“What are you doing, Han Ling?” A beautiful woman came up behind A Han Ling as a young man well in his late twenties. “Training.” Han Ling sliced his sword upwards, a surge of flame rising to the clouds, he grunted, slashing down, cleaving a part of the sea in half before exhaling.

“What do you want?” Han Ling glanced at her, eyes cold and distant.

Hua Rong sighed, her eyes complicated, seeing Han Ling like this made her uncomfortable, “Look, I know it isn’t my place to say this, but Narukami wouldn’t want to see you in this way…”

“…” Han Ling said nothing, his eyes were lifeless, but a flicker streaked past at the thought of Narukami, but that too vanished without a trace. Without even saying a thing Han Ling struck again, another pillar of flames rising to the clouds.

Hua Rong stared at Han Ling, a deep sadness in her eyes. “Fine…”

But then she did something that Han Ling would never forget…

She hugged him from behind, even with flames all around his body. Han Ling remembered panicking, desperately putting out the flames, when she started smiling. “There’s the look I wanted to see…” Han Ling was crying, tears were streaming down his eyes as he attempted to put out the flames, terrified of losing another important person.

Once the flames disappeared her fair skinned was burned but a smile was still etched on her face, relief seen in her eyes. For the first time in his life, Han Ling had actually felt something warm in his chest, and he spent the day talking to her, crying and bawling all his regrets, as she gently patted his head.

But…

A week after she was dead, ambushed by the demon cultivators, murdered right in front of Han Ling.

To say Han Ling went on a rampage was an understatement. He unlocked his first Lawful Legendary skill on that day.

[Lost of One’s Loved]

He demolished demon cultivators after demon cultivators, he burned down forests without even considering if they were allies or not, he killed hundreds of thousands in just the span of a week.

At the end of it, he realized he was weak… he was unworthy… he was a coward…

>>>

Han Ling snapped out of his reverie, staring at the beautiful, refined face like it was the most enchanting thing in the world. “Haaa, what am I doing.” He gently lifted himself into the sky, disappearing as he was supposed to be.

“I never thought I would meet her so early… she looked a lot more different than I imagined…” Han Ling slapped himself hard, “Don’t forget why you returned, to save those you care, to stop the calamity.” Han Ling exhaled, his cheek starting to swell at the immense slap. “You have your goals, work towards them.”

Han Ling doubled his speed, zooming back towards the city.

After obtaining a total of 5 Sage Techniques from Bai Long Quan, immediately shutting himself inside, this time remembering to hide his presence.

A summary of the 5 Sage techniques:

Wind: Hurricane Grip Flame: Five Blazing Blood Gates Ice: Frost Giant Lance Lightning: Volt Speed. Lightning: Thunder Blast

Two Lightning Sage Techniques, Volt Speed was an interesting speed technique, must faster than Lightning Speed. Thunder Blast didn’t really catch Han Ling’s eye, its just another mediocre thunder technique to him.

Five Blazing Blood Gates, what a mouthful… This was perhaps the best technique of the five, blazing the bodies blood to an excruciating level, and gaining a high increase in all abilities. Basically power gained from pain.

Han Ling immediately learned it.

[All-Seeing Void]

[You have learned Five Blazing Blood Gates]

The rest weren’t exactly strong, Frost Giant Lance was decent but Han Ling learned it just to add a Sage Technique to his Ice Element. Han Ling once again couldn’t help but fawn over his All-Seeing Void, it was such a broken skill. He could learn any techniques with just a glance, no matter if it was Sage Lord or above.

Normally, an Immortal Supreme would take at least a few weeks to learn a Sage Lord technique, but for Han Ling to learn it in just a single second? Unheard of.

“Now I wait…” Han Ling decided to sleep as he meditated, waiting for the next day of the auction…

>>>

When the sun was highest, Han Ling growled at the bright light. “Should be around this time huh…” In a boom of thunder, Han Ling disappeared.

“Wow, Volt Speed is really on a different level…” Han Ling appeared in mid-air, eyes quivering at the immense speed, “A few times faster than Lightning Speed… Very good.” Another clap of thunder and Han Ling zoomed towards the Auction house.

Han Ling appeared in a flash of thunder, startling the people around, but Han Ling couldn’t care less, strolling straight into the auction house. One of the workers there recognize Han Ling, leading him up to the VIP section.

He was slightly surprised but didn’t think too much about it. He entered a lavish room with luxurious chairs and a glass wall to watch from above. Han Ling took a seat in the upper corner, scanning the area first.

“Interesting…” Han Ling could feel many powerful presences around, and even an Immortal Supreme as a guard. The items today must be exceptionally amazing.

Not long after, a familiar face entered the room. “Brother Han Ling!” Bai Ye Qing entered the VIP room, surprised to find Han Ling inside as well. “They let you in even without me?” “I don’t know, the servant just let me in.” Ye Qing shrugged, “Ah well , doesn’t really matter.” Ye Qing sat next to Han Ling with a smile on his face.

Han Ling sighed, “Hopefully I won’t be bored…”

“Oh! Brother Han Ling, look!” Han Ling turned to where he pointed and widened his eyes in slight surprise. “Grand Melodic Sect huh?” A small group of 4 people entered the room, a beauty with silverish white hair, a jewel-like face. “Hmm that’s the new Honour of the Grand Melodic Sect, huh?”

[All-Seeing Void]

Name: Jia An

Physique: Grand Melodic Ambience (Supreme)

Cultivation Level: 1st Step Immortal Supreme

Techniques: Zither Blade, Soul flute.

Soul Flute, what a dangerous technique… too bad I’m quite immune to it.

Han Ling was someone who had seen decades of war, no soul techniques could effect whatever he saw in those years.

Hmm the people behind her must be her guards.

All of them were Immortal Supreme rank, very interesting, but its not that surprising considering the Grand Melodic Sect is considered a top ranked sect.

An Honour was a new generation of geniuses from sects, as long as the person was under the age of 20 and at the rank of an Immortal Supreme, they would be considered a Honour.

They sat in the other corner away from Han Ling and Ye Qing, only glancing at them before sitting quietly.

It wasn’t long before more and more elites came in. Crimson Lotus Sect, Phoenix Pavilion, Earth Mountain, Seven Sun Sect, all of them were top sects or pavilions. By right, Ye Qing would have never gotten a seat in the VIP section if the Auction this time wasn’t in Guan An City.

Then a familiar face entered the room. “Hua Rong…” She was the princess, but nobody actually know how she looks like, only the few Sect Leaders of top sects who visited the Royal Palace would recognize her. She took a seat in the centre, her beautiful figure drawing the gaze of countless people.

Han Ling sighed inwardly and forced himself to look away.

“You have a goal, work towards it…” He repeatedly said that in his mind.

It was then another familiar face entered the room.

“Brother!”

Shit… I was really hoping I wouldn’t run into him…

A brown-haired young man ran up to Han Ling in an instant, “Brother Han Ling! I wasn’t expecting to see you here!”

Han Ling groaned, glaring at the man who was jumping up and down like a puppy, “Why do I have to run into you…”

Brown-haired and very handsome, Chen Liang. Han Ling growled, leaking a tiny bit of his aura to the enthusiastic boy, he immediately froze and smiled sheepishly, taking a seat in front of him, always turning around to stare at him with a happy smile on his face.

“Haaa, how troublesome…” It was then Han Ling noticed Bai Ye Qing’s expression, “What is it?” “Brother Han Ling, do you not know who that is?”

Han Ling merely blinked, “No.”

“He’s Chen Liang, the son of the Scorching Dragon Lands Sect Leader, Tyrannical Dragon!” Han Ling widened his eyes, that was a name everyone would know.

Tyrannical Dragon, a Sage Lord level cultivator that stood at the pinnacle of cultivation in the Wang Dynasty, only slightly weaker than the current emperor of the Wang Dynasty.

“He’s his son?” Han Ling nearly said it out loud, but he glared at the young man with a quiet coldness. Chen Liang froze, smiling sheepishly again, “Sorry brother, I thought you knew…”

“When we leave you’re getting a punch.” Chen Liang froze at that, “No, no, no. I’m good!” he raised both hands, frantically shaking his head at the same time.

Han Ling glared at him but then noticed everyone around the room was looking at them, he sighed and leaned back to vanish in the corner. Chen Liang exhaled in relief but kept smiling.