Aeon Clan Domain's Main Peak, Dawn Peak.
"My chest hurts every time I look west. Well, it hurts regardless but it makes me think about that day. If only I brought my needle arrow, I would have broken that gauntlet at least." Aeon Yong said as he leaned on the back of his chair before drinking some alcohol from his jade bowl. In front of him were a few jars, some empty and some unsealed, on a huge round table made out of granite outside of the Ancestor's residence.
"That gauntlet was not a joke, I don't even know if my blade was able to scratch it. Is it the material or design?" Aeon Ion said with his eyes closed as he sat under the cover of the massive White Oak.
"Maybe both. Ah who cares, that guy is dead anyway. When is Uncle coming out? My drink is about to run out... anyway what are you wearing?" Aeon Yong waved his hand around as his saw his niece arrive.
"Its just a hat, I'm trying gather reactions. We might be able to sell them soon, Sister Wu said her clansmen have been asking for her to make more." Aeon Soren smiled as she touched her fur hat, attached to it was a furry tail.
"Are you going to call it Ring of Fire or Chrysanthemum? After all that's where the tail is." Aeon Yong said with laughter, immediately his hand went on his chest.
"I took a peek at that room near the bamboo hut, if we sold all of those we won't need to worry about money for a while." Aeon Soren said with a mischievous smile.
"Ahh you want to kill your Uncle! Don't you know, I personally sealed those jars, I treat them like my own children. How can I sell my own children?" Aeon Yong said, truthfully he had some other stash in a different place but why would he want it known? After all he still had to make sure he had enough good wine to last till he turns to dust.
"I know, I know... five, no, ten jars. Ten jars and I will not touch your other precious 'children'. And don't even think about giving me the lower quality ones, I know that which jars you put the high ones." Aeon Soren chuckled.
Everyone's hearts were light ever since the Ancestor came back from the hunt. Although nobody knows if its worth the price they paid.
"Yo-You... alright but only ten jars, no more." Aeon Yong said with resignation.
"Thank you Uncle. You're the best." Aeon Soren smiled, it was quite hard to get some wine from her uncle. His wine can fetch quite a lot especially when auctioned, it is popular to several prominent people in the marketplace.
"Sigh, you... sigh where has my innocent niece gone? You used to call me Uncle Ten and gave me flowers. I used to call you Little Egg." Aeon Yong mumbled as he poured wine in his bowl.
"Fifteen, call me that again and I'll take fifteen jars!" Aeon Soren said seriously before laughing a few seconds later.
"Sigh, the world has taken my sweet little niece and turned her into a scheming demoness. You have spent too much time with that Bai lass." Aeon Yong said as he drank from his jade bowl.
"Ion, did you send the some drinks to the Border Guards? I have a feeling Uncle 'forgot' about it again." Aeon Soren said as she sat down on one of the chairs surrounding the granite table.
"What's with that tone? You're embellishing my name, what if those people heard you?" Aeon Yong retorted.
"Did you send it or not?"
"No, buuut my subordinates did. I'm not that unreliable."
"I'm not questioning your reliability, I am just worried that you didn't want to part with your children."
Under the White Oak's cover, a smile could be seen on Aeon Ion's face.
"They're my children but how could I withhold it when we have so many things to celebrate? Uncle broke through and dodged death for a while. That kid wearing mittens is dead, that cub broke through to Middle Initiate Realm. I told Bandit Xu to add more jars for him, I even took out my Four Decade of Suffering for him. Anyway, I also consider our clansmen avenged, I blame everything that happened on that mitten wearing snot having wet-behind-the-ears milk drinking kid, and that green robe he's wearing reminds me of the Snake Plants that your Auntie used to grow outside the bamboo hut. Sigh..." Aeon Yong could only sigh, after whatever happened cannot be altered. He avoided memories by making and drinking wine for a long time, did it change anything? Maybe, maybe not, but its already over.
"Uncle..."
"I'm fine, everything is fine, I just need to drink some more and everything will be fine tomorrow."
"Don't drink too much, Uncle. Your body still needs to heal."
"Its fine its fine, I'm about to retire. There's no need to delay the celebration. By the way, that part of the roof does not look right, I don't remember them putting a flowerpot. That's dangerous you know, what if it falls on some poor mortal below?" Aeon Yong said.
At his age, he still had decades to serve his clan as a hunter unfortunately the amount of damage he sustained from that battle reduced his strength dramatically. Of course he would still act as an elder, a mentor for the next generation but that might only happen every few days or more.
He still had a lot of time but he considers himself retired mostly because he can do whatever he wants now. Mentor Ion in hunting, teach at least one of the three kids in winemaking, make and drink wine, find new mixes, all of them he wanted to do but didn't really have enough time. Developing other hobbies is also on the table.
"It's a bird, Uncle. Flower pot? It looks nowhere like a flower pot, you drank too much."
"I was wondering who would paint it such an ugly bird. Anyway, I won't stop drinking 'till I see the sun again."
It was noon.
...
Meanwhile, for the past few days...
Ancestors Residence, Study Room.
Aeon Lou with a brush in hand, contemplated. He recorded whatever he could gather on several mediums. Everything is currently a mess, of course he would clean up after he is done.
After breaking through to Perfect Initiate Realm, he had a lot more time to do things. He no longer worried about whether his legacy would be trivial. Before he started, he already knew that this swordsmanship would be a pillar of Aeon Clan.
He also decided to pass on the leadership of the clan to focus on digesting his gains and developing it. A new world was opened, he wanted the future generations to be born in it.
"But why did it have to be a strike from the left?"
"I see, I've been doing this technique wrong then?"
"If my sword was longer then I wouldn't have to waste a movement to deflect that punch..."
"This little movement has such huge effect?"
"But on application of spiritual energy... where do I even start?"
"How have I lived my entire life not knowing this?"
"I need to write this down before I find out about another thing and forget about this..."
"If I had a younger body I would not need to use spiritual energy on that movement."
"Would it be different if the amount decreased?"
"It would have been broken, my arm would have been broken."
"But why did I do that?"
"No, in order for my body to withstand it without spiritual energy... no its not... must be in my twenties. Even then I would have been injured."
"If I had done this a little bit earlier I would have saved more energy."
...
Somewhere in the Aeon Clan town.
"Su Ha, did you load jar already? We need to put some more supplies before we put it."
"Bandit I swear you're just making me waste- never mind. Can't we just use more carriages? After all the ones used for trading are back already."
"Don't even think about it, I've been hounding them about it before the day even started but they still didn't want to lend them to us."
"They're as stingy as ever, the only good thing about them is the coins they put in my pocket. Aside from that they all act as if we'd destroy the things we borrow."
"Aye, what can we do? They act like that because they can, at least we are paid higher than a lot of them. The thought of that comforts me at night."
"Yeah, right. Your hand is definitely doing the comforting."
"Heh, I'm not like you. I have a wife to share the warmth with. Anyway get to work, we want them to get moving so they can return earlier."
...
"I need more grains, they keep disappearing."