It had been a week since Zi Ming had come back from his trip to the forest.

That night he returned home, his mother and sister started crying as soon as he entered the living room.

For several minutes, Zi Ming kept apologizing and calming them down, but the tears kept falling like a torrential downpour.

He was feeling a mixture of guilt, embarrassment, and joy. Lately, his parents had become engrossed in his sister's training. Not that he felt like it was unfair, but he felt excluded and lonely.

At times like these, he would generally hang out with the mischievous lass, but she was too busy trying to "surpass her brother".

Zi Ming was relishing this unexpected show of warmth and familial love.

However, it didn't last as long as he needed it to...As soon as the two most important women in his life caught sight of the cute black pup hidden behind his legs, they shifted all their attention to it.

.......................................................................

"Cling!"

"Ka...Slash!"

"Bang!"

Sounds of hard metal clashing were resounding at the center of the village. It was an early afternoon in the Zi Clan today.

All the villagers had gathered to witness the exchange between two youngsters.

"Congratulations, Clan head for having a bright successor!" A tall bald man wearing sleaves suddenly praised to the man walking to his side.

Zi Tao nodded with a bright smile in response, before he looked up at the snowy stone platform. On it, two teenagers were standing apart from each other.

On the left side, a black-haired boy was holding a sturdy spear by one hand. On the right, a purple-haired, black-clothed young lady was lifting a two-handed saber.

"Big sister Fei, don't lose to that heavy-handed brute!"

Another girl at the side of the arena was shouting. The lass was holding a dark-furred small animal while screaming all sorts of abuses towards the boy.

The young man who was guarding against his opponent frowned at the girl's words.

"Wuwu!"

The pup who was previously behaved also grew excited. He jumped down from the embrace and began to bark at the lass.

"This..." The girl was flabbergasted. She smiled with gritted teeth as she looked towards the creature and said: "Good pup, good owner...!"

"Pfft!" A beautiful woman watching the events unfold from a balcony tittered.

The villagers also burst out in laughter as the battle was reaching its climax.

"Young head! Please forgive my rudeness." The saber-holding girl said before she swiftly made her assault.

"How many times will I have to tell you not to use this type of sp-...." He couldn't finish the sentence as he had to prevent her from occupying any advantage.

"This battle crazed woman..." The young man whispered in silence.

Her attacks only grew quicker after each clash.

The battling youngsters were of course Zi Ming and Zi Fei; the two strongest in the current young generation. Two days after Zi Ming left the mountain, he experienced a new breakthrough in his cultivation.

His parents were perplexed by this situation. As far as they knew, his cultivation shouldn't have been able to advance again before years. Still, they were overjoyed, and Zi Tao disclosed this fortunate circumstance to the clansmen.

With his son's current cultivation, he was ninety percent sure he would get selected by the main clan.

If he was able to send both his children and Zi Fei over there, he was sure to get handsome rewards for raising three talented seedlings and contributing to the Zi Clan's rise. If he was lucky, he could even get the village to be officially affiliated and protected by the main clan. This small Zi mountain village could then prosper and he would finally be able to tend to his own personal matters.

That deadly beast...just needed to wait a bit longer for him. His dream of finding the cruel animal and personally taking revenge for his parents wouldn't seem like fantasy anymore.

Today, Zi Tao was only putting his son newly gained skills to the test. Zi Tao didn't want to admit it, but the opponent was a full-fledged genius; the kind living in these distant and fearful cities. With the same level of resources as his children, he had no doubt she would be even stronger. Every few months, he could only provide his family with one or two-year-old spirit grasses but it was still better than nothing.

"Cling! Bang!"

Zi Fei's attacks became more relentless. After getting a clear idea of Zi Ming's strength, she didn't keep any hand whatsoever.

"Beat him blue, sister Fei!" This sudden flare immediately made Zi Yurou delighted.

It was also the first time for some of the villagers to see the young woman erupt in such an intense manner. The usually calm and collected girl was acting quite different from normal. The way she battled was still exquisite and tasteful, but it was also fierce and unrestrained. She definitely was taking the fight seriously.

"Young head seems to be in a lock." One of the men who previously came to Zi Ming's rescue said.

"Anyone would be under such a barrage of attacks. I'm not confident in blocking these even at my age." Another analyzed in response.

"..." Zi Tao had to admit that the young woman was overbearing. She was at the body refinement level six as well, but her moves were highly different from Zi Ming. The poor bloke was indeed crafty but he was still inexperienced. The divide between the early and late stage wasn't easily surmountable.

The boy kept retreating in defeat faced with the rain of sword attacks. Zi Fei's reflexes and deftness were a cut above to Zi Tao's eye. At the current rate, it wouldn't be too long before Zi Ming lost focus and made a mistake.

The other onlookers seemed to share the same train of thought as they talked among themselves. Perhaps beside Zi Ming himself, everyone was expecting him to suffer defeat any minute.

In fact, Zi Tao's analysis wasn't too far fetched. The detail he missed was that his son's mind was already wandering elsewhere. Right now his eyes were stuck on the nearby beast wagging its tail, tongue out and saliva dripping.

........................................................................

"This is..."

Three days ago, Zi Ming was striking wooden dummies when something odd occurred.

He had been pondering over what went down in the forest and still couldn't find any answers. After his injuries healed, not only did his strength recover, but it also appeared to have grown.

But that day, as he was training, he suddenly felt the removal of a bottleneck. Feeling energized, he punched and lifted weights for three hours longer than normal, when he suddenly experienced a breakthrough.

He had reached the body refinement level six in just one body quenching session!

He proceeded to seat in stupefaction and puzzlement under the snowy backyard for half an hour. He didn't remember hearing about such a strange condition no matter how he tried to remember. He wasn't sick or experiencing cultivation deviation, so it had to be something else...

.............................................................................................

"I still haven't thought up a name for that little guy..."

Back on the arena, Zi Ming's lips curved upwards as he parried another storm of violent blows. He was remembering that on the same day, he took the little beast under his arm and rushed to the library.

"Maybe looking for answers isn't necessarily a good thing..." Zi Ming finally decided to accept this irrational stroke of luck.

"Wuwu!"

The black pup who didn't know what he was thinking suddenly barked in panic.

Zi Ming who wasn't focused on the fight regained his senses. Zi Fei's saber was about to connect with his fingers and severely impair him.

"Cling!"

"Huh?" Zi Tao who was rushing to stop the fight halted.

"What happened?" The villagers were looking towards the stage in shock and incomprehension.

"....Young he...Zi Ming wins!" Zi Chang announced the result with difficulty as he waved his hand to signal the end of the exchange. The scene he was currently staring at left him too unexpected.

Zi Ming withdrew the edge of the spear from his opponent's throat and bowed towards the audience.

"You owe me a gracious gift now sister Fei." Zi Ming spoke with a hint of malice as he looked toward this girl's front area.

"What's that rascal saying over there?" Zi Tao looked at the scene and frowned.