Alright, so they carried me back to what I assume is their… village? Clan? I wanna say village since it looks… villagey.

Anyway, I’m extending my mental energy outwards so I can see everything, and boy does this place look like crap. I wonder if I can find an old underestimated master in this place?

Also, I found out my body was glowing for some reason. So I need to take a look inside to see why cuz I know I wasn’t glowing because of my abilities.

In reality, this was simply due to the Destiny Scale refining the tribulation lightning that was responsible for the injuries plaguing me.

Once the energy was fully refined, I would be able to recover and access current cultivation cuz I cannot be bothered with the arrival of an arrogant young master right now.

…

“There it is, we’ve made it back!”

A short distance in front of the small group was a dilapidated temple surrounded by ruin on a grand scale.

The young ones in the group grew excited seeing as how they made it back. Their senior sister, however, became sombre.

She was aware that her clan was once prestigious in the demon race. The experts of the demons were powerful cultivators in their own right. Their speciality lay in cultivating the flesh, using the power of the body to tread the path of the dao.

However, this clan was a bit unorthodox in that their ancestors actually collaborated with the natural forging race of the cultivation world, the ren’duans and learnt some of their forging arts!

Using this knowledge and the power of their body, they created and laid down a powerful clan specialising in cultivating the body but used it towards forging.

It was a path that made the rest of the demon race sneer at them, but when they saw the weapons that they created, their sneers disappeared and were replaced by expressions of shock and envy.

The ren’duans were natural forging masters and were also responsible for a majority of the world’s most powerful artefacts and weapons.

This was one of the main races alongside the demons, humans, sacred celestics, and nymphs.

Ren’duans were extremely prideful when it came to their forging arts. They treated precious ores like their wives and their forging arts like their children. This was why it was so surprising when one of their forging arts was passed down to members of another race.

This was taboo among the ren’duans, but curiously enough, they never pursued the subject and never brought it up.

These demons allowed the demon race to get a taste of quality weapons and were prominent in their glory days.

The clan these four young demon cultivators belonged to was an extremely ancient one. In the past, even the demon king herself personally came to this clan to request their progenitor to make her a weapon.

However, no clan, sect, city or empire can withstand the enervation of time. The mere fact that the clan was able to survive till now, albeit as a run-down village, is a miracle in itself. Even if it was built upon the ruins of their predecessors.

Nevertheless, the elders of the village expressly forbade the disciples from mentioning anything regarding the clan. They were so serious in this endeavour that they even kept the name of the clan away from them.

“Hey senior sister, did you bring back any gifts!?” A chubby child with grey rock-like skin and odd patterns came running up to the leader of the group.

When their ruminating senior sister heard the cry, she involuntarily smiled as she bent down to take up the chubby child.

This was another demon of the demon race, a stone golem. Demons were one of the most diverse races, as far as ethnicity was concerned.

They weren’t only composed of humanoid beings with animalistic parts. They could even be a stone or rock that, gestated by the energy of the heavens and the earth, became enlightened in the dao and took on life.

Of course, when this happens, this particular demon isn’t necessarily reborn as a baby but instead takes on the appearance of the age proportional to their time spent as whatever entity they were before assuming human form.

When these demons procreate, life-forms such as this baby golem can arise. Demons of a particular or more noble origin don’t consider these sorts of life-forms as one of them.

“Senior sister Feng!”

“Oh, who’s this?”

“Wow, is that a real human!?”

“It’s my first time seeing one!”

Soon, different demons of all shapes and sizes came to greet the returning party. The other members of the party, including the young male demon that didn’t feel comfortable bringing Long Di here, started laughing and talking with the rest of the villagers that came to greet them.

Feng Yu gave the baby golem to another one of the villagers, wanting to take care of some business.

“Alright guys, I’m going to meet with the elders. Shen Ling, bring the human and follow me.”

Their senior sister waved goodbye to the amassing crowd and went on her way with Shen Ling and Long Di.

Soon as they took another turn on a rather normal route, an unwelcome sight greeted them.

“Hihihi, is that Yu’er and Ling’er I see,” an old man missing more than a few teeth with an unsteady gait came over.

His robes were dirty, stained with something that was neither new nor old. His hair, or what was left of it, was grey and dried down to the root. However, this did nothing to wipe the less than handsome grin from his face.

His eyes were muddled and his cultivation was practically non-existent. When Feng Yu and Shen Ling saw who was coming, whatever smiles the earlier meeting caused quickly vanished.

“Junior Feng Yu greets elder Tian Lu,” Feng Yu quickly executed a bow with a forced smile on her face, same with Shen Ling.

“No need to call me elder, just Uncle Tian Lu is fine, hihihi…” a lone tooth rattled as he laughed.

However, the two girl’s expressions froze as he came closer. The alcohol on his breath was enough to make a sober man drunk, evident by the two girls shuffling away.

This old demon was an odd character in the village. Feng Yu and the others only knew him as an old drunk with nothing to his name.

At times, he would be all over the place, and other times, he would be absent for weeks at a time.

Oddly enough, the elders of the village never once commented too much on him aside from letting everyone in the village know to never disrespect him.

This was why Feng Yu went as far as to bow and to call him elder, even though she didn’t feel he deserved such a title.

Of course, all his antics only amounted to being a nuisance, and since the current situation of their clan had fallen to a state of being something akin to a refuge for the homeless, apart from a little pressure that one put on him, nothing more came from it.

“All the young ones stay away from this old man. I guess you don’t want a swig of the good stuff, hihihihi…” He laughed as he staggered away on unsteady steps, disappearing around a corner.

Seeing as how he quickly left, the two girls sighed in relief and headed for the elders’ building without delay.

By now Long Di was finished inspecting his body just in time to see the old man that hobbled away.

‘Was that an old underestimated master I saw? I can never understand why people never use common sense to think these things through. I mean, if he was weak, would he not be killed already by other people for being annoying? Alright, so find the old underestimated master, check! Now I need to get him to accept me as a disciple. Well, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it, or jump off it in my case… just like my last life.’

As Long Di was thinking about this, the two girls arrived at one of the more intact buildings, complete with cracks and vines growing between them.

Soon the confident Feng Yu stepped inside with the still shy Shen Ling. They found themselves in the middle of a large hall.

At the side and front, arranged in a semicircular fashion, was a group of old men that looked at them with stern expressions tinted with a bit of confusion.

These elders were the oldest and most esteemed existences in the village. When Feng Yu saw them, same as Shen Ling, they both wasted no time in bowing as they cupped their fists.

“Disciple Feng Yu and Shen Ling greet the elders.”

When the elders all saw this, their expressions softened slightly while the one in front waved his hands, “Rise young ones.”

“Thank you, first elder,” Feng Yu replied.

“Feng Yu, why are you back this early? Were you not supposed to return a few days later from experiential training?” An elder from another seat questioned, a bit confused by their quick return.

“You know how hard it is for us to get the resources necessary to take the promising young ones out on experiential training. What excuse do you have to forego that and come back so early!?” Another known as the third elder, aggressively questioned.

“… And who is that behind you?” Another elder asked them.

“Esteemed elders, this is the reason why we were so quick to return,” Feng Yu explained.

Shen Ling quickly brought Long Di to the forefront before retreating beside her senior sister once more.

The first elder nodded when he saw this. “Well, go on. I’m sure there must be a good explanation for this.”