7 In No Position to Speak

He returned to the old courtyard where his father used to spend most of his time at.

It seemed the necessary arrangements were made since even the servants knew about his imminent departure. Others were busy moving things, and some were emptying the room. 

It appeared that he was the last person to know the truth. 

Zhou Yan cracked a bitter smile as he reflected upon the current situation. If this happened before he inherited the will of the ancient sage, not much of a difference would happen regardless of if he had overextended his body's physical abilities or not. The same excuse claiming he was not much of a genius would be used by both Zhou Lingyao and his sister for the same purpose of claiming his birthright. 

On the other hand, he might have acted out impulsively since he was an immature teen. This alone would cause an even greater outburst that would have resulted in him completely giving up on his dreams. 

No matter what the outcome was, it would ultimately be an unfortunate one. It seemed that a positive outcome would be unlikely for him.

In reality, he had a new strategy for training that allowed him to speedily progress his different skills without stalling. This meant his progress would no longer be considered average. However, the trio of Elders, along with the Lord of the family, never bothered to examine his body or attempted to understand the changes that were occurring in his body. All they did was jump to a conclusion with little evidence to support their verdict. They were adamant in claiming that he was nothing more than a piece of crippled trash. He could not help but feel skeptical about their claims. 

Besides their hasty claims, they even told him what a blessing it would be for him to live the life of common-folk and ranted about his failures and disabilities, claiming how it would keep him on a righteous path, thus not bringing shame to the family.

Those words alone wrenched his heart as it did not matter what the intention was, but it was the audacity to say such horrible things to him the moment after his father had perished that hurt him the most. 

Those words would not sound unkind or unmerciful to an average child. It was precisely after that overwhelming soul-piercing blade of light was unsheathed, not a single person would even bother to acknowledge his presence.

Both siblings, Zhou Lingyao and Zhou Lingyi, could not even withstand the sheer force of such raw power. He was the only one who could face it without even flinching. Even so, not a single soul was concerned about him. No one made an effort to understand how a nobody like him could be capable of facing the raw, unhinged power without flinching. 

At that moment, he assumed his demonstration of might alone would give him a glimmer of hope for some recognition he desperately yearned for… However, he was deeply disappointed since not a single person noticed his potential. It was clear to him now that nobody cared about him.

It was evident that his presence alone had been long forgotten by his family.

Perhaps it was his position in the family that everyone never saw him as a genius but nothing more than an average man. If he was not given any training resources, he would not even stand a chance to compete with a regular pupil of the family. 

…

Under the pine tree in the courtyard, streams of water flowed calmly while a cool breeze blew.

a sea of flickering stars was painted across the night sky. It was what a dream should be, beautiful and bright.

Zhou Yan stood still while reflecting upon that very same scene that happened before. It was heartbreaking for him.

However, not a single complaint was uttered, nor grievances were held against anyone. Ever since he knew how much betrayal, heartbreak, and endless cycles of vengeance the ancient sage went through, he realized that his situation could not compare to that of the old sage. 

After much reflection, he came to an understanding. Since he no longer had a legitimate position in the Zhou family, there would be no need for him to fulfill his obligations.

…

"Master, please take care of yourself from now on as I will take my leave now."

At this moment, he heard the voice of his personal handmaiden coming through one side of his ear.

The name of this young lady was Ping'er. She had been by Zhou Yan's side ever since he was a child. Those two grew up closely together.

"Are you leaving too?" Zhou Yan asked with a saddened tone.

"I am reluctant to leave you, master, but the Mistress said you should be independent and work for everything with your bare hands, so you shouldn't rely on me any longer."

Ping'er was deeply saddened while she lowered her head. Zhou Yan noticed tears welling up in her huge pearly eyes. She seemed reluctant to leave his side.

With a wave of sudden realization, Zhou Yan recalled how loyal his handmaiden was despite him always being a letdown in the past. This realization tugged at the heartstrings. However, Zhou Yan felt he was losing his own identity after the collective memories of the ancient sage were infused inside him. 

This change would act as a constant reminder for Zhou Yan. Due to his inexperience in the world, this change in personality was the result of acquiring tremendous information from the collective memories of the ancient sage. Although this would change the way he interacted with people, he was determined to never forget the precious memories he shared with his personal handmaiden. 

He was determined to uphold his will.

This change in personality only lingered for an instant since he could not shake the intense feeling of how much of a coincidence that his past and the following changes he had encountered were all part of his fate. 

It appeared that perhaps he had unconsciously shaken off the slight negative influence from the collective memories of the ancient sage. 

"Pay no mind to what she had spoken. You are not her handmaiden but mine! I have no ties to that woman, so you shall join me in my future journey!"

"Ah... But master, she's the Mistress of the house!" 

Ping'er was shocked. However, she was secretly touched and grateful for his words.

It was a first for her since she never knew her own master was capable of such firm persuasion and possessed such a captivating side to his personality.

However, she was worried that this exchange would bring trouble for her master with the mistress.

"The Lady of the House?" chuckled Zhou Yan sarcastically. "So, what if she's the Lady of the House? Just as I've told you before, worry not, just come along with me."

"There's no family left for you. Where would you go when you leave? You'd be soiled by the trash in the family that would only want you for your looks. Follow your master, for I promise you better days ahead."

Zhou Yan was blunt with his words. However, there was no ill intention in scaring her. He was simply stating the bitter truth.

It was evident to Ping'er that her master was telling the truth. She became nervous while she listened to her master. It was almost as if she was bothered by the whole ordeal. 

A lowly handmaiden without family and without servitude to her master would be detrimental to her reputation regardless of where she headed to.

It was not due to her lack of understanding of the impending reality she would have to face. Instead, it was her fear toward the Lady genius of the Zhou family. She was terrified of disobeying her orders and at the same time she was more worried that this ordeal would negatively impact her master.

"Master…"

Ping'er was moved by Zhou Yan's bold statement earlier while she felt a strong urge to follow her master anywhere in this world. However, it was also due to the kindness he had shown her which had made Ping'er worried about offending the mistress of the house, Zhou Lingyi.

"You've been with me for all these years, am I not allowed to understand your feelings? Since we're both leaving the Zhou household, then what does our journey have anything to do with Zhou Lingyi anyway? As your master, I do not even possess the ability to defend your rights. Thus, what honor do I still have to request for anything more?"

His speech echoed a strong wave of masculine confidence in addition to his cold demeanor. It was difficult for Ping'er to immediately adapt to Zhou Yan's sudden show of masculinity.

However, it only took a brief moment for her to recover. She was extremely grateful and at the same time was also worried.

It seemed to Zhou Yan that the horrible experience she had gone through was beyond his imagination.

Perhaps it was due to his naive past that made him fail to notice the hesitation in her speech, which only meant that she had been through hell and back.

She was a stunning young naive woman. She had no clue about the inner workings of the world around her. However, there was a saying amongst the common folk, 'before punishment could befall a hound, one must first turn to its master.' This resulted in causing these people to never even hesitate before violating his handmaiden. This made him wonder about his actual position within his family. 

It was also at this moment that Zhou Yan realized the cause of all these unfortunate events were being swayed by Zhou Shuangshuang to Zhou Lingyi since both of them shared a friendship together. It was through these mysterious persuasion that convinced her brother, Zhou Lingyao, to violate Ping'er which resulted in her purity being robbed.

As he thought about it for some time, a series of heavy footsteps could be heard from nearby.

Finally, someone was approaching them.

Judging by the sounds of the footsteps, someone within the group was a rank one Blade's Cardinal as that person's steps were uneven; since they had not yet gained the knowledge of controlling their raw strength.

Who could it be approaching them at this moment? Even as much as the Elder of Lore wished to exile him, it was unlikely of him to rush things. Hence, the only possible guess would be the Third generation youth and his men.

Zhou Yan had absolutely no interest in trivial matters, hence, he had decided to ignore their closing presence.

His heart wrenched at the realization of how much suferring she had gone through. He noticed Ping'er's eyes were completely filled with tears, and the look of sorrow was obvious.

She would be the clearest definition of loyalty. Zhou Yan reflected upon his past and realized just how blind he was for noticing someone so close to him had experienced so much sorrow and humiliation.

He shifted his gaze to her face. She looked elegant and stunning. She would stun anyone with a single glance. No make-up in the world could hide her flawless grace.

Her face was flawlessly beautiful. Like an immaculate painting, she could captivate any living soul with her beauty alone.

She felt his intense stare. This was the first time in her life for her master to pay so much attention to her. She was conflicted because she enjoyed the attention and yet she was nervous. This action had seemingly lit the embers of first love in her heart.

Her cheeks blushed while her entire body was warming up uncontrollably.

It was also at this moment, Zhou Yan's focus shifted from her face while he reminisced an extraordinary moment which reminded him of a much happier time. He recalled from his memories that this adorable young girl used to tail him around when they were kids. This little girl used to cry her lungs out while yelling, "Master is bullying me again!" Unknown to him, this little girl had grown up so much.

He felt an unknown spark that burst into flames in his heart.

His mouth moved, but he said nothing. He inhaled deeply as her scent filled his lungs. He felt an unexplainable surge of energy rush through his body. 

Taking a few steps forward, Zhou Yan stood in front of Ping'er while hugging her in his loving arms, he wiped away the teardrops from her face.

Ping'er was touched by his gesture of love while her elegant body was completely frozen still. As a result, her body began trembling unconsciously. It felt like an amazing dream for her. 

It felt unbelievable to her since she was so gently embraced by her master, who she always assumed invested in training and was obsessed with the mistress of the house. It felt so gentle and warm being in his embrace.