Nalser however couldn’t understand one thing, so he asked, “Isn’t your Azure Branch one clan, why would your family want to leave? I understand that it is only a branch of the clan but still?” Mei just lightly chuckled and said, “For this we need to begin with the origin of the Five Heaven Clan. The Five Heaven Clan was founded by five sworn brothers back during the Ancient Era. Even thought in name it is the Five Heaven Clan, it is actually an alliance of 5 different Clans.”

Mei took a breath and started explaining again, “The 5 Clans have existed since the Ancient Era so they have grown far too big. Take my Azure Branch for example, we have the Main Branch and over 40 different branches as well. We are all of the same clan but my Main Branch has held the Patriarch position until now. Some more ambitious branches want to take control of the Clan themselves and become the Main Branch. The Ancestors of the Branches don’t interfere in these kinds of things because they explicitly said: “Unless it is an outside threat, we won’t interfere. If the Main Branch loses to a different Branch, then it is fate.” So expecting help from them is pointless.”

Mei just let out a soft sigh before continuing, “Currently the only reason my Branch has held the Main Branch spot for so long is because my Father is a Nascent Soul Expert and 3 out 5 Grand Elders are loyal to our Main Branch.” Nalser thought it over for a second and asked, “The Grand Elders are all Nascent Soul Experts?”

Mei merely nodded before continuing, “No matter which world or power, becoming a Nascent Soul Expert can get you a high position. Celestial level experts are all Ancestors who have given up mundane struggles and will only come out when there is a serious threat to their clan or power or something.” Nalser just nodded. This was somewhat in his calculation. From the books he learned that only 1 in 10 000 can pass the Celestial Tribulation. So to have those Ancestors all fight for benefits would cause chaos. So they must have reached some tactile agreement that Celestial Level Experts will only appear when destruction of their clan is imminent or something. Nalser looked towards Mei with glance that seemed to tell her to continue.

Mei continued her tale, “Because the Clan has grown too big, my family can’t keep them all in check any more. Also a lot of younger or elder generation people go around stirring things into a mess, so the one who has to take the heat is my Father, The Patriarch. He is also the person who has to pacify everything. Since he has to manage the clan and at the same time clean up the messes the clan makes, he is dead tired.” Nalser started understanding the circumstances better.

He asked something that had been on his mind for some time now, “Why won’t he do a purge in the Clan? I mean, he is the Patriarch so if he decided to purge all the rebels, no one could say anything, no?” Mei just lightly shook her head as she said, “It is not that simple. The purge would’ve worked a few generations ago but now it is impossible. Currently, the clan is extremely fragmented and some of the rebels are hidden far too deeply. If he carelessly executed a purge, they would all first work to overthrow the Main Branch and then fight it out between themselves for the position of the Main Branch.” Realization hit Nalser as he heard Mei’s explanation.

He had been too naive in his thinking, he hadn’t thought about the undercurrents. “Okey, so subduing the clan was not an option but what does your bodily constitution have anything to do with not leaving the clan?” Mei seemed to have been waiting for that question as she said, “The clan has become greedy. They care more about their own benefits rather than their clansmen. If my family left like that, then the other Branches can forcibly take me back to the clan to sell off. They’ll use some kind of a ‘just reason’ like “We are doing this in order to protect you.” or something bogus like that. Also my body stirred some of the other major clans as well. We would also be easy picking for them. Currently, the only thing keeping them from making any rash moves is the position of the Main Branch of the Azure Branch.”

Hearing this far, Nalser understood completely, he let out a sigh as he said, “So your family is practically stuck between a rock and a hard place. Both choices are ticking time bombs but the choice to stay in the clan is the one with the longer fuse.” Mei could only bitterly smile to it and nod her head.

She said in a somewhat sorrowful tone and asked, “So can I ask Young Master for this favour? Even if I have to give you my body or become your slave, I will have no quarrels.” Nalser looked at Mei with an annoyed look as he pouted, “I told you not to call me Young Master. Besides that, I have heard and understood of your situation.” Just as Mei’s face started blossoming a smile and gratitude was welling up inside her, a bucket of cold water was splashed on her head as Nalser continued, “However, I want you to remember that I am no Saint or a Hero of Justice. Our situation will truly be a give and take one. I will give you protection and cultivation methods while you will help me kill that man. That is all.” Mei could only cast her head down and think to herself bitterly, “Of course he won’t be my families saviour just because I need it. He has his own things to worry about, so asking him to take care of my clan without any remuneration would be too much like a fairy tale.” They discussed some of the details a bit more before Nalser took her out of the Starry Island.

When they opened their eyes, they were in the middle of a blood soaked grassland. There weren’t any corpses but signs of a fight were obvious from a glance. Since there were no corpses, they had no idea, who exactly had fought who, so they could just leave that place as fast as possible. Nalser followed Mei’s instructions and started flying towards the city the Azure Branch called their home. The entire city was humongous as the Azure Walls towered over the horizon. Entering the city was no problem since Nalser was with the little lady of the main branch.

Although Mei didn’t notice, Nalser did. The atmosphere was very tense and the guards seemed to have very peculiars gazes directed towards Mei. Towards Nalser, he only detected the hint of hostility before it was carefully concealed. As Mei headed towards her home, Nalser started wandering around the city. As he kept walking around the giant city, he was always on guard as he thought to himself, “5, no 6 people following me from the shadows. Seems like something big is going to happen soon.” As he kept walking around the city aimlessly, he kept his guard up against the people from the shadows.

Luckily for Nalser, they had underestimated him severely because of his cultivation. All they could feel was that he was at the peak of 9 Stage of Qi Gathering when in reality he, who followed the Ancient Path, was actually at the 12 Stage of Qi Gathering. His battle prowess was however strong enough to kill each and every one of these 6 Palace Establishment Elders. He could even put up a fight against an Early Core Formation Elder and successfully escape. However, against a Nascent Soul Expert, he would be like a chicken for slaughter.

Finally, deciding that it was currently not a good time to make a move, he booked a spot at an inn and started cultivating there. He was currently at the small success stage for the “Bones like Jade”. His bones were currently as strong refined steel. Although his monstrously fast progress was no surprise to him, it left everyone else stupefied. Nalser’s talent was never bad it was just mediocre. His main problem was that his meridians were nearly all clogged. It would have taken a lot of precious elixirs and time for an expert to clear out his meridians. However, the Baptism reformed his body. It cleared out his meridians, raised his bodies Qi conductivity and slightly raised his innate talent. Coupled with his determination and his monstrous comprehension abilities, a true bon-a-fide monster was born. Perhaps it wouldn’t even take him a century to reach the Nascent Soul stage.

Another reason for his monstrous progress rate was also that his body held extremely little impurities. His body had gone through a hellish tempering, nearly all of his impurities had been burned away. If he could get rid of all the impurities in his body, he would usually have a 99% of reaching Foundation Establishment. His situation was a little special as stepping into the Foundation Establishment was a huge ordeal for him.

As Nalser kept nourishing his bones with Qi according to the “Bones like Jade”, he suddenly felt dizziness take over him. When he came back to his senses, he was back on the Starry Island. Before he could get an understanding of what happened, he saw that all the puppets of Starry Island were there, standing in front of him. In total there were 24 different puppets there. Just as he was about to ask what was going on Librarians voice sounded out, “Is revenge truly that important you, that you would be willing to take people you pitied a bit here?”

Before Nalser could say anything, the barrage continued, “From what I have observed, you are extremely clever and weigh all the options before doing something. You are meticulous and determined, this kind of an impulsive decision is not like you. There is no way in Hell that you haven’t realized what this place is. To bring a dubious group-” The barrage was cur short by a cold, enraged shout from Nalser, “SILENCE!”

Librarian shut up and everyone felt an indescribable chill run down their spines. It had nothing to do with age, experience or cultivation base. This was a chill that originated from the very soul. Nalser’s cold gaze swept over everyone as he continued in a quiet but freezing tone, “Revenge? What joke is that. I thought all of you twerps were smarter than that.” Before anyone could refute him, he continued, “I never met my parents, I have no idea who my ancestors are and honestly I don’t give a shit. I grew up in a little courtyard alone. All that was there for me were just books. Yes, Grandpa was there for me when I was younger but that is not the reason I want some shitty revenge. What I want to do is prove myself.”

As Nalser took a breath, Sweeper quickly interjected, “What do you exactly want to prove? Your superiority or that you don’t need a strong backing to become an Expert?” Nalser looked blankly at Sweeper before giving a bitter laugh, “If that is the conclusion all of you guys reached, then your intelligence has been wasted on you.” Everyone were enraged by that statement but before anyone could say anything Nalser continued, “What I want to prove is that I am ME!”

This shut everyone up as they watched Nalser stretch out his hand towards the Starry Sky with a sad look. “I want to prove that the only person who has the qualifications to choose my destiny is myself. No one has any right to tell me what my future is, what my goals are supposed to be or what I am supposed to do. I want to live an unfettered life wandering the Realm, going where I want, drinking with who I want, chatting with who I want, fighting with what I want. Revenge? Destiny? Responsibility? Duty? That all can go Fuck itself for all I care. The reason I took them in is because to live an unfettered life, I need strength. Individual strength can only go that far, you need people to stand behind you.” Sweeper and the rest stared Nalser blankly as they finally understood that their train of thought had been extremely wrong.

The reason Nalser was working hard for wasn’t for revenge. It was to prove to everyone that he was himself and no one else had the right to decide anything for him. Librarian and the rest now actually felt a little embarrassed about them jumping the gun. Just as they were about to apologize for falsely accusing him, Nalser said in a cold tone, “I knew you all had intelligence but I tactfully didn’t pursue the matter because you had your own reasons. I respected you guys and didn’t stick my nose into it, all I expected from you was to do the same.”

Now Librarian and the rest could only cast their heads down in embarrassment, they had no way to refute what Nalser had said. They all looked towards Sweeper, who seemed to be deep in thought. Finally he let out a sigh and took his human form. Seeing this everyone was stupefied but what happened next stupefied them even more.

Sweeper respectfully kneeled on one knee and cupped his hands as he respectfully said to Nalser, “I sincerely apologize to Master for accusing Master like that. I have now seen the light and also understood that you are not hung up on revenge. I will ask Masters permission for this lowly puppet to wholeheartedly follow Master no matter what decision Master makes. No matter who you wish to drink with, no matter who you wish to fight with, this lowly one asks permission to fight by Masters side and protect Masters back.” Not only the puppets but even Nalser was stupefied by Sweepers sudden proclamation. Nalser’s mind froze for a second but soon he understood that Sweeper understood his mistake and that he had now decided to cast away the facade and truly serve him as a retainer.

Nalser looked at Sweeper and asked, “Why have you decided to follow me now?” Sweeper, still kneeling and cupping his fists answered, “We made an agreement amongst ourselves that we wouldn’t reveal ourselves before you pass the Empyrean Tribulation so that you won’t be relying on us. We were afraid that your own progress would stagnate and you would rely on us to take care of everything.” Just as Nalser was about to nod to that, Sweeper continued, “However, I have now seen your true resolve. Master doesn’t care about fame or revenge, Master lives for himself not others. This lowly one was blinded by his prejudice and has now seen the light. This one has steeled himself to follow Master through the Fire and the Flames.” This answer left Nalser completely baffled.

He had not expected this kind of a situation to happen. Not so soon at least. Just as Nalser was about to accept Sweepers show of loyalty, all the other puppets also changed into their human form and fell into the same position as Sweeper. They all made the same proclamation as Sweeper and now Nalser was truly stunned. He had no clue on what to do now. When he sorted it all out inside his head he slowly said, “Okey, I will trust my back to you all. However would someone please tell me, just what the heck is going on now?”As Librarian signalled everyone to get back to their jobs, only him, Sweeper, Dummy, Medic and Sweeper were left.

Librarian started explaining, “In the beginning, we were not supposed to reveal ourselves before you passed the Empyrean Tribulation. Even thought our own consciousnesses were minimal at that time, we still followed the Ancient King from before he unified the Realm. We have seen countless Geniuses, who have fallen to depravity because they started relying on their backing too much. However, now we saw your resolve. Master doesn’t need face or wealth, you live for yourself not for your image. Your ambition isn’t authority but freedom. Since Ancient Times, this kind of a mindset is extremely rare. Those who wish for freedom are the people that are the least likely to stray from their paths.”

Just as Librarian finished, Medic continued, “Even though we had steeled ourselves to stay on this damned Island until the end of Time, we have now seen the error of our judgement. We all revealed ourselves because we believe that Master will be able to achieve what our Previous Master couldn’t.” Now it was Sweepers turn to say his piece, “Since you have the ability and the mindset to achieve what the Previous Master failed to achieve, we are willing to bet everything on Master, should our judgement fail us, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.” As Sweeper finished his part, Nalser asked, “What is it that even the Ancient King couldn’t achieve?”

Before anyone could say anything Dummy opened his mouth, “To achieve the pinnacle of strength and break through the boundaries of Heaven and travel out to beyond the Heavens.” Nalser stared at Dummy stupidly, seeing this Dummy just smirked, “The Previous Master had said that outside this Realm exist countless other Realms but he had also said that he will never achieve the strength required to break free from the Laws of the Heavens and go wander through the other Realms. However, we believe that the current Master has the most potential in the history of the Realm to achieve this.”

Nalser asked with a disbelieving voice, “You mean to say that the Empyrean Emperor isn’t the pinnacle of strength?” Dummy just shook his head lightly as he said, “Cultivation is an endless path, just because no one has exceeded the Empyrean Emperor level doesn’t mean that there are no stages of cultivation after that. It just means that no one has reached the stage yet.”

This sentence actually enlightened Nalser a lot. He felt that that a lot of questions previously unanswered, started getting the answers and making sense.