The sun was yet to rise when Allen slammed the wooden door shut on his small home. The fact it was the last time he would be doing so for several years, at least, had him smiling even as he rammed his shoulder into the frame, holding the panels in place until the lock clicked in. Nobody had ever accused him or his father of being competent carpenters. In fact they were both better suited to destroying things than making them. The older man could enchant things pretty well, but only items he brought. Otherwise things had a tendency to be, well, dangerous. The door was just one of many little faults the home had, but that just meant it had character. At least that was what he told people when they visited. In truth it was only the excitement he felt about the day to come which stopped him shouting out the usual string of curse words. Eventually, after a lot more effort than was really acceptable, the key clicked round and he slumped forward.

“Son”

Leaping into the air, Allen’s knee didn’t quite bend enough on landing, leaving him flat on his face. The completely undisguised chuckles coming from behind him only made the embarrassment worse.

“Really dad? Couldn’t you have waited a few more seconds for me to turn around?” he complained, slowly climbing to his feet.

“Have to? No.”

Allen sighed. There was no winning with his father. Older than sin, and yet somehow about as mature as a three year old in a soft play area. How did you stop an immortal that dedicated their spare time to pranking you?

“And you wonder why I’m keen to get away.” Allen grumbled as he started walking down the path from his small home.

“I merely question your choice of destination, not the journey itself.”

Allen groaned “I explained why. This at least gives me cover, so I can live in society. I don’t want to live with you and mum all my life.”

He nodded “Which is why I allow it. Now I came to remove your block, unless you are happy with your current status?”

Allen instantly smiled. The disagreement about attending the royal academy had been going on for months with no end in sight before three years ago, when Allen turned thirteen. His mother had suggested this compromise. A forced block on his cultivation, keeping him at the lower initiate realm until he actually left for the academy. It meant that Allen’s cultivation had been heavily restricted these last three years, but his foundations were so much stronger than even his fathers had been at the same stage.

“Thank you father. I will work to make you proud of me”

Shen snorted “You are too like your mother. Hold still”

There was no movement, no sign he did anything at all. But suddenly Allen felt like he could breath for the first time in years. His mana, condensed and cultivated in all three dantian’s surged out, overflowing into his body.

“You will need to ascend tonight, but that will be simple with your current progress.” Shen paused, already half turned away “Be careful son. And do not hesitate if you need help.”

Without another word the most powerful man in the world disappeared. To somebody that did not know, it would look like teleporting. In truth his natural speeds were just so much higher than even Allens at the initiate level, that they could not track his movements. A simple fact of cultivation was that each stage put you even further beyond the limits of the previous realm. It would take a team of apprentices to deal with a single adept, but an army of grandmasters would struggle against a lone elder. The fact there were no living grandmasters, or even masters, meant Shen’s natural abilities were almost godlike in the current world. Not that anyone knew about him to think that.

“Man that feels better”

Allen had been silent for several minutes after the block was removed, dealing with the sudden surge of concentrated mana making its way around his body and pathways. His body had wanted to ascend immediately, and it took time for him to regain control, forcing it back down into his dantians. Three years of cultivation without expansion had them barely holding on, and he knew that while he would be stronger for it, the concentration of mana now would mean he could rocket through the ranks if he was willing to sacrifice strength. By the time he finally had control, his father was long gone. Now settled, Allen restarted his walk, casually strolling over the cobbled path towards the main farm house. This land was their families, and while Allen had attended school for years in the nearby village, officially they were not part of it. When his father had returned the first Lord of Sussex to his home centuries earlier, this land had been gifted to him. None could take it unless the defeated Shen or his descendent in single combat. While they had been before Allen’s time, Fredericks heirs had apparently tried twice. Each time putting up stakes for the deal which meant that in addition to owning a large portion of land with a thriving farm, the Wei family were also exempt from all taxes within the territory, and had permission for his mother to run her small bakery in the village of Woodchappel. Of course to spite them, there were no roads that ran anywhere near the Wei family lands, and the only way on or off was to cross overgrown grass lands and fields that the council refused to cut down. Petty but given the whole family were cultivators, it did not prove much of an obstacle. It also provided a level of security for the farm itself. Two hundred years on the same land, and the farm was now a cultivators paradise. Even the milk from their cows was rich in mana, the animals having eaten nothing but infused food for generations. Animals born from their herds were almost almost spirit beasts of the first tier, and a couple had ascended into the second. It was as he was saying goodbye to one of these animals, a cow his mother had named Florence in a joke that only made sense to her, that a voice woke him from his thoughts.

“Oh very nice. I spend 18 years raising him and he says goodbye to the pigs before his own mother.”

Allen smiled “But of course, the pigs offer more intelligent conversation.” He ducked as the hand went to slap his head.

“Don’t think I won’t come to that school and put you over my knee boy. Bet you’ll make a lot of friends after that.”

Allen smiled “Thankfully my kind mother would never embarrass me like that.”

She wrapped him in a hug “You might be right. I’ll just get your father to do it for me.”

Emma Wei was a tiny woman. Barely 160cm tall with a thin body and face that seemed to be constantly smiling. She was originally from House Lincoln, a small territory to the north, but met my father when she fled south during a territory dispute in the 1850’s. The two of them bonded over a shared dislike of nobles, and a love of practical jokes and general immaturity. They got married and after over a 150 years of training, she was now the most powerful cultivator England, or indeed Europe, had ever produced. All of that meant that despite her head barely reaching Allen’s chest, even her hugs held enough strength to crush him if she wasn’t careful.

“Will you reach Master while I am gone mother?” He asked, knowing she was close.

“If your father is correct, then yes. I need to stay ahead of my upstart son now don’t I?”

She pulled him in for another hug

“You will be careful okay? Call if you need help. Your father looked and its not that secure, we can get you out fairly quickly if needed.”

Allen snorted “I’m sure its very secure mother, just not against him.”

“Well thats true. I did marry well.” She laughed and stepped back away “Remember, keep our secrets but protect yourself first. Avoid the nobles, unless you are prepared to kill them. Finally, find a nice girl. I want grand babies.” She burst out laughing as her sons face paled. “Oh that was too easy.”

The two spoke for a while longer, the conversation mainly cantering around their village and whatever gossip his mother had over heard. There was no huge farewell party, just a family enjoying the time they spent together with full faith that a four year absence was nothing in the life of a cultivator.