3rd Person Pov Akagawa Compound
In the training ground two people fighting each other, one was a fourteen years old kid with an already quite robust body he had black shoulder length hair with crimson tips at the end, right now the hair was tied up in a small ponytails to not obstruct his vision while his crimson eyes were not leaving the numerous fist that were coming his way.
With a whoosh sound he swung his sword as the gray blade met with a pair of red metal gauntlet, the user of those gauntlet was a buff middle aged man with bright red hair coming down his shoulder like the mane of a lion and dark red eyes that were fixed on the young man that was doing everything in his power to either deviate the attacks or dodge them completely.
"If you want to go into a battle of attrition then you will lose!"
As demonstrating his statement the buff man, Daisuke, pulled back his right fist before surrounding it in bright red flames, as a Black Gold rank Demon spiritualist he was able integrate with his demon spirit to activate different skills and one of his skill was the ability to attach the fire element into his attack, obviously this was just the base use and he was still holding back as much as he could to not actually hurt his young master but if the attack made contact with the young master it would surely leave a bruise.
"Try dodging this!"
Launching his fist toward his target he saw his young master/nephew, Shin, position his sword sideways in parallel with his body right before swinging it towards the fist, Daisuke was surprised as he saw a small red aura imbued in the sword right before he felt more than half of the force in his attack rebound and attack his own hand, sure it was minimal and it wouldn't have hurt him even if it was the full force but it wasn't that the point.
Looking at Shin he saw him slide back a couple of meter with a small smile on his face, that was one of the forms of the Akagawa Sword Style and it was called 'Reverse Flow' it was a move that was used by their ancestor to go against any type of unstoppable force, the perfect execution of that move would let the user create a swing that could go against the heavens itself.
"That was perfectly done young master, how about doing it again?"
It wasn't much of an answer but more a statement, Daisuke has never been good with intellectual stuff the only things that he was ever able to do was cultivate and fight, and because of that the only way he could be able to teach someone about the Akagawa Sword Style it would be through practical combat.
"Like I have any other choice."
Shin huffed before sheathing his sword in the black scabbard at his hips, it has already been over two years since they started training and while Shin decided to stop his cultivation to temper his body his strength still grew by leaps and bounds, not only was able to perform all of the sword forms in their most basic form but he was also able to perform two form of the halberd style, he was interested in trying the other two weapon style but after trying them for a little he discovered he didn't have much talent in them so he preferred to concentrate in these two.
They stared at each other for a seconds before Daisuke sprinted toward Shin another flaming fist ready to strike, Shin stepped back to his left before quickly drawing his sword successfully deviating the attack and without even trying to counter attack he decided to step back and gain more distance, that move revealed to be the correct one as Daisuke quickly turned his body and punched empty air with his other fist.
Shin didn't have time to celebrate his quick thinking as he saw his uncle already charge at him and as he jumped back he felt the air heat up as a melon sized fireball came right for him, quickly executing the Reverse Flow in mid air he successfully split the fireball in two before to his horror he saw two other came right behind.
Using another form he slashed horizontally as a small red line was formed right between him and the fireballs and as the two came in contact the fireballs exploded sending him, that was still mid air, toward a nearby wall.
"That was an excellent use of the Ethereal Flow Young master."
Looking up his face paled as he saw Daisuke with his fist right about to descend on him, it was at that moment that Shin saw the world slow down and right before the fist could hit him in an unconscious movement he jumped.
Daisuke was about to stop the fist to not injure Shin but was surprised as in under one second Shin sheathed his sword and jumped moving passing right by his fist and going behind his back leaving only a small trail of red aura surrounding his arm and shoulder.
"What?"
Turning around he was met with crimson snake like eyes, Shin while still not fully controlling it was now able to partially integrate with his demon spirit just like right now as he integrated with his demon spirit to use the boost in speed and flexibility to escape that attack.
Shin first demon spirit was a Blood Ba Serpent, a blood type demon spirit that had the strength of a 1-Star Bronze rank, he wasn't proficient enough yet to use it's innate abilities but everytime time he integrate with it he would have a boost in speed, flexibility and reflex along with a mild resistance to poison.
"Oh are we going to train with Demon spirit then?"
Daisuke chuckled a little as he saw Shin grimace right before he integrated with his own demon spirit.
A bright red fiery aura was emitted from Daisuke as his red hair became more and more like the mane of a lion and his eyes changed to a more feline form.
"Bring it on Young master!"
Lifting his hands, that now were lion's paws, he grinned showing his sharp teeth. Daisuke's demon spirit was a Flaming Lion with a strength of 5-Star Black Gold. He was also a demon spirit he hunted himself and decided to integrate with as it was really compatible with his raging river soul form.
Shin, deciding to take the initiative, sprinted forward drawing his sword leaving a red trail with his swing. The sword came in contact with one of the claws of Daisuke causing a red sparkle sending Shin a couple of steps back but only causing Daisuke to retract his hand/paw a little.
"That's some good power you have there!"
Still smiling calmly Daisuke breathed in, causing his throat to redden, Shin looking at that scene felt a sense of doom along with the raising temperature he listened to his instincts, quickly sheathing his sword he jumped, helped by the boost from his demon spirit, he was able to be fast enough to dodge the sea of flames creating under him.
'Well now that's just unfair.'
Looking at the never ending sea of flame he straightened his back as a pair of blood red wings sprouted from his back, the wings were feather with each feather seemingly made of a crimson energy giving a sense of death for anyone looking at it especially from the red mist that they emitted.
Looking at the scene Daisuke smiled proudly and readied another attack before he stopped and looked at his right, curious Shin looked where his uncle was looking only to see Naoki walk into the training ground, floating down and landing on the ground Shin tilted his head as he saw Naoki take out a piece of paper.
"Young Master, they delivered this for you."
As Shin took the paper Daisuke, who already reverted back to normal, walked right behind Shin to try to read what was on the paper but soon gave up as he saw a long paragraph of fancy words full of false pleasantries.
"Oy Naoki, What is this?"
As he pointed at the paper that Shin was reading Naoki looked at him with a deadpan face before sighing.
"They invited the Young Master to a banquet. Apparently one of the elders of the Winged Dragon family broke through the 5-Star Gold rank."
It wasn't the first time they invited the Akagawa to such a banquet, it all started with the introduction of one of the three pills typical of the Akagawa Clan.
The Blood Refining Pill was one of the most common pills that the Akagawa Clan sold through the alchemist association but at the same time one of the most expensive.
"Normally it would have been fine to simply send one of the elders since it was normally a low rank house but since the Winged Dragon family is quite high I'm afraid the Young Master will have to go himself"
Naoki continued as Shin finished reading the letter.
"Ah! That's the reason I gave up the position of patriarch, well one of the reasons."
Naoki looked at him with a deadpan face while Shin was already burning the letter.
In a month he would join the Holy Orchid institute and leave all of the patriarch's work to Eiko and Taishiro so he could finally concentrate on cultivating.
'I've waited for two years… Finally I can progress in my cultivation.'
Turning around he looked at the proud looking Daisuke before he thought of something, with a smirk he shared his blade and looked at Naoki.
"Naoki, take the night for yourself, since the Winged Dragon family is one of the best clans in Glory City I'm thinking of bringing My uncle as my bodyguard, after all it will be better to show our goodwill if we two go together."
Shin didn't even look behind him as he walked toward his chambers only hearing a small giggle come from Naoki and a thud probably from Daisuke falling to his knees.
…
Fixing his clothes he looked at himself in the mirror. While being fourteen years old, thanks to his training, he looked like someone that was about to be sixteen years old with moderate muscles. He was currently wearing a long black robe with red accents at the edges and on the back the image of a red waning crescent moon with crimson petals all around as if falling down.
"Are you ready Young master?"
Looking at the door he saw Naoki wearing a similar robe only with less decorations on it.
"I've thought I've told you you could take the night for yourself?"
Naoki looked at the side trying to hide from the stern gaze of Shin and for a couple of seconds an awkward silence fell on the room before Shin sighed loudly.
"Fine, let's just go and hope it ends fast."
Naoki nodded as he followed Shin out of the compound where they found Daisuke already waiting for them.
The group of three then walked toward the Winged Dragon's clan compound in complete silence, each one occupied with their own thoughts but even then it didn't take much to reach the place and Shin looked in surprise at how big the banquet actually was.
'It's just a 5-Star Gold rank, why so excited?'
As they reached the gates a guard did a quick check on their identities before being let pass, getting off the carriage they were led toward the main plaza by a maid and as they arrived all of them sighed mentally in their head.
'Out of all of the families, why did it have to be the Sacred family?'
Looking at the various families and clans participating the one that stuck out the most was surely the Sacred family even though there wasn't anyone much important from said family as there was only another normal elder at the peak of the Gold rank.
During their stay in Glory city there was only one family that the Akagawa clan couldn't stand and it was the Sacred Family, it wasn't even because of the first bad impression where the patriarch attacked Shin but it was because no matter what the Akagawa clan did if there was someone that seemed against them it was nine out of ten times the Sacred family trying to bring them down while the other times it was a family vassal of the Sacred family.
"Oh Patriarch Akagawa, we are honored to have you here!"
Shin was already regretting getting in the banquet, putting on his best smile he cupped his hands and greeted the Winged Dragon Patriarch.
"Patriarch is too kind, you can just call me Shin."
He laughed it off but Shin could tell something was wrong, looking at the banquet he could see the elder who just broke through happily talking with the guests of the Sacred family along with other guests while nobody, not even the rest of the elders really minded him.
'A power struggle? If I remember correctly the Patriarch should be at the peak of the Gold rank… Just like that fool that just broke through.'
"Anyway I heard that the nephew Shin will go to the apprentice class in the Holy Orchid institute."
Hearing that Shin didn't understand where he wanted to go with this so he just nodded his head and waited for him to continue.
"Well you see I have a daughter that will also go at the same time so if you are both in the same class I hope you both can become friends."
The 'Or more' wasn't said but everyone that was listening to the conversation could understand the meaning of that and this only served to confuse Shin further.
'I thought his daughter was going to marry that guy from the Sacred family?'
While there are a lot of cultivators and warriors in Glory city there are also a lot of White ranks or better called civilians, those while not being able to fight will do all the other work that warriors and Demon spiritualist would be too bothered to do in exchange for protection and because of the lack of entertainment the main source of entertainment of the civilians would be rumors and what better rumors than the one that came from the various high and mighty clans and the most famous was on how against this whole things the daughter of the Dragon wing family was and how she would, on quote, 'Die than marry that pig'.
Thinking back on the information he received from Naoki he still couldn't understand why the patriarch, Xiao Yufeng would try to literally sell his daughter to him, he knew that he never wanted to sell off hi daughter to the Sacred family and that the only reason that it happened was because of the pressure front he other Elders, the same one that were now happily talking with the elder from the Sacred family.
"If we end up in the same class I will try to help her as much as I can…"
Shin didn't like arranged marriages especially those that with unwilling partners, he was glad that those things were looked down upon in his clan so he never had to worry about that and while he won't go out of his way to help someone without a valid reason if that person was in trouble right in front of him and he could help he would.
Shin was no hero and even in the small times where he would help his priorities would always be his Loved ones, his clans and himself and then that person, he would never renounce any of the first three things just to help some stranger.
"That's enough, you've already been too kind."
As they continued to talk a little more the central part of the main plaza was freed as a young girl went to the newly formed stage.
"What is happening?"
As Shin asked, Xiao Yufeng answered with a smile.
"We can't have the guests get bored so we prepared a little stage so that the new generation can show their talents."
And right as he was explaining, a young warrior from the Winged Dragon family walked up to the stage before bowing to both the Patriarch and the Elder who broke through, who was called Xiao Yi, only to then proceed to showcase a series of martial arts moves showing proudly his 2-Star Bronze rank.
At first Shin was very interested in the show and even from his position he could see his uncle, Daisuke, benign interest in seeing the strength of the new generation of the various noble families with Naoki not being the exception and keeping his eyes on each move the youth was making but soon they lost all interest as not only his cultivation level was poor for someone of his age, as he was already sixteen years old, but the his understanding on the martial move he was showcasing was really poor.
"Mh, quite good considering he is that young. Maybe in the future he will reach the Gold rank."
As Patriarch was mumbling by himself Shin had to resist the urge to say anything or even react and a quick glance at his uncle made him understand that he wasn't the only one, no if anything it was his uncle that was having it worst since he was one that prided martial art before anything else.
The show continued and fortunately for the three the quality also increased, while it was still too poor to really appreciate it finally gave in to the difference in training that goes in their clan compared to the one in glory city.
'No as far as I know the Sacred family, the Snow Wind and Divine family had really good geniuses, plus if I think about it all of these people were able to reach such levels in cultivation with those poor cultivation techniques and while not even knowing about Soul attributes…'
While making a mental note to warn his uncle about not letting any of his clan young generation become too prideful he continued to look at the people of various Nobles and aristocratic families put on differents type of shows, from showcasing martial moves to even playing different instruments there was one that even drew a landscape showing a great in the art.
'Still, would it be a good time to get out of here right now or I will have to showcase something?'
Unfortunately for Shin before he could even discuss this matter with his two other companions Xiao Yi took the chance that the stage was currently empty to speak to Shin.
"Young Master Shin, since you are here, why don't you show us something? I'm sure someone that came from outside would surely have something to show right?"
Trying his best to stop Naoki from standing up and beating up the elder, he looked at the face of the people around him and immediately understood the reason they actually invited him.
Since they arrived to Glory city there have been people looking down on them especially with the fact that Shin, a kid, was the patriarch the other Nobles families took any chance into bringing the whole clan down or even taking control of the clan through Shin but all of their effort were rendered useless as the Akagawa Clan only rose in prestige and power.
'To think that this Elder is so submissive with the Sacred family that he would try himself to make me lose face… He's not even calling me patriarch huh…'
Thinking that he looked inside his spatial ring before he got an idea.
"Sure! After all this is to show the talent of the younger generation and as a fourteen year old who is going to join the Holy Orchid institute I can't simply sit back and do nothing."
Standing up he went directly to the center of the stage before motioning at Naoki.
"What I will show will be a ritual sword style of our clan, this style is mainly used to showcase one ability to wield the blade or training so it's not really usable in real combat."
Naoki, hearing that, immediately understood and walked up to the stage before taking out a Bo staff from his ring.
"Whenever you're ready, Young Master!"
What he wanted to show was a sort of dance/spar that the whole Clan used to train.
their sword style with.
'Let's just get this over with.'
Without saying he took out his training sword and sprinted toward Naoki and under the eyes of everyone the two started trading blows, it started like a normal spar but more and more people felt their gaze drawn in by the movement of Shin as each strike would be connected with the last one without stopping the sword for even a second, the whole movement was a fluid and continuous one almost in an hypnotizing way.
'Faster, I'm too slow.'
Thinking that, Shin started to imbue some soul force with each swing as Naoki calmly deflected each strike. The spar continued as the speed of the two increased, each step each swing and even the movement of the body was like a beautiful dance for the other guest and even Xiao Yi was gritting his teeth in frustration, he was hoping to embarrass the young patriarch by inviting him here and ask him to showcase his skill, honestly speaking due to the young age and the fact that he hadn't even entered the Orchid Institute he had all the reason to reject but not only he accepted he was even showing great skill in swordsmanship and that was without counting the fact that he was at the 2-Star Bronze rank.
'My god, people of his age don't even start cultivating but he is already a second star.'
As Xiao Yi was thinking that Xiao Yufeng was also making plans in his head.
'If he takes a liking to Ning'er and she does too, maybe I can use that to free my Dragon wing family from the Sacred family, after all he is such a genius that in the future even the Sacred family will have to bow their head to him.'
"Huh? Is he doing something on the ground?"
Hearing that Yufeng looked at the ground under Shin only to be surprised as he saw some marks left behind by his sword. While the patriarch was occupied thinking to the future Shin was already preparing for the end of the show, with each swing of his sword the audience could hear more than three different sounds from when the blade made contact with something and if one where to look closely they would see as with each swing Shin was also striking the ground leaving a little bit of his soul force on it.
'Is that an inscription pattern!?'
While most of the people looking could understand what Shin was doing the various elders noticed that each graving he was making on the floor was connected with the other forming some intricate inscription pattern but even then no one was able to understand what it did.
As a loud *Clang* resonated in the plaza all eyes turned to Shin as he and Naoki stepped back making sure to not step on a single graving, the two looked at each as they moved their weapons to point at each other and before anyone could say anything they rushed at each other, Shin swung his sword left and right even before reaching Naoki launching small red arc of energy on the ground as each arc started to power up the inscription formation and as the two reached the center Shin stepped to the right before swinging with great force toward Naoki who just held the staff at the extremities receiving the blow only seemingly being sent flying, the elder glance at the place where he landed safety and calmly on the ground only to immediately turn toward Shin who now was at the center of the stage.
'Moonlight Lotus'
Sheathing his sword he made some hand signs as the whole Inscription formation light up, from each graving thousands of smalls red petals made of energy started to fly in the sky only to slowly return on the ground as they combined to form a bigger petal, under the eyes of the amazed crown those petals grew until they formed a giant lotus, with Shin at the center, and as the lotus slowly changed color from red to azure before floating in the sky toward the moon only leaving an azure trail and and a shocked crowd.
"That will be all thanks for watching, I'm sorry patriarch but we will have to return right now as it is a little late."
Shin's voice brought back Yufeng as he was still watching the azure trail.
"Ye-Yes, I'm sure you will have a lot to do tomorrow morning."
Nodding his head Shin took out a small red box with gold decorations.
"I'm sorry my skills are still too poor and I damaged the floor so please accept this as compensation. And before I forget, congratulations on breaking through, Elder Yi take this as a congratulation gift."
RIght after giving the box to Yufeng he turned around and launched a small ring to Xiao Yi who took and immediately took out a small golden sword with a small enchanting pattern on it.
"I'll be leaving first."
Bowing slightly toward Yufeng, Shin started to walk out soon followed by Naoki and Daisuke leaving a dazed Yufeng and Yi who were looking at the gift in their hands, Opening the box Yufeng almost dropped as he saw two Blood Refining Pill and a Blood recovering Pill, these were two of the most famous pills that their clans sold and where also very expensive as the only reason Xiao Yi was able to use one was thanks to his connection with the sacred family, to receive two like this would give him a chance to break through the Black Gold rank and stabilizing his position as the Patriarch, not only that the Blood recovering Pil while was normally used as an healing pill it could also be used to stabilize his cultivation letting him be reckless and simply breakthrough by force without caring about cultivation deviation, before the other could actually see what was inside he closed the box as the other people could just imagine what treasure he was gifted with.
While Yufeng was holding back his excitement Xiao Yi was getting more and more frustrated, he was given a Gold rank Weapon and while that extremely good as an elder of a noble family and with his connection with the Sacred family getting such a weapon wouldn't be difficult, he clearly knew that Shin could've prepared a better gift but decided to not to and simply give him a gift that was neither too good but neither bad.
'Let alone that I wasn't able to embarrass him, he actually showed such talent in the sword, cultivation and even in inscription patterns.'
What Shin showed just brought a sense of impending doom in Xiao Yi as he finally realized that maybe the Sacred family shouldn't have created such hostility with that clan, turning to look at the elder from the Sacred family he saw the elder already talking with someone probably already making preparations to deal with the kid.
'Well it is a shame but we can't have him roam free and grow unhindered, it may be difficult but I'm sure the Sacred family will be able to deal with him. After all, genius falling from the highest point aren't that uncommon.'
Deciding to leave that problem to the Sacred family he looked at Yufeng.
'My biggest problem right now is dealing with him, while I almost reached his strength, what Shin gave him could really change this.'
As the banquet continued Shin was speaking with Daisuke in the carriage.
"We have to keep an eye on the Sacred family, they clearly wanted to embarrass us and bring down our prestige today so with this failure we don't know what they may plan next."
Daisuke nodded while looking outside.
"But why did you decide to help the patriarch? Is the young Master actually interested in taking the daughter of the Winged dragon family?"
As Naoki said so, Shin first looked at him with a blank gaze then as if registering what he said he hid face with his hand before restoring.
"What are you saying!"
Almost shouting, Shin face was already boiling while Daisuke was grinding.
"I mean you could have just given him a small amount of money since the damage on the floor wasn't that much, by giving him those pills you clearly gave him a possibility to break through the Black Gold rank and possibly stopping the power struggle in that family. I can't think of another reason other than the fact that the patriarch seemed willing to give his daughter to you."
"Fist of all I helped him because if the Sacred family take control over the Dragon wing family then we will have another family as enemy as for the matter with his daughter I answered like that only to be polite, While I may help her getting out of the marriage if I have the chance I'm not interested in a person I have never even spoke to."
Nodding to himself Shin was satisfied with his answer, that was until Naoki asked his next question.
"Then are you still pursuing the city lord daughter? As the clan head it wouldn't be strange to have more than a wife, while she died before you could be born, even your father had two wife."
Stopping for a second, Shin looked at Naoki with furrowed brows.
"No… I mean I never tried to pursue the city lord's daughter and why are you suddenly trying to find me a wife?"
"With all the incoming problems I think it's better if Young Master leaves a heir quickly, if something were to happen to you I won't stand the possibility of having Daisuke offspring be the next heir.
"Oy what do you mean by that!""
Feeling drained, Shin decided to ignore the conversation and rest a little.
A couple of weeks later
In Glory city if someone wants to become a Demon spiritualist or even a fighter they will try their best to accumulate money and enroll in the Holy Orchid institute.
In the institute the students are divided by their strength and cultivation level and those that are starting their cultivation path are normally put in the Fighter apprentice class, that's also where Shin was put in, even though the school tried to convince him to directly skip to the genius class he rejected the idea as he didn't want to receive preferential treatment.
Shin was currently sitting in that same classroom listening to the lesson of its teacher Shen Xiu, an attractive woman with long red hair who is part of the Sacred family.
Looking around Shin could only recognize Ye Ziyun, the city lord's daughter and the one seated near her that emitted an aura of false superiority was probably Shen Yue one of the direct heirs of the Sacred family.
"So give up the thought of rising up and turn into a phoenix. Even among nobility there's strict levels that can never be exceeded. If you have a poor soul realm you would never be able to reach the top!"
Listening to Shen Xiu, Shin furrowed his brows in confusion.
'it's been two years, how slow are they to implement the new information on cultivation that we gave them when we entered?'
While it was widely known, in the most powerful noble families, that the Akagawa clan had a way to bypass the limit of the one soul realm color, the city lord still didn't divulge the news about Soul attributes and Soul forms.
'Maybe the city lord wants to monopolize the information to increase the strength of his family before telling others.'
Shin didn't really care about that information, his clan members were already warned about not spreading any information on cultivation techniques and all servants in the compounds were from the citizens of the old city.
"Teacher Shen Xiu, I have questions!"
An orange haired kid immediately stood up as he looked directly at Shen Xiu, Shin didn't know why but seeing him like this brought him some sense of familiarity just like when he first saw the City lord's daughter and the city lord side by side.
'Strange…'
Shin looked as the Orange haired kid started questioning the teacher about how we may not be the last human settlement even going as far as ridiculing the teacher.
'A simple noble kid dare to insult so much, not only his teacher, but even a member of the Sacred family?'
Shin was really amazed by the guts of the kid, he even contemplated protecting him if the Sacred family tried to do something.
'I guess it's time for the Akagawa to start taking vassal families.'
Taking note of the physical appearance of the kid to later tell Naoki to search for his family name he continued listening as the kid continued to contradict the teacher without holding back and even started to stand up for the commoners by saying that Lord Ye Mo the previous city lord was actually a commoner and that with his own strength was able to reach Legend Rank.
'Even after benign her for two here I have never actually seen his shadow, the city lord said he is outside exploring but is it really fine to leave for so much leaving the city unprotected?'
"...Nie Li right! You can be considered of an aristocratic bloodline, since you like to run your mouth, let's see what kind of talent you have."
Saying so, Shen Xiu took a parchment and started searching for his name.
'So he's called Nie Li, so he should be from the Heavenly Marks family.'
"Nie li, Red Soul realm, current soul force… 5, physical strength… 21."
All the students immediately turned to look at Nie Li, their gaze filled with pity, disappointment and a lot of other emotions but even under those gaze Nie Li remained unwavering with a neutral expression.
"With such talent, even your family wouldn't be able to get any attention! Yet you acted so rampant and rude towards your teacher!"
Shen Xiu, who now had a smug smile on her face, was looking at Nie Li with contempt while Shin was trying to make plans in his head.
'With a red soul realm he wouldn't be able to actually grow in strength in this place, if the Akagawa take him in we can either give him the river cultivation technique that will bring him at most at the Gold rank or a normal cultivation technique for red soul realm but his strength will be all in his own talent and how will.'
While the main cultivation technique that Shin and his uncle used could be learned by others without a river soul form, one would arrive at most at the peak of the Gold realm without being able to break through unless they discarded the cultivation technique and changed to another making them waste tons of time.
"So what if my talent is weak! One day I will become a Legend rank demon spiritualist like Lord Ye Mo and marry the most beautiful woman in Glory city!"
Saying that he looked toward Ye Ziyun as she immediately looked in the other direction embarrassed.
The teacher simply laughed at him and took the chance of talking him down but Nie li didn't back off instead proposing a bet to the teacher but Shin wasn't listening as he was still thinking about a phrase Nie Li said.
'We practitioners are already challenging the impossible by going against the way of heavens? Such fitting words.'
Smiling lightly he decided that he would help this guy in any way he could. After all from how he talked he didn't like to like the Sacred family very much and I'm sure they won't like him after today so as they say goes, the enemy of your enemy is your friend.
"We'll bet that in the coming test in two months' time I will be able to reach Bronze rank spirits and If I fail I will resign but if I succeed you will resign how about it!?"
Saying so he looked directly at the teacher as Shin once again felt that discomforting sense of dejavu.
"Hahaha! Such a joke! You think you can increase your soul force from 5 to 100 in two months of time?"
Saying so Shen Xiu held her hips as if hearing the funniest joke of all time while Nie Li continued to look dead serious.
"I only asked one question, teacher Shen Xiu.. Do you dare or not?"
Glaring at him she snorted before accepting but not before punishing Nie Li to stand at the back of the classroom for the next two months.
'Really this teacher is simply a disappointment, before I thought I would be staying for at least two years here but if all teachers are like this I don't even know if I'm going to be able to resist up to the next two months… No, I'll stay up at least until the next two months to see how much Nie Li will be able to grow.'
Shin looked as Nie Li stood at the end of the classroom and was soon followed by five other commoners that were moved by his speech.
'Well since the only reason I'm staying is because of him, why should I stay seated here?'
Standing up, Shin drew the eyes of all the students and even of Shen Xiu who furrowed her brows in confusion and rage.
"Since teacher thinks Red Souls realms are destined to be trash I don't see why I, who is also a Red Soul realm, should stay seated here."
Giving a small smile, Shin looked directly at Shen Xiu in a challenging way until she looked away with a snort.
"Do whatever you want!"
With his smile growing he stood out from his seat and walked until the back of the classroom where Nie Li looked at him with a confused gaze while Shin gave him a small smile and nodded his head.
"Let's continue the class! The results of everyone's Soul force test are out! And among the students… Ye Zinyun has a cyan Soul realm with Soul force of 86, Shen Yue and Xiao Ning'er both have Green Soul realm and Soul force of 78… and Shin Akagawa… Red Soul realm with Soul force of 289…"
As she finished saying so, the students went into an uproar as they looked at each other searching for the guy while Shin smugly looked at Shen Xiu who only gritted her teeth and continued reading the result as if nothing happened.
While most people knew of Shin name and position nobody really knew him by face since other than occasionally going into banquets where he was invited he never exited out of the compounds preferring to remain and train his body and sword.
Shin didn't react when Shen Xiu said his cultivation level but Nie Li immediately turned to him with a questioning gaze.
"I'm happy that you decided to be in this with us but could you tell me your name because I think I missed it?"
Saying so, Nie Li never took his eyes off Shin while the others immediately looked at him expectantly.
Shin didn't answer immediately but grinned at them before answering.
"You can call me Shin, no need to know my family name."
Nie Li, hearing the name, put an expression as if saying 'Thought so' that made Shin more curious about him.
"Shin? Like that monster who is already at the second star?"
The one that said that was Lu Piao who was clueless about the fact that the one who he just called monster was right in front of him and looking at him with a deadpan face, in fact it wasn't just shin who was looking at him but all the other commoners were looking at him like the idiot that he was.
"Lu Piao… No, actually nothing."
Nie Li seemed to want to say something only to retract it and simply ignore Lu Piao who now was more confused.
"Anyway let's get out of here there isn't anything useful to learn in this class."
Shin said so glancing at Shen Xiu who twitched for a second but continued her lesson as if nothing happened only making Shin grin Increase.
"Where do you want to go anyway?"
Nie Li asked that and for an outsider he seemed not really caring about that answer internally his brain was working at full speed in trying to remember the person in front of him.
The Nie Li that was in front of Shin wasn't the Nie Li that was supposed to be there he actually was the Nie Li that came from the future, a future where Glory city has been destroyed by a Demon Beast horde created by the Dark guild and Sacred family, he was the same person who while exploring the world encountered the Temporal Demon Spirit Book and cultivated up to a level unimaginable for the people of Glory city.
"Let's go to my room, us from the noble clans and family get quite a big room with even a small courtyard… Honestly it can't even be called a room more like a small residence."
As Shin said that, the others nodded their heads while Lu Piao was the only one confused.
"You're from a noble clan?"
The others ignored the guy and proceeded to get out of the classroom as a couple of students and Shen Xiu saw them get out.
They then walked from the classroom to Shin's residence and during the walk they took the opportunity to introduce themselves as, to the amusement of everyone, Lu Piao finally understood who Shin was and proceeded to profusely apologize while trembling a little only to get laughed at by Shin and Nie Li.
"Really you don't have to worry that it was quite funny so there is no need to apologize."
As Shin forgave him they arrived at the place and much to the amazement of everyone and the rage of Du Ze at how unfairly they were treated they entered the small residence and sat down on the small courtyard in a circle.
"So, the only reason as for how I'm already at the second star and about to enter the third star is because my clan doesn't grade talent by the color of the Soul realm instead for us each color along with the Soul form represent a different Soul attribute and by practicing the right cultivation technique anyone could become a Black Gold rank or even Legend rank if they have the right amount of talent."
Saying so, Shin took out the soul crystal that he used to check his cultivation level, putting a little bit of force in it. The other looked amazed at the amount of Soul force in it, indicating 296 Soul Points right at the door of the 3-Star of the Bronze rank.
"Don't look at the Soul Point, look at the form of it, if you look closely you could see the form of a river, that's my clan soul form."
Shin glanced at everyone's face and noticed mostly curiosity in everyone except Nie Li who looked more shocked than the other, and from what he could tell it wasn't even about the soul points but something entirely different.
"Endless Red River…"
Everyone looked at Nie Li as he muttered that, especially Shin who stopped his explanation.
"You know about it?"
Nie Li immediately recovered from his dazed state and scratched the back of his head with a smile.
"I read it in a book I found a long time ago, in that same book there was an explanation on different types of Soul Forms and how to identify the Soul attributes."
Hearing his explanation Shin eyes gleamed with curiosity.
"So there was something like that, I was curious about how the cultivation techniques of this city were so… Deteriorated."
At that it was Nie Li's turn to be confused.
"This city? Are you not from here?"
This question caused everyone to look at Nie Li like when they Looked at Lu Piao, well except Lu Piao who seemed as clueless as Nie Li.
"You didn't know? The Akagawa Clan arrived at Glory city about two years ago and Shin is the Patriarch of said clan, they have six Black Gold ranks with even one being almost stronger than the city lord itself."
Hearing that Nie Li brain stopped as he took in the new information, before when they were introducing themselves Shin simply said that he was the member of the Akagawa clan and while curious Nie Li only thought that it was a clan he never heard of in his past life because it wasn't that important but just right now he understood that something was wrong, not only he returned back in time but maybe the world wasn't even the exactly the same as last time. A small amount of worry started growing inside Nie Li.
'What if in this world the Sacred Family had other helpers, what if they attack sooner? I can't keep fooling around, I have to increase my strength quickly.'
Deciding to look into the information of this world later, Nie Li shook his head and returned to his conversion with Shin.
"I know a couple of Cultivation techniques from that book that could be helpful for us and I know how to identify the different Soul realms, can I ask if you have more of those Soul Crystals so that we can check the Soul attribute of everyone?"
Shin decided to drop the matter and took out six other Soul crystals, one for each of them.
"That's what I was thinking too, while I don't have a cultivation technique that could really help you that much, they will be better than the one that they give here in school."
Passing the Soul crystal they started to identify the different soul attributes and once again Nie Li Shocked Shin with his knowledge in that matter, unknowingly from him Shin decided to send someone from his clan to protect the Heavenly Marks family in a chance to see if there was actually some other expert hiding in there.
Like that Nie Li passed a cultivation technique to everyone and even tried to give one to Shin but he refused saying he will continue cultivating his own.
"My cultivation Technique is tailor made for our own Soul form even if there is a faster one I still think that it's a lot better to train with this one. I can even let you see it"
Saying that Shin took out a parchament with a copy of his own cultivation Technique.
"While it may seem strong if you don't have the right Soul form you will at most reach peak Gold rank in your life, so it's better if you train with it."
Saying that Shin glanced at Nie Li and saw him looking at the cultivation Technique with a lot of interest and unknowingly to him he was really shocked at what he was reading.
'This is a cultivation Technique thy shouldn't even be here with how advanced it is, even though I would need to study it a lot to try and find some way to increase its quality.'
"This is really a good cultivation technique, I don't plan to train in it but would it be a problem if Brother Shin could give this copy to me?"
Shin thought for a second but later decided to let Nie Li have it, after all he couldn't do much with it.
"Just don't give to other people, there's not much that they can do with it but it's better to not risk it."
Nodding the group returned to talk about Cultivation Technique and started to train their Soul force until sundown.
'I'm actually so close to the third star…'
Looking at the soul crystal in his hand Shin was thinking whenever he should directly try to push it right now or try it later but at the end he decided that he shouldn't push it too much since it could be dangerous to put too much strain on one soul Realm.
"Well, since the day is about to end I think it's better if we all go to rest for tomorrow."
Nie Li stood up and patted his pants to take out any dust that was on them before waving at Shin.
"I'm going to the library and probably spend the day there so if you guys want, let's meet there."
While the courtyard was good it wasn't really polite to keep coming here everyday so Nie Li decided on another place to cultivate in peace, at least with them receiving the soul crystal right now his plan going a lot faster.
'I really have to thank Shin for this.'
Glancing behind him to the small gate that indicated the entrance for Shin's small residence he vowed to himself that he would help him do anything he asked if he ever needed something.
Here's 8k words to celebrate the first people putting this story in their favorites or following it, thank you so much.
Anyway I just want to say that there WON'T be yaoi, just wanted to point it out cause while editing I kinda got that vibe from Nie Li and Shin interaction so i will be burning any misunderstanding.
The mc will be friends with Nie Li but he won't be following him like a lost puppy, sure a lot of arc will be together but that's just because as the original Mc Nie Li will be there anytime something is happening.
And with Nie Li not having to get money for the crystal the Mc will have a chance of meeting Ning'er before Nie Li so Yay!
That's it, hope you enjoyed it and see you soon!