Chapter 4 - Five Years. Cultivation

The god-king continued to stand in mid-air with a smile on his face, admiring the destruction before him. A pair of handsome middle-aged twins suddenly appeared and stood respectfully behind him. One had completely white set of white hair with a scar on his left cheek. Left, and the other had a set of deep black hair with a scar on his right cheek, Right.

It was said that their father, a drunk, at their birth felt he would not be able to differentiate between the two, so he picked up a knife and marked Left on his left cheek and Right on his right cheek and proceeded to name them Left and Right. It was unfortunate their father was drunk else he would have seen the glaring difference in hair colors. Well, not that that helped them as they grew older. As they grew older, they never cared to change their names. They may have had a drunken and abusive father, and a mother who did not care about them, but both men loved their parents.

"My wife and daughter?" The God-king spoke without turning to look behind.

"Already back at the palace. Although there were quite a few eyes, there were no problems on the way." One of them answered. You could hear a chuckle beneath the cloak before he continued, "There were quite a few eyes watching but they all retreated once we heard your little thing here." Left chuckled once more.

"It wasn't me. They self-destructed." The god-king explained.

"Doesn't that make you even more of a monster?" Right rolled his eyes at the god-king who only chuckled in response. "What are you thinking about now?" After a bit of silence, Right asked.

"Nothing really. Just wondering what to do with all this space." The god-king answered. He was looking like he was in deep thought about the situation. The god-king was the leader of the entire central continent. With his power he was able to bring everyone under one banner. Under his rule the central continent had been able to thrive and prosper for hundreds of thousands of years. No one would make a move on such a large expanse of land without his go-ahead. Especially when it belonged to one of the powerhouses that was under his direct command.

The god-king practically heard his two guards roll their eyes at him. They knew he would probably use the place for something ridiculous if the Missus did not intervene. The god-king only laughed boisterously before disappearing from his spot, returning to the palace. He was in a good mood. Tonight's operation had been a glaring success. Any thought of a rebellion had been quelled. At least, he had bought enough time for his children to grow up into the dragons they would be without completely worrying about them.

He and his wife had been planning for four children the moment they found out their method was one hundred percent workable. Unfortunately, they would have to put the fourth child on hold for the mean time because of today's matter. At least until the three were far older. They had planned on spacing their ages in years of three, but the new plan did not seem too bad either. He would have to get home and talk with his wife about it, which he believed she would agree.

"Maybe I should gift the land to Emma. I haven't given her a gift yet, right? It should be perfect." With those thoughts, he moved faster towards the direction of home. He was already missing his wife and children.

"Holy shit! My old man is badass." The news of the deeds of the god-king spread like wildfire. Even before he got to the palace the news had already spread to every home, school, and sect in the central continent, including his. He reminded everyone once more why he stood at the top of the most prosperous continent as the god-king, spreading fear to his enemies, and reassurance to those that believed in him.

Emma was ecstatic as well, but for a different reason. She believed that such an action would bring about a deterrence. There would be many enemies that would not dare to attack them for a long while, but that was just it. Only for a long while. Sooner or later there would be those that would band together eventually or even probably someone with enough strength to challenge the old man.

He may have proved just how powerful he was, but he had also proven just how sweet the honey was on their side. Even if their family believed it was all due to the god-king's talents that brought him where he was, others would rather believe it was all the massive and precious resources the royal Blood family was hogging for themselves. Of course, that did not mean it was all false. After all, he was married to the most powerful alchemist in the central continent. Of course, she would create the best pills for her family. Who wouldn't?

To Emma, none of that mattered. To her, her old man may have ushered in an era of peace, but it would eventually crumble. Which was perfect for her. It would give her enough time to grow and regain her previous level of cultivation, probably even surpass it with the help of her new family and be just in time for when the fools challenged her family.

All Emma wanted to do in her new life is enjoy herself as much as possible. As for wanting the throne, it was a hard pass for her. If her siblings wanted it in the future they could have it. That did not mean she would not fight for it. It was the fighting part that she liked and looked forward to. In her previous life that was all she did, and she thoroughly enjoyed it. That was until she assumed her throne to protect family she never had. That was the only reason she assumed her throne to begin with. Now that she had a taste of family she had no reason to go after it anymore. It was her turn to be looked after and pampered, and from the looks of her new family, she would get plenty of that. After all, her father just went to annihilate an entire clan just for her.

With that thought, Emma closed her eyes in the arms of her loving mother and drifted to sleep.

…

A young red-haired young lady sat lazily in a chair, balancing a pen on the tip of her nose. She was slouched in the chair with her right leg raised and resting on the arm of the chair. The boredom on her face was evident as she occasionally yawned. Who else but our little protagonist, Emma Blood?

"Even if you are the daughter of the daughter of the god-king, you will pay attention in class." An old woman stood in front of Emma with veins snaking and pulsing across the side of her face as if there were worms trying to burrow their way out of her face. The only reason she had not leapt unto Emma to strangle her was because of the reason she just stated.

Five years had peacefully passed since her birth. Unfortunately, those five years were hell for our young Emma. It was a good thing a cultivator was able to fend for themselves when they were born. Being a conscious newborn baby without any control of herself was a torturous new experience for her. There were many times that she wanted to shut off her consciousness and wake up a few years later like she did in closed doors.

Five years later, it was time for her lessons. Basic knowledge and cultivation. During the five years she had not been allowed to properly cultivate aside the basic pills and medicinal baths to prepare the body for her cultivation. Basic they may be, but they were supreme grade among supreme grades, personally prepared by her mother.

"I'm paying. I'm really paying. Can't you see my razor-sharp focus?" Without losing her slouching form, she lazily replied to the old woman in front of her. She was the royal tutor. She was the one that handled all the theoretical and some practical lessons in the palace, including basic knowledge on cultivation, history, geography, and etiquette.

Hearing Emma, the veins at the side of her face begun to pulse faster. She was beginning to contemplate of whether to truly strangle the little girl in front of her. "Fine then. Since you are, tell me about our realms." She black eyes began to glow. She had made up her mind to punish the little devil if she got something wrong. No one would fault her for it if Emma could not answer.

"Such a vague question." Emma whispered to herself which the old woman heard but decided to ignore by taking in deep breaths. "There are five major realms. The mortal realm, the lower realm, the minor real, the major realm and finally the divine realm. All the realms are made up of worlds and planets except our divine realm which is made up of one extremely large plane divided into five continents; The north, south, east, west and our very own central continent where father rules." These were basic knowledge that Emma already found out the moment she was able to properly walk on her own.

Imagine her surprise when Emma found out she was actually from the major realm. There were very few worlds in the major realm, and she was from one of them. She had always thought herself supreme and above all, although she did eventually die, but who would have thought there was a realm and higher cultivations above hers. She was not disheartened. In fact, she was ecstatic. That meant she could get even stronger than she originally was.

"Cultivation." She questioned once more. The old lady's furrowed brows eased slightly. Which tutor was never happy with a star pupil? Unfortunately, those feelings dissipated quickly when she heard a 'Tsk. How annoying.'

"There are basically twelve stages of cultivation before one can breakthrough to the higher stages. Those twelve stages have all been named differently by the lower realms, but they all represent the same thing. Subdivided into the four main stages in three's, they are the body, core, spirit and mind stages, all low, mid and high." Since there were four lower realms, with millions of walkthroughs, the cultivation stages had different names depending on the world. For example, some called the body was the body cleansing stage, some called the core stage, the gold core formation stage or the aurorer stage, and so on and so forth. None of that mattered. In the end they were collectively grouped as the twelve stages.

"Basically, the gas, liquid, solid and seed stages." Emma continued. The old lady in front of her looked slightly confused. What Emma had just said was something she had never heard off. She was not like others that suppressed her students. She liked everyone to express themselves and discuss ideas. She had the spirit of a teacher and a student.

"What do you mean? She allowed her curiosity to take over, completely forgetting she wanted to strangle the little devil a moment ago.

"Well, that is basically it, if you think about it. Unless those completely unique cultivations, the energy in the body starts as gas, then compressed into liquid, the liquid is further compressed into solid, which becomes like a seed, fed and watered with laws. Although its not exact, it is basically it." The old lady stood completely shocked. She had never thought of things in such a way. It was a unique way of thought. It was the same for Emma. It was only recent that she begun to think in such a way. Who could blame her? She never really had the time for such things in her past life. All she did was survive. As for when she grew older, she never bothered with such things.

The old lady grew quiet once more, slowly pondering over what she just heard with a small smile on her face. This was not the first time Emma had said something out of the ordinary when it came to her lessons. She was completely satisfied with this student of hers. As annoying as she was, she was different from her older siblings who merely soaked all that was given to them. Not to take away anything from them, they were both geniuses in their right, completely surpassing other geniuses, but she much preferred Emma who brought a fresh perspective to the lessons.

"Fine. One last question then you can scram from here." Emma suddenly perked up. If not for her mother threatening her to stop disappearing and escaping from the classes, she would not even stay. The old tutor ignored the obvious happiness on the face of Emma. "Why do you think those of the lower realms find it difficult to surpass the twelve stages and move to the divine realm?" As long as one surpassed the twelve stages, they were automatically sent to the divine realm. However, extremely few are able to do so, and even when they do, they are usually in their extreme ages or hundreds of thousands, with very few in their tens of thousands able to breakthrough and arrive for the divine realm. Unless they had help from someone of the divine realm, it was usually the case.

Many had attributed it to talent, but Emma did not believe it so. She herself was a prime example. She believed one hundred percent that she had great talent, and if she had what she had now back then, she would have far surpassed her previous realm.

"I am only five years old; how would I know something like that?" Emma shrugged innocently at the old woman who had been waiting expectantly for an answer, completely shattering all forms of expectations she had. She seemed to have finally remembered that fact, chuckling to herself before waving Emma off, who bolted from the place before the old woman could realize how.