Zhi raised an eyebrow as he asked, “You could have passed the Third Tribulation? What happened?” The Ancestor sighed as he gestured to the two of them to sit down, “This is a long story and it will probably take a while to fully narrate.” Zhi and Fanghong looked at each other but sat down nonetheless. The Ancestor closed his eyes to collect his thoughts for a bit before he started, “You see, the Main Clan has the family name “Sheng” and at the large scale of things, it has two factions: The Elders and the Normal. The Elders offspring all get the best Pills, Arts and Artefacts from young, they also have the best teachers and so on. The Normals, however lack the backing which can help them prosper. Most Normal Clansmen live off of the resources distributed to all and on those that they acquire themselves. Do you understand this far?” As he looked at Zhi, Zhi nodded and said, “One Faction has the people who are born with a golden spoon in their mouths, the others climb on top of a mountain of corpses.”

As Zhi said like that, the Ancestor nodded before continuing, “It’s like you said. There is a lot of friction between the two factions because the Elders faction looks down on Normals as if they were insects. The Normals however think of the Elders as a joke because they haven’t worked for their resources. However, there is one more Faction amongst them that belongs to neither. That is the Founder Faction. Every generation the Sheng Clan Founder selects the person with the most promising future to become his direct disciple. Those disciples form the third faction.”

As he explained thus far, he took a little break to let it all sink in. He took a sip of the Spirit Tea and then said in a cold tone, “I was born to the Normal Faction and in my generation, I was the person destined to become the Disciple. However, It never came to be.” As he shook his head helplessly Fanghong asked, “What happened?” Zhi also nodded his head indicating he wanted to know.

The Ancestor smiled bitterly as he said, “Even though I was the one the Ancestor had picked, he had said that only if I managed to pass the Third Tribulation before I turned One Thousand years old. Since I had reached the mid stages of the Primadorial God realm before I turned 800, there was no way for me to not succeed. Everyone felt as though that spot was mine for sure, even I thought so. However, there was one from the Elders faction whose talent and cultivation wasn’t far behind me. He had reached the Early stage of the Primadorial God realm by the time he became 800 years old.” The Ancestor let out a bitter sigh as he continued, “One day, I was visited by the Elders Factions bright stars Father with another few Elders. They basically told me to give up this spot as the Disciple of the Founder. Since I reached where I had only thanks to my own efforts, it was not something I could do so easily.”

He looked Zhi in the eye before he continued, “When I told them to dream on, they started making my life hard. I was assigned a deadly mission after another but I survived and my cultivation increased in rapid pace as well thanks to all the combat experience. By the time I became 900 years old, I had already reached the Peak stage of Primadorial God realm. I was only a breath away from the Third Tribulation. It was then when the Elder decided to take matters into his own hands.” The Ancestors face turned cold as he opened up his robes to expose a very vicious rotting scar on his chest. Seeing this scar, Fanghong’s jaw dropped and Zhi’s eyes opened wide.

The Ancestor said with his head cast down, “This was given to me by that very same Elder when I was ambushed while out on a mission. This strike cut off my path as a cultivator, I could never reach a higher realm. So it wasn’t hard to imagine what would happen. I stayed in the Primadorial God realm while the Elder’s son passed the Third Tribulation and became the Founder’s Disciple.” Zhi suddenly realized that not everyone has a happy story behind them. He was currently complementing on whether to pass on a certain technique to the Ancestor or not. His story was nearly the same as his, only that he fell from a higher place than him.

The Ancestor covered up his chest again and said, “Since I failed, I was just casually told to go and start a branch clan in a lower plane. The resources given to me to do so were minimal and I wasn’t even allowed to use the Clan name. So I founded the Long clan in hopes of raising a person that would be able to slap all the Elders in their face.”

He took a long look at Zhi before sighing, “When you were born, I honestly felt that I finally found the person to do so. However, I had no idea that that bastards hands would stretch as far as this.” As he shook his head at the last sentence, Zhi realized something as he asked, “Wait, behind the Grand Elder is the Elder from the Sheng Clan?” The Ancestor immediately replied, “Not him but his son who became the Founder’s Disciple, Sheng Jack. When we were young I always suppressed him but now that he has left me in the dust, he takes pleasure in making my life harder and harder. Because he stand behind the Grand Elder, I could never get rid of him because that would give the Sheng Clan an excuse to execute me for impending their growth or something. The only reason they couldn’t just outright kill me was because I never gave them the excuse or opportunity to do so.”

He could do nothing but curse his own bad luck at this. Zhi asked with a frown, “What about your Founder, has he not even as much as tried to find out the truth?” The Long Ancestor just waved his hand in a mocking way saying, “He probably knows but just doesn’t care. His own strength is enough to ensure that no one would be able to oppose him. The Disciples he takes are one of the countless, he doesn’t care who becomes the one in the end and who fails.” Hearing this Zhi was a bit irritated. Although he didn’t manage all the things on the Island, he still was kept up to date about everything and he ensured fairness. He specifically made sure that there would never be Factions inside Dragon Cross.

All he could say about the Sheng Clan Founder’s management was: Bullshit. He didn’t care about his subordinates at all. Seeing Zhi a bit irritated, the Ancestor just sighed as he said, “There is nothing we can do any more. Unless, we magically obtained power strong enough to rival the Sheng Clan, we wouldn’t be able to do anything at all.” Fanghong nodded to this as well. Although they had suffered injustice they weren’t strong enough to demand justice. Zhi just said, “Well, there is time. As they say, 20 years isn’t too late for a gentleman’s revenge. If we slowly and stably grow and prosper, we will at some point in time be able to rival the Sheng Clan. Then we can demand some justice.” Both Fanghong and the Ancestor looked at Zhi in astonishment.

The Ancestor asked puzzled, “You said you don’t care about other’s circumstances, why are you trying to take revenge on the Sheng Clan?” Zhi looked at the Ancestor as he raised his palm. On it, five domino blocks manifested and he lined them up. The Ancestor and Fanghong looked on confused, they had no idea what Zhi was doing.

When everything was set up, Zhi started explaining, “You see, the events that brought me to the Ancient Battlefield are the outcome of a Domino Effect.” He pointed towards the domino on one end and said, “Lets pretend this is the event which led me being stuck in the Ancient Battlefield.” The two looked at the domino and nodded their heads. Then Zhi pointed at the next domino and said, “This is the Grand Elder plotting to take over the Clan.” Then he pointed to the next one and said, “This is you founding the Long Clan.” And then to the next one, “This one is you being ambushed in order to let Sheng Jack become the Founder’s Disciple.” Then to the next one, “This is the one where Sheng Jack is suppressed by you and hatches the sinister scheme of overtaking you.”

When he reached the end of the line, he knocked the domino over. After falling on the next one, the other fell over and so on. After they had all fallen over, Zhi said, “Because of the Elders and Normals faction, you who was a rising star of you generation, was plotted against by the people who wanted to get Sheng Jack to become the Founder’s Disciple. After he had the power, he had you exiled of the Clan and then to make your life even harder, the seduced the Grand Elder, which in turn caused me being thrown to the Ancient Battlefield.” Fanghong and the Ancestor just frowned, they understood what Zhi was saying but in their eyes, it was a ludicrous idea. Zhi took the up most domino block and crushed it in his palm.

As he opened it, the dust started falling down. He looked at the dust falling from his palm and said, “I am not interested in the domino’s in between but I honestly want to have a long chat with the domino block that cause all of this.” Hearing these resolute words both Fanghong and the Ancestor gulped. This idea was completely insane. The Sheng Clan Founder was someone who was born countless millennia ago, his power had reached the level at which there was no one who dared to take him on. For Zhi to say that he wanted to have a nice long chat wouldn’t be something bad in itself but the murderous aura that leaked out form him was something that told them it wouldn’t be a pretty afternoon tea chat.

The Ancestor said with twitching lips, “You aren’t planning on picking a fight with the Sheng Clan are you? It would take countless years for you to reach the level needed to talk to the Sheng Clan Ancestor like an equal. Even if you reached that level, the Sheng Clan have accumulated over a thousand people in the Origin Realm. What you want to do is just suicide.” Zhi let out a cold claugh as he smiled, “I have a shit ton of techniques that are probably on par with the Sheng Clan’s ore Arts. I also have a lot of high quality Artefacts and Pills. Give Dragon Cross a few centuries and then we would be on par with the Long Clan at it’s peak. Give it a few more millennia and we will be a strong power even at the Ascended Plane. As for Origin Experts, I thought I had demonstrated it to you guys before, Quality trumps Quantity if the Quantity are greenhouse flowers who only know how to plot and scheme.” As Zhi said so, the Ancestor had a complicated face on.

He had browsed the Arts and could say that they were even better than the Core Arts of Sheng Clan. As for the Artefacts and Pills, they were all the kind that even the Elders of the Sheng Clan would treat as treasures. It wasn’t some groundless boasting when Zhi said that in a few millennia Dragon Cross would be on par with a Major Power of the Ascended Plane. Usually, a Sect or Clan would become a Major one when they get an Origin level expert on their side. To grow even one of the Origin level experts bleeds a Clan nearly dry. However, Zhi’s starting point was already the same of a Clan that had existed for countless millennia. All Zhi had to do was wait for the people to reach that point in cultivation.

However, the Ancestor just gave mocking laugh as he said, “Well, what you say is true, in about ten thousand years you will be able to become a power on par with an Ancient Clan in terms of force.” Seeing the self mocking smile, Zhi steeled his resolve as he waved his hand. Instantly, tens of formations completely sealed the Time and Space of the little courtyard. No one would be able to look into this place. Seeing the Formations, the Ancestor just raised a brow. Zhi put on a serious face as he said, “If the two of you take an oath on your Soul, I will give you something that will help the both you advance to the Origin Level and beyond.” Hearing this sentence completely dumbfounded the two.

They looked at each other but could only see each other’s bewildered eyes. They knew that Zhi was not someone who would just lie to them or get their hopes up just to destroy them. However, the two of them had no idea what method it would be that would help them get to the Origin Realm. Fanghong asked cautiously, “What is this thing?” Zhi just shook his head before saying, “You both need to give me an Oath of Soul to never leak what I will tell you two here. You also can’t take the method and then disappear, you have to stay behind my back.” Hearing the serious tone and how Zhi was so determined made them truly feel that Zhi had a method to do as he had said.

Finally, the Ancestor let out a sigh as he said, “I have nothing to lose anyway.” He raised his hand and gave an Oath on his Soul. The Oath of Soul bound a person by their Soul. If they broke the Oath, their Souls would immediately shatter. Seeing the Ancestor give the Oath, Fanghong also grit his teeth and gave one. Zhi couldn’t let them give him a Bloodline Oath because it would screw himself over as he was the descendant of these two. Seeing the two give the Oath, Zhi nodded as he relaxed a bit. He put his hands on his chest and withdrew two white spheres.

He looked at the two seriously and said, “This is the Art that will allow you to reach the Origin Realm. It is called the “Nirvana Rebirth” technique. It is an extremely precious technique that will allow one to create a complete duplicate of himself. After the Duplicate is done, the person will experience “Nirvana Rebirth” and be born a new. You will have all your memories and experiences you have had until now but your cultivation will be reset.” Hearing this, the Ancestor and Fanghong nearly fell off their chairs.

Zhi continued, “Your body will be reformed and as a result it will be reinforced a little. As for injuries that would hinder your cultivation or the sorts, they would all be eliminated. Your body toughness will also stay as you currently have and you will be able to temper it further to create a more perfect body.” After Zhi had said so, he took a breath and let it all sink in to the two. They had both reached the Primadorial God realm but their hopes for advancement were shot.

This method would allow them to reform their bodies and recreate their cultivation from the start. This time, they would know to be extremely thorough and coupled with their experiences this far, their progress would be extremely rapid. It would probably only take a few hundred years to get to the level they currently were. The Ancestor asked in a shocked tone, “How could there be a technique as heaven defying as this?”

Zhi just smiled bitterly as he said, “It is not completely without risk. The moment you create the duplicate, it will not be able to advance an inch no matter what. Should you die and the duplicate survive, you will have your consciousness brought back to the duplicate but you will never be able to advance an inch, not in cultivation or in Arts. That is the price you have to pay for this gamble.” The two of them weren’t fools and knew very well what Zhi meant.

If their body that went through “Nirvana Rebirth” would meet an unexpected accident, then their duplicate bodies would forever be stuck as they were. No matter how much they would practise their spear arts or sword arts, they would not gain one insight any more.

The Ancestor looked towards Zhi and asked, “Where did you get this technique?” Zhi just smiled as he said, “It is something that slept in the very core of this Island.” The Ancestor remembered that this Island was something that Zhi had acquired from the Ancient Battlefield. Who knows where this Island exactly came from but this technique was most probably the very core art of a very strong Sect. The news of it probably leaked and the Sect got destroyed. Through a twist of faith and after passing through countless hands, it ended up in Zhi’s hands.

Fanghong asked, “Have you used this technique as well?” Zhi just smiled as he shook his head, “This technique requires the user to be at least at the Primadorial God realm. Now the question is: Are you prepared to take this gamble in the face of this storm.” Both the Ancestor and Fanghong fell into deep thought.

Without a doubt there was a big storm brewing, all kind of accidents may happen to them during this period that may cut off their final thread of hope in advancement.