“I don’t need a single thing from this family, don’t you worry. I will be leaving with Ping’er and Ning’er.

“From this day on, I will still remain as Zhou Yan. However, the matters of this family, the Zhou family, no longer concerns me.

“You may stop worrying now since you, as an elder, had completely severed my essence meridian to further my training. The rest of my life would ultimately be destined to live a simple life as a common-folk, so there is no longer a need for you to strike me down any further than you already had!

“I’ve used every ounce of my potential. I’ve indeed attacked them, and I have all the right to do so. I could never allow their humiliation to carry on any further!

“As for Little Xu, it was bold of her as a lowly handmaiden to disrespect me to such an extent, not knowing her place. She was obviously not taught well by her master, so I punished her in her master’s place. This act of discipline was not wrong! Just as you said before, as long as I’ve not left the Zhou household, that handmaiden would never be in a position to hurl such insults at me!”

Zhou Yan simply spoke calmly while tightly grabbing onto the hand-carved effigy.

It seemed that this night was the only time this young lad had spoken the most.

“Ping’er, Ning’er, Let’s go.”

“Yes, master.”

Ping’er took one last good look at every single soul present as if she was attempting to remember all of their faces.

The ill stricken maiden clad in white, Ning’er, remained silent as she approached the weakened Zhou Yan. She managed to grab him before he fell over.

Thus, the injured young lad was shouldered by two elegant women, leaving behind a trail of blood-soaked footprints. The trio left the serene yet melancholic courtyard behind them.

Similar to a lonely artistic conception, wherever it had gathered was where it left, as it expanded its presence to a never-ending, voidless abyss.

“Elder of Lore, if I may, the skills of his ‘Sword Art of Clear Waters Heaven’s Blade’ was impressive, and his speed was insanely quick.”

After a long moment of silence, Zhou Lingyi suddenly made a cryptic comment as she no longer paid any attention to her murdered handmaiden.

“His seal was ‘his’ doing, there is not a single soul in this realm but ‘him’ that could undo this seal, so don’t you worry child.”

The Elder of Lore spoke then proceeded to let out a long-winded sigh as he continued, “I can feel his essence strengthen through this very encounter. It’s normal to have such power when one had pushed themselves beyond their physical limitations. Since Zhou Wangchen was an ordinary man, he, too, was defeated by Zhou Yuntian. Thus, it was not due to the lack of talents and prowess this lad possessed, nay, it was all because the right moment for him had yet to come.

“Zhou Yuntian was not worthy of praise because, at that very moment, Zhou Wangchen was already incapable of exerting even a fraction of his full strength.

“It seems that Zhou Yan can’t die just yet. Well, at least, he can’t yet perish by our blades. Since the situation with Zhou Wangchen is not fully over, and the lass, Ning Er, with a mysterious past was brought back by Zhou Wangchen, I fear that she cannot be taken lightly. As for now, we will not make any rash moves,” explained the Elder of Lore with great detail.

His detailed explanation was shared with the three generations of exceptional pupils in the courtyard and was not kept a secret.

“Yes, by your grace, Elder, you have covered all grounds. Since this debacle finally has a conclusion, I shall train harder. In a cycle of a moon’s time, upon the arrival of the main branch of the majesty that is our Zhou family, I shall impress them.”

Zhou Lingyi nodded.

“If I may, Elder, I fear Zhou Yan would speak ill of our family in the open world, or perhaps, he would return to cause even more harm in a cycle of moon’s time,” asked Zhou Xian with his irrational concerns.

The lad recalled the menacing, sinister gaze present in Zhou Yan’s eyes. He could not help but feel that this young lad, Zhou Yan, was never as a simple man as he thought he was.

“He had lost all his potential and his powers. He will no longer gain such an opportunity ever again! Besides, when the time arrives, the entire family will be on high alert. Although he was a member of our Zhou family for all these years, however, not a single soul in the open world would ever know that he is truly the son of Zhou Wangchen.”

The elder, Zhou Wuyan, chuckled as if he had planned for every possibility.

“Ah… you truly are wise, great elder!”

Hence, Zhou Xian was instantly relieved of his concerns. A glint of fierce, primal vengeance glimmered through his gaze.

He felt content to witness Zhou Yan be subjected to such torment.

“My apologies, dear Elder, besides the lot of us in the family, every single pupil stood united and loyal, without question. Also, the Lord of our family, he had always sided with Zhou Yan, would he…”

It seemed that some concerns still lingered in Zhou Cheng’s mind. However, he was worried about something else.

“Worry not for the matters of the Lord of our family, just as we agreed, Zhou Yan is a piece of trash, and Zhou Wangchen was a known genius. Who do you think the lord would side with? If the future concerns you, then arrangements will be made for future occasions, hence, worry not now.

“On the other hand, you’re concerned about the truth of this situation that will be spread by the pupils in our family. This, alone has a simple solution.

“We can all say, that this situation was due to the intensive training undergone by the genius of our family. It was planned since he was little. However, the truth is, Zhou Linyao was Zhou Wangchen’s trueborn son. To prevent his arrogance, the family had decided to indoctrinate a lad named ‘Zhou Yan’ who was merely an abandoned child when he was discovered. Hence, he has no ties to our Zhou family. He has already been exiled and abandoned by our Zhou family after being such an embarrassment to us.”

Upon hearing what the Elder of Lore had said, the trio was instantly stunned by his wisdom.

“These words were not meant for your ears initially. However, since it’s by the grace of Zhou Lingyi, I shall speak without restrictions. Do not tell anyone this at all. On the other hand, whoever enters our Zhou family is not essential. What’s most important will be whoever possesses the most talent.

“There is one more thing. This doesn’t mean that there can only be two people worthy of this status. If the objective had been achieved, three or four people wouldn’t make much of a difference. Little Cheng, Little Xian, I have high hopes for both of you, so fight hard. A lot can change in a cycle of a moon’s time,” said Zhou Wuyan contently.

Upon hearing what had been said, Zhou Cheng and Zhou Xian were extremely excited by such praise. They were so ecstatic that both of them had completely forgotten about the injuries they had sustained earlier.

…

Glittering stars stretched across the night sky. It was extremely late at night at this point.

Through an endless stretch of massive hills and thorny bushes, the two young lassies continued to shoulder the injured Zhou Yan as they slowly braved the treacherous path ahead.

The dresses they wore were tattered and torn by the thorny overgrowth as blood-stained their ankles.

Their path was completely shrouded in darkness. The only way they knew was up the massive hills as the path was invisible to them through the dark veil of night.

It seemed to them that this night alone was crawling to a halt. It felt unnaturally long. Darkness shrouded them. It was as if the light of dawn was hidden from their eyes.

The young lad Zhou Yan was unconscious, resembling the undead. He allowed both the young lassies to shoulder his weight, dragging him along their journey.

Earlier, the trio found a safe spot to rest. However, they realized that the place was deemed a ‘forbidden ground’ and thus, they lost the sanctuary they discovered.

Not a single shard of crystal could be found on the trio, and the two ladies were utterly exhausted, unable to fend off any possible threats that might come their way. In a world like this, it certainly made living a challenging thing to do.

“Lady Ning, why hasn’t master awoken yet? His body temperature keeps fluctuating between feverish heat to bone-chilling temperatures uncontrollably… Is he going to perish?”

The green dress Ping’er wore was completely soaked in her own sweat.

“He…had been mortally wounded by the echoed voice from the Elder of Lore. I’m afraid his meridians are completely severed, and there isn’t an immediate cure…for his current condition.”

The maiden clad in white calmly spoke as the tone in her voice was soft. She simply let out a long-winded sigh after speaking.

“Lady Ning, then, then what should we do? It’s… it’s all my fault as a shameless, lowly handmaiden. If it wasn’t for me, the master wouldn’t have… I deserve to die…”

Ping’er bawled like a mad person, as tears burst from her eyes like a geyser, soaking her sleeves.

There was no break in between the mix of sweat and tears, as nothing could calm the lass’ broken heart and sorrow.

“Ping’er, this has nothing to do with you. Not a single soul could stop them if all they seek for was a reason to fight. The truth is, Zhou Yan was extremely composed and calm in the face of their provocations. If it was up to his old self, he would’ve rashly fought those people without any concern of the ramifications that would’ve brought him.”

Ning’er’s voice was soft, yet it contained a unique calming tone to comfort Ping’er, and thus, she slowly calmed herself down.

“Lady Ning, I know you’re a lady from a powerful family of high status. Can you perhaps…teach me the ways of the sword? It doesn’t matter if it was the way of healing, pure sword skill, spells, or traps. It does not matter to me, as long as it is powerful enough, enough…to avenge my master, and it’ll be fine by me!”

Intense waves of determination emanated from Ping’er’s voice, and her gaze alone was as sharp as a blade’s edge!

It seemed ironic that life could force someone so innocent and naïve to the world around her to such a desperate state!

“Worry not, all will be well soon!”

There was not much reaction from Ning’er. As Ning’er stared at Zhou Yan, her gaze was filled with compassion and love.

As Ning’er spoke, she looked around cautiously, as if she felt something watching them. She then proceeded to bend over and pulled out a mysterious golden pill. She slid the tablet into Zhou Yan’s mouth.

Suddenly, her soft pale hands stopped in midair. With a twitch, the pill returned to her palm. Ping’er was mystified by what she witnessed. In the next instant, she watched as the feverish heat and chilling cold from Zhou Yan’s body gathered at one spot as both energies of extreme heat and cold swiftly collided with one another. It then proceeded to morph into a circle of unified energy. This circle of mysterious power had an odd curve to it, and at the center of both curves, two bright spots of light could be seen at opposite ends of each curve!

As clueless as they both were, Ning’er and Ping’er realized that this circle seemed to possess a concentrated raw power from the teachings of Taoism within itself!

Both lassies were stunned and shocked as they observed that the spiraling circle, infused itself into Zhou Yan’s body. This, in turn, healed the lad as the pale and purplish state he was in faded away. The weakened condition of his face was replaced by an indescribable state of health.

“Are you awake, master?”

“Are you awake, Zhou Yan?”

Upon awakening, Zhou Yan was greeted by two gentle and soft, concerned voices.

Zhou Yan smiled compassionately, merely nodding to them, not saying a word.

The young lad was not passed out earlier. In fact, he was not even mortally wounded. It was merely a minor injury to him. However, as he knew the situation was dire, he was forced to pretend to be mortally injured to escape.

The truth was, if it wasn’t for his spatial destruction guarding his body, that thundering roar from the Elder of Lore would have ultimately crippled him for the rest of his life. Thus, his act earlier was acceptable.

Just as he planned, he successfully fooled everyone and escaped unharmed. If it was not for his quick thinking, there was without a single shred of doubt in mind that he would have survived this long.

The young lad now knew that not a single person in his family ever truly cared for him!

Afraid of being followed during their escape, the young lad used a secret skill from the ‘Nine Folds Yin-Yang Manuscripts’ to heal his injuries and seal away his life essence. Those particular skills were blessed from a foreign realm known as Earth. It had infused the principles of Yin and Yang and the teachings of Tai Chi. On top of that, it incorporated the ‘Scriptures of Morality’ to such fine detail to yield a remarkable outcome!

Throughout their arduous journey, he had successfully deceived many powerful detection skills used by an equally powerful adversary. He felt the detection skills being used by the adversary. However, the enemy sensed nothing in return.

That was not the full extent of Zhou Yan’s growing abilities. By using a subchapter from ‘Nine Folds Yin-Yang Manuscripts’, ‘The Scriptures of Unbound Flexibility,’ Zhou Yan felt not only did he fully recover from his injuries but once again he progressed further!