The Kind Death God Chapter 1-10

Chapter 1 Cold town

There were five countries on the Heaven's Origin Continent: Heaven's Gold Empire to the North, Prosperous Empire to the South, Sunset Empire to the West, and United Regions Commonwealth to the East. Located in the middle of them all, connected to each country, is a hexagonal piece of land belonging to the most illustrious organization on the Continent - the Holy Church. The four kingdoms were peaceful neighbors, apart from the Sunset Empire and the Prosperous Empire who had bad foreign relations with each other. Every year, each country would have to hand in a certain amount of "Protection Fee" to provide for the expenses of the Church.

The people of the Heaven's Gold Empire consisted mainly of white people, they were tall, with blond hair and blue eyes. Meanwhile, the people of the the Sunset Empire and the Prosperous Empire were made up of yellow people, with dark hair and dark eyes. The racial mix of the Commonwealth was comparatively more complicated, they had white people, yellow people, and also black people with strong bodies. Many different races lived within the Commonwealth. If we were to debate on the comprehensive strength of each country, the United Regions Commonwealth that is made up of six different communities was the most powerful, while the other three countries had comparable martial power.

On the Continent, apart from humans, there were other races that were small in number, such as the kind Elven Race, the temperamental Dwarfish Race, and the Winged Race who is gifted in song and dance. There also dwelled the Werebeasts Race who only lives in the dense forests, the most mysterious Dark Demon Race, and the legendary Dragon Race. These races are spread throughout the Continent, and for thousands of years, they have lived in peace with the humans. However, due to the difference in lifestyles, these other races usually live within the mountains and forests were there weren't many humans, and rarely interact with humans.

Although the Holy Church had the smallest ruling area in the Continent, they hold an exalted position. Apart from the few people who do not believe in God, almost everyone of the Human Race is a loyal follower of the Church. Priesthood is the most respected job, and within the Holy Church, the Supreme Pontiff holds the highest authority. Four high Crimson-Robed Priests work beneath the Supreme Pontiff to help with Church affairs, and are also called Crimson-Robed Bishops. Beneath the Crimson-Robed Priests, are twelve Ivory-Robed Priests. When more than half the Crimson and Ivory robed priests believe that the Supreme Pontiff has made a significant mistake, they can start the process to impeach the Supreme Pontiff. However, because the promotion process of a Supreme Pontiff is extremely strict, there hasn't been a case where impeachment has occurred since the birth of the Holy Church. Below the Ivory-Robed Priest, are the High Priests, Intermediate Priests, Ordinary Priests, and Preparatory Priests. These priests are also called Clerics or Divine Priestesses. Within the church, there are no rules preventing marriage, but the chosen partner must be a loyal believer of the Church. There is another reason the Priesthood is respected, and that is because they are all Sorcerers of Light. To be promoted to the position of an Ivory-Robed Priest, clerics must a Light Sorcerer above the level of a Principal Sorcerer, and the number of Principal Sorcerer has never been of the triple digits. The power wielded by the Crimson-Robed Priests is immeasurable, there is a legend that says the combined power of the four high Crimson-Robed Priests is equivalent to the entire martial power of any one country. Meanwhile, the Supreme Pontiff is usually elected from among Crimson-Robed Priests. The process is extremely strict, and after the selection of the successor, the predecessor will conduct an inher

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"Pa--" Uncle Li slapped away the purses in Ah Dai's hands, scolding, "You dumbass, you just watched Ya Tou leave with other people? Damn it, wasted so much of my food, she hasn't repaid me and she dared to leave, pisses me off, seriously pisses me off." Uncle Li kicked Ah Dai to the ground, and started pacing in the tiny house. Ah Dai curled up in pain, and sobbed, "No... I didn't ask her to leave, she wanted to leave on her own." Uncle Li was right in the middle of a fit of anger, hearing Ah Dai's words made him ever angrier, he forcefully kicked Ah Dai a few times, scolding, "She wants to leave and you let her leave! Dumb till you can die. Let you be dumb, let you be dumb." Wretched cries emitted from Ah Dai's mouth, while the other little thieves gleefully watched his misfortune by the side, no one standing up to help. After quite a long time, Uncle Li was finally less angry, and suddenly thought, Ah Dai is still his main source of income, where is he going to find such an obedient follower if he beats him till he breaks? He angrily picked up the purses on the floor, and stated, " time be smarter." Then he walked out on his own, the little thieves all knew that he was going out to drink. Ah Dai curled up in pain in a corner, he didn't understand, this had nothing to do with him, why does Uncle Li want to beat him? Ya Tou's words before she left kept resounding nonstop in his mind. The other little thieves were having leftover soup and rice that Uncle Li brought back from some unknown restaurant, happily chatting away about today's happenings. When Ah Dai finally remembered that he hasn't had anything to eat today, not even scraps were left. He felt heavy hearted, and started missing Ya Tou more and more. Ya Tou was right, living is really very painful.

Early the next morning, Uncle Li had a surge of mercy, and threw a mantou at Ah Dai. After he ravenously downed the mantou, he was sent out to start another day of fish catching. The occasional drift of snowflakes down from the heavens gave passerbys a sense of chilliness. Slowly walking along the street, Ah Dai thought, when will another granny appear to take him away! He'll be satisfied so long as he is able to eat mantous till he is full. How is Ya Tou? She left with the old lady, is it true that she has mantous to eat everyday? While contemplating, Ah Dai suddenly saw someone in odd clothing ahead. The reason it was odd is because that tall figure was completely shrouded in a large cloak to the point where even his features were not clearly visible. Beneath the cloak, there seemed to be a bulging purse. Ah Dai decided that that man will be his first target of the day. Together with that thought, Ah Dai stealthily followed the man, took out a sharp little razor blade from his belt, and waited for the chance to strike. The reason Ah Dai often succeeded at catching fish had to do with his perseverance, once he decides on a prey, he will follow said target closely until he succeeds. Following him closely down the street, the man in the cloak walked into a luxurious restaurant that was dazzlingly decorated, even the roof used glazed roof tiles. Ah Dai thought in his heart, to be able to eat here, there much be quite a lot of money in his purse. At that thought, he couldn't help but secretly feel happy, if he can bring more fish back today, Uncle Li might give him enough mantous to be full. He crouched down by a corner of the restaurant's front door, patiently waiting. "Leave, leave, leave, where did a little beggar come from, move to the side, " the restaurant's doorman kicked Ah Dai, looking at him with revulsion. Ah Dai had already gotten used to these egotistical doormen, he quickly nodded, bowed, and ran a little further way, finding a dim corner capable of sheltering him from the wind and snow before crouching down again. Playing with the sharp little razor blade in his hands, Ah Dai patiently waited, not in the least bit anxious, it's just eating, he must come out eventually. A full hour passed, finally, the cloaked man walked out. Ah Dai was excited because he was walking towards him. Facing him directly was the best position to strike. He hurriedly stood up, calmed his state of mind, and walked towards that man. The man was very tall, Ah Dai only reached his stomach region. The distance in between them unceasingly shortened, Ah Dai scratched his head of hair with the hand that was holding the blade, right when they were roughly a meter apart, Ah Dai stumbled and bumped into the man. Ah Dai instantly felt like he had bumped into a metal plate, his whole body in pain. He inadvertently looked up and saw that man's face. He had an old appearance, with uncountable fine wrinkles, he looked around 70 or 80 years old. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean it," Ah Dai immediately apologized. The old man humphed, didn't say anything, and continued walking ahead, seemingly unaware that a slit had been sliced open in his cloak, the purse at his waist now missing. Seeing that the other party would not bother him, Ah Dai happily ran ahead, in a moment of carelessness, he slipped in a snow pile, and fell down sprawling. The areas viciously hit by Uncle Li yesterday were hurt again, causing him to spasm nonstop. Even then, it was hard to overshadow Ah Dai's excitement in his heart, the moment he got the purse, he discovered that the weight was abnormally heavy, even if it were only filled with bronze coins, it would still be enough to meet today's required quota. Shakily standing up, he quickly ran to an alley, after turning around to make sure that no one was chasing after him, his sighed and patted himself on the chest, sitting down. However, what Ah Dai doesn't know is that his target held one of the Continent's special professions -- an Alchemist. The most exalted profession is that of the priesthood, however, apart from the priesthood, each country had a few professions that were placed above typical workers, and these professions formed their own associations to become special existences that wielded their own power. The Mercenary Guild, had the largest number of members. Being a mercenary was a special vocation where they took on certain easy or difficult missions on behalf of their clients. They are rewarded based on the difficulty of the missions, and the Mercenary Guild branches spread across the land were the best places for them to receive missions. Of course, the Mercenary Guild does not provide its services for free, they collect a set fee based on the difficulty of the mission. A group of mercenaries is called a Mercenary Unit. For extremely difficult missions, employers prefer mercenary units with formidable strength and would not hesitate to pay a high price for them. Mercenaries and Mercenary Units are both divided into six ranks, the lowest rank is the 4th Level mercenaries and mercenary units, from there in ascending order, is the 3rd Level Mercenary, 2nd Level Mercenary, 1st Level Mercenary, Special Mercenary, and the highest ranking Extraordinary Mercenary. Due to the fact that there is a large number of mercenaries and mercenary units, it is extremely difficult to move up a rank. Different ranking mercenaries will be provided with different badges by the Mercenary Guild. In a mercenary group, those of higher ranks are very well respected by their colleagues from the lower ranks. The Sorcerer's Institute, sorcerers are professions second only to the priesthood. Since the cultivation of magic has very high requirements as to a person's inner qualities, sorcerers are scarce. The sorcerers that cultivate Light Magic have almost all been incorporated into the Holy Church, which further showcases the preciousness of a sorcerer. They are usually lavishly paid to join armies, almost all sorcerers of the intermediate rank and above will have an aristocratic titled bestowed upon them by their respective countries. Thus, the vocation of a sorcerer is one that commoners yearn for the most as it is associated with name and power. Sorcerers are divided into Junior Sorcerers, Intermediate Sorcerers, High Sorcerers, Grand Sorcerers, Principal Sorcerers, and Sage Sorcerers. As a sorcerer's main source of income is an allowance from the country, they will usually visit the Sorcerer's Institute to obtain a badge that is equivalent to their rankings in order to get the corresponding allowance. Of course, they have to go through assessments set by the Sorcerer's Institute. The Sorcerer's Institute is the only association that doesn't require work to be done on its behalf before paying its members. The Alchemist Alliance, although they do not have many members, they are very well respected in every country. The Alliance branches in each country are generally given incentive money, because weapons refined by alchemists are much better than those created by blacksmiths, and thus are the best to equip a high-ranking army with. The reason Heaven's Gold Empire is renowned is because they have the largest Alchemist Alliance among the four countries. Alchemists are actually considered a ancillary branch of sorcerers who mainly specialize in Fire Magic. What they are stronger at compared to sorcerers is their knowledge in the various minerals and medicines. Powerful alchemists are able to forge high-level divine weapons, the prices of these divine weapons are unable to be estimated, they are beloved by every country's imperial families, and even more so by the Holy Church. Alchemists are a group whose vocation is secondary in wealth only to the assassins. Alchemists are divided into Novice, Junior Alchemist, Intermediate Alchemist, High Alchemist, Special Alchemist, and Grand Alchemist. Although alchemists have their own set of badges, the higher level alchemists generally don't bother trying to obtain them. The Assassins Guild, with the least members, they are also the most secretive association on the Continent, also called the Assassins Band. Although they don't have many members, all of them are extremely skilled. Through underground networks, they accept assassination jobs and collect very high commissions. Information on the organizational structure of the guild is very strictly guarded, there are only two way to join the guild: One, is to pass an exceedingly difficult test. Two, is to complete the challenge set by the guild yearly, as long as they can complete the mission, the guild will accept them. Of course, the mission is much harder than the test, and it might even endanger your life. Because humans scheme and fight for power, this guild that people generally would pale at the mention of, thrives on the Continent. There is a very clear ranking system for the assassins, in ascending order, Assassins, Dark Assassin, Silent Assassin, and the Annihilator. These assassins are centrally managed by the Assassins Guild, their identities are kept secret, and cannot be known by outsiders. They are not part of any country, nor do they have more than 100 members, however, they are a considerably formidable power. There are scarcely any sorcerers within the guild. Thieves Guild, plainly speaking, they are a group of high class thieves. To get what they want, some aristocrats will hire the guild's thieves to steal for them. Not just any thief can join the guild, although the requirements are not as strict as the Assassins Guild, but they must also pass a series of stringent tests, and they only accept thieves with inner qualities and skills that are exceptional. In ascending order, the rankings are, Thief, High Thief, and the Acquirer. Generally, those who hold the esteemed titled of the Acquirer often steal treasures that are worth cities, they are also most feared by the aristocrats. The strictest law in the Thieves Guild, is that they aren't allowed to murder. It is also because of this rule that they aren't being eliminated by the armies of each country. In order to complete their client's request, the Thieves Guild has the fastest and most effective information network. Similar to the Assassins Guild, the Thieves Guild is considered a dark power on the Continent.

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Taking out the heavy purse, Ah Dai was filled with happiness. The purse was intricately made of leather, and there was a six-point star sewn onto it in gold thread. Ah Dai had never seen such a beautiful purse before, he hurriedly opened the drawstring, and put his hand in. He was imagining, what if there was an amethyst coin inside, how amazing would it be! He has been working for a year, but to date he has only stolen one amethyst coin, but reminiscing that time, Uncle Li was so happy he gave him a large drumstick, he was the envy of the group. Never again has he eaten such something so tasty. That one time, he shared the thigh with Ya Tou, they even ate the bones. That tastiness, he never gets tired of reminiscing that taste.

As he took out the coins in the purse, he was shocked into stillness. The purse didn't only contain his long-time dream of "drumsticks", it also had more than 10 gold coins , and even a few coins that were brightly sparking, he had never seen those blueish coins before. Looking at the small sparkling pile, it's more than 10 "drumsticks"! "It's enough to feel full, I can finally eat till I am full." Ah Dai ecstatically shouted . Just as he was overjoyed, the six-point star suddenly glowed, soon after, a raspy old voice sounded in his ears, "You have never been full before?" Ah Dai jolted, the coins in his hands scattering all over the floor, a voice, where did the voice come from? He looked around him, but there weren't anyone around, "God bless, god bless," Ah Dai placed his palms together and repeated nonstop. "Did you think that God will protect a thief?' the old voice sounded again. This time Ah Dai clearly heard it, the voice seemed to be coming from that intricate purse. "Ah---" Ah Dai cried out in alarm, throwing the purse away, his whole body involuntarily shaking. It was his first time encountering such a strange situation, after all he was still a child, the fear clearing showing in his eyes. The snowflakes continued falling, the sky still dim, at that moment, it seemed as though the cotton jacket could no longer provide any warmth, a cold stream rose from the bottom of his heart. Not too far away, the purse was glowing, that beautiful six-point star giving off a dreamy golden light. Under Ah Dai's terrified gaze, the golden light condense, a blurry figure appearing above the purse. The image slowly got clearer, it was that of the cloaked old man.

A deep strange sound was emitting from underneath the cloak, if Uncle Li was here, he would have noticed that the old man was chanting an incantation. Finally, the figure solidified into a real body, and slowly descended to the ground. The old man stood by the purse, slowly bent down to pick it up, and sighed, "It has been a long time since I have used this incantation, it has become quite unfamiliar!" Looking at his fishing target appearing in such a strange situation, even if Ah Dai were sillier, he would still know that something very bad was about to befall him. He never imagined, that he who had yet to fail in four months, under circumstances where he succeeded in catching a large fish, would actually get caught by the owner himself. He curled up into himself, shaking, in his mind, the great catastrophe about to befall him, must be a cruel "beating", this is not the first time this has happened. The last time he was caught, the big man almost broke his hand, if Uncle Li didn't appear in time to scare away the man, he would have lots the ability to fish, and be unable to eat the mantous he so loved. The old man threw the purse at Ah Dai, lightly saying, "Pick them up and put them in." "Yes, yes." Ah Dai carefully took the purse, and closely looked at the six-point star on the purse. He couldn't understand how a man could appear from from within the purse? Shakily, he carefully place each coin into the purse, this process went on for a while. The odd thing was, the old man did not hurry him, beneath the cloak, a pair of bright eyes were incessantly measuring Ah Dai. "Done, done, here, for you." Ah Dai tried his bad to appear lowly, holding the purse up with both hands. Perhaps if he appeared weaker, when he gets beaten later, the other man might use less strength. Ah Dai never thought of fighting back, based on his "weather-beaten" body that has experienced the hardships of life, how could he fight back? Even if the opponent was an old man. The old man received the purse, he didn't beat him, but he also had no intention of letting Ah Dai go. He stood in from of Ah Dai, looking at the small skinny figure of the child before him. Ah Dai lowered his head and crouched down, his frozen red hands protecting his head, trying his best to curl up, waiting for the arrival of the storm. "En, very good hands, long slender fingers, wide palms, no wonder even I didn't notice my things being stolen. You haven't answered my last question, have you?"

Chapter2 The Alchemist

Ah Dai was brought up short by the question and unconsciously looked up to see the old man's face that was full of fine wrinkles. The old man's face was expressionless, staring at him. "Wha... What question?"

The old man frowned slightly, thinking, turns out to be a silly child, slightly silly is also good, isn't it just right. "I asked you just now, you have never been full?"

Ah Dai nodded, feeling that this old man didn't seem to have any intention of beating him, with that his became more courageous, "Yes, it's true, I know you must be very angry, if you aren't going to beat me, could you please let me go..." Although he failed at catching the fish this time, but the day was still long, Ah Dai felt that he still had a chance at completing the task. He has never been discouraged by a failure, for his beloved mantou, he must continue to work hard and do his part.

This produced a slight change in the old man, "Did I say I wouldn't beat you? You stole my purse, beating you seems like a normal thing to do."

Ah Dai's recently relaxed expression immediately took on a crestfallen look, returning to the position with his hands protecting his head, "Then... then can you please don't hit my hands."

The old man was slightly suprised, "Why?"

Ah Dai quietly said, "Because, because I still need to go catch fishes, if my hands are spoilt, I wouldn't be able to to do so, if I can't do so, I won't have mantous to eat, and I'll even get beaten by Uncle Li." "Catch fishes? Uncle Li?" The old man was slightly stunned, and immediately understood the meaning behind catching fishes, and that Uncle Li was the one behind this silly little thief. He was amused, a thief being caught and asking that his hands not be beaten, the little silly boy must be quite silly indeed!

"Beating you is light punishment, based on my position, even if I killed you, no one will trouble me, do you believe me?"

Ah Dai stiffened, "Kill me? Kill me, wouldn't I be dead? How does it feel like, can you please tell me first? Is being killed painful, there are no mantous to be had after death are there?"

The old man felt that speaking with this silly boy seemed to make him more cheerful. However, he couldn't never have imagined that this little boy in front of him who is now asking how it would feel like to die, 10 years later, would become the an entity that will shake the foundations of the world -- "Death God", a person who brings deaths upon others.

"Do you want to eat till you are full?" The old man decided not to dawdle and immediately got to the main point.

At the mention of eating, Ah Dai immediately perked up, the mantou he ate in the morning has been digested by the frigid weather, his stomach growled. He raised is head and looked with hope at the old man, "Yes! The thing I wish for the most is to be full. Why don't... why don't you give me one of those purple colored coins, just one would be enough." The though of a chicken drumstick caused Ah Dai to salivate.

"I won't give you the money, however, if you want to be full, then leave with me, I'll let you eat till you are full, additionally, I won't beat you."

Ah Dai lit up immediately, this morning he was dreaming of being taken away like Ya Tou, and his dream is coming true, he carefully asked, "Really, I can really eat till I am full?

The old man nodded, "If you have any other requests you can also tell me, I will try my best to fulfill them. However, you won't be coming back for a very long time, you must think clearly." He didn't want to bring a kid back that would cry everyday, w

hen that time comes, he would kill him and find another kid.

Ah Dai shook his head, "I am willing to leave with you, as long as I can be full, I don't have any other requests."

The old man nodded his head in satisfaction, "You will have to work if you leave with me, are you afraid of hard work?"

"Work? What work?" Ah Dai mumbled.

"As long as it's better than you being a thief, at the very least I won't beat you, no? If you don't understand, I can teach you."

Ah Dai lowered his head, "But... but, I'm really slow, they all say that I am dumb, would I be able to learn?"

The old man impatiently replied, "If I say you can learn, you can learn. Come with me." He turned around and walked towards the exit of the alley.

Ah Dai made a sound of agreement and quickly followed the old man out. A few steps later, the old man suddenly stopped. Ah Dai wasn't paying attention and bumped into his back, "Ouch!" Ah Dai cried out in pain, holding his nose, looking at the old man with incomprehension.

The old man turned his head to ask, "What is your name?" "I'm called Ah Dai."

The old man teased, "Ah Dai? Your name suits you! Remember, I am Gelisi, an alchemist. From now on, you are my apprentice."

Ah Dai nodded, afraid that he would forget, he chanted, "Die in song, die in song, "

TLN: Die in song -- is pronounced Ge Li Si too. The old man raised his voice, "I am called Gelisi, not die in song, remember it well. Call me Teacher next time."

"Ok, ok, I understand, tea..teacher. But, what is the meaning of teacher?"

Gelisi felt that he has been defeated by this little boy, helplessly explaining, "Teacher, is the person who teaches you things." At that, he turned around and walked out of the alley. Gelisi, this is a name that even the head of the Alchemist Alliance respected, after all, even though he was temperamental, he is still one of the rare Grand Alchemists.

Ah Dai suddenly remembered Uncle Li's reaction after Ya Tou left, he hurriedly caught up with Gelisi, "Teacher, can you please go with me to tell Uncle Li. He has given me mantous all this time, I am leaving, I should say goodbye, otherwise, he will get mad."

Gelisi though about it an nodded, "Sure, lead the way." He initially didn't have to go with Ah Dai, but for his plans, he must make it so that Ah Dai unwaveringly follows him, that was the only reason he agreed to the silly boy's plans.

Ah Dai lead the way ahead, after seven or eight turns, they arrived at the northern part of the city, that worn down house that he has been staying in for more than a year. At this time, most of the kids have been sent out to work by Uncle Li, it wasn't noisy. Gelisi frowned, "This is the place?"

Ah Dai nodded, carefully opening the flimsy door and walking in first.

Uncle Li was drinking from a wine pot in the room, since Ah Dai's skills have improved drastically, his income also increased, he no longer needed to go out to work, and he was just thinking, in a few year, after collecting more money, he will be able to live a comfortable life, maybe bring a woman back to marry, live a good life like a master, don't need to go to that lowly brothel for release. Just as he was drunkenly daydreaming, the door opened, and Ah Dai's skinny figure appeared.

"En? How are you back so quickly, how many fishes did you catch?" Ah Dai was slightly scared, "Uncle Li, I.. I didn't catch any fishes."

Hearing that Ah Dai didn't accomplish anything, Uncle Li's voice became sharp, his eyes bulging, "No fish? Why are you back if you haven't caught anything? Is your skin tight again?"

Ah Dai shivered, slowly saying, "I... I came back to say goodbye."

Uncle Li was shocked, and jumped down from the bed, "You want to leave? You have eaten my dry rice for such a long time, you want to leave like this, your wings hardened? Is that it?" How could he willingly part with his money tree? He didn't care too much about Ya Tou leaving, even if she stayed, she would have been a waste of money since she can't catch fishes, even sold to the slave trader, she wouldn't have been worth much. But Ah Dai is different, currently more than half his income comes from Ah Dai, he would never let his money tree leave.

Uncle Li tried his best to lower his voice and soften his tone, "Are you hungry again, I'll give you a few mantous, then be good and go catch me some fishes, don't have wrong thoughts, otherwise, humph." He waved his fists, threateningly looking at Ah Dai.

Long periods of threats caused Ah Dai to unconsciously shrink back, getting to eat a mantou, it is also a good thing! He was just wondering what to say when Gelisi's voice rang out, "Otherwise what can you do to him?" Following the sound of footsteps, Gelisi's tall figure appeared next to Ah Dai, in front of him, Uncle Li seemed so indecent and insignificant.

"Who... who are you?" Uncle Li sharply looked at him and asked.

Gelisi lightly said, "You don't need to care who I am, Ah Dai and I are here only to say goodbye, I am taking him away, from today onwards, he is not a thief under you."

Uncle Li felt a sudden chill in his heart, this man whose face is unseen seems to exert an invisible pressure, making it difficult for him to breath. However, profit is the most important, he gathered his courage, "Not possible, you can't take him away, no wonder he wants to leave me, turns out he found a support. Damn it I am going to beat you to death" His fist flew towards Ah Dai's chest.

Ah Dai subconsciously curled up, waiting for the incoming pain, however, after half a day nothing happened. Ah Dai opened his eyes and found that Uncle Li's fists didn't fall on him, instead it was suspended in midair, caught at the wrist by thin hand. Cold sweat streamed down Ah Dai's temples.

"I have said it, he is now my apprentice, you don't have the right to hit him." Gelisi smoothly threw Uncle Li to the side, he was not like the typical alchemists with weak bodies, although he doesn't know any martial arts, but people like Uncle Li didn't even exist to him.

Uncle Li held his wrist, scolding, "You... you bastard, are you trying to steal my person?

Gelisi laughed coldly, "Wastes like you should have already been punished by God, stop bothering us, or I will send you to hell." He held out his right hand, the hand that was holding Uncle Li just now, and a few strange sentences of an incantation that could not be heard clearly came from under the cloak. Black flames suddenly appeared within Gelisi's palm, emitting a devilish glow. Gelisi threw the fire, and the black flames changed into a string of fire that fell onto the only three-legged wooden table in the corner of the room. Without a sound, without signs of burning, that table vanished into thin air without even leaving a trace of ash, the air only held slightly remnants of a bad smell.

Ah Dai and Uncle Li were stunned, Ah Dai asking, "Teacher, are you doing magic tricks? How did the table disappear?"

Gelisi glanced a him, "This isn't a magic trick, it's called sorcery." If the person who witnessed the scene just now was any Intermediate Sorcerer or above, he would have been shocked to notice that the flame that Gelisi used was formed from a mixture of Dark Magic and Fire Magic.

Uncle Li's teeth were chattering, "You... you are a sorcerer. Sir Sorcerer, don't... don't kill me." He clearly knew that being a small person like himself, if the man before him wanted to kill him, it would be as easy as squishing an ant, no one would care about the life and death of a petty thief. Furthermore, apart from the Holy Church and the United Regions Commonwealth, no matter which country it is, as long as the ones killed aren't aristocrats, alchemists have a set right to be pardoned. No one is willing to offend them.

Gelisi turned and said to Ah Dai, "We have said what we need to, let's go."

Ah Dai took a look at Uncle Li, Uncle Li was extremely pale, sitting there without a sound. After all, compared to money, it seems that life is still more important.

"Uncle... Uncle Li, I'll be leaving." With that, Ah Dai quickly ran out, as he ran through the door, he could feel his body relaxing, just now when Gelisi tossed Uncle Li to the side, deep in his heart, happiness blossomed. Between Uncle Li and mantous, mantous are more important. Gelisi also said that he wouldn't beat him. No one willingly gets beaten, it is after all difficult to tolerate a situation where one's whole body is in pain. To be with a something-chemist, is still more preferable than being with Uncle Li.

Actually, Ah Dai himself didn't notice that the main reason he chose to be with Gelisi is because of Ya Tou's advice before she left.

Gelisi wasn't walking quickly so Ah Dai easily caught up. Although the sky was filled with dark clouds as usual, but Ah Dai appeared much happier, "Teacher, where are we going?"

Gelisi stopped for a moment, "Don't ask so much, just follow me."

The cold voice surprised Ah Dai, being trained into submission over a long period of time, he didn't even think about resisting, "Oh, sorry."

Gelisi turned back and continued walking, very satisfied in his heart. Although this child is slightly slow, but he is very obedient, in a year, he can probably complete that thing, it has been his dream for many years! At that thought, Gelisi's couldn't help but let out a smile that could make people shiver without feeling cold. If Ah Dai saw that smile, it might shake his will to leave. However, he didn't see it, it was also exactly because he left Ninuo with Gelisi, that his extraordinary life could begin.

After walking for a while, Gelisi brought Ah Dai to an inn that was as grand as a palace, he held his head high as he walked in, the two doorboys on each side hurrying to open the large doors, respectfully welcoming him.

Ah Dai looked at the gold plated large doors before him, and couldn't help but gulp down his saliva, he was familiar with this place, because to catch fishes, he has crouched here a few times before. Uncle Li once told him that this was the largest inn in Ninou City, called the Grand Kailun Hotel. Teacher is staying here? He unconsciously followed him.

"Leave, leave, leave, where did this beggar come from, hurry up and scram." The tall doorboy stopped Ah Dai in his path, chasing him away as if he was a fly. Ah Dai jumped in shock, immediately acquiescing. He walked towards the side, after a few steps, he stopped, thinking, "This is not right, I followed Teacher here. Teacher went in, then I should follow him in too." He then walked back to the door, politely saying, "I followed my Teacher here, could you please let me in?"

The doorboy dusted his uniform, and looked at Ah Dai who was dirty, a strong revulsion apparent in his expression. He then disdainfully said, "Who is your Teacher, scram further way, don't dirty our floor, a stinking beggar who wants to enter our hotel, why don't you take a look at your own morals and actions."

Ah Dai started becoming anxious, although he was slightly slow, but he knew that he can't turn back now. He definitely can't go back to Uncle Li, he can only eat his beloved mantou by following Gelisi. "Let.. let me go in please, I want to look for my Teacher." He tried asking one more time, worry filling his eyes.

The doorboy was unwilling to continue talking to the little beggar in front of him, and viciously walked towards Ah Dai, "Damn it, you don't want face when you are given face huh, let the grand me move my hands." His fist swiftly swung towards Ah Dai, he has seen many beggars, within Heaven's Gold Empire, there were many beggars like this, even if he beat a few to death, no one will trouble him.

"Slow down, he is here with me." Gelisi's voice rang out at the critical moment. Actually, when he entered the hotel just now, he knew that Ah Dai would not be let in easily. However, in order to cause Ah Dai to serve him unwaveringly, Gelisi didn't appear until now. Finally, when the doorboy decided to take action, only then did he stop it in time.

The doorboy was shocked, and immediately put down his swinging arm, confusedly asking, "Sir, he is really here with you?"

Gelisi lightly nodded, beneath his cloak, his cold eyes sparkled. The doorboy shivered, immediately saying, "Sorry sir, I was too clumsy, please." The doorboy has experience in the world and naturally knew that the alchemist before him was someone he could not offend, he quickly apologized, and politely gestured for Ah Dai to enter.

Ah Dai quickly walked forward to face Gelisi, "Sorry, Teacher, I... I..." "Let's go." Gelisi has seen what he wanted to see in Ah Dai's eyes. He

lead the way forward, and this time Ah Dai was smarter, he followed Gelisi closely. Many sharp looks were directed at Ah Dai, causing him to feel uncomfortable, he curled his body, lowered his head, quietly looking at Gelisi's feet, following him forward.

Gelisi brought Ah Dai to a large set of doors. He pushed the doors and entered. The air was heavy with steam, a sense of warmth flowed through Ah Dai, causing him to unconsciously exclaim, "So warm!" This was one of the public baths in the Grand Kailun Hotel. At this hour, no guests would be here, usually the guests would only come here to soak at night.

"Sir, how are you, is there anything I can help with?" A middle aged man walked towards them, politely speaking to Gelisi, and discretely measuring Ah Dai with his gaze.

Gelisi took out an amethyst coin from his purse and threw it towards the middle-aged man, "Bring this child to take a bath, get the bath scrubbers to clean him up, then get him a new set of clothes, everything. Keep it simple. Understood? Keep the change."

The middle-aged man was the manager of this bathroom. Although the smell emanating from Ah Dai made him nauseous, but Gelisi's actions caused him to be filled with smiles. It has to be known that his income in a year was only five amethyst coins, and at least half will be leftover from that single amethyst coin after everything was done! "Yes, yes, Sir, please don't worry, we will guarantee your satisfaction. Number three, number four, quickly bring this young master to take a bath," he called out, and two young bath scrubbers ran out.

Ah Dai hid behind Gelisi, warily looking at the two men in front of him. Gelisi said, "Follow them for a bath, my apprentice can't be dirty all over."

Bath? Since he can remember, he has ever done such a thing, he has only seen Uncle Li bathing in the room, and helped him scrub his back, Uncle Li had a comfortable expression on, bathing can't be such a bad thing. At that thought, Ah Dai agreed and followed the two bath scrubbers to take a bath.

The middle-aged man called over another helper and instructed him to buy the clothes, then he personally steeped a pot of fragrant tea and brought a cup over to Gelisi, "Sir, please wait for a while."

Gelisi made a sound of agreement and wordlessly sat down on a large comfortably soft sofa.

The middle aged man wanted to get closer to Gelisi, but seeing his demeanor that was portraying otherwise, the man gave up. He simply left the tea cup on the small table and walked back to his counter.

After a whole hour, the doors to the baths finally opened. Gelisi raised his head to take a look and even he was shocked. The dirty little beggar was gone, in its place was a very clean little boy, his mid-length hair over his shoulders. Although he was thin, his skin was very fair, he looked normal and gave out an honest feel. If it weren't for his dark hair and dark eyes, he could have easily been mistaken for a Heaven's Gold people. His gestures did not hold any traces of the commonplace people, and even his eyes did not shift like that of a thief's, however, he still looked slow. Gelisi could only recognize the apprentice he took in from his slow looks.

Ah Dai uncomfortably fidgeted with the clothes he was wearing, although the grey cloth was not very good, but it was clean and fresh, and the outer layer cotton jacket was very warm. When he looked in the mirror after his bath, even he could not recognize that the naive little boy in the mirror was himself.

"Sir, are you satisfied?" the middle aged man smiled and asked Gelisi. Gelisi nodded, saying to Ah Dai, "Let's go."

Ah Dai nodded and quickly followed Gelisi, the both of them walking out the bathroom.

Watching them leave, one of the back scrubbers said, "Leader, it was really scary, that kid had a few pounds of mud on him, I have never felt so much satisfaction from scrubbing, each scrub scrubbed out a roll of mud, feels good, it really feels so good."

The other bath scrubber agreed, "Yeah, it really does feel good, it's too bad that the smell was lacking."

The middled aged man was not in the mood, "The both of you like scrubbing so much, go find beggars to scrub! None of them will have less mud." As he was saying that, he was playing with the amethyst coin in his hand, he was immensely happy in his heart, with the extra income today, he'll be able to have some fun tonight.

Gelisi brought Ah Dai back to his room, he was staying in a standard room that came with two beds, the reason he took Ah Dai to take a bath first was because he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to stand the smell emanating from Ah Dai. The luxurious setting in the room caused Ah Dai to just stonily stand outside the door, confusedly asking himself, I can really go in? "Come in." Gelisi's voice answered his unasked question. "Gululu..." The moment he stepped into the room, Ah Dai's stomach growled. Gelisi turned around to look at him, took off his cloak, and asked, "Are you hungry?"

Ah Dai finally had a clear look at Gelisi, he was the same him, very skinny, but Gelisi had a big frame, enough to support his clothes, a head of white hair, and deep wrinkles showed that he was not young, those dark blue and deep eyes cause Ah Dai to feel a little scared.

"Answer my question." Gelisi immediately said.

"Yes, I am hungry. I only ate a mantou today." Ah Dai stood next to the wall, carefully answering.

Gelisi took off his shoes and semi leaned against the bed, taking out a pill. After a slight hesitation, he threw it to Ah Dai, "Eat it."

"Ok..." Ah Dai answered, putting the pill into his mouth. He didn't understand, what could this white little ball do? The pill barely entered his mouth before the back of his head was smacked by Gelisi, he cried out in pain and spat the pill out. Ah Dai rubbed his hurting head, "Teacher, what's wrong?"

Gelisi was quickly defeated by this foolish apprentice, once again, he handed over the pill, "Peel off the wax coat before eating, you have never had medicine?"

Ah Dai looked at the round pill, not daring to take it, "Teacher, I... I have really never eaten it before, what is a wax coat?"

Gelisi sighed, peeled off the wax coat, and took out a red pill, a fragrant smell instantly filled the room. He held Ah Dai's jaw with one hand, and with the other, he stuffed the pill into Ah Dai's mouth.

In the moment Ah Dai was stunned, the pill had already melted and slipped down his throat, wherever it touched, it brought with it a cool, refreshing feel. "Go to the toilet, take off your pants, and squat. The door to the left of the main door is the toilet, go quickly." Gelisi was forced to explain clearly, otherwise, the silly boy in front of him might poop with his pants on, he didn't want to be troubled.

Although Ah Dai didn't know why his teacher wanted him to go squat in the toilet, he still obediently went.

In a moment, sounds like fireworks could be heard from the toilet together with Ah Dai's comfortable moans. The pill Gelisi gave Ah Dai was the Nine Metamorphosis Essence Pill that he specially made. To make the pill, he spent more than 10 years collecting over a hundred precious herbs, used a special method, after nine steamings and nine dryings, finally using high heat to complete it, at that time a single crucible could only produce five pills, he ate one, and sold another three for 1,000 diamond coins each to the imperial family, the remainder, was the one he gave to Ah Dai. The main purpose of the Nine Metamorphosis Essence Pill is to remove the impurities in the body, clear the nerves, and increase one's lifespan. It is a pill every martial arts practitioner dream of.

Gelisi quietly sighed, his last Nine Metamorphosis Essence Pill has been given to Ah Dai, he can't regret it anymore, Ah Dai's body will be refined by the pill, after take care of it for a while, Ah Dai will be able to reach the level of his expectations, as long as everything else is ready and complete, he will definitely be able to fulfill his dreams. From now on, this child is his treasure, no matter what he must bring him along.

After a long time, sounds finally stopped coming from the toilet, however, after half a day, Ah Dai still didn't come out. Gelisi was surprised, could it be that this child's body was too weak to withstand the effects of the medication? This is bad, if he dies, it would be a waste of the only Nine Metamorphosis Essence Pill left, where is he going to find another treasure that can refine the body! At that thought, Gelisi quickly walked towards the toilet door and violently pushed it open. A strong disgusting smell hit him in the face, Gelisi immediately pinched his nose, deeply frowning.

Ah Dai was stonily squatting there, seeing his teacher suddenly storming in, he didn't know what to do. Gelisi saw that Ah Dai was fine, and couldn't help but let out a breath of relief, slightly angrily saying, "Are you done?"

Ah Dai nodded, "I'm done."

"Then why aren't you coming out, you want to keep staying in here?!" It has been a long time since someone could make Gelisi angry, because all those who made him angry has turned into ashes, however, he could do nothing about the child in front of him.

Chapter3 First Forbidden Magic

Ah Dai was aggrieved, "You... you didn't ask me to go out! Didn't you say that I have to listen to everything you say?" Gelidi turned around and walked back into the room. He let out a long breath and opened the windows to let some fresh air in to lessen the stinky smell in the room. He honestly felt that he has been defeated by this foolish boy, taking another deep breath of the fresh air, he said in the direction of the toilet, "Wipe your butt and come out." After putting his clothes back on, Ah Dai walked out of the toilet, he suddenly felt like a new person, his body felt unimaginably fresh, as if he had just gotten rid of an extremely heavy burden. His whole body felt light, even his muddy mind felt clearer, his whole body filled with energy. "Teacher, what did you let me eat just now?" Gelisi impatiently said, "Nine Metamorphosis Essence Pill." "Nine Metamorphosis Essence Pill? What is that?" "Don't ask so much, sit down." Gelisi pointed at the bench on a side. "I would like to ask you a few questions, after that I'll take you to get some food." At the mention of food Ah Dai was suddenly filled with excitement, he obediently sat down on the bench to wait for Gelisi's questioning. "Ah Dai, do you have any other name? Are you of the Sunset People or the Prosperous People?" Ah Dai shook his head, "No, I do not have any other name. What is Sunset people and Prosperous People?" Gelisi explained, "Sunset and Prosperous are two other Empires on the Continent, looking at your dark hair and dark eyes, you are likely to be a descent of one of the two countries." "Ok, I do not know which people I am. Sunset and Prosperous, these two empires, I think I have heard of them, but I don't have much of an impression anymore." Gelisi once again sat down on the bed, eyeing Ah Dai whose face was now rosier, "Do you know your parents?" Ah Dai was at a loss, "I only remember being on the streets and asking for food, keep asking for food. One day Uncle Li came and told me that he would give me food, so I followed him." "Then how old are you?" Ah Dai thought about it, "Twelve, oh, no, probably thirteen." He really wasn't too sure about his age, the kids Uncle Li kept that were around his height were all roughly twelve or thirteen, that's why he felt that he should be around that age. Twelve, thirteen, yes, this is quite appropriate, Gelisi continued asking, "Do you know the year and month you were born?" At that, he regretted it, the silly boy in front of him didn't even know how old he was, how would he know his birth day and month. However, contrary to expectations, Ah Dai smoothly replied, "The 21st day of the 3rd month, Year 977 of the Holy Calendar." After finishing, even he was shocked by his own reply. A cold glimmer flashed in Gelisi's eyes, "Didn't you say you don't know how old you are? How could you respond?" Ah Dai stuttered, "I... I don't know either, it's just that I suddenly thought of this date, and said it." Gelisi frowned, silently thinking, now it's the 4th Month, Year 988 of the Holy Calendar, that means that Ah Dai should be 11 years old. However, Ah Dai's actions just now felt odd, he coldly said, "Boy, don't play with me." Ah Dai curled in upon himself, "No... I wouldn't!" "Come here," Gelisi waved Ah Dai over. Ah Dai unwillingly walked to face Gelisi. Gelisi placed a hand on Ah Dai's shoulders, and quietly chanted a few words, a rush of warmt

After walking for more than an hour, they reached the port not far from Ninuo City. Ah Dai had been there a few times, he likes the ocean, the feel of something unfolding on a grand scale. Gazing at the horizon, listening to the sound of the waves lapping on the reefs, Ah Dai couldn't help but stand still.

"Hurry up, we must catch this ship." Gelisi turned around to tell Ah Dai who was staring at the sea.

Ah Dai was stunned, "Ship? Teacher, are you saying we are taking a ship?" His voiced sounded a little excited, who know how many times have he imagined himself being a fisherfolk, sitting in a wooden boat, floating on the ocean, that feeling is one that Ah Dai looked forward to.

"Yes, we are going to Valian Province, a ship is much faster." Gelisi lightly replied. "That's amazing, that's great, I am about to go on a ship!" Ah Dai excitedly jumped around. Gelisi frowned, "Keep calm, if you want to go on a ship, walk faster." The two of them quickly walked to the harbor, when Ah Dai saw the enormous passenger ship that was more than 100 meters long and 20 meters wide, his jaw dropped, dazedly saying, "This... this is the ship we will be taking? It's huge!" Those fishermen boats were nothing compared to the large white ship in front of him. Gelisi humphed, "Is it large? I still think it's small, time to get onto the ship."

Through the broad boarding plank, Ah Dai followed up Gliss and boarded this so called Worship God boat. Gliss rented the upper room of the ship, spacious enough for two people. Gliss felt great discomfort all over his body, he told Ah Dai that the main reason he disliked ships was mainly because he gets seasick. If he wasn’t in a rush, mainly because he wanted to head back as early as possible to prepare for his plan, he would have never chosen to go by ship.

Ah Dai excitedly walked inside the ship, looking out through the glass windows from time to time. After a short while, a broad canvas sail was raised on a tall and sturdy beam. the ship started to move slowly, gradually increasing its speed. as there were glaciers in this deap sea, this Worship God travel ship started it’s voyage close to the shoreline. After reaching the warmer waters, only then did the ship dare to venture in the deeper parts of the sea to reach faster speed.

“It’s moving, it’s moving, teacher, the ship moved!”

Gliss grabbed Ah Dai and pulled him in front of him, with a glare, he asked him: “Do you remember what i taught you yesterday?”

Ah Dai blinked his eyes and said with some shame: “Forgot it”. In the past two days, Gliss has always been teaching Ah Dai to learn some alchemy related knowledge, but sadly, Ah Dai’s brain processing speed was way too slow. he can’t even remember the simplest alchemical terminology.

“I knew you forgot it. Nevermind, I know just by looking at you that you can’t remember anything, go take a lotus pose on the bed.”

Ah Dai responded with a sound, and sat down per the instructions of Gliss. Gliss stood next to him, saying with a low voice : “Alchemical terms can await until we return to my place before you can delve further into the subject. During our time on this ship, i will assist you in feeling magic. this so called magic is in fact submerging you own consciousness within the elements and letting you soul communicate with the elements nurtured by the Heavens and the Earth, thus allowing you to use your awareness to move the elementals as you wish. I don’t expect you to understand this right now, in a moment, i will thread some of my own own magic into your body, you simply need to close your eyes and feel, tell me what you felt afterwards.”

Ah Dai nodded his head and closed his eyes.

Gliss said: “I require of you, at the very least, to learn the simple fireball and flames within three months, otherwise, no food for you. Okay, now gather your thoughts and use your heart to feel the energy i am transmitting to you.” After speaking, he extended his right hand, and pressed on Ah Dai’s shoulders, then proceeded to chant a few magical incantations/phrases.

Ah Dai felt his shoulders warming up, and thought of the pain he endured within the restaurant, his whole body shook.

“Get rid of all distracting thoughts.” Gliss said with a soft voice.

The heat flowed from his shoulders into his body, but it showed no signs of worsening, only it circulated within his body. Ah Dai puts his worries away, and due to the lack of distracting thoughts within his head, he fell asleep in the comfort of the heat created by Gliss’s magic.

Gliss originally thought that Ah Dai was in a deep trance feeling the magic elements around them, but half a day later, he almost never felt any movement from Ah Dai This method of passing one’s own magic force to another person is very exhausting due to the fact there is no way to move the elements around them for usage, so even someone on Gliss’s level felt weariness. he slowly retracted his right hand and asked: “What did you see? Ah Dai. Ah Dai… ah, you brat, you actually fell asleep, completely wasting all my hard efforts, are you trying to infuriate me to death?” A small water ball exploded on Ah Dai’s face, causing him to awaken from his sweet dreams with a small shiver, “Snow, It’s snowing.”

[Jerry: so cute :3]

Gliss angrily smacked Ah Dai on on his head and said: “Snowing your head, what did i just ask of you? But what did you do instead?

Ah Dai just realized where he was, and thought of what just happened. He lowered his head and muttered: “Teacher, sorry, just then… just then it was too comfortable, so i fell asleep”

Gliss barely suppressed his anger within himself, and said coldly: Tell me, what did you just see? Don’t say you don’t know, if you really don’t know, then your dinner is gone.”

Once the issue of food was mention Once the issue of food was mentioned, Ah Dai immediately became more attentive, scratched his own head and thought : “ but I really didn’t see anything! How do I answer.” Ah Dai thought for a bit and decided to tell the wonderful dream he just had, and see if he can pass with that. After organizing his thoughts, he looked at the serious faced Gliss and said : “I… I felt just then my whole body heat up, then i became confused. afterwards, i saw a lot of small kids that came to play with me. they all had small red Mantous in their hands, trying to give it to me, I took and took, but no matter what i tried, I couldn’t accept them. I also wanted to give them something, but i didn’t have anything to give, so i could only let it be. Then you woke me up.”

Gliss was shocked by what he just heard, how could he not understand that what Ah Dai described was a dream. Although Ah Dai slept, but from his description, it actually was related to fire elements. those kids who were playing with him was all part of his dream, but those small red mantou were definitely fire elemental power! Why would the fire elements be attracted toward him? Unless he was born with a pure fire aptitude body, but he wasn’t. When he was tested before, the results were clear. Thinking back, even when Gliss himself studied fire element magic, he could only meagerly feel the presence of the fire elements around him Ah Dai uneasily looked at Gliss, wondering whether his lie to use his dream to replace his perception will allow him to get a meal.

Gliss extended his right hand and said: “Follow my lead and chant this: Fire elements filling the heavens and earth! please bestow upon me your warm strength, become a ball, appear in my hand.” Puchi! A 10 centimeters wide fireball appeared above Gliss’s hand, causing the surrounding air to suddenly heat up.

Although Ah Dai doesn’t understand what Gliss meant, but he still remembered the part belonging to incantation, so he followed along and said: “Follow… Ah, I don’t need to repeat this part right. Fire elements Fire elements filling the heavens and earth! Please bestow upon me your warm strength, become a ball, appear in my hand.” Just as he finished saying the chant, Ah Dai suddenly felt something around him suddenly rush towards the center of his palm, Puchi! His hand flashed, and a small fireball, only one centimeter in diameter, appeared above his palm. it gave Ah Dai a small fright, he lept in fear of burning himself with the fire. As soon as he lost his concentration, the fireball instantly disappeared.

Gliss looked at Ah Dai with a stumped expression, only after quite a while did he recover from his stupor. A slight hint of murderous intent flashed within his eyes, he could have never thought that this idiotic boy in front of him had such a great natural aptitude for magic. When Gliss chanted this fireball spell for the first time, all he got as a result was some heat within the center of his palm. Even so, his master gave him a praise of the highest evaluation, but this average looking brat with below average intelligence actually succeeded in making a fireball, this is too unbelievable.

Ah Dai still didn’t understand why would a fireball appear above his own hand, so he looked at his own palm with a dumb expression.The two just stared spacing off in the room like that.

Quite some time later, Gliss snuffed out the fireball on his own hand and said: “Okay, let’s stop here for today, i need to rest for a bit, you go and memorize that spell. Your own fireball will float atop your hand so it won’t harm you, when you have time, just sit on the bed and think about those small red balls, understand?”

Ah Dai nodded his head, and tried his best to remember the spell chant he had just heard. With less interest to look at the sea for now, because to him, a barely 11 year old child, the interest of a fireball brings way exceeds that of the ocean.

Gliss stopped noticing Ah Dai and lay on his own bed meditating. Good thing that the weather was good for the day, the winds were nice and calm on the sea, the boat didn’t shake too much, so it lessened his seasickness symptoms. He thought that if another magician saw Ah Dai’s performance just then, they would definitely take Ah Dai as their disciple right away. Ah Dai’s aptitude is really too good, and he is getting older too, isn’t it time to consider letting Ah Dai study and inherit his own legacy. Gliss shook his head vigorously, no, how can he break his own plan just because of a brat with better than average talents? He only need to undergo the final experiment, and this child will die, no matter how much the child learns, what use is there?

Ah Dai sat on the bed sheets with his eyes closed, playing with those small red mantous with joy, Gliss suddenly woke him up.

“Master.”

“En, repeat the chant i taught you yesterday.”

“Okay, Fire elements filling the heavens and earth! please bestow, please bestow. ouch.” Ah Dai could only recall the first sentence.

Gliss took back his hand that just hit Ah Dai, this idiot’s memorization skills is really the worst, “I’ll tell you again for the last time, if you still cannot remember, then don’t even think about eating again before getting off this ship. Fire elements filling the heavens and earth! please bestow upon me your warm strength, become a ball, appear in my hand.”

Eating to Ah Dai is the best thing for threats, he tried his hardest to memorize each word, “ Warm strength….. Become a ball,….. Appear in my hand.” he worked extra hard efforts to memorize the part that he wasn’t familiar with, sitting on his bed, repeating to himself non-stop, again and again. This simple chant, a normal person only needs a small amount of time before remembering it completely, but Ah Dai used an entire half a day before he can barely promise that he won’t forget.

“Master, Teacher, I, I remembered it.” Ah Dai woke up Gliss by shaking him, giving no regards to the time.

Today’s waves were larger than the ones from yesterday, Gliss originally wanted to sleep a bit more to lessen the effects of his seasickness, and after finally falling asleep, he was woken up. He angrily said : “WHAT?”

Ah Dai was scared into taking a step backwards, stammered : “I, I memorized that spell chant.”

Gliss grunted once and said: “You’re one of the dumbest person i’ve met, actually using half a day to memorize a simple spell chant, what is there to brag about, let’s hear it.”

(Naervan: Ah Dai’s hard gathered confidence received a killing blow from Gliss, Ah Dai’s confidence fainted, choose a new pokemon…)

The confidence that Ah Dai gathered with great difficulty suddenly received a heavy blow from Gliss and shattered into a billion pieces, he lowered his head and extended his right hand and chanted in a small voice: “Fire elements filling the heavens and earth! please bestow upon me your warm strength, become a ball, appear in my hand.” Just as he finished the chant, he felt that unknown force gather again, also, compared to last time it was much stronger. Puchi, a diameter of at least 3 cm fireball appeared above his palm. Having experience from last time, Ah Dai kept calm this time and examined that red ball of flame carefully, the feeling was warm atop his hand, not blazing hot. Ah Dai brought the fireball in front of him and looked carefully, a slight lack of concentration on his part, the hair on his forehead caught on fire, “AH!” in his cry of alarm, Ah Dai’s concentration broke completely, and the fireball on his hand disappeared, a smelly wave of burnt hair filled the cabin. Ah Dai beat his own hair for his life before finally smothering the fire out, his tragic half short black hair now missed yet another piece/section.

looking at Ah Dai’s haggard appearance, Gliss couldn’t help but let out a slight smile, “Water and fire are emotionless, if it’s on your hand it’s fine, but it doesn’t mean that it is also harmless to other things. That was a real fireball, what you just did right now is called lighting yourself on fire. time be a little more careful. Open the door and let some fresh air in.”

Ah Dai continuously panted, although the previous incident just then made him battered and exhausted, but the fireball’s appearance gave his child’s heart a great happiness. The first time that he truly felt respect towards Gliss, “Teach.., Teacher, sorry, i am too stupid. I can’t even cast such a small magic perfectly.”

Gliss inwardly cursed, then aren’t i even more dumb. he have never seen anyone who can practice for just two days and cast a fireball that size. “Okay, no need to keep dawdling on this, just be more careful later on, and don’t forget the spell chant.”

Ah Dai nodded his head and said with determination: “I… I will definitely not forget, teach.” The fireball was Ah Dai’s first magic, and he already loved that little red fireball in the depth of his heart. he sat to the side and continued to repeat the already familiar spell chant to himself.

After two more days, the journey entered its last leg, Gliss did not take one step out of the room, fearing that the sight of the endless sea will make him vomit. All the food and drink was brought into the room by Ah Dai, every meal almost always have 90 percent of its content entering Ah Dai’s stomach. Ah Dai was a very good and obedient kid, these past three days, other than determinedly practicing and memorizing the fireball spell, he would meditate on the bed. The so called hard work to replace talent, just in three days time, he already can control fireball to an astonishing degree, the fireball that appears has already reached a diameter of 5 centimeters. gliss would occasionally give him a few pointers on how to use the fireball, such as how to raise the ball’s temperature, how to make the fireball’s size increase, how to control the fireball’s flight in the air…etc. unexpectedly, the always dimwitted Ah Dai, learned these methods fairly quickly and was fluent in their use very quickly.

Ah Dai controlled the fireball to circle around his body, he thought to himself that even if teacher dies later, he won’t have to fear the cold anymore, The warmth provided by the fireball felt really great. Good thing Gliss doesn’t know mindreading magic in his repertoire, or else he would definitely be so angry that blood would come out of all 7 orifices on his face.

“Teacher, I want to go outside to take a breather.” after a few days’ worth of interacting with each others, Ah Dai is no longer that afraid of Gliss, after all, Gliss have yet to hit him, and he always let him eat until he was full during every meal.

Gliss glared at him and said : “Put up your fireball, just stay around the entrance, don’t go too far.”

Ah Dai excitedly replied : “Yes teacher.”afterwards, he waved his hand to snuff out the fireball in the air, before excitedly opening the door to head outside. Standing on the outer walkway of the boat, Ah Dai held onto the rails and let the warm sunlight massage his skin, he deeply inhaled a breath of the moist sea air, and looked towards the horizon where the sea and the sky meets, sinking into revelment.

“Huh? what is that? “ Just as the Ah Dai was sinking in to revelment, he discovered that there was a black dot approaching them at a fast pace, the black dot grew gradually bigger.

After a while, the black dot’s silhouette can be seen, that was also a ship, the ship’s body was black colored, the size on par with the boat they were on, there was only one layer of deck. the huge black flag had a huge white skull on it, underneath the white skull was two white cross bones. Ah Dai thought, why is that boat’s color so different from their own?

He watched as the black ship approached theirs.

Chapter4 The Pirates Strike

Attack of the Pirates

Ah Dai scratched his head. This word, pirate, did not have any significant meaning to him, and when he encountered this unknown word, he decided to return to the room to ask Gliss. To him, this world has so many new and exciting things, so no matter what he met, he will always want to understand it first, even if he could not remember it later on.

“Teacher, Teacher, there is a huge ship outside, many people are yelling pirate! Pirate! What is a pirate?” Ah Dai said excitedly while running into the room. When Gliss heard this, he was shocked. He sat up from the bed and said, “What are you saying? Pirates have come?” Ah Dai nodded: “It’s a big black ship, their sale having a huge skull on it. All the people on our boat is yelling pirate, I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing…

Gliss furrowed his brows, although he wasn’t afraid of pirates, he still does not wish to face them with his body being like this. He can only hope that the crewmen aboard the boat can deal with them. [Jerry: I think he’s seasick. :p]

Ah dai continued asking his questions : “Teacher, what does pirate mean?”

Gliss answered without thinking: “Pirates are just people who rob other people’s things, they will sometimes kill people too.” Hearing Gliss’ explanation, Ah Dai let out a breath of air, and said while smiling: “Then there is nothing to be afraid of, I don’t have anything for them to rob, but oh teacher, you must be careful, you have lots of amethyst and gold coins on you, they will probably rob those, you should hide them. Ahh where to hide them?” While saying this, Ah Dai started to look for hiding places around the room.

Hearing Ah Dai’s silly words, Gliss felt a rush on warmness in his chest, “Is he worrying about me?” Gliss thought to himself. How long has it been since someone has cared about him? Gliss shook his head in annoyance and grabbed Ah Dai, throwing him onto the bed in one swift motion, “Be quiet for me.”

Ah Dai did not understand why teacher would be so angry, so he sat there on the bed, not daring to make a sound.

“Ding Ding” sounds came non-stop, causing the big ship to tremor, and the standing Gliss had to hurriedly grab ahold of the wall next to him to be able to stand still, he also knows, this was probably the pirates coming to plunder the ship, because the sound just the was the sound of grappling hooks landing on the ship’s body. The noises outside caused Gliss to be even more annoyed, first was the movement of the ship, which caused his nausea to go up a level, and then his stomach acid started to make it’s way up to his throat. The feeling of being seasick, truly unbearable.

“All the people aboard the ship, hear up, we are pirates, so hurry up and take out all your valuables, otherwise don’t blame our weapons for needing blood!” A rough voice shouted from the outside. Obviously, the pirates had began their plundering. Gliss knows, the pirates aren’t trustworthy people at all, even if you hand over the goods, the pirates still will not let anyone live. After all, what pirate wants to be hunted down by the navy. The best way to keep a secret is to kill all the witnesses. Sinking the ship is their usual style of doing things, not only does doing that save time, it also saves effort. Gliss thought to himself: “Looks like, I must personally take care of this, because I don’t want to swim, that is impossible to even consider.” Pushing open the door, Gliss walked outside, the sunlight reflecting off the surface of the ocean instantly caused him some dizzyness. Gliss grabbed the rails of the ship and started dry vomiting. A pair of small hands appeared behind Gliss’ back,

“Go back to the room, hurry!” Gliss shouted with some strictness.

Ah Dai hesitated, because even though Gliss’ tone was rough, there contained no coldness in his voice, but instead it sounded like he was caring for Ah Dai instead. Ah Dai didn’t move and just stared at gliss. One old, one young, keeping that staring contest going for some time. After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, Gliss finally snapped out of his trance. Gliss grabbed Ah Dai and shoved him back into the room, “You’re not allowed to come out of here.” After warning Ah Dai, he walked towards the noisy area.

This group of pirates were obviously outlaws, every single one of them possessing good fighting skills, they already finished grouping up all the passengers to the side of the ship. The passenger ship’s captain and the crewmen gathered in front of the main cabin, with over 20 deckhands having a scared silly expression from losing their heads to fear.

A pirate with an eyepatch and ten other pirates were in the middle of discussing something with the ship’s captain, Gliss used a wind attribute magic to eavesdrops their conversation.

“This elder brother, please, I am willing to give all the profits gained from this trip to you, just spare our ship please. I promise not to report this incident, so please?” The ship’s captain obviously knew how pirates usually took care of things, so he tried to tempt them.

The one eyed pirate laughed uproariously, “Profit? How much profit can you really earn, don’t try and play this trick on me, stay there and be honest, don’t interfere. If I, your grandfather, is in a good mood, you all might live. But, if you want to play some tricks, then don’t blame me for being merciless.” While saying that, he suddenly slashed the scimitar in his hand towards the side of the ship. There was a flash of light and a “boom” sound could be heard. The side of the ship suddenly had a gaping hole. Gliss’ heart thumped, this pirate’s skills aren’t bad at all! Just from that last attack alone, he could tell that the pirate had DouQi, which only experts possessed. The edge of the blade didn’t touch the ship, but still caused that degree of damage from the Qi projection alone.

The ship’s captain and the crewmembers were frightened silly by the demonstration, and had no words to say.

The one eyed pirate shouted to his underlings: “Little ones, hurry it up! After we finish this plundering, we can go back to eat and drink to our heart’s content!” All the pirates started cheering following that shout. The first layer of the ship’s hold had already been opened, and all the passengers were held hostage on the deck, where they were being searched and plundered by the pirates. If any of the passengers resisted, they would instantly be beaten up by several pirates. Eventually, all the passengers succumed to fears, some even took the initiative to offer up their valuables for the sake of their own well-being.

Gliss knowns that now would be the time to make his move, this group of pirates are basically nobodies in his eyes, the only thing he feared was that they would sink the ship. Using wind type magic once more to spread his voice, “All of you, stop.” A dark voice slammed into the ears of the pirates and passengers alike.

The pirate leader’s expression turned cold, and looked in the direction of the voice, only seeing Gliss walking slowly down the stairs. He thought to himself, “I can’t be this unfortunate right, did I really run into a magician?” He shouted: “Everyone stop!” The pirates, seeing their leader hesitate, stopped what they were doing and gathered by their leader, and all at once, several hundred eyes fell onto Gliss’ body.

Gliss coughed twice, barely suppressing the feeling of dizziness, and said to the pirate leader: “Immediately leave this ship.” The pirates looked at each other, then turned to their leader for his decision. The one eyed pirate looked Gliss up and down, trying to decide in his heart. They have not had any decent raids lately, but after finally finding a fat piece of meat like this ship, how can he easily give it up? But, if the person standing there was really a magician, and by the looks of it, a high ranked magician to boot. He knows fully well how scary magicians are.

“Sir, are you a magician?” He cautiously asked.

Gliss didn’t respond to his question, but instead replied coldly: “I will repeat once more, immediately leave this ship.”

Without waiting for the one eyed pirate to respond, a pirate with a sturdy build couldn’t hold back anymore and attacked Gliss with the club in his hand.

“You old thing, I think you’ve lived long enough!” he said while both hands holding on to the 50 pound heavy club, swinging it towards Gliss’ head.

A moment later, Gliss had already casted wind type magic on himself, his body slightly moved, appearing one meter behind where he was, not afraid of that pirate’s attack at all. With a huge boom, the pirate’s club slammed into the ship’s deck, causing the club to be stuck in the deck.

Gliss extended his right hand, flicking all five finger at the club, a wave of light green powder floated out and accurately falling onto the club.

“Pu Pu” noises sounded and the big pirate jumped from shock, because the club in his hand started to grow hot, he immediately released the club. To his surprise, he found that the steel made club was melting in front of his eyes, becoming a puddle of black colored iron water with a disgusting smell emanating from it. The guy backed up a few steps, pointed at Gliss and shouted: “Who are you!?”

The green powder that Gliss had just used was something he made, called gold melting dust, with the ability to melt almost any type of metal. The pirate leader walked up a few steps, and threw the big pirate behind him, politely saying to Gliss: “Sir, you must be an alchemist, this one gives his courtesies.”

Gliss extended his right hand and chanted some magic phrases, and the flames that had burned the table to ashes before Uncle Li appeared again in his palms, the black flames looked extremely strange under sunlight, giving that pirate leader a huge scare. The pirate leader looked at Gliss with a stupefied expression.

Gliss said in a cold tone: “Could it be you want me to repeat myself for the third time?”

Just as the pirate leader was at his wit’s end, a very thick and deep voice sounded, “And here I thought who was it blocking my path to fortune, so it was the famous Demonic Flame Gliss!”

Gliss’ heart thumped, this voice seemed to have came from every direction, making it impossible to distinguish where the voice came from. This was the fear of almost all magicians, who are most likely bad at close quarter combat. What surprised him even more was that the other person knew who he was. He rushed to chant more magic, and a shroud of black mist came out of his body, locking everything within a meter of him.

“Don’t be so tense, I wouldn’t dare to think of harming Master Gliss.”

A black shadow from the pirate ship landed in front of Gliss.

Gliss saw that this person was wearing a similar attire as himself through the shroud of black mist, the other person also used a huge hooded cape that covered his entire body, but because the other person’s height was too tall, his sturdy body could be seen. But, Gliss also felt that there was no trace of magic elements in this person’s body, so the other shouldn’t be a magician, and the cape should only be an object used to hide his identity.

“Boss.” all the pirates greeted this person with respect.

The black cloaked person raided his hand and all the pirates quietened down, he looked at Gliss and said: “Master Gliss, you and I can both mind our own business, so why bother interfering with each others? How about this, wait until we finish our business here, sink this ship, then you can board our ship. No matter where you want to go, we can help you get there safely. How about it?” Gliss thought to himself, “You think I’m an idiot? If I board your ship then won’t I become trapped on your ship with my life in your hands? I’m not that stupid. “No need for the trouble, but still the same thing, get off this ship immediately.”

The black cloaked person took a step forward and said: “Since master is so stubborn, then you must give us brothers an explanation.” as he said this, his body flashed towards Gliss, the cloak fluttered in the air and several beams of black light shot towards Gliss. The speed was so fast that the people watching had their mouths gaped open in amazement. The shroud of black mist around Gliss didn’t seem to be able to slow the black light at all, and the light beams flashed towards his body.

Gliss’ magic might be strong, but he was only an alchemist. He never would’ve thought that the other person still dared to attack him even after he used the dark flames. In a very dangerous situation, he dare not hold back, rapidly taking out an object and flicking it out.

The dark beams hit Gliss’ body, but the black cloaked person was still shocked because he could feel that he didn’t hit anything solid. He said with surprise: “Illusion magic huh.”

Chapter5 Osogamika

Pirate invasion!

Gliss typically doesn’t use the Shadow Mirror Technique, but because of the black cloaked person was moving too fast, he didn’t have any time to recite a magic incantation. The thing that he earlier threw out was something that he made by himself, the Shadow Mirror Scroll! Scrolls can, in a short time, release all the power stored within them. This Shadow Mirror Scroll is one of Gliss’s life saving methods. Gliss’s real body had earlier floated about 10 meters away.

The earlier circumstances caused Gliss to produce a cold sweat, if he had moved any slower, right now he fears that he would have already had a hollow space through his stomach. The opponent’s attack also ignited his inner heart’s fury. A slice through the air, Gliss made a crack in the air in front of him, and a foot long black cane drifted out of it, the handle was neither metal nor wood, there was no way to tell what material it was made from, the tip of the cane had a one centimeter thick red jewel. Gliss held the cane in his hand and chanted a spell.

The black clothed man was very clear that if he allowed Gliss to finish his chant, then he won’t be a match for gliss. So the moment that he saw Giss hold on to the cane, he started his second attack. Countless rays of black light flashed out of the cloak, becoming a huge energy net that hurtled towards Gliss.

Gliss didn’t stop chanting his spell but grabbed something from the crack in space. Countless illusions of gliss appeared in the air, and the attack of the black clothed man lost it’s target, causing most of the illusionary copies to be hit but none of the attacks hit the actual body.

“Go, Black flames soul purgatory.” A disk of pitch black flame shot out towards the pirate crowd from the cane in Gliss’s hand.

The black clothed man became alarmed instantly, he never would have thought that Gliss would be this difficult to deal with, the flames of darkness and flames mixed together can be created in such a huge amount. Although he isn’t afraid of it himself, but his underlings would die from just touching that flame. Considering this, he couldn’t hold back his true strength anymore, he shouted “Light of Hell.” even more black light shot out, heading straight for Gliss’s attack, containing traces of evilness.

Gliss’s black flames and the black clothed man’s black light struck together, after sputting awhile, the deck underneath the attacks had a huge hole in it.

Gliss’s body shook slightly, because from the last attack, he became sure of the other’s identity, and at the same time, he understood why his black mist guard was useless against the other, and also why the other’s Dou Qi attack can meet his black flames head on. But, he did not say it out loud, because he knew clearly that the black clothed man’s identity was the biggest taboo, and as soon as he said it, the other side would definitely not let anyone on this ship leave alive. If he was under the best condition, Gliss would definitely not fear that man, but because he was sea sick this entire trip, his body’s conditions were not good, and if he really fought with his life on the line, even though he had a bigger chance of winning, he would still walk away with heavy injuries.

Just as Gliss was hesitating on whether or not to continue the fight, a small fire ball came out of nowhere and flew towards the black cloaked man in a beautiful arc. The black clothed man was surprised, he had no time to recover from that last attack, so he could only use a ray of black light to defend against that fire ball.

Puchi, the fire ball broke apart, but a few sparks still landed on the black cloak, burning a few holes in it, and under the shining sun, trac The black clothed man shivered inside, because although the power of the fire ball wasn’t big, but the fire element contained within was very balanced, that feeling was as serene as a spell cast by a monk, he does not want to go against someone from the church, furthermore, just Gliss alone was more than he can handle, if there was a monk aboard this ship also………., escaping should be the priority, he shouted “Let’s go.” and was the first to escape back onto the pirate ship. but how would he know that this balanced and serene magic was not something that only monks can cast, but there was another type of person, and that’s someone who just learned magic.

Gliss did not pay attention to the panicking and escaping pirate, his sight was looking towards the third floor of the ship, because that location was exactly where his room was, and that precisely controlled fire ball….

“thank you, thank you for saving all the people aboard the ship.” the ship captain ran in front of Gliss and thanked him from the bottom of his heart.

Gliss gave him a look and told him to make sure no one comes to bother him. After taking care of the captain, he headed for his room without turning his head. that 5 centimeter wide fireball was way too familiar to him.

The pirates who came in a impressive manner escaped with their tail between their legs, and after the sea returned to calm, the ship also returned to calm.

Gliss quickly returned to the third floor, and as he had expected, Ah Dai’s thin body was curled on the floor. He pulled up Ah Dai’s body and used magic to check the condition of the boy. he knew without even having to check that Ah Dai was suffering the effects of magic reversal. That black clothed man’s Dou qi was very high, how can someone who only learned magic for three days like ahdai can go against that. Although the fireball can be casted, but it must be controlled by Ah Dai’s mental force, so when the fireball was broken, his mental force also received a shake, and because Ah Dai doesn’t know how to protect himself from magic reversal, he was knocked out by it. good thing that the black clothed man wasn’t at his best either, or else Ah Dai might have become insane.

Gliss put Ah Dai’s body back on the bed, because the thing that Ah Dai needed the most at the moment was rest. He looked at this silly face in front of him and suddenly had a slight trace of emotion running through his heart.

That night, after experiencing pirates, the ship finally reached its destination————Hill province harbor city Fes, Gliss lived on the borders between Hill province and Wa Liang province, and the distance from Fes to the border needed a three days journey.

When they left the ship, the ship’s captain personally escorted them off the ship, and refunded the trip’s cost to Gliss, who didn’t bother arguing and just accepted. He brought Ah Dai into Fes city. This was very far from the extreme north area, and although it was night, it was still much warmer than Ni Nuo city.

Ahdai stretched lazily, still not recovered from the mental trauma earlier that day, and he still felt very tired. No matter how hard he tried to cast fireball, it wouldn’t appear. “Teacher, where are we going now?”

Gliss answered without thinking too much: “We are finding a place to rest for the night, and tomorrow, we will take a horse carriage to where I told you before so don’t ask too much.”

Ah Dai stared blankly and after muttering for a while, he went back to sleep. After he woke up, he felt that his head was much clearer than before, and he can clearly remembered what had happened before, Gliss was guarding next to him, and after seeing him wake up, Gliss’s furrowed brows smoothed out, he found out that this teacher of his seemed much more human than before, and seemed much friendlier than before, so he was not longer that afraid of him.

That night was very beautiful, the moonlight shone over everything, walking on the road, he didn’t feel it was very dark, Gliss suddenly asked: “ Ah Dai, during the day, why did you suddenly attack the black clothed person with a fireball?” Ah Dai answered honestly : “ I felt that he was a bad person, bad person was fighting was teacher, so of course i will help teacher. Didn’t you say before that fireball has a certain level of attacking power?”

Gliss said coldly: “You overestimate your own ability, do you think that your tiny little fireball could help me? If that black clothed person was at his best, your mental force would have been completely shattered by him, and you would have become a insane person. You Idiot, next time you attack, make sure to see the situation clearly first, the other person’s power was clearly several times higher than you, so you using magic is next to dying faster.”

Ah Dai nodded his head stupidly : “So magic also has a limit!”

Remembering the black clothed person during the day, Gliss couldn’t help it and said: “That guy today was a dark demon, and he was a dark demon expert, they are born with natural resistance to the darkness element, so even my dark flames will be resisted by them to a certain degree, causing it not to show its true power, these dark demons are savage by nature, if his identity wasn’t a taboo, i would have killed him much earlier. Remember, if you meet and green skinned people with spikes on their hands, run as far as you can, why am i saying these things to you?” Gliss felt that his head hurts, after staying together with this little idiot a few days, he felt that he has changed a big himself.

Ah Dai said happily: “Thank you teacher, i know now, if i meet green skinned people with spikes growing out of their hands run as far as i can.”

Gliss made a noncommittal noise and pointed at a small hotel in front :

“Lets stay there.”

Just as the two walked into the hotel, Ah Dai made a Yi sound and said “ Teacher look, that person is very strange! Why is he wearing that kind of clothes.”

Gliss looked towards the direction that Ah Dai was pointing and saw a big man also walking towards the hotel, the big man was wearing a white robe with a golden hexagram on his chest, with long golden drapes hanging from his shoulders, and saintly airs around his entire person. Gliss’s heart shivered, because this man was a monk from the holy church, and monks are his nemesis. Gliss’s magic belonged to the darkness element, with darkness as his main and fire as support, and monks use light element magic with holy elements contained within, so they are the people that Gliss didn’t want to see the most.

That monk at this moment had already walked in front of them, he lowered his head and looked at Ah Dai for a moment, then looked at gliss, smiled kindly and nodded his head slightly before entering the hotel.

Ah dai asked: “Teacher, he was smiling at us, his smile was warm. Why would he smile?”

Although he was just passing by, but the holy aura coming from the monk made Gliss feel very uncomfortable, so he humphed : “That guy is a monk from the holy church, should be a lower level or middle level person who offer sacrifices to god, let’s go already, didn’t you say you were hungry?”

“I am hungry! Teacher, what are we eating today?”

“What are we eating? let me think ……” After several days on the ship, Gliss couldn’t eat or sleep normally, and really needed to replenish his body, but he did not notice that Ah Dai seemed to have lowered his caution towards him by a lot, and he also didn’t care.

After eating, Gliss and Ah Dai returned to the room for a nice sleep.

The morning of the second day, Gliss felt that his body has recovered quite a bit, and Ah Dai’s mental state was also much better, looks like the injury he received was completely healed. The child’s recovery rate was really something!

Gliss opened the door and called a waiter, threw a silver coin and told him to go get a horse carriage. “Teacher, are we really going to sit in a horse carriage?”

Gliss furrowed his brows and said: “ Since when did you have so many questions, be quiet and go memorize your chants.”

Ah Dai agreed and sat to the side, practicing the flames magic that gliss had just taught him, flames and fireballs were not the same, a fireball’s attacking power might be stronger, but the area of attack was fairly small. Flames magic might have a longer incantation time and a slightly weaker attacking power, but the area of attack is much greater.

“[Fire element that fill the heaven and earth! Please grant me your burning power, With my name, Lend thy strength, appear, scorching flames.” As he finished his chant, a small flame appeared above his hands, the flame wavered, and caused the temperature of the surrounding air to go up quite a bit.

“Teacher, teacher, i succeeded.” Ahdai called out with excitement.

Gliss said with a bad temper : “What’s there to be excited about, it’s just the lowest level fire magic. Don’t forget the incantation. Go practice it a few more times, and don’t say the last word out loud when you are practicing, this type of low level magic, as long as you don’t complete the chant, you can stop at any moment. Even with your meager amount of magic force, after using it a few times, you won’t pass out.”

“Understand” Ahdai continued his repetitive task of memorization, after a while, the waiter came back and told them that the carriage was prepared.

Until he actually sat on the carriage, Ah Dai couldn’t believe that he would enjoy the feeling of riding on a horse carriage, the soft seat made him comfortable all over. He gazed around excitedly. Sitting on the horse carriage, he couldn’t help but think of yato, not knowing how yato was doing now. That old woman should be good to her right.

After three days of trip by carriage, Gliss and Ah Dai finally entered the border area of WaLiang province, on the road, Ah Dai saw many things that he had never seen before, although Gliss was impatient with the many questions, he still answered them all

Chapter6 Separate again

After a long while, he steadied himself up. The glow on his body has already faded and the warm air that scattered through his meridians cannot be felt anymore. Other than the stickiness on his body that left him uncomfortable, everything else seemed completely normal. He dragged his exhausted body back to the wooden hut, used some spring water to soak his dirty clothes, then rinsed himself and went to sleep.

The next day morning, Ah Dai crawled out of bed, feeling that his vitality has already recovered to its best state. Last night, ever since Gliss left, was the only night when he did not meditate. He had already memorized all of the notes, and decided to meditate to pass time. Ah Dai has become very interested in meditation these days. He was already able to release a green flame, and the fireball was also around ten centimeters large. What he did not know was that with his current magic force, he had already met the standards of a junior sorcerer.

Gliss, after leaving for two months, finally returned to the illusionary forest. The travel did not go very smoothly, and he had to spend a lot of time before he could find enough fragrant grass. As he saw the wooden hut, everything around was silent, and nothing has changed.

“Ah Dai, Ah Dai—“ Gliss called out. Not knowing why himself, but through his trip, he would often think of this clumsy little fool.

“Ah! Teacher, you finally returned.” Ah Dai quickly ran out the room before violently throwing himself into Gliss’ arms, his joy could not be expressed. Gliss look at Ah Dai thoroughly, after two months, Ah Dai’s body seemed to become much stronger, with a rosy skin, even though he still behaved in a silly manner, but he was much more pleasing to the eye. Gliss tried his best to control his overwhelming emotions and instructed Ah Dai, “I am tired, go pick some fruits for me to eat. I want to rest awhile first.”

“Sure.” Ah Dai happily replied, then ran back to the hut to grab a basket before running to the fruit trees.

When he came back to the hut, he found that there was a sack on the chair, Gliss was resting beside it. “Teacher, here are the fruits. Is that the fragrant grass you have collected? Let me put them into the drawer.” Gliss opened his eyes and looked at Ah Dai, a bit amazed. “this kid… when did you become smarter? This is not fragrant grass, but it is meant for you.”

Ah Dai hesitated, pointing to his nose and asked, “For me?”

Gliss nodded, “Open it and see.”

“Thank you teacher,” Ah Dai excitedly hugged the heavy parcels in his arms. This was his first time receiving gifts, the excitement in his heart caused him to tremble uncontrollably. Slowly opening the parcel, the sight presented in front of his eyes left him stunned. The parcel may not have contained precious items, or any unique objects, but to Ah Dai, there was nothing else that made him any happier. Because, within the parcel, was actually a pile of white steamed buns. Although the buns had gotten cold, but they were not hard. Ah Dai smelled the fragrance of the buns, while two lines of tears flowed down his cheeks. Looking at Gliss, he said, “Teacher, thank you, thank you so much.”

Gliss, acting as though nothing happened, continued to eat his fruit and replied, “What’s there to thank, it’s just some inexpensive buns. At first I wanted to bring you some chicken drumsticks, but those spoil easily, so I didn’t bring them. Ah Dai, how is the journal that I gave you?”

Ah Dai retrieved the well-kept journal from his chest and passed them to Gliss, “Teacher, I have memorized all o Gliss was shocked. “All memorized? If you are lying, don’t blame me for punishing you.”

Ah Dai insisted, “Teacher, I didn’t lie, I really memorized all of it. You can just check.”

“Okay then, let me ask you, what kind of metal can refine the best weapon?”

Ah Dai replied without hesitation, “In order to refine the best weapon, there are three conditions. Firstly, the materials used must be of good quality. The six attributes of materials are light, darkness, water, fire, earth and wind. Materials without attributes are low quality, while those that contain light and darkness attributes are the hardest to find, thus the weapons refined from them will be the most powerful. Materials with light attribute are Can Jin, Ming Yin1, et cetera; materials with darkness attributes are Wu Gang Gang Mu2… Secondly, to refine the best weapons, the temperature must be stable, the higher the temperature, the fewer the impurities within the weapon. The black flames you use are of the highest temperature, but unfortunately since it is a magic flame, it is unable to last for long periods of time, and therefore you can only refine smaller weapons. Lastly, in order to refine spirit weapons, the time and location are of importance. The same materials flame, under conditions, will refine weapons with differing qualities. For example, under the sun on a high terrain…”

Gliss was dumbfounded as he listened to Ah Dai listing out the conditions of refining weapons, without missing a word, from his journal. The astonishment in his heart simply cannot be expressed. With Ah Dai’s memory, he needed to spend a long time before he could memorize the journal with such accuracy!

“Okay, you can stop now, I believe that you have truly memorised it all. From tomorrow onwards, like before, you can continue to help me with my experiments. I need to rest now.”

“Yes teacher.” Ah Dai happily answered. Carrying the pile of steamed buns to his bed, he grabbed one and took a bite. He had not eaten his favourite buns in five months…

Early next day, Gliss continuously used his small cauldron and started refining. As Ah Dai has already memorized Gliss’ journal, according to the materials Gliss used, he was able to predict the outcome, thus Gliss’ refining process had also became an experimental process for Ah Dai. What confused Ah Dai was, Gliss had refined a bunch of mixed metals. The metals had different attributes, but were all precious. Ah Dai recalled from the notes, that no matter which metal it was, they could all make high quality weapons. As Gliss carefully stored the metal that he just refined, Ah Dai wondered what that metal would be used for.

After Ah Dai helped Gliss to refine the metal, Gliss went to his room to meditate, while Ah Dai stood at the door, practicing his fireball and flame skills.

“Huh? Where did this kid come from?” A joking voice sounded.

Ah Dai was shocked to discover that a strange person dressed in red had walked out of the mist. That person had an appearance very similar to Gliss, a big red cloak enveloped his body, hiding his facial features. Holding a long staff, that person seemed to be inspecting him.

Ah Dai stepped back in fright, and questioned, “Who, who are you?”

The red cloaked person proudly declared, “Me? I am a great sorcerer.” As he was speaking, he extended out his skinny right hand, similar to Gliss’, muttered a few incantations and a huge purple fireball of around half a meter appeared in his hand. The blazing flame caused Ah Dai who was over ten meters away to still feel the searing heat. Looking at the tiny fireball in his own hand in comparison to the huge purple fireball of the red cloaked person, Ah Dai shamefully withdrew his own magic.

“Haha, how’s that, now you know what a great sorcerer is like?

Hahahaha”

“Pfft, showing off in front of a little kid.” A black fireball of half a meter in size flew out from the hut, charging straight at the red cloaked person. The red cloaked person was shocked and took a step back shouting, the purple fireball in his hands flew to meet the black fireball. The fireball of the red cloaked person is of pure fire attribute magic, while the fireball flying out from the hut was Gliss’ darkness attribute combined with fire attribute magic. Based on attributes, the red cloaked person was at a disadvantage, but based on pure energy, his fireball was stronger.

Ah Dai felt his body becoming lighter and a breeze sent him ten meters away. Amidst the loud explosion, countless sparks covered the sky and the red cloaked person involuntarily took a step back. He shouted, “Whoa, big brother, your younger brother came all the way to visit you, and this is how you treat me!”

Gliss walked out from the hut, and retorted,” You came to visit me? I think you came with bad intentions. Seeing your arrogant manner just makes me disgusted. Glee Song, if you have some business, say it now, I have nothing here to welcome you.”

Red cloaked Glee Song smiled bitterly, “Big brother, no matter what, I am still your actual brother, how can you treat me like this? Oh right, who is he?” He pointed to Ah Dai with his staff as he spoke.

Gliss snapped back, “He is my student. Why?”

Glee Song let out a smile. “I can’t believe that you will also accept students, this doesn’t seem like your style. The fireball that this kid just made seems to have reached the junior sorcerer standard already. Big bro, where did you get such a good successor, just give him to me. I still have no students! ”

Gliss coldly replied, “Don’t even think about it, this kid is really important to me. Apart from being my student, he has another important use.”

“Ah! Big bro, you, you can’t be…”

Gliss hmpf-ed, and said,“Let’s come in and talk. Ah Dai, you stand guard outside, don’t come in without my instructions.” Ah Dai nodded, staring at Gliss and Glee Song entering the hut, wondering why he could not understand many of words that they spoke. Is that red cloaked stranger really teacher’s brother?

Inside the room.

“Big brother, could that kid be the one you were looking for to complete that last experiment?”

“Mind your words, okay?”

Glee Song sighed, “Big brother, you are so ruthless! No wonder you’re worthy of being called a warlock. That kid’s silly manner is actually quite lovable. Why do you have to…”

Gliss suddenly became irritated. “Stop nosing around in my business, if you have something to say, then quickly say it. If you’re here just to spout nonsense, then get out!”

Glee Song did not seem to be angry with Gliss’ words, and instead smiled. “Forget it, I couldn’t be bothered with your business, it’s just such a waste of talent! This time I came, is mainly on behalf of my lord to seek your help with something, I hope you can agree.” As he spoke, he waved his staff, opening a spatial crack. He muttered some incantations and a sack flew out, landing on the floor. “This is the deposit my lord has given, he wants your experimental results.” The sack opened, and inside, is actually full of diamond coins, amounting up to thousands.

Gliss, as though he did not see the sack, merely replied, “He wants my experimental results? Stop dreaming, I won’t give it to anyone.”

Glee Song sighed, “Big brother, what use do you have in keeping those treasures? Especially your last experimental results, didn’t you want to create it just to become famous? Then why keep it to yourself| In my opinion, you might as well be the same as me, and be…” Interrupting Glee Song’s words, Gliss angrily barked, “Stop giving me all this nonsense and take all of this useless stuff back. I meant it when I said I’m not selling.”

Glee Song thought for a while before saying,” Never mind then, since you are unwilling, there is no point in pleading. I will handle matters with my lord. However, that kid seems to be very talented in magic, you better consider it carefully. Sacrificing a life for an object, is it really worth it?”

Without hesitation, Gliss replied. “Yes. For this object, even sacrificing a thousand lives is still worth it.”

“Since you said so, then I shan’t persuade you further. Okay brother, take care of yourself, I’ll be going. If you decide to change your mind, just use the old method to contact me.” As he spoke finish, Glee Song walked towards the door.

“Wait.” Gliss sat there, calling out to Glee Song, “My experiment may not be successful, if it succeeds, I will inform you. Take care of yourself too.”

Glee Song stared deeply at Gliss, and walked out of the hut. Gliss sat there, without sending him off.

Glee Song walked out and looked at Ah Dai, sighing, “Little kid, you best fend for yourself.” Chanting some incantations, the surrounding air became restless, and sent Ge Li Song flying into the mist.

Ah Dai stared blankly at Glee Song’s disappearing shadow, remaining silent.

“Ah Dai, faster, practice your flame skill, why are you foolishly standing there?”

“Okay. Fire elements filling the heavens and earth! Please bestow upon me your warm strength, become a ball…”

Another three months have passed, although Gliss did not teach,Ah Dai still managed to learn much alchemical knowledge from him. The Ah Dai now, unlike before, was not clueless about everything. In Gliss’ eyes, he has already become a qualified apprentice. It is precisely due to Ah Dai’s help, that all of Gliss’ preparations have gone on exceedingly smoothly, to the extent that it was faster than expected.

Due to the immense pain from eating the fruit of rebirth, Ah Dai did not tell Gliss. He was afraid that Gliss would get angry after knowing. In Ah Dai’s eyes, Gliss was definitely his most important person; it was Gliss who led him out of the dark Ninuo City, provided him food and clothes, and allowed him to learn all the new skills. Gliss, to Ah Dai, was like a benevolent guardian, and Ah Dai had nothing but respect and admiration for him. Deep within his heart, he had long treated Gliss as he were his own father.

As time passed, the struggle in Gliss’ heart also became stronger. He understood that, in order to fulfill his aspiration, Ah Dai was the most crucial part, however, if the experiment succeeded, Ah Dai will inevitably lose his life. After such a long period of time together, Gliss had unknowingly begun to like this little foolish kid, thus causing him, a usually ruthless person, to hesitate. However, the temptation of the experiment had finally made Gliss discard all other concerns; this aspiration to him was too important. It could be said, that his entire life of research would only be fulfilled through his, quite possibly the last, refinement. That was a phenomenon that only occurred once in a millennium! Even other master alchemists would not have this such an opportunity in their lifetimes. His desire won over his emotions, and Gliss decided that everything will proceed as usual. When that day arrived, he would start his last refinement.

This day, Gliss got Ah Dai close to him, remarking, “Ah Dai, you should have been here for around eight months?”

Ah Dai counted using his fingers, nodded and said, “Yeah teacher, I’ve been here for eight months already.”

“Tomorrow I have to leave, to find an extremely important material; you shall take care of this place as usual.”

Ah Dai hesitated, crying out, “What? Teacher, you’re leaving again!”

Gliss solemnly said, “I have to find this material, it concerns a very important experiment of mine. You need to look after this place, I estimate I’ll be gone for around three months.”

Ah Dai’s heart was filled with unwillingness, “Teacher, teacher can’t you bring me along?”

Gliss looked at Ah Dai’s eyes which were full of hope, sighed in his heart, ‘How could I bring you along? The reason why I’m leaving is to get away from you, in order to harden my heart and use you for the experiment.’ Thinking about this, Gliss gnashed his teeth and said, “Okay, stop being such a child; it’s not as if I won’t be coming back.”

Ah Dai choked out, “Teacher, teacher, you must faster come back! Ah Dai will miss you.”

Gliss silently nodded, “Before I go, I will teach you how to use flame magic, you must practice it well. These eight months, your magic force has improved quite fast, and is enough to use this magic.”

Usually when Gliss would teach him magic, Ah Dai will surely jump in excitement. However, today was different; his unwillingness to see Gliss l

Seeing that Ah Dai’s eyes did not contain any sign of glee, Gliss was shocked. In this period of time, Ah Dai had once begged him many times to learn other types of magic, but he had never agreed. But now when he took the initiative to offer, why did Ah Dai not seem excited at all? Uncontrollably, he asked, “Why? Don’t you want to learn?”

Ah Dai shook his head, and replied “No, I want to learn, but, I’d much rather you stay. Ah Dai wants to be with teacher.”

Gliss felt warmth in his heart, his throat seemed blocked, and almost blurted out his agreement. For a long while, the pair of young and old silently faced each other.

“Ah Dai, teacher promises you, after I’m back, I won’t leave again. Is it okay?” Gliss gently consoled. He was well aware, that if he stayed here any longer, he would not be able to harden his heart and use Ah Dai for his experiment. Therefore, he could only lie.

Ah Dai’s big eyes instantly brightened, containing a glint which was not there in the past. “Really? Teacher. Then, then I’ll wait for you to come back.”

Gliss nodded, “Okay then, now I’ll teach you a fire meteor spell. The basis for this magic is the fireball spell and the flame spell. You have to pay attention, anything that you don’t understand, you must ask me today, okay?”

Nodding his head, Ah Dai concentrated on Gliss’ explanation.

Fire meteor is actually a junior fire magic spell that consists of many fireballs striking enemies over a large area. The speciality of this magic is that it will accompany the magic user’s magic force strength and release varying power. If Gliss were to use it, he could release a fire meteor containing his dark flames, which were very powerful, almost at the standard of a high sorcerer.

“Before using this fire meteor spell, you need to be able to combine the flame spell and fireball spell. You see, the flame spell you are using now can already release green flames tinged with blue. However, the fireball that you released is still red in color. This is not acceptable, therefore you need to…” After explaining for the whole early afternoon, Ah Dai finally managed to `remember most of the theory and instruction of the fire meteor spell. Scared that Ah Dai would forget, Gliss even wrote down the instruction of the fire meteor spell, such that Ah Dai was better able to practice it. Late afternoon, Ah Dai began to practice. Any questions that he had, he would go and consult Gliss. Gliss was unexpectedly gentle, patiently explaining to Ah Dai. At last, in the evening, Ah Dai was able to release the fire meteor magic, or more accurately, he was able to release countless sparks, their power barely able to burn through leaves. Gliss had told him that when he returned, he hoped to be able to see Ah Dai release green fire meteors that are at least one centimetre large.

The next day morning, before Ah Dai woke up, Gliss packed a few items and quietly left with mixed feelings. He needed to find a place to harden and calm his heart, in preparation for the final experiment.

After Gliss had left, Ah Dai felt extremely lonely. In comparison to the first time, he missed Gliss much more earnestly and he would often sit alone in front of the hut, staring blankly in the direction where Gliss had gone. The fire meteor spell was still very complicated to Ah Dai, and no matter how hard he practiced, the results were still minimal with barely any trace of power.

Two months passed by in a flash. This day, Ah Dai picked some fruits from the forest, ate his breakfast and continued practising his magic lifelessly. Sitting by the hut, he slowly and carefully took out the metallic bun, praying fervently that Gliss will come back sooner. Initially, Ah Dai could not bear to eat all of the steamed buns that Gliss brought back. Therefore, he took the chance when Gliss was showering and sneaked into the research room to cover one steamed bun in a layer of silver-tin. This silver-tin refined by Gliss had a special feature to preserve food, and that was also the first experiment that Ah Dai had completed by himself. Of course, Gliss had known what Ah Dai did, but he chose to ignore it and did not expose Ah Dai.That incident left a deep mark in Gliss’ heart.

Stroking the metal casing of the bun, Ah Dai became sentimental once more and ranted, “Teacher, it has already been two months, you should be coming home soon. Please come back soon! Ah Dai misses you so much.”

“Ring, ring, ring. Ring, ring, ring.” The bell hanging along the eaves of the roof suddenly started chiming. Ah Dai got a shock and stood up immediately. This bell was designed by Gliss, and it was a special magic device. As long as someone entered the three mile radius from the hut, the bell would start to ring. The most ingenious part of this device was that it could differentiate between humans and beasts; if a beast had stepped into the boundary instead, the bell would not ring. Within a one mile radius of the hut, Gliss had set up another device that prevents beasts from entering. This is why there were no beast attacks in this area.

Ah Dai knew that the unknown person was Gliss, as Gliss would always follow a fixed path to return, and would not trigger the alarm. ‘Could it be that some stranger had come? But who would come here?’ Ah Dai thought nervously, despite being in the protection of Gliss’ devices. He followed Gliss’ instructions and used the bell sound to determine the direction of the intruder. The intruder had come from the North, and coincidentally, that was also the direction where Gliss would return from.

The more you care for someone, the more you will worry over them. Ah Dai thought, ‘Maybe, maybe Teacher has returned but he accidentally triggered the alarm? Could it be? Is it him?’ Any further from the three mile radius was already outside of the dense mist range, although there would still be some wisps of mist. Having been there for ten months, Ah Dai was already familiar with the surrounding. Even though he could not walk out of the illusory forest, but he would not get lost anywhere within ten miles from the hut.

‘No, what if Teacher had gotten injured? It must be Teacher, I need to go fetch him.’ The strong emotions surging through Ah Dai compelled him to run into the mist, towards that direction. Ah Dai desperately ran, having long forgotten Gliss’ instructions to not go out too far. On the way, he discerned his bearings and continuously advanced. To the fit and healthy Ah Dai, three miles was a piece of cake and soon, he had already run out of the dense mist.

“Cling, cling, AH!” The sound of weapons clashing and screams were heard. Ah Dai was anxious, and ran towards the direction of the sound. In the far distance, he could see numerous silhouettes dashing around, grappling with one another. There was even a body lying on the ground. He carefully hid behind a large tree, trying to figure out if Gliss was amidst the numerous silhouettes.

After a while, Ah Dai still did not find any trace of Gliss and could not help but feel disappointed. Closely observing, the group of twelve people were split into two factions; the eleven black robed men were on one side cornering the tall, muscular man wielding a broadsword. Due to the lengthy distance part, Ah Dai could not make out their appearance. He was only able to judge from the clothes, that man who was being cornered was wearing white. Various colors flashed across the group of men. The surrounding trees were all blown apart from the violent battle. Even though he was a hundred meters away, Ah Dai could sense that the group of people were dangerous. The dense aura that filled the air was full of killing intent. In his eyes, any one of the people here was much more threatening than the pirates he met on the boat, or even the Dark Demon people that Gliss had mentioned. Especially the white robed man who was of such a huge stature, almost 1.9m tall, with broad shoulders and a wide back. He swung the heavy broadsword in his hand and made it seem so effortless.

Despite being overwhelmed in terms of number, the white-robed man who was surrounded did not seem to be at a disadvantage. His broadsword flashed with a bright white light as he defended against all of the eleven men’s attacks; his sword technique was precise yet bold, filled with an unstoppable aura. Apart from him, the others were all using narrow swords, their swords were all black, just like the color of their clothes. If it were night time, it would be difficult to spot the non-reflective black swords. The eleven narrow swords were like poisonous snakes, constantly seeking the weak points of the white robed man. Suddenly, the white robed man stumbled, and a poisonous snake took the opportunity to stab at his shoulder. The white-robed man instantaneously emitted an intense white light, using both hands to wield the broadsword and violently slashed three times. Although the poisonous snake did not actually bite his shoulder, but the sharp sword aura still gashed his clothes.

The eleven black robed men appeared to be helpless against the sudden burst of might and simultaneously retreated ten metres. Pointing their narrow swords at the ground, they focused all of their attention on the white-robed man in front of them.

A black robed man started speaking, his hoarse deep voice resounded, “ ‘King of Hell’, forget it, stop struggling. If you were in your best condition, we would definitely not have come here looking for death. But now you have already been poisoned by the Matchless Holy Water. For you to be able to survive so long is already a blessing. Follow us to report back, with your position in the organisation, as long as you earnestly apologize to Master, he would definitely forgive you.”

Chapter7 Hades 1 Flash

The white-robed man coldly hmpf-ed, and spoke with a similar deep hoarse voice, “Do you think I’m a three year old kid? So what if I go back with you. Do you think that inhuman bastard will have the antidote to the Matchless Holy Water? Don’t forget, the Matchless Holy Water is the world’s rarest poison, it has no antidote. Even if that guy does have the antidote, I would also never go back and submit to him. I can’t wait to dine on his blood and feast on his flesh! I really regret being so foolish and not seeing his true colors earlier… All of you can go, seeing that y’all have followed me for so long, I’ll let y’all live this time. M11 is already dead, do the rest of you really want to follow in his footsteps too?”

As the men had all stopped moving. Ah Dai was barely able to make out that they were all wearing veils to cover their faces. When Ah Dai heard the Matchless Holy Water being mentioned, he was shocked. That was the only poison written in Gliss’ journal that had no antidote. In addition, Gliss had once said that he had spent a lot of time researching the Matchless Holy Water. It was extremely precious and only the Imperial palace of the Heaven’s Gold Empire had a little amount of it, being used only when loyal ministers were granted death by the emperor. In the journal, Gliss had deep praise for the Matchless Holy Water. Its name already implied that it was one of a kind, especially since its production formula had become lost, the remaining Matchless Holy Water in the world was extremely rare — one drop could cost up to a thousand diamond coins in the black market. Even after diluting one drop of it in water, it toxicity could still kill more than half of the citizens in a city. People poisoned by the Matchless Holy Water can only rely on their strength to suppress the poison, but are unable to completely remove it. Once all their energy has been used up, they will succumb to the poison, and even their whole bodies will melt into a puddle of blue poison water.

The black-robed man replied, “Sir, to be honest, we admire you greatly. Although we have never seen each others’ faces when we were together, but we could never compare to your Hell’s sword. I, M1 dare say, in this whole world, there are just a few people who could oppose you. However, now that you are spending most of your energy to suppress the poison, you surely can’t hold on for very long. As long as you can’t use your Hell’s sword, how can you kill us all? You are right, the Matchless Holy Water has no antidote, but with your power, as long as we provide you support, suppressing it for a few years should be no problem. Why do you have to seek death? We do not know what happened between you and Master, and do not wish to know, but our mission is to bring you back. Sir, I’m sure you know Master’s temper. If we are to go back empty handed, I’m afraid we will also suffer a punishment worse than death.”

‘King of Hell’ suddenly sighed, “Since you guys are still unrepentant , then don’t blame me for being merciless.” As he spoke, he readily slammed his five feet long broadsword into the ground, half of the sword silently sank into the soil. His right hand at his chest, he motionlessly looked at the eleven black robed men in front of him.

Although it was merely a simple gesture, but it made the eleven men rather wary, and they instantly stepped backwards, raising the narrow swords in their hands. Their eyes held a trace of terror, as though they had seen some frightening monster.

The white robed man continued speaking, “Do you really think that, after being poisoned by the Matchless Holy Water, I can’t use the Hell’s sword anymore? Since you have

“Wait a minute. Sir ‘King of Hell’, can you really still use the might of the Hell’s sword?”

The white-robed man coldly ignored him, and a burst of indescribably cold and evil energy started spreading out from him, covering everywhere within a hundred meters. The trees of the illusory forest started swaying and the rustling leaves sounded as though they were moaning.

Different colored “Dou Qi” lights started clustering on the narrow swords of the eleven black robed men. It seemed as though they were waiting for something.

Ah Dai felt a sudden chill in his body, the cold and evil energy unceasingly permeated his body. Uncontrollably, he started shivering. He thought, ‘What a terrifying man!’ The harrowing evil energy filled the Heavens and earth, and Ah Dai endlessly shivered. Just as he could no longer resist from shouting out, a sudden warmth filled his body, expelling all the evil energy within him. The warm feeling made Ah Dai feel very comfortable.

The eleven black-robed men made their move, their narrow swords exploded out with powerful light, piercing towards the white robed man’s chest. “Hell’s sword Heaven Splitting —— Earth —— Crasher.”*** The white robed man’s body suddenly seemed illusory. That seemingly real, seemingly imaginary silhouette flashed past. The evil energy continued emanating from his body and a faint blue light radiated alongside his shadow. Evil energy instantly burst out, enveloping all of the attacks from the black-robed men.

[t/l used the manga’s translation Q_Q]

The evil energy converged and the black-robed men returned to their original positions; the white robed man was still standing by the broadsword, it almost seemed as though none of them have moved.

“Thump, thump.” Without any prediction, the two black-robed men on the rightmost side suddenly collapsed. Their bodies appeared to have been sucked dry, becoming dry corpses. (like mummies).

M1 continued speaking in his low voice, although now it contained an extra tremor. “You, you… Hell’s sword… Is that Hell’s Flash?” He had already lost his resolution from the destructive power of the attack just now. The cold evil energy constantly assaulted his meridians and he no longer had confidence to deal with the man in front of him. He was not afraid of death, but he did not wish to die unnecessarily.

The white robed man’s right hand was still at his chest. Indifferently, he said, “The first, this is the first time that someone has seen me using Hell’s sword and lived. On account of the long time we spent together, the rest of you can go. I assume you can handle the matter yourselves when you return. I don’t wish to kill anymore today.”

M1 looked at the corpses of M6 and M10, gnashed his teeth and retorted, “Bring along their corpses, let’s go.” Tapping lightly on the ground, he flew towards the corpse of M11 that was lying under the broadsword of the white-robed man, and carried the body with him. The rest of the black- robed men did not speak a word; two of the men carried the corpses of M6 and M10 under their arms. The surviving nine people maintained an orderly formation, and slowly backed away, disappearing into the mist.

“I never thought, that a day would come where the ‘King of Hell’ had to rely on trickery to survive,” the white robed man muttered, a self- deprecating smile on his lips. His body swayed and he had to grab on to his broadsword to steady himself. “Such a powerful poison… Am I going to die here?” His body weakened, and he collapsed onto the ground.

Initially, the white robed man was able to forcefully suppress the poison with his vital pure Qi However, in order to chase away the group of black robed men, he had no choice but to use his vital Qi and execute his ultimate skill. As a result, he could no longer suppress the poison and he could not endure it anymore.

Ah Dai blankly stared at the sight before him and rubbed his eyes. The events that happened just now seemed so unreal. The domineering pressure from the evil energy had left a deep scar in his heart. He could have never thought that there would be someone who was able to display such a powerful attack. Even the evil energy released from Gliss’ dark flames was simply incomparable to the power of the white-robed man. If not for the fact that the white robed man had fainted right in front of his eyes, Ah Dai would have thought that he was just dreaming. What Ah Dai did not know was that, he was fortunate to still be alive. With his weak constitution, facing the evil energy released by the white-robed man that was strong enough to kill even experts, it would have meant a certain death. If not for the Fruit of Rebirth continuously providing vitality to dispel the evil energy, he would have died a long time ago.

Although it was merely a hundred metres, it took Ah Dai around five minutes to cover the distance. He could clearly hear the sound of his heart pounding. Afterall, to a barely twelve-year old child like him, the scene that happened earlier was simply terrifying. Three human lives had just been lost just like that.

Finally, Ah Dai reached the white-robed man’s side. He crouched down and closely observed the man. The man’s whole face was covered with a white veil, except for his eyes. His body was still twitching.

“Not dead.” Ah Dai fell to the ground in fright. The man was not dead yet?

The white-robed man did not make any movements, but his body continued to tremble lightly. Ah Dai suddenly recalled what Gliss had once said. His power must be profound to be able to suppress the poison for so long. Although Gliss did not find any antidote for the Matchless Holy Water, but he did think of a method to momentarily restrain the poison from breaking out. However, since he did not manage to obtain the actual Matchless Holy Water, he could not test out his theory. Also, Gliss once remarked that dying due to Matchless Holy Water would be considered a good fortune and he expressed regret for not being able to experiment with it.

‘Should I save him?’ thought the kind-hearted Ah Dai. He carefully removed the veil from the white robed man. A clean-shaven and handsome middle-aged face appeared before his eyes. The man had fair skin, his slim eyebrows extended all the way to his temples and his nose was straight and proud. His face was covered by a faint layer of blue Qi and the blue Qi seemed to be steadily increasing. The white-robed man clenched his teeth, seeming to be under immense pain. Ah Dai looked closely, but he just could not imagine that the middle-aged man in front of him would be a bad person. He naively thought that the bad guys were definitely the black-robed men, and that the white-robed man had killed only for self-preservation. ‘I’ll save him then. At the same time I can help Teacher test whether his theory of restraining the poison is effective.’ However, Ah Dai failed to consider the possibility that the white robed man would cause harm to him if he woke up.

As he thought, Ah Dai stopped hesitating. He knew for a fact that if he were to delay any longer, there would be no more hope for the man. Lifting up the man’s arm with great effort, Ah Dai placed the man’s arm across his shoulders.

So heavy! Ah Dai used all his effort to try pulling, but only succeeded in getting the white-robed man to move slightly. Even after trying several times, the man did not seem to have moved much. What to do now? Ah Dai crouched next to the man and wiped his sweat, at a loss of what to do.

‘Ah! Since I can’t drag him back, then I’ll just save him here. I’m so stupid,’ Ah Dai finally thought of a solution. Knocking his head he immediately dashed towards the wooden hut.

Returning to the hut, Ah Dai ran straight for Gliss’ research room. Having memorised everything in the journal, he was able to recall the exact materials needed to restrain the Matchless Holy Water.

“Mm, mica three parts, crystal powder one part, heartbreak grass half parts… Eh? But teacher said the heartbreak grass was extremely poisonous, why use so much of it? Forget it, there’s no time. Since the instructions said so, then it should be correct. Clear frost one fourth parts, fragrant grass one third parts, … …” Ah Dai carefully found all of the materials required and placed them into the small cauldron, then he added some clear water and roughly mixed all the ingredients together. He inspected the cauldron and nodded his head in satisfaction.

“Teacher, please don’t blame Ah Dai after you return! In order to save someone I had no choice but to use your items.” The simple and honest Ah Dai did not forget any of Gliss’ instructions. Rubbing his hand together, Ah Dai excitedly mumbled to himself, “Okay, let’s begin. Fire elements filling the heavens and earth! Please bestow upon me your blazing strength, in my name, by thy power, searing flame appear.” With a pop sound, a wisp of green-blue flame appeared in Ah Dai’s palm. He carefully brought his hand under the cauldron, letting the flame constantly heat the small cauldron.

Due to his constant practice, Ah Dai had already become proficient in using the flame spell. Especially after meditating for over ten months, he was able to effortlessly control the temperature of the flame. In just a short while, the water had started to boil. Ah Dai knew that within the materials, only the mica was hard to melt. Thus, he sprinkled some powder that Gliss had specially made, allowing him to speed up the process of melting the mica. Even so, it still took Ah Dai a full hour before he finally managed to completely combine all of the materials.

———————————————————-

Hello cliffy we meet again

Ah Dai wiped away the sweat on his forehead, panting. After sustaining his flame spell for almost an hour, he had reached his limits. Finally, most of the water had evaporated and Ah Dai looked pleased with the silver colored paste in front of him. He took a metal mold from the cabinet, and carefully poured the silver paste into the mold.

The mold was boiling hot as Ah Dai carefully placed it into the water. Pssss—, gusts of steam were emitted when the mold came into contact with the water. Ah Dai sighed in relief, knowing that his job was done.

A short while later, the mold had cooled down and Ah Dai slowly took it out of the water. Placing it on the table, he opened the mold and ten small silver beads rolled out. The beads gave off a faint scent. Ah! That’s great, it was a success. Grabbing one of the beads, Ah Dai immediately rushed off. One hour had passed, and he was uncertain of the man’s condition.

When Ah Dai reached the place where the white-robed man had fainted, he was surprised that there was no trace of the man. Even the man’s broadsword that was sticking into the ground has disappeared. Ah Dai stood there, at a loss of what to do.

Suddenly, he felt a chill on his neck, a huge blade appeared at his neck, weighing heavily down his shoulder, preventing him from struggling. “Who are you?” A deep hoarse voice sounded out. It was the white-robed man.

Ah Dai tried desperately to turn around, but the force on sword instantly increased, causing him to fall to the ground. Pointing his sword at Ah Dai’s chest, the white-robed man repeated, “Who are you?” Actually, before Ah Dai left, the white-robed man had already awoken. However he had to spend all of his energy in suppressing the poison, so he had no strength left to resist. He only knew that there was another person beside him, and the person seemed to have no intention of harming him. After Ah Dai left, he finally managed to suppress the poison, but he knew that his current strength was still not enough, thus he hid by the side. When Ah Dai returned, he only saw a skinny kid whose face was filled with excitement. In addition, Ah Dai did not appear to have any martial arts, thus his wariness decreased.

“I, I am Ah Dai…” Ah Dai timidly replied.

“Ah Dai? Is there actually such a name?” The white-robed man was stunned, “Why are you here, and where did you go just now?”

“I, I live nearby! I went to make medicine* for you. You have been poisoned by the Matchless Holy Water, you need to be treated immediately.”

**[t/l: I used medicine instead of antidote, since it doesn’t exactly cure the poison…?]

Hearing Ah Dai’s words, the white-robed man got a big shock, and cried out, “What? You can remove the Matchless Holy Water’s poison?”

Ah Dai shook his head, and truthfully said, “I can’t remove the poison, but my teacher has a method to temporarily restrain the poison to prevent it from acting up.”

The man’s eyes flashed with delight and he coldly said, “Then I guess, you have heard the conversation between the black men and I? Why do you want to save me?” Strong killing intent emanated from his body. Despite being poisoned, he could still easily kill the puny boy in a blink of the eye.

Ah Dai scratched his head, although the killing intent made him uncomfortable, but he could sense that the person did not really have malicious intentions. “Does saving people need a reason?”

The white-robed man was stunned by Ah Dai’s question, mutely saying, “You, you really want to help me suppress the Matchless Holy Water’s poison?” He at present was already at death’s door ,all of hi

Ah Dai nodded and replied, “Yes!” “Then, are you confident?”

Shaking his head, Ah Dai said, “No…I’ve watched teacher refine other medicine before, but this is my first time refining medicine. However, I have followed teacher’s instructions and formula exactly to refine this. You should know, my teacher is a great alchemist!”

The white-robed man was shocked, ‘An alchemist? Seems like this kid is really not sent by master.’ He loosened his grip and flung his broadsword to one corner. Staring coldly at Ah Dai, he warned, “I will believe you for now. Where’s the medicine? Bring it to me.” He thought, ‘I can’t endure for much longer, why not give this a try. Who knows, it might just be successful. At most, I’ll just die.”

“Mm.” Ah Dai passed him the silver bead.

The white-robed man received the silver bead, and was astonished. Could such a heavy thing be eaten? He asked, “This… is the medicine?”

Ah Dai nodded and said, “Yeah, this is the medicine. According to teacher’s journal, only people with profound strength can consume it. After swallowing, the silver bead will attract the poison of the Matchless Holy Water to it, preventing the poison from spreading. However, as the bead contains Mica, it will put pressure on your internal organs, and you need to use your qi to support it. Unfortunately, this bead is unable to completely absorb all of the poison, and the poison will slowly seep into your body. Therefore, this method can only help restrain the toxicity of the poison.” Hearing Ah Dai’s explanation, the white-robed man had more faith.

Gritting his teeth, he swallowed the silver bead in one gulp.

“Oh yeah, after you swallow it, you need to use your qi to gather the poison so that the silver bead can restrain the poison within a small area,” Ah Dai reminded.

The white-robed man sat on the floor, hesitantly following Ah Dai’s instruction and started circulating his Qi. Just as what Ah Dai had said, once the poison had come into contact with the silver bead, it was sucked in and completely restrained within a small area. He did not have to desperately suppress the poison with his Qi anymore. Using his Qi to create a barrier above the poison shroud, he could also prevent the poison from seeping out in the future. In sum, the poison of the Matchless Holy Water was no longer a threat to him. The only drawback was that he had to use 50% of his energy to control the silver bead and the protective barrier, thus he would not be able to use his full strength anymore.

Sighing in relief, the white-robed man opened his eyes. Ah Dai hurriedly asked, “How is it? How is it? Is my teacher’s method effective?”

The man relaxed, nodding slightly and replied, “Yes, it’s much better now. Thank you, little kid.”

Ah Dai bashfully smiled, “No need, no need, as long as it works. But you have to continuously control the silver bead from now on. If the poison disperses again, the outcome will be worse than before. I’ll be leaving now, goodbye!” Contently, Ah Dai stood up and stretched his sore shoulders, walking towards the mist.

“Wait,” the white-robed man called out. “You’re called Ah Dai right? Since you have saved me, do you have any requests?” As the haughty “King of Hell”, he did not want to owe anyone favors. At the same time, he also wanted to test whether the silly looking kid had other motives.

Ah Dai stopped in his tracks, shaking his head, “I have no requests, but can you don’t kill so many people next time? Although they are bad people, but if you kill them, they won’t be able to eat steamed buns anymore…”

A smile appeared on the white-robed man’s face and he said, “Then how do you know if they are the bad guys, and how do you know if I’m the good guy?”

Ah Dai scratched his head, replying, “I don’t know how to say it, but I guess you don’t look like a bad person, and those black-robed men didn’t seem like good people too… But when you kill people, it’s so scary! Everywhere becomes cold.”

Shock flashed across the man’s eyes, “Then, when we were fighting just now, you were already nearby? Is your body feeling unwell?”

Ah Dai shook his head, “Everything feels alright! Okay, I need to go, I caused a mess in teacher’s research room and I need to hurry back and clean it. If not, when he returns in a few days, I’ll get scolded for sure.” As he spoke finish, he turned and walked towards the direction of the wooden hut.

The white-robed man hesitated for while, and called out again, “Can you bring me to your house and let me rest awhile? My energy has been spent and I need to eat something and get a good rest. If not I will not have enough energy to control the silver bead.”

“No, I can’t bring you along. If teacher finds out, he will be angry,” Ah Dai replied after thinking for a moment.

Smiling, the man said, “No he won’t. If your teacher knew that you have saved someone, he will be praising you instead. Furthermore, since you’ve already saved me, how can you bear to leave me here. What if the bad men came back, then I’ll still be dead!”

The man’s gentle smile moved Ah Dai and he hesitantly agreed, “Okay then… But, after you finished resting, you must leave as soon as possible. My teacher is going to return soon, and he doesn’t like strangers.” “Okay, I’ll rest a while then leave.” The white-robed man wanted to see,exactly what kind of place did the kid named Ah Dai live in. He was also very interested to visit an alchemist’s home. Most importantly, he wanted to figure out why the kid was not afraid of the evil energy emitted by his Hell’s Sword.

The white-robed man indeed had profound strength; despite being inflicted by the poison for many days, he could already walk by himself after the silver bead had restrained the poison. Apart from the energy spent on controlling the silver bead, he still had around 20 to 30% of his energy left.

Bringing the white-robed “King of Hell” along, Ah Dai soon arrived at the wooden hut. As “The King of Hell” saw the sight before him, he could not help but exclaim, “Are these all made by your teacher? He must be at the level of a Grand Alchemist. Ah, what a skillful magic formation!”

Gliss had never taught Ah Dai about magic formations, but Ah Dai could hear that the white-robed man was praising his teacher. He instantly smiled,”Yes,  my  teacher  is  very □s□u□g□o□i □□d□e□s□u □□n□e□~ great! You must be tired, go rest first and I’ll bring you some food later. You may feel better after a good rest.”

“The King of Hell” nodded, and entered the room that Ah Dai brought him to. Straightforwardly, he sat on the bed and started cultivating in full concentration. He really needed adjust his mental state after being in constant torment due to the Matchless Holy Water. Ah Dai did not disturb him and carefully placed a basket of fruit next to “The King of Hell”, and quietly left. Until now, he was still excited that he had successfully refined the silver bead, helping to restrain the poison. Actually, he did not know that when Gliss had first started researching this method, Gliss himself had no confidence that it would succeed. This is because, his theory would only work if all of the conditions were met. If it were a normal person who was poisoned, he would have long melted into a puddle of blue water. Even sorcerers of a high cultivation level were unable to withstand the toxicity of the poison that was deemed as the world’s deadliest poison. Coincidentally, the man standing in front of Ah Dai, who was nicknamed “The King of Hell”, was one of the top experts throughout the continent. Only people of his power could fulfill the conditions that Gliss had proposed, and use their Qi to control the silver bead, preventing the poison from spreading. Even so, in order to control the silver bead, “The King of Hell” had to expend the large majority of his energy.

Leaving the room, the first thing that Ah Dai did was to restore the research room to its original appearance. After that, he started to diligently practise his fire meteor spell outside of the house. Ah Dai could already effectively control this spell, except the fire meteors that he released were too weak. Even if the enemy was hit by the spell head-on, there would not be much damage. Each individual ‘meteor’ in the fire meteor spell was only slightly bigger than a spark, its power was extremely weak, and most likely, it could not even burn through an ordinary leather.

Since the fire meteor spell was almost at the level of Intermediate magic, coupled with the fact that he had already been practising for quite some time, Ah Dai started to feel fatigued. He sat on the steps of the wooden hut, leaned against the wall and unknowingly fell asleep.

“Ah Dai, wake up, wake up.” After God knows how long, Ah Dai vaguely felt someone patting his face, waking him up. Opening his eyes, he saw that it was the white-robed man that he had rescued. The complexion of the man had greatly improved, and the blue Qi around him was gone, indicating that he had successfully restrained the poison. “Ah, Uncle! Have you rested well?”

“The King of Hell” nodded, “Yeah! You seem so tired, go back and rest.

The sun has already set.”

Ah Dai only realised now that the sky was dark. The night sky with the surrounding mist gave off a mysterious aura. Standing up, Ah Dai stretched his stiff body then returning to his room. Originally, he planned to ask the white-robed man to leave as soon as he was rested, but looking at how late it was, he decided against it. Afterall, it was easy to get lost in the illusionary forest at night. ‘Looks like I’ll let him stay for a night.’

Chapter8 Forced away

Returning to the room, Ah Dai saw that the fruits in the basket had decreased by half. He faced the white-robed man, asking, “Uncle, why don’t you eat more? Is the fruit not nice?”

The man smiled, “No, the fruits are delicious, but I don’t really have a large appetite. Half a basket of fruits is enough for me, you should eat some too.” The more he looked at Ah Dai, the more he felt that the silly kid was lovable. If not for that kid, he would not have been able to restrain the Matchless Holy Water’s poison, and would really have gone to Hell to meet the King of Hell. After killing so many people, he did not dare to think that he could enter Heaven.

Ah Dai did not hold back either, lifting the basket and starting to eat the fruits. In just the blink of an eye, he had finished the remaining fruits. With his stomach full, Ah Dai became much more spirited. Looking at the handsome middle-aged man who was smiling gently at him, he could not help but ask, “Uncle, why did those people want to kill you, and even made you consume the Matchless Holy Water? According to teacher, the Matchless Holy Water is very valuable. The people chasing you must be very rich, right?”

With a smile, the man replied, “Yes, they are indeed very rich, and not simply just rich. Uncle was careless in being poisoned. If not, they wouldn’t dare to send so little people after me.” As he spoke, he subconsciously touched his chest with a cold glare in his eyes.

Ah Dai nodded in agreement, “They are so bad! Giving Uncle such a toxic poison, if Uncle died, then Uncle can’t eat steamed buns anymore. Uncle, you have to take care!”

The white-robed man looked at Ah Dai’s gaze, his heart felt warm. For so many years, all he saw were people going at each other’s throats. For every moment of his life, he had to be on guard against the people around him. However, when facing the kind-hearted kid in front of him, he truly felt as though he could relax, and be the person he originally was. “Little kid, since you can refine a silver bead that suppresses the Matchless Holy Water, then your teacher must be an incredible person, can you tell me his name?”

Ah Dai readily replied, “Of course! My teacher’s name is Gliss.”

The white-robed man was stunned, “Gliss? The alchemist Gliss?” He naturally knew this person, Gliss was one of the few Grand Alchemists in the Heaven’s Gold Empire. However, in his memory, Gliss could not be considered as a good person. Although he had never committed any evil wrongdoings, he practised dark magic. Generally the people who practised dark magic had their minds and emotions negatively affected.

“Yes! That is Teacher Gliss. Uncle, do you know Teacher?” Ah Dai exclaimed in delight.

Shaking his head, the man said, “I don’t know your teacher, but I have heard of his name. He is indeed a praiseworthy alchemist. Why isn’t he here though?”

Ah Dai proudly declared, ”Yes! Teacher is the best.” But his expression soon darkened, and he continued, “But Teacher went out to find some special materials for his experiment. He doesn’t like strangers, Uncle, you should leave tomorrow morning. The poison has been restrained by the silver bead, as long as you continue providing it Qi, there should be no problems within a few years.”

The man smiled and said, “I will leave tomorrow, early in the morning. Ah Dai, how long have you been staying with your teacher, and does he treat you well?” “It’s been almost a year, Teacher rescued me and brought me out from Ninuo City and he treats me so well. After following Teacher, Ah Dai has never gone hungry. There

Looking at Ah Dai’s face filled with content, the white-robed man asked,

“Right, Ah Dai, what did you learn from your teacher?”

“Magic! Teacher taught me so many magic spells!” Ah Dai replied enthusiastically. With the heart of a child, Ah Dai wanted to show off his skills. He chanted some incantations and a green-blue flame appeared in his palm, instantly lighting up the whole room.

“Not bad! Getting to this standard after only practising for a year is no easy feat. I think you have already reached the standards of a Junior Sorcerer.” The white-robed man was secretly trying to probe into Ah Dai’s background. Logically Ah Dai should not have the ability to resist the evil energy of the Hell’s Sword. But the evidence was right in front of his eyes, Ah Dai was unscathed even after being exposed to the evil energy. The Hell’s Sword is said to be the evillest weapon in the whole continent, so there must be a reason to why Ah Dai was not affected by it. Thinking about this, he asked hurriedly, “Ah Dai, apart from magic, did you learn anything else?”

Ah Dai kept his flame and pondered for a moment. “Oh, there is something else. I have memorised all of Teacher’s alchemy notes. If not, I would not have been able to refine the silver bead for you uncle. Other than that, I did not learn anything else. Because Ah Dai is very stupid,” said Ah Dai, as he lowered his head.

The white-robed man knew that Ah Dai was not the type to lie, but from his words it was impossible to find any information as to how he managed to resist the evil energy. “What were you doing before meeting Gliss?” The man continued probing, refusing to give up.

Ah Dai lowered his head, although he might be dumb, he still knew that there was nothing honorable about being a thief. He hesitated for a long while before finally revealing his past. After hearing Ah Dai’s recount, the white-robed man was puzzled. The alchemist Gliss’ personality was definitely not the type to kindly take Ah Dai under his charge, and not to mention, giving Ah Dai an incredibly precious Nine Metamorphosis Essence Pill. Gliss must have some ulterior motives for doing so. However, the Nine Metamorphosis Essence Pill could only help to remove the impurities in the body and strengthen the meridians, but it did not have any effect in resisting evil energies. Even the ordinary priests of the Holy Church would find it difficult to defend against the evil energy from the Hell’s Sword. And Ah Dai was still so young, it was impossible!

“Ah Dai, come here, let Uncle have a close look at you”

“En.” Ah Dai did not think much and readily walked towards the white- robed man. The man stretched out three fingers and held Ah Dai’s veins. Instantly, Ah Dai felt a warm and peaceful energy surging through his body. The feeling was so comfortable.

“Ah! How, how can this be? Ah Dai, why does your body have such a powerful life force?” Even the usually impassive “King of Hell” could not help but be astounded by the pure and righteous aura inside Ah Dai. The bountiful life force within Ah Dai was not what someone of his age would possess.

Ah Dai scratched his head, and asked in puzzlement, “Life force? What is life force? I don’t know anything about it!”

The white-robed man hurriedly questioned, “Ah Dai, faster tell Uncle, did you consume any heavenly treasures or anything of that sort? Or did Gliss give you anything special to eat?”

Ah Dai thought for a while and replied, “Nope! I’ve been eating these fruits every day. Teacher also brought back some steamed buns for me. Other than that, I didn’t eat anything else.”

The man’s heart was moved, “Ah Dai, bring me to the fruit forest, okay?” He was full of excitement, the vast amount of life force in Ah Dai’s body, was simply too important to him. Although his life was saved, even when he was at his prime, he did not have a definite chance of defeating his enemies, not to mention now when he could only muster half of his energy! Revenge must be taken. To him, the hate was deeply etched in his heart. Only by spilling the blood of his enemies would his revenge be complete. However, with his current strength he had no way of doing so. But as he was about to fall into despair, a miracle appeared in front of his eyes. He believed that if the righteous Qi within Ah Dai did not disperse then with his capabilities he could definitely cultivate Ah Dai to be the second “King of Hell” and Ah Dai could help him to fulfill his wish. He was not worried about Ah Dai’s character. The child in front of him, was the kindest person that he had ever met. What he needed to do now was to find out where the bountiful life force within Ah Dai came from.

“But Uncle, it is already very late, why don’t I bring you there tomorrow?” Ah Dai spoke with hesitation.

Shaking his head, the white-robed man insisted, “No, bring me there now. This matter is very important to Uncle. Didn’t you say that you wanted me to leave tomorrow?”

Ah Dai thought for a moment, replying, “Okay then, let’s go now.”

The two people left the wooden hut, and under Ah Dai’s guidance they reached the outer parts of the fruit forest. Dense mist covered the whole area making it hard for the moonlight to penetrate through causing the surrounding to be pitch black, thus their vision was limited to two metres. Ah Dai carefully created a flame, controlling it to be a red-colored flame. This way, he would be able to sustain the flame for a longer period of time with his current magic force. “Uncle, the fruit forest is inside the mist. You have to follow me closely, it is very easy to get lost inside.”

After entering the fruit forest, the white-robed man continuously inquired about the properties of each fruit. After an hour long of queries, he still did not find the thing he was looking for, and could not help but be disappointed.

“Nevermind, Ah Dai let’s go back.” They had already reached the depths of the fruit forest, and even the white-robed man was unable to determine his bearings with his capability.

Ah Dai nodded, yawning as he spoke, “Ah I’m so sleepy! Let’s go back and sleep. Uncle, you must be careful to not pick the fruits casually, many of the fruits here are poisonous. Last time, I accidentally ate two fruits, causing my stomach to be in constant pain. My body was cold one moment, and hot the other… It took me such a long time before I recovered.”

The white-robed man’s heart was moved, “Ah Dai, do you know what fruit you ate?”

Ah Dai shook his head and replied, “I don’t know. That day I was planning to pick some fruits for breakfast, but once I entered the forest, I smelled a strong fragrance. It was early in the morning and I was already hungry, so I just followed the smell, ……” Ah Dai recounted his experience of that morning. Although he was not able to express it very well, but his descriptions were enough for the white-robed man to understand.

Staring blankly in shock as he listened to Ah Dai, the white-robed man could not help but exclaim, “Fate, this is fate! Who knew that the Fruit of Rebirth that I have been searching for so long would actually be eaten by you.”

Stunned, Ah Dai asked, “Uncle, are the fruits that I ate called the Fruit of Rebirth? Even Teacher Gliss’ journals did not mention it. But the Fruit of Rebirth isn’t all that good! My stomach hurts so much after I ate it.”

The white-robed man let out a bitter smile, “That is not something that I can explain with a few words. Let’s go back first.” Ah, the Fruit of Rebirth, why didn’t you appear before I got poisoned? Perhaps I would be able to break through the bottleneck that First Master was talking about. If so, I wouldn’t have to be afraid of anyone. Hais—, who would have thought, the miraculous Fruit of Rebirth actually grew in this sort of place.

After returning to the hut, Ah Dai sat cross-legged on the largest chair and told the white-robed man, “Uncle, I am going to meditate. You should rest early too.”

“Ah Dai, wait a minute, uncle still has something to tell you.”

Ah Dai was shocked and asked hurriedly, “Uncle, is anything wrong? Your complexion is so bad! Did the Matchless Holy Water’s poison spread again?”

The white-robed man shook his head and sighed, “No, it’s not the poison. Ah Dai, this uncle’s name is Owen, you must remember it. The Fruit of Rebirth that you have eaten is very important to uncle. But since you have already eaten it, uncle hopes that you are willing to be my disciple. The fruit has a large effect of increasing the cultivation of my school’s martial arts. Are you willing to leave here with me? Uncle has many things that he wishes to accomplish, but as you know, a large part of my energy is used to suppress the poison, so I am unable to do those things. Therefore, uncle hopes that you can inherit my abilities and help uncle accomplish those things in the future. Are you willing?”

Shaking his head, Ah Dai replied, “No Uncle, I cannot leave with you. If I leave, teacher will be all alone! Unfortunately I’ve already eaten the fruit, and can’t spit it out. How about we go to the fruit forest tomorrow again, and search for it, maybe there might be more?”

Owen smiled bitterly in his heart, if such precious treasures like the Fruit of Rebirth appeared so easily, then how could they be so valuable. Unexpectedly, Ah Dai had rejected his offer to be his disciple. There were so many people who wanted to be his disciple but did not even have the opportunity! However, he had already placed his hopes on the child in front of him. If Ah Dai did not follow even though he would live, he would not be able to accomplish his wishes. “Ah Dai, can’t you consider it again?”

“No, I don’t need to reconsider. Uncle, I will definitely not leave teacher Gliss. Teacher has been so good to me, how can I leave him?” Ah Dai replied without hesitation. Although he had a good impression of the man named Owen, he would definitely not leave his teacher just because of that.

A frosty expression appeared on Owen’s face, “Ah Dai, let me ask you a question. Do you think I’m stronger, or your teacher Gliss is stronger?”

Ah Dai hesitated, the scene of the two black-robed men being killed flashed across his mind and he could not stop himself from shuddering. “Uhhh… I think, um… You are stronger.”

Owen cold hmpf-ed, “Let me tell you frankly, I didn’t get the nickname “King of Hell” for nothing. The number of people who have died by my hands have almost reached a thousand. Although I cannot use my full strength now, it won’t be too hard for me to deal with people like Gliss who are not very strong at magic. Do you believe me?” He waved his hand, white colored DouQi flashed across the room, and a corner of the chair disappeared without a sound.

Ah Dai stood up immediately, staring wide-eyed at Owen who seemed to have changed drastically. He stepped back, his voice quavering as he spoke, “Un-, Uncle, wha-, what are you doing?”

Owen gently rubbed his chest, replying, “I’m not doing anything. But, if you don’t go with me, I’m afraid that your teacher Gliss will soon become like M6 and M10. Ah Dai, you better think carefully, either leave with me or see your teacher Gliss perish.” Owen could see that Gliss held great importan Ah Dai was shocked, and his eyes became red. With a thump, he knelt on the floor, pleading, “Uncle, uncle, you mustn’t kill teacher Gliss. Ah Dai begs you, Ah Dai will do whatever you ask, just don’t kill teacher, okay?” With Ah Dai’s pure and honest character, how could he argue against Owen, “the King of Hell”.

Secretly pleased, Owen relaxed his expression, saying, “Ah Dai, uncle will definitely not harm you, nor kill your teacher Gliss. As long as you follow me, uncle promises, that your teacher Gliss will safely live on. Although you can’t be with Gliss now, after you have learned all my skills you can still return to see him!”

Ah Dai slowly lowered his head, how could he bear to part with Gliss. After a while, he reluctantly cried out, “Uncle, I will follow you, but you must not harm Teacher, okay?”

Looking at Ah Dai, Owen felt a sliver of guilt. He really could not understand how Ah Dai was so attached to Gliss with his typical character of an alchemist. However, he did not realise that Ah Dai had suffered too much as he grew up, as long as someone treats him well he would always remember it deeply in his heart. Nodding, Owen reassured, “I have never made empty promises, you can trust me. Furthermore, you just have to follow me, there’s nothing to worry about if we are always together. However, I have to warn you first, if you sneak away halfway, I’ll immediately return here. As for what happens to your teacher Gliss, I won’t go into details.”

“I, I surely won’t run away. Uncle, after I learn everything you teach me, can I really come back?”

gently, Owen replied, “En, I’ve already said that you can, I don’t have a habit of telling lies. But as for when you can meet my expectations, that will depend on how hard you work.”

Ah Dai nodded, “I, I will definitely study hard. I … …” Thinking of the long period that he was going to be away from Gliss, he could not help but burst out crying. Owen did not console Ah Dai, and just let him sit on the ground venting his emotions. After God knows how long, Ah Dai seemed to have gotten tired from all the crying and fell asleep as he leaned against the wall. Crystal droplets of tears were still visible on his face. Owen sighed, and carried Ah Dai onto the bed. Letting out a self-deprecating smile, he thought to himself, Ah, to think that I, “the King of Hell”, would actually have to act in such a manner and threaten little kids. Master*, this is all because of you! Just you wait. The day that my disciple steps into the society, is the day that you will die! Lily, you rest in peace, big brother will definitely avenge you!

[TN: The master that he is talking about here is the one he wants to kill, not the master from his school x.x]

The next morning, Ah Dai did not continue crying after he woke up. Under Owen’s watchful gaze, he silently packed some of the clothes that Gliss had bought for him into a small bag. Inside the bag he had also placed the remaining eleven silver beads that he refined the day before. After that, he picked a basket of fruits, and quietly started eating in a corner.

Owen broke the silence and asked Ah Dai, “Was it very hard for you, for you to leave with me?”

Ah Dai glanced at Owen, shaking his head. He spoke in a low voice,

“Uncle, when are we leaving?”

Letting out a deep sigh, Owen hung his broadsword over his back and said, “Let’s go now then. I know you hate me for ruining your life, but I really have no choice.”

Ah Dai looked towards Owen, in his young heart, the positive image of Owen that he once had was replaced by a feeling of animosity, similar to how he viewed Uncle Li. “Uncle, can you let me leave a letter for Teacher?”

Owen nodded, “Yes, I’ll leave a letter for him too. Bring me the pen and paper.” Although Ah Dai was confused, he still brought the pen and paper to Owen. After that, he started writing his letter to Gliss.

Owen pondered for a while and started writing his letter to Gliss. Once he was done, he picked up a stone from outside, using it as a paperweight and placed the letter beside the bed. “Ah Dai, are you done with writing? We should go soon, your teacher will know that you are safe after reading this letter. If you are fast, you should be able to reunite with him after a few years.”

Ah Dai lowered his head, kept quiet, and placed his letter underneath the stone as well. A few drops of tears rolled down, staining the paper. He then carried his bag and walked out of the room. Owen followed behind, only to see Ah Dai staring blankly at the wooden hut. While silently observing Ah Dai, he could not help but pity the child. However, the long years of training had caused him to be firm in his convictions. He would definitely not make a wrong decision due to a moment of soft-heartedness. “Okay, Ah Dai, let’s go while it’s still early.”

“En” muttered Ah Dai as gently caressed the silver-tin covered steam bun. Facing the wooden hut, he spoke, “Teacher, Ah Dai is going to leave, you must take good care of yourself! Ah Dai will definitely hurry back to see you as soon as possible.” He kneeled on the ground and respectfully kowtowed three times before standing.

“Uncle, I, I don’t know how to leave the forest. After I came here, I have never left.”

Owen let out a smile and replied, “As long as you bring me to the place where you saved me, I will know how to bring you out.”

The last remaining hope of Ah Dai was gone, he could only hope that Gliss would return sooner and rescue him. However, he was also afraid that Gliss would be killed by Owen when he returned. Filled with mixed feelings, he brought Owen into the dense mist. He would never have thought that, from this point onwards, he would never see his teacher — Alchemist Gliss, ever again. [TN: *gasp, spoilers?!*]

Only after walking out of the mist did Ah Dai realise how much he could not bear to part with this place. He did not have to ‘catch fish’ anymore, he ate fresh fruits every day, and the “care” that Gliss gave him; all of these were deeply etched within his mind.

Just as he had said, Owen was able to recognise the direction immediately after Ah Dai brought him to the place where he had fought with the black-robed men. He then proceeded to lead Ah Dai out of the illusionary forest. After walking for almost half a day, they were finally out of the forest. Ah Dai was able to see the sunlight once again but strong light made him slightly uncomfortable; his heart remained cold, despite the warm rays from the sun.

On the fifth day after Owen and Ah Dai left.

It was a dark gloomy room, the light was abnormally dim, making it difficult for people to see things further than one metre away. In the middle of the room, stood nine men, they were precisely the nine men who had unsuccessfully chased “the King of Hell”, yet still surviving. They stood silently in the middle of the room with their heads lowered, not daring to make a single sound. The whole room was filled with a strange atmosphere.

An illusory voice seemed to come from every direction, “M1, did you finish your mission? Have M6, M10 and M11 perished?”

M1 gravely replied, “Your Highness, the mission has failed. Although “the King of Hell” was poisoned by the Matchless Holy Water, he could still execute the Hell’s Sword, and we were no match for him.”

“Hmm? Since you were no match for him, how are you able to return alive? Under the Hell’s Sword, no one has lived to tell the tale.”

The tone of the illusory voice was calm, but M1’s back was already wet with cold sweat. He tried his best to control his trembling voice, “Your Highness, “the King of Hell” was after all our leaders in the past. He showed us mercy on account of the past, so we were able to return alive.” “Is that the case? Tell me everything that has happened.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Originally we had chased “the King of Hell” into a large forest in the Valian Province. We had gained the upper hand but just as we were about to succeed, … …” M1 recounted the whole incident. “That is how it happened, M6, M10 and M11’s corpses are currently outside.”

“Eh—, M1, you have been in the organization for quite some time, this doesn’t seem like the usual you! As an assassin, calmly analysing the situation is most important. I understand your thoughts, pointless sacrifices are meaningless. However, have you thought that with “the King of Hell’s” personality, he would let you live and come back to report? If he really had the ability to kill you then, you would have long became a corpse. The phrase that “Once Hell’s sword is drawn, nothing will survive” is not for naught. Don’t you know the effects of the Matchless Holy Water? Although he has profound strength, once the poison penetrates his body, will he still be able to deal with all of you so easily? Don’t forget, you are the elites of the M assassination group. Perhaps after you left, he would not be have been able to resist the poison and fainted. If you had just persisted for a while more, you could have captured him. M1, your blunder this time is too great.”

Sweat continuously flowed down from his forehead and M1 only replied after a long while, “Your Highness, I, I know my mistakes. Please give us a chance to make up for our mistake. Let us return to that forest, and we will surely bring “the King of Hell” back.” They had seen the ruthless methods of their master, and it caused even them, who were not afraid of death, to be filled with a deep fear.

Chapter9 Shitang Town

“There’s no need, “the King of Hell” would not be waiting for you to capture him. Just remember my words, always remain calm when facing situations. I will forgive you this time, after all, he was your leader, and there may be some unavoidable feelings. However, if the same thing happens again next time, you should all know of the consequences.”

From his words, he implied that there would be no punishments. M1 felt immense relief, and respectfully said, “Yes, Your Highness. Thank you, Your Highness, for your magnanimity.” The nine members of the M assassination group immediately kneeled down, secretly sighing in relief.

“Okay, you may leave now. From now onwards, you are not to take any steps out of the headquarters. Now that “the King of Hell” is missing from the group, you must all work hard to raise your power. Do you understand? M1, you shall temporarily take over his position, and be the leader of the M assassination group. If there are any changes in the future, I will let you know.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” The nine members of the M assassination group bowed in respect towards the darkness, and immediately took their leave.

The room became silent once more. After a long time, a brooding voice sounded, “Highness, this doesn’t seem to follow the rules. Are you just going to simply let them off?”

The illusory voice spoke, “You don’t understand, the M assassination group has made quite some contributions to the organization, and now is the time to make use of them. Do you know how hard it is to train an M level assassination group? Although the nine of them cannot be compared to a single “King of Hell”, but assassinating high level sorcerers will still be no problem. Such a pity! “The King of Hell” was my most favored, but he still has not reached the highest realm of assassination — killing without feeling. Pass along my orders, offer a high reward to the Thieves Guild for information on “the King of Hell”. I want to see his body, whether dead or alive. At the same time, send out my nine-star assassination command, and have the Y team ready. Once we have “the King of Hell’s” whereabouts, immediately move out, leave no witnesses. “The King of Hell” who has been poisoned by the Matchless Holy Water is no longer of use to me.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” A bright red light flashed across the dark room and instantly disappeared.

“Oh, “King of Hell”! Its’a hundred years too early for you to go against me!”

…

A month after Owen and Ah Dai had left the illusory forest, the alchemist Gliss returned. He was burdened with heavy feelings. The time was almost coming, but even after three months of repeated considerations, he still could not harden his heart. He was used to being alone, but ever since Ah Dai came, his life had become much more colorful. Ah Dai’s kindness and honesty had deeply moved his heart. However, the experiment must still be done, he was unwilling to give up the dream that he had pursued for decades. With conflicted feelings, he returned. In another month, it would be April, Year 989 of the holy calendar. According to Gliss’ predictions, that was the time for the opportunity of his lifetime. In this one month, he needed to discard his feelings in order to accomplish his lifelong wish.

“Ah Dai, Ah Dai, I’m back.” Gliss shouted loudly in the direction of the wooden hut. Although he was not willing to admit it, he did miss Ah Dai quite a bit.

After countless shouts and still no replies, Gliss was shocked. He quickly walked towards Ah Dai’s room, everything was in place, the same as before he left. Only, Ah

“Greetings, brother Gliss. Although we have yet to meet, I am your friend in spirit. A few days ago, I was chased by assassins to this place. Luckily, your disciple saved me, and I am very grateful. Brother Gliss, your research has greatly impressed me. Ah Dai used your research method and helped me to temporarily restrain the Matchless Holy Water that I was poisoned with. By chance, I found out that there was an abnormally strong life force within Ah Dai’s body, and it was very suitable for learning my martial arts. As my power has greatly reduced, in order to get my revenge, I had no other choice but to force Ah Dai to leave with me. Once Ah Dai finishes learning my martial arts, I will definitely allow him to return and reunite with you. I have left this letter to inform you, so please do not worry, I will definitely treat Ah Dai well. I hope you can forgive me for doing so.” And the letter ended off, “The King Of Hell”.

[TN: special thanks to the translator(s) of the manhua, coz i used alot of references from the manhua]

Gliss’ hands started trembling, the King of Hell, the King of Hell… Although he did not care about worldly matters, he had heard of the name, “King of Hell”. “The King of Hell” became famous thirty years ago and was a top assassin in the continent. He had killed countless people, never missing his target. His Hell’s Sword was able to kill even top experts, the saying “One swing of Hell’s Sword can shake the earth, another swing will make ghosts flee” was not for naught. No one could escape from his assassination attempts. He was the trump card of the Assassins Guild, and had long become an M level assassin thirty years ago.

“Him, how could it be him? Ah Dai was taken away by “the King of Hell”.” Worry filled Gliss’ heart, “the King of Hell” was much more evil than him. Countless questions flooded Gliss’ mind. Why was “the King of Hell” here? The fact that he was chased was not strange, after all, he had killed so many people, and he had countless enemies. However, who could have the ability to poison him with the Matchless Holy Water? As an assassin, his wariness must be great. Furthermore, why did he have to take Ah Dai away? Looking at his letter, he did not seem to have any ill intentions towards Ah Dai, but instead, he wanted to impart his skills to Ah Dai. At this moment, Gliss was only full of concern for Ah Dai’s safety. The fact that he could no longer continue his experiment without Ah Dai did not even cross his mind.

Amidst his confusion, Gliss proceeded to open the other letter. He could tell with a glance, the shaky handwriting belonged to Ah Dai. After carefully analysing it, the content of the letter was finally clear, the meaning was approximately, “Teacher, this is Ah Dai! Yesterday I saved a man, but he insisted that I leave with him, saying that he wanted to teach me some martial arts. I really don’t want to go! Teacher, I really don’t want to go! Ah Dai wants to be with you, you treat me the best in this whole world. However, the person I saved told me that if I do not go with him, he will kill you! Ah Dai doesn’t want to leave Teacher, but more than that, Ah Dai also doesn’t want to see Teacher die. Teacher, Ah Dai really really likes you. For your safety, Ah Dai can only leave with him. Teacher, your method of restraining the poison of the Matchless Holy Water worked, the person I saved is not facing any life-threatening issues for now. Teacher, there was a day when I sneaked into your research room, and when you were not paying attention, I used a bit of silver-tin to preserve one of the steamed buns that you brought back for me. Every time I think of you, I will always look at it. Teacher, if you miss Ah Dai, just shout it out loudly, Ah Dai will surely hear you! Teacher, that person said, after I finish learning his martial arts, I can come back. You must take good care of yourself, after Ah Dai returns, Ah Dai will take good care of you. Teacher, I have washed your clothes, they are in the cabinet. I used some of your materials when I was saving that person, please forgive me. Do not forget to eat some fruits when you are doing your experiments. You need to take care of your health, so you must eat well. Teacher, I need to go now, wait for me, you must wait for Ah Dai to come back. After I come back, you must teach me magic again! Teacher, goodbye, Ah Dai is leaving, take care of yourself!” The letter ended off with, “Ah Dai who will miss you forever and ever.” There were some creases on the letter, those were the tear marks left behind. Gliss knew for sure, that Ah Dai had cried just as he was about to leave. Although the language of the letter was not very fluent, Gliss knew that Ah Dai was constantly thinking about him, from the “Teacher” being mentioned in every sentence, to the concern that Ah Dai showed. The letter in his hand gently fell to the ground as tears streamed down his cheeks. He never would have thought that, the silly kid Ah Dai, who was only with him for about a year, would actually have such deep feelings for him. The tears that flowed down Gliss’ cheeks, were tears of regret. At this moment, his lifelong wish no longer seemed to matter. Dashing outside of the house, he suddenly cried out, “Ah Dai, come back! Quickly come back! Teacher will teach you magic, teach you alchemy! Faster come back, Teacher will not use you for the experiment anymore!” He regretted, his heart was filled with immense regret. Why did he chose to leave that day, why was he so selfish, Ah Dai was such a good child! In Gliss’ whole life, there was no one else who had treated him so whole- heartedly.

Gliss fell onto the floor, his tears still streaming down his face. The place where he sat, was precisely where Ah Dai had spent each day waiting for him. After a whole day, Gliss still did not move from that spot, and his surroundings remain shrouded in mist. In this one day, Gliss had thought about many things. Just as night fell, he slowly stood up with the support of the wall behind him. His stiff body made him seem older and frailer, “Ah Dai, you must come back quickly! Teacher has decided, after you come back, you will be my student for real!” Gliss was filled with incomparable pain, he had never felt such deep emotions, not even for his own brother. “Teacher has given you too little… As long as you come back, teacher is willing to do anything for you.”

Gliss turned around and staggered into the house, his lonely back seemed so frail. This old man who had been obsessed with alchemy research for so long, finally understood the true meaning of feelings…

After a month long travelling from the west-most part of the continent, Owen and Ah Dai finally reached Sweetrock Township — a little coastal town situated in the eastern part of the United Regions Commonwealth. This region was under the control of the Sipho ( ⻄波) Tribe, the weakest

tribe of the six great tribes in the United Regions Commonwealth. On the

journey, Owen purchased a horse, they were constantly on the move, travelling through remote paths, and they would only rest at night. Every time they came across a city, Owen would also change his horse. Even so, it still took them over thirty days to arrive at that their destination.

The nomadic tribe, Yalian (亚琏) Tribe, was the strongest of the six great tribes in the United Regions Commonwealth, and it was mostly made up of dark-skinned people. Although the dark-skinned people were often ostracised by others, it was an undeniable fact that they possessed strong bodies and perseverance. As a nomadic tribe, Yalian Tribe had the largest cavalry on the continent and was in control of more than one third of the flatlands in the United Regions Commonwealth. At the same time, it was also the leader of the commonwealth. The Yalian Tribe was situated in the westernmost part of the United Regions Commonwealth, sharing its northern border with Heaven’s Gold Empire, its southern border with Prosperous Empire and its western border with the Holy Church. To the

South of the Yalian Tribe, was the Heaven Origin Tribe ( 天元) that only shared a border with the Yalian Tribe.

Actually, the Heaven Origin Tribe was mostly made up of many uncommon races. Because of that, they named themselves after the Heavens’ Origin Continent, to signify the declining population of the continent. The place where the Heaven Origin Tribe was located, was deemed as the most complex area. Instead of flatlands, every where was surrounded by large tracts of hills and forests. The dwarven race, the elven race, the werebeast race and the winged race, were normally unconcerned about worldly affairs and chose to live peaceful lives. But this did not mean that they were willing to let others invade their territory; the dwarves were skilled in forging, the elves were talented in archery, the winged people were able to fly at fast speeds, and the werebeasts were extremely strong. They were definitely the elites of the United Regions Commonwealth. As a whole, they were all part of the Heaven Origin Tribe, any important matters would be discussed amongst all the four races.

To the northeast of the Yalian Tribe, was the Yajin (亚⾦) Tribe, made up of mostly white-skinned people. Most of the people there originated from

the migrants of the Heaven’s Gold empire and the smaller tribes of the United Regions Commonwealth. After many generations, it had now become the Yajin Tribe. The landscape of the Yajin Tribe, was mostly similar to that of the Heaven’s Gold Empire, cluttered with buildings and cities. It was also the most developed tribe in the United Regions Commonwealth.

Straight towards the east of the Yalian Tribe was the second greatest tribe, the Puyan ( 普岩) Tribe. It was a mysterious tribe, their people very rarely came into contact with the other tribes. Unless there was a major

incident in the United Regions Commonwealth, they would just live their

lives inside the tribe. The main source of income for the Puyan Tribe was the weaponry that they produced.

To the north of the Puyan Tribe, was the Red Hurricane ( 红飓) Tribe. Having red hair was a trademark of their tribe and the Mercenary Guild also originated from the Red Hurricane Tribe. Most of the mercenary groups in the continent were actually made up of people from the Red Hurricane Tribe.

The easternmost part of the Commonwealth, which is also the easternmost part of the continent, was where Owen and Ah Dai had gone, the Sipho Tribe.

The Sipho Tribe was a small and honest tribe, the people in the tribe generally fished for a living. Their greatest asset was their fleets of ships that were on par with any of the nations on the continent. Of the six great tribes in the United Regions Commonwealth, only the Sipho Tribe relied on communications with other tribes in order to make a living. If not, with the size of their tribe, they were unable to maintain a large fleet of ships. Therefore, within the border of the Sipho Tribe, people from other smaller tribes in the United Regions Commonwealth would often be seen.

[TN: omg this huge chunk was torture, i’ll draw up a simple map later for those who are horrible at processing information like me]

[EN: We changed the names of all the towns and Englishised them.]

Looking at boundless sea, Owen told Ah Dai, “In the future, we are going to live here. Do you know where we are?”

Shaking his head, Ah Dai replied, “I don’t know.” He had been very silent for the whole journey. While he was riding on the horse, he just sat there in a daze, even after a whole day, he would never complain about his aching body. Unless Owen asked him something, he would not speak up on his own. Owen also noticed that Ah Dai had become quieter than before, and he knew the reason it. However, he never questioned Ah Dai, because he believed that Ah Dai would get used to the life here after some time.

Sweetrock Town was one of numerous small towns in the Sipho Tribe that was situated near the sea. Many of the current people in the Sipho Tribe were migrants from the Prosperous Empire, therefore black haired people, such as Ah Dai, were quite a common sight. Arriving there, Ah Dai no longer stood out from the crowds, and this was the only thing that made Ah Dai feel slightly better.

For the whole journey, Owen tried his best to accommodate Ah Dai. In order to let Ah Dai endure sitting on the horse for a long period of time, Owen bought a thick soft cushion specially for Ah Dai. Although Ah Dai would always respond with a shake of his head, Owen continued to show concern for Ah Dai, asking if he was tired or hungry every few hours. Ah Dai was no longer as quiet as when he had just left the illusionary forest, but the big barrier between Owen and him, was still there. Owen and Ah Dai stepped into Sweetrock Town. As it was early in the morning, most of the laborers were either out fishing, or working in the ship factory of the Sipho Tribe. There were mostly women, kids and elderly left in the town. Occasionally, they would see some wives sitting together by the roadside washing their clothes, while their children played merrily nearby.

In order to not incite enmity from the villagers, Owen hid his broadsword behind some rocks near the sea, changed into a set of common civilian clothes, and even sold his horse before entering the village. But even so, they still managed to arouse suspicion from the villagers. A man who seemed around fifty years old, walked up to them and curiously asked, “You aren’t locals, are you? What are you doing here?” The language of the United Regions Commonwealth was different from the language of the Heaven’s Gold Empire. Even within the commonwealth, the six great tribes had different dialects, if one was not familiar they would find it hard to differentiate. On the way, Owen would teach Ah Dai some different languages with weird pronunciations. Although Ah Dai was a slow learner and could only learn a few simple words, he did not get fed up. Only now did Ah Dai realise, that the words that Owen taught him, were the dialects of the people here. He was barely able to understand what the elderly man was saying.

Owen had a smile on this face, and replied in the dialect of the Sipho Tribe, “Hello, I was born here, it’s just that I had left for a long time.”

Hearing the same dialect, the old man visibly lowered his guard, and spoke, “Are you from the town? I can’t seem to recall you.”

Owen glanced at the man a few times, suddenly speaking out in surprise,

“Ah! Aren’t you Brother Schiel?”

Schiel was shocked, “How do you know that my name is Schiel? You, who are you exactly! Why don’t I have any impression of you.”

“Schiel, it really is you, I am Owen! You forgot me? I’ve left for almost fifty years. Do you remember that time when we were young, playing with mud? We even got a beating that time.” Owen excitedly recalled. Schiel stared at Owen,

Owen rolled up his white sleeve, revealing a fair-skinned arm, and there was a dark purple moon-shaped scar. “Look, it was from saving you, that I got cut by the boat’s anchor. Do you remember?”

Meanwhile, Ah Dai was just staring blankly at Owen and Schiel. They were speaking too fast, and Ah Dai could barely catch a few words.

Schiel grabbed Owen’s arm, closely inspecting it. “Ah! You really are big brother Owen! If not for you, I would have died in the sea that time. However, brother, how are you still so young! I remember, you are even older than me by two years. I’m 56 this year, while you were born in February, Year 931 of the Holy Calendar, which means that you are 58 this year. I can’t tell, I really can’t tell it all!”

Owen smiled, “Actually it was nothing. It was probably because I’ve always been living in the forest, and absorbed some natural energy from the Earth, making me seem younger. Schiel, is our ancestral houses still there?”

Nodding, Schiel replied, “Yes. Let’s go, I’ll bring you to take a look. I’ve already taken over my father’s position and was the town mayor for quite some years. With our relationship, there is no one who will dare to lay a hand on your ancestral house. However, it’s a bit dilapidated now. If you want to live in it, you need to do some renovations first. Big brother, now that you are back, are you still going to leave next time?”

Owen shook his head, sighing, “Ah—, I won’t be leaving anymore. I’ve been travelling for most of my life, it’s time that I returned. Ah! Right, brother, this is my distant nephew, and he is my only family now. We will be living here, perhaps, I will live here until my death.”

“Big brother, I was just worrying that there will be no one to accompany me. Now that you’re back, let us accompany each other. Let’s go, I’ll bring you to the ancestral house, wait till my sons are back and they will help you renovate it. Then, we can be neighbors again.” Schiel laughed heartily as he spoke. Under Schiel’s enthusiastic guidance, Ah Dai and Owen soon arrived at a courtyard facing the sea. This courtyard was quite some distance away from the houses of the other villagers in Sweetrock Town. Looking at the courtyard before him, Owen’s eyes turned red. After all, this was where he had spent his childhood days.

Patting Owen’s shoulders, Schiel spoke, “Hmm, thinking of your parents again? Ah, that huge tsunami had indeed caused countless deaths!”

Owen glanced at Schiel, replying, ”It’s already been so many years, what’s the use of thinking?” As he spoke, he took out some gold coins from his pouch and stuffed them into Schiel’s hands. “Brother, it has been so many years, I’ve become unfamiliar with this place, so I need to trouble you to find some people to help me fix this house.”

Schiel immediately declined, “Brother, what are you doing? Aren’t we brothers? Now that you’ve finally returned, it is my duty to help you. Do not worry, in the town, I’m still quite influential. When my sons return from work, I’ll have them get some wood and materials, and repair the house for you. It should just take about a day. Don’t give me money, if not, I’ll take offense.”

“How can I do this, troubling you is already enough, how can I ask you to pay as well. Quick, take it, if not I will not stay here anymore,” insisted Owen. The two of them started bickering for a long time. Finally, Schiel could not argue against Owen, and accepted the money.

“Brother, go take a look at your ancestral house first. I’ll make some preparations and you can come over to eat lunch. Let us have a few drinks, I have some aged wine at home, haha.” As he spoke, Schiel turned around and walked towards the town.

Looking at Schiel’s disappearing back, Owen told Ah Dai, “ time you see him, call him Uncle Schiel and call me Uncle, okay? This is where we will be staying from now on.” Ah Dai nodded, asking, “Uncle, when will you start teaching me martial arts?”

Owen smiled and replied, “Anxious? I know you want to go back and see your teacher earlier, but martial arts cannot be learned in just a few days. We need to make full preparations before we begin. Let’s go, I’ll bring you inside to take a look, it’s been forty years since I last returned.”

Ah Dai managed to understand Owen and Schiel’s conversation about their age, and he curiously asked, “Uncle, are you really 58 years old?”

Owen looked at Ah Dai, gently speaking, “Yes! I’m 58 already. The reason why I still look so young, is because of the martial arts that I cultivate. It has an effect of slowing down the aging process, making me seem much younger. After we settle down, uncle will impart the martial arts to you.”

When Owen pushed open the unlocked door, a musty smell greeted him. He wrinkled his brows, and brought Ah Dai inside. There was nothing around the courtyard that was about thirty square metres large, except for the two tiled-roof houses with closed doors. The surrounding walls were covered with cobwebs, but fortunately, there was no moss due to the salinity near the sea. If not, cleaning up would be a much harder task.

Two days later, with Schiel’s enthusiastic help, Owen’s ancestral house was completely refurbished, and was even filled with some furniture that Owen had bought. Due to Schiel’s identity as the mayor, the people of the town gradually grew to accept Owen and Ah Dai.

Ah Dai had become very relaxed, compared to the wooden hut in the illusionary forest, this place was more like a home to him and everyone treated him very well. He got to know Schiel’s three sons and the eldest son seemed to look around Owen’s age. However, when Schiel had told them that Owen was even older than him, his family all had looks of disbelief. Schiel’s three sons were already married, and his oldest granddaughter was merely younger than Ah Dai by 2 years. The remaining two grandsons were 7 years old and 3 years old. In the evening, after he had sent Schiel’s family off, Owen stood in the middle of the courtyard. He took a deep breath of the brackish sea breeze and said, “Ah Dai, come here.”

Ah Dai had just finished washing the dishes. When he heard that Owen had called, he dried his hands and walked toward Owen. “Uncle.”

Owen turned around, looked at Ah Dai and solemnly said, “I know, you really hate me, you hate me for forcing you to leave your teacher. However, starting from tonight, will be imparting to you, my lifetime of martial arts. I hope that you can learn it seriously. If you want to see your teacher again, you must completely learn all of my martial arts before you go. Do you understand?”

Ah Dai nodded, and quietly said, “Yes.” He had voiced his agreement, but in his heart, he was already thinking about the illusionary forest, wondering if Teacher Gliss had returned.

“From today onwards, you are not allowed to practise the magic that Gliss taught you, it will make you distracted. In this town, magic is not commonly seen, so do not use your fire magic in front of people, okay?”

Ah Dai raised his head, staring intently at Owen as he insisted, “No, I must continue practising magic. I mustn’t forget the magic that Teacher taught me.”

Owen was shocked, it was the first time that Ah Dai had rebuked his words. However, he did not get angry, and gently said, “Child, you need to understand, magic and martial arts cannot be learned at the same time. There is a limit to how much one can learn in his life. It is not an easy feat to even master one of the two professions, not to mention learning both at the same time. Your teacher Gliss will not blame you.”

Ah Dai stubbornly shook his head. “No, I can’t do that, I must practise magic. I can stop using it in front of people, but I must practise it every day.” Owen thought for a while before replying, “Okay then, if you insist. I will allow you to practise it for one hour every night, but you can’t let it interfere with your martial arts training, can you do that? If you can’t, then you must give up on magic.”

Nodding, Ah Dai said, “Yes, I can definitely do this.”

“Okay, today I will first teach you the basics of martial arts. The dou qi cultivation method that I use, is called the Boundless Life Art, which means to have an endless life force. It increases and strengthens your life force, transforming it to dou qi that contains holy power. This can be said to be the most authentic high-level dou qi cultivation method on the continent. It is also the best method to improve one’s body, and that is why I still look so young. When circulating the Boundless Life Art in your body, you can produce the true qi that your teacher Gliss mentioned. When expelling the true qi and using it to attack, it becomes the dou qi. As you have eaten the Fruit of Rebirth, your cultivation speed will be much faster. Let’s go back to the house, I’ll teach you the mnemonic.”

After returning to the house, Owen said in a serious tone, “The main principle of the Boundless Life Art is to grow without end. As long as your true qi is endless, you can have endless dou qi to attack.” ly, it was because of the Boundless Life Art that Owen was able to have an endless amount of true qi to scare away the assassins. “You must remember the first verse, it is: Qi as will directs, Qi from the heart, refine the Qi essence, have endless life force.

[TN: I cant… make it flow in english.. The problem with the 4 words craze in chinese]

The first step in cultivation is the foundation of the Boundless Life Art.

Okay, let’s begin.”

Owen made Ah Dai sit cross-legged on the bed, while he sat behind Ah Dai, his right hand placed on the middle of Ah Dai’s back, instructing, “Close your eyes, silently recite the mnemonic. You have to understand the meaning behind it, and you have to use your mind to sense the places where the warm qi circulates, remembering the places. Okay, let us start.”  

Chapter10 The Blood Day is Coming

Enjoy the chapter! – Sam

Warm energy flowed from Owen’s palm into Ah Dai’s body. Owen knew that Ah Dai was a bit dumb, so he slowly circulated his true qi, allowing Ah Dai to remember it better. While he circulated the qi, he was also constantly reciting the mnemonic. It actually took a whole night to successfully circulate the qi through the correct paths for 7 times.

Under Owen’s help, Ah Dai managed to enter the ideal state for cultivation. The qi that Owen transferred into his body gradually merged with the life force within his meridians, continuously circulating at a slow pace. He felt as though there was a large furnace inside him, radiating a warmth that left him incomparably comfortable. Without Owen’s steady control, Ah Dai started to circulate the qi faster, waking up only after 7 cycles.

“How is it? How do you feel?” In the morning, after he had finished helping Ah Dai, Owen cultivated for a short while, before locking the front gate and going to Schiel’s house. When Schiel asked about Ah Dai, Owen made up an excuse to cover up. He knew that the first time cultivating the Boundless Life Art was extremely important, and Ah Dai must not be disturbed.

Ah Dai jumped down from the bed, looked at the sky outside the house, and was shocked to find out that the sky was already dark. Although he was in the cultivation state for a whole day, he still felt surprisingly refreshed, “Uncle, my whole body feels so light, and there seems to be a thread of something constantly moving, making me feel so comfortable.” Owen nodded in satisfaction, “To accomplish this in just one day is not bad, I remember when I first started cultivating, it took me a full seven days before I could reach the standard you are at now. The Fruit of Rebirth is indeed very beneficial for cultivating the Boundless Life Art. Okay, go take a rest and have your meal, I’ve prepared some food for you. After you’ve finished eating, I’ll give you two hours of free time to do what you want. You can practise your magic, but to prevent others from finding out, you can only practise it in your room, but don’t set the house on fire.” The main reason why Owen allowed Ah Dai to continue practising magic was because he simply had too many enemies. Even though the martial arts that he practised were the top-tiered in the continent, the enemies that he made after countless years of killing were simply too many. If Ah Dai could have another identity as a sorcerer, he would face less trouble when he helped Owen to complete his revenge.

After cultivating for one whole day, Ah Dai’s mood had improved. He blushed as he said, “Uncle, don’t worry, I definitely will not set the house on fire. I will go and eat first.” As he spoke, he hurriedly ran out. Suddenly, he realised that, the uncle who abducted him, did not seem so hateful anymore.

Immediately after he finished eating, Ah Dai did not waste anytime and started practising magic without taking any breaks. As the amount of time he could practise was short, and he was restricted to the confinements of him room, he could only meditate to increase his spiritual power.The meditation when practising magic and the state of cultivation when cultivating true qi were totally different. Meditation agglomerates the spiritual power within the body, and one need not be afraid of disturbances, as he can immediately awake from it. However, the state of cultivation was different, cultivating dou qi is equivalent to increasing one’s potential power, and seven cycles of circulation must be completed in order for it to be effective. Therefore, it was crucial for there to be no disturbances, if not, there was a high chance of the cultivator to become deranged. After Ah Dai meditated for two hours

[TN: In english, both are translated as meditation, but meditation to increase magic force and meditation to cultivate true qi are different. x.x] “Ah Dai, if you are only meditating to increase your spiritual power, it does not actually affect your cultivation of the Boundless Life Art. Instead, it may actually have a catalytic effect, as your spiritual power increases, you can control the true qi easier. This is a pretty good plan. The basis for magic is magic force, which is also spiritual power. How about this, I will give you three hours of meditation time every day. As for cultivation of true qi, completely seven cycles of circulation is enough. For the remaining time, I will teach you some knowledge.”

Hesitantly, Ah Dai asked, “If I only meditate to increase my magic force, but not practise it, will it affect the use of my fire magic?”

Owen laughed and replied, “Little brat, when did you become so clever? Meditating will certainly affect your control of magic. But magic force is the basis for magic, the higher your magic force, the stronger the magic spells that you can unleash. Actually, after you have cultivated the Boundless Life Art to a certain standard, the uses of magic is not very important. To me, unless the person is of the grand sorcerer level and above, it will be very difficult for him to cause any damage to me. The speciality of the Boundless Life Art is that it can retrain all types of evil energy, and it can cultivate the most authentic holy type dou qi. As the dou qi becomes stronger than the magic attacks, magic simply cannot deal any damage. Perhaps you are still confused now, but you will understand this in the future.”

Ah Dai scratched his head, saying, “Then I will meditate first. Uncle, do I start now?”

Owen nodded, “The foundation at the start is extremely important. There are nine parts to the Boundless Life Art, after you reach the third part, I will teach you others. You can start meditating first, I won’t help you today. Just follow the circulation paths that I taught you yesterday and cultivate, you can stop after you manage to circulate that weak stream of qi through seven cycles.”

With Owen’s help, Ah Dai sat on the bed, in a lotus position. Just as Owen was about to start his own cultivation, Ah Dai suddenly opened his eyes. [TN: The position looks like this, I don’t know how to describe it.] [EN: It is called the lotus position/stance and it looks like that ^]

“What’s wrong Ah Dai? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?” Owen asked in concern. Although the Boundless Life Art is an authentic cultivation method, there might still be dangers during cultivation.

Blushing, Ah Dai lowered his head and muttered, “Uncle, I have forgotten the mnemonic you taught me yesterday. Also, I can’t find the circulation pathway anymore.”

Hearing Ah Dai’s words, Owen almost fainted. He had spent the whole of yesterday night reciting the mnemonic, and even slowly circulated his qi through Ah Dai’s body, but Ah Dai still could not remember it.

With his head lowered, Ah Dai spoke softly, “Uncle, is Ah Dai very stupid?”

Owen secretly thought, ”Not just stupid, but extremely stupid!” He went beside Ah Dai and said, “I’ll guide you to circulate your qi for one cycle, but this time I will increase my speed. You must remember it carefully.” As he finished speaking, he started to recite the mnemonic as he guided Ah Dai to circulate the true qi within his body. With his help, Ah Dai easily entered the state of cultivation and started cultivating by himself. By the dawn of the next day, he had already successfully completed seven cycles.

From then on, Ah Dai fell into this regular routine. In the morning, he would wake up from meditation, and Owen would teach him the dialect of the Sipho Tribe. Ah Dai was a slow learner, but he had great perseverance. Normally, he could remember the stuff that he learned in three times the amount of time that other people would usually take. In the afternoon, Owen would allow him to have a few hours of free time, and Ah Dai would generally spend the time playing with Schiel’s three grandchildren. It was due to their constant interaction that made Ah Dai become lively once more. At night, Ah Dai would start meditating after dinner. When all of the townspeople were sleeping, Owen would wake Ah Dai up and make him cultivate the Boundless Life Art. In the beginning, Ah Dai could not remember the mnemonic, as well as the complicated circulation pathway. It was only until after Owen had guided him for a month, that Ah Dai could barely remember. Owen told Schiel that he had accumulated some savings and returned to Sweetrock Town for retirement, thus he did not work at all. Of course, not all of the money that he earned from assassination was with him, but it was enough for Ah Dai and him to live on. Since he became an adult, Owen had never felt this leisurely before, in just a month’s time, he seemed to have forgotten his past identity, and had completely assimilated into the lifestyle of Sweetrock Town.

This day, it was the 14th Day of the 4th Month, Year 989 of the Holy Calendar.

Early in the morning, Ah Dai and Owen had sensed that the atmosphere felt strange. Owen stood in the courtyard, looking towards the sky. Normally, by this time the sun would have long risen. However, the sky remained dark that day, large dark clouds were blocking the sunlight making the Earth seem abnormally gloomy. Gusts of cold wind blew, making Ah Dai shiver uncontrollably, who was standing beside Owen. Ah Dai suddenly had an ominous feeling, but he did not know how to express that feeling.

Owen frowned and said, “What is going on today, why is the sky so dark?”

Ah Dai replied, “Yeah! There is a heavy feeling in my heart, and my body feels uncomfortable. Uncle, is anything bad going to happen? Ah! Uncle, quickly look at the sky, why did the dark clouds in the sky suddenly turn red?”

Owen had a shock as he looked at the sky. Indeed, the original gray colored clouds were gradually turning red. This strange phenomenon seemed to make him recall something. Suddenly, the blood-red clouds slowly faded, and the sun appeared in the middle of the sky. Its original dazzling gold radiance had become a demonic blood-red glow, dying the Earth in a bloody color. Owen involuntarily cried out, “The blood sun has arrived.” Ah Dai asked in confusion, “Uncle, what is the blood sun?”

Owen merely shook his head, and did not reply, but there was an indescribable strange feeling in his heart. He had only heard of the blood sun, it was a phenomenon that only appeared once in a thousand years, and the day that it arrived, would be a day when the evil qi was the strongest. The domineering evil energy flooded his body, and Owen immediately touched his chest, circulating his true qi to suppress the evil energy. He said, “Ah Dai, Uncle needs to meditate for a while. It is best that you don’t go out, just stay at home and practise your magic. From tonight onwards, the number of cycles that you need to circulate is increased to nine.” After he finished instructing Ah Dai, Owen returned to his room. He needed to cultivate the Boundless Life Art immediately, in order to suppress the rampant evil qi.

Holy Church, Cathedral.

Four red-cloaked people were standing on the four platforms in the middle of the hall. They were the four crimson-robed bishops who were in charge of handling the affairs of the Holy Church. In the middle of the four platforms, there was a skinny, white-haired old man, one of his hands was placed over his left chest, while the other hand was pressed against his forehead. He was wearing a golden robe and a gold crown was placed on his head, seeming very regal. Surrounding the platforms, were twelve ivory- robed bishops who were currently sitting cross-legged on the ground. Constant incantations sounded from the hall, and holy energy continuously dispersed out from the cathedral.

Outside of the cathedral, there was a total of one thousand and eight hundred intermediate priests and high priests who were chanting the same incantations. The prayers resounded through the sky, creating a sacred atmosphere around the cathedral. The waves of holy energy shot towards the sky, a stark contrast to the evil energy emanating from the blood sun. Under the constant chants, faint red colored drops of rain fell down from the sky. It was just a drizzle, but it dyed the white colored robes of the priests red. Inside the cathedral, the chants stopped, and the old man in the middle of the platform sighed, “Blood sun looming, evil rampaging, blood rain falling, calamity descends. It looks like, the will of the Heavens cannot be defied!”

One of the crimson-robed bishops said, “Your Eminence, we have tried our best. Ten years later, when the calamity descends, as long as we can get through it successfully, the thousand year great tribulation will be over.”

The golden-robed old man nodded, “From now on, command all of the priests to enter the preparation period. At the same time, the four of you need to start preparing, and start the plan. The Thousand Year Great Tribulation concerns the whole of the continent. According to the records of the Holy Church, the previous Thousand Year Great Tribulation had already caused immense destruction. Hopefully, we can survive this calamity. As long as we manage to find the savior, we can have a better chance of surviving this, therefore the four of you need to find the savior’s whereabouts as soon as possible.” He sighed secretly in his heart, It was because of the previous Thousand Year Great Tribulation, that the Holy Church was established. The calamity that befell the continent caused numerous casualties. It was at the last moment, that a deity was born into the world to be the savior of the continent. He finally succeeded in purging the evil forces, and the day that the evil was banished, was the first day of the Holy Calendar. The savior became the first Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Church. However, before he passed away, he had predicted that the Thousand Year Great Tribulation would come again, and the blood sun signified that it was starting. Eleven years later, Year 1000 of the Holy Calendar, the calamity would once again arrive. As the current Supreme Pontiff, he was unsure if he could successfully survive the calamity. It seemed that, he could only place his hopes on finding the new savior.

The four crimson-robed bishops bowed respectfully and said, “Yes, Your Eminence.”

The Supreme Pontiff glanced around, sighing, “May the Heavens bless you.” A light flashed as he disappeared from the middle of the platform. The four crimson-robed bishops executed their magic, and floated down. Suddenly, a girl wearing in a white dress and clad in jewels, who seemed to be around ten years old, ran into the hall and hugged a tall crimson-robed bishop, calling out, “Dad, Dad, what were you doing!”

That crimson-robed bishop was stunned for a moment, before hurriedly carrying the girl and speaking in a low voice, “Yue Yue, who let you in, didn’t we tell you to stay at home?”

Yue Yue pouted, “But you and Mom both went out, Yue Yue is bored by herself!”

The other three crimson-robed bishops had already left, and the twelve ivory-robed bishops also stood up. One of the ivory-robed bishops walked up, and carried Yue Yue over from the crimson-robed bishop’s hands, quietly saying, “Yue Yue, be a good girl, Mom will bring you home now.”

The crimson-robed bishop shook his head, he really had no idea how to handle his daughter.

I’m sure everyone will enjoy the ending of this chapter. – Sam.

The blood sun and the blood rain lasted for a whole day before gradually disappearing, and everything returned to normal. However, Ah Dai seemed depressed for the whole day and he did not even have the mood to practice his magic. For some unknown reason. His heart was always beating abnormally fast, as though something bad had happened. After the blood sun and blood rain and gone, did Owen finally awake from his cultivation. He had suppressed the evil energy for an entire day, thus he seemed extremely fatigued.

“Uncle, you have finished meditation?” Ah Dai asked, as he saw the pale-faced Owen walking out from the room.

Owen nodded, with a hint of fear in his voice, “Such a strong evil qi! It looks like, the legendary calamity is indeed arriving.”

Ah Dai obviously did not understand what Owen was saying, as he said, “Today, Uncle Schiel came over, I told him you were sick and resting. Uncle Schiel said that all of the fishermen did not go out to sea and fish, so he wanted to ask you if you know the reason why.”

“Okay, let’s go eat some food first. After eating, you can stay home and meditate. I will be going to your uncle Schiel’s house to pay a visit.”

The well-behaved Ah Dai nodded in acknowledgement, “ Okay, let’s eat.” The two of them ate some light foods, and Owen left the house while Ah Dai stayed at home by himself and started meditating. The sudden change in the sky had left the masses panicking., some were rejoicing, some were worrying, but no one could tell exactly what the blood sun was. The commotion lasted for a few months before people finally calmed down. The four countries of the continent continuously tried to pacify the people, but there was still no explanations about the strange phenomenon from the Holy Church. After some time, the dissatisfaction with the Holy Church slowly started to grow. Only after one year of turmoil, did the influence of the blood sun and blood rain totally disappear. However, a strange atmosphere appeared on the continent.

Year 990, the fifth month of Holy Calendar, Ah Dai had already been at Sweetrock Town for one year and two months.

“Big brother Ah Dai, you have grown so much from the time you came.”

The thirteen year old Ah Dai looked at the little girl Xi Fei, who was younger than him by two years, and laughed, “Really? Recently, I’ve been eating more, it seems like I have grown a bit.” At thirteen years old, Ah Dai was already 1.6 meters tall, among the children of his age, he was considered to be one of the taller ones. In the past one year, apart from letting Ah Dai cultivate the Boundless Life Art, Owen did not teach him any other martial arts. Therefore, Ah Dai was already able to understand the Suo language. As the six great tribes of the commonwealth had different dialects, Owen only taught Ah Dai the dialect of Sipho Tribe. Ah Dai trained extremely hard, and through his unremitting efforts, he managed to circulate 27 cycles every night. He had cultivated the Boundless Life Art to the second stage. Once, Ah Dai had asked Owen when he could finally leave, but Owen did not have a direct answer, and simply told him that there was much more needed to be learned. Currently, Owen had started teaching Ah Dai the language of the Holy Church. After all, it was the main language that everyone spoke, it was crucial that Ah Dai learned it. Today, after the lesson ended, Ah Dai and Schiel’s three grandchildren were playing by the beach. After a year of cultivating the Boundless Life Art, Ah Dai was much stronger as compared to when he just

[TN: difference between dialects & language - it’s like china’s language is Chinese, but there are many different dialects of Chinese, eg. Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, etc]

“Big brother Ah Dai, let’s go swim in the sea, okay?” Schiel’s older grandson, the eight year old Xi Feng said. It was already the 5th month, and to the children living by the sea, it was suitable for them to swim. According to seniority, Ah Dai should have been their uncle, but due to the small age difference, they would always call him brother when there were no adults.

[TN: Owen & Schiel are “brothers, Ah Dai is Owen’s “nephew”, so technically he is 2nd generation, but Schiel’s grandchildren are 3rd generation, hence they need to call Ah Dai “uncle”]

Ah Dai was not very good at swimming, and could only swim a few rounds with Xi Fei’s father’s help. Thus, he hesitated before lowering his head and saying, “Y’all can go, I’m not good at swimming.”

The four year old Xi Lei chimed in, “I want to go too!”

“No, you are still too young. You should go home, swimming is for the big kids like us, not for you.” Xi Fei interrupted.

Xi Lei’s eyes instantly became red, and he stretched out his hand, holding on to his sister’s sleeve while crying, “Sister, sister, bring me along. Xi Lei will be very obedient.”

Ah Dai crouched on the ground, hugging Xi Lei, “Xi Lei, be a good boy, the sea is too dangerous. You are still too young and cannot swim, I also cannot swim, let’s stay behind and play with sand, okay?”

Looking at Ah Dai, Xi Lei agreed, “Okay, but big brother Ah Dai, you must build a huge sandcastle for me.”

Ah Dai nodded, and told Xi Fei, “Little sister Fei Er, you can go with Little Feng, I will stay here and accompany Lei Lei. However, do not swim too far out, the sea is dangerous.”

[TN: Fei Er, Little Feng, Lei Lei are like terms of endearment..?] Xi Fei and her brother Xi Feng took off their coats, shouted in acknowledgement and dashed straight towards the sea. Since young, they had learnt how to swim under their father’s guidance, and the normal calm seas posed no problem for them. In just a short while, they had already disappeared into the waters. Meanwhile, Ah Dai and Xi Lei started playing with the sand, Ah Dai was very patient, playing happily with Xi Lei, who was only four years old.

Suddenly, a patch of dark clouds floated over the original clear skies. The winds started getting stronger, there were ripples over the calm sea surface as waves started forming.

Ah Dai stood up, staring into the distance but not catching any sign of the pair of siblings. He muttered, “Why are they not back yet, the waves are so big, it is very dangerous.”

Xi Lei shook Ah Dai’s arms and said, “Big brother Ah Dai, sister and brother will be fine.”

The rain was pouring down, as gusts of cold air floated by the beach. Ah Dai worriedly walked closer to the shore, looking towards the distance, but he still could not find any trace of Xi Fei and Xi Feng. He turned around and shouted, “Lei Lei, it’s raining, you go home first and tell your grandfather that sister Fei Er and Little Feng haven’t come back, I’ll wait for them here. Ask them to hurry over.”

Xi Lei nodded and turned around, running towards the town. The winds became stronger, the waves became taller, but Xi Fei and Xi Feng were still nowhere to be found. The two of them were Ah Dai’s good friends, and in Ah Dai’s heart, they were already family to him. He walked towards the sea worriedly, letting the seawater splash against his pants.

No, I can’t wait here any longer. What if Xi Fei and Xi Feng are in danger, how can I face Uncle Schiel later! Thinking of this, Ah Dai immediately took off his clothes and jumped into the sea. He was not very good at swimming, but the Boundless Life Art caused his physique to become robust. He adjusted his breathing and struggled against the waves. In just a short while, he was washed to the deep parts of the sea by the waves, the shore was just a thin blurry line to him. While he swam, he continuously yelled out Xi Fei’s and Xi Feng’s names. However, his voice was totally covered by the raging waves, how could he find anyone in the endless sea. Until now, he did not realize that he himself was in danger.

As there were huge waves in the sea, Schiel’s three sons had long anchored their boats and returned home. Just as they stepped into their house, they met Xi Lei who had went home to report. After hearing Xi Lei’s words, they could not be bothered to rest, and immediately rushed to the beach.

Xi Lei shouted, “Father, look, isn’t that brother and sister?” Indeed, Xi Fei and Xi Feng had just walked up to shore.

Xi Fei saw them and excitedly ran over, “Father, Second Uncle, Third Uncle, why have you come?”

Xi Fei’s father, Xi Zhong, said with a deep voice, “You are too daring, how can you swim in such big waves? What if you get swept away by the sea?”

Sticking out her tongue, and pulling her father’s hand, Xi Fei said softly, “Father, don’t worry, me and brother Feng are good at swimming, how could anything happen to us? It’s so fun playing in the waves! Just that it took us some time to return.” Turning around to her little brother, she asked, “Lei Lei, where is big brother Ah Dai? Aren’t you with him?”

Xi Lei was shocked and looked as his father, Xi Bai, asking, “Isn’t big brother Ah Dai waiting for you at the shore? Where is he?”

Xi Zhong looked at his two brothers, saying, “Everyone quickly look for Ah Dai, he surely would not have left Fei Er and Feng Er and went home by himself. He should be nearby.” Although that was what he had said, there was still an uneasy feeling in his heart. The beach was flat and there was nowhere to hide, if Ah Dai was nearby, they should have seen him long ago. Suddenly, Xi Feng exclaimed, “Father, Uncles, look, isn’t that Ah Dai’s clothes?”

Xi Zhong, Xi Fa, Xi Bai, ran closer to take a look. Indeed, it was Ah Dai’s clothes that were lying on the beach, soaked from the rain. The three men looked at one another, and Xi Zhong said worriedly, “Not good, Ah Dai must have gone into the sea to search for them. This is bad, he is not very good at swimming, he might not be able to swim back. Number Three, quickly go and inform Uncle Owen. Number Two, let’s go into the sea and search for him.”

[TN: Xi Zhong is eldest, Xi Fa 2nd oldest, Xi Bai youngest of Schiel’s 3 sons (2nd generation); Xi Fei is Xi Zhong’s daughter, Xi Feng is Xi Fa’s son, Xi Lei is Xi Bai’s son (3rd generation) but tbh their names won’t be so important in later chapters xD]

At this moment, Ah Dai was unable to see the shore anymore. Under the dark clouds, the waves constantly bashed against his body. He swiped away the seawater on his face, anxiously look around, “Fei Er, Little Feng, where are you?!” In his mind, he was only thinking about Xi Fei and Xi Feng’s safety. A giant wave went by, causing Ah Dai to instantly drink mouthfuls of seawater, the bitter and salty taste left him extremely uncomfortable. As his strength slowly drained away, danger was fast approaching Ah Dai.

Ah Dai who was floating on the surface of the sea, suddenly felt immense pain coming from his feet, it seemed as though something had pricked his legs. Letting out a cry of pain, Ah Dai bent over, trying to feel his legs. He felt a slippery body, and there seemed to be a sharp spike on it, which was now deeply embedded into his leg. Fresh blood flowed from his body, surrounding him. Ah Dai used both hands to grab at that slippery body, and pulled it out from his leg with all his might. His whole right leg was numb, with blood continuously flowing out. Inhaling deeply, Ah Dai used the true qi in his body to seal his blood vessels, stopping the bleeding. The seawater relentlessly agitated the wound, causing Ah Dai to almost faint from the pain. The slippery body in his hands suddenly started to violently wriggle, as though it wanted to escape. Ah Dai brought it closer to his face, and it actually turned out to be a two-feet long strange golden fish. Its whole body was radiating golden light, and it was different from the other fishes that Ah Dai had seen. It also had a shiny golden sharp mouth, the thing that had pierced Ah Dai’s leg.

One hand grabbing at the strange fish’s mouth and the other grabbing its tail, Ah Dai floated on the sea surface. Due to the blood loss, waves of dizziness struck him, along with countless waves battering against his body. The strange fish continued struggling, but was unable to escape from Ah Dai’s hands.

Ah Dai stared blankly at the strange fish, “You, why did you prick me? It was very painful!” The strange fish wriggled a few times, and the seawater on its body dripped on his eyelids, making it seem as though it was crying. Its two strange eyes that were shining with gold light looked sadly at Ah Dai, as if it was pleading to be spared.

The soft-hearted Ah Dai looked at it, and finally said, “I’ll let you go, but you better not prick me again, and you cannot randomly prick other people next time.” As he spoke, he let go of his hands, gently throwing the strange fish into the sea. The golden light flashed under the seawater, before disappearing.

Ah Dai carefully touched the wound on his leg, and continued shouting, “Fei Er, Little Feng, where are you? This is Ah Dai!” Only after shouting for a few times, his throat had become sore. Under the constant pounding from the waves, Ah Dai was slowly losing consciousness. Just as he was about to faint, a golden light flashed, the strange golden fish had returned. It used its mouth to nudge Ah Dai’s body, there seemed to be something dangling on its mouth.

Ah Dai wiped away the seawater on his face, panting as he asked, “Is it for me?”

The strange fish seemed to have understood Ah Dai’s words as it nodded. Ah Dai took the thing from its mouth, it was actually a white jade ring. From the surface, it seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. Ah Dai blinked a few times, barely managing to put the ring on his index finger, before finally passing out.

At the shore, under Xi Bai’s lead, Owen anxiously reached the beach. The fierce waves constantly rushed up the shore, where Xi Fei, Xi Feng and Xi Lei stood nearby. Xi Fei and Xi Feng knew that they were in trouble, and lowered their heads, not making a sound. Worriedly, Owen asked, “Fei Er, have your father and your second uncle found Ah Dai?”