as fast as a shadow -------------------------------------- -integrating with previous skill- -refreshing stats- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- origin 1st stage Bloodline- purple phoenix EXP- 0/100 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) basic sword art (65%) (rank 0) basic fist art (60%) (rank 0) shadow steps (35%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- Forest was abundant in this world. Between major cities, a vast area of forest is present. Magical beasts roam these forests freely. Beast is divided into various rank based on their strength. Such as mortal beast, rank 0, rank 1, rank 2... A mortal beast has the strength of a mortal human. Rank 0 beast has the strength of tempered body. Rank 1 has the strength of origin stage. The next day Lloyd left the clan for the forest near the city called Aelwolf. It is said that the king of Aelwolf forest is a peak rank 1 demon wolf. Lloyd entered the forest was walking when he felt killing intent on his side from among the trees in the back. He turned and saw a shadow flying towards him at a fast phase. He caught it with his hand and saw it was a snake. He looked it carefully and found it is a snake called an emerald snake. A peak rank 0 beasts. Its speed is very fast and anyone below origin stage can''t see it move. Its poison can even kill peak origin stage cultivator. Lloyd killed it immediately and dismantled it and kept precious part to sell afterward. -congratulation for killing peak rank 0 beast- -5 EXP gained- After he traveled for some but couldn''t find any beasts in the outer borders of the forest. He went deeper into the forest "ahoooooooooooooooooooooooooo" He heard a howl of a wolf and moved to the direction. After 600 meters, he was a big wolf. It was Demon wolf. it was dark grey in color with bright red eyes. Its stature was big as a car. There were two wolfs. From the system, he found both of them are early origin stage beast. He slowed moved closer to them but they detected him. wolfs turn toward him. Seeing his presence was detected he came before the wolfs while drawing his sword. Wolfs circled around him and watching him. "GRRRRRRRRRRRR....." One wolf jumped towards him with teeth ready to bite him. Lloyd jumped towards the side to escape the wolf. As he was in the air, the other one came towards him as it was a plan. He couldn''t get away. He was terrified and couldn''t escape. He placed his sword in front to defend against it. Wolf banged against the sword and he flew towards the tree. He hit against the tree and fell. He coughed a mouthful of blood and slowly stood up. He looked towards the wolfs. He was careless. He didn''t have actual battle experience and fell into their trap. Seeing him stood up, one of the wolf dashing towards him. He moved forwards and readied his sword waiting for the wolf to come near. When the wolf was before him, he slid to right and moved the swords downwards and cut the front legs of the wolf. The wolf crashed to the ground with blood flowing from the legs cut. "HU...¡­.HU.....HU" it cried feeling pain. Lloyd ignored it and turned towards the other wolf. The wolf seeing the condition of the injured wolf it slowly stepped backward and intended to escape. Lloyd didn''t give it a chance to escape. He rushed towards it and slashed. It was cut it the middle of the stomach and it died. ------------------------------------- -congratulation for killing early rank 1 beast- -15 EXP gained- ------------------------------------- After killing the wolf, he moved to the injured wolf and with a slash, he ended its life. ------------------------------------- -congratulation for killing early rank 1 beast- -15 EXP gained- ----------------------------------------- Before the wolf died it howled and he could hear howls of wolfs from far. He knows that within a few moments this area will be surrounded by demon wolfs. He escaped from the area and run for few kilometers without stopping. He could hear angry howls of demon wolfs from behind. He reached a river and jumped into it and swan to another shore. Wolfs are just like dogs. They are expert in tracking so he must wash off his scent to escape from the wolfs. He reached another side of the river and with circulation qi, his clothes dried up. He searched for a dwelling to rest and heal his injuries. He was far away from the city and he is injured After searching for a while he found a suitable cave and entered it. He blocked the entrance with a boulder nearby. He sat down and started his cultivation. His internal injuries started to heal at a fast phase. Because of today''s battle, his learned more about his weakness. He thought less of the beasts like the animals back on earth. But he learned that in this world beast are much smarter and if he underestimated his opponent and may die a tragic death. 12 The Hunt Part 2 In Aelwolf forest a youth can be seen fighting a demon wolf. the youth has neat clothes without a speck of dusk but the wolf has multiple of injuries. Beside them, there was another 5 dead wolfs. "don''t hate me, I am doing this to level up and get stronger," the youth said and the crimson fire started to generate from the sword. The youth was Lloyd. He was in the forest for a week and killing wolf whenever he sees it. Seeing the crimson flame, the wolf body shivered. Lloyd slashed towards the wolf, the sharp crimson arch generated from the sword traveled towards the wolf. it cut the wolf from head to waist. ------------------------------------- -congratulation for killing middle rank 1 beast- -25 EXP gained- ------------------------------------- -level up- -achieved origin 5th stage- -displaying new status- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- origin 5st stage Bloodline- purple phoenix EXP- 0/500 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) basic sword art (95%) basic fist art (90%) shadow steps (75%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- For the past few days, he was hunting and leveled up to origin 5th stage. Because of battles, his martial skills of sword art and fist art reached peak completion and shadow steps reached major completion. He learned to control fire and ice to easily. Now he can integrate it with his skill to make them even stronger like he did crimson sword flash earlier. Now the majority of beasts in the area was killed by him. He can''t even find any beasts. During his search for beasts, he found the demon wolf''s den. It was at the bottom of a mountain situated at the center of the forest. Demon wolf present there are more than 100. Majority of them are early rank 1, which are nothing in front of him. After a short rest, he started towards wolf''s den. As he reached towards the den he could hear the howls of wolfs. Before he reached near the mountain, he meets another group of wolfs. He killed the in few breaths. ------------------------------------- -congratulation for killing early rank 1 beast- -15 EXP gained- ------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- -congratulation for killing middle rank 1 beast- -25 EXP gained- ------------------------------------- .............................. ------------------------------------- -congratulation for killing middle rank 1 beast- -40 EXP gained- ------------------------------------- He then rushed towards the valley. It was filled with wolfs. Because of last few days, his mental strength increased otherwise he could have peed his pants. He then rushed towards the center of the pack without any notice. Seeing a human appear in between the pack without their attention. All the wolfs altered and howled to gather the pack. Hearing the howl, he placed hands behind his back with an evil smile and waited for all wolfs to gather around him. Lloyd released his killing intent. Wolfs surrounded Lloyd but none of them advanced towards. They all waited for another wolf to rush towards the human to test his strength. "This is boring. Since none of you are coming. I shall finish it fast" saying this Lloyd brought a crimson flame in the shape of the ring above his finger. He released it. The flame ring expanded and rushed to all direction and burning anything in its path. ------------------------------------- -congratulation for killing early rank 1 beast- -25 EXP gained- ------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- -congratulation for killing early rank 1 beast- -25 EXP gained- ------------------------------------- ........................ ------------------------------------- -congratulation for killing early rank 1 beast- -25 EXP gained- ------------------------------------- -level up- He felt very happy that he leveled up but when he looked towards the wolf the was confused to find more are still alive. Among them, only a few are gravely injured and most of them only have minor injuries. When he looked up their ranks he shocked and finally understood. According to Intel he got, there was only one peak rank 1 demon wolf but here there were more than 50 peak rank 1 beasts. All early rank 1 was killed during the flames and middle rank 1 was gravely injured and can''t move. More than 50 peak rank 1 wolf was standing with light injured. Seeing their fellow wolfs get killed, they were very angry and veins appeared in their eyes looked towards the human. Seeing their anger, Lloyd didn''t care. He lifted his right leg and gathered qi in it. It shined with a dark blue glow. He stamped the leg into the ground. Cracking sound could be heard as the ground started to cover with a layer of ice. Ice covered the entire valley. Its temperature dropped rapidly and started freezing. He wanted to freeze the ground because it will decrease the agility of the wolfs. Drawing his sword, he turned towards the wolfs and said loudly, "COME ON" 13 Demon Wolf King The wolfs tried to run on ice but couldn''t. they all crashed on ice. They couldn''t even maintain balance and stand on his feet. Lloyd slide on ice, Moved towards the demon wolfs and started his killing spree. The wolfs couldn''t defend themselves. ------------------------------------- -congratulation for killing peak rank 1 beast- -40 EXP gained- ------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- -congratulation for killing peak rank 1 beast- -40 EXP gained- ------------------------------------- .............................. ------------------------------------- -congratulation for killing peak rank 1 beast- -40 EXP gained- ------------------------------------- He killed every demon wolfs and he sighed seeing all the wolfs corpses. -level up- -level up- -level up- -level up- -achieved peak origin stage- -displaying new status- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- peak origin stage Bloodline- purple phoenix EXP- 820/1000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) basic sword art (96%) basic fist art (90%) shadow steps (80%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- He was currently reached peak origin stage. It was a stage after origin 9th stage and earth 1st stage. Some people called it half-step earth stage. He felt excited. His actual plan was to reach the origin 7th stage before heading home. As he was preparing to leave, he heard a howl. The power he felt of the howl was humongous. He felt scared and tried to leave but a huge demon wolf appeared above the mountain. He looked to the wolf and was shocked. It was an early rank 3 beasts. He shivered. The wolf was twice the size of a normal rank 2 demon wolf. it was pitch black in color and its head as a rhombus-shaped golden crystal. Lloyd immediately understood that it was the king of demon wolfs in the mountain. The wolf looked at all the wolf corpses and finally, it turned towards Lloyd. It opened its mouth and a voice appeared, "you have some nerve human. Coming into my house and killing my family members. If I don''t kill you and offer your soul as a sacrifice to my descendants, I will no longer be called Grax" Seeing the talking wolf Lloyd and feeling his pressure he almost fainted. He looked around and quickly thought of something. Since this wolf can talk, then maybe he can reason with it. Lloyd quickly said, "Lord Grax, I am just passing by. I didn''t do it" "if you didn''t then who did?" Grax said with an angry voiced resounded deep into Lloyd''s bones. "Earlier I saw two dragons fight in this location. One was fire dragon, look at his torched area below the ice and other was an ice dragon which froze entire area" Lloyd said while looking scared and recollecting his experience as it really happened. "oh¡­.. dragons you say. Then why am I smelling my descendant''s blood on you.... hum..... Don''t tell me you tried to dismember my descendants for profit, then you must die for it" Grax said while rushing towards him, swing his claws to cut the human into pieces. ''He dared to think of making a profit from by children''s corpses'' Grax thought. With the step of the Grax, all the ice cracked under in feet. he was able to run freely. Lloyd slide towards the side to escape but couldn''t get away. The claw touched his chest and strips of cuts appeared on his chest. Blood rushed out of the wound on his chest. He tried to stop the blood but before he could do it Grax appeared left side of him and bit his left hand and pulled it. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Lloyd cried out in pain as his left hand below his elbow got pulled off. "Bastard!!!!" Lloyd cried and said with anger in his voice. "whatever you do, today you will die," Grax said with a calm voice. Now, Lloyd tried to think calmly for any way to get out here alive. He moved backward to maintain distance and make a run when he got a chance. "Where do you think you are going? You can''t escape. Now come and accept death" Grax said looking towards the human slowly moving backward. Lloyd truly felt powerless against his enemy. He can''t escape and can''t fight. He can''t follow Grax''s movements. With amount blood he is losing, he may die at any moment with blood loss and Grax is in his front waiting for him decide to kill himself of blood loss or come forwards and die. 14 Killing Grax Lloyd can feel his eyes lose focus. He knows that if he waits any longer, he will die of blood loss. ''system, is there a way to escape?'' he asked the system -analyzing situation- ------------------------------------- Option 1-Make a run for it Survival rate-0% Option 2- fight Survival rate- 30% ------------------------------------ ''How can I fight this thing. my abilities can''t even scratch it'' -the host can only survive with bloodline power- ''bloodline power'' Lloyd was confused. He knows that his bloodline is the purple phoenix. But he can''t use it. -yes, the host can force bloodline to combine fire and ice. It will create a powerful attack which may kill even earth stage- -the host is advised that this ability can be used once a day.if this ability is used continuously, the host may lose his bloodline and cultivation, as it uses the blood of host as the source. If host want to use it freely, you must find elemental cultivation technique of both fire and ice- Lloyd tried to feel his bloodline and tried to use it as system instructed. He knows that it is one time shot and wanted to do right away but he can''t follow Grax''s movement. If he missed, he will be finished. He tried to think a way for it to work. He thought of one method but it was risky. He tried to find other method but couldn''t. ''let''s risk it'' he comforted himself and turned Grax. "Hey, doggy," Lloyd said with a smile and waving his right hand towards Grax as meeting a friend. "who are calling doggy" Grax was enraged. ''this puny human dared to call him doggy. He is mighty rank 3 beast'' Grax thought. "Do you really want to know who killed your pack?" Lloyd said with a mocking smile. "Who? Did you say dragons did it earlier?" Grax said while looking at Lloyd. "do you really think dragon will come here? You idiot. I am the one who killed them. Ha¡­Ha¡­.Ha" saying that Lloyd laughed. "YOU!!" Grax shouted and rushed towards Lloyd. Seeing Grax coming to kill him. Lloyd didn''t panic and leaned towards the right and showing his undefended left side towards Grax. Grax bit on Lloyd''s left shoulder, wanting to end Lloyd''s life. Grax stared directly into Lloyd''s eyes see his soul leaving his body and die. This was the moment Lloyd was waiting for. He started to gather qi in his right hand. A red qi appeared and after blue qi appeared. A cut appeared in the middle of his hand as blood started to collect along with both of qi. After blood mixed, both qi started to mix together and a purple qi appeared. It danced like a flame. As Grax was focused on his eyes, he didn''t see Lloyd''s action. Lloyd used fist art and hit on the head of Grax. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" as the flame hit him, Grax cried. "what is it? Itssssssssssssss burning" Grax said while rolling on the ground to put out the flame. It was no ordinary flame. Grax couldn''t put out the flame. it covered his entire head. "shessssssssssssssssssssssssss" a sound appeared as Grax''s head got devoured by purple flame. -------------------------------------- -congratulation for killing peak rank 2 beast- -250 EXP gained- ----------------------------------------- Lloyd looked towards Grax and found that his body was still burning after his death. After a while, his body disappeared with the flames. -condition to level up achieved- -level up- -reached the earth stage- -mission completed (reach earth stage)- - new bloodline skill gained- -refreshing stats- -displaying new status- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- wounded, blood-loss, near death Cultivation- earth 1st stage Bloodline- purple phoenix EXP- 70/1000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) Summon spirit (bloodline) basic sword art (96%) basic fist art (93%) shadow steps (80%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- Lloyd just saw his stats and suddenly his eyes lost focus and he could fell his life ending. He couldn''t do anything. He can''t move anymore. ''So, this is where I die'' Lloyd said to himself. he started to recollect all things happened in this life and past life. Just as he was about to die, he felt a warmth from his dantian and traveled all over his body. -Phoenix rebirth activated- Lloyd''s body started to burn in purple flame. He injuries started to heal. Flame traveled to his left arm. Lloyd got itchy on his left arm as new left hand grew back. -Cultivation decreasing- -locking bloodline skill (Summon spirits)- -refreshing stats- -displaying new status- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- peak origin stage Bloodline- purple phoenix EXP- 70/1000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) basic sword art (96%) basic fist art (93%) shadow steps (80%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- Lloyd sat up looked towards his newly grown left hand and thrilled as his life got saved. he was feeling lucky that he got purple bloodline. Just then he saw new notification and new stats. ''system, why have I decreased my cultivation'' he asked. -the side effect of bloodline skills- -information updated about Phoenix rebirth- ----------------------------------- Phoenix Rebirth An ability processed by Phoenix. It can heal phoenix if single breath left in it. Side effect- because of the energy used in rebirth. Cultivation will decrease a minor realm --------------------------------- 15 Secret of the Mountain After some time, Lloyd calmed down from fear. He looked to the corpses and with a wave of his hand, flame descended and burned all of it. He turned his head and looked towards the top of the mountain while thinking. During regeneration, he felt a calling from his bloodline. It came from the top of the mountain. He can''t see the top of the mountain. It was not high but covered with fog reducing visibility. He started to climb the mountain. As he reached near the top, snow appeared. He looked to the fog. it was not moving and disappearing with wind and sun like regular fog. He finally decided and entered the fog. -Illusion formation entered- -advised to leave immediately- As he heard system, he wanted to leave but his vision blurred and he discovered that he was currently in a desert. ''so, this is an illusion created by the formation. It looks so real'' he thought and picked up some sand and felt it. ''I need to escape'' Just as he was worried to find a way out of the formation. He felt his bloodline shake and the desert disappeared and he was once again in snow. ''what happened?'' he thought. He only felt his bloodline and this happened. -illusion formation dispersing- "it turned off!!. Why?" he asked while feeling surprised. -host''s bloodline disabled the formation- He looked back and found the path he came from and thought, ''since formation disabled, maybe I should find out what in here for building such illusion formation'' Lloyd moved forwards and snow started to increase. After a while, he also found skeletons buried in the snow. ''what the hell'' ''they must be stuck here because of the formation'' As he reached the top of the mountain he saw a figure. As he came towards it, he found it was a stone statue. It was 15 meters tall. It was a statue of a phoenix. Its wings spanned all over the peak of the mountain. "maybe something related to phoenix clan is present here" saying he came forward and touched it. He wanted to feel it. Just as he touched it he again felt bloodline shake. The statue also trembled and moved to reveal a spiral stair under it. "system what the hell was that?" he asked system. At first, he thought that since he was processing a unique bloodline, illusion formation didn''t work for him but now when he touched the phoenix statue he revealed a hidden passage. If he had ice phoenix bloodline or fire phoenix bloodline he would have thought that it has become one of the clan build it and only revealed when certain bloodline user touched it but he has purple phoenix bloodline which was never present till now. -the phoenix statue has a bloodline lock. The primary analysis shows that it was linked to open only for purple phoenix bloodline user- "WHAAAAAAAAAAAT" Lloyd froze and don''t know what to say. He thought he was the first purple phoenix bloodline user but here there was a purple phoenix bloodline lock. Which means it already exists before. ''I need to find a clue about another user of purple phoenix'' he thought and he enters the passage. He climbed downstairs. It was a long stairway. It continued for a while and temperature increased as he descended to the end. it was a hallway. It was along with the light stone present at regular intervals to light up the hallway. He continued the hallway as he reached a big door. It was 3 times bigger than him. He searched and couldn''t find a clue about who built it and where other purple bloodline users are. He placed his hands on the door to push it open. He again felt a shake in his bloodline. He heard a click and door slowly opened. It was a large room. It was a semi-circular dome reaching about 100 meters in diameters. The room was empty without anything except for a coffin at the center. He also found out that this was the only door to the room. He stepped into the room. Just as he dropped his feet. He felt a huge pressure coming at him. He almost kneeled. -ERROR- -ERROR- -ERROR- -ERROR- -The system has run into an unexpected problem- -System shutting down- Lloyd heard it and feeling nervous. He can''t move forward. He wanted the system to scan but it didn''t reply. Sweat started falling from his head and he can''t endure the pressure any longer. He stepped back and was out of the room. The pressure disappeared. He felt relieved that the pressure disappeared. It can''t even move under that condition. Even when he felt the pressure of the demon wolf king, he can move. He felt really scared. -System rebooting- -rebooting successful- ''system, what the hell happened to you'' Lloyd asked for the system -sometimes is stopping the system from entering that room- ''can you scan that coffin from here'' he asked -something is interfering system''s functions. Can''t scan- His mood fell when heard it. He wanted to find a clue about other purple bloodline user but something is stopping him and system from finding of the coffin. The big door slowly closed as he was thinking what to do. He sighed. 16 Who am I? Lloyd tried many times but couldn''t enter the chamber. Every time, he stepped into the chamber he will feel heavy pressure and system would shut down always. He searched the hall of any clue but couldn''t. at last, he gave up. To find what in that coffin, he has two options. One is to get stronger then come back and try again. Other is to get help from his father. But he didn''t want to do that. Because it may lead to the discovery of the purple phoenix bloodline within him. He left the forest and headed home. He completed his training and another reason is all strong beasts are killed by him. As he walking a city appeared by the horizon. It was the city of Harle, his home. The first thing appeared when one sees Harle from outside is its city walls. They are 25 feet in height. It was made by large stone boulders infused by defense formation. It circles around the city. It protects citizens from magical beasts outside. The city was ruled by fire phoenix clan. From history books, it is said that the city was built because of the Phoenix Clan. They protected mortals from beasts. So, mortals built a city around the Phoenix Clan. In Harle, Fire Phoenix clan is the only clan. They would allow any other clan from entering and occupying their city. Other clans didn''t question their authority. Among the top 10 clans in the country. Fire Phoenix clan is positioned at 2nd place, just below the imperial dragon clan. Ice Phoenix clan is ranked 3rd in place. They ranked third because of the position of their clan. Which was situated at the north, among the snow-covered mountains otherwise both phoenix clan would have tied in their position. The imperial Dragon clan are the rulers of the country. They are dragon bloodline cultivators. Unlike the Phoenix clan, dragon bloodline cultivator''s abilities change from person to person. Even father and son have different abilities. According to what he knows, dragon bloodline user''s cultivation art was called Dragon transformation art. They train their body which ultimately reaches near to a dragon''s body. Which in turn strengthen their abilities. The major business in Harle is owned by the Phoenix Clan. They maintain private guards to rule of the city. Fire Phoenix clan was positioned at the center of the city. The clan and the city are separated by another wall reaching 35 feet and greater defense formation. Currently, Lloyd''s clothes were torn. His chest piece had four cuts caused by claws and an entire piece from shoulder to his arms were missing. he looked like a beggar. To enter the city, one must go through four entrances in four directions. Each entry point was divided into two gates. Common gate and VIP gate. All mortals, tempered body stage cultivators, and origin stage cultivator must use the common gate. VIP gate can be used if one is a member of the Phoenix clan or a cultivator at earth stage or above. The common gate will always be crowded. Business vehicles can be seen waiting for entry. Lloyd directly went to VIP gate and just as he was going to enter. "Hold it" a guard posted at the gate came forward and stopped Lloyd. "What is it?" he looked the guard with an anger in his eyes. His mood was already very bad since the tomb at the top of the mountain. "don''t you know only phoenix clan members can use his gate?" the guard said while blocking his path. "don''t block the gate here. Get out my sight before I beat the shit out you" the guard said "I am a member of Phoenix clan," Lloyd said Hearing this young man from the Phoenix clan, the guard agitated. He knows that he can''t mess with Phoenix clan members. He can''t figure out if the young man before him is really Phoenix clan member. "what going on here?" just then, a young man came. He was riding a horse. He saw the commotion at the gate and came. This young man was Bernie Fenix. He was the grandson of the third elder of phoenix clan. He was Lloyd''s cousin. He had a deep brown hair with bushy eyebrows. He was short and skinny. He was currently at 15 years. He wore crimson color clothes. "younger master Bernie" the guard greeted and moved towards him and explained the situation. After listening to the guard, Bernie turned and looked at looked at Lloyd. His face turned and gave an evil smile and said, "who the hell are you? Trying to disguise as phoenix clan member. Guards beat him up" Seeing his smile Lloyd understood that Bernie recognized him. Bernie was the side which opposed his parent''s marriage the greatest. Bernie was currently at origin 2nd stage. He always bullied previous Lloyd. Hearing Bernie, the guards stationed at the gate rushed towards Lloyd. The guards were all at later stages of the tempered body. Lloyd beat him instantly and looked towards Bernie. He rushed towards him using shadow steps and kicked him in his face. Bernie flew from the horse and crashed on the street. "you!!...¡­. how did you get his strong?" Bernie said while trying to stop the blood coming from his nose. Lloyd ignored him and went towards Bernie and kicked his stomach. Bernie held his stomach and cried in pain. He vomited some blood. The guards saw this and were shocked. Some attacked phoenix clan member in board daylight. Lloyd stomped his face on Bernie''s face and asked, "WHO AM I?" Bernie didn''t say anything. He still can''t believe that the trash he always bullied was now beating the shit out of him. "I asked you a question, WHO AM I? now say it" saying that Lloyd released his cultivation. Felling the pressure, Bernie got scared and said, "YOU ARE THE SECOND YOUNG MASTER OF PHOENIX CLAN, LLOYD FENIX" "heard that" Lloyd turned toward the guard who stopped him. "yes¡­yes¡­ young master Lloyd" the guard said with fear in its voice. Lloyd lifted his feet and kicked Bernie in his face and left. ''now you can rest in peace. I fulfilled your revenge'' Lloyd thought as he was saying to previous Lloyd. Just as he said it. He felt like a weight lifted from his shoulders. He felt free. Lloyd reached home without any incident. Just as he opened the door and looked inside, he was shocked. 17 Spiritual Body Just as Lloyd entered. He saw Taenya. She was cleaning. What shocked him was her cultivation. A few days ago, she was at tempered body 2nd stage but today she was at tempered body 7th stage. ''Scan Taenya'' he said to the system. -scanning- -scan completed- -displaying stats- ----------------------------------------------------- Name- Taenya Status- healthy Cultivation-tempered body 7th stage Bloodline- phoenix(fire) (50%) ----------------------------------------------------- Her stats were the same as before except for an increase in cultivation and improved health. "Taenya comes here" he called her. Currently she much different than when he saw her a first at a slave market. she was much cheerful. Her skin was fair. She had sparkling black colored eyes. She had a long braided silky black hair. she was in her maid outfit. She had a large chest. He could measure it. He could say it is a c-cup. "yes, master" she came towards him and gave him a light bow. "how did you get strong this fast," he asked her. "I don''t know master. I just followed the exercises, the master had given me. It just happened" she said feeling confused about her own improvements. Seeing her confused expression, he knew that she doesn''t know how she got stronger. Just then he thought of something. "you said that you used my exercise method, then before that how did you train to reach tempered body 2nd stage," Lloyd said her. "before master brought me, I never trained in my life," she said seriously. "WHAT!!" Lloyd screamed. Normally the path of cultivation is full of struggles. For a mortal to enter tempered body stage, they must break past the limit of the body. Every stage in the tempered body is a struggle. He thought he was lucky. Because of the system, he skipped past tempered body stage. But his slave is passing tempered body stage like it was nothing. If others find about it, they may puke blood and go mad. Both he and his slave are heaven-defying existence. But he couldn''t understand how she did it. He looked at her stats again. He then found that on her bloodline there was a weird 50%. ''system, what the hell with 50%'' he asked the system. -she was influenced by bloodline by 50% and another half is influenced by something else- ''what is it'' he asked. -a deep scan is necessary- ''then initiate deep scan'' -physical contact with the target is necessary for the deep scan- When he heard it he almost puked blood. ''what kind of physical contact do you expect?...¡­ maybe I am thinking too much'' Lloyd thought. After calming down he asked, ''is physical contact by hands ok for you?'' -yes- "Taenya, give me your hand," he said to her. Before she could reply he caught her hand. She blushed. Lloyd felt his qi traveling from his hand to her. Taenya started shaking, she faced was covered in red color. "Ahhh" a sound of comfort released from her mouth. "master, please stop" she cried. ''is she turning on.'' He thought as he looked at her. ''holy shit, system what the hell are you doing'' -deep scan completed- As he heard system, he released Taenya''s hand immediately. She looked at him for a second and turned around and rushed to her room without even saying anything. ''system, what the hell did you do'' -the deep scan takes host''s qi and released to target. Scan the entire body, even private parts of the body included- On hearing system said he almost said, ''pervert system'' -display stats- ----------------------------------------------------- Name- Taenya Status- healthy Cultivation-tempered body 7th stage Bloodline- phoenix(fire) Physique- spiritual body ----------------------------------------------------- Seeing newly added physique, he asked, ''what is spiritual body'' -A body favored by heaven. Cultivators with this physique can cultivate many times faster than normal cultivator- ''then what about me'' -scanning host- -displaying stats- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- peak origin stage Bloodline- purple phoenix Physique- none EXP- 70/1000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) basic sword art (96%) basic fist art (93%) shadow steps (80%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- Seeing that he had no physique he becomes sad. ''what the hell, why don''t I have a physique'' he thought. He didn''t know that natural physique only appears one in million. Just as he was thinking, a knock came from the front door. He opened it and found it was a servant of the clan. "Clan master is requesting your presence," the servant said. "Okay," he said and entered the house and freshen up and worn some neat clothes. ---------------------------------------- Few mins ago. In clan meeting hall of phoenix clan. "so, have you find anything about new bloodline user?" Alder asked the men sitting in the hall. They are the clan elders and top cultivators. One of them stood up and said, "My lord, we haven''t found anything. We were also monitoring other clans. But they also didn''t find anything" After listening to the elder. Alder said, "From what we know, the bloodline user is in Agrausa. We must find that person first. Otherwise as the top clan, where will we keep our face if others find that person first" Just as he was saying that third elder sitting among them felt the talisman with him shake. He touched it and received his news that his grandson was beaten by Lloyd "clan master, what the meaning of this?" the third elder was fuming with anger as he stood up and shouted. "what happened? What are you shouting for?" Alder also saw that the communication talisman with third sent a message before the third elder got angry. "don''t act like you don''t know. You son Lloyd beat up my grandson to a pulp" the third elder said angrily. "WHAT?!!!" Alder screamed. If it was Derek, he could believe it but Lloyd only reached origin stage a few days ago. All the other people in the hall also had a question mark on their faces. From what they know, Lloyd is a trash, who couldn''t cultivate and today the third elder is saying that his grandson who is at origin 2nd stage was beaten by a mortal. They couldn''t believe it. 18 Now Thank Me!! As Lloyd reached the meeting, he saw his father sitting at the top and on both sides, there were 10 elders. They were all had white hair. They were from his grandfather''s generation. As for his grandfather, he left for close cultivation and gave his position to his son, Alder. The elders were waiting for the mortal who beat up an origin stage cultivator. But when they saw Lloyd, they didn''t move their eyes from Lloyd. The even third elder looked at Lloyd as he saw him for the first time. "Are you really Lloyd?" one of them said. Others also waiting for a reply. For what they know, Lloyd was deemed to be a trash who couldn''t cultivation. But today, Lloyd was standing before them. What shocked them was his cultivation at peak origin stage. Even Alder looked at his son weirdly. Just a few days ago. He personally checked his son. Lloyd only just reached origin stage. He thought that his son will take his entire life to reach peak origin stage but today in less than a month, his son reached peak origin stage. He couldn''t believe it. Lloyd saw all elders including his father looked at him. He also felt qi released from the elders towards him. They searched him from top to bottom, inside to outside. He felt being naked in front of them. At last one elder asked him a question. "yes, I am really Lloyd Fenix. Second son of clan master. Don''t tell me elders forget about me" Lloyd said while looking at the elders. Just as he said it, the door opened and two men came in. one of them was injured with face messed up while other is carefully holding him and helping him walk. Of course, the injured one is Bernie Fenix. He was beaten by Lloyd to this state. "Bernie!!" the third elder called and he came towards Bernie and carefully examined him. Seeing Bernie, Lloyd understood what he was called for. He turned towards his father and clan elder and said, "father, being an idiot is not a crime, so don''t punish Bernie" Hearing this, Elders looked at Lloyd in an amused face. While third elder and Bernie looked at him in hatred. Bernie thought, ''this bastard!! At first, he trashed me to a pulp and now calling me an idiot'' "are you trying to be funny?" the third elder looked at Lloyd and said with visible anger in his eyes. He wanted to chop Lloyd to pieces for what he did to his grandson. "third elder, you should be thanking me but why are you getting angry" Lloyd said looking at third elder with a confused face. One must reach peak earth stage to become an elder. They are the next strong warriors of the clan after clan master. His father is at early sky stage. so he knows that he can''t defeat any of them. he must use his brain to escape from this problem. "YOU" the third elder screamed and almost lost control. The third thought, ''you almost killed my grandson. Look at the state he is now and you are expecting for thanks from me". Alder didn''t say anything. He wanted to know how his son handles this. One of the elders looked at Lloyd and asked, "why should third elder thank you" He heard many reasons for beating someone up. But this was the first time he saw someone ask another party to thank him for beating them up. "For curing his disease," Lloyd said while a look as he done a noble mission, he continued, "normally I could have asked for fees. But since you are my cousin, I did it for free. But now, instead of for thanking me. You are causing trouble for me" "what disease" the elder asked. "memory loss," Lloyd said and continued, "Bernie lost his memory a few hours ago. He can''t even remember me. Elders, you now that I am famous in the clan but he forgot about me. Then I helped to remember. Otherwise, who knows what may happen" Hearing Lloyd words with sincerity, elders looked at Bernie for confirmation. "elders, he is telling lies. Who beat someone up to help them. Please find justice for me" Bernie said while crying. "I am lying. You know that I have proof. I have beaten your face to increase blood flow to the brain and help you remember." Lloyd said. "YOU!!!" Bernie said while looking at Lloyd. "WHAT PROOF" third elder asked Lloyd. "the guards at the gate can justify for me," Lloyd said while looking at the third elder. "someone fetch the guards" Alder ordered. After a few moments the guards appeared before them. They were shaking in fear. The people before they are the ruler of the clan. One moment of displeasure and they will not know how they died. "can I question them?" Lloyd asked. "go for it," Alder said. Lloyd looked at the guards and ask, "when I first came to the gate, what happened?" The captain of the guards looked towards Lloyd and said, "when young master Lloyd came. We didn''t know he was the young master. So, we refused entry" Lloyd could see captain visibly shaken and may faint at any moment due to pressure. He was just replying without thinking. With an evil smile, Lloyd asked, "when did Bernie come?" "just when we were deciding to ask for higher-ups to confirmation about young master Lloyd being a clan member. Young master Bernie came"the captain said. "then you asked Bernie about me, right? What did he tell you?" Lloyd continued "yes, we asked young master Bernie. He said he didn''t know young master Lloyd" captain said. All the elders listened with interest. "when did he say, I am Lloyd Fenix" Lloyd asked. This is the key point. The captain looked towards the elder and said, "after young master Lloyd beaten up young master Bernie, he said he is Lloyd Fenix" hearing this Lloyd knows he won. He looked towards the elders and said, "there you have it. Bernie lost his memory and after my treatment, he remembered. Those injuries are the side effect of the treatment. Now you know it, then come on thank me". Hearing this Bernie puked blood and fainted. The third elder held his fist tightly. Blood can be seen flowing from his fist. He left the hall carrying Bernie. 19 Love sick After meeting Lloyd and Alder left together. Alder looked at his son and asked, "how did you get this strong this fast?" Lloyd already thought of a lie beforehand. He can''t say that the original Lloyd is dead and he occupied the body. He also has a cheat called system. "during my training, I found a red colored fruit. When I picked it, I felt my bloodline''s excitement. So, I ate it. After that I started to break through easily" Lloyd said while acting like he was thinking and explaining like he really did it. During his time in the library, he knows that there is a fruit called blood fruit. It is red in color and when a bloodline user touches it, he can feel his bloodline''s excitement. After eating, one''s bloodline can be purified. It is regarded as a treasure for bloodline cultivators. It can help to break the shackles of the bloodline. "Blood fruit," Alder said in astonishment. He felt that his son was lucky to find blood fruit. Even if one searches for many lifetimes, one may never find it. "Lloyd, keep the matter about blood fruit, a secret" Alder said seriously. Alder knows that if old bloodline monsters found about his son eating blood fruit. They may come out of their close cultivation and capture his son to refine and extract blood fruit from his body. "yes, father" Lloyd nodded. He also knows the dangers of eating blood fruit. If he had any other options. He could have said that. But only blood fruit may help him improve as fast as he improved. So, he told his father that he ate blood fruit. As they walked, Lloyd reached his parent''s home. After entering, he couldn''t find his mother. Only he saw his brother sitting on the lawn. "where''s mother?" he asked his father. "she left for her parent''s house saying, ''now Lloyd also awaken fire phoenix bloodline. I will not lose to you. I will train Leland even stronger than you''. "Alder said while sighing. Hearing his mother left for ice phoenix clan to train his brother Leland, Lloyd little sad inside missing his mother. Just then he noticed Derek still sitting on the lawn while looking at the clouds. Derek didn''t even notice, they entered the house. As an origin 7th stage cultivators, his senses should be accurate to sense minute changes with 100 meters from him. But he was still lost in thought. Lloyd looked at his father for an explanation, but alder didn''t say anything. Lloyd went towards his brother and stood in front of him and asked, "brother, what are you thinking about?" Hearing his name called. Derek looked towards Lloyd and said, "you came" Lloyd saw Derek stood up and came towards him with a weird expression. Derek got hold of Lloyd''s should and tried to kiss him. Seeing Derek trying to kiss, a shiver ran through his spine. His fist moved involuntarily and punched Derek in his face to push him off. Derek flew and crashed into the ground. He slowly got off the ground and looked around. He only saw Lloyd and Alder. "where''s Kalea?" Derek asked in confusion. Lloyd knows that Kalea is Derek''s fianc¨¦e form Lefea clan. "she''s not here," Lloyd said and confusion. At first, his brother tried to kiss him and without explaining why. He is asking about his future wife. "but just now, I saw her before me. I tried to kiss her but she punched me and now she''s gone" Derek said while still looking around. "YOU!!" Lloyd couldn''t believe that his brother. He said loudly, "that was me, you tried to kiss me and now telling me that you saw me as Kalea" "this" Derek looked towards Lloyd who was angry and turn towards his father for confirmation. Seeing his father nodding at him, Derek came to know that he almost kissed his brother. "sorry" Derek apologized to Lloyd. Lloyd finally calmed down and said, "it''s okay. But you can''t continue like this. If you really want to see her then go for it" "I really want to see her but I don''t know how," Derek said while looking sad. Seeing his son like that, Alder saw his younger self in Derek When he was in love with his wife. But then their family were enemies and couldn''t meet her. Alder turned towards Derek and said, "Lafea clan is coming for auction in the capital. I also got news that Kalea is also coming. Derek, go as the representative of the clan and try to meet her" Hearing his father, Derek''s mood got brighter. There is even a large smile on his face. "Lloyd, you also go with Derek and look after him. We don''t want Derek kissing strangers" Alder said while looking at Lloyd. "yes, father" Lloyd agreed. 20 The Empress In the country of Agrausa, the capital city was called Hielle. It was located at the center of the country. It was closer to Harle. Hielle is surrounded by walls just like Harle. At the center of the city, there was a mountain. Above it was the castle of the imperial dragon clan. Hielle was twice the size of Harle and its population reaches 5 times. Majority of nobles live in Hielle. In the castle, a lady can be seen sitting and drinking evening tea. She looked like a young maiden at prime. She had a blond braided hair. He wore neat white clothes with a hint of the blue by the side. Her skin was smooth and she had a fair complexion. She had pale yellow colored eyes. She had a curvy body. She was a world-class beauty. But if one look carefully one can see cold eyes that scare anyone. She was the second most powerful person in the country. The Empress of Agrausa. Her name was Lucia Dragoon. Just then two shadows dropped in front of her and kneeled. They are covered in black clothes, only visible are their eyes. "did you find anything?" Lucia asked without looking at them. "no, your majesty. We have searched for 15 years and couldn''t find Alvin nor his hometown. All over the country there was never an Alvin match his description. It is as if he appeared out of thin air" one of the black clothes person replied. "LEAVE" she shouted. Hearing her shout. Both left immediately. She couldn''t believe, even with the network of the country, she couldn''t find Alvin. The one called Alvin was her beloved. She met him 15 years ago. They fell in love shortly after. But suddenly he disappeared one day. She searched for him but couldn''t. she fought and won the crown and wanted to search for him using kingdom''s spy network. But for 15 years, she couldn''t find anything. She couldn''t even find where he was from.he was like a ghost who never existed. She continued her search even now. "I will definitely find you," she said as consoling herself and looked at the city view down from the mountain and disappeared from her location. --------------------------------- At the same time, In the famous tavern in the capital. Lloyd was sitting by the window and enjoying the view. "This capital is bigger than I expected," Lloyd said and looked down. He could see Derek and Kalea leaving together by holding hands. They looked amazing together. His father said that both of them are a match made in heaven. While seeing them Lloyd got jealous. He was dumped in his last life. He still had feelings for her. She was never close to him like Derek and Kalea. He shook his head trying to forget about her. He got and left the tavern. He wanted to find something to distract him. The capital city was crowded and you can see people from all over the country. Today, the people were more than normal because of the auction. He bumped into people a few times. He was irritated and left the city. He left for the famous frozen lake appeared mysteriously outside the capital 15 years ago. He wanted to see it when he heard his father mentioned it before leaving. As it was evening. The cold of the frozen lake reaches maximum so hardly anyone will be there. Cold wouldn''t trouble him because of his bloodline. He reached after walking for half an hour. He saw a huge lake reaching 800 meters in diameter which was completely frozen. The temperature here is freezing. Even early earth stage cultivator will be frozen to death in this climate. As the sun set, its rays got reflected by the ice and created beautiful shades of light before him. Just as he was enjoying he heard a voice "I love you more in that I believe you had liked me for my own sake and nothing else" Lloyd followed the direction the voice came and found a lady looking at the lake and in her own world and didn''t notice him. The lady was Lucia dragoon, the Empress. "that was amazing," he said to her. "who?" Lucia was startled hearing Lloyd. She didn''t think anyone could be here now. "sorry for surprising you. I just thought that the words you said were amazing" Lloyd said. Lloyd just then saw that the lady in front of him was at peak of sky stage. He was shocked. She was far stronger than his father and his grandfather. "how can you be here?" Lucia asked. She knows that because of her cultivation she can stay here without freezing. But the youngster before he was only at peak origin stage. he was fine in this cold. Lloyd know what she is asking about he said, "my bloodline resist the cold. So, I am fine here" Hearing this her curiosity over Lloyd increased. "have you lost your loved one?" Lloyd asked her. "why do you say that?" Lucia asked Lloyd in a surprised tone. "otherwise you wouldn''t say those words here," he said. Hearing him, Lucia''s heart healed a little and she smiled a little. "yes, I miss him," she said and looked towards Lloyd and said, "kid, you are interesting. if fate holds it. Let''s meet again" Without waiting for his reply, she disappeared. Lloyd was still mesmerized by her smile and didn''t hear her words. ''in the end, who is she?'' he thought. After leaving the frozen lake, Lucia directly went to the castle. ''why do that kid feels familiar'' Lucia thought 21 The Auction After leaving the frozen lake, Lloyd returns to the inn. He starting to get prepared for the auction in the night. The auction house was a huge auditorium like building. With seats available in rows. Above the seats were VIP cabins. They were shielded view from other people sitting downstairs. So, no one saw who is in it. Lloyd reaches the cabin prepared for his clan. He sat down and look around to search for his brother. When he returned to the inn, he didn''t find Derek. Lloyd thought he left for auction. "Where the hell is he? Don''t tell me that he totally forgot about auction" Lloyd looked around and watched the people enter. The hall got filled as more people entered. After a while, the main door closed and in a few moments auction will start. Before leaving, Alder gave him money to buy things he wants at the auction but all that money was with Derek. he left to enjoy his time with his girlfriend. After a while, the lights dimmed. The spotlight focused on the stage as a lady appeared on the stage. She wore a red dress which exposed her curves. Lloyd could hear swallowing of saliva from the youngsters sitting closer at the front. "thank you all for coming to today''s auction. I am called Cia. I will be presiding today''s auction" cia said in a cute way and smiled. "oh" "oh" "oh" He could hear sounds released for the youngsters and some of them even had red veins appeared in the eyes, ready to jump on her and do with her. Lloyd could even feel his own feelings almost go out of control seeing her. "this vixen" Lloyd cursed her. ''she must have trained by some sexual technique to charm males'' Lloyd thought. If he was a pure brat like his brother. He could have been tempted by her. "we have collected myriad items from all over the country and even got a cultivation method recovered from a hidden tomb in the great forest by the west of the country" The auction started myriad items appeared and when an item which got less price. She would wink cutely at the young masters of the clan to buy them. Then they would start a contest among themselves to impress her. Lloyd was waiting for any skill book which would suit him. "the next item is a skill book called Alter art. It is a transformation skill used to change one''s body structure and become another person temporarily" cia said and showed an ancient book to the audience. Hearing this Lloyd''s got interested. If he had this skill, he could use purple phoenix art when in trouble without causing other to find out his identity. "the starting price is 200 royal gold and each increment should be 5 royal gold," cia said. "205" "220" "250" "300" The price started to increase and it reached 500 royal gold before stopping. "6 low-rank spirit stone" Lloyd shouted from his cabin. As everyone heard it. The hall quieted down. They all looked at the VIP cabin to find who is the person bidding with spirit stones. Spirit stone is a form of currency main used by cultivators. They could use spirit stone to help in cultivation or exchange them for other resources. Spirit stone is divided into many types depending on the amount and purity of qi present in them. A low-rank spirit stone could be valued more than 100 royal gold. Middle-rank spirit stone could be valued more than 1000 low-rank spirit stones. Before leaving he took spirit stone his father gave him to cultivate to previous Lloyd. He couldn''t absorb and cultivate back then. Alder could give him spirit stone at regular intervals which got piled up. In this country, spirit stone is low in quantity. They only processed by top clans. Even in genius in the top clan couldn''t get his hands-on spirit stone. This explains how much Alder loved his son. When spirit stone was brought in to the auction. Nobody cared anymore. If they want to continue bidding they must produce spirit stones which they thought it was a loss for this skill. "6 spirit stones go once" "twice" "sold," cia said while looking happy. She could get a bigger commission for this sale. After it, the auction continued and his item reached him. Lloyd paid with spirit stones and kept the book. The items which later auctioned increased in their rarity as auction progressed. The hall heated up with bids. "now the last and final item. It is a cultivation technique called yin yang tactics. It was found in an ancient tomb in the great forest. It is based on fire and ice elementals. It was slightly damaged due to its age" cia said while showing a book which was very old and could be seen damaged in some parts -beep- -beep- -new mission available- -------------------------------------------- Obtain yin yang tactics, combine with phoenix art and cultivate it. Rewards-1000 EXP --------------------------------------------- 22 Yin Yang Tactics At first, when he reincarnated he wanted to live his life to the fullest. Back on earth, he just existed. He hasn''t truly lived. In this world, without getting stronger one may always under other''s pity. If they like it, you may die at any moment. He didn''t want that. So, When Lloyd saw the notification of system about a new mission. He was thrilled. If he could get his hands on the yin-yang tactics, he could fully control his bloodline and become even stronger. Seeing the cultivation technique, the majority of clans couldn''t wait for the start of biding. Normally when a cultivator starts to cultivate under a specific element. He will be stuck with it. He could change cultivate technique with the same element. If they could get their hands on this yin-yang tactics, the next generation of their clan members could cultivate it and become even stronger than them. which would increase the overall strength of the clan. The only non-bloodline clan will be participating in this bidding. As this art will not be any use for bloodline user as they have their own bloodline art. "this item has no bottom price. The highest bidder will win it. Now let''s start bidding" cia said. "200 royal gold" "500" "1000" Lloyd saw the price increasing rapidly. He then shouted, "10 low-rank spirit stones" Hearing he was again bidding with spirit stone, the hall quieted down. But unlike the previous time, some bid as this cultivation technique is valuable. "11 low-rank spirit stone" "12" "13" Seeing that bids are increasing and they are really using spirit stones, Lloyd was surprised. He thought that once he brought spirit stones into play. He will win it. A smile appeared on his face and bid. "20 low-spirit stones" Seeing some increased bid by 5 spirit stone. Nobody bid for a while. "20 low-spirit stone going one" "twice" Just as Lloyd thought he won, a voice appeared and bid, "21" Lloyd wanted to continue biding but then he heard a same voice of the bidder. "friend, I know that you want to bid but could you give us some face," the voice said. "Why should I?" Lloyd asked instantly. "you don''t want to make Calsley clan your enemy. You wouldn''t able to handle it" the voice said, Lloyd could feel the threat and pride in the voice. Lloyd didn''t speak for a while. He knows that Calsley clan is rank 8th in top clans. "I don''t care about your clan nor your face if you want then bid higher than me," Lloyd said while feeling angry. He thought, ''this bastard, trying to scare him off using his clan name'' "50 low- rank spirit stone" Lloyd bided. "YOU," the voice said in anger. "bid for once" "twice" "sold" cia pointing towards Lloyd''s cabin and blowing him a kiss. She personally came and delivered to him. "young master here is your item," cia said with a light bow and presenting the book to Lloyd. When cia bowed, Lloyd could clearly see her jugs. He swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He immediately paid her and rushed towards the exist. If he stayed he doesn''t know what he may do to her. Just as he was leaving, he turned and said, "if Calsley clan still want to make an enemy for me, search for me at fire phoenix clan. I will be ready" Hearing he was Phoenix clan, the entire hall voice increased as they discussed. "Calsley clan, really mess up big this time. They went and offended phoenix" "that young man may be the heir of the clan since he has a huge stock of spirit stones" Lloyd left the auction hall and rushed to the inn. He can''t wait to read yin yang tactics. As he reached the inn, he still couldn''t find Derek. He went to his room and opened yin yang tactics "yin and yang describe how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Many tangible dualities (such as light and dark, fire and water, expanding and contracting) are thought of as physical manifestations of the duality" "yin may give rise to yang and yang may give rise to yin" As he continued to read it, his knowledge about fire and ice increased. He also finds out how both elements co-exist with each other. -yin yang tactics learned- -combine with phoenix art- -yes/no- ''yes'' Lloyd said. -analyzing and creating new phoenix art- -new purple phoenix art created- -transmitting data to host- Lloyd felt all new Phoenix art appeared in his head. He sat down and started to cultivate it. Unlike previous phoenix art. This time he could feel his bloodline''s power. He could simulate his bloodline during cultivation. His body started to glow in purple light with an image of Phoenix appeared on his back. -mission completed- -level up condition reached- -leveling up- -new bloodline skill (summon spirits) activated- -refreshing stats- -displaying new status- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- earth 1st stage Bloodline- purple phoenix Physique- none EXP- 70/1000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) Summon spirit (bloodline) basic sword art (96%) basic fist art (93%) shadow steps (80%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- 23 New Abilities When one reaches earth stage, Qi in their dantian concentrate and liquifies to accommodate a much larger amount. Lloyd sent his will in his dantian. He could see purple liquid filling 10% of his dantian. As one advances every minor stage of earth stage, liquid qi increase by 10%. At peak earth stage, dantian will be filled by liquified qi. Lloyd slowly opened his eyes. He extended his right hand and started to accumulate qi. Now that he cultivated new and improved Phoenix art, he could control and use both ice and fire at the same time. Crimson qi and blue qi appeared in his hand. It swirled in the shape of the yin-yang symbol. At his thought, both combined and purple qi appeared. The purple qi brought huge pressure with it and he could feel its destructive power. He released it to the table nearby. As the purple qi touched it, it started to disintegrate even faster than normal eyes could process. Lloyd hurriedly pulled back the qi, but the table disappeared as it never exists previously. Feeling the power, Lloyd was thrilled and afraid. He got superpower ability which increases his battle power. But if he lost control of this power, who knows what destruction it may cause. Last time, he killed the demon wolf king, who was far stronger than him with this same ability but it was far weaker than this time. At that time, he could see the effect caused by it but today its destruction was faster than he could see. He could feel that the qi is consumed faster when using purple qi. it cost 3 times more qi than normal. if he used continuously, he may empty his qi faster. if he used it correctly, it may save his life. After testing about his control of purple qi, he attention focused on the new bloodline skill. ''system, what''s summon spirit skill'' Lloyd asked. Unlike martial skills like sword art or shadow steps, bloodline skills are inherited. He can''t teach other even he wants to. Bloodline skills are like one''s arms and legs, they could learn to use them without knowing. While martial is like learning to drive a car, he must practice, again and again, to use it perfectly. ---------------------------------------- Summon spirits Phoenix is a divine bird. It is closer to nature than any other being. It usually rests on the world tree. Summon spirit is an ability to call upon elemental spirits. The aid the Phoenix in its battles and other things. ---------------------------------------- As he saw the details about summoning spirit skills, he understood about it and tried to communicate with spirits. He felt a presence in front of him, he looked and found balls of lights floating before him. He could feel their intimacy towards him as he was one of them. He tried to touch them. As he touched them he felt his conscious flew in them. Lloyd''s viewpoint changed and he saw him sitting on the bed. As he further investigated, he found out that he can transfer his conscious between spirits. He can return to his body anytime he wanted. He tried to move using the spirits and flew out of the room, he could pass through solid surfaces and nobody saw him flew by them. Normally dust is present in air, we know it but wouldn''t notice it. He was like dust but different. He flew through rooms to find his limitations. As he flew, he reached a room, where a woman was undressing and going for a bath. ''she didn''t see me. Maybe with this ability, I could become peeping master'' Lloyd thought and followed her to the bathroom. ''I am just testing my new ability, I am not doing anything wrong'' he said to himself. After a while, he left the room and preceded downstairs to the lobby. ''that lady was intense, she had amazing were jugs'' he thought. As he reached the lobby, he was Dixon with other men surrounding him. From what he knows he was his father''s best friend and Derek''s future father-in-law. "have you found them," Dixon asked in anger. "No" the men answered. "somebody kidnapped my daughter and my son-in-law in the capital city and you are saying that you guys didn''t find anything" Dixon''s anger reached the maximum and shouted. "master, should we inform phoenix clan about this" one the men asked Dixon. Hearing that his brother was kidnapped, Lloyd''s face changed. He quickly returned to his body and rushed to the lobby. "What do you mean by Derek being kidnapped," Lloyd asked Dixon as he entered. Dixon could feel anger in Lloyd''s voice. He gave a letter to Lloyd and said, "yesterday night, Kalea didn''t come home. I got worried and was heading out to search. Then at the door, I found this letter" Lloyd opened the letter and read it ''Dixon, Your daughter and her boyfriend are in our hands. If you want to see them alive then sent that item to us by tomorrow evening. Otherwise, you will never see them again. Our people will contact you for exchange'' Reading the letter, Lloyd anger reached the peak. When he first found that his brother was missing last night, he thought maybe Derek was getting busy with Kalea. 24 The Search someone planned to kidnapped phoenix clan member which means either they are strong or they have major power backing them. When Lloyd thought about it he felt strange. He thought, ''what could be the item caused someone to even kidnap his brother?'' He looked to Dixon and asked, "what''s the item, they are looking for?" "this" Dixon looked at Lloyd and thought for a moment and said, "you know that yin-yang tactics that you purchased. Lafea clan the one who put it at auction. We encountered a tomb in the great forest and found it. The item they are asking for is a map found in the tomb. It indicated a location of a pocket space made by the owner of the tomb" Dixon took a tattered map from his inner jacket and showed it to Lloyd. Lloyd saw a mountain in the map surrounded by a vast forest. There were two rivers intersecting near the mountain. He could see the yin-yang symbol on the top left side of the map "from what we found out, this location is somewhere in the great forest but till now we didn''t find it," Dixon said while looking at Lloyd who was studying the map. ''system, make a copy of this map'' Lloyd said to the system. -map copied- "uncle Dixon, you wait for their people to contact you and I will try to contact my father," Lloyd said and returned to his room. Seeing the map, he can deduce that some major power is backing the kidnapping. They found about Lafea clan''s secret and planned all of it. It also explains that there are spies among Lafea clan. So, if he wants to save his brother, he must look for Derek himself. He first took a talisman and sent a message to Alder, explaining the situation. Right now is noon, that means there are only a few hours till the deadline. He must find Derek fast. The capital city is massive. Even his father who is at the sky stage may need more than a day to search all of it. The only thing he could do is to use his new ability to search entire city. He communicated with spirits and spread his conscious. After an hour, even after searching the capital he couldn''t find anything. Just as he wanted to spread his conscious outside the capital, he felt some disturbance in the flow of qi within the city. Spirit is sensitive to the Qi. If he was in his body, he won''t be able to feel the disturbance due to his low cultivation. Lloyd followed the disturbance. He reached a mansion surrounded by a formation. It was the cause of the disturbance. As he moved towards it, he saw the crowed city turned silent. He couldn''t see anybody. He entered the formation. -perspective filter formation detected- When he heard about the formation he was suppressed. Perspective filter formation is a top rank 2 formation. It can only be set up by a sky stage cultivator. Only top clans have sky stage cultivators. It changes the perspective of people. even if something is right in front of them. they wouldn''t see it. that''s why Dixon''s men didn''t find them. He flew into the mansion. Its rooms were empty on the ground floor. When he first floor, he could see two men guarding a room. They were earth stage cultivators. They didn''t know he was here. He entered the room. He saw his brother and Kalea tied and unconscious on the floor. He could see injuries on Derek. He must have fought with men who kidnapped him. He left the room and searched the other rooms. Beside the room which his brother was kept, he found another room with 14 men inside. He checked their cultivation. ---------------------------------- Earth 2nd stage. --------------------------- Earth 2nd stage ------------------------ .........¡­. --------------------- Earth 9th stage. ------------------------- Majority of them are early earth stages and one of them was at the earth 9th stage. He appeared to be the leader of the group. "Captain, it''s nearing the deadline, do you think Dixon will give us the map?" one of the men asked the earth 9th stage cultivator. "he will, he loves his daughter and we also got that phoenix brat. He has no options" captain said with a smile. "Number two, go and bring Dixon here with the map, he must be alone," he said to one of the men. "after we got the map, kill every one of them, we don''t want others to find about the map," he said. When Lloyd found their plan to kill his brother, he wanted to rip them to pieces but he was not here physically. He returned his conscious back to the body and secretly left the inn. When he left the inn, he changed his clothes and used alter art. He learned it yesterday. Now he looked like a middle age man. The opponent he was facing today was far stronger than him. He must use his full power. Since he will activate his purple phoenix bloodline, he doesn''t want anyone to know who he was 25 Divide and Conquer Looking at the line-up of the enemy. Lloyd knows that only the elders and his father in his clan can handle them. Lloyd already informed Alder but he was currently at Phoenix clan. Which will take half a day to arrive at the capital? By now everything will be too late. Lloyd rushed to the mansion''s direction. as he was reaching it, he couldn''t find where the mansion was. It was caused by the formation. He summoned spirits and saw the mansion through them. He closed his eyes and followed the vision by spirits. This perspective filter formation is very powerful but it has a major flaw. It only disturbs vision trick people but if someone uses abilities like Lloyd, they could easily bypass it. As he entered the formation, he vision cleared and he could see normally. Lloyd slowly circled spirits around him. The spirits bent lights around him which caused him to slowly disappear and erased his presence. He entered the mansion and directed went to the first floor. He charged purple qi in his both arms and blasted to the heads of the two men guarding his brother. As purple qi touched them, their entire head vanished in a purple flame and slowly their entire body disappeared. -congratulations for killing earth 2nd stage cultivation- -200 EXP- -congratulations for killing earth 2nd stage cultivation- -200 EXP- After killing them he slowly entered the room and found both his brother and Kalea are still there. He then changed into one the guards he killed and walked into the room where rest of the kidnappers are present. "NO-5, what are you doing here? You should be guarding those brats" one of the men said while looking at Lloyd. Lloyd ignored him and turned to the captain and said, "captain, I saw somebody sneak into the mansion" "oh..really, you guys search for the thief and finish him," the captain said while looking at the 5 men. "and you return to your post," he said while looking at Lloyd. "yes" saying that Lloyd left. Divide and conquer. That was his plan. He can''t fight all of them at the same time. So, he must separate them and defeat one by one. After leaving the room, he saw 5 men leaving and followed them in the invisible state. As they reached downstairs. Lloyd withdraws his sword and slashed towards them. They have greater cultivation than the two he killed before. They escaped at the last moment. "Who are you?" one of asked while readying his sword. "your father" Lloyd said while looking at them and charged at them. "sneaking death" Tang! Tang! Swords met and sound could be heard. From was Lloyd could see, these men were only at major completion in sword skill. Major completion could be considered as a glory to them because the majority of cultivators haven''t reached it. Lloyd was currently at peak completion. He could see flaws in their attack. He took advantage of it and injured them. As time passed, these men''s injuries increased. "we can''t fight like this. His sword skill is at peak completion" "WHAT!! ... peak completion." "how is the possible? After all the training, we only reached major completion" Looking at them, Lloyd knows that he should finish this faster. Their fighting would already alert others. Their back up may arrive soon. "come and Accept your death," Lloyd said while channeled purple qi to his sword and sliced towards them. A purple arc flew towards them. This attack was overwhelming, it sliced their sword apart. "WHAT!!!" all the men cried in surprise. But the power of the attack didn''t stop and continued towards them. Some of them tried to defend and some tried to flee but it was too late. As the purple arc descended on them, their bodies caught on purple flames. "AHHHHHHHHHHHH" "AHHHHHH" They screamed and tried to pull out the flame using their qi but instead of putting it out, it shone even brightly by fueling in their Qi. screams turn silent and their bodies disappeared. -congratulations for killing origin 2nd stage cultivation- -200 EXP- -congratulations for killing earth 3rd stage cultivation- -300 EXP- -congratulations for killing earth 3rd stage cultivation- -300 EXP- -congratulations for killing earth 4th stage cultivation- -400 EXP- -congratulations for killing earth 4th stage cultivation- -400 EXP- -level up condition reached- -leveling up- -refreshing stats- -displaying new status- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- earth 2nd stage Bloodline- purple phoenix Physique- none EXP- 1070/2000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) Summon spirit (bloodline) basic sword art (96%) basic fist art (93%) shadow steps (80%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- "how dare you?" Lloyd heard a voice from behind and turned and found the rest of the group are here. 26 Phoenix descends A few moments earlier, "Captain, did you feel NO-5 was different than usual?" one of the men said. "what do you mean?" the captain asked. "normally when NO-5 sees us, he will be scared and will lower his head. But he directed looked into our eyes now" Ting! Ting! Just as they were discussing, their heard sounds of sword clashing. They rushed towards the sound. When they reached the source, the saw a middle-aged man releasing a purple sword arc towards their companion. They watched in horror as their companion burned by purple flames. "how dare you?" the captain shouted while looking at the middle-aged man He trained his men himself. he was not angry because he lost someone but because of the waste of resources used in training them. As Lloyd heard his voice and looked at the captain and 8 men behind him and said with a smile, "just feeling bored recently. Just then I saw the kidnapping and thought, ''should I try to become a hero''". "you guys stay here. This man is powerful even with its low cultivation. I will handle it" the captain said to his men. He doesn''t want to sacrifice any more of his men. "you will pay for what you have done" saying that the captain withdrew his saber from his back and advanced to Lloyd. Seeing the captain advancing towards him, Lloyd positioned his sword. Captain sliced his sword towards Lloyd and kill him with a single shot. Lloyd defended with his sword. He was pushed back to a few steps and he almost lost his balance. Lloyd could battle with other stronger than him but the difference between him and the captain is too much. TANG! TANG! TANG! Lloyd was pushed back further and further. he vomited a mouthful of blood. ''I can''t continue to go on like this'' he thought. "you made me do this" Lloyd said. "Whatever you do, today you will fall for what you have done," the captain said. Lloyd started to circulate his bloodline and activate his new Phoenix art. His body started to glitter with a purple glow. ------------------------------ Phoenix state activated ------------------------------- "what''s going on?" the captain asked. He could feel huge presence trying to emergence from the man before him. He heard a scream of a bird and a huge bird appeared before him. The middle age man before him vanished. ''is that a phoenix. He must be someone from phoenix clan...¡­wait...¡­.what the hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...what type of Phoenix is that?'' captain thought. "WHO HELL ARE YOU?" he asked while feeling scared inside. The one appeared before him was looked like Phoenix but it was in purple color. He could feel his gut telling him to run. When purple phoenix appeared, the entire mansion lit up in purple color. Purple flames could be seen burning on the wings of the Phoenix. "SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE" The Phoenix released another cry and it flapped his wing and flew into the sky. It released purple flames to the captain and his men. Captain dogged in time but his entire squad got burned by the flames and disappeared. -congratulations for killing earth 4th stage cultivation- -400 EXP- -congratulations for killing earth 5th stage cultivation- -500 EXP- -congratulations for killing earth 5th stage cultivation- -500 EXP- -congratulations for killing earth 5th stage cultivation- -500 EXP- -congratulations for killing earth 4th stage cultivation- -400 EXP- -congratulations for killing earth 6th stage cultivation- -600 EXP- -congratulations for killing origin 6th stage cultivation- -600 EXP- -congratulations for killing earth 6th stage cultivation- -600 EXP- -level up condition reached- -leveling up- -leveling up- -refreshing stats- -displaying new status- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- earth 4th stage Bloodline- purple phoenix Physique- none EXP- 350/4000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) Summon spirit (bloodline) basic sword art (96%) basic fist art (93%) shadow steps (80%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- Seeing his team disappeared, he didn''t know what to say. The rushed out of the mansion to escape. Lloyd followed him from the sky. On the day, people in the capital saw a purple bird rising and chasing after a man. Some of them found that this bird resembled phoenix. But this was the first time they saw a purple phoenix. The captain ran out of the city and rushed to the forest but he could see Phoenix right behind him. Seeing that he was outside the city, Lloyd didn''t hold back anymore and unleashed his fury. The captain saw purple flame descend from the sky and surrounded him. He knows the horror of this flames. In a moment, he was surrounded by flame. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" he cried. He was fully consumed by the flame. -congratulations for killing earth 9th stage cultivation- -1500 EXP- Seeing that his enemy was defeated he changed back to human form. Just as he changed back he got a notification from the system. ------------------------------------ Weakened state Due to using phoenix state without reaching the sky, causing the body to be weakened for 3 days. ----------------------------------- -refreshing stats- -displaying new status- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- weakened Cultivation- earth 4th stage (weakened to peak origin state) Bloodline- purple phoenix Physique- none EXP- 1850/4000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) Summon spirit (bloodline) basic sword art (96%) basic fist art (93%) shadow steps (80%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- Lloyd could felt like someone has placed a heavy weight on his body and he couldn''t walk properly. He slowly walked back to the inn. Nobody noticed him because they were busy discussing the Phoenix appeared above the city. 27 Bastard Returned Lloyd returned to his room. He can''t even move properly. He is too weak to return for his brother and Kalea. He wrote a letter explaining about Derek and Kalea to Dixon. He came to the window and summoned spirits to deliver the message. He saw Dixon receive the letter and rush towards the mansion through his spiritual vision. A few moments ago Dixon was currently on the roof looking for the Phoenix. Just then he saw a mini purple colored phoenix flying towards him and drop a letter. "he''s back," he thought and saw the mini phoenix disappear. He opened the letter and without rushed towards the mansion to save his daughter and Derek. After seeing, Dixon leave. Lloyd went to the bed and slept like there is no tomorrow. He woke up next morning feeling little better than yesterday. He activated his spirit vision and saw Alder, Derek and Dixon in the other room and discussing. He went towards them. "so, you don''t know anything about who kidnapped you," Alder said while looking at Derek. "yes," Derek said while looking down. Derek currently has bruises on his face. One could see the visible anger in his face. He was currently feeling weakness. He couldn''t help his woman when needed which almost got her killed. Alder came to the capital last night and searched entire mansion but couldn''t find anything even bodies. From what he heard it can only be that person''s work. "Dixon, are sure he didn''t come for you?" Alder said. Just as Alder said Dixon, the door opened and Lloyd entered the room. "brother, are you okay?" Lloyd went to Derek and asked. "yes," Derek said but he was still feeling down. Just as Derek answered the Lloyd, Alder turned and looked at Lloyd and his expression changed. "Lloyd, what the hell happened to you? You look pale like a ghost and yesterday I came to your room and tried to wake you but you couldn''t budge" Alder said while looking at Lloyd. "This....that¡­." "what? Say it" Alder said seriously. "yesterday, I injured myself during cultivation and fell unconscious and only wake up just now," Lloyd said while looking like he did something wrong. Alder couldn''t believe what the hell happened, he sent both of his sons to the capital for the experience. One of the got kidnapped while the other almost killed himself during cultivation. "both of you, pack everything. We are going home" Alder said angrily. "yes, father" Derek and Lloyd said at the same time and left the room. "I didn''t know you, Alder could leave the clan and come to capital" a voice appeared from the void. Hearing the voice, both Alder and Dixon was startled and looked around. They saw a lady in white clothes appear before them. "your majesty" both Dixon and Alder greeted the lady. "I told both of you many times. During private times call me Lucia" Lucia said while looking at them. "yes, Lucia" both of replied. "why shouldn''t I come. two major things happened. My son was kidnapped by someone and that bastard came back" Alder said answering the question. "so, has he contacted any of you?" Lucia said. "no, but from what we know he appeared to rescue my son and his daughter. He also sent a letter to Dixon mentioning about their location" Alder said. "so, he finally returned," Lucia said. One could feel the excitement from her voice. Lucia, Dixon, and Alder were friends while they were young. From what they know, the only person they know that could transform into purple phoenix was Alvin. who disappeared 15 years ago. "nobody has seen where that he has gone after he burned entire forest outside the city," Dixon said. "that bastard, disappearing for 15 years and showing off in front of the entire capital," Alder said looking like he was angry but Dixon and Lucia could feel his excitement. "but now he came back from the shadows, the country will fall in tumble once again," Dixon said while thinking for a while. "say, do you think he is married," Alder said while looking at Lucia with a smile. "if he really got married. first thing I will do after seeing him will be killing him. leaving me worried for 15 years and secretly getting married" Lucia said. Alder and Dixon shivered to hear her words. After leaving his father and Dixon, Lloyd turned to Derek and asked, "so, how are really felling?" "I really don''t know. I can''t even protect the woman I love. So tell me how should I feel?" Derek said while looking that Lloyd. Lloyd thought for a while and said, "if I were you, I would feel like shit" "yeah, you are right about that" Derek said. "then there is the only way. To get stronger so that it never happens again." Lloyd said while looking at Derek. 28 I want your Daughter Lloyd returned home a week ago. The side effect using phoenix stage was gone. He returned to his full power. Currently, he was thinking of his next stage of training. "System, bring up my stats" -displaying status- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- earth 4th stage Bloodline- purple phoenix Physique- none EXP- 1850/4000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) Summon spirit (bloodline) basic sword art (96%) basic fist art (93%) shadow steps (80%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- The incident at the capital was forgotten like it never happened. All the higher-ups acted like it never happened. You could only hear about it from local folks. Lloyd originally thought that there will be a huge trouble caused by the appearance of the purple phoenix but it was swept under the rug. He asked his father about this. "Don''t ask about this anymore?" Alder said with a serious look. His father won''t talk anything about it. Today Lloyd could see elders came from ice phoenix clan and meet his father. At the clan''s main meeting. 2 old man and a middle age man could be seen with alder. They are from an ice phoenix clan. The middle age man is Rodney Felix. He was the brother of Esvele. He was current clan master of ice phoenix clan. He has deep blue eyes. He had a well-trimmed face with a small chin. His body was thin with thin arms and legs. Ice elemental normally causes one to have a lean body and fair skin like a lady. Sometimes one may mistake a man for a woman. "did you find anything about him," they asked Alder. "no, after that incident he disappeared," Alder said. There was a moment of silence between them and the Rodney looked at Alder and said, "brother-in-law, I know he is your friend but you must remember that you are the clan master. You must keep the clan before anything else. Last time he appeared he almost destroyed both clans. You mustn''t forget that" Hearing him, Alder''s face changed. "what do you mean almost destroyed the clans. You people are the one who first attacked him and he was just helping me and Esvele" Alder said with visible anger in his face. He almost rushed and beat the hell out this fellow. Alvin was his friend and he helped him many times. Alder knows that many of the elders of both clans will till try to kill him if they had a chance. "maybe you want revenge, last time he beat you to a pulp" with a small smile on his face Alder teased as recounted Rodney''s past. "YOUUU!" Rodney shouted as black lines appeared on his face and his face changed red due to anger. "both of you, that''s enough," the elder said. After a while, Alder and calmed down. "from what we know, Alvin was peak sky stage 15 years ago. When he attacked, both of the previous clan masters fought him but still lost. We had to compromise. After that, both clan masters was injured and passed on the position to both of you. If Alvin returned he may have advanced to heaven stage and if he attacks again, we will be finished" the elder said while sighing and thinking about the future. "elder, I don''t think he will attack. If he wanted to, he may have already done it" Alder said while nodding his head. "I also wish that''s true. Because of him, we are already weak and he did come, the only option is to be destroyed"the elder said while looking sad. "let''s forget about him, we should discuss the clan tournament," Alder said while trying to divert the topic. "now you said it, my son will defeat your sons and win the tournament," Rodney said while his face changes happier. "in your dreams, my son will win it" Alder didn''t hold back and said. "then let''s have a bet shall we," Rodney said with a smile. "what bet?" Alder asked in confusion. Rodney thought for a while and said, "if my son win, they will hand over your sword" Rodney knows that Alder treasures his sword and if he got it, he could showcase in his clan and torment Alder whenever he came. "YOU!!....." Alder couldn''t believe this rascal really planned to sham him. Alder thought for a while as him a smile like a devil appeared on his face and said, "then if my son wins, then I want your daughter" Hearing Alder, everyone''s mouth almost dropped. Seeing everyone look at him in a weird way, Alder was confused. "What happened? Why are you all like that?" Alder asked in confusion. "YOU¡­.YOU¡­YOU¡­..pervert. I didn''t know you had that side. I must tell sister about this" Rodney couldn''t believe Alder said that. He stood up to go back to ice phoenix clan and tell his sister. "What?" Alder asked them with a confused face and thought about what happened. As he thought he faces changed to deathly pale. He rushed towards Rodney and said, "Stop¡­Stop¡­. Don''t get me wrong. I am talking about Lloyd, not me." If esvele heard about it. She may come and kill him. Hearing him, elders and Rodney sighed in relief. The thought Alder turned to the dark side. Normally bloodline clan will marry members within the clan to maintain purity. After Alder and Esvele got married and had children. both clans found that their bloodline purity increased. so, Alder proposed marriage for Lloyd with Rodney''s daughter. 29 Leaving for Ice Phoenix Clan Lloyd was currently practicing his skills. During the battle in the capital, he found some enlightenment. He swung his sword while trying to find its weakness. Just then he felt like he saw a light. -basic sword art leveled up- -basic sword art leveled up to sword intent- -displaying status- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- earth 4th stage Bloodline- purple phoenix Physique- none EXP- 1850/4000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) Summon spirit (bloodline) Sword intent (6%) basic fist art (93%) shadow steps (80%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- After he leveled up the sword skill, he felt like the sword was part of his body. He could move a sword like arms and legs. He continued to train as he saw a sword arc flew out and hit the rock nearby. The rock shattered into pieces. Lloyd knows that this is the stage every sword cultivator dream of. For the next few days, he also trained fist and sword art to minor completion of the intent stage. Now he could release 3 sword arcs. if he used fist intent, then his fists would glow and he can hit targets without touching them. Shadow step was different. He trained but he only reached peak completion. ''system, show my present stats'' -displaying status- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- earth 4th stage Bloodline- purple phoenix Physique- none EXP- 1850/4000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) Summon spirit (bloodline) Sword intent (27%) Fist intent (26%) shadow steps (92%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- Clan tournament will start in a few days. After the marriage between his parents, both Phoenix clan''s tournament was being merged and held at the same time. The venue for the tournament held either one of the clans in a rotation. Last time it occurred in fire phoenix clan. He didn''t participate last time and his brother Derek won it. This time the venue is an ice phoenix clan. The preparations are being done by them. Since ice phoenix clan is located in the mountains at the north. Members of the fire phoenix clan start their journey few days before to arrive on time. Today was the start of journey and Lloyd went and met up with his father and brother. After the trouble in the capital, Derek trained ten times harder than before. When Lloyd saw him, Derek was at origin 9th stage. Normally Derek would be the strongest participant in the tournament but this year he will be participating. Lloyd went and greeted his brother and his father. Looking at his son''s again increased cultivation, Alder was surprised but didn''t say anything. He knows that Lloyd''s bloodline purity increased due to eating blood fruit. His face could hide his excitement. With both Lloyd''s and Derek''s cultivation, this tournament is already in the bag. "Lloyd, Derek, before we begin, I must tell you something," Alder said. "What is it, father?" Both of them asked Alder. "I made a bet with Rodney that one of my sons will win the tournament, so kick their asses and win it," Alder said with a smile. "yes, father," Derek said. "what bet?" Lloyd asked. He was interested in what was the item his father bet for. Hearing Lloyd asking about the bet, Alder''s thought back and he turned away his head and didn''t say anything thing in embarrassment. After a while, Alder again said, " if any of you win it. I will let you pick up any item from clan''s vault" Hearing that he could pick up anything from the vault if they win the tournament, both Lloyd and Derek were excited. Clan''s vault is a place where all the artifacts and mysterious items procured by the clan from generations are placed for safekeeping. If they could find any artifact which matched them, then their battle strength will increase exponentially. There are some life-saving items and some elixirs which help to increase cultivation. Normally only clan elders and clan master are allowed to enter in the vault. After a while, three dragon horses are arranged for them. These horses have a trace of dragon blood in them. They are excellent mound to use in mountains. Especially in a snowy region. Unlike a normal horse, dragon horse has had a body with scales. Which protect them from cold and hot climates. If their legs were smaller, they could appear as large lizards. It is not comfortable to sit on them. With the command of his father the journey started. 30 Leland Fenix Ice Phoenix was located in between two mountain peaks. The entire clan is covered in snow. The outer walls are white in color and guards could be seen at regular intervals. A lake was present in the middle of the clan, which used to temper the younger generation of the clan. The freezing climate helps ice phoenix bloodline user to cultivate faster. Today, a long row of horses were moving towards the clan. They were from fire phoenix, they came here for the clan tournament which is in two days. Lloyd was in the front of the group, he was surprised seeing the ice phoenix clan. He saw it before but that was previous Lloyd. This was the first time, he was seeing with his own eyes. The snow looked fluffy like clouds and as the clan rests on it and sun behind it caused a beautiful scenery. One could be lost seeing it. Seeing his son was lost in thought seeing ice phoenix clan, Alder asked, "Lloyd, how is it? It''s been years since you been here right" The climate of ice phoenix clan is freezing. Mortals will be frozen to death in minutes. Previously he couldn''t cultivate so stay here. So, he only came once when he was little. "yes, it''s beautiful," Lloyd said while looking at the scenery and was mesmerized. Just as they were reaching the gates, Lloyd saw his mother waving at them. There was another person with his mother. As he looked at the person, Lloyd recognized him immediately. He was his little brother Leland Fenix. He was 12 years old. Leland has a small eye with small eyebrows. He had a black hair with a gentle touch of blue in them. He had a lean body with slender arms and legs. If he was a girl, he would be a world class loli. Seeing Leland, Derek dismounted his horse and rushed towards him and gave him a bear guy. Leland was a head shorter than Derek. Seeing them hug, everything disappeared from Lloyd''s view. Only Derek and Leland hugging in the snow appeared before him. ''if I had a camera, I could have taken a picture and sold it saying a man and loli hugging in the snow. It will sell out instantly and become rich or maybe I should to Kalea saying that it is Derek''s illegal relationship. She will absolutely believe it'' Lloyd thought. "brother, release me. I am suffocating" Leland said while slowly hitting Derek on his shoulder with his hands. "ha ha.. sorry, I was too happy to see you," Derek said with a sweet smile on his face. When Lloyd looked carefully at Leland, he found that he was at origin 5th stage. Become origin stage cultivator at the age of 12 is a genius. Then what should Leland be called being origin 5th stage? Lower range cultivators can''t sense the level of high-level cultivators. Lloyd is currently hiding his level so nobody below sky stage can see his cultivation. Among the people here, only his father could tell what his cultivation is. As Lloyd and Alder reached the gates. Both Derek and Leland were laughing. Lloyd greeted his mother and little brother and asked, "Leland, how are you doing?" "big brother Lloyd, I heard that you can cultivate?" Leland said while he left Derek and came forward to Lloyd. "yes, I awaken the fire phoenix bloodline" Lloyd as he imitated fire phoenix bloodlines aura. "brother, now you can participate in the tournament and us brothers will conquer the first three ranks," Leland said with excitement. "Leland, take them to their rooms, they must be tired from their journey. I have something to discuss with your father" Esvele said to Leland. "yes, mother," Leland said. Lloyd and Derek went with Leland as he talked about his life in the clan. He also asked about Kalea. Seeing her sons moved sufficient distance away. Esvele turned towards Alder. Her smiling face changed and there was anger in them. "what is this about a bet I am hearing?" Esvele asked. "This...." Hearing his wife, there was a shudder in his voice. He made a decision without asking Esvele. He was truly afraid. Lloyd heard his mother and thought, ''what the hell did dad bet for? even angering mother'' Esvele only considered her sons being origin stage but Lloyd is at earth stage and his sense are far more superior than the senses of Derek and Leland so he heard them. 31 Tournament part 1 It was the day of the tournament and the clan was hustling as the tournament will be starting soon. The venue was a huge area with ten stages. The venue had seats for the clan members. The seats were built step by step so that everyone could see entire stages. The elders and clan masters sat on the top while members of the clan sat according to their ranks. More than 100 youngsters were waiting for the tournament. Lloyd was among them. They were the combine young generation of both Phoenix clan. Just then an old man appeared before and looked the participant carefully as he was measuring them. "Hello everyone, I am Wade Felix. I am elder of ice phoenix clan and I will be the judge of today''s tournament" elder wade said while looking at the participates. "Today, the top 10 of the tournament will be decided. You see the ten stages here, the one who stay on it when the sunset will be qualified to the next round. Anyone can enter the stage and occupy it. If others want it, they must challenge that person and defeat them and occupy them. Another participant may challenge you. So, the last person occupying the stage when sunset will be the winner of this round." The elder explained the rules and he asked if anyone had any doubt. After that, he looked towards Alder and Rodney. With their approval, he turned and said, "now the tournament starts" The crowd cheered as they heard the start of the tournament. Even after hearing the start of the tournament, none of the participants moved from their position. One must be on the stage for others to challenge them. The first one who enters the stage will be challenged immediately by a number of participants and he has to defeat the challengers if he wants to continue to stay on the stage. "since nobody is initiating then I will the first to enter the stage," Derek said while he walked to one of the stages and jumped on it. "come on," Derek said as he looked back as he taunted rest of the participant to challenge him. Leland also followed Derek and occupied other stage and after seeing both, another participant also came forward and occupied and with a while, all ten stages were occupied and challenge started. The one who occupied after Leland was a young man whose age was slightly higher than Derek. He was Malcer Felix, son of Rodney Felix. Unlike rest of the ice phoenix member, Malcer was bulkier and he had a sharp eye like a sword which caused fear in other who he looked. He carried a sword by his wait. When Lloyd saw Malcer, he was surprised. Malcer was origin 8th stage and he could also feel sharpness in Malcer''s movement as he was a sword. when Lloyd felt it, he thought back about the movement when he was practicing sword qi. ''it looks like Malcer also reached sword intent stage. from the looks of it, he has just entered sword intent stage and didn''t know how to control his sword qi'' Lloyd thought while looking at Malcer. Lloyd has also reached sword intent stage but unlike Malcer he could hide his sword qi and look like a normal cultivator. While Malcer''s sword qi is continuously releasing from his body. Normal cultivator couldn''t feel it but Alder felt sword qi from Malcer. "so, your son entered sword intent stage. that''s why you are so confident that you can win the bet" Adler turned towards Rodney and said. "you found out" Rodney was surprised that Alder found out about Malcer but he had an evil smile on his face as he looked at Alder and said, "you better give up on the bet and hand over your sword now" Hearing Rodney, Alder was annoyed a little and he turned his head to the stages and finally, his eyes fell on Lloyd. "the winner isn''t decided yet," Alder said with an even bigger smile in his face as he looked at Rodney. Lloyd was standing with the other participants and waited for the start of the challenges. He suddenly felt a chill as he was locked by a pray. He looked and found out that his father was the cause of the chill and he had a big smile on his face as he looked at Lloyd. Seeing Lloyd looking at him Alder gave him a thump up a sign to motivate him. "since all the stages are occupied then the challenges start now," elder wade said. 32 Tournament part 2 Challenges have officially started. Lloyd saw nobody was challenging Derek, Leland, and Malcer. At first, he thought it was weird but later he came to know that all 3 of them are genius and top members of the clan. These people know that they can''t beat them. Lloyd waited patiently at the back of all participants. He wanted to challenge at the last. He was enjoying the show as the battle continued. He saw a group of fire phoenix clan member challenge an ice phoenix clan member and finally defeated him. Seeing that other group of ice phoenix got mad and started to challenge fire phoenix member. No one was backing down. Just then a shadow appeared before Lloyd. It was Bernie Fenix, he looked towards Lloyd in a sneer and said, "hey Lloyd, are you scared? Not participating at all" "what about you?" Lloyd said as he looked at Bernie. He already noticed Bernie before but he didn''t want to interact with this idiot. "me!" Bernie showed his finger towards himself for confirmation and he said, "today, I am not participating." While saying that Bernie hit his right fist on his chest as a soldier and he looked as he done something great. Hearing Bernie, Lloyd''s lips turned upwards as he laughed inside while looking sad and said, "I am sorry Bernie. Looks like my previous treatment for your memory loss caused too much damage to your body and made you an idiot" As Bernie heard Lloyd first word he was surprised as Lloyd apologized to him but he heard the last sentence his face changed and he almost rushed to beat up Lloyd but then he remembered his last fight and he calmed down and back down. ''if I continue to talk with him. He will anger me to start a fight'' Bernie thought as he moved away. Bernie left towards the seats. As he was leaving he looked at a young man by the stage and nodded. That young man also nodded and then looked at Lloyd. Lloyd didn''t care about Bernie so he didn''t see Bernie''s action. After a while, Lloyd saw the earlier enthusiasm has decreased and members on the stage got stabilized. He looked at them and randomly picked a person and directly entered the stage. Dian Felix was a member of the ice phoenix clan and today he participated in the tournament and after many battles, he finally got to be one of the members who stood on the stage. he was feeling excited inside as nobody challenged him anymore. As Dian was stood there counting the time for sunset, a figure jumped on the stage. he looked who was the person who wanted to challenged him. He looked but he didn''t recognize him. From the way he was dressed, he came to know that the person before him was a member of the fire phoenix clan. That person was Lloyd. As Dian looked at Lloyd, he felt something telling him to run but he worked so hard to occupy the stage. if he just left, he will be treated as a coward from now on. Dian builds up courage as he equipped his sword and charged to Lloyd to finish the battle fast. Seeing Dian running towards him with a sword, Lloyd didn''t take him seriously. He placed his left hand behind his back and used his right hand to defend. Dian was moving fast but he was still at origin 5th stage while Lloyd was an earth stage. Lloyd saw all the Dian moves as he was watching a slow-motion movie. ''so, this is how higher cultivator feels while fighting lower level cultivator'' Lloyd thought while looking at Dian. As the sword was reaching near him, Lloyd caught it with two fingers and hold it steadily. Seeing his sword was stopped, Dian was surprised. He tried to revive his sword but as it was placed in a clamp, the sword didn''t move an inch. Lloyd felt Dian trying to pull his sword back so he realized it. then Dian lost balance and fell with his sword. Dian got up and looked at his sword and it scared the shit out of him. His sword had two finger marks imprinted on it. He looked at Lloyd and said, "I admit defeat" Dian then rushed out of the stage. he wanted to far get away from Lloyd. Seeing Dian admitted defeat, the audience got confused. "why did he admit defeat after one move?" "he was winning all the battles till now" "Maybe he was tired from the previous matches that he couldn''t go on" "that guy was lucky that Dian was tired, otherwise he could have been sent flying like Dian''s previous opponents" Dian heard all these discussions among the audience and he got scared. ''what the hell? That guy has gone easy on me. Look at the condition of my sword. That could be me. Good thing I admitted defeat otherwise'' Dian shivered as he thought about it. He was still shaken by his battle with Lloyd. 33 Tournament part 3 The sun will set in a few mins. Lloyd stood on the stage looked towards the sun. just then a person entered his stage wanting to challenge him. Lloyd turned around and looked, he was confused. The person before him was a member of the fire phoenix clan. Normally only ice phoenix members challenge fire phoenix members and vice versa He looked older than Lloyd and he had a smirk on his face. Lloyd looked carefully at his opponent, he had a slight resemblance to Bernie. Lloyd thought and it ticked him that Bernie had an older brother. He was a genius of the clan after Derek. ''What was his name again?'' Lloyd thought while looking at his opponent. "Lloyd, do you remember me?" he said while looking at Lloyd. While Lloyd was thinking, he heard audiences chatter. "look that''s Brandis. He is challenging that lucky guy" "that guy is really shameful, trying to win against Dian who was weak after so many battles" ''So, he was called Brandis'' Lloyd thought. "Lloyd, you will finally pay for what you did to Bernie," Brandis said with a smirk. "will I?" Lloyd said as he looked around as he was searching for something. Seeing Lloyd looking around instead of fighting him, Brandis got confused and asked, "what the hell is looking for?" "you said I will pay. So, I am searching for someone who could make me pay" Lloyd said with a serious face. "YOU!!" Brandis was enraged as he felt Lloyd was treating him like a flea. He wasn''t taking him seriously. Brandis had a heavy sword on his back. He withdraws it and rushed towards Lloyd and smashed. As he saw the attack, Lloyd used shadow steps to dodges and used his Fist art to attack Brandis at his ribs. Brandis was overjoyed as his sword smashed against Lloyd. After a moment he felt weird as he only felt the air as the sword smashed. Next moment he felt massive pain in his ribs. He stumbled backward and was brought to his knees. He felt like a massive object crashed directly into his ribs. He could also hear something breaking. "you don''t have to kneel down and apologize for Bernie," Lloyd said while looking little sad. "YOUUU!!" Brandis wanted to shout but his mouth only moved and no sound came. Seeing this everyone was stumbled. "what the hell is going on?" "At first, Dian gave up after a move and now Brandis is kneeling to him after a move" Only a few saw how Lloyd moved. Dian was watching the match with interest. When he saw how Brandis was kneeling there, he was happy inside. ''now, that guy knows how I felt'' Dian thought. Brandis gritted his teeth in anger and slowly stood up. He didn''t see, how he was injured. He activated his bloodline. His body started to glow in a crimson light as flames were released. He combined his flames with his sword wanting to attack. "now you what to show off your flame. then how about mine" Lloyd said as he initiated his crimson flame and countered against Brandis''s. Lloyd flame was darker than Brandis. Its heat was many times higher than. As Lloyd released his flame, it swallowed Brandis''s flame instantly. The temperature around the stage started to increase as the flame spread. Snow melted. Burning smell appeared as stage and ground got scorched. The flames appeared as a second sun in the day. "this is impossible!!" Brandis screamed and fell to the ground. Brandis couldn''t believe it. He was considered the genius of the clan. His bloodline purity was next to Derek''s. If Derek wasn''t born, he could have been the heir of the clan. But now, Lloyd who considered trash as easily defeated him. His flames got devoured easily. "will you stop screaming?" Lloyd asked as he came to Brandis. "what do you want now?" Brandis asked. "GET OFF" Lloyd shouted as he kicked Brandis in his stomach. Brandis flew off the stage and crashed to the ground. He raised his head and looked at Lloyd in anger. His face change red in anger. He couldn''t overcome Derek and Derek''s brother trashed him. He couldn''t still believe it. Finally, Brandis spat blood and fainted. Seeing Brandis fainted, Lloyd put off his flame with a wave of his hands and looked towards the sun. The light dimmed as the sun was setting at the horizon. The audience was still rubbing their eyes as they looked at Brandis and Lloyd. They only saw huge flame and Brandis flew out it and fainted while Lloyd still standing there without a speck of dust on his clothes. He still appeared neat as he entered the stage. Elder wade came forward and looked and audience and said, "since the sun has set, the members standing on the stage will qualify and move on the second round" 34 The Vision The first round of the tournament was finally finished as the sunset. Many didn''t understand how Lloyd won. there were many discussion about Lloyd. Currently, Lloyd was resting. After coming to ice phoenix clan, Lloyd felt as a fish returned to the water. The coldness of the surroundings was soothing. Currently, Lloyd was thinking of something. Just as he entered the mountain region to come to ice phoenix clan, he felt an eye looking at him. At first, he thought it was just cold messing with his senses. This feeling increased as time passed. Like today for some reason, he felt strongest as someone is watching right behind him. He just can''t shake that feeling. He sat to mediate to get his mind straight. He started using his Phoenix art and cultivated. Just then he felt eyes behind him rushing towards him and enter his body. His mind felt disarranged as an image appeared in his mind. It was an image of a mountain peak filled with snow and storm blowing. He could see a bear-like creature with ice scales on his back roaming around. They were crystal bear. Just then the image change towards a cave above. It looked like a normal cave but for some reason crystal bears avoided it. The image changed as he felt like zooming into the cave. Inside the cave was pitch black and he couldn''t see anything. Lloyd looked around to find out what is inside. Just then he felt the same eyes on him. He looked towards the deepest part of the cave and saw two deep blue glowing eyes staring at him. As he saw that, the image in his mind disappeared and he woke up. He was still in his room. -beep- -beep- -new mission available- -------------------------------------------- Search the source of your vision Rewards-2500 EXP --------------------------------------------- Seeing that new mission appeared after a long time, Lloyd was excited. As he leveled up, EXP gained from beasts at a lower level almost got negligible. ''system, show my present stats'' -displaying status- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- earth 4th stage Bloodline- purple phoenix Physique- none EXP- 1850/4000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) Summon spirit (bloodline) Sword intent (27%) Fist intent (26%) shadow steps (92%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- If he completed this mission, then he could level up and reach earth 5th stage. he was also curious for what was that thing in that cave looking at him for sometimes. He left his cabin and search for the information about his vision and find that mountain peak. After sometimes, he found out that the peak he saw was the highest mountain peak in the region filled with crystal bears. Crystal bears are territory beasts. Normal crystal bears are rank 2 beasts. From his vision, he saw many crystal bears. From the looks of it, there may be rank 3 crystal bears. So, he must be careful not to alert it. He secretly left the clan during the middle of the night. From his cultivation, only few could detect him. So, he left without anyone knowing. He took a map as he followed in the direction towards the peak. The path was different from the normal path, it was filled with snow more than 2 meters in depth. he could be buried if he was not careful. His eyesight was clear even in the dark. He saw various beast roaming like a white fox with two tails called tailed fox. Its rank could be found by looking at its tails. Since it has two tails it was a rank 1 beast. A newborn tailed fox has 1 tail. Its fur perfectly matching the surroundings as it wouldn''t be detected if one didn''t look carefully. Lloyd ignored it was continued his way as he reached the base of the mountain. He immediately used spirits to turn invisible and erase his presence as he climbed the mountain. "Grrrr" Just then he heard a sound as he looked he saw a crystal bear which was at early rank 2. He wanted to kill it for EXP. Then he remembered bears had a keen sense of smell. If he killed, it may alert other bears and it may lead to a group attack against him. A group of rank 2 crystal can even kill peak earth stage cultivator. They have solid ice armor protecting them. so, killed them will be a headache. Lloyd went around crystal bear as he continued his way. 35 Rank 7 Beas The northern mountains were the coldest place in the country. As Lloyd climbed, temperature decreased rapidly. Normal earth stage cultivator would be frozen to death. Because of his bloodline, Lloyd didn''t feel uncomfortable and continued without a problem in this temperature. The snow below his feet increased and it became difficult to move. Lloyd could see crystal bear at sometimes and he would bypass it without alerting it. The journey was difficult for Lloyd. This was the first time, he did something like this. Before he was at his home entire his life. As he climbed, air become thinned as the amount of oxygen in the air decreased. He rested for some time as it took some time to adjust to the environment. As he climbed, he finally reached the location of the cave. As he looked inside, he found that the entrance was sealed by ice. He came forward to the cave and touched the ice sealing the cave. As soon as he touched the ice, it retreated as it was alive and made room for Lloyd to enter. "what the hell?" Lloyd said as he entered the cave. The ice sealed the entrance as soon as entered. Lloyd looked back as he sighed and thought, ''Now, there is no way to retreat'' The path of the cave was big enough to fit a carriage. As he walked deeper into the cave. The temperature decreased as he could see ice forming on his skin. Till now, he maintained the temperature using his bloodline but now it was not enough. Lloyd started to circulate his qi around his body as he saw ice melt and he felt little better. ''what''s going on here? Why is it freezing here?'' Lloyd thought. From what he knows, temperature trends to be higher in the cave than outside but here it was the opposite. After walking sometimes, Lloyd reached a large room. He saw a small mountain in the middle of the room. As he walked in, he saw the mountain shake and it started to move. Lloyd looked carefully and found out that the mountain is actually a beast. He looked at the beast''s rank through the system. "HOLLLLLY SHIIIIIITTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Lloyd screamed. He almost shitted his pant. The thing before him was a Rank 7 beast. Rank 4 beast has the power equal to a heaven stage cultivator. But the beast before him was 3 ranks above heaven stage. How terrifying is that? "what are you?" a voice resounded in the cave. "you look like a human but not human" "your bloodline purity even rivals the Phoenix but you aren''t a phoenix" Lloyd was still in shock by the beast''s rank when he heard the voice. He managed to stabilize his feelings after a few attempts. "shouldn''t you introduce yourself before asking about others" Lloyd tried to muster up courage and answer but his voice was low and still contained fear. "And are you the one who called me here?" Lloyd asked for confirmation. He wanted to complete his mission. "yes," the voice said. -beep- -beep- -mission completed- -------------------------------------------- Search the source of your vision Rewards-2500 EXP --------------------------------------------- -level up condition reached- -level up- -leveled up- -refreshing stats- -displaying status- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- earth 5th stage Bloodline- purple phoenix Physique- none EXP- 350/5000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) Summon spirit (bloodline) Sword intent (27%) Fist intent (26%) shadow steps (92%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- Just as Lloyd saw his new stats, he saw the mountain stood up and turned. The snow on the mountain fell as the beast appeared before Lloyd. The beast before him was a giant bird. It was deep blue in color. It was the ice phoenix. He saw its picture number of times. Ice Phoenix and fire phoenix appearance were same except for its color. Lloyd was surprised that he was called here by the ice phoenix itself. If anyone from ice phoenix clan finds that ice phoenix was present here. They may even come running and prostrate and worship it. Ice Phoenix turns and looked at Lloyd with its glittering blue eyes. His face came forwards and examined Lloyd carefully. Lloyd felt as he was naked and Phoenix saw everything about him. "My name is Eira," the ice phoenix said. 36 Are You injured? Lloyd looked at Eira as he was still shocked at what''s happening in front of him. An actual phoenix is standing in front of him. "my... Name... is ...¡­. Lloyd" Lloyd introduced himself but his voice was weak and cracked. "don''t be afraid of me, kid," Eira said. As he heard Eira, Lloyd nodded his head. "I just called you to ask something, that''s all," Eira said. "what''s that" Lloyd replied as he was confused about what is a phoenix want from him. "what are you? You are not a phoenix but your blood purity is little greater than mine" Eira asked. Eira''s face came forwards to Lloyd to look at Lloyd. She was interested in Lloyd as soon felt him and she wanted to hear all details about Lloyd. Lloyd was surprised as he heard his blood purity is even greater than Eira. The one before him was a phoenix and it is saying that his blood is purer than Phoenix''s. He was confused but his face didn''t show it. ''system, what did Eira mean by my bloodline purity'' Lloyd asked system. Since the system was the one who helped him to get purple phoenix bloodline, he knows that system has answers he asked. -During bloodline fusing, the system also purified bloodline as an introductory bonus offer- Lloyd didn''t know what to think. System purified his bloodline and didn''t tell him. Wasn''t that the main thing. Lloyd sighed internally and asked, ''what''s my blood purity'' -estimated at 99.8%- "kid, what are you thinking about?" Eira as she saw Lloyd was zoned out. Hearing Eira, Lloyd raised his head and looked at her as pondering about something. ''what''s Eira''s blood purity'' he asked system. -scan initiated- -scan completed- -Eira''s blood purity estimated between 75% - 81%- ''what the hell? You call that little greater. ...huh..... that''s the difference between heaven and earth'' Lloyd thought. Lloyd knows that increasing bloodline purity even by 0.001% will be like climbing to the heaven. The one before him was a true phoenix but still, its purity only reached 81%. While his purity is rocking at 99.8%. What the hell of the logic is that. As he was shouting and scolding at the system for not informing about purity before, he saw Eira still looking at him. ''I must come up with something. I can''t say that a mysterious system was the source of my bloodline. She may dissect me to find system within me. What ¡­.. to ...¡­do?'' Lloyd thought. As he thought of a logical excuse. It hit him. "I...¡­ my... bloodline was gained by me when I touch a rock. It was said to be from out of this world" Lloyd said while acting sacred. "meteorite, you say. Where is it?" Eira looked at him and asked seriously. Eira wanted to find it. If it can purity her bloodline then she can become stronger. "it is in a city called Harle, My home. It was in the middle of a lake. I found it when I went for a dive" Lloyd said while looking like he was telling the truth. Hearing Lloyd, Eira thought for a while and said, "then I will check out that lake later. If I didn''t find anything I will come back for you. You can''t hide away from me, Lloyd" Seeing Eira believed him, Lloyd was laughing inside. If by any chance she finds that meteorite, with her cultivation she can find that meteorite is not from this world. If she comes and finds him for the reason, the meteorite is not working. he may say that its power may be used by him. It''s a perfect plan. As he said this, Lloyd looked at Eira and felt confused. If she wants, she could have checked it within mins with her cultivation. But she said that she will check it out later. ''something''s wrong'' Lloyd thought. He looked at Eira carefully and then he saw something. it was with her cultivation rank. At first, he didn''t notice it as he busy processing about her rank 7 cultivation. It read ''Rank 7 (weaken to peak rank 3)'' Lloyd was confused as he looked at Eira and asked, "Eira, are you injured?" Hearing Lloyd, Eira was surprised as she looked at Lloyd in astonishment. "how did you know about my injuries," Eira asked. Eira was confused. Only being equal or stronger than her can see that she was injured. But now a kid with weak cultivation could see her injuries. She was confused as she looked at Lloyd. 37 Eiras Pas "how do you know about my injuries?" Eira asked in a serious manner while releasing her cultivation and pressuring Lloyd. She was staying here to heal her injuries and hide from her enemy while in her weakened stage. As soon as Lloyd mentioned her injuries, she raised her guard against him. Seeing Eira, Lloyd wasn''t as scared as when he first saw her. Before he thought, Eira had the power of rank 7 beast but seeing that Eira could only use the power of peak rank 3 beasts, he calmed down. Rank 3 beast''s power was equal to the power of a sky stage cultivation. "intuition" Lloyd said with a smile. "if that''s really is intuition. Then that is one hell of intuition" Eira said while she sighed and decreased her guard a little. Lloyd at Eira in an interesting way and asked, "Eira if you don''t mind, would you tell me how you got injured" Lloyd was interested to know how a rank 7 beast like Eira got hurt. Eira looked at Lloyd while thinking of the past and said, "kid, do you know how long did I had to wait to talk to someone before you?". Hearing her Lloyd was confused. "I was staying here for 1100 years. Since you are my first guest in all these years, I will tell you my story" Eira said. "You see, I was from a different world. A realm higher than this one. This world''s highest rank which you called as heaven stage was just like normal mortals in my world" Hearing Eira, Lloyd was shocked. Heaven stage cultivators were the strongest cultivators in the world. They were only myths and legends. From what he knows, nobody has ever seen a heaven stage cultivator and lived. they only like to live in secret. But now, Eira was telling him that in her world, Heaven stage cultivators are weak being. But then when he remembered her rank 7 cultivation, he calmed down. Seeing Lloyd''s shocked expression, Eira was little pleased inside. It hit her pride when weak cultivator like Lloyd found out about her injuries just by looking at her. "the cultivation stage till heaven stage are stages to cultivate Qi. After that, they must start cultivation of the soul and then the law. They must understand the law of the fabric of the world and learn to control it." Eira said. Lloyd was excited hearing about new stages in cultivation, he asked, "what are the stage after heaven stage called?" Hearing his question, Eira smiled as said, "kid, you don''t need to know about that now. The only thing you need to know is the cultivation till you reach the peak of Heaven stage. at the last stage, you will go through the lightning tribulation. only after you managed to cross the tribulation safely, then you will ascend to a higher plane. If you fail then you will be dead and turned into ash by the lightning" Lloyd''s excitement about new stage washed away as he heard about lightening tribulation. "Is there a safer way to cross the tribulation?" Lloyd asked as he was scared that he may die in the tribulation. "NO," Eira said. Her voice had a hint of happiness in it as she said it. "okay," Lloyd said but he was little down inside. then he looked at Eira and said, "you don''t have to be happy about me dying in the tribulation". "HA HA HA ... you are a funny kid," Eira said while looking at Lloyd''s expression and laughed. ''I will find a way to cross the tribulation safely'' Lloyd thought as he decided in his mind. "Eira, you still haven''t said how you got injured?" Lloyd asked. All the talk about cultivation stages, tribulation diverted his original question. "okay," Eira said. "there was a war. We phoenixes fought against the snakes. They were conflicts before us from the dawn of time but now it reached massive scale war. The war is leaning towards us. We could have exterminated those nasty snakes but the emperor of snakes somehow broke through and reached rank 8 stage. which shifted entire stage of the war towards those snakes. At last, I and my brother couldn''t take it and challenged the snake emperor, Ophiophagus. But our combined power was no match against him as we were almost killed. We use a secret skill to escape and came to take shelter from him here. Normally he wouldn''t suspect us being here. We siblings were separated when we descended. I was been here for 1100 years. My injuries were healed but Ophiophagus''s poison still torments me now and can''t recover my cultivation" Eira said as she retold her past. Lloyd was shocked hearing her story. She was rank 7 beast but she was defeated. Then how powerful would be that rank 8 snake emperor be? 38 Birth of Ice Phoenix Bloodline "Eira, can I ask you something?" Lloyd asked. "what is it?" Eira said as she returned her look at Lloyd. "aren''t snakes said to be the descendants of dragons and don''t they transform into a dragon after reaching a particular stage?" Lloyd asked. "yes, normally snake change into a dragon after rank 5 but snake emperor didn''t. for some reason he hated dragons. He fiercely removed any traces of dragon bloodline from his and his offspring''s body and after he started to devour other beings to for their vitality. Later he found out that vitalities possessed by us phoenixes are greater than any another being other. So, he started his hunt for phoenixes and that was the start of the conflict between phoenixes and snakes" Eira said. "Oh" Lloyd was surprised. "even if he did transform into a dragon, he will only be a low-level dragon and will be always regarded as slaves of a true dragon. Maybe that was one of the reasons he didn''t change into a dragon" Eira said after thinking. "then what happened after that?" Lloyd said. ''the story truly interesting'' Lloyd thought as he looked eagerly at Eira. "Okay, don''t rush," Eira said. "after I arrived here, I was separated from my brother and took shelter here to recover," Eira said. As Eira finished, she looked away from Lloyd towards the mouth of the cave and smiled. Seeing her smiling, Lloyd was confused. When someone talks about their tragic past. They may look sad or even cry but this was the first time he saw someone smiling. "Eira, are a masochist?" Lloyd asked for confirmation. It was the only explanation he thought for her smile. Hearing Lloyd''s question, Eira was stunned. She looked at him in shocked, her eyes almost jumping out of their sockets. "kid, are you looking to die?" Eira shouted as she was enraged. As a lady, this was the first time someone asked her such a shameful question. "this" Lloyd said as he saw Eira''s anger. He thought about why she was angry as he recounted. As he thought back his question, his face turned pale as he finally understood. "stop¡­stop¡­.stop¡­.let me explain," Lloyd said hurriedly. Even after her weakened cultivation, she was still at peak rank 3 beast which was equal to the power of peak sky stage cultivator. If she wants, she could squash him like a bug and throw him away. Imagining that Lloyd felt afraid. "it better be a reasonable explanation for calling me a masochist otherwise," Eira said while releasing pressure of a peak rank 3 beast. Lloyd could feel her anger and drops of sweat appeared on his forehead. "You see after you talked about your painful past, you smiled as you were enjoying it. So..." Lloyd didn''t finish his words as Eira intruded. "so, you thought I was a masochist" Eira enquired. "yes," Lloyd said. "you idiot, I was not smiling because of that but when I was telling you about my past, I remembered about a friend," Eira said. " A friend?" Lloyd asked. He wanted to divert the topic to make her forget about the incident before. Hearing about her friend, Eira''s anger disappeared in an instant as she thought about it. "Her name is Zanna," Eira said. ''Zanna..... why do I feel this name is familiar? Where did I hear it?'' Lloyd thought while thinking where he heard that name. "when I arrived in this world, I was gravely injured and close to death. Humans saw me fall from the sky and started to hunt me. At that time my power was only at peak rank 2. I was surrounded and almost died but then a lady saved me. With her help, I escaped and reached here but Zanna was injured and to heal her, I gave her a little bit of my blood essence" Eira said. "Zanna Felix, the first ice phoenix bloodline cultivator," Lloyd said loudly as he remembered who Zanna was. When he was young, His mother always told stories about her adventures and how she established the ice phoenix clan. "yes that''s her, she was the only one who knows about this place after you and I heard that she created her home near here. She could come and talk whenever she was free but human life was small. She couldn''t breakthrough and died of old age" Eira said. As she finished, Lloyd could see some tears coming from her left eye and dropped to the floor. Before it could reach the ground, it froze and created ice crystals. 39 Eiras Reques Eira was still thinking about past as she turned towards Lloyd and thought of something. "kid, I need a favor, can you do it for me?" Eira asked. Hearing her, Lloyd was confused. "what can I do for you?" Lloyd asked. "I want you to find my brother," Eira said. "your brother?" Lloyd asked in confusion. Even when she was telling her past, she mentioned only about her brother but didn''t describe him. "his name is Blaise. He is a fire phoenix" Eira asked. When Lloyd heard that Eira wanted him to find fire phoenix, he was surprised. "why do you me to search for your brother?" Lloyd asked in confusion. Hearing Lloyd''s question, Eira sighed and said, " after I descended to this world, I didn''t meet Blaise, I know that he also came to this world. As to confirm my theory, you know that fire phoenix bloodline do exist here but for some reason, I couldn''t find him" "what do you mean?" Lloyd asked in confusion. "after we descended, I lost all contact with my brother. Normally even he was at the other end of the world, with my power I could sense him but for 1100 years I couldn''t find him" Eira said. "why didn''t you go out of here and search by yourself?" Lloyd asked. He was confused, even before when she asked about his secret she didn''t go out to confirm. "I want to but can''t. you see because of the poison, I can''t transform into my human form and I can''t expose my location by flying around in this form" Eira said as she sighed while felling her own helpless. "Okay, I will help you," Lloyd said as he accepted Eira''s request. -new mission available- --------------------------------- Search and find the fire phoenix Ice Phoenix has requested you to find her brother which you accepted. Reward- blood suppression (bloodline) ------------------------------------- As he heard the system and saw a new mission he felt happy. He was also interested in meeting the legendary fire phoenix. Even back on earth, Phoenix was a legendary bird and there was only record available was of the fire phoenix. He only learned about the existence of ice phoenix after he came to this world. To him, fire phoenix was true phoenix so even after seeing ice phoenix, he didn''t feel like seeing a phoenix in the legend so after hearing Eira''s request, he accepted it. "Eira, do you have a clue where might your brother be?" Lloyd asked Eira after thinking for a while. As she was his sister, she may have some clue. "I don''t know. From what I know, there are two reasons why I can''t sense my brother" Eira said. "what are they?" Lloyd asked. If he could find out the reason why she couldn''t sense her brother then he could start his search for fire phoenix from there. "if he didn''t stay and left this world right after he came then I couldn''t sense him," Eira said while thinking. Hearing her first reason, Lloyd doesn''t know what to say. ''does she want me to search other worlds'' Lloyd thought. As Lloyd was thinking, he turned towards Eira and said, "since fire phoenix bloodline exists here, he may be still here" "I also think so," Eira said. "so, what are your other reason?" Lloyd asked. "if he was hiding in a secret location by a method even I don''t know," Eira said. Hearing that Lloyd sighed and said, "your two reasons didn''t give us any clue about his location" "the¡­.that!" Eira was ashamed when she heard that and lowered her heard. ''so where should I start my search'' Lloyd thought. ''yeah, that''s it. I could ask father about it'' Lloyd thought. As the leader of the fire phoenix clan, maybe he knows something about fire phoenix. "Eira, I know a clue and where to start my search and now I should be going back," Lloyd said as he looked at Eira. Hearing that he has a clue about her brother, Eira felt happy. She looked at him and said, "before you go. I want you to show your bloodline power" "th¡­this" hearing Eira, Lloyd was conflicted inside. he doesn''t want others to know about his bloodline now. He doesn''t know what to say. Seeing Lloyd expression, Eira laughed and said, "don''t worry kid. I want to give you something and I want to if you could handle it and nothing more than that" Hearing Eira, Lloyd calmed down and said, "okay" Lloyd started to circulate his bloodline to the fullest and he raised his right hand. A small purple flame appeared and burned beautifully and lit the cave in purple light. "SHIIIIT" Eira screamed as she saw and felt the flames on Lloyd''s hand. Her face paled and she moved backward in fear. 40 Law Flame Lloyd was concentrating on his bloodline while releasing his purple flames. "SHIIT!!" Lloyd heard Eira''s scream and looked towards her and he was surprised. Eira had a pale face while constantly moving backward. "Eira, what''s going on?" Lloyd said worriedly as he saw the horror on her face. Even after he called to her, Eira didn''t respond. "Eira" "Eira" Lloyd shouted but he didn''t get any attention from Eira, As Eira''s eyes never left from the purple flame burning in his hand. As Lloyd saw her eyes were glued onto his purple flame, he slowly recalled his flame as it disappeared. The cave dimmed and returned to normal. Eira saw that the purple flames disappeared and was still shaken. She slowly turned her eyes to Lloyd. "Lloyd, why¡­. Do¡­. You¡­ have¡­. law ¡­. flame?" Eira asked. Her voice still contained fear and her voice broke as she talked. Hearing her call him by his name Lloyd was shocked. Till now, even after he introduced himself, she only called him as a kid but now for some reason, she changed and calling by his name. "law flame?" Lloyd asked in a blank expression. He didn''t know what this law flame that Eira is mentioning. Seeing Lloyd''s blank expression on his face, Eira don''t know what to consider anymore. "the flame you just produced," Eira said. "but that just my bloodline power," Lloyd said. "WHAAT!" Eira was surprised as Lloyd mentioned that the flame was just his bloodline power. "what is a law flame?" Lloyd asked as he found out that Eira is calling his purple flame as the law flame. Hearing Lloyd question, Eira sighed as said, "do you remember about qi, soul, and law before?" "yes," Lloyd said nodding. As he remembered that Eira mentioned it previously. "the one who cultivates qi are called qi beings and when one must break through and cultivate soul. they are known as soul beings. After soul beings must reach the peak and cultivate law. They are called law beings. There are many types of laws present in this universe. They are limitless. One must learn and cultivate any single law to be called as law beings. To sense the law, one''s soul must be full nourished while being as a soul being" Eira explained. "so, basically you are saying that my flames have a law in it," Lloyd asked eagerly. From what he has heard from Eira, the law must be super strong. "yes," Eira said. Eira was currently feeling jealous of Lloyd. She hasn''t even fully reached to peak soul stage. After that, she must do heavy training to sense law. Even then it was not certain that she will sense it. Looking at Lloyd was still at qi stage but still using a law like a child''s play. She was feeling pity for herself. "say Eira, what law does my flame contain?" Lloyd asked. Eira said that there are many laws and he didn''t know which law his flame has. "show me your flame once more," Eira asked. ''I must stop feeling pity for myself'' Eira said to herself as she boosted her self-confidence. Hearing Eira saying to release his flame once more. Lloyd nodded as he released his purple flame. The cave once again lit in purple light. "let''s see," Eira said as she looked at the flame carefully. Unlike last time, she was mentally prepared herself and looked at the flame on Lloyd''s hand. Eira looked at the flame for a long time and again her face changed. "this can''t be right. I must be wrong" Eira said as she was still concentrating on the flame. "what''s wrong?" Lloyd asked in confusion. Again, time passed as Eira was still looking at the flame. Eira turns her face to the roof as she shouted, "no matter how many time I looked, it''s still the same result. Heaven!!, you can''t be this favoring to someone" "Eira, what''s wrong?" Lloyd asked seeing her weird behavior. "Lloyd, do you want to know what is your flame''s law?" Eira asked with a sad face. "yes," Lloyd said. "it''s the law of destruction," Eira said. Her face looked like she was crying. "destruction?" Lloyd asked. "yes, destruction. It is ranked at second among all the laws out there. Just below the law of creation. It has the power to destroy anything it touches. Even in my peak states, you could injure me with that flame. that''s the power of destruction" Eira asked. 41 True Phoenix Ar As Lloyd heard Eira''s explaining about the law of destruction, he was shocked. ''so that''s why every time I use my purple flames on a target, it completely was completely destroyed and I thought it was burned. This changes everything'' Lloyd thought as he remembered his past usage of purple flames. "Eira, can my flames destroy everything?" Lloyd said. "theoretically yes but even though the law doesn''t depend on cultivation and mainly depend on your understanding of the law," Eira said as looked at Lloyd and continued, "from what I can see, you don''t know about law till now and your flame only contains a small amount of law in it. It can only destroy anything one level realm higher than your level. Others can only be injured at most" Hearing Eira, Lloyd''s excitement died down and he asked, "Can I try to understand law now?" Eira looked at Lloyd and said, "Do you know what is the most complicated process in the cultivation of law?" "this!" Lloyd said as he tried to think. Seeing that Lloyd was really thinking of an answer, Eira smiled as she thought, ''Do you really think you can think of an answer. You don''t know what''s a law a few moments ago'' "I give up," Lloyd said as he couldn''t think of an answer. "it''s the first process of sensing the presence of the law," Eira said. "why?" Lloyd asked in confusion. "nobody truly knows what law is. Everyone has their own understanding. Unlike qi and soul cultivation which has a single path and the teachings of previous generations, the law is entirely up to themselves" she said and looked at Lloyd. "While you somehow cultivated a law without knowing it," Eira said. "Yeah, I am awesome," Lloyd said with a creepy smile. Seeing Lloyd''s smile, Eira had an urge to smack him. "so, there is no way to cultivate law?" Lloyd asked. "No, try understanding law yourself. You already got to the first stage without any trouble. Try to sense deeply about your flame and try to understand it" Eira said. Hearing Eira, Lloyd try to think of a way to cultivate law faster. Just as thinking, it hit him, ''why the hell am I thinking this hard? Can''t I ask the system'' From what he knows, the system was the one who helped him to get his bloodline and maybe the law his flame has could be the work of the system. ''system, is their way to cultivate law?" Lloyd asked system. -analyzing- -two ways found for cultivating law- ---------------------- 1- try to understand law yourself. 2- complete a mission given by the system and gain the understanding of law as a reward. ------------------- When Lloyd heard that he to learn law by completing the mission, Lloyd was thrilled and he asked, ''is there any mission of law comprehension'' -No mission available- Lloyd sighed hearing that but he was happy because he could comprehend law easily with the help of system. Just as Lloyd was interacting with the system, he heard Eira. "what are blanking out for?" Eira asked. "just thinking," Lloyd said. "oh yeah, you did say that you want to give me something," Lloyd asked as he remembered Eira''s previous words. "Oh yes," Eira said as she remembered and continued, "from what I can see, you are using an elementary phoenix art to cultivate. Am I right?" "element phoenix art?" Lloyd asked in confusion. From what he knows, he was cultivating purple phoenix art that system created. "You see, the Phoenix art we phoenixes cultivate are known as true phoenix art. After Phoenix bloodline user was born, they couldn''t cultivate it due to their low blood purity. So, we created elementary phoenix art based on their particular element by largely simplifying true phoenix art" Eira explained to Lloyd. "are you giving me true phoenix art?" Lloyd asked in astonishment. "yes, I don''t see why not. Your blood purity exceeds mine so you may easily cultivate it" Eira said. "but before that, I must say that true phoenix has no element. It directly links to your bloodline while cultivation" Eira said. "yes" Lloyd nodded. "get ready," Eira said. Lloyd thought that Eira would explain true phoenix art orally like his father but she bends her head towards him. Lloyd was confused by her action as he didn''t hear anything. Just then a ball of light emitted from Eira''s head and it rushed to Lloyd''s head and disappeared into his head. -True Phoenix art detected- -True Phoenix art learned- Just he heard system, Lloyd felt something wrong. he could feel his blood acting weirdly. -warning- -warning- -warning- -abnormal blood reaction detected- "Eira, what''s going on?" Lloyd asked as his voice contained fear and he couldn''t control his blood. Seeing Lloyd''s reaction, Eira sighed and said, "just let it be. I told you that your bloodline links to true phoenix art earlier and you agreed to it" Lloyd felt has blood flowing in a specific pattern and its speed increased. Just then he heard the system. -blood reaction and its flow detected to act according to true phoenix art- -no danger detected to the host- -removing warning mode- -entering observation mode- Hearing system, Lloyd calmed down. His body started to glow in purple light as his body started changing. A purple flame appeared shooting upwards and covered its entire body. Eira saw this flame and backed off immediately. After sometimes, the flame''s intensity decreased and calmed down. As flames vanished, a phoenix appeared in the place of Lloyd. -Phoenix state fully unlocked- The purple phoenix stood still and looked at the ice phoenix before it and it was smaller than ice phoenix reaching half the size of ice phoenix. 42 Asking For a Clue Lloyd looked around in his phoenix form. He felt and control like his own body than the last time when he changed into a phoenix, he could only control it like he was a pilot wearing a giant amour. -changes detected- -refreshing stats- -displaying status- ------------------------------------------------ Name- Lloyd Fenix Status- healthy Cultivation- earth 5th stage Bloodline- purple phoenix Physique- none EXP- 350/5000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) Summon spirit (bloodline) Sword intent (27%) Fist intent (26%) shadow steps (92%) (rank 1) ---------------------------------------------------- --------------------- Phoenix state. Status- healthy Cultivation- middle rank 2 Bloodline- purple phoenix Physique- none EXP- 350/5000 Skills-Phoenix rebirth (bloodline) Summon spirit (bloodline) ---------------------------------------------------- Lloyd saw new data about phoenix state was added and he came to know that he was regarded as a middle rank 2 beast in his phoenix form. Lloyd collected his thoughts and changed back to his human form. "Lloyd, you surprised me. That was the fasted binding of blood that I have seen" Eira said as she looked at Lloyd in surprise. "thanking you for true phoenix art" Lloyd thanked Eira. "don''t mention it," Eira said. "so Eira, it''s getting late. I will be going back" Lloyd said as he left the cave. Lloyd reached back to ice phoenix clan without any problem. His control over bloodline abilities increased after he used true phoenix art. Next day. In the ice phoenix clan, It was even more intense than yesterday. Unlike yesterday, today was the matches of the top 10. Matching are scheduled to be held before noon. Currently, Lloyd was having breakfast with his family. Alder, Esvele, Derek, and Leland are present. Derek and Leland were busy discussing their plan and deciding who among them should be the winner of the tournament. Lloyd was eating as he turned toward Alder and asked, "father, can I ask you something?" Hearing Lloyd, Alder looked towards Lloyd in a calm manner but inside he was panicking. ''did he find out?'' Alder thought and he did the best to appear calm. Alder didn''t mention about the bet because of his own reason. He knows that Lloyd is the strongest among his sons but for some unknown reasons as Lloyd started to cultivate, he became independent and started keeping secrets. Derek and Leland are different. They will share everything with him. Whenever their cultivation increases, they will come running like small kids to gain his approval. Alder respected Lloyd privacy and didn''t ask anything nor secretly try to find it. Alder looked at Lloyd and then turned towards Derek and Leland who was laughing and thought, ''maybe they are too much dependent on me'' Alder sighed and turned to Lloyd and asked, "what is it?" Alder was secretly praying that Lloyd didn''t find out about the bet. Lloyd may even give up on the match to escape of the bet. As Alder looked at his son, he felt that the aura released from Lloyd changed and increased. ''what going on?'' Alder thought as he looked at Lloyd carefully. ''Ohh! he broke through to earth 5th stage. I can''t wait to see Rodney''s face when I win the bet'' as Alder thought about it, his face lit up and started laughing. "Haa Haa Haa" Everyone was startled by the sudden laughing of Alder. ''why father looking at me and laughing?'' Lloyd thought as he felt weird as something was going to happen to him and a chill ran through him. "dear, what''s wrong?" Esvele asked Alder. Alder stopped laughing and said, "nothing, just thought of something" While Alder and Esvele were talking, Lloyd was trying to calm down from the chill he felt. ''I must be imaging things'' Lloyd said to himself. After answering Esvele, Alder turned to Lloyd and said, "Lloyd, you are asking about something. what is it?" Lloyd snapped out of his thought and said, "yes¡­yes, I just want to know about fire phoenix" Alder sighed and relieved when he heard asked about fire phoenix and not about his bet. "I only know about few stories about fire phoenix passed down from generation to generation," Alder said while thinking. "can you tell me?" Lloyd asked curiously. ''this could be a major clue about fire phoenix''s location'' Lloyd thought. "okay," Alder said. Hearing their father will be telling about fire phoenix, Derek and Leland stopped their discussion and peeked their ears in interest. 43 History of Fire Phoenix Clan Seeing all his sons are interested in the story, Alder said, "Unlike other bloodline clans, fire phoenix clan had five founders who were brothers" "five?" Derek asked in confusion. Normally when a new bloodline is generated, there will only be one user but Alder said there were five users. "yes, there were 5 brothers. Our ancestors were normal cultivators at the origin stage. One day when they went hunting in a forest, they''ve heard a weird cry of a beast. They went to investigate it and that was when they found the fire phoenix" Alder said. "what happened after that?" Lloyd asked. Alder sighed and said, "When they found the fire phoenix, it was gravely injured. They felt heavy pressure from the fire phoenix even though they were far away from it. They couldn''t get any closer as their body felt like it would be crushed by the pressure. Then forth brother had an idea to wait. The fire phoenix was near its death. They waited to a week and at last the Phoenix released a sharp cry it died. As they saw that the Phoenix died, they rushed to it. They thought that it could bring them a fortune. But just as they reached fire phoenix''s body. it suddenly started burning and within a few moments, the entire body was burned to a large pile ash. They didn''t know what happened but a fortune before their eyes turned to a pile of ash. They looked around to find the source of flame but find anything and they turned around to leave. Just as they were leaving, the youngest among them heard a chirping of a bird from the ashes. He dived into the ashes to find its source. Seeing their brother diving into the ash, others were confused. After a few minutes, the youngest brother came back with a small bird in his hands. It was at the size of a child''s hand. The bird cried and struggled to escape but couldn''t. it was just born and didn''t have any cultivation but it had its prior phoenix''s memory. It started to interact with the youngest brother to make a deal to release it, in return it promised to give him phoenix bloodline. As the younger brother agreed, the Phoenix made a small injury to itself and gave its blood to him. After he obtained and combine with the bloodline, he came to know the potential of the blood. He didn''t release the Phoenix as he promised but took it to his brother and explained about the blood. After learning about it, the brothers started to extract the blood from the Phoenix till the last drop and divided among themselves" Alder said. Hearing the story, Lloyd face changed as he felt sad for the fire phoenix. Unlike the ice phoenix''s story, the origin of the ice phoenix bloodline, this was crueler. "father, what happened to the fire phoenix after that?" Leland asked. He also felt sad about the fire phoenix. "I don''t know," Alder said as he shakes his head. "father, do you know where they found the fire phoenix?" Lloyd asked. Hearing Lloyd''s question, Alder said, "after they gained fire phoenix bloodline, they created fire phoenix clan around the area where they found the fire phoenix and the location of the fire phoenix was current clan main hall," Alder said. Hearing this Lloyd sighed, he thought he could find the fire phoenix''s location from his father but even his father doesn''t know where fire phoenix was. If fire phoenix was really at the clan, he could have already found but there wasn''t any hidden location to hide a fire phoenix clan. As Alder saw his sons were in deep thought, he said, "I want all you to keep the story a secret. Nobody must know about it" "Why?" Derek said in confusion. "do you think that it was a happy story?" Alder asked seriously. "this¡­.NO," Derek said. "it''s tragic," Leland said. "yes, it was tragic and I don''t want others to know about it and bring shame to our clan. Do you all understand?" Alder asked. "yes," Lloyd, Derek, and Leland said at the same time. After the story, they finished their breakfast and just as they finished, a knock was heard. "come in," Alder said. A servant came and bowed and said, "Master, preparation of the tournament is ready" "ok, you may leave," Alder said to the servant and he turned to his sons and said, "Go all out and beat the hell out of everyone" Even though Alder told this to his 3 sons, he mainly looked at Lloyd when he said that. 44 Tournament Continues After receiving the notification that the tournament will start soon, Lloyd left for the tournament with Derek and Leland. As they reached, Lloyd could see the number of audience sitting was 3 times bigger than the previous day. As today were the most exciting battles among the top 10 of both clans, many didn''t want to miss it. Lloyd walked towards the waiting site of the participants and found out that they were the last to arrive. Just then the sounds of drums were heard. The audience quieted down instantly when they heard it and stood up. The drums indicated the arrival of the high-ranking members of the clan. Two groups of people appeared before their eyes as the audience lightly bowed. One of the group was led was Alder and behind give was the members of fire phoenix clan. Another group was led by Rodney with ice phoenix members behind him. They moved to their respected seats and occupied them. After all the high-ranking member sat down and with their approval, Elder Wade came forward and started the tournament. "now that top 10 was selected previously. It''s time to select the top 5 among them. They will be chosen by elimination battle. Each participant will draw a lot. The participants with the same number will be matched. The winner will move forward to the next round. Is that clear? Any doubts?" Elder Wade said. Elder Wade gave the participants some time to think. After seeing that no one had any question, Elder Wade turned back and shouted, "bring the lots" Hearing that two men came with a box with a hole big enough for a hand to enter. "Inside this box, there are 10 balls with numbers on it ranging from 1 to 5. pick one of the ball" Elder Wade as he showed the box. Hearing Elder Wade, the participants came forwards and started to pick a lot. Lloyd was also among them as he put his hand and picked a ball. As he looked at the number on it, he saw ''4'' on it. As Elder Wade saw that all the participants picked a ball, he turned towards them and said, "now that all have picked a ball. the participants with number 1 on their ball, come to the stage and start the battle" Hearing that two of the participant came forward and walked to the stage. One of them was Leland and another was an ice phoenix clan member. "GO!! Leland" Derek standing beside Lloyd shouted. From hearing the shouts of the audience from behind, Lloyd came to know that the ice phoenix member who will be battling Leland was called Orel Felix. Leland and Orel were standing on the stage and looking at each other. "young master Leland, I won''t go easy on you," Orel said as he tied his fist. Orel was considered as a genius in cultivation. If he was in any other clan, they could have treated him differently and poured all their resources to him. Because of the presence of Leland and Malcer, he was neglected. If he could prove himself in the tournament, then the clan would take him seriously. "I will also do my best," Leland said to Orel. "start the match" Elder Wade signaled both Leland and Orel. Leland and Orel rushed towards each other on hearing Elder Wade. Leland had withdrawn a short sword which perfectly matched his small figure while Orel had a heavy sword. Both clashed against each other and retreated. They were on same cultivation level but unlike Leland, Orel was 20 years old. From their age, one could easily find that Leland was much more talented than Orel. Seeing that he couldn''t gain any advance, Orel started using his bloodline as his sword released freezing aura and attacked. Leland didn''t give Orel any chance to touch as he initiated a weird footwork as he easily dodged Orel''s attacks. "Leland truly a genius. Even though his opponent is at same cultivation as him and activated his bloodline power, Orel couldn''t even touch Leland and what with that weird footwork?" an Elder sitting among the fire phoenix clan asked. "clan master, do you know what is that movement skill?" another elder who was sitting near Alder asked. "I don''t know but it is said to be given to Leland by Esvele," Alder said. 45 Nadine Felix ''why can''t I hit him'' Orel was practically screaming inside. Leland dogged Orel''s attack like it was a walk in the park. ''if I get defeated, I will lose everything'' Orel thought. He was currently 20 years old this year and if he couldn''t prove himself now, there will be no more chance. Age limit of the clan tournament is 20 years and below. If he can''t win, then he can''t participate next time. Leland was moved back and open a gap between him and Orel. "let''s finish it," Leland said as he gathered his qi on his short sword and slashed towards Orel. Seeing a sword coming towards him, Orel placed his sword against it to defend but the force which the sword clashed against his sword was so great that his feet skid backward. He came near the edge of the stage. ''what the hell is with his strength'' Orel thought. Leland didn''t give any chance to Orel to regain his thoughts and counter-attack. He once again attacked with even higher strength. "this can''t be" Orel shouted as he was blasted off the stage by Leland''s attack. Seeing the result of the match, no one was surprised as if they already guessed it from the beginning. "the winner is Leland Fenix" Elder Wade shouted as he declared the result. After hearing his result, Leland came back to Lloyd and Derek and with a slight excitement he said, "I did it" "good match," Lloyd said as he congratulated Leland. "you should have beaten him up a little more," Derek said with a smile as he looked at Orel. As they were talking, Elder wade looked at the participants and said, "now, balls with number ''2'', come to the stage" Hearing Elder Wade, another two participants came to the stage. Lloyd looked and saw that the participants on the stage were a boy and a girl. The boy was wearing fire phoenix clothes, so Lloyd looked at him carefully and try to recall who this was but couldn''t recognize him. "Derek, who is he?" Lloyd asked Derek. Hearing Lloyd''s question, Derek said, "oh! he is Marc Fenix. Grandson of the first elder" Lloyd looked at Marc and looked at his cultivation ''origin 4th stage. Not bad'' Lloyd thought as he turned his attention to the girl on the stage. She was a real beauty. One could be enchanted by her looks. From the looks of it, she was an 18 years old girl. Her body has curves where it should be. Ultimately, she had a sexy body. Lloyd almost got drawn towards her when he heard Leland screaming, "sister Nadine" "sister Nadine" Hearing Leland calling her Nadine, Lloyd was surprised, and he looked at her carefully from top to bottom. ''so that''s Nadine. mother always talked about her'' Lloyd thought. Nadine Felix was the eldest daughter of clan master Rodney. The young miss of ice phoenix clan. "start the match" Elder Wade said. Nadine and Marc charged towards each other as soon as they heard Elder Wade. They clashed with each other for some time and then marc was pushed back. He had an injury in his abdomen and blood dripped down from it. "young miss is so strong" "he was in bad luck when he was matched with young miss" Discussion in the crowd could be heard after seeing the injury of Marc. Even Lloyd was surprised how easily Nadine defeated Marc. Before Lloyd was mesmerized by her beauty that he placed all his attention on Nadine''s outer appearance that he didn''t look at her cultivation. he looked and found that Nadine was currently at origin 6th stage. Two stages higher than Marc. "I admit defeat," Marc said with a bitter face and walked out. he knows that he couldn''t defeat her. "Since Marc admitted defeat, Nadine wins" Elder Wade announced. Nadine smiled hearing that and walked back to the waiting room. As she was walking, Nadine turned towards Lloyd''s direction and smiled. Lloyd was confused as he didn''t interact with her before and this was the first time he saw her. Derek and Leland were also with Lloyd and on seeing Nadine smile, Leland waved and smiled back at her. Seeing the actions of Leland, Lloyd thought, ''maybe she was smiling at Leland'' "now for next match, balls with number ''3'', come to the stage," Elder said. "it''s my turn now," Derek said as he rushed to the stage. 46 Inner Demons Hearing that it was his turn for battle, Derek walked and entered the stage and looked at his opponent. It was Darrin Fenix, one of the members of fire phoenix clan. Seeing that his opponent was Derek, Darrin''s face turned pale and he thought, ''there is no chance to win this match. I better give up'' Derek was excited about his match and was planning to have fun but just as he was about to start the battle, he saw that his opponent''s face turning pale and about to say something. Darrin looked at Derek and said, "I giv¡­" "STOP" Derek shouted as he didn''t let Darrin finish and he looked at Darrin as asked, "Are you planning on giving up on the match?" "This¡­." Darrin said as he didn''t know why Derek is shouting at him and asking him such a stupid question. He just wanted to give up, there is no way he could defeat Derek and he wanted to avoid injuries. Seeing that Darrin wasn''t listening to him and thinking of something else, Derek sighed as he asked, "Do you know why you can''t break through?" Darrin was surprised as he heard it. He knows that he is at the same stage for a long time, even though he was a peak of the stage and could break through at any moment. Something was always stopping him at the last moment. "why?" Darrin asked. This question was bugging him for a long time. Seeing that he finally got Darrin''s attention, Derek said, "your fear is the problem" "my fear!!" Darrin asked in confusion. Seeing Darrin''s confused face, Derek found out that Darrin still didn''t understand. So, he said, "why did you plan to give up? Ask yourself" Lloyd who was watching all this thought, ''Is Derek planning to defeat his opponent with his lecture?'' "brother, what do you think big brother is talking about?" Leland asked who was beside Lloyd. "I don''t know" Lloyd replied. He truly didn''t know as previously didn''t know about cultivation world and he is new to this world. Darrin stayed silent hearing Derek. "from the moment you saw me, you fear that you would get trashed and will definitely lose. So, you decided to give up. You are driven and controlled by fear. You aren''t taking any risks in any battles or in cultivation. You know why you can''t break through, it is because you subconsciously believed that you can''t, which ultimately created your inner demon of fear. Unless you overcome your demons, you can''t advance any further. You must take a risk if you want to grow" Derek said as he looked at Darrin. Hearing Derek, Darrin came to know his mistake and finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Darrin turned towards Derek and said, "thank you for showing my mistake. I will fight this battle and prove to you that I will change from now on" Hearing the discussion between Derek and Darrin, everyone was surprised by Derek''s words. "This Derek is so wise," one of the elders said as he looked at Derek. "from his words, Derek seems to know the nature of human heart" another elder commented. Rodney was surprised as he turned to Alder and said, ''you have a good son there. You can carefreely leave the clan to Derek" "yes," Alder said with a bright smile on his face, feeling proud of his son. ''when did Derek became so knowledgeable¡­. Maybe after the incident in the capital..... ha ha ha ¡­.. it truly helped him'' Alder thought as he laughed. Everyone thought that Alder is laughing because of the performance of his son and some were feeling jealous that they didn''t have a son like Derek. Lloyd looked at Derek and thought, ''looks like his mindset improved greatly'' While everyone was impressed by him, Derek was feeling happy as he thought, ''yes, this bastard actually brought it and finally agreed to battle. That crap that I read previous really helped.'' 47 Overcoming Fear Derek thought back the brought he a book from a street vendor at the capital. Normally he wouldn''t even notice it but somehow it caught his eye and immediately brought it because of the title of the book. It read "Understanding and How to mingle with Women". It contained many things explaining about women and one of the chapters were explaining about fear to talk or express your feeling to your loved woman. ''I just changed few words and removed all about women and added cultivation and this bastard brought it. HA¡­ HA¡­ HA I am a genius'' Derek thought to himself which brought a small smile to his face. Darrin''s got rid of other feeling and seeing Derek''s smile he got ready to fight. he wanted to prove to himself that he was not afraid anymore. Seeing his opponent was going to fight, Derek was feeling happy inside as he thought, ''I should go easy on him otherwise it may destroy his self-confidence he gained now and he may once again quit'' Derek was itching to fight for some time and finally got a chance. So, he was going to enjoy it to the fullest. "Are you going to fight or not?" Elder Wade asked as he felt that the participants are taking too long and was only talking instead of fighting. "yes," Darrin said as he moved and attack Derek with his fist. Derek crossed his arms and welcomed the attacked. "boom" A sound was heard as the attack landed on Derek. Derek didn''t move nor flinched as he received it. "Not bad," Derek said while looking at Darrin and continued, "but you have to put more force into it" Darrin wasn''t surprised when he saw that his attack was not effective. He knows that he was too weak now, but he will get stronger if he somehow managed to overcome his fear. ''I can''t give up now'' Darrin thought as he could feel that he could break-thought at any moment if he continued to fight. Darrin once moved towards Derek and this time as his life depended on it. He put his entire strength, even overusing his qi and attacked Derek. Derek''s face changed when he saw what Darrin was doing to himself. ''did I break him'' Derek thought. The attack landed on Derek and it resounds as it had much larger force. "wow¡­ that was some attack" one of the audience said. By now everyone was enchanted by Derek''s speech and they unconsciously started to worship him. Just as he received the attack, Derek couldn''t believe it as he could steady himself and moved back up to 3 feet before he could regain his balance. Seeing that he finally pushed Derek backward, Darrin''s face had a smile as he fell. ''I did it'' Darrin thought as he felt pain from all over his body and couldn''t move an inch. ''I was pushed backward'' Derek thought as he couldn''t believe it as he looked at the fallen Darrin. ''Do my words have so much power to overpower a week fellow like him?'' Derek thought. Just then a fluctuation in qi appeared. "how happening" Everyone was confused by it and try to locate its source. "it''s coming from Darrin," an elder said as he looked at Darrin. Everyone''s attention attracted to Darrin. Qi started to circulate faster in Darrin''s body without his involvement. ''what going on and where did this qi come from?'' Darrin who was laying there was confusion. He knows that he fully emptied his reveres in the last attack. Qi started to collect around the area with Darrin as the center and it started to slowly got absorbed by Darrin. As qi entered his body, his dantian got refilled and started to expand. ''don''t tell me that I am breaking through'' Darrin thought as he knows that when someone breakthrough, their dantian will expand to accumulate more qi. Just then the strange qi fluctuation stopped. "what just happened," someone said but nobody replied as they were focused on Darrin. Darrin who was feeling excited when he heard a sound in his mind as he broke through. Qi which was running wildly inside his body previously calmed down and returned to normal as nothing happened. The only difference was that the pressure of Darrin increased. "he broke through" "that amazing" The audience saw this was surprised. 48 Whats Going On? Darrin who just broke through was lying there, he wanted to move but his body didn''t listen to him. Darrin turned his eyes towards Derek and said, "Thank you!" His vision slowly turned black as he lost consciousness. Derek stood there watching while feeling down but his face didn''t show any expression. ''Why can''t you fight. You just broke through and got stronger. You piece of shit'' Derek thought as he was scolding Darrin inside. When Elder Wade saw that Darrin lost conscious, he came forward to the stage and checked Darrin. "just lost conscious, nothing much" Elder Wade said as he signaled people to take Darrin back. "Derek wins this round since his opponent is unable to battle" Elder wade shouted as he declared the result of the match. Derek who was feeling bad inside and wanted to find someone to release his anger. ''Is wanting to have a nice fight, a bad thing'' Derek thought as he sighed and walked down the stage. Just as he was walking back to the waiting area, a youth from the audience shouted at Derek. "Big Brother Derek, can I have a fight with you," he said. "this¡­" Derek don''t know what to say. "I also have some problem in cultivation. So, I wish I could discuss with big brother" he said sincerely. "I also wanted to fight" "me too" A large number of youngsters came forwards to battle with Derek. With a single battle, Derek helped Darrin to overcome his inner demons and breakthrough in his cultivation. they also want to improve just like Darrin. "you bastards, you... fuck off¡­ big brother Derek is a member of the fire phoenix clan. So we the fire phoenix clan members are the priority" With that, shouts should be heard from the younger generation while some engaged in a battle to decide who to go first. Their eyes contained worship for Derek as they were sparkling while looking at Derek. "SILENCE" Elder Wade shouted while looking at them. He was surprised by their actions. "Everyone calm yourself down first. I would like to fight and enlighten everyone but no today" Derek said and walked back. Alder and Rodney show this situation and was surprised. With a single battle, Derek gained the favor of everyone and they are fighting for him. "Alder looks like your son''s fame increased immensely," Rodney said while looking at Derek. "Whose son do you think he is?" Alder said with a smile. Lloyd who was watching all of this was astonished. The way Derek acted today was way off than what he knows. ''something is not right'' Lloyd thought as he carefully observed Derek as he returned to the waiting sit and sat down. Derek who sat down had a big smile while he looked at the youngster from before. ''He is definitely planning something'' Lloyd thought when he saw Derek''s look. "Big brother, you were awesome on the stage," Leland said to Derek. "Just in a day''s work," Derek said while laughing. "Now then the battles will continue" Elder Wade said while looking at the audience. Just as they heard Elder Wade, everyone''s attention shifted from Derek back to the stage. "Now then balls with number ''4'' come to the stage" Elder Wade said. Lloyd looked to the stage and calmly walked towards it and stood to wait for his opponent. ''Now then, how should I finish this battle¡­ within an instant or should I drag it for some time¡­I should wait until I look at my opponent and think after that'' Lloyd thought as he was waiting. Just as he was waiting for his opponent, a lady wearing an ice phoenix clan dress came forward and stood before him. When Lloyd saw her, he was surprised. ''what''s going on?'' Lloyd thought as he looked at her. "Are you ready?" Elder Wade asked. "yes" she replied looking at Elder Wade and turned to Lloyd. ''why is nobody saying anything. Even Elder Wade is agreeing for her to participate¡­.what the hell is going on?'' Lloyd was in confusion as the person before him was Nadine Felix. ''Isn''t her match already completed'' Lloyd thought. 49 So Soft!!! Just as Elder Wade announced the start of the match, Alder''s face turned serious as he turned towards Rodney and said, "I just remembered something". Rodney''s attention changed to Alder when he saw how serious Alder face looked. "what is it?" Rodney asked. From what knows, Alder was always calm and collected. He is only serious in dire situations. ''Did something happen?'' Rodney thought. When hearing Rodney, Alder looked at the stage and then turned his head towards the waiting area and said, "We still hasn''t agreed on which one of your daughters, you placed on the bet". Hearing Alder, Rodney''s face twitched. He almost vomited blood in anger. ''you still want to discuss it'' Rodney thought. He still remembers the horror caused by it. His sister trashed him and released the anger caused by Alder. Esvele was angry because her husband and her brother agreed on the marriage of her son without telling her. Seeing Rodney''s silence, Alder said, "Why are you saying anything? We must decide now. So, that there is no confusion in the future¡­ since they are twins, I don''t care which one you decide on" Just as he finished, Alder felt a chill in his spine. He quickly turned around to find the source of the chill. Alder quickly found the source, but his face turned pale. The source was his wife Esvele. Just when Rodney was going to lash at Alder, he saw Alder''s sudden reaction. When he saw that Alder''s face was pale and the source was his sister, Rodney''s face brightened with a smile. Rodney''s ego was satisfied. He knows that Alder was stronger than him, while he was at half-step sky stage and couldn''t defeat Alder in an actual match. In the past, when he was talking to Leland, he heard hints about Alder being afraid of Esvele. At that time he thought it was a joke but looking at the situation now and the condition Alder was in while looking at his sister, he confirmed it. "Ahem" Rodney coughed to gained Alder attention and said, "Both Nadine and Carla are my darling baby girls. I can''t bear to let even one of them leave from my sight. So, I let my sister decide who among them will be the one" "this¡­" Alder didn''t know what to say in response to Rodney. "Do you have any problem with my arrangement?" Rodney asked with a smile. "NO, absolutely not. We shall let Esvele decide that" Alder replied. He knows that Esvele heard everything Rodney said. He already made the bet regarding the marriage for his son without consulting her and if he denies Rodney''s arrangement now, he knows that she will never forgive him. Back on the stage... The one fighting Lloyd wasn''t Nadine Felix but her twin Carla Felix. The battle between Lloyd and Carla was already started. Carla attacked Lloyd furiously, but Lloyd dogged. She couldn''t even touch him. As they were fighting, Lloyd observed something. ''why does her presence feel different?'' Lloyd thought. Lloyd didn''t know about Carla and thought he was fighting Nadine. Nadine was a calm presence. She was friendly while Carla was opposite to her. ''Her presence is so cold'' Lloyd thought. Lloyd didn''t know that in the ice phoenix clan, both the sister was famous because of their personalities. Nadine had a warm nature while Carla had a cold nature. ''Hell with it. I should defeat her first and have a talk with Leland'' Lloyd thought as he charged at her instead of defending and tried to punch her in the stomach. Seeing the fist coming towards her. Carla tried to dodge, but it was too late. So, she tried to stop the attack by counterattacking it. Carla attack didn''t stop Lloyd''s attack but deviated it from its original path. The originally intended location which was the stomach suddenly changed to the chest. Lloyd wanted to withdraw his attack but it was too late. Receiving the attack on her breast, Carla screamed in pain as he was blasted off the stage. ''so soft'' Lloyd thought as he could still feel the sensation of her chest on his hand. 50 The Cheater and the Perver The audience was astonished by the development happening before them. Carla who was battle just a second ago was hit and blasted off the stage. Carla looked at her opponent in shock and then shame and at last an uncontrollable anger. She crashed outside of the stage, she wanted to get up and kill the bastard before her, but she couldn''t do anything because of the unimaginable pain in her cheat. Lloyd original wanted to knock-out his opponent, so his attack was heavy. Because of the change in the direction of Lloyd''s attack, entire energy was focused on Carla''s chest. Seeing that Carla was off the stage, Elder Wade announced, "Lloyd wins" Carla knows that she lost but when Elder Wade finally confirmed it, she couldn''t take it anymore as she vomited blood in anger and lost conscious. Hearing Elder Wade, Lloyd walked down off the stage and towards the waiting area. Seeing that Lloyd was acting like nothing has happened, the youngsters in the crowd was enraged. "This¡­" "I want to beat the hell out of him" Lloyd didn''t know the influence of the twins. They appeared as a goddess to them. Their beauty may take anyone''s breath away with one look. Combined with their talent for cultivation which was the one of the highest in the clan. Men were taken back by their beauty and talent and wanted to conquer any one of them. Some even worshiped them as a goddess. While women fancied them and wanted to be them. They even felt that even being jealous was meaningless. "I can''t take it anymore. I don''t care even he is the second young master" "At first he cheats then this¡­" "A Cheater and Pervert" They started to shout and make a nuisance. Nobody knows about Lloyd actual power. Seeing how easily he won the first round, they sub-consciously believed that he was cheating. they don''t want to believe that he was strong. The number of people who started to hated Lloyd increased at a rapid phase. At first, there were only ice phoenix juniors, but fire phoenix juniors also joined them. Lloyd who was walking didn''t hear any of it. Normally he would have heard even small discussions in the crowd but now his mind was distracted. "Soft" "So soft" "How¡­how can it be so soft" Lloyd murmured as he was still looked at his hand with an excited expression. Among the crowd, only a few of them saw how the battle ended. Alder and Rodney were among them. "Alder, it is getting out of control. Should I explain how it really happened?" Rodney asked. "NO," Alder said. "but¡­this will ruin Lloyd''s reputation," Rodney said. Alder didn''t say anything but was looking at Lloyd. ''From the looks of it, he didn''t seem to care at all about it'' Alder thought. ''let''s see how you manage it'' Alder thought. To remove even one black mark from one''s name is a very hard process. So, Alder wants to use this opportunity. Just as Lloyd return to the waiting area, Leland who was waiting of Lloyd and wanted to congratulate him on his battle but just as he opened his mouth, he closed it immediately. ''If I congratulate now, wouldn''t be I encouraging his action'' Leland thought. Derek, on the other hand, patted on Lloyd''s back as he laughed and said, "you made even more opponent than me" Just as Derek patted on his back, Lloyd woke up from his trance with a confused face on the remark of Derek. that''s when he heard the crowd and astonished by them. Elder Wade who was about to announce the next was caused by the uproar. ''these brothers are really something'' he thought. ''one of them made the crowd admire him so much that they may even kill anyone for him while the other made the crowd hate him so much that they may kill anyone who stood up for him'' Elder Wade thought as he sighed. 51 The Horror of Reality Lloyd who woke up from his trance was surprised by the uproar. The crowd was staring daggers at Lloyd. If their eyes could kill, he could have died serval times by now. ''What the hell is wrong with these people?'' Lloyd thought as he looked them. Lloyd wanted answers, so he looked towards his brothers. As he heard the reason and the existence of the twins, Lloyd was shocked. ''why the hell did I not know of this?'' ''From the explanation of Leland, those twins fame far exceeds both of the Phoenix clan'' Lloyd thought. "Lloyd look there. Do you see any similarities among the crowd?" Derek said as he pointed towards the crowd who was the shouting at Lloyd. Lloyd''s eyes followed and fell on the crowd. There were many of them consisting of both Phoenix clan and the crazy part was that even females were mixed in. As Lloyd looked he found that they had one thing common. That was a badge on them. The badge was the like the yin-yang symbol. At first, Lloyd thought it was a symbol for some kind martial art group. But it looks like there is more than that. "that badge. What is it?" Lloyd asked. "that badge represents that all of them are in the same club," Derek said. "club¡­ what club?" Lloyd asked. "fan club¡­ a club for Nadine and Carla" Derek said. "this..." Lloyd was surprised but not for the fan club, but the reason he didn''t know any of this. ''why?'' Lloyd thought, and he tried to think back. As he thought back, Lloyd''s face started to get pale and at last, it turned white. "this¡­this¡­this is terrible. Why didn''t I notice it before?" Lloyd murmured to himself. the thing got Lloyd scared was because of his and previous Lloyd''s past. The previous Lloyd was a loner. The only people he talked about was his parents and brothers. He distanced himself from others because of his fear that they will bully him because he couldn''t cultivate. Most of the time, he could try to cultivate which in turns made him isolate from worldly happening. When Lloyd found about previous Lloyd''s past, he again thought of his life back on earth. His life was even worse. He didn''t have any need to hide or had any fear of bullies. He spent most of his time on the internet. He wasn''t the only one, most of the people around his age also spent this way. He would hate news channels on TV and watch movies for entertainment. He also didn''t know any worldly happenings. He only cared about his own comfort and ignored anything other than that. He didn''t even know the name of the neighbors living around him. ''looks like me and the previous Lloyd was a perfect match. No wonder I was able to reborn in his body'' Lloyd thought. ''I should have picked this up when I came to know that previous Lloyd didn''t know about the country he was living'' ''looks like my habits multiplied with previous Lloyd when I was reborn'' Lloyd thought as he sighed. ''what should I do...'' just as Lloyd was thinking of a solution. He heard a shout. "SILENCE" Elder Wade shouted at the crowd. "sit down. The tournament will continue" he said. Hearing Elder Wade, the crowd went silent. they know that they shouldn''t disrespect him, or there will be trouble. "Now then. The final match of the day. The participant with the ball no 5, come to the stage" Elder Wade said. Hearing Elder Wade, two participants entered the stage. Both were from ice phoenix clan. One of them was Malcer Felix. Just as Malcer was passing by Lloyd, he looked at Lloyd. While others will think that it was a normal eye contact, but Lloyd could see a deep killing intent in them. ''Is he going to take revenge for his sister?'' Lloyd thought. The opponent of Malcer was different from other participants in the tournament. From Leland, Lloyd came to know that he was called Kevin. He wasn''t a member of ice phoenix clan or fire phoenix clan but an outsider, who joined ice phoenix clan as a disciple and regarded highly for his talent. 52 Kevin Lloyd looked at both Malcer and Kevin, who were beginning for battle. Malcer looked like he was eager to end the fight and Kevin was looking at his opponent. But he was secretly observing Lloyd from the side of his vision. ''He is really taking this entire tournament lightly as it is beneath him'' Kevin thought while looking at Lloyd. ''Either he is acting so that he is making an illusion of strength or maybe he is really on a other level compared to others''. ''By observing his agility and strength he displayed I am absolutely certain that it is second one and that means he is the only opponent I know that I can''t defeat unless I use my trump card'' ''even thought Derek is strong and at 9th origin stage. I can defeat him easily but I cant even find Lloyd''s cultivation level. He is a dangerous'' Kevin was a genius and because of this talent he was selected as seeded member of Phoenix clan, Even thought he didn''t have any of the Phoenix bloodline in him. Since childhood he could sense and see what other couldn''t and because of his sense that he become strong and survive. Before he became member of the clan he used to live in a village near a forest with his parents but all of ended on a that cursed day in which his village was hit by attack due a fight between two cultivators. Kevin was 5years old and his father who was a hunter brought him to forest to start his training as a hunter. Since he was young his only target was rabbits which was caught by traps he set. While he and his father was returning to the village with his first ever kill, they heard a loud boom from the village and followed by an aftershock which almost sent them flying away. He and his father survived initial attack on the village. Kevin saw the attack was on the other side of the village and soon the village was covered by a dark green fog. His eyes followed the path of the fog and when it touched any grass or trees, it stared to wither. "Something happened to village. Stay behind the rock and hide" His father said to him. He must return to the village and find out what happened. If it is too dangerous at least he must save his wife. He didn''t want to leave his son but he cant bring him to the village. He and his son was struck between village which was attacked at front and forest with dangerous animals at the back which his son couldn''t deal with. So he could only leave him here and return for his son later. Since they are already near the village, no animals would come here and from the loud sound he heard just now may cause all the other animals to escape from here. So his son is save here temporarily. "but father look ....the ....fog...the green fog" before he can warn his father. His saw his father rush toward the village as he didn''t really see the fog. Just then he saw a flash above the village as he turn his eyes upward and two human figure way up above in the air and was surprised. What really surprised him was not only the human up in the air but also figure made up of something flowing above the human and encase them. One of them have a figure of a dark green scaled snake and other had a purple bird encased on them. Just as he turned his head to shout at his father about the human flying in the sky. He saw his father lying on the ground inside the fog. "NO¡­.NO¡­NO" Kevin cried out. "Father....Father¡­..Father" he cried to his father to wake him up. he wanted to run to father but he couldn''t move. His legs were shivering while looking at the fog as it would eat him up as soon as he reached towards it. Just as he was condemning on his state he heard a loud screech and a purple light fall on the village and this it and the started to glow in purple and vanished before his eyes. Even the strange fog also vanished Just as he was perplexed by the slight before and understand what has happened. His brain could not process everything that is happening. He didn''t get any time as wind gushed from behind him and took him with it toward the huge empty hole left behind by the village. he fell into the hole and screamed as he could feel pain he never felt before gushed to his mind. Bones in his body was broken at multiple locations and some areas one could even see bones pierced from his skin. He was in critical condition. He could die at any moment. He couldn''t take the pain anymore and lost conscious. Just as Kevin lost conscious. Cloud stared to form above the sky and a lighting appeared. It fallen towards and Kevin and got absorbed by his body and with a yellow glow his injuries started to disappear. Only thing left indicating he was injured was his torn clothes and his expression of pain on his face. 53 Heavens Child The match has already commenced between Malcer and Kevin. They exchanged attacks but everyone could see Kevin has the upper hand and if something out of the ordinary didn''t happen then Kevin is going to win. Alder and Rodney sighed watching the exchange. "I think both of us is going to lose the bet" Rodney said. "Malcer is going to lose and you will lose the bet not me" Alder said and continued "But still who know that the kid you picked up would be so talented and become this strong without any bloodline" Rodney heard it and sighed and said "I only saved him out of whim since we were only investigating the sudden disappearance of a village from edge of your territory" "He had no place to go and no one to look after him so I took him in to train as a servant for the clan but somehow he started to cultivate and his talent was shown early" "I investigated who gave him a cultivation method and found that nobody gave him any cultivation method as he could rarely talk to anyone and when I asked him where he got it, only answer I got was that it was passed down to him by his parents which surprised me since every person who used to live in his village was used to be a mortal and there was nobody was a cultivator and I couldn''t investigate as he was the only survivors of the village" "Did he tell you what happened to the village?" Alder asked. "He said he didn''t know and he just woke up to the big hole where he was found" Rodney said. As they were talking, Lloyd watched the battle before him with a frown as he couldn''t find the cultivation of Kevin through system which happen for the first time. He knows from the energy and its quality that Kevin was nearing earth stage but not there. ''system why cant I see Kevin''s cultivation'' Lloyd called out to the system -Something is protecting the existence of the being you called as Kevin- -Current level of system cant overcome it- ''you are saying that there is someone who is capable to hide from you'' Lloyd asked in supprise. -yes- -searching for the database for explanation- -searching- -searching- -searching- -only result found- -analyzing data- -beep- -New mission created- ...¡­ Mission-KILL KEVIN ..... As Lloyd looked at the mission he found it weird the as it was the only mission he got without a reward and it was a killing mission. Normally he could always get experience points or any items or system function as reward but this time he has none. ''System where is the reward for the mission'' -system wont be issuing any reward for this mission as the reward can be taken from Kevin after you killed him- ''Is it that great that you are not giving out any reward'' -Only person who can hide someone from the system is the heavens- -The one person who the heavens will support and protect is the chosen one or heaven''s child- Hearing this a shiver ran through his body while thinking ''This better be not what I am thinking'' ''System, explain who is this chosen one'' -The Heavens will choose someone every eons to carry out the will of the heaven. The heavens will be grant that person with a heaven defying talent and cultivation method. The person will be hard or nearly impossible to kill as heaven could help that person to escape unreasonable situation with unreasonable way or that person could able make a breakthrough in his strength in unreasonable times to escape from any dangers. The only downfall of being the chosen one is that he/she may think that he there in the control of their destiny and are defying the heavens but he/she is only act according to the predetermined ways sets the heaven. That person is both lucky and unlucky at the same time as nobody could go against them but puppets to someone''s will- Lloyd was surprised hearing this and sighed and thought ''And here I thought I am the protagonist'' ''But why is there a mission to kill the chosen one'' Lloyd asked in confusion. -Because of the system, someday host may come face to face with the chosen one and every chosen one have an unique ability and an unique treasure to ensure the survival and progression of the chosen one. While you may not get the ability, system can help host to get the treasure but only if you killed him yourself- ''Is the treasure the reward for the mission'' -Yes Host- ''So I must now kill the protagonist'' Lloyd thought but little excited about the task in front of him