Chapter 1 - Lightstone Village

Lightstone village was a village like many others within the Ghu province; small and disconnected from the outside world. As with all villages in this region, the mortals were segregated from the other settlements thanks to the dangers of the dark forest. The people in this village mostly lived humble lives as farmers or masters of a craft, whilst the total population numbered fewer than a thousand people. The village residents knew little of the outside world since it was too dangerous to leave the village themselves. Given such circumstances, they naturally developed their own tight knit community.

Within this village lived the Kann family, a fairly typical family in this relatively peaceful settlement. With a child of their own, a six year old boy named Yaan, the young married couple not yet in their thirties lived a quaint but happy life in their small thatched house.

Yaan was currently waiting just outside of the house, curiously trying to peer in through the empty wooden window.

Slap!

“Ouch! Aunt, what was that for?!” The hot blooded young six year old angrily turned around and glared at his aunt, but his rebellious expression quickly faded as he saw that she was scowling at him quite severely.

"Your mother is giving birth right now, that is no scene to be witnessed by a child! Get away from the window and wait patiently!”

Yaan turned to his father who had also been booted out, but he could only chuckle and shrug helplessly.

For the following hour, Yaan paced back and forth impatiently. He wanted to meet his new younger sibling already! He didn’t know much, or really anything about childbirth, but why was it taking so long?! He tried to peer through the window once more, but was met with an even more ferocious slap from his aunt.

“You-” Just as the middle aged woman was about to scold him for the second time, the house door creaked open slowly. A middle aged woman poked her head past the doorframe, glancing at the three people outside as she held the door only halfway open to prevent the cool wind from blowing in.

“The baby has been delivered without problems, 'tis a healthy young girl!” The mid wife announced with a smile.

Yaan was startled as his father let out a relieved sigh. He was secretly extremely worried about his wife and their newborn child, since medicine and treatment in this village was too limited and the risk during childbirth was high. In fact, as many as one in ten women would die whilst giving birth here. Yaan was unaware of this grim fact, so he didn’t understand the anxiety felt by the adults.

“Yaan, let’s go and meet your little sister.” His father turned to him with a soft smile. Yaan looked up at his father’s deep hazel eyes and saw the happiness as clear as day. He nodded and took his father’s hand, following him into the house.

His mother smiled weakly as they entered. She was propped up against the wall, supported by some loosely arranged hay and a thin wool blanket, cradling her newborn child. Yaan waited at the front of the room as his father walked forwards and picked up the child, holding her lovingly with gentle care in his arms.

A few minutes passed by and Yaan finally couldn’t hold his intrigue. He edged across the room slowly and lingered besides his father, peeking at the baby curiously every few seconds.

“Do you want to hold her, Yaan?” His father chuckled on seeing Yaan’s impatience..

“I…is it all right?” Yaan wasn’t sure how to hold a baby properly and was worried he might injure her. When he gazed down upon that small and peaceful face of hers, he couldn’t help but think that she looked fragile.

With his mother’s and father’s help, Yaan was taught how to hold the baby safely. He felt a strange connection to this child as he stared at her sleeping face, a connection that existed between them due to their blood tie. This feeling was only emphasised as she woke up and stared at him with her innocent and curious eyes.

Time passed by slowly whilst Yaan held his newborn sister in a daze. Eventually, he was forced to let go and leave the house. His mother needed to rest before feeding the child, whilst he himself still had chores to attend to. Yaan wanted to hold the baby some more and was reluctant to leave, but he followed his parent’s will in the end.

The Kann family owned a small farm, where they grew vegetables and raised chickens. It was Yaan’s job to collect the chicken eggs each day and to feed the chickens with some seed. There were 24 chickens in all and 10 more baby chicks. He carefully collected the eggs, making sure not to damage them as he placed them into a woven straw basket.

This work was difficult for a six year old, but Yaan didn’t mind it. It was considered normal to help out with the family business, this was typical for all of the village children, so he had never really questioned it. He knew that by helping out, his parents were granted more free time. Besides, if he provided his parents with additional help, he would be able to eat more from their increased earnings.

“Sigh…” Yaan stopped outside of the chicken coup, staring across the farmlands dreamily. The cool breeze felt soothing across his skin, but this soothing sensation suddenly made him feel like it was too destitute, out here by himself.

Sometimes, he admittedly felt a bit lonely when doing all of these chores on his own. No, that wasn’t quite right. Even when he was around others, Yaan still felt a strange sense of loneliness that he was unable to explain. Well, it was probably because he was just a kid, he was sure that he would grow out of it. He remembered that around one year ago when he was five years old, he went through a phase where he became enraged at the slightest provocation, particularly whenever he was told to do his chores. Thankfully he grew out of that and became more mature over the past year.

Yaan collected a total of 11 eggs today, this could definitely be considered a good haul. After throwing around some seed and properly cleaning out the coups, he walked a quarter mile to the nearby stream before washing himself off. As always, he stripped away his clothes and cleaned himself fully nude. There were no people around this place, but even if there were, it wasn’t uncommon for a child to wash themselves in public like this.

After drawing up some water into a bucket to bring back to the farm, he returned slowly. The return journey across the grassy plains required more time to complete, since he was forced to stop regularly due to the weight of the bucket. The handle dug into his hand slightly, but Yaan was accustomed to this by now.

After retuning to the farm, he finished up his chores and brought the collected eggs and water into the house. A few hours had passed by and his mother had clearly recovered enough strength to sit up properly, but he was still forced to stay quiet and not disturb her too much.

Yaan looked across towards his baby sister, thinking that he wanted to hold her again. His parents and the midwife insisted that the baby should spend more time with his mother, though, as was the common belief in Lightstone village.

“Yaan. Yaan!”

“Ouch!” Yaan was distracted from his daydreaming as his father lightly bumped him on the head.

“Stop day dreaming and help with dinner. Your mother can’t cook and she needs to recover her strength by the day after tomorrow.”

As he helped to prepare tonight’s dinner, which consisted of a mixture of rice, some vegetables and eggs, Yaan asked what his father meant by that.

“Sigh…the Lord Immortal is visiting the village in two days time. He only visits every few years or so, if only I had known sooner that he was coming in two days, then maybe…hah, well it’s too late to regret now. We can only pray.”

Seeing his father’s gravely worried expression, Yaan couldn’t suppress his curiosity.

“Father, who is this Lord Immortal? Is he like the Immortal tax collector?” He asked this question whilst recalling the man with a powerful presence who would visit their village once each year to collect the taxes.

Towards his query, Yaan's father smiled and patted him on the head.

“He is far more terrifying a man. No, to call him a man would not do him justice. You know that the Heavenly Path Sect controls this area, right Yaan?”

Yaan nodded, he of course knew this, as did everyone in the village. The Heavenly Path Sect was said to be a glorious organisation filled with valiant Immortals. The sect was located on a colossal mountain tens of miles away from the village, permanently immersed in a thick white fog which hid it from view. They lorded over the surrounding villages, collecting taxes from the mortals under their dominion.

“The Immortal tax collector is also from the sect, right father?”

“Right. However, the Lord Immortal is far more powerful, and his reason for visiting is different. He visits this village to make sure that everyone is working properly and not having any traitorous thoughts towards the sect. Everyone’s presence is required when he visits…including your mother and little June.”

Yaan again glanced back, his gaze lingering on his baby sister, June. She was named as such since she was born on the first of the month of June, but also because Yaan’s great grand mother was named June. His father had always adored his grand mother and suffered greatly upon her death, hence naming his own daughter after her, to honour her memory.

“But why is it bad that Lord Immortal is visiting now? Is he a bad guy?” Yaan furrowed his brows and pressed further.

“Bad…I wonder. The Immortals are such divine beings, do us mere mortals truly have the right to judge them?” His father muttered, speaking more to himself than to his son. “Anyway, don’t worry too much Yaan. I’m sure that everything will be fine.”

Yaan desperately wanted to learn more about the Immortals, the Heavenly Path Sect and other such matters, but his father was firm on saying no more.

Truthfully, all of the village mortals were curious about the illusive sect. Their only contact with the sect stemmed from two people, the Immortal tax collector and the Lord Immortal. From their infrequent meetings with these two people, it was obvious to everyone that the Immortals of the Heavenly Path Sect were incomprehensible, powerful beings, but little more was known than this.

As Yaan prepared dinner besides his father, his father looked down at him and sighed.

‘Little Yaan, I hope that Lord Immortal doesn’t take you or your sister away from us tomorrow. If that were to happen, I don’t even know what I would do…’

The following day, Yaan continued his routine of carrying out the daily chores. However, neither his heart nor mind was focussed on the work, he even found himself becoming distracted and messing things up. That said, he wasn’t the only one.

When he visited the village market with his father in the afternoon, the atmosphere was noticeably solemn. All of the children were visibly confused, able to feel the grim mood of the adults but unable to understand the root cause. Some of the older children could remember the last visit of the Lord Immortal and understood why the adults were so unnerved, but they were instructed by their parents to hold their tongues and to ignore the little ones.

For the entire day Yaan felt extremely uncomfortable. The atmosphere grew increasingly grave, leading to some children crying in the streets due to their confusion. What really confirmed Yaan’s suspicions that something was wrong, was the disturbing scene of a woman dropping to her knees in the streets, hugging her daughter tightly as she cried helplessly.

Yaan knew this girl, she was a friend of his named Elia. Her clear complexion, long blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes made her the desired girlfriend for all young boys in the village. As they passed one another in the streets, they exchanged a bewildered look between themselves before their respective parents dragged them away.

That evening, dinner with his parents felt far too gloomy. Nobody spoke as they ate, the atmosphere was stifling.

“Father, please tell me what is going on! All of the adults are acting so strangely, all us children are so confused! Is it that Lord Immortal, is he-”

“Hush, Yaan. It’s ok. It’s just that the Lord Immortal is an intimidating person, so the adults are worried about tomorrow. For you children, there’s nothing to worry about.”

Realising that his child was truly panicking now in his confusion, Yaan's father changed his expression immediately and tried to lighten the mood. Yaan still felt that something was off, but he more or less calmed down after seeing his father’s smile.

That night, the young couple watched as their two children slept.

“I had to lie to him…sigh.”

“It’s best not to let him worry, after all, things really might be fine for us tomorrow. It’s just that…”

“Indeed. There is always a chance.”

As he pretended to sleep, Yaan overheard their conversation. He screwed his eyes up tightly, trying to forget about everything as he fell away into the gentle night.

Yaan ended up sleeping for a few hours that night, but his dreams weren’t exactly pleasant. He couldn’t remember exactly what it was that he dreamt of, but he had woken up in a cold sweat with a racing heart and fearful trembling eyes.

Anyway, he forgot all about the dream as he followed his parents towards the village’s centre square. The cobblestone flooring here was of a higher quality than the usual dirt paths around the village, since it was often used as the area for festivals, important meetings and other such things.

His family’s speed was slow, owing to his mother’s weakened state. His father carried the baby to assist her, though for some reason, he seemed to be worriedly checking the baby every few seconds. Whenever he saw that she was asleep, he briefly revealed a relieved smile.

Yaan stayed silent along the way. He had realized that nothing he said could move his parents to explain things, so he would just need to wait.

They eventually arrived at the centre square, along with many other families and friends.

In fact, wasn’t this everyone from the village? Yaan couldn’t be sure since it was so crowded, but his guess was indeed correct. Every single person, whether young or old, healthy or sick, able or not, had shown up.

The stifling atmosphere from the day before once again descended upon the village, only it was now ten fold worse. The villagers anxiously waited for the arrival of the Lord Immortal.

Time passed by. The seconds turned to minutes, the minutes into hours, leading Yaan to wonder why they all showed up so early.

“In case the Lord Immortal arrives earlier than expected.” Is what his father had said.

Yaan thought that making hundreds of people wait for one man didn’t make any sense, but he shut his mouth and waited.

“A carriage!” Someone from the crowd suddenly exclaimed. At this, everyone tensed up. Yaan tried to see past the sea of bodies, but the crowd was too thick and he was too small. He asked his father to boost him up onto his shoulder, but he was told to stay quiet and not move.

Two minutes later, Yaan heard the sound of a carriage pulling up at the main entrance to the village square. A silent pressure overcame the area, creating an atmosphere where nobody dared to utter a word.

“Is this everyone?” An indifferent yet overbearing voice sounded out. Instantly, everyone dropped to their knees. Seeing everyone get down, Yaan followed suit. Now that everyone was kneeling, he could finally see ahead.

Only two men remained standing, the village chief and an unfamiliar man who was draped in a far superior quality, luxurious looking robe. The majestic black and crimson robe draped down to his ankles, covering his body as if he disdained from even touching the air in a rural village such as this. His sharp gaze skimmed over the villagers indifferently, his expression telling of his disdain for these people. As his eyes passed over each person, they lowered their heads without fail.

Yaan was no exception. When his eyes met with this man’s, he immediately broke out in cold sweat and found himself short of breath. He needed to lower his gaze just to relieve the pressure and regain his normal faculties.

‘This must be the Lord Immortal!’ Yaan instantly realized in shock. He truly felt shaken by that gaze…he didn’t understand how such a sharp pair of eyes could exist in this world!

“This is the entire village, Lord Immortal.” The village chief trembled as he spoke, lowering his head respectfully.

“Hm.” The robed man nodded lightly. “I believe it has been 5 years since my last visit. Bring forth the children between the ages of 5 and 10 for testing."

“Yes, my Lord.” The chief agreed readily. He turned towards the villagers and nodded, causing them all to sigh as one by one, they urged their children to go up to the front of the crowd.

“Yaan, you must go up and have your talent measured by the Lord Immortal, this is the procedure for when he visits.” His father tried to explain this calmly, though a hint of anxiousness seeped into his gaze, filled with sorrow and worry towards his son.

“What, but I-”

“No questions Yaan, or you will anger the Lord.” His father said firmly. Seeing his serious countenance, Yaan realized that he couldn’t disagree here. He stood up, took a deep breath, then walked forwards towards the front.

Wherever the children walked, the adults moved to the side to allow them unobstructed passage. As they arrived in front of the Lord Immortal, every one of the young children stood there with uncertainty in their eyes.

The overbearing robed man didn’t seem to care.

He waved his hand, then with a flash of white light, a strange glass orb appeared in his hands. Most of the kids missed this scene as they kept their heads lowered out of fear, but Yaan caught a glimpse of the bizarre occurrence from the corner of his eye.

‘What was that?!’ He sucked in a breath of cold air and forcefully suppressed himself from crying out.

“Form a line and touch the orb.” The man spoke plainly, but his words were like divine gospel and the children all found themselves obeying him obediently, as if resisting his command was simply not possible.

One by one, they did as instructed. There were 23 children in total who met the required age of 5-10, whilst Yaan, currently 6 years old, stood near the back of the line.

“No talent, go back.” The robed man stated calmly, as if this assessment didn’t matter to him. Looking at the strange orb which hadn’t changed at all following his touch, the child stared blankly before happily processing that he could return to his parents. He bowed to the Lord Immortal, then scurried back with haste.

One by one, similar scenes repeated. It was only on the fifth attempt that there was a change.

“Low talent, off to the side.” The child looked at the Immortal uncertainly, but on seeing his cold countenance, he could only do as instructed. He was unable to make out his parents from here, but if he could, he would see his mother holding back her tears.

Before reaching Yaan, another boy was assessed with low talent. The girl he knew, Elia, had high talent. The Immortal only showed some consideration towards Elia, the rest he treated as dust.

Finally, it was Yaan’s turn. He walked up to the orb dazedly, then placed his hand onto the surface as those before him had done. For a second, nothing happened. Soon after however, the orb began glowing with a faint white light.

“Moderate talent, to the side.” Yaan stepped out towards the others and glanced at them one by one, feeling somewhat relieved on seeing that he wasn’t the only one feeling uncertain and confused.

There were only three more people behind Yaan, but their turns were interrupted unexpectedly.

“Waaaah! Waaahhh!”

The sounds of a baby crying echoed through the square, easily audible over the background silence. For the first time, the Lord Immortal showed an irritated expression. His gaze turned towards the source of the noise, then he let out a harrumph.

With a wave of his hand, a flying sword appeared within the air. Seeing this, the villagers were all terrified, quickly moving out of the way of the source of the light and noise, leaving Yaan’s mother, father, aunt and younger sister, alone.

“Waaaahh!”

“Insolent mortals, to disrupt this Lord’s duty is an act deserving of death!”

The sword lit up with a bright white light, then shot forwards through the air at an inescapable speed.

Yaan could only watch on blankly in disbelief as his mother, sister and aunt were pierced through the chest by the sword. One by one, they lifelessly dropped to the floor in rapid succession.

“Huh?” Yaan didn’t understand what was going on. This…this wasn’t happening, right?

The sword tore apart their bodies as if it was simply cutting through air. As the reality of the situation set in, Yaan’s eyes widened as he watched his mother drop to the floor, still gripping tightly onto his baby sister. Not long after her body hit the ground and kicked up a small cloud of dust, Yaan’s aunt joined them soon after.

“Ahh!” His father stood to the side, shock and horror plastered across his face as he stared at the fresh corpses of his wife and newborn child. He fell to his knees besides the two and wept openly, something Yaan had never seen his father do before now.

Suddenly, all of Yaan’s fear towards this ‘Lord Immortal’ vanished without a trace. Replaced, was a burning sense of rage. He turned towards the robed man with bloodshot eyes, then began screaming as he purposefully walked towards him.

“You, you, you killed my mother! My baby sister! My aunt! And for what?! Just because my baby sister cried?! What did she do to deserve this, you, you monster, you-”

“Yaan, stop it!” Just as Yaan drew in closer to the Immortal and the robed man turned towards him with a frown, his father suddenly yelled out urgently.

Yaan turned in a mixture of anger and confusion towards his father, who was now running towards them. The man that Yaan had always looked up to didn’t actually stop at Yaan, but instead halted a few feet before the Lord and then dropped to his knees. He put his hands down on the floor and lowered his head.

“Lord Immortal, I apologise for my son’s actions!”

Bang! His father actually slammed his forehead down onto the cobblestone flooring, causing it to bleed heavily.

“Father, he killed mother and sister, what are you-” Yaan began to shout, but was interrupted once more.

“Lord Immortal, he knows not what he says!”

Bang! His forehead hit the ground once more.

“Please forgive him!”

Bang!

“I apologise on my son’s behalf, he is but an ignorant child!”

Bang!

Yaan could no longer say anything. Seeing his father in such a pitiful state, he was dumbfounded and at a loss for words.

He didn’t understand, why was he doing this? Wasn’t he enraged that his wife and daughter had just been killed?!

Suddenly, Yaan felt a sense of distance and disgust, a sense of loathing, towards this pitiful father of his.

“So how will you make up for this insult towards me?” Ignoring Yaan’s rapidly changing expression and mood, the Immortal spoke slowly, a look of amusement spreading across his face. This disdainful and unbothered expression made Yaan feel sick to his stomach.

For a second, there was silence. It seemed like his father was considering this question carefully.

“With my life, Lord Immortal!” His father looked up. His face was a bloody mess, covered in crimson soaked gravel.

Yaan was shocked by what he had just heard and even more shocked by his father’s eyes. They showed no fear, no regret, only resolve.

Suddenly, Yaan felt ashamed. He felt ashamed that for a moment, he had despised his own father. He stepped forwards and was about to apologise, to fix this situation, but alas, it was not to be.

“Very well.”

Chi!

The sword appeared from nowhere once more, then stabbed down into his father’s lowered back. The sword pierced straight through his back and into the ground, pinning him into the floor and forcing his body down further, into an even lower and more subservient position.

“Yaan…” His father painfully turned towards him and smiled with a smile that only made Yaan tear up even more. As tears streamed down Yaan’s face uncontrollably, his father reached out his hand towards this son of his as he wore a sorrowful expression, hoping to see his remaining child’s face one last time…

Unfortunately, the blood from his forehead had filled his eyes, he could see nothing but a sea of red.

Sleeee…

His body lost tension and fell down the blade of the sword, until he was lying down on the ground, dead. The sound grated through Yaan’s ears with an agonising vibration, seemingly dragging on for an eternity. He stared with wide eyes at the scene of horror that he would never forget throughout his life.

Yaan was at a loss.

“Father…mother…aunt…little sister…” Yaan’s eyes glazed over and tears streamed down his cheeks. He slowly turned his head back towards the man, the perpetrator who had massacred his entire family for no reason other than his slight irritation.

Seeing Yaan’s hateful gaze, the man raised an eyebrow.

“Do you intend to invalidate your father’s sacrifice?” He asked coldly.

Yaan froze. He felt conflicted. The hate he felt towards this man was like nothing he had ever felt before! For the first time in his short life, he wanted to kill someone! He wanted to rip this man’s body apart and leave him for dead! But…

He was reminded of his father’s last actions and finally realized that everything he did was to protect him. All because Yaan stepped out, his father was forced to offer up his own life as compensation. He just couldn’t do it…he was unable to bring himself to waste his father’s sacrifice.

“Your father died because of you, boy. Now though, there is nobody else to step out for you. I only accepted his offer on account of your moderate talent, but I will not be so generous if you are to incite my ire again.”

“Generous…?” Yaan muttered hatefully, the bitterness in his words obvious to everyone within earshot.

Yaan suppressed the burning anger in his heart, feeling beyond pained as he found himself in this despairing situation, this situation where he could only stare helplessly at the hateful murderer before him.

After a few seconds passed by and he somewhat cooled down, Yaan realized something.

Even if he wanted to attack this person, what could he do? This was an Immortal, whilst he was just a weak mortal child. Even if he wanted to kill this person, even if he wanted to rip apart his limbs and pulverise his flesh, he would be completely unable to do so.

“Just tell me…why…why is it that you treat their lives like dirt?” Yaan finally asked through gritted teeth. He clenched his teeth so tightly that his gums bled, he gripped his fists with such force that red marks appeared within his palms and his nails were bent inwards. Inflicting this pain upon himself was all he could do to keep his calm.

“Because they are dirt. The lives of mortals are akin to those of livestock, they exist only to produce resources for the Qi masters.”

With that answer, the Lord Immortal turned away from Yaan and ignored him, returning his attention to the remaining three people in the selection. Yaan was left feeling stunned by the cold words that he spoke with such conviction, unable to muster up a response. He felt it incomprehensible that a human being could be so heartless.

One final person was discovered to have low talent, a small five year old girl who looked fearful as she was herded further away from her parents.

“Into the rear carriage.” The robed man stated this plainly, then he himself walked across to the front carriage. The children only now noticed that there were two horse drawn carriages nearby, each towed by two horses and a driver.

“Wh- where are we going?” One boy hesitantly stepped out. He was the oldest of the group at nine years old, so he decided to take it upon himself to lead and protect the others.

“Oh, were you not informed?” The man stopped, then frowned at the chief with an accusing glare. The chief broke out in cold sweat and hastily apologised.

“Hmph, you mortals are far too soft.” The Lord Immortal harrumphed before turning back towards the children briefly.

“You are all to join the Heavenly Path Sect.”

The five children all looked at one another with mixed expressions. They felt some fear and unwillingness, but also a hint of expectation and excitement at the coming adventure.

Did this mean that they could become Immortals?!

Only Yaan felt nothing pleasant towards this prospect. To join the sect that was responsible for his family’s slaughter left a bad taste in his mouth to say the least. He wanted nothing more than to rip apart this monster of a man, yet right now, he could only follow obediently into the back of the carriage.

To be honest, were it not for his worry of implicating even more people in his rage, then he might have lost all rational and charged at this robed murderer anyway.

Yaan’s mind felt numb as he followed behind the other children into the rear end of the wooden carriage. He received looks of pity, both from the carriage drivers and the other village kids.

The kids looked back towards their parents as they departed, but they could only briefly make out their figures waving from a distance. They were not even given the chance to say goodbye, yet nobody dared to speak out for fear of angering the Lord Immortal once again.

As they stepped into the carriage and settled down onto the wooden seating, Elia tried to talk with Yaan to provide words of comfort. However, Yaan didn’t even hear her. She turned slightly and looked down at his face, but what she saw gave her chills throughout her body.

His eyes were still bloodshot, he was gritting his teeth as hard as he could, whilst tears streamed down his face. Yaan felt so much pain from his family’s demise that he wasn’t sure what to do, how to act, or what to do with himself, other than to stew in mindless rage. It hardly felt real, yet he knew that it was so. He was being taken away to an unknown land, with nobody waiting for him to return. The mixture of emotions in his heart caused him to feel like he was losing his mind.

“Yaan!” He suddenly jolted from his stupor as the oldest child yelled directly into his ear. Yaan blinked a couple of times and looked around. Feeling the unstable shaking of the seating below him, he realized that they had already left the village without him noticing. He slowly turned towards Falca, the boy who shouted his name.

“Yaan, I know that you must feel sad, but we need to pay attention and stick together now!” The boy spoke with a serious expression.

“Stick…together?” Yaan spoke dazedly, staring at Falca with a cloudy expression for a moment.

“Right. You all might not know this, but I remember the last selection! My parents explained things to me, and other things I overheard secretly. Every few years, the Lord Immortal visits the village and holds a selection for the children at five years old and above. The children with talent for cultivation are taken to the Heavenly Path Sect…but they never return.”

The kids all listened silently and began feeling scared. They would never return home? Why, what would happen to them at the sect? The young five year old girl, Una, asked this, but Falca could only shake his head and sigh.

“Nobody knows. That’s why we need to stick together! We only have each other now after all.” He put emphasis on that last bit and looked at Yaan meaningfully.

Yaan understood the meaning behind his words. His expression softened ever so slightly and he straightened his back, looking around at the other kids. Right, his family were gone, but he still had these people around him!

The dead were no more, but there were still living people that he cared for. A mysterious golden glint flashed in Yaan’s eyes as he felt like he had understood something, but this feeling dissipated along with the strange light within a single instant. It was so brief that nobody noticed, and even Yaan thought that he must have been mistaken.

Yaan turned to the children in the carriage and felt a new found sense of resolve. This time, he would definitely protect them.