“Grandfather! Grandfather!” The young man cried out anxiously, turning his head back. Tears streamed down his face and floated in the Chaos.
Bursts of terrifying aura manifested behind him. The energy of the sword was endless and covered the mighty sky like a rainbow. There were never-ending explosions creating distortion in the space and black vortexes kept on appearing and disappearing, like a planet being born and dying at the same time.
Puke!
The young man was hit by a stray attack and his body felt like it was splitting apart. Red blood gushed out from his mouth. He would have been decimated if it was not for his Grandfather’s protective barrier.
His eyes lost focus and his thoughts were very far away. In his heart, his grandfather could do anything, including controlling life and death.
However, his grandfather would always say, “Life and death is like clouds passing by. Even the invincibles would die someday. So you need to learn to rely on yourself.”
The young man’s eyes became filled with determination. He dried his tears and sped up his pace. ‘Could I really find a way to survive there?’ He wondered.
After a while, a figure walked out into the Chaos. His movement was erratic, like a flash of lightning, moving quickly.
It was none other than South Shadow Guard.
He was booming with laughter and his aura was causing the Chaos to split. The Laws rushed out of his body and aimed straight at the direction of the young man. “Where do you think you’re going, you brat?”
“Everyone, leave him to me for I’m the fastest in this group. I’ll be back before you know it,” said the South Shadow Guard. Then, he turned into a beam of light and disappeared in the Chaos.
The Left Messenger raised her head and sent him off with her eyes. She had developed a phobia towards the Area of the Gods. She would avoid going there as much as possible. She dared not follow the South Shadow Guard and wondered at the same time whether her colleague would be able to come back safely.
Meanwhile, on the shore of the Eastern Sea, an old man in a white robe was treading the waves with two little girls. The old man’s aura was nearly undetectable and his body was a little rickety. His face was mostly covered by his white hair, white beard, and white eyebrows. There was nothing striking in his appearance making him easy to be overlooked.
The two little girls were Dragin and Nanan. They were happily tagging along with the old man to go to the Fallen Immortal Mountain. In each of their hands was a leash with various sea monsters, that was specially chosen for them, attached to it.
There was a two meter long Australian Lobster and a three meter wide King Crab. Other than rare seafood, there was the tender flesh scaled dragon. All of them were delicious-looking enough to cause anyone’s mouth to water.
The sea monsters, each a king in their own domain, with the ability to summon tidal waves, were treated as normal ingredients by the two little girls. The sight of the two little girls dragging them along provided a sharp contrast.
Dragin blinked her huge eyes and stared at the old man curiously. “Ancestor, is this what you really look like?”
“Silly child, how could it be? One should always prepare a few faces when one lives in such a dangerous world.” The old man smiled compassionately and continued on. “You must remember what I tell you. Escape Spell first, Clone Spell second, and Transformation Spell third. You must master all these three spells. These are the most important things in your training. All the other spells, which could only last for a while, are all passing clouds.”
“I don’t agree with you. Those spells are not cool at all!” Dragin said.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover. Safety first,” said the old man with a stern tone.
“Ancestor, we were eliminating monsters and demons outside. Why are you dragging us to visit Brother Li?” Dragin asked.
Although they liked to stay with Li Nianfan very much, the outside world was also very exciting. They found slaying monsters and demons to be very exciting. Lately, they had made a name for themselves and they felt a sense of achievement from that.
“Did you knock your head silly? Do you know how many people dream about drinking tea with the expert? The two of you had the chance to stay with him and yet chose to slay monsters and demons. Are you crazy?” The old man replied.
“But grandfather, we’ve already obtained so much from Brother Li and we found it hard to digest it all in such a short time. Slaying monsters and demons helped us in many ways too,” explained Nanan. “By the way, you shouldn’t take Brother Li’s luck for granted!”
Nanan stared at the old man and grabbed hold of his beard. “A honey bee produces honey, a cow produces milk, and a hen produces eggs. Do you produce milk? Do you produce eggs?” She asked incessantly.
“Too shallow! Your thinking is too shallow!” The Old Dragon cried after being momentarily stunned by her words. “Do you think I was enjoying myself when I was isolating myself all these years? I only did it so I could gather some power. So I could be more useful! You kids are too short-sighted. You may think that you’re helping out the expert by going out into the world but all you’re doing is making him worry about your safety!”
Nanan was stunned. “Is it really as you say?” She asked skeptically.
“Oh yes. Take the recent event for example, do you think you would be able to help out with the catastrophe brought on by the Ministry and the Eldritch? Why did I come out of my isolation? Well, I’ve decided to look for the two of you when I saw how troubled the expert was.”
Old Dragon paused for a while before continuing. “Besides, if you really want to digest everything you have obtained from the expert, you should learn Yoga for him to reap better results! Just admit you wanted to come out to play. All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy. You’ve disappointed the expert!”
The Old Dragon’s words caused Dragin and Nanan’s heads to droop down in shame.
“Is Brother Li really feeling troubled?” Nanan asked softly.
“Yes. Not only that, Blackie’s became bald with worry!” The Old Dragon said with a sigh.
“No way!” Dragin and Nanan cried, tears circling in their eyes.
“I’m going to train hard and become stronger faster. I’m going to help Brother Li take down all the bad guys!” Nanan said determinedly.
“Me too,” Dragin said seriously with a nod.
“This is more like it. Stay by the expert’s side. Even helping him water the flower would help you improve more than training outside,” The Old Dragon said. A gratified smile broke out of his face.
“Kids are so easy to manipulate,” the Old Dragon thought. He would never tell them the real reason he wanted them to train hard was because he hoped that they would be able to abolish all evils so he did not have to do anything.
Blackie had forced him to go outside, effectively ending his lackadaisical life. It was a good thing he was able to quickly come up with a plan to counteract this.
Within the lackadaisical community, there was a saying — It is nice to rest under the shade of a big tree.
Or — There will always be someone to prevent the sky from falling.
As long as he surrounded himself with powerful people, he would be able to continue on with his lackadaisical life.
Suddenly, Old Dragon’s face slightly twitched then looked to the far distance. He casted a spell and in an instant, countless faint water vapors appeared, to monitor the movements of the thousands of miles around.
Two light beams shot out from a far distance, and in a flash entered the Chaos’ outer sky, and the figure treaded the sky, coming straight at them.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Even the Laws had to make way for them as they advanced, making terrifying noises as loud as thunder.
The South Shadow Guard’s eyes were squinted and he was pursuing the young man from behind as if he was nothing but a prey. “You won’t be able to escape, brat. Hand over the Repose Herb if you don’t want to die!” He said mockingly.
The young man’s grip of the Repose Herb became tighter. With blood still gushing out of his mouth, he could feel the protective barrier standing on its last leg.
He was not afraid of death but he would never surrender to them!
Suddenly, he saw a group of people on the ocean in front of him — it was a group made of an old man and two little girls.
“Old man, quickly bring the kids away from here. Behind me is a Ministry man. It’s dangerous!” He shouted loudly, panic filling his heart.
Nanan’s eyes shone brightly when she heard what the young man said. “Grandfather, that’s a Ministry man there! Let’s kill him so Brother Li would be less troubled!”
“Ancestor, it’s show time for you!” Dragin said with anticipation.
Old Dragon stayed quiet. He was trying to assess the situation while trying to compose himself at the same time.
‘There doesn’t seem to be other people lying in ambush within a thousand miles and no other power fluctuations behind the Ministry man. He must be alone. If that’s the case, I should be able to take him down easily with any of the methods in the Thirty-Seven Instant-Kill Program! But let’s wait for a moment longer to see how the situation develops.’ He thought to himself.
He was snapped back to the present when he heard the cold shouts of the South Shadow Guard. “Stop! Hand over the Repose Herb, hand over the Repose Herb!”
Old Dragon’s face became grave at that very moment. The rumors about the Ministry were true — they were indeed mad and shameless! How could they behave themselves in such a way? An old man forcing a young man to do the thing he did not want!
‘I have two kids with me here. How could I expose them to such behaviors?’ He thought.
Thus, this made him raise his hand without any further hesitation.
Whoosh!
The ocean exploded and a pillar of water made up of infinite amounts of droplets rushed towards the young man. The droplets were acting as if they were alive, their speed already surpassing the Laws of the universe. There was no chance of ever dodging it and it appeared in front of the South Shadow Guard without warning.
The South Shadow Guard was too engaged in the pursuit when his eyes suddenly went blurry by a burst of strong light and the endless drops of water. In the next instant, he felt the water droplets hitting him, piercing through his body, and breaking his life markings.
He did not even have a chance to make any sound before dropping to the ground like a little bird hit with a bullet. He was unequivocally dead.
“He’s…dead?” The young man was dumbfounded. He lowered his wide eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating.
‘How could a high-level member of the Heavenly Realm have gotten so easily killed by a seemingly ordinary looking old man? He must have kept his talents hidden all this while. It’s just as grandfather said, the Area of the Gods is full of hidden talents and endless luck!’ thought the young man to himself.
The experience of a near death escape brought up mixed feelings inside of him and he started to shake.
“Hello there! The herb you’re holding looks interesting. The expert doesn’t have it in his backyard yet.” The Old Dragon said, snapping the young man back to the present.
“Thank you for saving my life. This is a Repose Herb. I hope it is to your liking,” the young man said respectfully. He was not stupid so it was natural for him to get the Old Dragon’s hidden meaning. Thus, without hesitation, he handed over the Repose Herb to him. The reason he was protecting Repose Herb with his life just a moment ago was because he did not want to give in to the Ministry.
“Why thank you. You’ll go far in life, young man.” The Old Dragon nodded and took the Repose Herb from the young man’s hand and handed it over to Dragin. Then, he turned his gaze to the South Shadow Guard’s corpse and a smile broke out of his face. “That’s actually a Chaos Black-Feather Finch. Our offerings to the expert have just been upgraded now that we have plants, seafood, and wild game.”
“And we offer delivery! Brother Li would surely be happy.” Dragin and Nanan quickly went over to string up the Chaos Black-Feather Finch.
Seeing them about to leave, the young man could not keep it in anymore, and proceeded to kneel in front of Old Dragon. “My name is Jiang Liu. Please accept me as your follower!”
Old Dragon shook his head without missing a beat. “No.”
“The Eldritch has come and the Chaos would descend into catastrophe soon. I want to do what I can!” Jiang Liu said, not giving up.
Old Dragon shook his head again and muttered to Dragin, “Let’s go. We have to quickly go back to where the expert is!”
‘Expert?’ Jiang Lu had heard Old Dragon mention him a few times. His heart began to beat wildly for he guessed Old Dragon’s power must be higher than his grandfather so how powerful must the expert be if Old Dragon was to call him such?
His breath became even more ragged when he noticed the monsters and demons strung with a leash in Nanan and Dragin’s hand. ‘Are these all for the expert? Even the Chaos Black-Feather Finch? They must really hold him in high regards.’
He then gritted his teeth and followed them from behind.
When the Chaos Black-Feather Finch fell to the ground, the impact caused numerous feathers to fall off. As soon as the Old Dragon and the rest of the group had left, a single feather left on the ground started to glow, attached to it was a shred of Primordial Spirit.
“It’s a good thing that with the Nirvana Skill I was able to preserve my life. If not I would have surely died!” The memory of the previous attack could still strike fear in the South Shadow Guard’s heart.
His attacker had definitely reached the edge of the Wisdom. He might even be on par with the Minister!
“I should leave here as soon as possible.”
Suddenly, he felt a foreboding premonition. He turned his eyes upwards and noticed an old woman standing in the sky.
‘First, an old man! Now an old woman? Just how dangerous is this Area of the Gods?’
Just when he was still dazed, the old woman had already raised her hand, and a burst of fire passed by, sweeping all over the black feathers on the ground and turning them into nothingness.
Then, came another middle-aged man who threw down a few thunderbolts and walked around carefully to make sure he did not miss anything before turning away and leaving.
Dragin and Nanan’s views on Old Dragon had changed for the positive ever since then. It was even more impactful for Jiang Lu, enough to turn his worldview upside down. Though there was no denying of the power Old Dragon possessed, Jiang Lu could not help but feel he was a little too lackadaisical.
“That Ministry man was too powerful! I could have died. You all need to train harder so you can fight your own battles. I’m too old to keep on doing dangerous things like this!” The Old Dragon said.
Jiang Lu could not help but sneak a glance at Old Dragon while thinking to himself if only his grandfather was as powerful as Old Dragon or if he had met Old Dragon sooner and trained under him, his grandfather would still be alive.
Jiang Lu followed behind them, not speaking a word, and Old Dragon pretended to not know he was there.
Until they reached the foot of Fallen Immortal Mountain, did Old Dragon stop to say, “The expert doesn’t like to be to disturbed. You cannot follow us any further nor can you go up the mountain. So it’s best if you go back from where you came from.”
He did not wait for Jiang Lu to respond and proceeded to go up the mountain with Dragin and Nanan.
Jiang Lu looked at Old Dragon’s disappearing back and bowed deeply. He knew in his heart Old Dragon was not being cruel, in fact, he actually gave him a hint! It was enough for him to know the existence of the expert and the location of where he was staying. All this was kindness in disguise!
“Grandfather, I have already encountered my chance in the Area of the Gods. I would work hard to gain recognition from the expert so I would be able to protect myself and those I love!”
He then took a deep breath and sat down in a cross-legged position at the foot of the mountain.
