Old man Hao just smiled to Zhi’s question and said, “I am betting on a fact.” Qing asked puzzled, “A fact?” Hearing this Zhi’s eyes narrowed as he guessed something. Hao just continued, “I am betting on the fact that you being stuck here for years was not something accidental and you want to take revenge. To do that you will need help, so helping out my Phoenix Clan with this, will make us very deep in your debt and when you need it, we would help you.”

Qing had a moment of realization as Zhi just lowered his head and sighed, “Well, I can guess that trying to scheme against an old fox like you is kind of pointless.” He raised his head and said, “Yes, that was my plan. From all the information I collected from our conversation, I could tell that this would land you heavily in my debt. Should I need help in the future, you would be a very good ally.” Old man Hao just let out a chuckle as he said, “So, do we have a deal?”

Zhi thought about it for a second and then said, “Yes, we have a deal.” Everything proceeded very smooth only thanks to their interests aligning. Zhi wanted to get out of the Ancient Battlefield and needed their help to do so. Hao needed someone to safeguard the medallion and was Zhi’s only ticket out. So, there wasn’t any bargaining because that wasn’t needed. Zhi just asked as he accepted the medallion, “How long do I have to safeguard it?” Hao looked towards Qing and just said, “It depends on when this little lady finds her special someone. It may be in a week, it may be in a millennia.” Hearing this Zhi just sighed and looked at the ceiling saying, “So no definite time limit.”

Trying to change the a bit embarrassing subject for her, Qing quickly chimed in, “You are quite calm and easy to talk to. You have been stuck in this blood land for years, I am truly surprised that you could let your guard down like that.” Both Zhi and Hao looked at her like she was stupid. Seeing both of their faces like that, she didn’t understand what she said wrong. Hao just sighed as he said, “He hasn’t let his guard down from the moment we met. One wrong move and our heads would have rolled.” Qing looked towards Hao stupidly as she asked, “Really? But, he-”

Before Qing could end her sentence Hao pointed towards Zhi’s scythe and said, “He has never let go of the scythe. Even by just sitting there he could cut off your head without even standing up and before I could intervene.” Zhi just let out a chuckle as he said, “Your eyes are quite sharp old man.” Hao just bitterly smiled as he said, “I have lived over 10 000 years already and even though you have hidden both your killing intent and Qi fluctuations deeply, I can still pick them up. However, I would say anyone under the Tribulation is like a lamb up for slaughter in front of you. What Realm have you reached?” Zhi just nonchalantly said, “I have no idea, I haven’t been told the cultivation Realms before. All I have are cultivation methods.”

Hao had a face that didn’t know whether to laugh or cry to that but said, “Under the Tribulation is Body Tempering, Foundation Establishment, then Nascent Soul. After the First Tribulation come the Empyrean Immortal, Empyrean King, Empyrean Emperor.” Hao took a breath to let it sink in a bit before he continued, “Then comes the Second Tribulation and after that come the Sovereign, Paragon and Primadorial God Stages. Then comes the Third Tribulation but no one has successfully passed that.” Zhi thought over the information but still looked at Hao suspiciously as he asked, “No one has passed the Third Tribulation? How is that possible?”

Hao just shook his head as he said, “The number of people who can qualify for the Tribulation is 1 in Quadrillion. The number of qualified people who actually attempt the Tribulation is 1 in Million. There have been only 4 people in known history who have tried the Tribulation but they all failed.” This startled Zhi and Qing. But Qing immediately asked, “What do you mean by qualify for the Tribulation?”

Hao looked towards her and said, “The criteria for the Tribulation is actually unknown. There are thousands of old monsters who have reached the Peak Stage of Primadorial God Realm but they have not felt the Tribulation coming for them in countless years. Since they won’t die any ways, they honestly don’t care about it either.” This was an eye opener for both Zhi and Qing. Immediately after this, Hao explained the Realms to Zhi.

Body Tempering was removing impurities and reinforcing his whole body and when the body had been sufficiently tempered, they can move on and establish their Foundation. Excavate the 13 Qi Springs and then flood them into a Sea upon which to build your Qi Palace.

After that comes the Nascent Soul Stage, where you first form a Core to birth the spirit. Forming the Core is the Early Stage, Mid Stage is when he had infused his Soul into the Core. Late Stage is when the Nascent Soul was successfully birthed. Listening to the explanation, Zhi could only smile wrily to Hao’s words. Hao said that a person is considered a Genius when they can reach the Qi Sea stage before they are 15.

Zhi himself had already established his Qi Palace and was currently in the process of forming a Core. This was all because of how he had grown up. About a month after his mother died, he was weak from hunger and stumbled upon the Fruit of Yin-Yang. In his hunger, he ate it and a cultivation method entered his head and erased the one his mother had passed down to him. It also reformed his body and fully tempered his body. He had directly entered the Foundation Establishment and only the section he could follow were the instructions in his head. It gave him a step by step explanation: How to condense a kindling, then to saturate it and so on. When he had reached the 13th Qi Spring, the method inside his head told him to temper his body again and he found a lot of places where there could use more tempering.

The method never told him what came after the step he was currently working on, only up to the step itself. Anytime, he reached the end of the step, the next one appeared in his head. Along with the steps came a Scythe Art and how to control the Flames. Basically, all that was still out of his reach or he didn’t meet the requirements were sealed and unsealed only when he reached the minimum threshold of it. He had no idea where the information came from but if he wanted to survive, all he could do was follow the instructions. Since this place wasn’t kind at all, since small, he had been fighting for his life here.

Zhi looked towards Hao and changed the subject, “When can we leave?” This startled Hao for a second but he soon came back to reality as he said, “I need to recover a bit more Qi. So in about an hour or two, we can leave.” Zhi nodded his head and closed his eyes as he crossed his legs. He started focusing his energy to accelerate his healing. The Flames of Death and Life were the two most dominant flames in existence.

They made his impervious to all other flames, his own included. The withering didn’t affect him and neither did the healing. However, it wasn’t without any merit as his regenerative speed was outstanding, so was his vitality. The gashing wound would have actually killed everyone else in the same Realm as him but thanks to his amazing vitality and his very tempered body, he could survive and thanks to it also kill the Horned Demon. Like that, in silence and meditation, an hour and a half passed. The silence was broken when Hao said, “Now then, I have recovered enough to transport us out.” Hearing this both Zhi and Qing were relieved.

Zhi could after 10 years finally leave this place and Qing was relieved to escape the hunt. Hao instructed them to stand close to him as his hands flashed and ancient runes started floating around them. Five minutes passed and Hao’s voice sounded out in Zhi’s head as he said, “The transportation is starting.” As the words faded, a bright light, that made Zhi close his eyes, consumed the cave. When he felt the light fade, he opened his eyes and they were in the middle of a prairie.

Zhi looked up and saw that the sky was blue, with some occasional clouds floating past. The Qi in the air was abundant and the whole place seemed like it was full of life. A smile formed on Zhi’s face as he muttered, “I am finally out. Just you wait bitch, I will make you pay for your actions.” Qing wanted to ask something when she heard the words but Hao stopped her.

When Qing looked towards him, he just shook his head indicating not to ask. Qing could only swallow her words and Hao said, “Our paths separate here. I wish you luck until we meet again.” Without waiting for Zhi’s answer, both he and Qing disappeared. Zhi just raised his brow for a second but didn’t pay it any mind. They had both accomplished their goals and dilly dallying around wasn’t his style as he picked a direction and started walking.

***

In a distant luxurious mansion, Qing and Hao appeared out of nowhere. When the surrounding people saw them, they immediately cupped their hands respectfully. Qing was quiet as she followed Hao deep into the mansion. When they finally reached a luxuriously decorated room, where there were 12 people seated already waiting for them with grim faces, Qing couldn’t finally take it and asked, “Patri-” But before she could even finish one word, Hao said, “You want to ask, why I didn’t invite him here?” Qing only bit her lip as she nodded her head. Hao looked towards the old woman sitting at the head of two rows of people and said, “I didn’t bring him here because first, his past is something that may be disastrous for us and second, your chances of finding someone you truly wish to spend your life with would all be for naught. I handed him the medallion so you could find someone without having to fear that someone will use all the methods possible to seize it. Although, they will still try, I no longer hold the medallion and it is in safe hands for now. For him to survive years in the Ancient Battlefield, unless a person who has passed the Second Tribulation comes, he will have nothing to fear.” With that, their conversation ended.

***

However, Zhi had found himself in quite a peculiar situation now. In front of him were two groups of people. It was clear that one of the groups was ambushed because they were outnumbered and also weaker. Their equipment was also of in tatters. What made Zhi actually stop to observe this in the first place was that, the outnumbered group seemed like Demons. Some of them had horns, while others had long pointed ears. The bigger group were all humans.

They wore different robes with different emblems. On a distant hill side, Zhi observed the situation but soon frowned when he heard one of the people say, “Well, seems like we hit the jackpot this time around. There are 16 Elf girls in this group, after we have had our fun with them, they will fetch quite a high price.” A sinister and perverted smile spread out on all of their faces. One of the men from the smaller group, hearing that, yelled out in an agitated tone, “You despicable humans, do you honestly think that you can do whatever you want?!”

The man from before sneered as he said, “Your Emperor has fallen, the strongest person in this World is now a Human. No matter what, you beasts only have the future as a slave.” The disdain in his voice was obvious as he looked down upon the man. The man seemed middle aged but on his head were lion ears and his structure was quite muscular as he stood in front of the group like a huge mountain, shielding them.

Hearing this, Zhi grasped the general idea on what was going on. It seems like the Emperor that acted as a deterrent had died and now humans were running all over the place capturing all non humans as slaves. Hearing the young man talk, somehow enraged Zhi.

Even he himself was surprised about it until he felt a tremor in his soul and remembered something that he had forgotten a long time ago. He also wasn’t a human, he was someone who had inherited the blood of a Dragon. Both his Father and Mother were Dragons and he himself was one too. However, since race didn’t play any role in the Ancient Battlefield, he had soon forgotten it.

It didn’t matter if you were a Dragon, a Fairy, a Human or a Demon, everyone killed everyone there. But now, the pride of a Dragon awoke from his slumber, seeing other non human people treated as if they were some toys you bought from a stall. As the anger started taking over, he just sighed, “Seems like pride and the soul are mysterious things. Even though I was at the Ancient Battlefield for so long, this pride and anger slumbered. Now, seeing a situation like this, it wakes up in an instant.”

As he shook his head, he started walking towards the two groups. He knew deep down that if he ignored this situation, the pride that was etched into his soul and bones would start hindering his progress in the path of cultivation. When one of the young men in luxurious clothing saw Zhi closing in, he immediately alerted the others. However, since Zhi’s cultivation was Realms higher than theirs, and he had also masked it, they could not see his cultivation. Currently, his Scythe was also in the Spacial Ring. Except for his eyes, he looked like a human through and through. However, since all of these people had the cultivation in the beginning stages of Qi Springs, they could spot his eyes from so far away. One of the youths said to the others, “Seems like another lamb has come for us.” All of them smiled to themselves.

However, all of the old people in the shadows frowned. They were all Nascent Soul Experts and when they also couldn’t see through Zhi’s cultivation, they felt that it was bad. Instinctively, they felt fear towards the youth casually strolling towards the youths. The youths were all the shining stars of their Sects. It was no wonder that they had Nascent Soul Experts following them around and protecting them from the shadows. Since the youths all knew that, they also acted more brazenly and more arrogantly.

When Zhi was only a hundred meters away from them, he just turned his head towards the nearby thicket and nonchalantly said, “You old farts should take your brats and leave right now. If you haven’t all disappeared by the count of 10, don’t blame me for killing everyone.” These two sentences baffled everyone present. The Demons because they now realized that there were even more people and with a stronger cultivation hidden nearby. The youths and the old people were all surprised because Zhi had looked towards their hiding spot as he said that. This meant, that he knew they were all there, however, he didn’t give a damn about them at all.

This made the old experts believe that Zhi had already passed the First Tribulation. They had joint formations that would allow them to battle an Empyrean Immortal but they would like to avoid that if possible. The old men and women all appeared in the air above the youths and one of them said, “We don’t wish to fight you senior, so we will take our leave here.” As he said that, he turned his gaze towards the youths and said, “Quickly capture those Demons and lets leave.” Hearing this sentence, all of the youths started closing in on the Demons but Zhi’s cold voice echoed out again as he said, “I said, YOUR BRATS! Those guys stay here. If you guys don’t wish to be massacred, then get lost!”

His cold voice also held a tinge of anger as he said so. The old man from before looked towards him and said, “Those are our slaves. We have the means to fight with you-” His sentence was cut short as a Scythe had cleanly made his head roll. Zhi had grown up in a place where negotiations never got anywhere any ways. Also, seeing their demeanour, he knew that these guys would listen either. He had given them a chance, they had not taken it, so all that was left was to massacre them.

The moment the old man’s head flew off his shoulders, everyone’s eyes opened as wide as carriage wheels. Even the Nascent Soul Experts had not seen him move before the head flew up.