Liang Chen's face was pale as he jolted awake, quickly sitting up. His body was drenched in sweat, the blanket and bed almost completely soaked. He tried to tell himself that what he had just seen was nothing more than a bad dream, a horrid nightmare. But why did it feel so real? Why was there a voice he had never heard before present within the nightmare? Liang Chen quickly shook his head to discard the thoughts, sweeping the room around him with his gaze, muttering to himself.
"Where am I?"
The room he was in was completely devoid of any decorations, containing only several beds that were identical to the one he was lying in. There was a door a few meters away from him, but Liang Chen didn't choose to see where it led, first gathering his thoughts and checking his own body.
The first thing he noticed as he gathered his thoughts was the fact that the omnipresent pressure had grown much stronger than it was in the stone forest. It had reached a point where he felt as if he had returned to the first day after entering the hidden realm, where even the simple act of walking was strenuous, so it was likely that he was currently located at a location deeper within the hidden realm. His interspatial ring was gone, most likely destroyed by the bolt of lightning that struck him, he was also clad in a cyan robe he had never seen before.
He sank his vision into his own body, checking the condition of his wounds and his Ascended Tower. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that not only had most of his wounds fully healed, but his body had also grown quite a bit stronger. But that was completely normal, after all, the process of strengthening one's body was all about breaking down the body and then rebuilding it stronger than before.
Finally, Liang Chen checked his Ascended Tower, shocked at what he saw. There were hair-thin roots coiling around his Ascended Tower, even digging into it. The roots came from his Lightning Seed, which was now more colorful than when he first made it. Liang Chen was not only shocked at the fact that the Lightning Seed had sprouted roots, but also at what those roots were doing.
They were leeching off the energy within his Ascended Tower, the energy vanishing into the seed. Had it not been for the abundant Qi within the air around him continuously replenishing the Qi within the Ascended Tower, it was likely that he would have already been drained of all his Qi. Looking at the seed, Liang Chen could not help but mutter to himself.
"Just what are you, what have I created?"
When Liang Chen had started compressing his lightning Qi, he would never have guessed that it would spawn something like this Lightning Seed. Even he, as the creator, had no idea what was going on with it, or what it would turn into.
As he checked his Ascended Tower and the Lightning Seed, he also checked his cultivation. Despite the great amount of lightning energy that he had absorbed, his cultivation had not risen in the slightest, still stuck at the early stage of the Houtian Tower realm. But that was something he had already expected. His Ascended Tower was constructed from his lightning and poison elements, so it would need to be nourished by both if he wanted to increase his cultivation.
While Liang Chen was checking out his Ascended Tower and the Lightning Seed, he suddenly heard the sound of a door opening. He quickly raised his head, spotting a youth who seemed to be in his twenties, with black eyes and deep green hair. Yan Ying immediately noticed that Liang Chen had woken up, giving a slight nod of his head.
"You have awoken, good."
Yan Ying touched the violet bracelet that hung on his left wrist, one that was in the shape of a coiling dragon, a milky white orb appearing in his hand. He inserted some Qi into the orb and whispered a few words into it, putting it away once he was done.
He waited by the door for a bit, the sound of rushing footsteps quickly getting closer, two more people entering the room. The ones who entered the room was the wrinkled and white-haired Old Chen, as well as Teng Yimu, a middle-aged man who had a face covered in freckles, short brown hair, and a chin covered in silver stubble. After the two entered the room and joined Yan Ying, they walked forward, Yan Ying sitting down on the bed that was located next to Liang Chen's, putting on a calming smile as he spoke.
"I am Yan Ying, this is Old Chen and Teng Yimu. I know that you have just woken up, but we want to ask you a few questions, please answer them honestly."
Liang Chen could only give a short nod after hearing Yan Ying's statement. Ever since Yan Ying had entered the room, Liang Chen's tension and vigilance had shot through the roof. Looking at Yan Ying and the two others, he felt only one thing, despair. Even without his sharpened instincts telling him, he knew that there was no way for him to fight these three people. He couldn't tell what cultivation level they had reached, but he was certain that he was no more than an ant to them.
This was a feeling Liang Chen had only felt twice before. The first time was when he watched his parents get executed and knew that he was unable to do anything. The second time was when he first met the two strange people that had acted as guards for his Big Sister Chun. Yan Ying paid no attention to Liang Chen's tension, simply starting the questioning.
"What is your name, where do you come from, and are you connected to any sects or clans?"
After Yan Ying asked his question, Teng Yimu stealthily moved into action, an invisible stream of energy entering Liang Chen's soul and spiritual sea. The moment Liang Chen spoke a lie or tried to hide something, Teng Yimu would be able to feel it. But facing overwhelmingly strong people like these, the thought of lying never even entered Liang Chen's mind.
"My name is Liang Chen, I come from the Green Rivers city, and no, I am not connected to any sect or clan."
If Liang Chen had any connection to a clan, it would be the hatred he felt towards the Qing clan for what they had done to his parents. Yan Ying tilted his head slightly after hearing the answers, rolling his eyes slightly.
"Green Rivers city, why does that sound so familiar?"
The name rang a bell within his mind, but he failed to grasp exactly where he had heard it. Old Chen quickly sent him a sound transmission, words wrapped in Qi so that he could send them wherever his Qi could reach. With the reminder from Old Chen, Yan Ying immediately recalled everything, clapping his hands as he realized something.
"Oh, it's the city where that entire farce took place! Wait, your name is Liang Chen, weren't your parents the ones that got..."
Yan Ying quickly stopped his words when he saw Liang Chen's face darken and realized that his words were basically the same as poking a wound with a red-hot knife. He felt a twinge of sympathy for Liang Chen, returning to his questioning.
"But if your parents were part of the Qing clan, then doesn't that mean that you are part of the Qing clan?"
Liang Chen said that he had no connection to any of the clans or sects, and Teng Yimu had informed Yan Ying that Liang Chen was speaking the truth. Did this mean that Liang Chen was able to deceive Teng Yimu and his senses? Liang Chen's expression turned a bit gloomier, but he still honestly answered.
"I am not their true son. They found me abandoned in a forest while I was a baby. But even if I were their true son, I would never have a connection with the Qing clan."
Liang Chen knew that he was not the actual son of Qing Lan and Qing Feng, he was only a substitute they had picked up because they were unable to have children of their own. But despite that, they had treated him like a true son, and he had seen them as his actual parents. Even if he were to meet his birth parents in the future, he would refuse to acknowledge them.
Yan Ying's eyes lit up with understanding. If he was an adopted child, it would explain why he didn't have the clan bloodline or marking technique, it also made his earlier statement of not having any connection true. With Teng Yimu letting him know that Liang Chen was speaking the truth, Yan Ying continued to press on with more questions.
"We found you unconscious, surrounded by body parts and blood. What happened in that basin?"
Even if he pitied Liang Chen for losing his parents at such a young age, he still had to get an answer to a few more of the questions he had. Once again, Liang Chen answered honestly.
"A Two-Petaled Elemental Lotus was born, starting a massive battle. In the end, I had to use the lotus to call down the lightning in the sky, resulting in the bloodbath you saw."
Liang Chen had no idea where this Yan Ying came from, but with the might they possessed, he doubted that they would care tremendously about a Two-Petaled Elemental Lotus. But even if they did care about it, Liang Chen didn't even have an interspatial ring on him anymore, so he doubted that they would believe he still had the lotus. Just like he guessed, Yan Ying didn't pursue the topic of the Elemental Lotus, not even asking how he had used it to draw down the lightning from the sky, instead asking about something completely different.
"What elements do you cultivate?"
Yan Ying and the others already knew what elements Liang Chen cultivated, he mostly just asked about it to see if Liang Chen had the intentions of hiding anything. But once again, Liang Chen answered honestly, so Yan Ying guessed that he either wasn't the type to lie, or he realized the vast difference in strength.
"Poison and lightning."
After getting the honest response, Yan Ying leaned a bit forward, his eyes narrowing slightly as he asked one of the questions that both he and Old Chen were most curious about.
"And how did you come to possess these two elements, did your parents perform any vile or painful experiments on you?"
Old Chen's ears perked up slightly, making sure that he would not miss anything. What if his parents had used him as a guinea pig, perfecting that ancient experiment? Liang Chen's expression quickly sank, lightning flashing within his eyes as he loudly growled out an answer.
"My parents were good people! They would never do anything like that to me!"
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Even if the difference in strength between them was insurmountable and fighting them was the same as asking them to kill him, there were things Liang Chen would never allow, and insulting his parents like that was one of those things. Yan Ying leaned backward after getting the angry response, raising his hands to show that he had not meant anything bad with his question.
"Sorry sorry. Then how and when did you acquire your two elements?"
It seemed like the answer Liang Chen had given was the truth. Was it really just a coincidence that his current state resembled that ancient experiment? Liang Chen's eyes grew a tad distant as he remembered the first time he cultivated using Demonic beast blood. It wasn't that long ago, but it felt like several years had passed since then.
"I acquired them shortly after my parents were made into scapegoats and executed. I had to quickly start cultivating and grow stronger, but the speed of my cultivation was simply too slow, so I had to use a different method. I killed weak demonic beasts and gathered up their blood, filling a hole I had dug in the ground with it. Once the hole was full, I jumped into the blood and used it to cultivate, drawing upon some lightning that happened to be present in the sky at the same time. Since the blood mostly came from Demonic beasts that used poison, I ended up acquiring the poison element after the blood and the energy within it invaded my body."
Not only Yan Ying, even Old Chen and Teng Yimu were quite shocked at Liang Chen's reply. The first thing he did as he started cultivating was to bathe in Demonic beast blood? Even if it was the blood of the weakest Demonic beasts, it should still be enough to tear apart his body, especially if one added on the violent energy contained within lightning. Yet he had survived through it! Just how much pain did he endure as he made it through it, and just how did he manage to keep onto his sanity?
"You bathed in Demonic beast blood, with your strength? Why?"
Since Liang Chen said that the speed of his cultivation was too slow, it was clear that he had a goal in mind. It was likely also this goal that had allowed him to keep his sanity throughout the torturous ordeal. Liang Chen's eyes once again flashed with lightning, his voice dripping with hatred.
"There is someone that I must kill, so I couldn't afford to stay weak."
Talking with this Yan Ying was strangely calming and freeing. Liang Chen was uncertain if it was because of how calm and relaxed, even sympathetic, Yan Ying looked, or if it was because this was the first time Liang Chen had actually talked with anyone else about what he had gone through and what he was planning. Since Yan Ying knew a bit about what had taken place in Green Rivers city, he didn't even need to ask to figure out who Liang Chen wanted to kill, an amused chuckle escaping his lips.
"Let me guess, Qing Lan Yong? Heh, you got quite the goal there, Little Chen, that's gonna be quite tough. But hey, it would make for quite a tale if you manage it."
The sect that Yan Ying was part of didn't have a friendly relationship with the Nightshield sect that Qing Lan Yong was part of, they could even be called slightly antagonistic against each other. So Yan Ying did not care if Liang Chen wanted to hunt down Qing Lan Yong and cause trouble for him. Quite the opposite even, if Liang Chen managed to kill Qing Lan Yong, the Nightshield sect would lose a very promising disciple.
Yan Ying rolled his eyes for a bit, thinking if there were any other questions he wanted to ask. In the end, he could not come up with any more questions about Liang Chen, so he instead gave him a choice.
"Alright, Little Chen, those were all the questions I wanted to ask. We are currently quite a few kilometers away from the stone forest where we found you, and we are still heading deeper into the hidden realm. Do you want to come with us, or do you want to go back and meet up with your group?"
The way Yan Ying saw it, Liang Chen had likely teamed up with some other people to venture into the stone forest, as very few people would choose to wander that place alone. Liang Chen only spent a short moment thinking about the choices before he gave his answer.
"I don't have a group, so if you don't mind me following you, then I will do so."
Judging by the pressure that was currently crashing down on him, they were clearly quite deep within the hidden realm. The resources he could find here would be far better than the ones he could find in the stone forest, so as long as he was willing to risk it, he could reap great rewards. And if there was one thing Liang Chen was not afraid of, it was taking risks.
After all, what else did he have left to lose at this point? His parents were gone, his only friend had gone someplace unknown, Liang Chen was completely alone. Of course, that did not mean that he would simply accept death if it were to come for him, he would fight back with everything he had, clawing to life no matter how shameful he ended up looking. Yan Ying nodded his head at the expected reply, waving his hand at Teng Yimu.
"Alright. Yimu, mind getting Little Chen some more clothing and a weapon or two, something he can use to defend himself. At the same time, introduce him to the others."
Liang Chen's interspatial ring had disintegrated thanks to the violet bolt of lightning, so he would of course not have any weapons of spare clothing on him. Teng Yimu quickly nodded his head, helping Liang Chen stand up and assisting him out of the room. He was still a bit wounded, and with the pressure crushing down on him, his walking speed was almost snail-like.
The moment Liang Chen and Teng Yimu left the room, Old Chen couldn't help but look at Yan Ying, a worried expression on his face.
"Young Master, are you sure you should trust him like that, bringing him along?"
Old Chen had to admit that Liang Chen didn't seem like a bad person, but that was only based on the first impression, they still didn't know what he was really like. Yan Ying on the other hand simply shrugged his shoulders casually in the face of Old Chen's worried expression.
"Trust him? There is no way I am trusting him, I barely know anything about him."
Yan Ying was a mostly easy-going person, he even felt sympathy for Liang Chen, but that did not mean that he trusted him. Old Chen was simultaneously relaxed and surprised at Yan Ying's response, once again questioning.
"Then why bring him along? Especially now that we might encounter those overgrown lizard worshippers?"
They were currently on their way to meet up with the rest of their squad, then they would head out to pick up a few treasures they had their eyes on. One of those treasures was also eyes by people of the Moon Dragon Sect, enemies they could not afford to underestimate. Bringing along an unknown factor could quickly become dangerous if he were to sneak attack them during a crucial moment. Yan Ying's eyes turned a bit distant, his head turning toward the door, a sigh escaping his lips as he returned a question to Old Chen.
"Because I pity and somewhat believe in him. Old Chen, in our sect, at what age do we let our disciples go out and get some actual experience with the real cultivation world, and why?"
People died all the time, families were torn apart all the time. But knowing this fact was one thing, facing someone who had suffered that pain was something else entirely, one could not help but pity such people when one met them. Old Chen was a bit caught off guard by the sudden question, but he quickly responded.
"When they are around 18 or 20, as their minds will have matured more at that point, making them more steadfast and letting them quickly accept the brutality of the cultivation world."
If they let their disciples out into the cultivation world before their minds had gotten enough time to mature and harden, they would quickly become warped or corrupted by the sheer brutality of the cultivation world. Because of that, most sects and clans would have their disciples stay within the clan, only sending out younger disciples in rare cases. Yan Ying continued to look at the closed door, another sigh escaping his lips.
"Exactly, they are already adults before we let them see the truth about the world. Yet that child, who isn't even 13 yet, has already fully experienced the cultivation world and its horrors, losing everything in the process."
With his cultivation, Yan Ying was easily able to see Liang Chen's actual age. And even thought Liang Chen hadn't explicitly stated it, the slightly desolate tone he used when he said that he didn't have a group implied that he was completely alone. Even when Yan Ying's sect sent out their disciples to face the horror that was the cultivation world, none of those disciples had to face it alone. Yet this Liang Chen had not only faced the brutal cultivation world all alone at such a young age, he didn't seem to have let it corrupt or break him. Yan Ying seemed to suddenly remember something, speaking up again, Old Chen simply listening quietly.
"If I'm not wrong, it hasn't been that long since the farce in Green Rivers City. Yet in that short amount of time, that child's body is already filled with scars, his eyes have already hardened and become determined."
Yan Ying had seen how Liang Chen's body was filled with scars and wounds, with his entire back and most of his chest being a horrid mess of crack-like scars. A short silence descended upon the room, only broken by Yan Ying after a few minutes.
"...He reminds me of how I was in the past when I was a few years older than him. At that time, I had Father to pull me up and save me before it was too late, but that child has no one like that, if he did, they would not have let him reach a stage like this."
One of the reasons Yan Ying was able to sympathize so much with Liang Chen was because he saw his past self within him. Yan Ying had also lost his parents at a young age, a burning desire for revenge nearly swallowing him completely. But before it became too late to save him from the desire for revenge that threatened to swallow him, he was saved by a man who adopted him and treated him like his own child, even allowing him to take on the same surname. Yan Ying was filled with nothing but admiration and gratitude to this man, always striving to become more like him. After another short moment of silence, Yan Ying let out a hollow and weak-sounding chuckle, slightly lowering his head.
"Maybe, just maybe, we can be like Father and pull him up from the ground before it becomes too late, before he becomes another Yan Xieren. And I won't deny it, part of my reasoning is quite selfish. If I manage to save him, I feel like I might be able to somewhat atone for my sins."
Yan Ying had been saved before he was completely swallowed by his desires, but he had still done several horrid things, things he would never forgive himself for, things that haunted him whenever he closed his eyes. Seeing the downcast Yan Ying, Old Chen gently pat him on the shoulders, gently comforting him.
"Young Master is full of benevolence, I am sure that Master will be filled with pride once we return to the sect."