The trio soon arrived to their home at the corner of Heaven’s peak.

As soon as Relic and Hana entered into their home, a sobbing woman came rushing towards them and embraced them.

“Are you two okay?! Where have you been?! Are you hurt?!” Marie scanned her children frantically.

“Mom we’re fine.” Hana said.

“What happened today? We heard many rumours about a spirit beast attacking some people today, when a pair of twins suddenly stepped up and defeated it.“ A manly voice came from behind. It was Lavender, their father. He continued, “IT was said, the male twin was able to take on two immortal cultivators at once! You two are the only twins in this town so it had to be you two, right?!” he asked, concerned.

“Yes, it was us.” Relic replied. Seeing the astonished look his parents had, Relic spoke: “The truth is a cultivator has taken me as their disciple to learn cultivation.”

“What?!” They were both shocked. Cultivation was only accessible to those within large cities and towns. There were no schools or sects set up here so many would have to travel in order to learn cultivation. Of course, one could hope a wandering cultivator would be willing to teach them cultivation but the chances of that happening were close to none.

“Who is this this teacher?!” Marie quickly asked. It wasn’t unheard of for nefarious individuals to take advantage of unsuspecting victims who dreamt of being cultivators. She was immediately worried that Relic was being had.

“A couple of days ago,” Relic began narrating, “In my dreams, I met an old man. This old man was sitting on a lily pad on top of a calm lake and was meditating. At the time, I didn’t realize what was going on and walked towards him. As I got closer he opened his eyes and spoke: ‘Your mind is clouded and your soul is in shambles. Let me clear it up for you.’ He placed his hands on top of my head and spoke some words of incantation. Next thing I knew, my head was no longer muddled and I could think more clearly than I had for years!”

Marie and Lavender looked at each other with extreme shock.

“After that, the old man said I had talent in cultivation and took me as his disciple. Since then I have become a cultivator and have been able to do many amazing things!” He spoke with great enthusiasm.

“So that’s why!” Both of them immediately gained a sense of clarity. They were accepting of the fact that Relic had gotten better out of nowhere, but now, he was able to take on spirit beasts and immortal cultivators? It was just too fantastical and they couldn’t believe it.

However, hearing that a powerful cultivator had visited their son in a dream, made everything fall into place.

“Son, make sure to keep up in your teacher’s graces. You have truly gained heaven’s blessing.” Lavender said.

“Yes.” Relic nodded.

Thankfully, Relic’s parents were just a bunch of regular mortals and believed his story outright. In reality, invading dreams was not something any one could do. Relic had only heard stories and never had actually met any cultivator who could enter another person’s dream. To do so would be breaking a natural law and even immortals would not be able to so easily break it.

Hana was the only other person in the room that understood that Relic was just lying so that he wouldn’t worry their parents. He had already told her that it would be best if their parents didn’t know he was from the future as it could cause them problems in the future.

A cool breeze suddenly entered the home through the open door which sent shivers down Hana’s back. She turned her head and saw a couple of feathers sticking out and she immediately went back outside.

“Come on, Jiro, it’s getting cold. Don’t be shy.” Hana was tugging some large shadowy figure. The figure was reluctant and squawked softly at her but she was determined.

That large figure entered into the home and the room immediately went silent.

“H-Hana, t-this spirit beast…” Marie was utterly shocked. Lavender only looked on with bulging eyes and a dropped jaw.

“This is Jiro, our new friend!” Hana happily said. She proceeded to stuff her face into his soft feathers and rubbed all over. “Mother, he is very soft and warm!”

Jiro could only shiver at Hana’s actions.

She was no longer afraid of Jiro and had no longer held him accountable for what had happened before. Relic had explained to her that it was actually that young master before who was ordering Jiro to do all of those things and Jiro had no choice but to comply. After she heard that, Hana immediately felt guilty of being so apprehensive of Jiro before, especially after he had done so much to protect her when all those men charged towards them. She now treated him like he was a family pet.

“B-but…” Lavender stuttered. Jiro’s figure towered over his own. “Isn’t this the same spirit beast which harmed so many people today?” They had heard the spirit beast was a peacock variant. They were both afraid that Jiro would attack their children and they would not be able to do a thing.

“Please don’t worry,” Relic suddenly interjected, “This is definitely the same spirit beast from today. However, my teacher had already tamed it and now he serves as our guardians.”

The two parents looked at each other and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

“That’s good.” They both said.

….

Under the terms of the contract, Jiro could not do anything to harm this family. He remained docile as they touched all over him. Jiro could only internally pity himself for falling to such a state. The two were soon convinced this spirit beast really was tamed by that powerful cultivator and no longer worried.

They had dinner and the parents retired to their rooms feeling satisfied so many fortuitous things have happened for their son.

Relic and Hana soon found themselves in their own room.

“Hana, I will be sleeping on the floor, you can continue to take the bed from now on.”

“But why? Even if you are an old grandpa we can still sleep on the same bed.” She asked confused.

“Ekk, an old grandpa….” That was a first for Relic. Even when his master was in a mindset of a child she had never called him an old grandpa.

“Hana, please… just think of me as your older brother….” Relic pleaded

“Oh, okay… but why do you want to sleep on the floor?”

Relic shook his head “A young lady should only share a bed with someone they love. I may be your brother but I’m still old enough to be your great grandfather” He said painfully. “Besides, I won’t always be with you. When you are out adventuring you will find your own path and at times, it will be very lonely. You must try to be by yourself so you are more prepared in the future. ”

Hana knew what Relic was saying made sense and nodded in agreement.

Seeing his sister understand, Relic closed his eyes. A wave of tiredness washed over him and he fell asleep instantly.

As the night dragged on, Hana tussled through the bed as she did the previous night. She was still unaccustomed to sleeping by herself and what’s more, images of the fight before still sprang up in her mind. Although she accepted the fact these men deserved everything they had coming to them, she was still but a child. It would take some time for her to fully get used to it.

Time slowly passed.

Hana lifted herself up. It was reaching mid night and the entire house was silent. The only sound she could hear was the chirping of the moon crickets singing their song.

She turned to Relic who was sleeping peacefully on the ground. Her hand stretched slightly towards him when it suddenly stopped. “No…” She retracted her hand and sighed.

She exited the room and planned to go get a drink of water from a water jug outside when she suddenly caught a glance of Jiro.

Jiro was too large to fit in their room so he had no choice but to reside in the dining room to sleep.

He slept in an almost unbelievable posture. His neck was bent backwards and the top of his head touched his back, forming a large arch.

Hana giggled slightly from the scene and walked closer to Jiro. She began to touch his soft feathers once more and soon found her-self fully immersed in it. Before she knew it, she had already climbed on top of his body. Her small arms clung around Jiro’s neck and her small body shifted into his fur. With a smile on her face, she fell into a deep sleep.

….

Morning quickly arrived.

“(Y-you dare!)” Relic suddenly shouted

Jiro sleepily opened his eyes. He saw Relic was furiously pointing a finger towards him which made him immediately confused.

Jiro was just about to respond when he suddenly felt some weight around his neck. He immediately panicked. “Oh no, is my neck acting up again?!”

He then heard a light breathing sound coming from his back. He turned his gaze slightly to see Hana sleeping soundly on his back as she held tightly around his neck. Her clothes were rolled up as she moved around in her sleep. Much of her skin was showing as it came into contact with his feathers.

“(Dammit, I should have taken this into consideration before forming that spirit contract with you!)” Relic gnashed his teeth. “(I should’ve known you could be this kind of beast! Come! Summon out your contract so we can cancel it! You and I will fight to the death!)”

Jiro’s eyes immediately widened his eyes and looked fearfully at Relic. “(It wasn’t me! I didn’t do anything!)” He tried to defend himself. Jiro didn’t even know what was going on, but the situation definitely made him look bad.

Relic didn’t seem to hear a word he said and took up a stance. He couldn’t kill Jiro but he could definitely harm him. Spirit contracts were incredibly imprecise and ambiguous. The spirit contract does not judge based on the facts, but rather the persons own meaning. If a cultivator set out specific terms for both parties to adhere to and one of them thought it meant something else, the spirit contract would still believe both parties are correct.

That is why spirit contracts were rarely used between strangers. The possibilities for a loop hole could put a person in a precarious situation.

Relic had purposefully left the first condition open to interpretation as a fall back plan. If he could never harm Jiro, that may put him in a difficult situation as even if he had to harm him in order to save his life, the spirit contract would still have activated and killed him.

The first condition stated: Neither party may harm the other without justifiable reasons or harm anyone the other cares about.

In his heart, Relic truly believed he had a justifiable reason to do harm to Jiro in order to save his sister from this lustful beast!

Just as Relic was about to make a move, Hana also awoke. She rubbed her eyes and said, “Oh, Brother, Jiro, good morning.”

“Hana, why are you on Jiro’s back? Did Jiro do anything to you?” Relic frantically spoke.

She gave a slight blush

Jiro’s eyes immediately constricted seeing Hana’s reaction while Relic’s eyes seemed to be burning with fury!

“It’s a bit embarrassing to say, but I woke up in the middle of the night and I wanted to get a drink of water. I noticed Jiro sleeping and thought about giving him a pet on the head before going back to sleep. However, as I touched him, his feathers were so soft and before I knew it, I climbed up on to his body and drifted to sleep.”

Both Jiro and Relic seemed to give a deep sigh of relief at the same time.

Hana felt the tension between them and asked what was wrong.

Nothing, just a misunderstanding, hahaha…” Relic made an award laugh as he scratched his head.

“(Sorry…)” Relic apologized.

“(Hmph!)” Jiro ignored Relic’s apology and looked as if he was offended.

The kids parents soon awoke and they all had breakfast together.

“We may not have enough food for your spirit beast.” Marie said as she looked at Jiro.

“You don’t have to worry about that. He will be hunting his own food.” Relic said.

The Astors definitely would not be able to feed Jiro with the large appetites divine spirit beasts had.

Jiro quickly exited the home and dived down the mountain as he began to look for fresh meat on the forest floor.

Marie and Lavender were still amazed their kids were able to get such a large spirit beast to follow them. They both felt proud and especially happy. They use to worry about their kids constantly and would stay up at night thinking about their future. However, not only was Relic now better, he also was being taught cultivation! Their children were also protected by a strong spirit beast where ever they went. Heaven’s peak was safe, but this extra measure brought peace to their minds.

After breakfast, they soon separated ways. Their parents would return to their jobs in the restaurant and the twins would have extra days exploring this town.

Relic and Hana walked out and saw Jiro pecking at his feathers. He had a slight smell of blood on him.

“What are we going to do today?” Hana asked.

“We’ll head to a general shop first and purchase some large bags. Then we will go back to the forest to dig up some more truffles.”

“Wow, your wine making is really expensive. Even with all that gold you made yesterday you still need more!” Hana asked, astounded.

“Of course, I only make the best quality of wines otherwise I would be bringing shame to my teacher who taught me this profession.” Relic smiled. “We will also begin your cultivation learning. I hope you take everything seriously.” He patted her head.

“Mn!” She nodded before proceeding to get on top of Jiro. “Let’s go!”

“…” Both Jiro and Relic were stunned for words. Jiro especially, began to question what his future was going to be like now that this girl no longer feared him.

They made their way towards the market place when they suddenly saw a long line stretching all the way to a faint restaurant. On top of that restaurant was a sign which read ‘Moon Lit Dinning Hall.