As the first rays of morning light spilled across the Liu Clan grounds, a soft golden hue bathed everything in a serene glow. The faint chirping of birds outside my window broke the quiet stillness of the early hour.
Wait, chirping birds? Since when did I ever wake late enough to hear chirping birds?
Warm sunlight filtered through the thin glass windows, casting intricate patterns on the walls and floor of my room. The designs blended with the soft flicker of the extinguishing arrays.
Huh… I’d overslept.
Shaking off the thought, I got up and put on a fresh pair of dark pants and a matching robe, sothing that would blend well into the shadows. Normally, I might’ve gone for the standard white, but I preferred dark robes... they were easier to clean, and I had a stash of them in my storage ring.
After a quick breakfast of warm porridge and freshly stead buns, I stepped outside into the Liu Clan grounds. The air was crisp, carrying the faint sweetness of spring blossoms beginning to bloom. Winter’s harsh grip had finally loosened. The stone pathways were no longer slick with frost but dry and sunlit.
Clan mbers moved about with a relaxed ease absent during the wars. Children dashed across the courtyard, their laughter ringing like a lody, while elders sat in clusters beneath budding trees, sharing quiet conversations. Warriors and cultivators exchanged nods and occasional smiles.
Under the sunlight, the Liu Clan buildings seed to glow. Red lanterns from the last feast still swayed gently from so doorways.
rchants bustled along the courtyard edges, their carts piled high with fragrant herbs, polished weaponry, and other wares. The hum of bartering blended with the rhythmic clang of a blacksmith’s hamr echoing from a distant forge. As I strolled through the grounds, familiar faces greeted with bows or polite waves.
For a mont, it felt like the burdens of the past months had lted away with the snow, leaving the Liu Clan to bask in the fleeting beauty of a peaceful morning.
Holy shit! I just realized I spent most of winter holed up in my house, sparring with a woman who probably wanted dead. Honestly, I need to go outside and touch so grass… taphorically speaking.
As I walked through the market, a few rchants cast side-glances my way, clearly thinking I wouldn’t notice. So looked wary, but most greeted with broad smiles.
Mortals were usually cautious of cultivators, but we were a big family with the sa blood running through our veins. Besides, everyone was still riding the victorious high.
The crowd thickened as I neared the Main Hall, where the Clan Head handled grievances. This was the central heart of the Liu Clan grounds, bustling with activity.
“Excuse , excuse ,” I murmured, weaving through the crowd. Thankfully, enough people recognized to spare from waiting in line.
“This way, cousin,” Liu Heng called out, spotting . He wore a dark robe with tal shin guards, looking every bit the diligent guard. “The Clan Head has been expecting you.”
He led toward the large doors, where a handful of other guards stood to maintain order. They let us pass without a word.
“I’ll notify the Clan Head of your presence,” Liu Heng said as we stopped in front of the large doors to the main hall.
He slipped inside, then poked his head out monts later. “You can co in now.”
I nodded and stepped inside, my boots making soft thuds against the polished wooden floor.
The Main Hall was as imposing as ever, its vast interior illuminated by faint sunlight streaming through narrow, high-set windows. Marble pillars adorned with carvings of mythical beasts stretched up to the vaulted ceiling. The air was thick with the minty tang of incense, a lingering remnant of countless ceremonies held here. Lanterns hung in perfect symtry across the hall.
The scent seed more potent than before. Were they using the minty incense to hide another sll? If I were a betting man, I would say they were trying to hide the scent of dicine.
"I will leave you alone now," Liu Heng said, closing the door behind and leaving us in privacy.
I nodded, barely acknowledging him. My attention was drawn not to the room's grandeur but to the man seated on the throne of the Liu Clan leadership.
The throne wasn't as I rembered it. A cushion was added for comfort, and the once ornate seat was now polished wood.
But none of that mattered. What stood out was the man occupying the throne. His head was wrapped in bandages and stitches, an eyepatch covered one eye, and where his legs should have been were wooden prosthetics extending below his knees.
Grandpa hadn't said a word about this last night. The Liu Clan had clearly paid a steep price. Despite leading the family to unprecedented heights, it was painfully obvious the current Clan Head was no longer in fighting condition. We needed a new Clan Head sooner rather than later.
Still, I bowed and reported respectfully, "Junior greets the honorable Clan Leader."
The words might've been lip service, considering "honorable" wasn't exactly how we won this war. Yet, I genuinely appreciated him.
"Raise your head, Liu Feng," he said, his voice hoarse and tired, a far cry from the powerful figure I'd first t. "You've made significant contributions to the war. A large sum of coin will be given to you once the Clan's finances stabilize. I've also approved your earlier request before the battle."
With a wave of his hand, a book and a short sword appeared on his lap.
"Forgive ; I can't get up to hand them over," he said, tossing the book and sheathed sword toward . The book spun through the air, and the sword arced gracefully. I caught them with ease, their weight settling comfortably in my hands.
Without hesitation, I stored them in my ring and bowed again, cupping my fists this ti.
"This young one acknowledges the Clan's generosity and deeply thanks the Clan Head. I sincerely wish for your swift recovery."
Despite the formal tone, I truly ant it. The sacrifices he'd made for the Clan were beyond words. But hoping for soone's recovery wasn't enough to make it happen.
The Clan Head nodded at my words, and after a formal goodbye, I left the main hall feeling a touch embarrassed.
I'd prepared escape plans in case the Clan didn't honor its promises. Seeing firsthand what loyalty cost when strength waned only deepened my respect for him. He had given everything to secure the Liu Clan's future and eliminate its historical threats. Of course, he hadn't exactly used honorable and had likely even dabbled in the cruel, but at the end of the day, he gave everything for his Clan. The least I could do was respect soone who gave their everything for sothing.
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"How did it go?" Liu Heng asked, eting outside.
"It went well," I replied, smiling at my cousin. "If you ever feel like sparring or training, co to my ho. I should start doing my part for the Clan."
Liu Heng stared at , his pupils narrowing in surprise before nodding. "Liu Qian is going to have a tough ti competing for the Clan Head position with you showing this much enthusiasm."
"I have no intention of competing for the position," I corrected him quickly. "There's no room for petty rivalries. I'll fully support Liu Qian's rise to Clan Leader."
"Really?"
"Of course. We're family. We should support each other, especially in tis like these."
With that, I left Liu Heng to his duties and rushed ho at top speed, likely appearing as nothing more than a blur to anyone watching.
Once ho, I went straight to my room, threw myself onto the bed, pulled out the book and short sword, and opened the book.
A diary? This was the diary of the Liu Clan founder! Holy shit.
As for the sword, it looked like an ordinary weapon, nothing special and not particularly well-made. It was probably sothing the clan founder used in his early years.
Without any more babbling, I began reading the diary...
~
My first mory is of soone whispering to about being a bastard.
I was born as Shu Zi (I later changed my na to Liu Zi) and was the son of a concubine of so cultivator from the Nine Moon Sect.
~
The first entry caught my attention imdiately. I continued reading, engrossed in the founder's recollection of his childhood. He hadn't had an easy life. He was bullied and constantly belittled for being the son of what was essentially a personal prostitute for a cultivator. Also, the descriptions in his diary were raw; perhaps he knew only high-ranking descendants in the Clan would read this, so he didn't care much about his image.
Nine Moon Sect… I'd read about them before. They were once a mid-to-upper-tier sect, but they'd been in sharp decline for the past few hundred years. Why? No clue. The book hadn't ntioned anything about that.
As I read further, I learned that when the founder's cultivation talent was discovered, the Nine Moon Sect invited him to join. But he refused.
He wrote about not wanting to be coddled by a father he hadn't even t yet. A real man makes his own destiny, he had written.
Just from these entries, I got a rough sense of what my ancestor had been like. It made sense why the Liu Clan valued its mbers so deeply. No matter how distant the blood ties, we always looked out for each other.
Though, maybe most clans were like this? The only other Clan I'd spent much ti around was the Song Clan, and they were… far from normal.
Anyway, back to the book.
The founder's first twenty or so years were uneventful, mostly him struggling to gather cultivation resources as an independent cultivator. He ntioned his mother passing when he was in his twenties, but nothing else about her beyond that.
He finally entered Foundation Establishnt in his mid-forties. Which was a ridiculously long ti considering his apparent talent. His chosen elent was wind, and he wrote in detail about his insights, the techniques he developed, and the reasons behind them.
By the ti he hit fifty-five, he'd reached the peak of Foundation Establishnt. Then, in his mid-seventies, he broke through to Core Formation.
"Damn, this guy's life was just cultivating in a dark cavern," I muttered.
Was that really all there was to it? Or did he leave out the more personal details? There was no ntion of first loves or even lovers. From what I could tell, he might've been an almost eighty-year-old virgin.
I shook my head, laughing a little at the thought, and kept reading.
After becoming a Core Formation powerhouse, he traveled across the continent, but only briefly. He realized his "ultimate technique," ford upon breaking through to Core Formation, was relatively weak.
The diary described how every minor breakthrough in Core Formation felt like decades of effort. Years slipped away. Without the right resources or fortunate encounters, his cultivation advanced far more slowly than his talent rited.
For each breakthrough star in Foundation Establishnt, a cultivator would create a technique that represented their understanding of their elent. To advance to Core Formation, they had to fuse those nine techniques into a single ultimate technique, often called the Core Technique or Ultimate Technique.
But the techniques couldn't be random. The cultivator needed a clear vision of what they wanted to create before attempting to rge them.
Foundation Establishnt was all about laying the groundwork for the next level, hence the na. It wasn't just about the techniques, though. One had to form Qi pillars in their dantian and engrave those techniques into each pillar. The process wasn't just "a bit" complicated but extrely complicated.
Of course, there were always geniuses like Song Song who made it look easy. She had both the talent and an incredible comprehension of her elent, breezing through breakthroughs like it was second nature.
Talent and comprehension worked hand in hand during this stage. One wasn't worth much without the other.
I planned to dive deeper into this study once I reached Foundation Establishnt myself. Unfortunately, Song Song wasn't exactly great at explaining things, even with her natural abilities.
As I read further, the diary ntioned the Liu Clan founder breaking through to the three-star Core Formation stage. Afterward, he left his cavern, realizing that advancing further would take far too long. He didn't believe he had enough lifespan left to reach Nascent Soul.
Nascent Soul? The guy had ambition, that was for sure.
As I turned the page, another interesting tidbit caught my eye.
~
This was all when the Blazing Sun Sect was researching the soul, and they were looking for Otherwolders.
They used to offer a pretty nice reward for any Otherwolders brought to them.
.
.
~
It was a small ntion, almost a throwaway line, but my mind latched onto it.
The Blazing Sun Sect was hunting Otherworlders for research? That was a huge deal! I'd been living in the lion's den this whole ti without realizing it!
No, wait. Maybe the sect wasn't searching for Otherworlders anymore. Still, the idea was terrifying. Just thinking about it sent a shiver down my spine.
The diary ntioned specific years but not exact dates of when things happened.
It also noted that the rewards included rare pills and secret techniques to help with the Nascent Soul realm breakthroughs. Sadly, Otherworlders were too rare for the Clan Founder to make it a reliable endeavor to search for them.
I shuddered. If my ancestor were alive today, would he have sold off for one of those rewards?
But I quickly threw such thoughts at the back of my mind and continued reading.
After that brief ntion, the founder's life seed to return to normal. He worked with the Azure Frost Sect on a mysterious project. Whatever it was, it earned him a lifespan-extending technique from one of the three great sects.
The technique allowed the user to freeze themselves in ice, halting their body's aging until soone broke them out. But it required the Ice Elent, and since it was only Earth Grade, it ca with significant drawbacks: cultivation regression over ti and total loss of consciousness while frozen. Soone else would have to break the user out.
The diary also ntioned a visit from the Blazing Sun Sect leader. The founder didn't go into detail about the leader's offer, but it was intriguing.
In the end, my ancestor obtained the longevity technique and traded it to soone else for a Tier 7 Heaven Overturning Pill, which could help with breakthroughs to Nascent Soul.
Then, in an almost casual afterthought, he ntioned the idea of starting a family in case he failed to break through. He wanted to leave sothing behind.
After that, there were no more entries. It was clear he likely died during his attempt to ascend.
A chill ran down my spine as I closed the diary.
"Well, that was fun…"
Also it was enlightening in its own way.
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