Just as the sun slowly disappeared on the horizon and the moon reached higher and higher for the sky. The Five Mountain Peak Sect ship flew up into the sky and began making its way back home.


    Back at his home, Long Tianyu sat in the courtyard in a lotus position by the fire cultivating while a pot of soup simmered above the fire for dinner. A moment passed by as the fire crackled, and the flames roared. Long Tianyu breathed out black smoke and coughed up a black ooze.


    ‘Sigh, finally I have reached the 4^th rank of body tempering, the first half was simple but in the second step it felt as if all my organs were about to burst aflame and explode, luckily that did not happen. When will Uncle Lei be back? It’s already quite late’


    While waiting for Uncle Lei to come back, Long Tianyu grabbed a nearby stick and began shifting hot coals underneath the pot so as not to overcook the ingredients in the soup.


    Scooping a bit of the soup into his bowl, Long Tianyu began eating. He’ll just save some later for Uncle Lei. Bringing the bowl close to his mouth, he suddenly felt all the hair on his body shiver as if a beast was staring at him from behind.


    Taking a sip from the bowl acting as if nothing happened, Long Tianyu''s mind raced. ‘Is it Uncle Lei, no it can’t be he wouldn’t give off such a dangerous aura and if it was him I would have heard the door opening. Maybe it’s just my mind playing tricks on me, no that can’t be it either, it feels too real to be a trick.’


    While Long Tianyu had hundreds of thoughts racing in his mind, a masked person slowly appeared out of the shadow behind him holding a sword in his left hand. As the masked man approached Long Tianyu, he unsheathed his sword.


    Long Tianyu, pretending to take another sip of his soup, heard a blade leaving its sheath, quickly reacting to it, he spun around and threw the soup toward where the sound came from. As the bowl shattered, all he saw was the darkness and the rough outline of the courtyard.


    Breathing out, Long Tianyu relaxed his body. Standing near the fire, his ears twitched for only a second as he heard a sharp whistle aiming for his neck behind him. Rolling forward, he barely dodged the blade as bits of his hair slowly descended near where he stood.


    “Come out, I have done nothing wrong for you to kill me’’ Long Tianyu shouted into the empty space in front of him. After what felt like an eternity, the space distorted and a figure clad in black clothing and dark red armor appeared, and on their left chest a symbol of a coiled serpent with two horns on its head was carved into the armor.


    A coarse and old voice spoke to Long Tianyu, “Heh brat, listen closely, somebody paid us a lot of money for your head, it took us 10 years to find where you were hiding, turns out you were here, hiding amongst lambs’’


    Seeing as the man did nothing, yet Long Tianyu spoke up, “Who paid you to kill me and why’’


    “Kid, I do not care for what reason they want you dead, all I know is if you’re dead then I get paid” Without wasting another word, he slashed his sword horizontally.


    Long Tianyu didn’t even see the sword move, only a gleam could be seen before he felt a stinging pain in his chest. Looking down, all he could see was blood continually gushing out of his wound.


    Stumbling backwards, Long Tianyu saw the man stabbing toward his chest. Seeing death inching closer and closer until it pierced his chest. And as the blade cleanly went through his body a mysterious power hidden deep in his body came to life. As the power roared to life, a dragon''s roar came out of his body, setting the world still. Time stood still for a moment as if the heavens were blinded for a second.


    The man foreseeing a life of riches and beauties by his side was instantly stopped by a pressure coming off from his target. His body was frozen, all he could see was the golden eyes of the youth in front of him.


    Using all his power to move even a step closer to the youth’s heart, all it did was freeze his body even more and it felt as if the heavens were crushing his body.


    Long Tianyu slowly pulled out the sword from his chest, as his golden eyes locked onto the attacker. Holding the sword by its blade, Long Tianyu broke off the tip and approached the man. Being only an arm’s length from the man, he casually swiped the sword’s tip across the assassin’s neck leaving a clean red line behind.


    As soon as a drop of blood leaked out of the assassin’s neck, time moved again, returning to its normality.


    When the assassin’s lifeless body fell on its knees so did Long Tianyu, his head looking down. Swiping his hands across the wound on his chest, he could feel fresh blood constantly spurting out, before fainting.


    As Long Tianyu''s breathing became slower and slower, a man landed in the courtyard from the sky, kicking the dust off the ground in the next moment, he reappeared next to Long Tianyu.


    Holding the cold and bloody body of Long Tianyu, Uncle Lei quickly channeled qi to his right hand, allowing a black ring above a jade ring on his index finger to shudder for a moment and then fall like ash onto the floor the moment a wooden box the size of his hand appeared in his palm.


    Opening the box with his qi, a blinding light lit up the courtyard for a second. After the light dissipated, a pure white round pill gently lay inside the box surrounded by golden talismans.


    “Death reverting origin pill, young master, I can only do so much. Whether you live or die, it''s all up to you now” Gently placing the pill in Long Tianyu’s mouth, Uncle Lei quickly went inside the house.


    Dashing straight for the center of the room, he shattered the stone floor with a kick of his foot. Reaching his hand into the newly made hole, he pulled out a gold ornate box the size of a fist. Inside the box was a black ring engraved with golden runes and figures of beasts, immortals, and a pillar in the center stretching across the whole ring.


    Taking the ring out of the box, a sudden cold sweat covered Uncle Lei’s forehead. Struggling to hold the ring steady, it flew out of his hand as if it had a mind of its own. The ring hovering above Long Tianyu gently went to his right hand and inserted itself into his index finger before turning invisible.


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    Releasing a sigh of relief, Uncle Lei carried Long Tianyu on his back and looked back to the house where he had raised Long Tianyu before leaping out of the courtyard and running towards the northern side of the village, leaving it shortly after.


    In the wilderness, Uncle Lei looked around cautiously before leaping again and landing somewhere else, repeating this process for a few days. High up in the sky, a golden raptor circled Uncle Lei, and where Uncle Lei leaped the raptor would follow.


    After a few days of nonstop running and jumping, Uncle Lei’s stamina slowly depleted until he came across a river. Blue clear water streamed westward and even some fish could be seen swimming in the water.


    Laying Long Tianyu on the ground, Uncle Lei sat in a lotus position recovering his nearly depleted qi reserve. After an incense of time, he stood up and walked to the river, scooping a handful of water and drinking it voraciously. Taking out a water gourd from the jade spatial ring, Uncle Lei held it under the water for a few seconds, filling it up. Once full, he took it to Long Tianyu’s still-unconscious body and held it close by his mouth, letting water flow out from the gourd into his throat.


    Putting the gourd aside on the ground, Uncle Lei sat down again recovering his strength. After the sun slowly sank beneath the earth, Long Tianyu opened his eyes and immediately ducked and rolled 2 feet away from where he lay down.


    After confirming that there is no immediate danger, he rubbed the temples of his head, not remembering much on the night of the attack. One moment he was evading a blade and after that, the same blade pierced his body. By that moment his mind went blank.


    “Tianyu, come here’’ a weak voice called out to him from a nearby tree.


    Looking towards the voice, Uncle Lei sat beneath a tree leaning his back on it. His body was bleeding from several wounds and his left arm was missing.


    “Uncle Lei’’ Long Tianyu shouted while rushing towards his side. While supporting Uncle Lei''s body, he took a quick look around the area. Twenty bodies could be seen strewn everywhere around the river, all wearing the same clothing and red armor from the assassin that attacked him.


    Grabbing hold of Uncle Lei’s right shoulder, Long Tianyu carried him, trying to get far away from the slaughter by the river. Before he could even take his fifth step, the glint of a blade in the forest''s darkness ahead of him flew at his head.


    Twisting his head sideward, he barely dodged the sword. If he had been a second slower, the sword would have pierced his head.


    Quickly moving his body again Long Tianyu still holding onto Uncle Lei turned around only to be met with countless yaksha masks in the darkness of the forest.


    After a few seconds went by, the same figures walked out of the darkness surrounding Long Tianyu and Uncle Lei, all of them wielding a different weapon.


    Before they could attack, Uncle Lei quickly pulled out a talisman from his storage ring and threw it in the air. From the golden talisman, a transparent bubble formed around them repelling the oncoming arrows.


    Before Long Tianyu could let out a breath of relief, a mountainous pressure locked onto him and the bubble. Withstanding the pressure he could barely keep his body up, it felt like thousands of Jin were placed on his body.


    As the sun began to disappear on the horizon a deep voice could be heard coming from the tree line “Impressive for a mere ant to resist my pressure for so long too bad I''m done playing now “


    Barely lifting his head Long Tianyu looked at the voice. A man wearing the same armor and clothing except instead of a red shoulder armor piece, it was black with a red two-horned serpent symbol on it.


    As the man spoke cracks began to form on the bubble and the talisman started to waver in the air. As more cracks appeared, Uncle Lei’s weak voice called out to Long Tianyu “Tianyu put me on the ground I must tell you something”


    As they sat facing each other Uncle Lei weakly smiled “Tianyu in all of my life I have not married and could not get a child of my own, I have dedicated all of my time to serving the clan. As I saw you grow up I couldn’t be happier to see you turning into a man worthy of the name Long, a true dragon. Although I''m not your father I have always considered you as my son. Remember Tianyu you are the proud son of the Long Clan, the first to inherit the seat as patriarch”


    Reaching into his robe Uncle Lei grabbed an elongated pendant and opened his palm showing it to Long Tianyu “Tianyu, I was a nameless orphan on the street struggling every day wondering when I would survive until my next meal. It was your father that took me in and gave me the name Lei Jiahao. When you get back to the clan tell your father that servant Lei failed his mission and put the young master in danger.”


    As more and more cracks appeared on the bubble Uncle Lei placed the pendant in Long Tianyu’s palm before he could utter a word another golden talisman appeared in Uncle Lei’s hand glowing a bright gold color.


    Seeing the talisman the man shouted “Noooooo, you useless pawns, help me burst this bubble before they get away’’


    As the rest of the assassins began hacking away at the bubble, Uncle Lei made a slashing motion with the talisman in the space to his right. As his arm moved a white qi blade sliced in between the space opening a gray rift large enough to fit just one person.


    With his dantian empty Uncle Lei could only use a secret method to use his life essence to keep the rift open.


    “Uncle Lei we can escape together” Long Tianyu desperately shouted as he saw the strange rift.


    “Tianyu I can''t, I have to hold the rift open and besides someone has to hold them back, now go!!!’’


    Before Long Tianyu could open his mouth and retaliate, Uncle Lei threw Long Tianyu into the rift. Inside the rift Long Tianyu looked back only to see Uncle Lei’s body disintegrate into dust before the rift closed leaving him inside this strange world.


    Observing around him he could see that it was the same world, but everything here was coated with a light gray color and occasionally a black line would fly by his head and sometimes a red one or sometimes a different color would appear around him.


    As he kept flying somewhere unknown Long Tianyu''s eyelids felt heavier and heavier until he closed his eyes. Floating in this unknown world he began to feel the strange space here. He could feel the wind, yet it was not touching his skin.


    Long Tianyu began to understand something mysterious as if this place was a world in between the real world, the same yet so different.


    In this state of comprehension, Long Tianyu''s body naturally sat upright in a lotus position. His body took deep and long breaths. As he slowly unraveled the mysteries of this other space, he felt the world sometimes pull and stretch or get close or extremely far away.


    Long Tianyu in this state didn’t notice that he was out of the void and back in the world. As soon as his body appeared inside a cave big enough to fit 5 people a strong force inside his body began greedily absorbing the qi around the area scaring away small animals.


    While Long Tianyu was in his cultivation, time passed, and it was soon daytime as the sun rose in the sky. After an hour, the sunlight pierced the tree leaves and shone on the side off a giant rocky hill.


    Hearing the chirping of birds and warm light from the hole in the roof shining down on his face, Long Tianyu opened his eyes and immediately held his hands in front of him in a defensive position. Observing the surroundings to see if there is any sign of the assassins from last night.


    After waiting for a few more minutes and still seeing no signs, Long Tianyu relaxed his body but kept his senses on alert. Sitting back down in a lotus position, he examined his body for any injuries, only to notice that he had somehow entered the sixth step in the body tempering stage.


    Taking a closer look he could see qi overflowing in every one of his 12 main meridians including the 361 acupoints. As qi flowed through the acupoints in his body they shined like stars inside his body.


    Standing up he took a deep breath and opened his palm still holding onto the pendant with the name engraved on it, “Lei Jiahao, Uncle Lei don’t worry I will avenge you and I will not stop until I perish, or they die that is a promise” at the end of his words tears fell like a stream down his face. After a while, he wiped away the tears and tucked the pendant back inside his inner robes.


    After kowtowing three times, Long Tianyu stood up and walked to a nearby wall. As he stared at the rough and gray wall, he began punching at it with all his might, ensuring that his bones would crack determined to become stronger and avenge Uncle Lei.