Back in the Village.
As Li Zui launched his attacks, punching at Cultivator Cui with unending rage, the villagers ran back to create some distance from the unfolding battle.
Li Gongxian watched as his younger brother unleashed punch after punch on Cultivator Cui, forcing him to evade every attack. Li Gongxian had always thought of Li Zui as a fool, spending every day practicing strange movements by the river like a madman. Li Zui could barely read because he dedicated all his time to training his body, rarely attending Miss Mao Yan's classes.
Their father often looked at Li Zui with dissatisfaction and disgust, calling him a "fool" and "useless son." Yet now, Li Zui stood in front of them, facing a Cultivator single-handedly.
Li Gongxian felt an urge to apologize but knew that now wasn't the time. Suppressing his emotions, he retreated with the other villagers, carrying their father's body with him.
However, something unexpected happened. Just as the villagers began to imagine Cultivator Cui limping and covered in red and blue, Li Zui suddenly stopped moving, his right fist hanging in the air.
"UrgghhhaaRRRGGHHH!!!" Li Zui groaned in pain.
The change in events happened so quickly that the villagers were taken by surprise. At first, Li Zui was dominating, even having killed Cultivator Chou with one hit. But now, he stood frozen and groaning after just a few more punches. Had Cultivator Cui done something to him?
The answer was no. Cultivator Cui had done nothing at all.
Through her eyes, Mao Xuelian noticed the truth. Li Zui's energy had been massive at the beginning, but it depleted just as rapidly as he had killed Cultivator Chou. His energy felt different and costlier, inferior even, to her mother's and the other Cultivators' energies.
After the rapid movements ceased, the villagers could finally see Cultivator Cui's true state. He was unhurt—not even a bruise marked his pale skin. Unlike Cultivator Chou, who had been caught completely off guard, Cultivator Cui had been able to see and evade all of Li Zui's punches.
An eerie silence descended, broken only by a soft laugh from Cultivator Cui.
"A Master... not bad. However, you seem to lack experience, young warrior. Your technique is perfect, but it wasn't executed well and isn't flexible enough. Don't you know the difference between Life Force and Qi?" Cultivator Cui smiled at Li Zui, whose expression was frozen in anger.
Even in his current state, Li Zui glared at him with unending rage. But instead of focusing on Li Zui, Cultivator Cui's eyes were fixed on... Mao Xuelian.
Cultivator Cui slapped Li Zui aside before striding toward the villagers, heading straight for Mao Xuelian.
"ZUI!" Li Gongxian shouted, gritting his teeth as he watched his brother's body fly through the air.
"Offer me the little girl, and you shall be spared," Cultivator Cui stated calmly as he continued his approach.
The villagers exchanged fearful glances, their anxiety evident. They then turned their eyes toward Aunty Pu, who was still holding Mao Xuelian tightly.
Aunty Pu looked at them and frowned.
"You wouldn't hand Xuelian over to him... right?" Lou You asked, searching the faces of the villagers for answers.
No one could speak; their fear was palpable. They didn't want to face the same fate as the Village Chief, but they felt too embarrassed to voice their thoughts.
Somehow, Lou You understood the meaning of their silence.
"No! No! You can't hand her over to him!" he pleaded, tugging desperately at the adults' clothes.
However, no one spoke.
Mao Xuelian freed herself from Aunty Pu's embrace. She looked at Lou You, her eyes red with tears.
"I'll go, Youyou." She nodded at him with a forced smile before turning towards the approaching Cultivator Cui. "Farewell."
"N-no..." Lou You reached out for her as she stepped forward, toward a place he knew he couldn't reach.
Cultivator Cui smiled, squinting pleasantly at Mao Xuelian. "Good girl," he praised her, patting her head.
"XUELIAN!" Aunty Pu and Lou You called out to her, but Mao Xuelian didn't turn around to look at them.
She couldn't face them, feeling too miserable to... No. Beneath her sobbing facade, she calmly weighed her circumstances. She thought that following Cultivator Cui might help her understand this world better.
To achieve the "Perfect Life" she yearned for.
With a smile, Cultivator Cui held his clay flask in front of him before smashing it.
Crimson mist erupted from the flask, engulfing both Mao Xuelian and Cultivator Cui.
Lou You kept calling her name, but when the mist faded, Mao Xuelian and Cultivator Cui were nowhere to be found.
At that moment, a clang of metal echoed through the village. The villagers turned their heads toward the source of the sound and found Mao Yan standing there with a blank expression. The sound came from her ice sword, which had fallen to the ground and shattered after she stopped maintaining its form with her Qi.
"BLOOD SEEECCCCTTT!!!"
Her mad screech signaled the end of Li Village, the hometown of the future Golden Children of Fate.
...
Far away from Li Village, in the White Mountain Range and the Forsaken Dew Forest of Tian Clan's Territory, on the southern side of the Copper Cloud Continent, near the Tian Seven Battlefront, where the war between the Tian Clan and the Seven Southern Claws had erupted ten years ago.
The traces left by various magical techniques created massive and small craters, while some even formed wide cracks in the celestial body itself. Other areas showed no signs of vegetation growth after the use of dangerous techniques.
In one of the wide cracks formed in the barren land, a crimson symbol hidden behind rocks and shadows lit up and released crimson mist into the surroundings.
The mist filled the narrow opening in the crack and receded one minute later. After the mist disappeared, two figures—one small and one tall—appeared.
It was Mao Xuelian and Cultivator Cui.
Mao Xuelian looked terrified, her fingers trembling as she fidgeted with her skirt, her eyes scanning the surroundings with fear and uncertainty.
Then she felt a pat on her head. She looked up to see Cultivator Cui's smiling face.
"Let's go, little girl. Our way to the Sect is still long," he said, before walking toward the only source of light in the crack—the hidden exit carved into the stone.
"Y-Yes..." Mao Xuelian nodded before following him.