《Yin And Yang》


 Prologue: Descending

    Yin and Yang, the symbol that every plane of existence manifests. It is recognized as the fine line between man and woman. Some says it represent good and evil or even creation and destruction. In truth, the Yin and Yang has been a mystery that people ponder at over and over again. They wish to seek the dao that it carries, the power that it creates, the enlightenment that it bears.


    On a fine day in the northern region of the Zabu continent, a ray of light shot down in one of Zabu¡¯s greater forests. Inside the ray of light was a baby, no.. it was a cub. A panda cub with an exquisite black and white pattern. The newly born cub slowly descended and in a matter of time, it would land softly on the ground. As the cub landed, the ray of light started to disappear. Before it completely disappeared, a man¡¯s voice was heard, ¡°Live well my son, you are not able to bear the responsibilities our family currently has. If fate wills it, we will meet again.¡± The voice was very soft and caring. The cub felt warmth flow through him as it slowly fell asleep. Even from such a distance, the cub still felt his father¡¯s affection. The affection of a father was to not be underestimated!


    The voice suddenly shifted its direction to the left of the cub. ¡°Sir bear hiding over there, please take care of my son.¡± After feeling that the voice was gone, a colossal bear came out of the thick forest. It looked up towards the sky. Fear could be seen in its eyes.


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    The giant bear reluctantly walked towards the cub after a while. As the bear got closer, it started to shrink. When the bear finally reached the cub, ¡°it¡± was no longer a bear but a human.  The turned  bear was in the appearance of a  burly man.  He looked at the  cub for a second, then reached out to pick the cub up.  Before his hand reached the cub, a dark smoke arose from underneath the cub. The  smoke showed a human baby as it disappeared.


    Much surprise could be seen in the burly man¡¯s eyes. He looked up to the sky once more before looking down towards the baby again. His face showed a complex expression, as if he was in a difficult situation. He shook his head and returned to the action of picking up the baby.


    His hands held the baby delicately, as if the baby was a fragile treasure. He held the baby near his chest to share his warmth with it. Then, in a blink of an eye, they disappeared.

 Chapter 1: The Bear and Panda

    Inside a cave of the Great Boa forest, there sat 2 figures. One of the figures reached an astonishing height of 2.2 meters. The other figure seemed like an ant in comparison.


    The giant figure was the colossal bear who had turned into a burly man. The other was of course the figure of the Panda cub, who had turned into a human baby. They stared at each other for awhile before the baby started to suddenly cry.


    ¡°Uwaaaa! Uwaaaa!¡±


    The burly man suddenly panicked, it was obvious that he had never taken care of a child before. He, the great ruler of the Boa forest would have never thought that he would be suddenly pushed into taking care of a baby.


    Boa is a Giant Tremor Bear, he grew up as an elite in the ¡°Boa¡± forest. He was meant to be the king of this forest. After defeating his father, Boa was finally recognized as the new king of the forest. Thus, the new king of the forest named it after himself, But this was all in the past. How could he have known that because of their ridiculous tradition, the Giant Tremor Bears would nearly go extinct. This lead to him being the last of his kind for the past 5 thousand years. In the past, Boa had sought out to bring up his species to prominence once again. But the bloodline of the Giant Tremor Bear was too powerful for other bears to contain. This made childbirth impossible for other bears who had received his seed. Boa gave up after 3 thousand years of giving his seed to many other bears.


    Now that Boa was tasked with taking care of a baby, he was absolutely in a dilemma. A thought suddenly popped up in his mind and he stood after picking up the baby. He quickly rushed out of the cave with the baby cradled in his arms.


    They soon arrived at a prairie that was within the outskirts of the great Boa forest.


    The prairie was brimming with life. It contained cows, goats, chickens, and many other livestock animals. Boa quickly took one of the goats and subdued it. He took the crying baby in his arms and shoved it¡¯s mouth into the nipples of the goat.


    The crying stopped immediately as the baby started sucking. Delight and satisfaction could be seen on both the man and baby¡¯s face.


    The baby burped loudly as he finished his meal. Boa noticed and lightly laughed. He held the baby up towards the sky. The setting sun was overshadowed by the baby¡¯s figure.


    ¡°Since I have already taken you under my care, you will now officially be my adopted son. Under this setting sun, under the heavens, and with the help of fate, I swear on my name and honor that I will take care of you. June.. Your name shall be June from now on. If fate wills it, may your name guide you to be a joyful person.¡±


    Boa¡¯s gruff voice scared June but when he heard his name, he laughed with joy.


    ¡°June! June! June!¡± Boa called out June¡¯s name playfully while throwing him up into the air to only catch him as he came down.


    June laughed while he was being played with. Boa smiled and caught June one last time. The sun had already set and the red sky from before was now replaced with a sky full of stars. It was already time to head back to the cave. Boa held June in his arms once again and after confirming the baby¡¯s safety, Boa started to move.


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    In the blink of an eye, they reappeared in the cave that they were in before. Boa played with June again until he fell asleep. After carefully placing June on his chest, he slowly fell asleep too.


    Slowly but surely, June had grown with time. On the sixth month, June had begun to crawl. Boa was very delighted when he saw June¡¯s progress.


    Only after a day since June had begun to crawl, an anomaly occurred. It was when June was trying to become more efficient at crawling. Boa was laughing as he watching June struggle. It was only a few seconds but the white and dark lights that emitted from June¡¯s body made Boa cautious. He noticed that there were more white lights than dark lights but it wasn¡¯t the time to dawdle. Boa quickly appeared next to June as soon as the lights had shown.


    He quickly picked up June and inspected the boy¡¯s body but to his comfort, he had found nothing wrong. He sighed in relief as he let June down to crawl again. If something had happened to June without him knowing, he would have died with shame.


    June had begun to walk in another six months. The lights had shown themselves once again, but this time, it was different. After the lights had disappeared, June transformed back into a panda.


    During June¡¯s time as a panda, the surface of his chest had created a mark. It was a circle that had formed in the middle of his chest. The top half side was a dark line while the bottom half side was white.


    When the mark was finished, June returned back to being a human. Boa was watching all of this occur on the side with amazement in his eyes. He had deemed that the process of June emitting white and black light was nothing harmful so he had stood on the side and watched.


    When June had suddenly turned back to a panda he almost checked June again for any problems but he stopped himself. Something was telling him that this was not dangerous.


    Boa thought back to the time when he first met June. He was going for a walk and he found a panda cub who had descended with a ray of light. He was intrigued at this baby panda who had descended from the sky.


    He had already known about different planes, so he suspected that the panda cub had came from a different plane of existence. As a cultivator, he knew that one day he would ascend to a higher plane too. In this world, Boa was the peak of what a cultivator could achieve before ascending.


    The time of his ascension would be soon, so before that, he wanted to take care of June and make sure that June would survive without many problems.


    He looked at the sleeping June who had just finished his transformation to human form and then looked outside towards the starry sky.


    ¡°Maybe it was fate that I had met him that day. I had wished to be a father and raise my own child long ago. Although it isn¡¯t exactly the same, what more can I wish for when I am close to ascending.¡±


    After a moment of silence, Boa walked back towards June and laid down beside him. His eyes feeling heavy as he went into a deep sleep.

 Chapter 2: Humans and their candies

    The days passed peacefully. When June was 18 months old, the black and white lights came back. It was the time that he had started to talk.


    Rather than worrying about the black and white lights, Boa celebrated June¡¯s first word instead. June¡¯s first word, ¡°tree¡± made Boa feel quite sad because he wanted June to say ¡°father.¡±


    Boa thought that it was quite understandable that June had said, ¡°tree¡± for his word because he had only been living in the forest ever since he descended.


    June spit out another after a few days. The word that he had spit out was ¡°father.¡±


    This made Boa shiver with satisfaction. In those few days, Boa kept repeating the word ¡°father¡± to June in hopes of him saying it.


    Every Night he would relentlessly say ¡°father¡± next to June¡¯s ear while he was sleeping. It was an addiction for Boa, he had never known that raising a child would be so satisfying.


    ¡°I wish I had started to raise children earlier, too bad my bloodline¡­ ah¡±


    Boa silently lamented because his bloodline was truly a curse to him. He looked towards June running around and smiled.


    ¡°June, come here, I have something for you.¡± said Boa.


    ¡°Father! Father!¡± exclaimed June happily as he ran towards Boa. He jumped at Boa with laughter. Boa caught him and gave him a big, warm hug. After their hug, he put June down.


    ¡°June, I have a treat for you.¡± Boa pulled out a colorful object and gave it to June. The


    object was candy, earlier that day, Boa had gone out to a Human kingdom after putting June to sleep.


    June looked at the candy on his hands then curiously asked, ¡°What? What?¡±


    His limit towards talking made him adorable. Boa laughed, ¡° It is called candy. It¡¯s very delicious, eat it.¡±  June looked at the candy in his hands, ¡°candy?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yes, you should eat it.¡± said Boa. June put the candy in his mouth. ¡°Yum!¡± shouted June as he sucked on the candy. ¡°More please,¡± he asked Boa.


    ¡°Haha, sorry June, but that is all the candy I have on me. You should come with me when I go to buy more next time.¡± This was Boa¡¯s tactic to get June interested in Human settlements. ¡°Ok!¡± June shouted excitedly, the more candy there was, the happier he would be.


    One way or another, Boa was going to leave June. When that time came, he wanted June to have enough knowledge and power to survive by himself.  The cultivation world was a very harsh place that didn¡¯t allow weaklings.


    People would kill others for their treasures, resources, or even for fun. Once a person entered the cultivation world, their life would be filled with death.


    It was even worse for Mystical beasts of the wild who cultivated. Beasts are more violent in nature, so there was no mercy in how they handled their problems. Boa thought that June would have a better life in human settlements since humans weren¡¯t as violent as beasts, so he decided to make June learn more about humans.


    Another six months has passed since June had his first taste of candy. He was now two years old and he grew to be two and a half feet tall.


    The occurrence of the black and white light happened again. By now, Boa had guess that the black and white lights would show up every six months.


    Nothing much had happened during the past six months. Boa had decided to take June to the human settlements once he had turned Six.


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    A person would be able to cultivate once they had turned six. It wasn¡¯t that they weren¡¯t able to cultivate when they aren¡¯t six, but it was because of the Elemental affinity.


    One¡¯s element would naturally awaken once they were six. No one knew why this happens, but it wasn¡¯t question because it was normal for them. Maybe it was questioned by early intelligent life but now it was a norm that everyone had accepted.


    If a person cultivated before they awakened their element, it would prove to be disastrous for their body. The world Qi that they had cultivated would clash with the newly introduced elemental Qi.


    This would cause the dantian to erupt and break. Other than excruciating pain, they would never be able to cultivate ever again. The only way to stop the elemental Qi and World Qi from colliding was to never cultivate in Elemental Qi.


    Although one would be ahead of others in cultivation, they would lose the enormous benefits that came from Elemental Qi.


    The only way to find out about a person¡¯s element was to have a special item. It was called ¡°Elemental Jade Stone¡± and it was created from cultivators. Normally every cultivator with an element could create a downgraded version of the Elemental Jade Stone. If an Earth element cultivator created a Jade Stone, it would be called an Earth Jade stone.


    The Elemental Jade Stone was created by many cultivators of different elements combined together. Every human country would have an Elemental Jade Stone that would be opened every year on the third day of the third month.


    Boa wasn¡¯t impatient, he wanted to spend more father and son time with June before training him.


    ---------


    In the blink of an eye, another four years had passed by. As usual, in every six months, June would be enveloped in black and white lights. Boa was used to it by now.


    Other than the lights, June had grown considerably. He had now reached 4.2 feet in height. Although he had grown in height, it was not his most considerable growth.


    What  grew the most was June¡¯s knowledge. His speaking skills were much better than the skills he had when he was two. He had also learned reading and writing skills.  It was not up to par with Boa¡¯s expectations, but June¡¯s reading and writing skills were slightly better than the normal six year olds.


    It was said that a child¡¯s morals or ideals were decided when they are five or six. The ones who taught them morals and ideals were naturally their parents.


    In June¡¯s case, Boa had not only taught him read and writing skills but he had also taught June his own morals and beliefs. Because of this, June was certainly different from other kids. He wasn¡¯t smart nor creative, but he had his own trait that made him unique.


    Although June was learning a lot, he was also living the most carefree moment of his life.  He would run around in the forest and cause mischief to other Mystical beasts. The mystical beasts had to endure it since June had the backing of Boa.


    Boa was planning to go to the Human settlements with June. Now that June was six, he had to test for his affinity. Of course, it was also a new experience to June.

 Chapter 3: Human Kingdom

    The Kingdom of Vern was a human settlement that had ten thousand years of history. Vern was the main power in the northern region of Zabu. The kingdom had a job of watching the Boa Forest, therefore it needed great strength.


    The humans in the Zabu continent were scared of demonic beasts. Once in awhile, a powerful demonic beast would show up and attack the human settlements for their treasures.


    Demonic Beasts and Mystical beasts are considered to be very different. Mystical beasts have the ability to cultivate, while the Demonic beast rely on natural resources to get stronger. Usually the strength of a demonic beast would be predetermined but with the help of natural resources, they can evolve and become stronger.


    Demonic beasts were ranked from one, being the lowest to nine, being the highest. After they surpassed the rank of nine, they would gain a humanoid form. From that point on, they would be considered as devils.


    Mystical beasts on the other hand were ranked by their bloodline. The lowest bloodline would be called the Low level bloodline. After the low level bloodline was middle level bloodline. After that would be the high level bloodline and then finally, the highest bloodline would be called the supreme bloodline.


    As a mystical beast reaches the later stages of cultivation, they would be able to turn into humans. Unlike demonic beasts, Mystical beasts were civilized so human kingdoms had no problem with mystical beasts living together with them.


    Boa, per example is a mystical beast that has reached the peak of mortal cultivation. As a Giant Tremor Bear, he would be considered as a high level mystical beast.


    When June had descended in front of him, Boa guessed that June was a middle level mystical beast at minimum.  Too him, who was inexperience with the upper planes, the human form of a mystical beasts before they reached a certain the certain amount of cultivation was unheard of.


    It was one of the reasons why he had decided to take June in. Pure curiosity had gotten the better of him but he did not regret it because June had brought a great amount of joy into his life for the past six years.


    ----------------------------------


    -The kingdom of Vern-


    After two week of adventuring, the father and son duo had reached the gates of Vern. Boa could have gotten there with June in a few minutes of casual flying but this journey was to let June experience new things.


    Boa knew that June''s behavior and attitude  as a six year old was abnormal because he had only once left the surrounding area of the Cave before. But that one time was when he was just an infant so, Boa thought that it would be a good idea to take some time and widen June''s experience.


    On their way there, the two had met bandits. With the quick wave of his hands, Boa had turned the bandits into a pile of meat.


    When June saw the bandits getting killed that quickly, he wrinkled his nose, ¡°Weak¡± he said while being disappointed. It was his first time seeing people other than Boa.


    He was excited to see a good fight between fellow men. He thought that he would be able to watch the fight like how he watched demonic beasts fight in the inner areas of the forest of which were around the cave.


    Sadly for him, the bandits had died too fast for any entertainment.  Boa sighed when he saw June being disappointed.  Normally, when a child saw someone die they would wail and cry, but June was disappointed that there wasn¡¯t more action.


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    With June in his arms, Boa walked towards the gate of the kingdom. After seeing his identity card, the guards let them in without any hesitation.


    June was in a dazed state as they walked in. Unlike the quiet environment around the cave, the streets of Vern were bustling and loud as people carried on their normal lives.


    ¡°Many people!¡± June exclaimed excitedly. It was his second time seeing humans. This time, there was no killing intent or blood. Instead, it was a peaceful atmosphere that made June feel comfortable.


    Boa looked at June, smiled, then explained, ¡°Humans are interesting creatures, unlike us, the mystical beasts, they thrive around each other. Compared to them, we mystical beasts are too solitary.¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡± June nodded in interest. ¡°Humans are interesting¡± he exclaimed.


    ¡°Very!¡± laughed Boa as he started walking towards the center of Vern. ¡°Where are we going father?¡± June asked curiously. ¡°we¡¯re going to Vern¡¯s Jade palace¡± replied Boa.


    ¡°Vern? Jade palace?¡± questioned June.


    ¡°Vern is the Kingdom¡¯s name and the Jade palace is the place where the Elemental Jade is kept. Every human kingdom has one,¡± explained Boa.


    On their way to the Jade palace, June saw many things that interested him. Exquisite clothing, toys, houses, everything new intrigued him.


    ¡°Father,¡± called June as he tugged on Boa¡¯s shirt. ¡°Hm, What is it June?¡± asked Boa.


    ¡°What are those shiny round things that the humans keep giving to each other¡± June asked.


    ¡°Oh, that''s money, you can buy many things with it¡± explained Boa. Suddenly Boa had a great idea pop up into his mind. He started walking towards one of the stands that sold food on the side of the road.


    ¡°Dear customer, what would you like?¡± asked the stand owner with a smile on his face.


    ¡°Can you give me some of your best quality candies¡± asked Boa. ¡°Wao! Candy!¡± exclaimed June as a sliver of saliva started to come out of his mouth.


    The stand owner was startled at June¡¯s shout but laughed afterwards. He knew that children loved candy and it seemed like the one in front of him especially liked it.


    After rummaging through one of his drawers, he took out a bag of pink colored candies and placed it on the counter. ¡°That¡¯d be 20 gold¡± he said with a smile.


    Gold coins suddenly appeared on Boa¡¯s hands. The stand owner was surprised once again. ¡®An aristocrat?¡¯ he asked himself in his head. ¡®Only aristocrats have storage rings, he must be one¡¯ thought the owner.


    ¡°Here June, place it on the counter¡± said Boa as he stuck out his hand which was full of gold.


    June quickly took the coins and placed them on the counter. Because of the candy, he was too excited. After placing the coins on the counter, June took the bag of candies with a swipe of his hands. ¡°Money is very useful!¡± said June as he looked at the bag of candies in his hand. His actions made the owner and Boa laugh.


    The pair continued towards the Jade palace. One held a the other, while the other held a bag of candies with a face full of ecstasy as he sucked on one of them. ¡°Yum!¡± the other exclaimed.

 Chapter 4: Shining Jade!

    Looking at it, the Jade palace was huge and glamorous. The Elemental Jade stone was held inside. It held a lot of cultivators as guards because of the Elemental Jade stone.


    There was a room deep inside the Jade palace, it wasn¡¯t an ordinary room where anyone could enter. It was the head protector¡¯s room of whom everyone had a strong amount of respect for because of his strong cultivation.


    The head cultivator was the strongest cultivator known in Vern. He was also known as the headmaster of the Jade school. The Jade school was a school where young cultivators went to for guidance in the path of cultivation.


    Like many other schools, the Jade school had a certain range of talented cultivators to accept. They only accepted the most talented young cultivators because of the headmaster¡¯s greediness. Commoner, aristocrat, or mystical beasts, he accepted them all, only on the basis that they had incredible talent.


    The headmaster was currently handling business papers based on the matters of the     Jade school. A sudden voice made the headmaster jump in surprise, ¡° Jackol, come greet me.¡±


    Jackol turned around and saw a burly man holding a child. He immediately recognized the burly man and shouted, ¡°Milord Boa¡± as he kneeled.


    As an Earth cultivator, it was incredibly easy for Boa to transverse through the earth. The only problem was June,  whom he casually wrapped in Earth Qi as he traveled.


    Since Boa was many times stronger than Jackol, it was natural that Jackol wouldn¡¯t have sensed Boa arriving.  After Jackol said his greetings, Boa nodded and told him to rise.


    At this time June¡¯s voice was heard, ¡° Father! let''s do that again!¡± he said laughingly.


    Jackol¡¯s eyes suddenly turned to the young kid with a immense amount of surprise. He knew that Boa had trouble with creating children, but now there was a child in front of him calling Boa father.


    ¡°Milord, this is?¡± Jackol asked as he looked at June. ¡°He is June, my son.¡± explained Boa. ¡°Although he is adopted¡± Boa¡¯s voice rang out in Jackol¡¯s head. With this explanation, Jackol confused state was cleared.


    ¡°Anyways, as the head protector you should be able to use the Element Jade stone anytime you want, right?¡± asked Boa.


    ¡°Certainly milord, I have access to the Elemental Jade stone anytime I want¡± said Jackol.


    ¡°Great!¡± Boa said as he let down June. ¡°June is in need of an affinity test. Lead the way to the Elemental Jade stone¡± said Boa with a serious expression.


    ¡°Aye, milord!¡± responded Jackol. ¡°June, come, let''s get your affinity tested¡± said Boa with a smile.  ¡°Mmk!¡± yelled June as he put down the book he had gotten from one of Jackol''s shelfs. June chased after Boa and like that, they arrived at the Elemental Jade stone¡¯s room.


    ¡°Wao! What a shiny stone!¡± exclaimed June as he run towards it. Boa held him back by the shirt and laughed, ¡°that''s the elemental jade stone¡± he said.


    Jackol smirked at the father and son duo, he had not seen Boa act this way before. It was quite funny to him. ¡°Although today is not the third day of the month, Milord can use it under my authority¡± said Jackol with pride.


    ¡°Thank you Jackol¡± thanked Boa. ¡°Nonsense Milord Boa! This one is forever grateful for what you have done for Vern! Such an act today cannot compensate for your help¡± said Jackol with reverence.


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    Jackol admired and idolized Boa because of what happened many centuries ago.  Jackol knew that without Boa¡¯s help, the kingdom of Vern would have been destroyed by demonic beasts. Although it was simply on a whim of circumstances for Boa since he was in the kingdom when the biggest hoard of beasts in years had attacked, it was not so simple for Jackol as a cultivator who thought that Vern, his home, would be taken down.


    In other circumstances, Boa would have naturally not cared but at that certain time, he was in Vern and the demonic beasts were annoying him so he took care of the problem.


    ¡°Alright, Alright, let¡¯s get this started¡± said Boa with a stern expression. In truth, he was nervous because it was his son¡¯s future in cultivation after all.


    ¡°Aye milord!¡¯ replied Jackol. ¡°Come here young lord June.¡± Jackol gestured June to come with him as he walked towards the elemental jade stone.


    June looked at his father. After getting a nod from Boa, he happily followed jackol without a care.


    ¡°Here young lord, touch the stone please¡± said Jackol as he held out the colorful jade stone in his hands.


    June looked at it in curiosity. He had heard about it from Boa but he has never seen it before. Because it was so shiny, it obviously incited June.


    June reach out with his small hands and touched the stone. Right as he touched it, two lights shone and illuminated the whole room. One side was a clear sky blue color while the other side was a pure red color.


    ¡°Milord! Your son has affinity for both fire and water! He has excellent talent in both of them!¡± yelled Jackol in shock. Dual elements weren¡¯t rare but, dual elements with the same amount of talent was indeed rare.


    ¡°A pity that the young lord has dual elements in fire and water though. He will not be able to fuse them together and gain the upper hand that dual element cultivators have¡± sighed Jackol.


    Boa nodded in disappointment, but he was also relieved because June had excellent talent. ¡°Thank you again Jackol¡± he said as he gave a letter to Jackol. ¡°Read it later¡± he whispered.


    Noticing Boa¡¯s serious expression, Jackol¡¯s expression also turned serious as he said, ¡°Aye, milord.¡±


    June happily ran up to Boa and asked, ¡°Father! Father! Can I cultivate now?¡±


    Boa looked at June with a smile and nodded. June clenched his fist in excitement. He had long admired the strength of his father and know that he could gain strength like that too made him shiver in excitement.


    Boa looked towards Jackol after confirming June¡¯s cultivation ability, ¡°We will now be heading back to the forest. Read the letter later¡± he said towards Jackol as he picked up June and disappeared underneath the ground.


    Before Jackol had a chance to say anything, Boa had already left. ¡°hm, I wanted to connect with the young lord more¡± he lamented. As a person who loved talented students, Jackol had wanted to gain June¡¯s favor. Alas, it was too late because Boa had already left with June.

 Chapter 5: Inheritance

    Because Boa was carrying June back to the cave, the trip was rather quick. They had arrived back at the cave before the sun went down. As they arrived back, the surrounding howls of beasts quieted down. The beasts knew that their boss had come back and none of them wanted to offend the boss.


    Boa put quickly put down June after they got back. ¡°Father, when will you teach me?¡± asked June as he was being put down.


    ¡°Teach what?¡± Boa teased. ¡°Teach me cultivation!¡± exclaimed June excitedly.


    Boa laughed at June¡¯s exclamation as he said, ¡°Ok, ok, sit down, we will begin now.¡±


    June sat down across from Boa obediently in anticipation. Boa looked at his son and smile. He then proceeded to explain, ¡°Cultivation requires a person to wholeheartedly embark their path. Whether it is a path of killing, love, vengeance, power, sword, fists, or peace, one cannot deviate. If they do deviate from their path, then their cultivation will come to a stop because their heart is not true to themselves. Do you understand?¡±


    ¡°Mhm!¡± replied June. Boa looked at June once again then closed his eyes as he started to explain more, ¡°A person can embark on as many paths as they want, but they should finish it to the end! Otherwise, like I¡¯ve said, their cultivation will be halted. When one starts to cultivate, they must start the path that they want to embark. June, think about the path you would want to go through.¡±


    June had his mouth agaped, ¡®A path I want to embark?¡¯ he thought. Minutes passed after June had begun to think about the path that he wanted to go on before he said,


    ¡°I want to walk on the path of power first!¡±


    Boa opened his eyes and looked at June then asked, ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°After seeing your power for the first time, I was mesmerized! I want to be like you father, I want to be powerful too!¡± exclaimed June.


    Boa laughed as he said, ¡°The path of power is a good starting choice. It is a path that connects to the path of killings, are you sure you want to embark it?¡±


    June nodded his head. As a child from the forest, he had seen many beasts kill for food, territory, or even for fun. Killing was not scary for him.


    ¡°Good and decisive! The path of power is also endless! As cultivators, everyone of us walks on the path of power at some point. Come, let us start your cultivation.¡± said Boa.


    June hurriedly skid his butt towards Boa in excitement. When he got close enough, Boa stopped him.


    Boa placed his hand on June''s head then chanted, "Inheritor and the inheritance shall combine to awaken. AWAKEN! INHERITANCE!"


    A golden light fell on June''s body and images started to pop up in his head. They were blurry images that seemed to be sealed. June concentrated in the images in amazement when suddenly a book popped up. Unlike the other images, it was not blurry. On the cover it had the words " Heavenly YingYang Panda" and "Inheritance" which were below the first few words.


    ¡°Father! Father! A book popped up in my mind!¡± yelled June excitedly as he inspected the book. June opened his eyes but before he could say more words, he saw that Boa was sweating from head to toe. With a worried look on his face, June went up to Boa and started blowing wind towards him as if he thought that Boa was sweating because of the heat.


    Boa huffed and puffed, he laughed painfully as he said, ¡°Your bloodline is truly strong. If my bloodline was a bit lower, I would have died.¡±


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    June was shocked at this statement. ¡®Father would have died because of me. How?!¡¯ he thought to himself.


    Boa laughed, ¡°No worries, I haven¡¯t died yet have I?¡±


    ¡°Now, what just happened was your inheritance awakening. As mystical beasts of high bloodline, we naturally have inheritance but it can only be awoken by other mystical beasts whom have a high enough bloodline. The book that you saw is the first gift in your inheritance. It is a cultivation manual that you will follow. Now, let me rest as you cultivate¡± explained Boa as he started to meditate.


    After he saw Boa meditating and recovering, June checked his mind once again. He found the book again, but this time, he opened it.


    The first page of the book held a picture of the a symbol. June was surprised when he looked at the symbol because it was the same symbol that was on his chest.


    He hurriedly flipped the page after he deducted that the symbol was useless to him. Unfortunately, his knowledge of the Yin and Yang symbol was close to none. Other than the symbol on his chest, he did not know anything about the Yin and Yang symbol.


    The second page held words that made June very excited as he read them.


    ¡°As Heavenly YinYang Pandas, we strive for balance, the perfect balance. Holding true to our path of balance is the Yin and Yang symbol.¡±


    ¡®Is that what the symbol is called?¡¯ June suddenly asked himself.


    ¡°Many people also strive for balance, but they will never be reach the heights that our Heavenly YinYang Panda clan can. As Heavenly YinYang Pandas, we naturally have an possess both Yin and Yang regardless of gender. Although males will have more Yang than Yin and females will have more Yin than Yang, we nonetheless have both Yin and Yang in our bodies.¡±


    ¡° Seek the truths in the mysteries of the Yin and Yang symbol and reach the perfect balance. That is what we cultivate for! Let the path of balance be your main path. Let the light combine with the darkness, the everlasting flames combine with the calm water, the cold wind fuse with the sturdy earth!¡±


    ¡° Before cultivating, as a descendant of the Heavenly YinYang Pandas, you must remember to follow the path of Balance!¡±


    ¡®A descendant of the heavenly YinYang panda? Is that what I am?¡¯ June asked himself.


    He had known for a long time that he was different from Boa based on his beast appearance. Although he knew that Boa wasn¡¯t his real father, he still thought of Boa as a father because he knew that Boa was the one who took care of him, real father or not.


    ¡®The path of balance.. does this mean that I will have to throw away the path of power? No.. Father said that we can have many paths to take. If it is the path of balance I must take first to cultivate then I am more than willing¡¯ he thought to himself as he kept reading on.


    ¡° To start cultivating, you must first create a Yin and Yang symbol below you. Every YinYang Panda will have two elements that will oppose each other. You must draw the Yin and Yang symbol that is made of those elements.¡±


    June made a sour face. Create a Yin and Yang symbol made out of his elements? ¡®Isn¡¯t this too hard for a start?¡¯ complained June.

 Chapter 6: Cultivating!

    Although June thought that it was a troublesome task, he racked his brain for an idea.


    A few minutes later, June stood up and went towards the exhausted Boa and asked shyly, ¡°Father.. Can I have some water?¡±


    Boa stopped his meditation and asked, ¡°What for?¡± June shyly smiled, ¡°Cultivation! Can you create a fire for me too please?¡±


    Boa sighed as he stood up because he did not feel well. A jug of water instantly appeared on his hands. He gave the water to June and then walk towards the spot June was at earlier. He then proceeded to create a small fire with some dry wood.


    After he finished his task, Boa went back to meditating. Sweat was still permeating from his body. Clearly, something was wrong, but June hadn¡¯t noticed as he was occupied with cultivation.


    June looked at the picture of the symbol on the first page. He guessed that it was the symbol he had to draw. With a 5 cm stick, he began to draw the Yin and Yang symbol. When he didn¡¯t remember the symbol, he would look at it again and continue to draw.


    An hour passed quickly. June had finished drawing the Yin and Yang symbol on the ground but he was sweating profusely. ¡®Drawing this symbol was too exhausting. It¡¯s just a drawing.. why did it make me so tired?¡¯ June thought.


    Even if he was very tired physically, his spirit was still active and excited because of the thought of being able to cultivate. June pushed his exhausted body to the fire and began to spread it on the south side of the Yin and Yang symbol. Next, he poured the water in the jug on the north side.


    The two elements formed the Yin and Yang symbol. After being formed, the element¡¯s physical forms disappeared. June was surprised, the elements had suddenly turned into spiritual forms. The bottom side was a dark red, while the north side was a sky blue color. Together, they made a blue and red Yin and Yang symbol.


    June took a step back at first, but then stepped back into the symbol and sat down.


    He read the next passage of the book in his head once again for the next steps.


    ¡°When the symbol is completed, it will turn into a spiritual form of Qi. Sit down in the middle and start concentrating on absorbing the elemental Qi that the symbol gives. Before absorbing, you must remember the path of balance! To absorb, you must feel the threads of Qi emitting from the symbol and world. Inhale the threads of Qi and circulate them towards your dantian.¡±


    June excitedly closed his eyes to meditate. After a few minutes, he had finally felt the threads of Qi.


    ¡°To circulate Qi, you must let them flow through your meridians. You have twelve major meridians! Six from Yang and Six from Yin. The six Yang meridians; The stomach, small intestine, Bladder, Gall Bladder, Triple warmer, and the large intestines. The six Yin meridians: The heart, spleen, pericardium, lung, liver, and the kidney.¡±


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    June¡¯s head started to hurt. ¡®Spleen? Pericardium? Gall Bladder? Small and large intestines? Kidney? What are those?¡¯ he asked himself.


    Of course, as a six year old, June¡¯s knowledge of the body was limited. Luckily for him, what he read next were about parts that he knew of. Although it was basic knowledge, at least he knew of them.


    ¡°First, start with your heart! As a Yin meridian, the heart associates with water, wind, and darkness. Control the threads of Yin elemental Qi towards the heart. Next, hold the Qi in your heart and start moving the other Elemental Qi towards your stomach.¡±


    The threads of water QI started to move towards June¡¯s chest with his will. After the Qi encompassed the heart, June felt a cold but soothing sensation in his mind and body. When the Qi was absorbed by his heart, June felt a change. An emotional change.


    June was very nervous and excited before his heart absorbed the water Qi. After the absorption, June turned calm, a profound calm that he himself couldn¡¯t understand.


    The past June would have been very surprised but the June now was very calm as he started the next step.


    ¡°The stomach is a Yang meridian. The Yang meridians associate with Fire, Earth, and Light. Do the same process as you did with your heart meridian.¡±


    June followed what the book said and repeated the process. This time, he moved the Fire Qi thread towards the stomach. The Fire Qi entered his body and encompassed his stomach. A warm feeling sprouted from his lower half of the body. When the Fire Qi entered, June suddenly felt very hungry.


    He wrinkled his eyebrows in pain as the hunger was unbearable as he called out in a weak voice, ¡°Father..¡±


    Boa quickly opened his eyes as he woke up from the state of meditation from June¡¯s voice. ¡°Food..¡± June called out weakly. Although Boa was exhausted, he went towards June. With a wave of his hand, many plates of well preserved food appeared. Boa worriedly fed June. Boa didn¡¯t know what kind of cultivation technique was passed down to June so when he saw June in such a weak state, he was very worried. This was why Boa fed June food, despite being exhausted.


    Boa stared at June in shock as the food in his hands kept disappearing. ¡®Is his stomach and endless pit or what?¡¯ he thought to himself.


    June¡¯s hunger was relieved after eating half of the food in Boa¡¯s storage ring. Half of the food in Boa¡¯s storage ring was three months worth of food and a six year old ate it all. This was truly surprising to Boa because he had never seen this happen before.


    June burped in satisfaction as he went back to cultivating. ¡°Thanks father!¡± he said as his eyes closed. Boa nodded his head as he went back to meditating.


    (I do know that the Heart is actually connected with the Fire element but I have my own plans for it being connected to  the water element.)

 Chapter 7: Emotions

    Time passed slowly for the father and son duo. The full moon was settled into the starry sky long ago. By now, June had already finished absorbing fire Qi into his stomach meridian. The hunger that he had before was now long gone and replaced with a comfortable warm feeling.


    June read the next passage slowly in his head, ¡°After you finish absorbing your Elemental Qi into your meridians, slowly guide the Qi towards your dantian. When the Qi reaches your dantian, you should create a Yin and Yang symbol with them.¡±


    June did exactly what the book in his head told him to. The water Qi from his heart slowly slid towards his dantian. As it did that, a rush of emotions filled him. The profound calmness that June had after absorbing water Qi into his heart had disappeared and was now replaced with a mixture of feelings that were hard to describe.


    At the same time that the water Qi started moving, the fire Qi followed and moved upwards towards the dantian. The fiery warm feeling on his lower part of the body also disappeared.


    June did not have time to collect his thoughts as he was fully concentrated on moving the two Qi towards his dantian. When the water and fire Qi arrived at the dantian, the water Qi moved towards the upper side and the fire went the opposite direction.


    In short, they had formed a Yin and Yang symbol by themselves. This had caught June off guard because he had thought that he would be the one that had to make the symbol.


    ¡®That must be the reason¡¯ June thought as he saw a black and white dot in the middle of his dantian. It was barely visible but when June saw it, he had deducted that the black and white dot was the reason why the fire and water yin and Yang symbol formed without his will.


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    June breathed a sigh of relief as a surge of excitement rushed into his body. With Qi in his dantian, he was now a true cultivator. Although he was curious about the black and white dot, he did not mind it too much. This was because it had helped him greatly. ¡®If anything, I will check it later¡¯ he thought happily.


    June tried to calm himself but his body was still trembling with excitement. He continued to read the book, ¡° With Qi in your dantian, you can now be considered as a cultivator. Normally, when cultivators start out, they would be in the spirit condensing stage. It is called the spirit condensing stage because you use your will, otherwise known as your spirit to move the elemental Qi in and out your body. Since we, the Yin and Yang pandas, Cultivate differently, we naturally have different stage names. The first stage for us is the Spirit and Matter stage. It is comparable to the spirit condensing stage for normal cultivators but we have benefits that differ from them.¡±


    June heard a loud grunt from Boa before he could continue to read the book. June opened his eyes and look towards Boa. Boa¡¯s body was now all clean and bright. It had seemed as if he had recovered from his previous condition of sweating profusely. A sad smile was shown on Boa¡¯s face as he looked towards June.

 Chapter 7: Emotions (Part 2)

    Sorry for not updating in the longest time... I''ve been busy with school but there was also a lack of motivation. Therefore... I really don''t want to make excuses even though I just made one. T-T


    I will try to continue updating like before.  Hopefully, you guys can enjoy whats to come.  :)


    <hr />


    ¡°June¡­¡± Boa called out slowly. ¡°Father! Are you alright now?¡± June asked happily.


    ¡°I am able to cultivate now!¡± June shouted excitedly before Boa could answer. ¡°I see, that is good¡± said Boa with a relieved face.


    The vibe coming from Boa made June uncomfortable. ¡®Father should be happier than this¡¯ thought June. ¡°What''s wrong father?¡± he asked Boa. After hearing this question, Boa¡¯s mood turned gloomy. ¡°I¡¯m sorry June. My time has come¡± he said with a sad and longing voice.


    ¡°What do you mean father?¡± June asked in confusion. ¡°It¡¯s my time to ascend¡± said Boa. ¡°Ascend? I thought you said you had time!¡± shouted June in disbelief. Boa had already told Boa about his current situation with ascending and whatnot. He told June that he would still have many years till but now that this was not the case anymore, June felt like he was lied to.


    June was naturally unwilling to part with Boa but after knowing that Boa would stay for many years to come, June had thought that by the time he grew up, he would be able to say his farewells without any problems.


    ¡°I¡¯ve used too much of my spirit for your awakening. Your bloodline was too strong for me. I¡¯m sorry June¡± said Boa with a sad face. June looked at Boa¡¯s sad face and his heart tightened. ¡®Its my fault?¡¯ June face slowly contorted into one of fear and anger. The anger was towards himself.


    As soon as the wave of emotions hit, a cool feeling washed over him. He was now calm again, terribly so. The frosty water Qi in his heart became even more powerful. Boa was surprised, he had thought that June would make a tantrum and cause chaos.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong June?¡± Boa asked with a worried voice. ¡°Nothing¡± June said cooly. Boa didn¡¯t believe what June said so he check June¡¯s body. What he saw surprised him. Dense Yin Qi was surrounding June¡¯s heart.


    ¡°Maybe this is for the best..¡± Boa said. Like a talking doll, June replied, ¡°Maybe¡±


    With a sigh, Boa kneeled and touched June¡¯s forehead with his own. ¡°I can¡¯t stay for any longer.¡±


    June didn¡¯t speak. His blank face shook Boa¡¯s heart even if he knew that the water Qi was making June passive to all emotions. Boa stood up, ¡°Come, I¡¯ve long prepared for this day.¡±


    June followed quietly behind. They soon arrived outside and within a blind of an eye they disappeared. They reappeared at a clearing in the forest.


    ¡°This.. this is the place where I found you. You descended like an angel. A gift from the heavens indeed¡± said Boa with a hearty laugh. The trees around them trembled, as if they were crying. The grass and weeds on the ground swayed unceasingly. Finally, a ray of light descended.


    ¡°The time has come. Go north, follow the path I made¡± said Boa as the ray of light fell upon him. ¡°Goodbye¡­ my son¡± Boa¡¯s voice faded with his body. His voice echoed within June¡¯s head nonstop. A wave of emotions hit June as the water Qi disperse suddenly.


    This had happened because June¡¯s heart or any of his other organs could not handle any Qi without proper refinement for too long. There was also a limit to how much Qi organs would hold.


    The limit for June¡¯s heart had been reached so the water Qi that was in there slid down to his dantian. This had caused his cold demeanor to suddenly disappear. At the same time, his emotions surged.

 Chapter 8: Fate鈥檚 Will

    June felt like his heart was being constricted and the tears in his eyes couldn¡¯t stop flowing. He had trouble breathing and the searing headache made him feel faint. What he felt at that moment was indescribable.


    Maybe he felt lost, lonely, abandoned, and pain. June was alone just like that. The person who he called father had left to a place so far away that it was unknown. The person who he could go to for his problems or when he wanted to play was gone.


    He felt the desolation of the forest and in his mind he couldn¡¯t have believe what had just happened. He was young and losing the person who he had the closest connection with cause him to have utter grief and sorrow, but at the same time he felt scared and worried.


    It was too much to contain for a young boy like him. In the end he fainted on the forest floor. His body was curled up in a ball and from his sleeping face, anyone could see the sadness and pain. At the time, the forest was abnormally quiet. Gloom was in the air and the sun had just set. The scene was just like a scene from a painting.


    =====================================================================================


    -In the Vern kingdom-


    After Boa and June left Vern, Jackol had immediately gone back to his study room and opened the letter.


    ¡°A time of chaos will come in the near future. I will soon be awakening June¡¯s inheritance and considering where June came from and his talents, he is most likely a high level bloodline. Maybe he even has a supreme bloodline. I have delayed my ascension for many years. The amount of power that I need to use to remain here is not a small amount.


    To awaken June¡¯s inheritance, I will be weakened considerably if his bloodline is a high level one. June is a child that has always been in my protection. His reliance on me is natural for he is still  youngling. Jackol¡­ I am very worried for his future. He is my son. No matter if we are blood related or not. I can only lament on how he will grow up all alone if the worst happens. I may not be able to take him to Vern in my weakened state but I¡¯ve planned ahead. I will show him a path that I¡¯ve made to vern just for these desperate times. If all goes well¡­ he will be in your care in about two weeks. Fate can only decide. We are mystical beasts and the love i¡¯ve given June is unnatural. Do not try to find him Jackol. If he is not able to get to Vern on his own then he is not strong enough, both mentally and physically. The road I made will contain dangers far beyond what he is capable of but I believe that he will not die. It is funny to think that I, a great tremor bear will have such baseless beliefs but I will stay true to them. It saddens me to think that I will probably not be able to see June grow. I¡¯ve grown too attached to the little fellow. My reluctance to part with him is strong but maybe it''s for the best for both him and I.


    Jackol, if I do ascend, my successor will show himself. At that time, the other mystical beasts will not sit still. We are prideful beings. If it comes to the worst situation where another mystical beast does rise to be the new king of the forest then Vern might be affected too. I believe that it is best to not get close with humans and so the like. That''s why I chose a successor that holds true to my beliefs. If another mystical beast rises then it might be difficult for Vern so I warn you.¡± -Boa


    A feeling of dread washed over Jackol as he read the letter once again.


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.¡°Is this all that he wrote?! Nothing more?!¡± Jackol knew that it would be bad if Boa had actually ascended. Vern would most likely be caught up in the midst of the fight for the forest. What¡¯s worse was that Boa¡¯s successor might not succeed and another mystical beast will take over. If it is an ambitious mystical beast then Vern will definitely become another piece of land in the forest. Jackol needed more information as to who was Boa¡¯s successor or about the hidden mystical beasts that have been hiding beneath Boa¡¯s feet.


    There was also the matter with June. Jackol really wanted to search for June but Boa had told him not to. ¡°Ugh, if fate wills it then June will reach Vern in about 2 weeks or so.. If he does not get here by that time then¡­ I cannot do anything about it¡± sighed Jackol as he sat down. He had more pressing matters to deal with. If the worse did come and Boa had really ascended then Jackol wanted to be prepared.


    =====================================================================================


    The 2 weeks passed by and June did not show up. The worse really did come. The Boa forest was filled blood from its inhabitants. The area around the cave that June and Boa had stayed in was decimated. There were no trees or animals, only dirt and sand was left by the violent fights. Vern was safe because it was outside of the forest and the fights were mostly in the innermost parts of the forest so the outer parts weren¡¯t damaged that much.


    Jackol was relieve but was soon devastated by the turn of events. In the end, Boa¡¯s successor died in the hands of a mystical beast that had been in hiding for a long time.


    As soon as the mystical beast killed off its other competitors, it left for Vern and decimated the kingdom. Unfortunately for Vern, the mystical beast who had taken over was a Three Horned Tiger. The Three Horned Tiger is a Middle leveled bloodline mystical beast. Normally, being the king of the forest would be just a dream for this mystical beast but time gives one more than enough to grow. Being under Boa¡¯s rule for more than three thousand years, the Three Horned Tiger was no doubt the second oldest living mystical beast in the forest. Tigers normally have a strong sense of territory so when it found out that a pitiful human settlement was close to the borders of its territory, it left to destroy that settlement.


    What had actually lead the Three Horned Tiger into destroying Vern wasn¡¯t only because the kingdom was near its territory. It was also because of the anger that had built up inside of it when Boa was in rule. Being under someone for more than three thousand years while being unwilling would definitely make a prideful mystical beast mad.


    Jackol¡¯s countermeasures for this was not enough. He had died with his kingdom, struggling to the very end. If Boa had killed all those who he thought could oppose his successor then the situation would have been much better. In truth, Boa didn¡¯t have a care for what would happen to the forest or Vern. He would have ascended a long time ago if it had not been for the time spent trying to get a son. He had only warned Jackol because Jackol had done a few favors for him here and there. It was also a way to express his feelings about June.


    Boa was truly a lonely person. He had spent long years trying to get a child with his own blood but he had failed miserably. With June by his side, he was no longer lonely but he had left so soon. It wasn¡¯t only June who had a wounded heart. But, fate willed it and so, they were separated.

 Chapter 9: Scars don鈥檛 just disappear/ July

    June woke up from the sounds of explosions. It was still nighttime when his eyes had opened. Towards the east he looked and there he saw bright flashes of lights. With those bright lights came explosions and earth trembling power. The lights were different in colors with all their dazzling shapes and forms. But in this awestruck moment, a shiver ran through June¡¯s body.  His befuddled mind slowly became clear but with this came a sorrowful memory that was engraved in June¡¯s soul. He remembered Boa. His head started to ache, but he got up and lumbered towards the north. It was the road that Boa had made for him. His steps were unsteady and heavy.


    The commotion behind him was ongoing but he paid no heed to it. At that moment, June couldn¡¯t be bothered with such things. He just had to follow the road that Boa made. June convinced himself that all would be well if he kept moving but such conviction was false. It was to only take away the feeling of being lost. This was the feeling that would make June feel anxious and tight of heart. It was a feeling that he loathed as much as anyone else.


    Soon, his lumber had come to a stop because he had reached a flowing river. The sounds of the water violently hitting the rocks which held their ground with firm steadiness reverberated through his ears.


    He lumber continued even after he heard the roaring sounds. To continue his way and stick to his false conviction, he had to get over to the other side. He could not be bothered to make a plan. June¡¯s mind was too shackled and distraught to do such a thing.


    Boa¡¯s absence was too early and suddenly for young June to cope with. Yes, a young mind can heal quickly, but the scar left behind will be a great one and scars don¡¯t just disappear.


    June was being pushed to his limits, both body and mind. His heart was straining to hold the water qi and soon it would be released from the strain. The river wasn¡¯t deep, but it still reached June¡¯s chest. June felt the water violently crashing against his weakened body. The force made him unconsciously revert back into his panda form. His wet fur weighed him down and sure enough, he was swept by the currents.


    June woke up from the sounds of his grumbling stomach. He sat up abruptly and looked around. ¡°Ahhh!¡± cried June. His action brought him world ending pain. His ribs were broken along with his left leg. The currents that swept him were not merciful.


    ¡°Where am I?¡± June questioned as he looked around. What he saw brought a slight moment of relief towards his pain. A small and beautiful waterfall that was surrounded by a twilight blue colored pond came in his view. Trees in all forms were twisting around the circumference of the pond and waterfall. Their bright green leaves blocked the sun and gave a peaceful feeling to the scene.


    The sound of rumbling shook June from his trance and brought back the pain he felt before. ¡°I¡¯m hungry¡­ it hurts..¡± he whined. His head turned left to right as he looked around once again. A lonely tree to the right of the waterfall caught his attention. The small apple like fruits dangling on it¡¯s branches definitely drew June¡¯s attention.


    He started to get excited but it died down as reality hit him. The tree was at least five meters away. To the June who had trouble breathing with his broken ribs and a broken leg, the trek was too strenuous. He felt like it was hopeless and laided back down. The little life in his eyes started to waver. Memories of his carefree life with Boa flashed before him.


    He wanted Boa; his father. But in this moment of despair, the sound of water splashing was heard besides him. June turned his head and what awaited him was a surprise. He saw a water sylph; a spirit made from the element¡¯s will walking towards him. However, to June, the sylph was a lifeline.


    June had been alone for only two days but this kind of loneliness was something that a six year old couldn¡¯t handle.  June whimpered in distress before he fainted.


    The sylph peered over towards June and his sleeping body. ¡°Wow~ a panda¡± she said in amazement. ¡°Oh! Looks like he''s hurt. I know exactly what to do~¡± she said playfully.


    June woke to the sweet scent of the fruits piled in front of him. Before he could notice, his body had moved and he was already standing up. He was ready to pounce at the fruits before a feeling of surprise struck him.


    ¡°Huh? I¡¯m not in pain anymore!¡± thought June as he checked his furry body. In fact, his body felt refreshed and this gave a pleasant feeling.  The pain from before was something that he truly never wanted to experience ever again.


    ¡°What do you think? The mighty water element is only second to the light element in terms of healing.¡±


    June jumped in surprise as he heard the water sylph behind him. He warily turned round and saw the sylph with a grin on her face. It was the second time he had seen her but because his vision was blurry during the first time, he hadn¡¯t seen her features too clearly.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    She had long hair that was aquatic blue in color. It reached her shoulder blades and with its straight lines and shiny luster. The blue gown that she wore looked smooth and comfortable. Her face was small and flawless but what caught June''s attention the most was how her blue eyes shone playfully.


    She looked tall to June as she was a head and a half taller than him. Such a person can be only called majestic and noble.


    With a hint of worry she asked, ¡°How do you feel little panda?¡±


    June took a step back with his hind legs. It was apparent that he was wary of her.


    The sylph took a slight step forward. ¡°Well?¡± she questioned again. This time June replied as he took a step back once again. ¡°I feel much better..¡± A hint of irritation was shown on the sylph¡¯s face as she took a big step forward this time. ¡°Why are you backing away little panda? Am i that scary to you?¡± she asked threatenly.


    Feeling threatened, June snapped back, ¡°I¡¯m no little panda! My name is June!¡±


    His bared his teeth and postured back like a dog.


    ¡°Well, don¡¯t be afraid little June. I¡¯m harmless, see?¡±  The sylph said as she held her hands up.


    Unconvinced, June asked, ¡°Who are you?¡±


    ¡°Who am I?¡± As if she was in distress, the sylph put her hand on her forehead then slightly leaned back. ¡°I am a great sylph! How can you not know who I am? This is a disgrace!¡± Her tone was filled with sarcasm but June didn¡¯t notice.


    ¡°A Sylph! I¡¯ve heard of sylphs from my father. He said that they were super rare and mysterious.¡± June was taken in with surprise. He took Boa¡¯s words seriously therefore when he was told that sylphs were super rare, he expect to not find one in his lifetime.


    How could he have known that the human looking person was a sylph.


    One person had the face of distress while the other had a face of surprise. This comedic scene  became funnier as June¡¯s stomach grumbled. The growling sounds of his stomach brought the sylph to laughter. ¡°Oh! My sides! Don¡¯t worry little June. Feel free to eat the fruits behind you¡± laughed the sylph as she held her sides.


    June was apprehensive but his hunger was at its extremes. He quickly pounced at the pile of apple like fruits and ate them. Soon enough, the pile disappeared and June¡¯s hunger was quench.


    ¡°T-thank you¡± said June with a hint of embarrassment. His view of the sylph was dramatically increased with plus points.


    The sylph laughed, ¡°No problem!¡±


    ¡°By the way, you were hurt before. Plus, I don¡¯t see pandas around here that much. What happened?¡± The sylph was very curious and the gleam in her eyes showed it.


    June didn¡¯t answer her questions. In fact, he avoided it as he asked, ¡° I told you my name. Shouldn¡¯t you tell me yours? Father said it was etiquette to do this.¡±


    The sylph didn¡¯t pry any further. A talking panda and such a little one at that really piqued her curiosity but she knew that everyone has circumstances.


    ¡°Me? I don¡¯t have a name¡± answered the sylph casually. Her answer was so casual that it made June feel weird.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you have a name.. Everyone should have a name¡± said June.


    ¡°If you don''t have a name then what do I called you?¡± asked June.


    ¡°Well, you can give me a name. Usually I am referred to as water sylph but I don¡¯t really like that¡± she said bluntly.


    ¡°Ok! I will give you a name!¡± said June as he thought of a name. The wind blew and the trees sung. It was quiet for a few moments until June yelled, ¡°July!¡±


    ¡°That will be your name¡± he said proudly. It was a name that he thought of after all. How can he not be proud of himself?


    ¡°July¡­ I like it.¡± July smiled at the thought of her name. She truly thought it was a wonderful name. ¡°July¡±

 Chapter 10: Tears Don鈥檛 discriminate

    It was midday; the time where the sun shone the brightest. July was happy and excited while June was content with her name.


    Black smoke swirled around the little panda and in an instant, he turned back into his human form. July suddenly grinned from ear to ear.  After transforming back, June was naked. Usually, Boa would dress him, but now, such a thing was impossible.


    A mischievous urge rose inside of July. ¡°Well, well, well, you¡¯re looking mighty fine right now little June.¡±  July¡¯s grin and tone made June feel uncomfortable. He hurriedly covered his body with his small hands in embarrassment but only his little willy was covered.  It was a good thing but a bad thing at the same time.


    July laughed at his embarrassment. She had her fair share of fun for the time being.


    ¡°Say, little June, who exactly are you? A talking panda and this transformation can only lead me to think that you¡¯re a mystical beast. Only, such a young mystical beast shouldn¡¯t be able to transform.¡±  She was very curious at June¡¯s circumstances. This type of curiousity was like a curiousity where one would show for a mysterious toy.


    June replied, ¡° Father said that I was from a far away place. That I was from a higher realm. Father doesn¡¯t know why I can transform at a young age so I don¡¯t know either.¡±


    His tone grew solemn when he mentioned Boa. Hearing the tone of his voice, July knew that she shouldn¡¯t pry any further but she couldn¡¯t help herself.


    ¡°Then, do you know what kind of mystical beast you are?¡± she reluctantly asked.


    It was silent for a moment and this silence made July nervous. ¡°Maybe I asked of too much¡± She thought.


    Before she could say anything, June replied, ¡° Heavenly Yin-Yang panda. It was in a book I read.¡±


    His book of inheritance made June remember Boa and how it was his fault that Boa had ascended early, but it also made him remember cultivation. To get his mind off of Boa, June wanted to cultivate.


    ¡°July, i¡¯m going to cultivate.¡±  He was in a bad mood and July noticed. ¡°O-ok, have fun¡± she said sheepishly. Seeing June walk away, July let out a laugh. Even in such a moment, June was naked so when he walked away, his buttocks moved left and right. This was what made July laugh.


    Upon hearing her laughter, June¡¯s mood worsened and he ran as he covered his buttocks.


    ¡°Bully!¡± he shouted as he ran. July smiled and went back towards the pond.  There, she sat on a rock and swung her foot in the water. Her mind was slowly drifting to a different place.


    June ran until he reached the point where the trees stood. It was about five meters from the pond. He looked back and saw the back of July. ¡°Such a bully¡± he thought.


    Before cultivating, he set off to make something to cover himself. He tried to connect the vines and leaves to create something that would cover the lower area of his body. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn¡¯t make one. In the end, he was left naked and tired.


    By the time he started to cultivate, three hours had passed. The sun was steadily falling and it started to get a bit chilly. June sat down and relaxed his mind. He began to feel out the elemental Qi around him. Soon, he found the strands of water and fire Qi that were around him.


    He directed the water Qi towards his heart and at the same time, he also directed the fire Qi to his stomach. Once the water Qi entered his heart, June lost his emotions but when the fire Qi had entered his stomach, he returned to normal. The fire Qi in his stomach ignited his emotions while the water Qi took them away. They counteracted each other in order to create balance.


    The next step was to guide the two different type of Qi¡¯s towards his dantian.


    When June tried to guide the water Qi, it didn¡¯t bulge. It stayed in his heart and was unresponsive. This situation made June quite confused. ¡°Maybe i¡¯m doing something wrong¡± he thought.


    After a few minutes of failure in moving the water Qi, June decided that he would try with the fire Qi first. Fortunately for him, the fire Qi moved and entered his dantian without any problems. ¡°The fire Qi is moving... Why can¡¯t the water Qi move?¡± pondered June.


    He went back to the water Qi in his heart and tried to move it again. What awaited him was failure as the water Qi was unresponsive. The water Qi disappeared from his heart when he left it unattended. June was stressed and worried for his cultivation. He didn¡¯t have a teacher that could guide him. It was all up to himself to progress.


    Without any ideas or choices, June continued to cultivate with Fire Qi. Feel the Qi, gather it, then guide it into the dantian. He repeated this process many times until his stomach couldn¡¯t handle anymore fire Qi going in and out of it. By doing this, not only would his cultivation grow, but his stomach would grow stronger.


    What June didn¡¯t know was that when he was using water Qi unconsciously, his path of balance was disrupted when he didn¡¯t use fire Qi to cultivate too. His dantian had more water Qi than fire Qi, so until there is enough fire Qi to match the water Qi, it wouldn¡¯t accept any more water Qi. Luckily this balance could be restored, otherwise, June would have not been able to cultivate ever again.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    When he opened his eyes, a great hunger overtook him. The sky was dark and filled with stars. It was already night before he knew it but that wasn¡¯t his concern for now.


    His belly was in need of food and the only person he could go to for help was July. Luckily, the hunger he felt was substantially less than the last time he had cultivated with his stomach. Otherwise, he would have already passed out from such hunger.


    June ran back to where July was. He stopped when he saw her. She was still sitting on a rock above the water. Her feet were still waving back and forth. June saw her back and he found it to be lonely.


    ¡°July!¡± he called out to her. July turned around with an unexpected bright smile on her face. ¡°June!¡± she called back.


    June ran towards her slowly. He stopped with a pant as he asked, ¡°do you have anymore food?¡±


    ¡°Food? There are more Dai fruits, but at this rate, they¡¯ll be gone by tomorrow¡± July said with a laugh.


    July stepped down from her sitting place and walked towards the tree with the apple-like fruits. She walked back to June when she was done picking them.


    ¡°Here, a batch of Dai fruits for the little fat panda¡± said July as she gave the fruits to June.  He squinted his eyes at her in dissatisfaction but the fruits were worth too much and in the end, he took them. It took a bit of time for him to munch on these apple-like fruits, but when he was done he burped in satisfaction. Although it didn¡¯t quite fill him up, it was better than nothing. ¡°Here.¡± July handed him a skirt made a leaves with a vine holding them together. It was what June was trying to make earlier.


    ¡°We don¡¯t want our little panda to be naked all the time right?¡± said July.  June took the leaf skirt and put it on. There was a breeze but it covered him and that made him happy.


    July stood at by his side with a grin hanging on her face. ¡°Were the Dai fruits delicious?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yes! Thank you¡­¡± June¡¯s voice trailed off. A few days ago this scene happened. Only, Boa was there instead of July. When he remembered Boa, June became gloomy.


    With a sigh, June climbed the on the rock that July was sitting on earlier. He sat down and wrapped his hands around his knees to get warm. It was a cold night. He looked towards the sky with a frown on his face.


    The sudden change in his mood made July worried. She followed him and sat besides him. Fortunately, the rock was big enough to fit two people. She looked at June and she felt like this was the first time that she had truly seen him. He was a bit plump but she was mesmerized by how his black sleek hair contrasted with his bright and handsome young face.


    She had an urge to tousle June¡¯s hair because of how cute he was but she stopped herself when she saw his downcast face.


    July bent down and whispered into June¡¯s ears, ¡°What is our little panda looking at? The stars?¡± June slowly shook his head.


    ¡°Oh, is our little panda looking at the moon then? We definitely have a beautiful moon out tonight.¡±


    June shook his head again but this time he replied as he pointed towards the starry sky.


    ¡°Father is up there.¡±


    July was curious, so she asked, ¡°Why is he up there?¡±


    June said nothing and it was quiet for the longest time. ¡°It''s my fault¡± started June. His voice was shaky.  ¡°It¡¯s my fault that he''s up there!¡± cried June. He quickly drove his head in his knees but July saw his eyes and how they quaked. She knew that he was trying to hold back his tears.


    She reached her hands out and softly patted his back. This comforting sensation caused June to look up at her. ¡°Why are you trying to not cry. Tears will wash away your pain¡± said July.


    June looked at the sky again and bit his lower lip. ¡°Father said that men should not cry. That I should be strong.¡±


    July laughed as she exclaimed, ¡°Fool! Tears don¡¯t make you weak. It doesn¡¯t matter whether you¡¯re a man or woman, young or old, strong or weak. Tears don¡¯t discriminate either, so go cry your eyes out.¡±


    The hand on his back felt warm and her voice gave him comfort. His body trembled and he cried as he lunged into July¡¯s arms. The rivers of tears didn¡¯t bother July at all as she held June in her arms.


    Seeing June cry, a desire filled July. Her emotions also raged as she started,¡±.... FOR NEXT CHAPTER.

 Chapter 11: July

    Seeing June cry, a desire filled July. Her emotions also raged as she started,¡± I was a sylph born from the element¡¯s will. The water element was my parent and besides me were my fellow sisters and brothers. Back then, I was just a spirit who didn¡¯t have a conscious, but spirits who live long enough will naturally gain a soul. The fellow brothers and sisters who were born alongside me also gained souls. After we gained souls, more brothers and sisters were born from water¡¯s will. It is an endless cycle. We gained souls and a will of our own but we still followed water. Wherever it went, we were there. Countless of years passed by and we were still following water. We followed water to human settlements, past the vast sea, and many more places. We saw the seven kingdoms of life and how they lived. My fellow brothers and sisters thought that it was interesting, but they still mindlessly followed water; their parent. I, however, wanted something more than being with water. I wanted what the seven kingdoms of life had. I wanted a physical body so that I could feel things other than water. I was filled with greed and desire. With conviction, I came to water and I asked for a body of my own. I talked about my desires and water was generous but, everything comes with a price. My body came from water¡¯s essence and the price that I payed was one which I thought that I could bear.¡±


    By now June¡¯s wailing had diverted to a quiet weep. July noticed and stopped momentarily before continuing.


    ¡°Water took me to a pond with a small waterfall and created my body. My body was created from the pond and water told me that my life will be connected to the pond. Water also told me that I couldn¡¯t step outside the five meter radius of the pond otherwise, I would disappear. I thought that I could handle this curse and laughed because of thought of how I was still connected with water through the pond. I said goodbye to my brothers and sisters with a wave of my new arms. More Years passed and I was content. I would be able to touch and smell the flowers that grew on the ground. I was able to play with the animals who came by the pond to drink. I was able to feel the warm sunlight and the chilly wind. I was able to do the things I couldn¡¯t without a body. I was content with all of this, but unfortunately, time doesn¡¯t stop. Overtime, I grew tired of smelling flowers, basking in the sunlight, playing with animals, and many other things. Within all of this, I wondered why my brothers and sisters didn¡¯t visited me. I was also where water was. The pond had water in it so my brothers and sisters should have been able to visit. I thought long and hard about this matter and the answer devastated me. I realized that water wasn¡¯t in the pond. That water wasn¡¯t with me. I realized that I was the one in the pond. Without water, I knew that my brothers and sisters wouldn¡¯t visit me. I thought that water had abandoned me. I started to hate water. I started to hate my parent, but time doesn¡¯t stop. It allowed me to think more and this made me come upon more realizations. I realized that water was generous because it gave me what I wanted. It was my desires and greed that lead me to where I am today. I am selfish and I hate that. These days, I live a boring life. What I had before was taken for granted and so, I started to hate myself. I started to become an empty shell. For many years, I stayed this way but I knew that I couldn¡¯t live like that. With this thought came more years of pondering. I was searching for an answer to my dilemma. Years and years of pondering but there was still no answer. I didn¡¯t know what to do, but one day I found a clue. It was right besides me all along. That day, I blankly looked around me and sure enough, my sight came upon the waterfall. The waterfall was made of water and this waterfall was connected to my pond. This made me think that my realization of water not being with me was wrong so I looked upon the waterfall and cried out with all my might. I plead for water and asked for another chance but water didn¡¯t reply. I knew that I was being selfish but it was my only hope. For the longest time, I beseeched water but there was no reply. My hope started to slowly disappear. At that point, I knew that my connection with water and my siblings had disappeared. I was no longer the daughter of water. I was alone and by myself, I lived. To deal with my twisted heart, I created a persona. It was a lively persona because it was one that loved to play and dance alongside life no matter what the circumstances were. With this, I thought that I could be happy forever, but my anguish and sorrow will never truly disappear.¡±


    July heaved a sigh as streams of tears flowed from her eyes. ¡°Why am I tell this to June¡­ he is still young. He probably doesn¡¯t even understand most of the things i¡¯ve said.¡±


    It was true that June didn¡¯t understand what she said, but she underestimated him. He didn¡¯t understand what she said but he understood her. He heard her voice and felt a familiar feeling. It was the feeling of loneliness and anger towards oneself. He felt a sort of kindredness towards what she felt even though their reasons were different.


    July felt a tug on her gown and looked down at the mysterious boy in her arms. His head was on her bosom when he let out a few unexpected words.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be lonely.¡±


    A burst of warmth spread through her body as she trembled. Suddenly, she laughed out loud. Her laughter reached the heavens and shook the earth.


    When June looked up at her, she stopped and said, ¡°I won¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t?¡± asked June.


    ¡°No. Not if you''re here,¡± she replied.


    ¡°Then¡­ will you be there if I feel lonely too?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be there. If i¡¯m not then who would feed you?¡± she said jokingly.


    ¡°Promise?¡±


    ¡°Promise!¡±


    June slowly fell asleep in her arms. Today was an exhausting day for him.


    When she noticed that June had fallen asleep, July smiled, then turned towards the direction of the waterfall and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Thank you.¡±


    As if it heard her, the waterfall glimmered for a moment then it died down and it was normal once again.


    They had only met for a day, yet it felt as if they were closer than ever. They had only met for a day, yet he relied on her with all his being. And she? She relied on him too. She told him her story, her feelings, and her desires.


    They desperately needed someone to cling onto to take the loneliness that they¡¯ve felt in their hearts away. The reason why the both of them had become so close was probably because of this.


    Only they themselves can understand what they were feeling at that time.


    The night was young, but it passed quickly. The sun rose up and shone brightly as the birds chirped. June woke up abruptly on July¡¯s bosom. His head sprang up and he looked around, but the sunlight blinded him. After a few blinks, he could see again, but what he saw scared him.


    Six meters away, there was a demonic beast staring right at him with its bright red eyes. June had seen demonic beasts before and was scared at first, but Boa¡¯s reassurance made his fear slowly disappear. June was scared once again now that Boa wasn¡¯t here.


    He tugged July¡¯s gown in  fright and woke her up.


    ¡°Mnnn.. What is it..¡± asked July as she woke up groggily. She laughed when she saw June pointing at the demonic beast in fear. When it heard July laugh, the demonic beast snarled angrily and pounced at the two.


    July raised her arm and pointed her palm at the demonic beast. A small ball of water rose from the pond behind her and shot towards the beast.


    Bang!


    The water ball hit the beast and with a bang, it exploded. The demonic beast was hurled back and it hit a tree with great force. Insta kill!


    June gawked at the small cat like demonic beast. Blood was flowing out of its mouth, but other than it being drenched, it looked fine. The force from the blast had erupted it¡¯s organs so it may have looked ok, but its insides were a mess.


    June turned and looked at July with sparkling eyes. ¡°July, you cultivate?!¡±


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.¡°Err, nope,¡± replied July. ¡°Cultivators do not have the ability to control the elements like that anyways.¡±


    June didn¡¯t see the water rising up from the pond, so he thought that July had produced the water herself. What''s more was that June thought that cultivators can actually do things like that. Boa was supposed to teach him all of these gradually, but he threw it off and spend most of their time together playing. This was a father who wanted his child to grow up and live without any worries. He knew that one needed power to not have worries but he didn¡¯t teach his son anything and only played around.  (Doting and idiotic father to the max!!)


    ¡°You are cultivating and you don¡¯t know this? Why didn¡¯t your parents teach you?¡± laughed July as she asked.


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have a mother¡­¡± When June started to talk, it made July feel bad because she asked such an insensitive question, but she smile after hearing his next words.


    ¡°Father is enough for me, but he only taught me how to write and talk. Other than that, we played around a lot.¡±


    June wasn¡¯t as gloomy when he talk about Boa anymore. After July consoled him, he felt much better than before.


    ¡°That''s¡­ such an irresponsible father,¡± said July as she shook her head.


    ¡°Well, sylphs don¡¯t usually cultivate because they are missing bodies. That is also the reason why sylphs are so rare in the world. Cases like me are special. I have a body, but I don¡¯t cultivate because my body is connected to the pond. So, if I cultivate, the Qi that I gain will disappear because of the pond,¡± explained July.


    ¡°Understand?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yup! You can¡¯t cultivated because of pond, but why does pond no allow you to cultivate?¡±


    July rubbed her neck with a strange expression on her face and replied, ¡°I¡¯d like to know that too, but I¡¯m guessing that it''s part of my curse¡­¡±


    ¡°Other than that¡­ I didn¡¯t ask you before, but what do you mean by your father is up there?¡± she asked as she look up at the sky. If it was where she thought it was than the simple idea that she came up with would make him happy.


    ¡°Not sure, but he said something about a higher realm and ascending,¡± replied June.


    Upon hearing this, July grinned and said, ¡°When I was still following water, I heard many people talking about this higher realm. They called it the heavenly realm. Apparently, you can ascend once you get past the Dan Infusion stage. How bout it little June? You can probably see your father once you cultivate long enough.¡±


    June¡¯s eyes sparkled with excitement and this made July happy, but his next words shocked her.


    ¡°What''s the Dan Infusion stage? When will I get past it?¡±


    In shock, July replied, ¡°Your father didn¡¯t teach you what the cultivation stages were?! How can you cultivate? Oh wait¡­ that¡¯s right! You¡¯re a mystical beast so you should have all different systems, but he still should have told you.¡±


    ¡°Mn, he should of told,¡± copied June.


    July heaved a sigh and thought about how irresponsible Boa was. She thought if such a person was able to reach the height of mortal power and ascend then they should be sensible enough to educate June about cultivation.


    July continued to explain, ¡°It¡¯s different from mystical beasts, but all humans should use this system. Ok, in short, the first stage is the Spirit Condensing stage, second comes the Qi Refining stage, third is the Profound Qi stage, fourth is the Developing Dan stage, fifth is the Finalizing Dan stage, and last of all, the six stage is the Dan Infusion stage. They all are split into three stages; early, middle, and late.¡±


    ¡°Oh! I wonder how long it will take for me to get past the Dan infusion stage,¡± said June.


    ¡°One day you will!¡± laughed July in response. She didn¡¯t dare tell him that it would take lots of luck, talent, and dedication to get past the Dan infusion stage. Afterall, she got his hopes up, so she didn¡¯t want to put him down.


    June was incomparably excited for the future. Before, he looked up at the sky with gloom, but now, he looks up with excitement and resolution. July felt happy when she saw June looking up. She was happy that she could be of help.


    After gazing at the sky, a ting of curiosity rose inside of June and he leap of the rock they were sitting on. He ran towards the cat like demonic beast and inspected it. By now, the blood leaking from it¡¯s mouth made a small puddle, but it didn¡¯t sicken June at all. Instead, he poke it a bit and turned around to July to ask,


    ¡°Can we eat it?¡± He had never tried to eat demonic beast before, so he was curious about it. Little did he know, there a time when he asked to same question to Boa and Boa answered with a stern, ¡°No!¡±


    Having forgotten that time, June could only ask July.


    July rubbed her temples and said, ¡°Your father really didn¡¯t teach you anything did he?¡±


    ¡°He taught me how to read and write!¡± exclaimed June.


    ¡°Ok, at least he taught you that and no, you cannot eat the demonic beast,¡± said July.


    June was in need of meat. Fruits could not satisfy his meat belly, so he complained, ¡°But I want meat!¡±


    July knew that that was hungry when he hear him complain, so she plucked a Dai fruit from the tree and gave one to him.


    June wanted to eat some meat, but food was food, so he happily munched down on the Dai fruit. It was an ok breakfast for him.


    ¡°Listen June¡­   if you want to eat meat then you have to cultivate,¡± said July.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because there are a lot of demonic beasts like this Treehouse Cat here. Although it''s only a rank 1 demonic beast, it is still as strong as a late spirit condensation stage cultivator. So, if you want to go and hunt, you should wait until you have enough strength to evade these demonic beasts,¡± explained July.


    June¡¯s face paled. The thought of having no meat until he reached a certain amount of cultivation devastated him. Right now, June was only at the early spirit and matter stage.  In fact, June already knew about the spirit condensation stage, but he forgot about it. The book of inheritance already explained that the spirit and matter stage is comparable to the spirit condensation stage, but it did not tell June what the later stages of his cultivation was.


    July laughed when she saw his face turning pale. She couldn¡¯t help but tease him, so she said, ¡°You better hurry along with your cultivation. Otherwise, when the Dai fruits run out, there will be no food anymore.¡±


    June¡¯s face paled even more. The food lover being deprived of food? Such a thing was unbearable for him. It was so unbearable that he forgot about his noble thought of cultivating to meet his father. Instead, he changed it to cultivating to get enough strength to eat.


    With that thought, June immediately ran back to the rock. He sat down and started to cultivate with determination.


    This action made July laugh even more. Somehow teasing June made her really happy. She skipped to where June was and sat down too. She stared at him with delight.  He was interesting even when he was cultivating. However, she made a confused face and thought, ¡°Don¡¯t pandas eat bamboo though?¡±

 Chapter 12: All about that land!

    Not far away from July and June, there were two figures that were observing them.


    The figure on the right looked like a crane and the one on the left resembled a fox.


    If June were to see these two, he would recognize them immediately. They were the two mystical beasts that he liked to play with the most.


    The crane on the right sharply looked at June and spoke quietly, ¡°Franz, what do you think?¡±


    The one named Franz spoke up, ¡°What do you mean what do I think?¡±


    ¡°Fuck! Is your head made of stone or what? I¡¯m talking about the panda! What should we do?¡± inquired the crane.


    ¡°Who the fuck do you think you¡¯re talking to? We¡¯re only teaming up because we¡¯re the weakest out of the 10 lords in the forest. Now that the boss is gone, we have to be careful, otherwise we¡¯ll die.¡±


    The crane glared at Franz and cawed, ¡°Want to fight or what you bastard?!¡±


    Franz glared back at the crane, his Qi was boiling, but he made no moves. ¡°We can¡¯t fight right now. Who would have thought that the tiger faced bastard was already at a stage comparable to the late Developing Dan stage. At first, it was one for all, but soon the rest of us had to team up because of that tiger faced bastard. A stage comparable to the late Developing stage¡­ what the fuck!¡±


    With a downcast face, the crane spoke, ¡°If only the boss didn¡¯t ascend then we wouldn¡¯t be stuck together. He did it without any notice, but apparently Ora was supposed to be the successor. However, if Ora was supposed to be the successor then why didn¡¯t the boss kill that tiger faced bitch? If we had enough time then we would be stronger than him, but he was probably swimming in his collection of gems by the time we were sucking our mother¡¯s tits.¡±


    ¡°You think any of us 10 lords can understand the boss¡¯s way of thinking? And you¡¯re right.. If we only had time then we would be stronger than that tiger faced bastard, but if it''s Ora, he might have a chance. He is the second strongest out of the 10 lords after all,¡± said Franz with a complex look on his fox face.


    ¡°Then¡­ should we go and join him?¡± asked the crane.


    ¡°Are you crazy Shar?! We¡¯re only at the late Profound Qi stage! The rest of the 10 lords are all at a stage early Developing Dan stage with the exception of Ora and that tiger faced bastard. Isn''t that the reason why we teamed up?,¡± bellowed Franz.


    Shar was reluctant, but he agreed with what Franz said. ¡°You¡¯re right¡­ we teamed up just in case any of the 10 lords try to take our land, but if that tiger, Gera, gains control of the forest then won¡¯t he take our land?¡±


    Franz knew what Shar said was right, so he was unsatisfied. ¡°If the boss killed Gera then we wouldn¡¯t be stuck with this predicament. Ora is only at a stage comparable to middle Developing stage. He isn¡¯t a match for Gera, but he has the support of the other lords, so he has a chance. Only¡­ the power of a late Developing Dan cultivator might not be so simple. Tch, if only the boss had taken care of that tiger faced bastard!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t talk about the boss like that¡­ it''s been hard for him to even use 10% of his power. Imagine¡­ the boss has been around ever since our parents ascended. He was in a stage comparable to the late Dan Infusion stage for the longest time and he tried his hardest to not advance just so he could get a son. Holding back his advancement like that for a few thousand years is like holding back poop for a few thousand years. Too much extraneous movement and that poop would come exploding out. Killing Gera? What a joke¡­ it would take at least 20% of his power to kill Gera. Plus, he¡¯s been good to us 10 lords for the longest time. I imagine the only reason why he would ascend is because of that little panda over there. A mystical beast who can transform when he/she isn¡¯t at the Dan Infusion stage. He is quite a mystery.¡±


    What Shar said was indeed true. If Boa tried to kill Gera than he would have to expand at least 20% of his power which would cause him to ascend. The most he could have done in such a state was just moving around, otherwise, if he used more than 10% of his power then a leakage would have happened.


    This was why he was in such a terrible state after awakening June¡¯s inheritance. 90% of his power was usually used on himself to hold back from advancing, but the inheritance awakening took at least 50% of his power. In a panic, Boa tried to hold back, but it was truly unbearable. If he didn¡¯t advance then his dantian would have probably exploded and he would have died.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Franz let out a sigh as he spoke, ¡°I imagine that the boss used that 10% of power for mating with any female bear he could find. A high-level bloodline¡­ has such powerful sperm... ¡°


    ¡°CawCawCaw!¡± Shar couldn¡¯t help but laugh at Franz¡¯s statement.


    ¡°Fucking bird, at least you have notice my humorous side,¡± rejoiced Franz.


    ¡°Who are you calling a fucking bird?! You¡¯re just a bit humorous! Don¡¯t get cocky, bitch!¡± Shar was angry, but he still showed a serious expression on his eyes as he looked at June. ¡°So¡­ what should we do about the panda? He is with a sylph right now¡­ to find a sylph¡­ how lucky he is.¡±


    Franz looked at July with interest, ¡°true! Sylphs are rare, to find one you would have to be lucky, but that''s not the point of focus right now. We need to decide if we should leave the panda alone or take him away from here and do a favor for the boss. Who knows, maybe one day, the panda will come back and take over the forest.¡±


    After a bit of thinking Shar spoke, ¡°I say, we leave him alone. He might be of use to us for the long run against Gera, but that would take years¡­ maybe even thousands of years. By that time, Gera might die¡­ that bastard is old. He has shit talent¡­ even if he wins against Ora and takes over, the old fellow is at the end of his time. If he doesn¡¯t manage to advance to the Finalizing Dan stage and gain 8 thousand years of longevity then he is as dead as cat without its nine lives.¡±


    ¡°After a human cultivates with their elemental Qi or world Qi enough and strengthens their body to the point where they can develop a stronger spirit, then they are called spirit condensing cultivators. This would take them an average of 30 years, but we cannot underestimate humans. There are some bound to be very talent based on their numbers. Condense the spirit and gain 500 years of longevity. Refine Qi and gain 1000 years. Acquire profound Qi and gain 2000 years. Develop the Dan and gain 4000 years. Finalize the Dan and gain 8000 years. Fuse Dan with spirit and gain 10000 years of longevity! For mystical beasts, middle level bloodlines and above are able to cultivate the spirit when we learn about our elemental affinity because of our naturally strong bodies. All mystical beasts cultivate in accordance to our inheritance, but in the end, all of our cultivation will have stages comparable to human cultivation stages. Mystical beasts are naturally superior to humans, but humans have numbers! With numbers comes more possibilities unlike mystical beasts who have trouble  producing children. Gera is a middle level bloodline three horned tiger. He should have been able to advance into a cultivation comparable to the Finalizing Dan stage considering his age, but why hasn¡¯t he advanced. I get a bad feeling about this Shar.¡±


    Shar laughed in contempt as he heard Franz speaking. He obviously view both humans and Gera as inferior beings, but he couldn''t help admit that humans have leverage with their numbers.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about Gera¡­ that old fool would have been at the Finalizing Dan stage if he actually tried. Instead, he ventures through the nooks and crannies of the forest to find gems. His love for gems is not even funny. I would say, if someone wants to trade a super valuable gem for the forest then he would definitely not hesitate to trade.¡±


    Franz face darkened as he spoke, ¡°He really is an old fool, but don¡¯t talk as if he already has control over the forest. There is a chance that Ora will win. Ora isn¡¯t a bad fellow, we¡¯ll get to keep our land if he gains control. As for the panda¡­ do you think Gera will try to find him?¡±


    A gust of air hit Franz¡¯s body as he spoke. Shar was already flapping his wings in preparation for take off. ¡°The panda will be fine. He holds no real threat to Gera as of now. Plus, Gera will be occupied with Ora. If he manages to win then we should say goodbye to our land. Other than that, Gera was out collecting Gems while the boss was taking care of the panda, so he shouldn¡¯t know about the panda as long as none of the other lords speaks up.¡±


    His voice faded as he flew off to the distance. Franz followed after looking at June and July once more. The two went to where the bloodbath of a battlefield was.

 Chapter 13: The Ten Lords

    June was still cultivating in silence. He didn¡¯t know that Franz and Shar was talking about him not too far away. He did what he has always done. Feel the Qi, gather it, then guide it to the dantian.


    With a thought, a book appeared in his mind. It was the book that he got from his inheritance. He began to search at the place where he left off before the situation with Boa appeared.


    June was delighted when he found the place where he stopped at last time. With excitement, he continued to read.


    ¡°The benefits of the spirit and matter stage are different from a normal spirit condensing cultivator. Before, you had to take in Qi and hold it in your dantian. The first step is to be able to feel and accumulate Qi. The next step is to nourish your spirit and keep condensing it.¡±


    From what June read, it would seem as if June wasn¡¯t really at a cultivation comparable to a spirit condensing cultivator because it would seem as if he hadn¡¯t really condensed his spirit to the point where it would be enough. However, this was one of the benefits of the spirit and matter stage. His spirit was nourished enough when he created the yin-yang symbol made of water and fire. The elemental Qi in the yin-yang symbol was absorbed by June, but that was not the only thing he absorbed. He also absorbed the spiritual power that the symbol held. This caused his spirit to be nourish and it was nourished enough to be comparable to an early spirit condensing cultivator.  The water and fire yin-yang symbol that he made allowed him to breeze through the starting point of cultivation.


    It allowed him to feel Qi and condense his spirit without any troubles. Normally, it would take quite a while for normal cultivators to condense their spirit to the point where it would be powerful enough for them to be called an early spirit condensing cultivator.


    First, they would train their bodies with the nourishment of Qi until it could handle a powerful spirit, but before that, they would have to try and control Qi with their weak spirit into their dantian and this was quite a task. After they nourished and trained their body enough, they would have to accumulate Qi and let it sit in the Dantian until there is enough to help their spirit condense to a certain point. When it condenses to the size of a fist, then and only then  would the cultivator reach the early spirit condensing stage.  The spirit would become smaller, but it would be denser and more powerful. This process would be faster if people had different way to cultivate like how mystical beasts have different ways from their inheritance. When the spirit becomes more powerful, the process of controlling Qi would easier.


    June was reading, but he was confused, so he asked July, ¡°The book in my mind says I should use my Qi and nourish my spirit. How do I do that?¡±


    July was slack-jawed as she answered his question with a question of her own.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t know how to nourish your spirit then how are you at a stage comparable to the spirit condensing stage?!¡±


    June replied meekly, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    July sigh and started to explain, ¡°A spirit is made from your will. It is like another you, but in spiritual form. Anyways, if I remember correctly, you just need to imagine yourself in your dantian and just think of it like you''re bathing in Qi.¡±


    When he hear the word bath, June let out a toothy grin and exclaimed, ¡°I love baths!¡±


    Sure enough, as June imagined himself in a bath, his spirit appeared in his dantian. The water and fire Qi swirled around his spirit and nourished it. His spirit was sitting on the small black and white Yin-Yang symbol while the Fire and water Yin-Yang nourished it.


    There was a small amount of Qi from June¡¯s Qi gathering sessions. It was nowhere close enough to the point where the spirit would advance to the middle stage, but there was still a small upgrade in strength.


    A comfortable feeling rose inside of June and a relaxed look appeared on his. When July saw his relaxed look, a smile broke out from her face while she thought, ¡°seems like he was able to do it.¡±


    ------------------------------------------


    Franz and Shar quickly reached the area around Boa¡¯s cave. Currently, it was silent, but they could feel trouble brewing up.


    A voice echo through their minds as they stopped in their tracks. ¡°Franz and Shar¡­ what brings you two here?¡±


    It was the voice of Ora! His voice was soft, but it sounded domineering. Franz replied, ¡°We¡¯re here to watch you guys fight it out. It should be a good fight, no? Where are you? We¡¯ll come to you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m in the boss¡¯s cave with Tinzu, Ahrn, and Sur,¡± said Ora. His voice reverberated through Franz and Shar¡¯s mind. The two immediately set off towards Boa¡¯s cave.


    When they arrived, Tinzu the silver-backed gorilla was there to greet them. ¡°Franz the Black-Tailed fox and Shar the Steel-Winged crane.¡±


    When they saw Tinzu, Shar cawed, ¡°Tinzu! How have you been lately? Our territories are far apart, so we don¡¯t see eachother often.¡±


    Tinzu huffed her reply, ¡°Been fine, lots of fighting lately though. Come in¡­ Ora has been expecting you guys.¡±


    The three walked into the cave and they were greeted by the sight of 3 other animals. Deer, snake, and hawk. Ora the deer, spoke up when he saw Franz and Shar.


    ¡°Franz, Shar, welcome! We are all forming an alliance for the time being. Are you guys here to join?¡±


    Franz¡¯s eyes twitched a bit before he replied, ¡°Join you? We would be the first ones to die if we did join your group.¡±


    ¡°That is right!¡± agreed Shar.


    Before Ora could speak up, a giant hawk spoke, ¡°Leave it Ora! These two are useless to us.¡±


    Shar glared at the hawk with contempt. ¡°Shut up Ahrn! Watch what you say before you regret it. What heavenly-eyed hawk you are! More like hell-eyed hawk!¡±


    ¡°What did you say you bastard?!¡± shouted Ahrn in rage. A greenish aura enveloped the both of them. It was obvious that Ahrn¡¯s green aura held more power though.


    ¡°Maybe you should watch what you¡¯re saying instead,¡± warned Ahrn.


    ¡°Fuck your moth¡­¡±


    Before Shar could curse Ahrn, Ora¡¯s domineering voice was heard. ¡°Let''s not fight. You can fight after we deal with Gera and the rest.¡±


    ¡°Those bastards with Gera¡­ they are forcing us to ally together! How shameful is this?! If only they didn¡¯t join him then we could kill Gera together in one quick swoop then be on our own ways.¡± The snake coiled in the right corner of the cave suddenly spoke up. His voice was eerie and sharp.


    ¡°You¡¯re right Sur, but I know what Kol, Lu, and Fera are thinking. Kol is just lazy, so he just wants to relax alongside the strongest of us. That just happens to be Gera, so there''s nothing we can do. He is a Million Year Old Turtle afterall. They are known for their laziness. I remembered that his father didn¡¯t even take care of him and just lazed around instead. As for Lu, there is no hope for him. He is a Star Washed Wolf and he¡¯ll only follow the strongest of us. It is in his blood. Fera on the other hand isn¡¯t on anyone¡¯s side.¡± Ora knew that there was no hope with Kol and Lu, but he had a slight thread of hope for Fera. If he wanted to be the new boss then he would have to win against Gera.


    The more people he had the better. Tinzu let out a low grunt, ¡°Fera the Thousand Feathered Sparrow. I know her too well¡­ she''s a good friend of mine afterall. Ora, you should forget about inviting Fera. She loves freedom and doesn¡¯t really care about her territory. In fact, her territory is the only reason why she is still in this forest. Otherwise, she¡¯ll be flying around the world by now. It would be better to let her go, otherwise, she might join with Gera.¡±


    Ora sighed heavily, ¡°Franz and Shar! If you two join then we might be able to win.¡±


    Franz looked at Shar and Shar looked back at him. The two have been great enemies for many years. Their territories were right next to each other and they often have disputes, but even after everything, they understood each other the most.


    Franz gave Ora a sharp look as he replied for the both of them, ¡°Sorry Ora, but we don¡¯t want to die early. We won¡¯t join you even if our land gets taken away. If that does happen then we will train until the day when we can get it back.¡±


    Sur wasn¡¯t happy at their response and glared at them. ¡°Your parents won¡¯t be happy if they knew that you abandoned the land that they passed down to you.¡±


    Shar didn¡¯t mind his glare at all and replied, ¡°If it gets taken away, then¡­ one day we will get it back. All of the older generation with the exception of Gera has ascended with the boss¡¯s ascension. They wouldn¡¯t know that we lost our territories for a bit, so it should be fine.¡±


    ¡°It is our responsibility to protect the land,¡± inclined Ora.


    ¡°We can¡¯t protect it if we¡¯re dead,¡± Franz replied sharply. ¡°He is right Ora, we cannot protect our land if we are dead,¡± said Tinzu.


    Ora threw away the thought of persuading Franz and Shar. He saw that the two of them were resolute in their decision.


    ¡°Ok! It is all or nothing. Gera is probably waiting for us to weaken our guards. When we do, he will strike! We must be vigilant at all times. When the time of fighting comes, Sur and Ahrn will distract Lu while Tinzu will deal with Kol. I will face off with Gera. If all comes to naught then I will at least take him down with me.¡±


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Ora was heroic and the other mystical beasts saw this side of him. However, being heroic does not mean that the fight will be automatically won.


    --------------------------------


    June stopped nourishing his spirit after the water and fire yin-yang symbol in his dantian disappeared. He was filled with vitality and it was a refreshing experience. Cultivating took a lot of time. It was already noon. The sun hung in the middle of the sky and showed the earth with light.


    For June, this meant that it was time to eat. July could only shake her head at his rumbling stomach and pluck a Dai fruit to hand to him. Unfortunately, one Dai fruit was not enough to satisfy his hunger. As she plucked the second Dai fruit, she noticed that the tree that produces the fruit was almost out of stock. She handed the second Dai fruit to June, but he didn¡¯t take it.


    His focus was on a little rabbit drinking from the pond. He eyed the rabbit like it was already cooked. Such delicious meat was something that he must have!


    He slowly crept up on the rabbit. His footsteps were not heard by the rabbit and soon he was close enough to where he could catch it with a pounce.


    June was oddly patient, maybe it because of his need for meat that he acted like this. With one fell swoop, he quickly jumped on the rabbit and held it down. His skirt made of leaves fluttered and that revealed his polished buttocks, but he had caught the rabbit.


    No matter the difficulties, meat was meat afterall. June ran to July while carrying the white coated rabbit in his hands.


    ¡°Meat,¡± he said, ¡°I want to eat!¡± July had a complex look on her face. ¡°How can a panda love meat so much?¡± she thought to herself.


    June gave July the rabbit and expected her to cook it, but July was not a cook. What was even worse was that she could not make fire.


    ¡°I can¡¯t make fire, so I don¡¯t think we can eat this,¡± she said. Her words broke June¡¯s heart, but he was determined. He held out his right hand and asked about the process of making fire as he took the rabbit.


    July¡¯s body was made out of water¡¯s essence, so she didn¡¯t have to eat and thus, she did not have a need for fire, but for June¡¯s sake, she recalled the process of making fire.


    She remembered within a few seconds. With a proud tone, she explained, ¡° You have to rub two sticks together until you get a fire.¡±


    There was also the process of making fire with flint, but she was sure that there was not any flint around the area.


    June did not know why rubbing two sticks together would create fire, but he trusted July, so his face brightened as he leapt off to find two sticks with the little rabbit in his hands.


    He sat down on the rabbit after he found two sticks that had the same length. He positioned the sticks in a cross shape as he began to rub them together. He used all his strength and effort, but his hands did not get any blisters. His body had the toughness of a spirit condensing cultivator afterall.


    June rubbed and rubbed, but it was to no avail. The sticks only felt warm. There was not even a hint of fire showing up. He started to doubt what July told him and thought about other ways to create fire.


    After a while, June was able to come up with an idea. He sat and cultivated for a few hours to replenish the Qi in his dantian then carried on with his plan.


    His plan was to use Fire Qi to create a fire. It was just like how he used his spirit to guide the Qi into his dantian, but this time, he guided it to his right hand.


    His right hand instantly glowed red and he felt a great amount of power in his hands. The stick in his right hand got broke from the unexpected strength. It also ignited and lit up with searing fire. June jumped around laughing wildly. His idea was a success!


    The red membrane covering his hand protected him from the fire as he ran to July. He wanted to show her his creation.


    ¡°You actually created fire?¡± said July when she saw the burning stick. She didn¡¯t expect the him to make a small fire when she told him about the method. It was a primitive method, but it was the only one that was available could use. She didn¡¯t think about the possibility of June having an affinity with fire.


    ¡°How did you do it?¡± she asked.  June grinned as he answered proudly, ¡°I used fire Qi!¡¯


    ¡°Oh! Using the heat from your fire Qi to create fire. Not bad,¡± she said, ¡°You¡¯re learning.¡±


    Before the fire ran out, July got some more sticks and added them together. Soon enough, the fire became bigger and bigger as more sticks were added. The crackling fire excited June and gave him warmth.


    It was already evening and he was hungry. His rumbling stomach could not hide it. Without hesitation, June threw the rabbit into the fire impatiently. July was not fast enough to stop him. She wanted to tell him that he would need to gut it first, but what has happened cannot be undone.


    The fire quickly cooked the rabbit and soon, it was ready to eat. The fur was burnt off by the fire, so the cooked meat was shown. From July¡¯s perspective, the meat was inedible and the insides would surely be a mess, but June was quite happy.


    He bit off a chunk and savored the burnt flavor. He was the kind of person that couldn''t go without meat.  July thought that it was strange, but seeing June eating happily made her warm and happy too.


    ---------------------------------------------------------


    As the days pass, Ora became more anxious. He could feel a sense of dread rising in his red antlers. Gera on the other hand was completely relaxed.


    ¡°Lu, when do you think the others will come? I¡¯m getting tired of waiting,¡± said Gera. His ancient voice spreaded throughout the cave thoroughly. His whiskers were white along with some of his fur. Anyone could tell that he was an old fellow.


    Lu looked at the outside of Gera¡¯s gem covered cave. ¡°They should come soon.¡±


    Gera eyed Lu and saw a shadow of an old acquaintance. ¡°You look and act just like your father. You star washed wolves are one of a kind,¡± he said with a tint of remembrance


    Lu¡¯s body stiffened as he heard Gera, but he quickly gained his composure and said nothing.


    A scoff came from Gera as he looked at Kol in the corner. Kol was sleeping and it seemed as if he would never awaken. ¡°Lazy as ever. You lot are really like your parents,¡± he remarked.


    Gera became impatient after two weeks of waiting. If Ora and the others would not come to him then he would come to them. The three set off of from his territory and reached Boa¡¯s cave shortly after.


    ¡°Ora! I¡¯ve come!¡± shouted Gera with his ancient voice. ¡°So you have,¡± said Ora as his figure came out of the cave. Sur, Ahrn, and Tinzu were alongside him while Shar and Franz were watching from a distance.


    ¡°Gera! We don¡¯t have to fight like this. As long as you let us keep our territories then we would hand over the position of being boss to you,¡± said Ora.


    Gera¡¯s eyes sharply looked at Ora before he said, ¡°The position of being boss is nice. I¡¯ve been under your parents for such a long time. It was only recently that i¡¯ve gotten my own territory, but there are things that I need to do in your territories. I¡¯ll let you lot keep your territories, but you should let me excavate some gems. You all know how much I like gems.¡±


    The rest of the lords looked at each other. Let Gera find gems in their territory? That would be easy, but finding gems would require lots of the land being dug up. They would never allow their land to be dug up like that. They are prideful beings. Another person stepping on their land and messing it up? They would never allow that. They¡¯ve all seen  Gera¡¯s land and what they saw was a mess. Mounds and holes everywhere. This was a true gem loving maniac.


    ¡°Don¡¯t push it Gera,¡± threatened Sur.


    Ora stepped up and lowered his antlers threateningly. ¡°It seems like actions are more powerful than words in this situation,¡± he said. A brown membrane of Earth Qi covered his body. It was apparent that he was ready to fight.


    ¡°It seems like we really have to fight,¡± said Gera. ¡°Why don¡¯t we do it this way. We will fight, but it will just be me and Ora. The rest can watch. This will be a fight to the death.¡±


    The others looked around and conflict could be seen in their eyes. Could they really let their land hang on Ora? They knew that they had to, but they were reluctant.


    Ora saw their nervousness and stepped up. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if I cannot win then I will take him down with me. I¡¯d rather die than let my land get touched by this gem loving maniac.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± said the group. As soon as they said that, a membrane of Fire Qi enveloped Gera¡¯s feline body. His three horns looked menacing compared to Ora¡¯s antlers.

 Chapter 14: The Week of Fire

    The two went in a circle for a while until Gera took action. He swiftly pounced towards and slashed with his right paw. Everyone could feel the heat and power emanating from his deadly claws. They all stared sternly and didn¡¯t dare to look away from this unforgettable fight.


    Ora was in danger, but he held his ground. His movements were simple as he met his antlers with the terrifying paw. It was a fight of offense and defense. Fire Qi and Earth Qi bursted out and dispersed into the air with every collision. The surrounding area started to get affected.


    Left and right! Right and left! Gera slashed with all his might. His roars accompanying his attacks brought shivers to the other lords. This guy was ancient, but he is still terrifying!


    Every slash was block by Ora¡¯s red antlers. He was not pushed back at all.


    Boom!


    Another collision occurred and the two were separated. It was only a short moment, but they had spent quite a bit of Qi.


    Guah! Ora front legs began to wobble a bit. His eyes were beginning to turn red and he could feel his body slowly turning numb.


    ¡°Haha! Can you feel my profound Qi Ora?¡± laughed Gera.


    ¡°Hmph, poison? Guess you don¡¯t know about my profound Qi,¡± said Ora as his body slowly started to glitter. It was obvious that he was healing himself with his profound Qi.


    ¡°So that''s the type of profound Qi you have! As expect!¡± roared Gera as he pounced towards Ora once more. How could he allow his opponent to heal?! This time, his right paw was filled with Fire Qi to the brim. The explosive power behind it sent a chill down Ora¡¯s back.


    He wanted to dodge, but how could he dodge Gera¡¯s attack when he was clearly slower? He could only push all his Qi towards his antlers to block the incoming attack.


    BOOOOOM!


    The explosion from the collision destroyed the surrounding area and made the other lords back off into a distance. Gera was unfazed by the damage he caused. He looked at Ora and unexpectedly saw him still standing. However, his body was burned and charred by the baleful Fire Qi.


    The other lords sighed as they looked at the scene. It was clear that Ora had lost. His Qi was mostly spent and his body was heavily injured. They had the difference of one stage afterall.


    Krr! Krrr! Krr!


    The sound of cracking was heard from Ora. Gera looked at him and felt a burst of happiness.


    ¡°Finally! Those annoying antlers are gone! Hahaha!¡± laughed Gera. That was right! The antlers that Ora had so much pride in was breaking down and falling on the ground. His antlers were no more.


    Ora felt his heart churning as he stared at Gera hatefully. ¡°Laugh while you can,¡± he said.


    ¡°SHIT! FRANZ! Run!¡± cawed Shar. Franz noticed the situation and ran for his life with Shar. The other lords followed with worried faces.


    At that moment, Ora was laughing hatefully at Gera while running towards him. Gera saw this and knew what was going to happen.


    ¡°Dan implosion! So you really are going to Dan implode aren¡¯t you Oraaaaa?!¡± he shouted.


    Ora said nothing as he quickly reached Gera. His body brightly glowed and imploded.


    BOOOOOOM!


    The explosion even had more power than Gera¡¯s last attack. Luckily, the other lords were at a distance already so they escaped without any problems. They felt the shock wave of the explosion and sucked in cold breaths.


    ¡°Dan implosion is really ridiculous,¡± they thought.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    After the explosion died down, the lords turned around, but before they did anything, a loud roar was heard.


    ¡°Oraaaaaaa!! You really exploded your Dan! FUCK! MY TREASURED GEM!¡±


    ¡°How is Gera still alive?!¡± said Franz in a low voice.


    ¡°Like I would know!¡± Shar rebuked. The two looked from a distance and saw that Gera was looking at the ground.


    A dark pentagonal shaped figure of a gem was embedded onto the ground. They suddenly knew why Gera was mad.


    ¡°Gera must have used one of his precious gems,¡± said Franz.


    ¡°Is there a gem like that?¡± questioned Shar.


    ¡°Tch, who knows. That bastard has been searching for gems his entire life. Probably one of his lucky encounters or something.¡±


    Shar looked towards the Gera and sigh heavily. ¡°It seems like he is our new boss.¡±


    Franz¡¯s eyes squinted, ¡°nothing we can do about it. Let''s go!¡±


    The two silently went back to their territories. It was not their place to question who would or would not be the new boss of the forest.


    The other lords also saw that Gera was furious. They knew that if he saw them, the outcome would not be good, so they also went back to their territories. He was now their new boss and nothing could be done about it.


    As for Ora¡­ they did not think of anything about his death at all.


    On the other hand, Gera was in a rage. The precious gem that he found many years ago due to a luck was used and destroyed. He thought of it as his own child and even slept with it, but his life was more important than a gem and he knew that. However, he was still furious. His rage lasted for seven days and seven nights. All of the anger built up in him was released on the surroundings and like that, the week of fire was born.


    -----------------------------------


    The ground rumbled and shook as explosions could be heard in the distance. Although they were quite far away from the area of fighting, June and July could feel the power of the explosions.


    In the past two weeks, the only things June did was sleep, eat, train, and play with July. It was an endless cycle, but sometimes he wouldn¡¯t eat. More like, he did not have enough food to eat. The fruits were all eaten so he could only rely on the small animals coming to drink from the pond for food. The problem was that the animals did not come everyday.


    To relieve his hunger, he would train, but that was boring to him so he went to play with July instead.


    ¡°What is happening?¡± June asked as the sounds of explosions continued.


    July looked towards the direction of the explosions with curiosity. ¡°I don¡¯t know either,¡± she said with a shake of her head.


    Grr¡­ Grr¡­ Grr¡­


    July heard the sounds of June¡¯s stomach grumbling and looked at him with eyes filled of worry.


    ¡°I¡¯m hungry,¡± he said. He did not dare go outside the area around the pond to hunt for food because of demonic beasts.


    July hugged June tightly and felt her heart ache. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that i¡¯m so useless,¡± she said. ¡°Why don¡¯t I tell you a story to take your mind away from hunger.¡±


    ¡°Ok!¡± he said earnestly as he laid his head on her bosom and closed his eyes slowly. The sound of her voice slowly brought his mind away from his hunger.


    ¡°There was a human by the name of Hal¡­¡± Her voice was drowned by the sounds of explosions, but June could hear it clearly. He felt warm and soothed by her voice and the story held his interest, but he slowly drifted to sleep.


    July saw him slowly falling asleep and let out a bright smile as she continued, ¡°He loved a woman by the name of Aer¡­¡­.¡±

 Chapter 15: Leaving the Nest

    The forest was quiet after Gera became the new boss. They did not want to incur his wrath. Just like this, a full ten years passed by quickly.


    The search for gems on the other lord¡¯s territories started when Gera calmed down from the destruction of one of his precious gems. The search first began on Shar¡¯s territory and it would last for a whole ten years. It was based on the least land to the greatest and Franz¡¯s land happened to be next based on the amount of land he had.


    ¡°Boss!¡± said Franz as he held his head down. Gera looked at him and smiled. (animals can smile right?)


    ¡°Your land looks like it would hold a lot of treasures Franz,¡± said Gera. ¡°I was disappointed with Shar¡¯s land. It didn¡¯t have much gems as I thought it would. I even searched everywhere.¡±


    Motherfucker, you sure did¡­ Shar¡¯s land is ruined¡­ Don¡¯t know whether I should be happy or sad about that¡­(Franz thoughts will be italicized)


    ¡°Yes boss! I take care of my land,¡± said Franz.


    ¡°Good! You should take me on a tour of your land. I expect a lot of things from you. Maybe I will give you a gift if I happen to find some good gems,¡± said Gera happily.


    ¡°Will do boss! Follow me.¡±


    This guy¡­ he won¡¯t get too suspicious if we see that panda along the way right? I¡¯m sure no one has told him. They have no reason to tell him, so it should be fine.


    Franz lead Gera around his territory and Gera was happy with what he saw. Franz¡¯s land was had a lot of rocky areas and gems could found in those pretty easily. They walked around for three days and three nights until they came upon the area where June was at. Franz was reluctant to take Gera there, but even if he didn¡¯t, the old guy would have to go there later on his search of gems.


    Franz stopped in his tracks and said, ¡°Boss, the land ahead of me is not rocky at all. There should not be any gems!¡±


    Gera laughed it off as he rebuked, ¡°Nonsense! There will be gems where there will be land. Even if I have to dig deep and wide, I will find them.¡±


    ¡­ I¡¯m ruined. My land!!!!!!!!  You motherfucker!!!!


    Feeling dejected, Franz could not talk back at all as he lead Gera further on. As soon as they reached the point to where they could see July, Franz shivered in disgust. He looked towards Gera and shivered even more. The old guy¡¯s fur was standing up and he was panting wildly.


    ¡°So this is what you were trying to hide Franz! Haha, I will forgive you this time. Such a great opportunity! A sylph! How wonderful!¡± Gera exclaimed.


    This is wierd. Why is this bastard so excited about the sylph? Where is the panda anyways?


    ¡°What is so good about a sylph boss? They may be rare, but there is nothing useful about them,¡± said Franz.


    ¡°You don¡¯t get it Franz! This is a golden opportunity! A long time ago, I found a book on sylphs. At first, I thought it wasn¡¯t useful to me, but I decided to read it after letting it rot in my cave for many years. I was bored at that time. Who would have thought that the book would give me knowledge about the rarest of gems.¡±


    Franz was puzzled, so he asked,  ¡° The rarest of gems? What kind of gem is it?¡±


    ¡°Ah! It is a gem made out of elemental essence. A gem that can only be made from the will of an element! It lies in the heart of a sylph and forms their body. Since this sylph is a water sylph, the gem would be called Water¡¯s Tears. If it was a fire sylph then it would be called Fire¡¯s Tears and so on. I¡¯ve truly hit jackpot this time! We must get that gem from the sylph before she hides!¡±


    Franz¡¯s face hardened as he said, ¡°Will the sylph be able to survive?¡±


    ¡°Survive or not, why does it matter to you?! However, I will tell you that she won¡¯t die since this is a happy occasion. The only thing that will happen to her is that her body will disappear. As long as I can get that gem, the loss from ten years ago would be worth it!¡± exclaimed Gera.


    The panda brat seems quite close to this sylph. If he finds out and enacts revenge because of this¡­


    ¡°Let us go get the gem for you boss! I didn¡¯t know such a great gem existed in the sylph. If I knew, then I would have told you!¡± said Franz. This was a chance to incite June to kill Gera. It was better for Franz if there were more people that wants to kill Gera.


    Gera excited rushed forward at his maximum speed and the ground below him caved at the force. Franz tried his best to follow.


    ¡°Who-¡± Before July could say anything, Gera had already topped her and immediately slashed at her chest with his claws. Blood flew and splashed as his slash connected.


    Gera greedily took one of his claws and pulled out a azure teardrop looking gem from July¡¯s heart.


    ¡°So beautiful! Truly beautiful!!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Ah-¡± groaned July. After the gem was taken, the blood from the ground started to disappear. Her body was also vanishing.


    Gera put the gem into his mouth and said to Franz, ¡°I will be going back now. This is such a fortuitous encounter. As for your reward¡­ I will not search for anymore gems in your territory for the time being.¡± His figure slowly disappeared as he left Franz and July behind.


    For the time being? Motherfucker! You¡¯re saying that you¡¯ll search later?! What kind of reward is this?!!


    Franz looked at the vanishing July and felt a little bit sorry. Guilt clouded his mind as he asked, ¡°What can I do for you?¡±


    July clench her teeth as her body was disappearing. It was a startling and confusing situation for her. It all just happened so fast and this made it so that she could not put the parts together in time.


    ¡°Body¡­ water¡­¡± voiced July as she pointed to the pond.


    ¡°Alright,¡± said Franz. He picked up July¡¯s body with his mouth and hurriedly threw her into the pond. He felt a little bit better as he did the deed. After, he quickly ran off to a distance to watch what would happen next. He wanted to see what June¡¯s reaction was when he came back.


    Fuck! Don¡¯t you be guilty now Franz! This is my chance! The old boss¡¯s kid should have a strong bloodline¡­ that''s right¡­ this a chance! No need to feel guilty!


    The sun was beginning to set down and night was nigh, but June had not come back yet. July was still nowhere to be seen. After the sun set, a figure was seen coming out of the dense forest and into the clearing around the pond.


    That figure was exactly June. His sleek black hair grew longer with his age and his chubbiness had long disappeared from the lack of eating. The youthful chubbiness that he had was replaced by a set of muscles that defined his body. It was like he had no body fat at all. Quite different from how a panda is supposed to be, but this was the result from starving several times. His handsome face was covered by dirt and that made him look like a beggar. However, the calm savagery in his eyes showed otherwise. His hair and body was also dirty, but he did not mind at all. The breeze between his legs that came because of the protection-less skirt was quite uncomfortable though. With time, he grew more handsome and tall. His height was now a toppling 1.9 meters. If his body was not starved of nutrition for years because of the lack of food, then he would definitely be considered burly. He was carrying about three big rabbits in his arms as he looked around.


    June¡¯s eyes sought around for July, but she was nowhere to be seen.


    ¡°July! I¡¯m back!¡± shouted June. His rambunctious voice shook the trees and earth.


    Franz looked from afar and his relieved face revealed a bit of his thoughts. Finally, He¡¯s here! This panda has grown up. I wonder how the old boss would feel if he saw this little fellow now. Ugh¡­ can¡¯t think about the old boss anymore. It¡¯s making me remember that bastard Gera. Alright¡­ let¡¯s see what happens next.


    ¡°July! Where are you? I¡¯m back from hunting!¡± yelled June. The splashing of water from the pond was heard. When he heard this, June let out a wonderful smile as he ran towards the pond.


    ¡°I¡¯m here!¡± July¡¯s merry voice rang out as June was running towards her. Her body emerged from the pond naked and it was a sight to see, but June did not care about that at all as he asked, ¡°Taking a bath?¡±


    From afar, Franz was puzzled with the sight of July. He expected that she had already disappeared. This is wierd! Unless that Gera was wrong, then that sylph should be gone already. I was expecting a bit of grievance from the kid. Then I would swoop down and tell him about what happened.


    ¡°Yup!¡± July replied happily. It was as if the situation with Gera did not happen at all. ¡°You¡¯re not hurt today are you?¡± she asked.


    Today was the day that June went out to hunt. He doesn¡¯t go too far because of demonic beasts and he tries his best to be sneaky about it so he doesn¡¯t attract their attention. The first time that he did this, he was almost killed by a Treehouse cat, but he was far enough from it so it was only able to get a single slash before July pummeled it with a water ball.


    Still, that slash almost killed June. If not for July¡¯s ability to heal with water, then June would have bleed to death. This often happens whenever he goes out to hunt, so he does not dare go too far away from the pond. He would not have to go out to hunt if there was enough food, but unfortunately, food was scarce.


    ¡°Not today,¡± replied June as he held up the rabbits in his hand. All of his hunts required patience, so June developed quite a bit of patience along the way. It was a hunter''s skill that was very useful.


    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± said July. ¡°June¡­ do you still think about going outside and exploring?¡±


    Her question was sudden, so she surprised June, but he smile and replied, ¡°I always think about it, but the thought of leaving you here also tears my heart.¡±


    ¡°But why are you bringing this up now? The last time I brought it up, you cried and begged for me not to go while saying that i¡¯m breaking my promise,¡± he asked with a wry smile.


    ¡°I wanted you to stay, but I¡¯ve decided that it may be time for the bird to leave its nest. My heart pains when  I see you stare off into the distance everyday. I tell you stories about the world outside of this area, but I don¡¯t let you go experience it for yourself. I feel like I am holding you back and I don¡¯t want that,¡± July said.


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    June felt warm throughout his entire body.  He really did think about what was outside of the area around the pond a lot. His curiosity was excited by the stories July would tell him. Stories from the time when she was still a simple spirit with a soul that roamed around and followed water.


    His days while living in the area around the pond was simply boring. If he did not have July and the goal of cultivating to one day meet his father again, then he would have long died by boredom.


    His cultivation was going smoothly. In terms of human cultivation, it would be exceedingly fast. In a mere ten years, he was able to reach the peak of the early spirit condensation stage.  After his soul reaches the size of a small ball that is smaller than a fist, then he would be considered as a middle spirit condensing stage cultivator.


    June smiled at July as he said, ¡°I really do think about exploring the world a lot, but I can¡¯t just leave you.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me¡­ I will be fine,¡± July said as she forced a smile.


    ¡°Even so, how can I possibly leave this place? If I go too far then¡­ I will definitely get killed by those demonic beasts.¡±


    It was reality. Even if he wanted to leave, the chance of him being able to leave alive is slim.


    ¡°I can help with that.¡± The voice that popped out of nowhere startled June and July. As they looked towards the direction of the voice, their faces twisted in surprise.


    ¡°Is that you uncle Franz?!¡± shouted June.


    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ ¡°  July¡¯s voice was quiet and it was swept over by June¡¯s voice, so they could not hear her.


    June¡¯s memory of Franz was hazy, but he remembered that Franz was one out of two lords that he played with the most. It was a bittersweet memory. In fact, all the memories that had to do with Boa was a bittersweet memory.


    Franz looked at the two with a complicated expression on his fox face. He didn¡¯t expect that July would still be able to have a body without the water¡¯s tear gem. Even so, he still thought that she would tell June about her circumstances, but instead, she told him to go far away and explore. He clearly knew what she was doing and he did not want the outcome to be this way, so he wanted to step up himself, but he realized that what he was doing was foolish.


    He actually knew from the start that what he hoped for was foolish, but his desperation took control of him.


    I actually almost ruined the panda. He is still young, so if I tell him, he might rush into his death instead. Hah¡­ what am I thinking¡­ even if I want him to kill Gera, who knows how long he would take. I was foolish. Since i¡¯ve already stepped up, I might as well help a bit.


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± said Franz. ¡°I am able to take you out of the forest.¡±


    June was surprised and happy to see Franz, but with a downcast face, he said, ¡°Why are you here uncle Franz? You don¡¯t have any reason to help me anymore. Father isn¡¯t with me anymore.¡±


    ¡°This is my territory, so why should I not be here? I should be the one to ask you that question. Plus, it doesn''t matter if the boss isn¡¯t here. I owed him many favors, so this is just me trying to redeem myself.¡± It was true that Franz owed Boa, but he didn¡¯t actually carry out with it. This was just his way of doing something nice for June without making June think that he was trying to be nice.


    ¡°Thank you uncle Franz,¡± June said with a bow.


    ¡°You¡¯ve really grown up haven¡¯t you? This time I can only take you to the edge of the forest. I can¡¯t leave the forest right now.¡±


    ¡°But¡­ I don¡¯t think I can just leave July.¡± He had a complex look on his face. He was excited about going to places where he has heard so much about, but to leave July was not an easy thing to do.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me. I want you to leave,¡± July said.


    ¡°Do you really want me to leave that much?¡± asked June.


    ¡°Yes, I do.¡± July held his hand firmly as if she was unwilling to let go, but she let it go after a while. ¡°The world is vast. I don¡¯t want you to share my curse and suffer my fate. I want you to explore and be free. One day, when you are strong enough to come back and visit. At that time, you can tell me your stories and experiences.¡±


    June clench his hands and teeth. His entire body was trembling. ¡°Ok, i¡¯ll go and I will come back when i¡¯ve experienced the world. Don¡¯t you go missing me, ok?¡±


    He stood up and walked over to Franz. ¡°Uncle Franz, please take me outside,¡± he asked.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go right now,¡± said Franz.


    ¡°Wait! Let me tell July something.¡± June ran back to July and gave her a hug that she will never forget and whispered, ¡°You know¡­ i¡¯ve always thought of you as my mother. You¡¯ve taught me a lot in the time we¡¯ve been together. You¡¯ve consoled me whenever I became sad and we cried together if we had to. You¡¯ve brought light to my world. You¡¯ve healed me when I was hurt. It¡¯s because of your laughter and silliness that I am who I am today. Years ago, you said that it was a persona that you created to take your mind away from your curse, but I don¡¯t believe that it is a persona anymore. It is you and I love that part of you. One day, when I am done with my journey, I will come back and I will bring along a cure for your curse, so wait for me, ok?¡±


    Droplets of tears fell down both of their faces. July felt the sincerity and love in his voice. She secretly told herself that she will never forget the words that he said today.


    ¡°I will wait for you,¡± she said softly. ¡°I believe that you can do it.¡±


    It was their moment, but it did not last long. They separated and June walked back to Franz.


    ¡°I¡¯m ready now Uncle Franz,¡± he said.


    ¡°You sure took your time,¡± said Franz. Actually, Franz was also pulled into the mood and almost cried himself. I may be a crafty and sly fox, but I, your father, am an emotional guy. Ugh, I can¡¯t bear to watch this anymore¡­


    June laughed wryly as he climbed on Franz. Franz was at least five times bigger than a normal fox, so it didn¡¯t look too ridiculous, but it was still a weird feeling.


    ¡°Fuck, you¡¯re 16 now and you¡¯re still mounting me! How embarrassing is this?!¡± complained Franz. ¡°No goodbyes or farewells?¡± he asked as he prepared to take off.


    June laughed wryly again. It was indeed pretty embarrassing for him to do what he used to do when he was younger. After he got his fair share of embarrassment, seriousness appeared on his face. ¡°No, this is not goodbye or farewell. We will see each other again one day, so I will say something else.¡±


    ¡°Alright, after you say it, I will start moving.¡±


    ¡°Ok!¡± June turned towards July and smiled brightly as he shouted with his rambunctious voice, ¡°July! See you later!¡± His voice carried off into the distance as the two disappeared from July¡¯s sight.


    ¡°See you later,¡± she said softly. Tears couldn¡¯t stop flowing down her face. ¡°This is for the best¡­¡±


    ---------------------------------


    Compared to Boa, Franz was slower by a large margin, but his speed was enough to get June to the border of the forest in about a day. He ran non-stop, so he was quite tired.


    He huffed and puffed as he carried the teenager on his back.


    ¡°We¡¯re here,¡± said Franz. This was a really exhausting journey for him.


    ¡°Thank you uncle Franz,¡± June said as he looked back at the forest. He was already feeling homesick, but he was still excited for the journey to come.


    ¡°No need to thank me. I am just returning a favor. Alright, good luck! I¡¯m going to go now.¡±


    This was my chance to tell him, but it¡¯s better if he finds out about it himself when he is older and stronger. I can¡¯t be impatient¡­


    Franz quickly disappeared before June could say anything. June sighed at his current situation. He was basically naked if his skirt was not included. In addition, he was very dirty, so he wanted to clean himself. He was hoping that Franz would have some solutions, but that is not possible now.


    He looked onwards the plains opposite to the forest. He wondered how long it would take before he reached human settlements.


    -----------------------------------------


    After Franz left June, he quickly ran back to where July was. He took another day to get back and by then, he was very exhausted. His legs could barely stand and his body was trembling.  I should have took a breather¡­


    ¡°Water sylph! You¡¯re here aren''t you? I don¡¯t know how you can manifest a physical  body after losing your gem, but that doesn¡¯t matter. What i want to know is why? Why would you not tell the panda about your situation?¡± Franz was indeed curious, so he came to July for answers.


    The water in the pond rippled and July appeared before Franz. She looked at him with a complicated expression on her face as she said, ¡°It¡¯s because I love him. I don¡¯t want him to get hurt because of me.¡±


    ¡°Love huh? Such a word is foreign to me¡­¡± said Franz. His gaze abruptly turned towards the pond and he suddenly noticed what was going on.


    I see¡­ she is using the pond¡¯s water to manifest her body.


    However, the pond was quickly getting drained of water. The waterfall was raging in hopes of recovering the lost water in the pond and this helped a bit, but there was still water loss.


    ¡°How long do you think you can last like that?¡± asked Franz as he looked at the pond. ¡°If he comes back and finds that you¡¯re not here¡­ wouldn¡¯t that hurt him more?¡±


    July twitched as she said, ¡°I will be fine as long as I don¡¯t manifest a body. The waterfall will replenish the pond... ¡°


    ¡°What if he dies out there? Are you not worried?¡±


    ¡°Fate is on his side. I am confident that he will survive, so I will wait for the time when he comes back to me¡­¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ do whatever you  have to do,¡± said Franz as he stared at her. His stare made July uncomfortable, but Franz left after he said what he had to say.


    July sigh in relief as she looked towards the dense collation of trees off in the distance. She was thinking about June as her body turned back into water.

 Chapter 16: A String Has Been Tied

    June looked off into the distance and sighed. He had been walking for half a day, but there was still no signs of human settlements. The plains held grass everywhere and it seemed like there was no end to it. His stomach grumbled and he knew that it was time to eat, but he did not see anything that he could catch and cook. At that moment, he regretted the action of leaving the rabbits that he caught back at the pond.


    June looked at the sky and smiled brightly as he ignored his hunger. He was alone, but he didn¡¯t feel lonely or anxious anymore. This was a journey that he was looking forward to. He was all grown up now.


    After ten more days of walking, June finally saw a small village from afar. He ran as fast as he could to the village, but he kept stumbling along the way. His hunger was at the brink of killing him.


    Ten days of no food was too much for June. Luckily, along the way, he met with a herd of buffalos, but he realized after catching one that he was not able to cook it. It would be the start of a wildfire if he tried to light up a fire and he did not want that, so he ate the buffalo raw.  The blood and meat quenched both his thirst and hunger, but it was quite sickening to him because he had eaten cooked food all of his life.


    The guards in front of the gate of the village saw a person who had a beggar like appearance running towards them with all his might. The malnourished muscles on the person¡¯s body told them that he was likely not a beggar and the blood on his face made them cautious.


    ¡°Halt! Stop where you are or we will stop you by force!¡± One of the guards yelled with all his might as he saw June. He thought that June was going to try and break into the village by force.


    It surprised him when June suddenly fainted in front of him. The two guards looked at each other in surprise.


    ¡°What should we do Hau?¡± said the guard on the right. It was apparent that he was talking to the guard on the left whose name was Hau.


    ¡°Let¡¯s take him in,¡± Hau said.


    ¡°But he looks dangerous!¡±


    ¡°Tie him up first and then we¡¯ll get answers out of him when he wakes up. Wen, can you go get the rope?¡±


    ¡°Alright!¡± said Wen. This was the name of the guard on the right. The two were villagers, but they were one of the strongest men in the village, so they were appointed as guards.


    After Wen brought a rope, Hau tied it on June very tightly. He wanted to make sure that June would not be able to escape. They carried him off into the small village. It was a village that held about three hundred people and 75 houses made out of wood, dirt, and hay.


    Everyone saw Hau and Wen carrying a person towards the center of the village. They were all curious as to who that person was so they followed the two towards the center of the village.


    By the time they reached the center of the village, about half of the people in the village was clustered there. Hau laid June on the ground and shouted, ¡°Can someone get me a bucket of water?¡±


    Sure enough, a bucket of water was handed to him in a short amount of time and he splashed the water on June¡¯s dirtied face.


    The water washed away some of the dirt that covered June¡¯s face and woke him up at the same time.


    ¡°Food¡­¡± he bellowed.


    Hau looked at him sharply and then he yelled, ¡°Get this person some food!¡±


    The villagers scrambled and brought food with quickness. After eating his fill, June looked at the villagers with thank in his eyes.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± he said.


    ¡°Who are you? What is your purpose? Why have you come?¡± asked Wen. The questions flooded June and he didn¡¯t know which to answer.


    ¡°Calm down Wen, the lad can¡¯t answer if you ask too many at the same,¡± stated Hau.


    June looked around and he was startled with what he saw. There were many people around him. The different faces that flooded his sight made him quite confused. Living in the desolated forest for so long has made him quite timid in front of others.


    In his confusion, he stated his name, ¡°my name is June.¡±


    Hearing him, Wen barked, ¡°We don¡¯t want your name! We want to know who you are and where you came from?¡±


    June was lost for words. ¡°Are all the humans rude like this?¡± he thought as he tried to remember the time when he visited Vern.


    Seeing Wen¡¯s rude behavior, Hau stepped in and said, ¡°Please don¡¯t mind him. We have to take caution to whoever comes in here from the outside, so may we please get your identity?¡±


    ¡°Ah, this person is nice,¡± June thought. ¡°I don¡¯t know who I am,¡± he said. It was a lie, but it didn¡¯t sound like one because part of it was true.


    Hau saw some truth in June¡¯s words, but he was the type of person to think before he acted. Wen on the other hand blatantly shouted out, ¡°Lies!¡± He was a character of doing before thinking. Quite opposite from Hau, but this was what made them good brothers.


    ¡°I sense some truth in his words. He may have memory loss,¡± said Hau. Wen looked at him and nodded.


    ¡°But he has blood on him,¡± exclaimed Wen.


    Hau inspected the blood on June closely and laughed, ¡°that is animal blood. He must have been so hungry that he ate what he caught raw.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ he does indeed look really famished.¡±


    Wen trusted Hau¡¯s judgement and didn¡¯t say anything further, but he still kept a close eye on June.


    ¡°So your name is June? Quite girly for a guy,¡± exclaimed Hau. ¡°We expect that you might have amnesia.¡±


    June was jaw slacked because his half-lie actually worked. Seeing him in a puzzled state, Hau started to really believe that June might have amnesia.


    ¡°You say your name is June, but how do you know that. Are you really amnestic?¡± Question Hau as he squinted his eyes.


    June started to sweat, but he held on and said, ¡°That¡¯s all I remember.¡±


    Wen was starting to get impatient, so he yelled, ¡°Let¡¯s just kill this guy Hau. Nothing good will come about if he is alive. Just look at him. All dirty and he isn¡¯t wearing anything except a skirt made out of leaves. He must be a war captive escapee. We should just kill him.¡±


    Hau thought for a moment before saying, ¡°You have a point Wen. It won¡¯t do us any good if we keep this guy and he is quite mysterious. Alright, let¡¯s kill him.¡±


    June¡¯s face paled at Hau¡¯s words. ¡°The guy seemed quite nice because he fed me food, but he is so merciless!¡± He was prepared to break the entanglement of the rope and run for his dear life, but a voice from afar stopped his actions.


    ¡°Wait!¡± The voice was high in pitch yet it held a domineering power. It was the voice of the girl who was running towards them. The crowd let her by and June saw her up close. She was young and looked a bit tomboyish. She stood at 1.8 meters and that was quite tall for a girl. Her long brown hair dropped down to her waistline and her black eyes glistened with life. If not for the fact that she was wearing a dress, June would have thought that she was a very girly boy according to her facial features. The sword that she carried also caught his interest.


    ¡°Father, don¡¯t kill him,¡± plead the girl as she looked at Hau. June was shocked when she called Hau her father. They did not look alike at all. Hau looked pretty frail even though he was very strong. He looked like a scholar with great knowledge. It was different from both his daughter and Wen who looked like they were strong.


    Hau looked back at the girl. ¡°Tel¡­ why are you here?¡±


    ¡°Father, you know i¡¯ve always wanted a servant. You never gave me one because it would cost money, but this is a chance for me to have one for free,¡± Tel exclaimed.


    ¡°You can¡¯t have him as a servant,¡± said Hau as he shook his head. ¡°It is too dangerous.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not dangerous,¡± she said. ¡°Look at this guy. He looks so weak! Even if he has a bit of muscle¡­ he can¡¯t compare to me. You know this.¡±


    Indeed, June did looked quite weak because of the lack of nutrition. He looked towards the girl named Tel and stare at her as he said, ¡°i¡¯m not weak.¡±


    She laughed it off and rebuked, ¡°You¡¯re weak! Just look at yourself!¡±


    ¡°Tel, even if you are stronger than him, he is still suspicious. We will kill him and get this over with,¡± said Hau.


    ¡°Please father!¡± begged Tel with watery eyes.


    Seeing her like this, Hau gave up. He trusted her strength and the boy named June looked quite weak. ¡°Alright,¡± he said.


    ¡°Yes! Thank you father!¡± yelled Tel as she hugged Hau. After the hug, she grabbed June¡¯s arm and pulled him away.


    Seeing the two run off, the villagers started to disperse in disappointment. They thought that there would be some excitement today.


    Tel brought June to her house. It was near the edge of the village in the south. It was like the other houses. There was nothing particularly eye-catching. It was a single room house and it had the essentials for living.


    June was knelt on the ground with a rope around his body. It was tight, but he could break away from it easily. He eyed Tel with curiosity.


    Seeing June look at her, Tel laughed brightly as she said,¡±I just saved your life! You¡¯re my servant now. Got it?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be a servant.¡± His voice was quiet, but Tel heard it clearly.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have a choice. Your life is in my hands,¡± she said. In fact, June could escape if he wanted to, but what good would that do? He did not want to be chased and even if he escaped, he didn¡¯t know when he would find another place to stay. He did not want to starve again. There was also the chance of someone stronger than him in the village, so he was stuck in quite a complicated situation.


    He could only sigh helplessly and say, ¡°Ok, I will be your servant, but what do I do as a servant?¡±


    ¡°Its simple! You do whatever I tell you to do. Just serve me and you¡¯ll have a good life,¡± Tel said as she looked at June with excitement. She saved June because thought that her Hau was being a bit too merciless. In the midst of her plea, she could only bring up her matters about wanting a servant. She knew that Hau would agree and planned to release June if he did not want to be her servant. Her words, ¡°Your life is in my hands¡± was only a joke, but she would have never thought that June would easily agree to her demands. How could she know that June actually took her words seriously?


    ¡°Alright! Let¡¯s start with introductions first! My name is Tella Bran. What is yours?¡±


    ¡°My name is June,¡± he said.


    ¡°June? That¡¯s quite a girly name for a guy. I¡¯m just going to call you Jun,¡± Tel said.


    June¡¯s eyebrows furrowed because he thought that it was weird how people kept saying that his name was girly. In the end, he decided that having a nickname wasn¡¯t bad.


    ¡°Can I call you Tel then?¡± he asked. He heard Hau called her that, so it was stuck with him.


    ¡°Of course not! You may call me Lady Tel,¡± said Tel as she held her head up proudly.


    June shook his head helplessly. ¡°This lady is eccentric, but it''s nothing I can¡¯t deal with,¡± he thought.


    Tel looked at June closely and realized that he was almost naked. She blushed in embarrassment. She also saw his dirtiness and said, ¡°You¡¯re really dirty! Let¡¯s get you washed up. My servant can¡¯t look like a beggar. I will get my father¡¯s clothes for you.¡±


    June did exactly what Tel wanted him to do after she passed him Hau¡¯s clothes. He washed himself of filth and put on Hau¡¯s clothes. He was now clean and covered up with trousers and a simple shirt. It was the normal wear for a common villager.


    When Tel saw June all tidied up, she was surprised because the guy who she thought to be a man was only a boy. He was handsome, but he looked frail because he was famished. The clothes covered up his muscles and this caused him to look weak.


    ¡°You- how old are you Jun?¡± she asked.


    ¡°As of this year, I am 16,¡± replied June. As she heard June¡¯s age, she was shocked. She was older than him by 4 years, but she thought that he was older than her earlier.


    ¡°Having a young servant isn¡¯t bad,¡± she thought. ¡°Ok! It is about time for me to practice with my sword. All you need to do is to stand on guard with some water.¡±


    Tel gave June a cup filled with water and told him to stand in place. She started practicing with her sword after she saw him doing what he was told.


    The sword was swiftly taken out of its scabbard by Tel and she swung it around in patterns. June watched and was very interested. He did not know how to use any weapons. He didn¡¯t have the chance to learn while being in the forest. He only had brute strength and that was it. It was sort of like having power, but not knowing how to use it properly.


    After thirty minutes of practicing, Tel was covered with sweat. It permeated through her dress which stuck to her wonderful figure. June handed her the water and she gulped it down to quench thirst.


    ¡°You¡¯re progressing wonderfully,¡± said Hau as he appeared out of the house. ¡°The Bran family¡¯s sword art is based on speed. You have to remember that.¡±


    ¡°I will remember!¡±


    ¡°The family has sent out a notice to all family members staying in villages to return. It seems urgent, so I am worried. We will set out tomorrow¡­. As for this servant¡­ we will leave him behind to take care of the house,¡± said Hau.


    ¡°But father! Can we take him? He will be able to carry our luggage. I¡¯m too lazy to carry anything anymore now that I have a servant,¡± Tel said.


    Hau eyed June, but his perception of June had changed dramatically. The change in appearance was quite shocking for him. He no longer looked like a beggar or prisoner, so going out in society was acceptable, but this was a family meeting. Hau couldn¡¯t possibly let a new servant come with them to a family meeting, so he sternly said, ¡°He will stay and that is final.¡±


    Tel hanged her head down in disappointment. She knew that when Hau sternly says something, he would not change his answer.


    ¡°Stay here and take care of the house, ok?¡± Tel said to June. He nodded his head and said, ¡°I will wait here.¡±


    Tel laughed happily as she exclaimed, ¡°having a servant is quite nice! Thank you father!¡±


    ¡°Since your happy, it is ok, but you cannot have anymore servants. Start packing up your things. We head out tomorrow!¡±


    The next day came quickly for the three of them. After packing the things they need, Tel and Hau went off to do their business and left June back at the house. In a way, they were quite irresponsible for leaving a servant who has only been their servant for one day alone at home, but the meeting was more urgent than the safety of their home, so they just did what they had to.


    June also did what he was told. He kept the house clean and tidy. When he was done cleaning, he would sit down to cultivate. He felt like he was quite close to the middle spirit and matter stage from the Qi that he had accumulated.


    A month passed by without much happening to the village. It was boring, but June was a patient. He learned that patience was a key to survival in the forest. This patience also helped him deal with cultivation and July with her eccentric persona.


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    In that month, June was able to advance to the middle spirit and matter stage. Cultivation was unlike skills. For example, to be proficient with a sword, you would have to put in effort and hard work, but it also required comprehension and enlightenment to progress. If people reach a certain proficiency and they are unable to progress, then they will be stuck in a bottleneck. This does not apply with cultivation because cultivation is only accumulative. As long as June was able to accumulate enough Qi to nourish his soul, then he would be able to progress smoothly, but the process of accumulating Qi required talent, so there would be differences in the amount of time people would advance.


    (Fyi: When Franz said that the average amount of time it would take a human to get to the spirit condensing stage is 30 years, it was only meant for people who had excellent talent.)


    June¡¯s spirit was now the size of a small ball and he could feel a change in the way that he could control his Qi. He felt that he was more proficient, so accumulating Qi became easier.


    He quickly celebrate with the food in the house. ¡°I¡¯ve made progress,¡± he thought. ¡°One step closer to meeting father and along the way¡­ I will definitely find a cure for July¡¯s curse.¡±


    The door to the house let out a creak and it was opened abruptly. ¡°Jun! I¡¯m back! Come greet this Lady of yours,¡± Tel yelled out with happiness.


    ¡°They¡¯re finally back. I have to greet her¡­ ¡°


    June quickly went to greet Tel with a bow. ¡°Welcome back Lady Tel!¡±


    Tel laughed, ¡°And here I thought that you would run away!¡± She patted June¡¯s head in delight. She did not think that June was actually this loyal.


    ¡°Seems like we can trust him,¡± Hau said as he looked around the house. ¡°It''s clean and nothing is missing except the food.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± shouted Tel. ¡°Did you hear that Jun? You can really be my servant now! Father finally accepts you! Don¡¯t worry, as someone older than you, I will make sure that you will not suffer and take care of you.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is good or bad, but as long as I can get information by staying with them, then I am willing to be a servant. Definitely not here for the food¡­¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡± said June with a bright smile. ¡°I don¡¯t have anywhere else to go so¡­ thank you.¡± Of course, June could go out and hunt for food, but there was still the situation with information. The villagers around him seemed to keep a distance away from him because of his mysteriousness, so he could only rely on Tel and Hau because they seemed like people who had connections.


    ¡°I wonder what type of family the Bran family is¡­ are they influential? I have to ask.¡±


    Before he could ask anything, a pair of arms wrapped around his body and pulled him.


    It surprised him that Tel had suddenly hugged him.


    ¡°Poor boy! You have nowhere to go to. If I remember, Father said something about you possibly being a war captive escapee. You must have gone through a lot! Don¡¯t worry! As I¡¯ve said, I will take care of you,¡± she said.


    Hau was on the side nodding his head. He seemed agree that war captives have a hard time.


    ¡°Erm¡­ Thank you¡± thanked June. ¡°Lady Tel¡­ may I ask what you a question?¡±


    ¡°Ask away,¡± she said.


    ¡°I was wondering what you were doing in the past month.¡±


    Tel suddenly laughed out, ¡°Although I can¡¯t tell you the content of the family meeting¡­ I¡¯ll tell you that i¡¯ve gotten stronger in the past month.¡±


    ¡°Stronger?¡±


    ¡°Yep! I am now a rank 8 body refiner,¡± Tel said proudly.


    ¡°What¡¯s a body refiner?¡± June asked with teeming curiosity.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know what a body refiner is? How have you been living till now?!¡± Tel was shock that June didn¡¯t know what a body refiner was, so she told him.


    ¡°A body refiner is a person who uses Qi to refine their body. They are split into ten ranks. Every rank is decided on the amount of weight you can carry. At rank one, they have to carry 100 pounds worth of weight and at rank 8, it is 800 pounds. When a person is at rank 10, they are able to carry 1000 pounds. At that point, their body is strong enough to hold a stronger spirit. After gathering enough Qi, they would need to nourish their soul and when the soul reaches the size of a fist, they could be considered as a spirit condensing cultivator.¡± Tel was very excited when she mentioned spirit condensing. It was a goal that every person  who refined their body would want.


    On the other hand, June was excited on the knowledge of body refining. July hadn¡¯t told him about it because he was already passed that stage. It was like running before walking.


    ¡°Can you keep refining your body after you reach the spirit condensing stage?¡± he asked. He wondered if he could refine his own body, so he asked excitedly.


    ¡°You can, but I don¡¯t think anyone would be willing to waste their Qi to refine their body after they reach the spirit condensing stage because by then, their body would already be used to the Qi, so they would not have much improvement. Their Qi would be a much better use for battling and nourishing their spirit. To put it simply, there would be too much effort for the reward to keep on refining the body after reaching the spirit condensing stage.¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t bad to think about this, but you should focus on refining your body before you think about the spirit condensing stage,¡± said Tel as she looked to June. ¡°It¡¯s never too late to body refine your body. I will help you.¡±


    June smiled wryly at her words. He didn¡¯t need her help, but he followed along with what she said.


    ¡°So I can still refine my body. I will start today! The stronger I am, the better.¡±


    His body was not used to Qi refining it because he was naturally born with a strong body. In fact, every mystical beast would refine their body at some point, but June did not have anyone to guide him on this. He did not even know that Qi could be used that way. Boa and July did not teach him much about cultivating and he could only ask what he knew.


    It was his own effort to cultivate. His book of inheritance was of some help, but that could only gave him the process of cultivation and not any concepts or ideas.


    While the two were conversing, Hau went immediately went to sleep. The past month was tiring for him, so he wanted some rest.


    Tel saw that June was sitting down while staring at her. He was waiting for her guidance. Seeing this, Tel felt like a teacher in front of her student and this made her arrogance rise.


    ¡°Hehe, since my servant wants to learn from the great me, then, I will teach. Since you don¡¯t know what a body refiner is, then you probably don¡¯t know what Qi is either. Well Qi is¡­¡± Her voice trailed off in June¡¯s mind. He didn¡¯t listen to what he already grasped. He could already control Qi, so he only listened to the body refining explanation.


    On the other hand, Tel kept going on and on with her concepts and theories of Qi. After about thirty minutes of that, she finally begun to explain body refining.


    ¡°Ok, after you know what type of Qi you have, you can finally start body refining. You can use world Qi to refine too, but the benefits of refining with elemental Qi will be lost if you do that. Body refining is simply just accumulating Qi in the dantian and spreading it throughout your body. Let your body soak in the Qi to get stronger. Elemental Qi gives great benefits to body refining. Let¡¯s say, a person refines their body with fire Qi. They will get the explosive power of fire. If they refine with earth Qi, then their body will be sturdier than others. To simply put it, they will get the properties of the element they use. That is why you should not refine your body yet. Wait until I take you to our Bran family estate in the Erl Kingdom to find out your type of Qi. Until then, do not cultivate, ok?¡±


    June listened to her and said, ¡°Ok.¡± He said this, but on the inside, he was already starting to accumulate his Qi to body refine.


    ¡°After I accumulate my Qi, I should let my body soak it up. I got this.¡±


    Tel smiled when she saw him comply. He was her first personal servant , so she wanted the best for him.


    ¡°Alright, until we find out your affinity, you can train in the Bran family sword arts with me,¡± she said as she handed June a 4 feet double edged sword. The hilt was a feet long and it had a leather grip. It¡¯s pommel(the end of a sword) was spade shaped with a dragon marking. The blade was one and a half inch in width.


    Tel proceeded to hand June the scabbard. It was made of wood, but the engravings that it had made it look all the more so magnificent. The two were similar to Tel¡¯s own sword and scabbard, but her stuff was a bit more girly.


    ¡°Do you like it? Its my spare,¡± she asked in embarrassment. She had the chance to buy him a sword when she went to the family meeting, but she didn¡¯t think that he would be so loyal and stay. She could only give him her spare sword that was more or less for women to use. If he didn¡¯t like it, then she would have to buy a sword from the village blacksmith.


    ¡°I like it,¡± said June as he looked at both the sword and scabbard in his hands. It was the first sword he ever had, so he said, ¡°I¡¯ll treasure it.¡±


    ¡°haha, good! It¡¯s already night, so we can¡¯t practice today. Get some rest so we can  tomorrow.¡±


    Morning came slowly for June. He stayed up all night accumulating Qi, but he was also excitedly waiting for Tel¡¯s guidance in her family¡¯s sword arts. Tel woke up with a yawn. She went outside to only see June excitedly waiting for her. It was early in the morning, so she was not in the mood for practicing, but when she saw June¡¯s pitiful eyes, she laughed and brought out her sword.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s start. First, you need to know that the Bran family¡¯s sword art is called ¡®Sword in Tempest¡¯  and it is based on speed. It would be good if you have an affinity with the wind element like me, but even without it, you can still learn,¡± explained Tel.


    ¡°Remember, the sword art is all about speed. I¡¯ll demonstrate a few moves for you to see.¡±


    Tel swung her sword and it made a sound as it cut through the air. The sound was sharp and shrill. Her swings slowly became a mirage as the sword moved erratically.


    ¡°This move is called ¡®Mirage¡¯ and the concept behind it is that you need to be able to produce a shrill sound with your strikes to confuse the enemy. It¡¯s all in the wrist and waist.¡±


    She proceeded to show him the abstract waist and wrist movements for Mirage.


    June watched her movements like a hawk watching it¡¯s prey. He made sure to memorize them and engrain them deep inside his memory. At this point, he couldn¡¯t even hold his sword properly, so teaching an advance sword art to him was useless, but Tel showed June the particular skill ¡®Mirage¡¯ because it would be easier if he started to work on producing the shrill sound before he mastered the basics. That way, it would be easier for him to learn the advanced skills in ¡®Sword of Tempest.¡¯


    Seeing June copy her movements, Tel nodded in satisfaction. In her eyes, June had talent for the sword. To be able to copy her movements after seeing it once was pretty amazing.


    However, she did not tell him that because she did not want him to get over his head.


    On the top of her head, she planned a regime for June. It was based on the strength that she thought he had, but before she could tell him, a cry from afar was heard.


    June and Tel could see Hau running towards them while yelling, ¡°Bandits!¡± repeatedly.


    He was the guard for the gate of the village, so he was required to be there early. June even greeted him in the morning, but that was not what June thought was strange.


    When Hau reached Tel, he desperately said, ¡°Milady, you must run! The bandits held weapons and armor that they could not possibly get on their own. It must be the detestable Ker family. They must have found us out after we went back from the family meeting. I was sure we weren¡¯t being followed. How could this happen?!¡±


    Hau was calling Tel, ¡°Milady.¡± This made June dumbstruck because he thought that Hau was Tel¡¯s father, but now that seemed to be not the case at all. He already thought that it was weird how they did not look similar at all, so he quickly calmed down and looked at Tel.


    Her face was dark and gloomy. The bright tomboyishness that she had was gone and in its stead was a cold and domineering face.


    ¡°Those damned Ker¡¯s¡­ forcing me this far... ¡° she cursed out loud.


    ¡°Milady, you must get back to the Bran family quickly. Even if it is not completely safe, it should be safer than here,¡± said Hau with a worried look on his face. ¡°I will hold them back for as long as I can. They have at least a thousand in numbers¡­¡±


    Hau was a rank 10 body refiner, but against a thousand bandits, even if they were all ordinary people, he would still die.


    When Hau stated the number of bandits, Tel decisively ran with a dark look on her face, but before she could, a hand caught her. It was June who had caught her.


    ¡°Let¡¯s fight with Hau. We can¡¯t leave him alone,¡± he said. The sudden personality change from Tel shocked June and he felt like she was a completely different person, but that did not stop him from wanting to help Hau out.


    ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± asked Tel coldy. At this point, half of the town was already burning and the screams of the people filled the air. Like he said, Hau had already ran off to block the bandits.


    ¡°I-¡± Before June could say anything, she cut him off. ¡°You can leave if you want to. This is the real me. A cold hearted person who does anything for her goals. I¡¯ve only taken you in because I wanted people to see how benevolent I am, but in a sense, you are still my personal servant and my first at that. It is unlike Hau over there who is my family¡¯s servant. His life and death is not of my concern, but yours is because you are my servant and I promised that I would take care of you. Sadly, I can¡¯t keep that promise, so I will give you a choice. You can run away in another direction and save yourself or you can stay with me. We have no time, so choose quickly.¡±


    June was going to say that he was a spirit condensing cultivator, but when he thought about it, he was not confident. It was not that a spirit condensing cultivator couldn¡¯t handle a thousand people. It was because he did not have the experience to determine if he could handle it or not. Seeing Hau fighting off in the distance, June bit his lips and said, ¡°I will go with you.¡±


    When she heard June agree to go with her, Tel¡¯s eyebrows raised in surprise. She definitely thought that he would have chosen to escape by himself, but then, she remembered that he had waited for her for a whole month when she had gone to the family meeting.


    She let out a frightening smile as she looked with amusement at the bewildered and unsettled youth in front of her and said, ¡°Good, good! Remember this, you are my official personal servant now. Your name from now on will be Jun. You are mine and only mine. If I die, you will die.¡±


    Then, she picked him up in one fell swoop and turned towards the mountains behind the village. With haste, she ran at the mountains without any hesitation. June let her carry him and this made it easier on Tel. He did not want to let her know his true strength yet. With this, he did not take her words seriously at all, but he felt that a string was tied between them. He felt the powers of fate at its fullest.

 Chapter 17: Easy? Nope.

    Hau held back as many of the bandits as he could, but he could only do so much. His sword flashed left and right. Each slash killed five bandits, but the sheer numbers put pressure on him. Many arrows were sticking out of his body and blood poured without restraint. His eyes were bloodshot as he looked at the bandits. It was do or die. His Qi boiled inside his Dantian. Suddenly, all of his Qi escaped the Dantian and was absorbed by his body. His eyes bulged out slightly as he coughed a mouthful of blood. What he was currently doing was something called Qi overdosing. As a body refiner, he was not able to create a membrane of Qi around his body to boost his power like people in the spirit condensing stage, but he could let his body absorb his Qi forcibly.


    If this was done in small doses, the side effects would be small. It would be recoverable, but the amount of power that the small doses gave were quite incomparable to what Hau was currently doing.


    He was using all the Qi he had accumulated. It only filled up half of his dantian, but that was enough to give him a power boost that was comparable to a spirit condensing cultivator for a short amount of time.  Ultimately, even if he survived, the side effects would leave him cripple for life.


    His sword  suddenly became invisible to the naked eye of normal people. The slashes of his sword produced a sharp and shrill sound that would make the bandit¡¯s ears bleed. Ignoring the racking pain in his body, he plowed through the bandits with the ferociousness of a tiger.


    The leader of the bandits saw this and hurriedly yelled, ¡°Retreat! He is overdosing Qi right now! Retreat and wait for the fire to burn out!¡±


    The bandits retreated, but how could Hau let them go? With a roar, he leaped up high up into the air and followed as his sword slashed whoever was in his way. He wanted to kill as many as he could before he died.


    Arrows showered above him and pummeled the entirety of his body, but he ignored that.


    ¡°Die! Die! Die!¡±  His bloodthirst reached the heavens as his sword was dyed red. For the security of the young miss, he was ready to die at all cost.


    Rivers of blood flowed on the ground. It was the blood of the bandits. His scholarly look was now gone. He had turned into a demon that would kill anything in his way.


    ¡°Demon! Run away!¡± shouted a bandit in fear. The bandits listened to his word and ran as fast as they could, but was escaping Hau¡¯s blade so easy?


    It was sudden, but the leader of the bandits saw it. Hau was nearing his end. More tens of arrows were stuck to his body and his face was as pale as a ghost¡¯s.


    ¡°This is the time! Archers! Knock and fire!¡± the leader shouted. The sound of arrows pierced through the air as they flew towards Hau. They covered the sky like a flock of birds flying.


    Hau saw the arrows and smiled coldly as his body was struck by tens of arrows. In his final moment, he had managed to kill a final bandit. The rest of the bandits sucked in cold breaths. Seeing many of their comrades lying on the ground with huge sword slash marks on their bodies caused them to shiver in fear. It could have been them if they were unlucky enough to be caught in the sight of the demon.


    In this confrontation, a total of 500 bandits were killed and more than 100 were injured. This was the power of a rank 10 body refiner who was prepared for his death. It was a confrontation that lasted more than 10 minutes. It was enough for Tel and June to get away, so at his last moments, Hau died with a smile on his face.


    While getting away, June looked back at the village. He saw arrows piercing Hau¡¯s body and bit his lips furiously. He didn¡¯t want to leave, but the fate was cruel like that. He had his priorities and staying would just make things harder for him.


    By the time that the fight in the village was done, the two had gone very far away. They scaled the mountains and were currently in a cave resting. Tel¡¯s breath was haggard because of running so much.


    ¡°Do you think we¡¯re safe now?¡± asked June. It was still morning and the cold air in the mountains was felt on his skin.


    ¡°Not safe yet. The Ker family is smarter than this. The group of bandits were only a distraction. They must have sent some rank 10 body refiners for me. We need to be discreet while moving.¡±


    Tel looked outside with her sharp eyes and heaved a sigh. The situation was very troublesome. With her strength as a rank 8 body refiner, she was not comparable in strength to rank 10¡¯s, but she might be able to do something if their skills were lower than her.


    The squalls of birds were heard from a distance and the wind was sharp. ¡°Let¡¯s go. We can¡¯t stay here for too long,¡± Tel said. ¡°It¡¯s only a week''s worth of walking if we want to reach the Erl Kingdom. It wasn¡¯t safe in the kingdom, because the Ker family would send assassins for me. That''s why I went I lived in the village, but now that they¡¯ve found out, the Erl Kingdom will be safer than the village. After I became a  rank 8 body refiner, I was planning to pack up our belongings in the village and head back to the Erl Kingdom because I became strong enough to protect myself, but the Ker family seems to be one step ahead.¡±


    The Ker and Bran family had a long history together. They were both families that were Viscounts of the Erl Kingdom. Fighting amongst nobilities were in abundance, but these two had deep hatred for each other. Their spirit condensing cultivators were brothers long ago, but they had a fall out and it resulted in the war of the two families.  Assassination attempts  between the two were common and this caused the families to send their young into hiding.


    Being part of the Bran family¡¯s tenth generation, Tel was born into chaos. With a sigh, she carried June along into the distance in hopes of being able to throw off their pursuers.


    The terrain was rough and rugged, but she persevered and after 3 whole days of running, they reached the gates of the Erl Kingdom. The pursuers were never seen or heard of along the way. This caused Tel to question if there were any pursuers in the first place. She tried not to think about it too much as she ran towards the gates at full speed. They were almost safe and out of the mountains, but then a figure suddenly appeared in front of them.


    ¡°Ker family¡¯s assassin,¡± Tel hissed with anger. She was exhausted from the journey, and the last thing that she needed was a fight. Looking at the situation, she understood what was happening immediately.


    ¡°Damnable Ker family! Isn¡¯t this a bit too far?! Waiting till I get tired to attack me¡­ shameless!¡± Tel was undoubtedly angered and her voice showed it.


    The person in front of them was dressed in black clothing. Everything was covered except their face. With a quick action, the person in black took out a dagger.


    ¡°Shameless or not, as long as your dead it doesn¡¯t even matter. Still, i¡¯m an assassin, you can¡¯t blame me for being shameless.¡± The person¡¯s low and deep voice made Tel and June acknowledge that he was a guy.


    With a glare, Tel said, ¡°What kind of assassin are you? Attacking openly like this¡­ what an assassin you are.¡±


    The guy did not say anything, but the indent on the part where his mouth should have been showed that he was smiling.


    Suddenly, Tel felt a cold chill run down her back. She pushed the ground with all her strength and tumbled to the side with June on her back. Two more figures showed at that moment and attacked at the point where Tel was standing.


    ¡°Tch, you''re a fast one,¡± said one of the figures. They were all covered in black clothing.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.Tel threw June aside and then she took out her black with a quick flick of her wrist. She was planning to fight them all on her own!


    Looking at the ground, Tel could see two small craters at the point where the two assassins attacked. Their daggers were lodged into the ground, and it was apparent that they had enough power to push a dagger deep enough so that their fist would reach and the left over power would still create a small crater.


    ¡°Two rank 10 body refiners¡­ the other person must be a body refiner of the same rank too,¡± thought Tel. She was a rank 8 body refiner, and there was a 200 pound difference in strength, but she had confidence that she would be able to kill at least one rank 10 body refiner on her own.


    Even if she had the skills to make up for the rank differences, fighting 3 rank 10 body refiners was too much. This left her in a tight spot, but she was not the type to think too much, so she took action quickly.


    With a flash of her blade, and power behind her legs, she propelled herself towards one of the assassins in front of her and slashed out with her sword.


    The assassin brought up his dagger to block, but Tel¡¯s sudden action left him unprepared. A clean slash mark slowly revealed itself on his neck and blood splurted out without any signs of stopping. A rank 10 body refiner died just because he was not careful enough.


    The other two assassins took quick action. They were regretful of their comrade¡¯s death, but it was not the time to mourn. With their daggers, the assassins teamed up and attacked Tel from both sides.


    Tel was able to keep up for a bit, but the exhaustion from her journey showed itself, and sure enough, wounds slowly covered her body. She was ready to Qi overdose, but that would mean abandoning her way of cultivation. She was very reluctant, but it was different for the two assassins. They were confident that they would be able to kill Tel, so they hadn¡¯t even thought of Qi overdosing.


    Tel gritted her teeth as she felt the pain of her wounds. The clashes of iron hit each other and it resounded through the surrounding area.


    Suddenly, a chance arose from the appearance of a rabbit. The rabbit pounced at one of the assassins, and this caused the assassin to move out of the way instinctively.


    This action left Tel some room to attack back. Her sword produced shrill sounds that made the assassin¡¯s heads ache. With a flash of light, Tel¡¯s blade cut the shoulder of the assassin that successfully dodged the rabbit¡¯s pounce.


    Taking this chance, Tel finished the assassin off as she pierced her sword into his heart, but the other assassin too this chance to lodge his dagger into her shoulder. The two toppled down with the assassin on top and Tel on the bottom.


    ¡°You killed my two good brothers¡­ I will kill you!¡± shouted the assassin as he glared at Tel. He was obviously blinded by rage in that moment. His senses were weakened because of his rage, so he did not notice June.


    The sword June got from Tel pierced the man¡¯s throat and blood gushed out.


    ¡°How?¡± said the assassin as he held his neck with the last bit of life he had. June¡¯s stealth was not top notched, but it wasn¡¯t far from a master in stealth. Throughout the ten years that June lived with July, the only reason why he could get food and survive was because he honed his hiding abilities.


    Tel looked at June with surprise. She had nearly forgotten about him. Her death was imminent, but it seemed that luck was on her side that day. She pushed aside the dead assassin in front of her and got up with a sigh of relief.


    She shook her head as she looked at the three bodies on the ground. Three rank ten body refiners were killed just like that. It was because they were too careless. Even spirit condensing cultivators could be killed easily if they were careless.


    ¡°It seems that it was right of me to trust you,¡± Tel said as she looked at June. ¡°Let¡¯s go¡­ we can¡¯t stay here for too long.¡±


    Her body was covered with wounds and she was exhausted, but they were close to the kingdom, so even with her in such a state, Tel pushed on as she carried June and sped towards their destination.


    The two shortly reached the kingdom, and the guards immediately opened the gates when they saw Tel¡¯s identification card. Tel fainted as soon as they walked in. The guards had already notified the Bran family as soon as they saw Tel¡¯s identification card.


    June fell down at the same time Tel fell, but he was able to stabilize himself and hold onto her at the same time. She had passed out from blood loss and pain, and it seemed as if she was in critical condition.


    Although her condition was like this, June was not being tentative because of the kingdom¡¯s liveliness. It caught his attention and made him stand there in awe. His heart was beating fast and his excitement was shown on the fascinated look on his face, but this moment didn¡¯t last forever.


    From afar, he heard the clattering of hooves coming towards him with speed. The group of horses and men on top of the horses numbered at least a dozen.


    ¡°Hand over the lord¡¯s daughter,¡± said the rider in front. He was clad in armor from head to toe. His face was hardened and stern. It contrasted with the strong build that he had.


    In a daze, June handed Tel to the man.


    The man took Tel and asked, ¡°Who are you and what''s your relation with the lord¡¯s daughter?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m her servant,¡± June said with a quiet voice. Everything that had happened in the past few days made June realize that his plan was foolish. Not everything was as simple as he thought. He thought that it would have been easy to lie about himself.Then, he would  get info about sylphs through by exploiting Tel, but now he knew that it was a foolish thought.


    All the men on the horse gave him the feeling that Demonic beasts in the forest gave him. It was a feeling of danger and it scared him. He may have been stronger than the men, but compared to them, his experience was lacking. He did not have the air of an expert or anything like that. He looked like a teenage boy, and that was most likely why Tel and Hau had accepted him without much consideration.


    Through all of this danger, June had actually felt a tinge of excitement. This could be considered as part of the journey that he wanted so much. He didn¡¯t care about the danger. He wanted to see new things for himself. July¡¯s stories had incited his teenage drive.


    ¡°Beryl The Great; the story of a man who had fought a thousand cultivators by himself and won¡­¡±


    ¡°Riun of The Third Sea; the story of a man who roamed the third sea and found countless of treasures underneath the water¡­¡±


    ¡°Aza The Forgotten; A story about a woman who found a legendary sabre, and with it¡¯s help, she ruled the fourth continent¡­¡±


    These stories were all awe inspiring, but it was only a few of the many that June had heard from July. The stories made June think, ¡°Ah, I want to experience that too.¡±


    The man that carried Tel signaled at his companions, and they tied up June. They took him with them as soon as he was secured. The group rode like the wind with a tornado accompanying it.