Captives origin

Over 20 years ago there was a woman named Lana Smith, she was a rogue cultivator who accepted many jobs joining friends to hunt spirit beasts in the desolate forest and collect spirit fruits and herbs to earn money and improve her way of life.

Using the cultivation manual she discovered on a market when young she began her journey on he road of martial arts.

Unfortunately the road of martial arts is always full of its difficulties and trials and so began her harsh path towards gaining more strength and pursuing enough wealth to live a long and happy life.

The salesman who sold the cultivation manual was going hungry and needed to feed his family so sold anything he could find, perhaps his grandfather or someone in his family line was a cultivator and passed the manual down for later generations but the desperate situation required money so he sold it to the young girl for very little money not knowing its true worth.

One could say she gained a lot of experience and she was just as talented as those of the higher noble families in terms of martial arts even without their resources and background thanks to her hard work and efforts.

Others would attribute her efforts to luck of finding many special spirit herbs and fruits to boost her cultivation but she ignored those people and remained proud of her achievements.

For some commoners she would be a bright light that proved that if one worked hard enough they could escape from their days of hunger and poverty, she even became friends with the family of seller of the cultivation manual and instructed them on how to cultivate and sent them money when possible.

To those from the noble families she was merely someone who rose up from nothing, if she married into one of their families then her strength would become under their control, if not then she would be a hindrance to them.

One day on the job board in the moonlight country she found a well paid request, assisting members of the Jackson clan into the desolate forest to collect herbs and assist their clan leaders heir in hunting spirit beasts.

The journey to the forest was a simple and smooth job, she even assisted in surveying their surroundings during the journey and fighting some spirit beasts with those that took on the job and with the help of the clans guards.

The rewards reaped by the young master of the clan wasn't just the several spirit beast corpses but a spirit fruit to boost his strength to help further solidify his position as clan head in the future.

Unfortunately the young master was not satisfied with his current achievements as his lecherous eyes watched Lana, so began his plan to subdue the arrogant woman and let her know her place.

During a celebration at the camp before returning to moonlight country they began their feast and began drinking fine wines.

Lana who had never been used to the luxurious things of the nobles also began to treat herself to some of the wine, although she did not drink much her body became powerless unable to use her spirit energy for some time.

During this time the young master ordered her to be sent to him and forced himself onto her, refusing his advances so much and trying to fight back the young master beat her, crippled her cultivation and then had his way with her before leaving her in the first to die.

The young master and his guards left with those who had also taken the job, paying them extra to keep their mouths shut about the incident and if anyone asked later the woman died during the trip.

The woman however overcame her weakness and used her experience and knowledge of the forest area to slowly but safely make it back home to treat her injuries.

After some investigation of the clan she found out that although they seem like an ordinary clan on he surface they have heavy involvement in the underground businesses involving slavery, prostitution, smuggling, gambling and assassination.

The young master also had a cruel side and tortured and killed many innocent people, Lana wondered how she did not notice it before when she first saw him.

Of course he hid it very well from others and appeared kind and caring on the outside but vicious and cruel on the inside.

Without any spirit energy after having her dantian[1] crippled she despaired at the thought of not being able to get revenge on him and those who helped to hurt her.

She lacked a background to contend with her enemies, no strength and now she had to be extra careful to avoid the eyes of the clan in case they send someone to capture or kill her to silence her.

Tormented by nightmares of the man and hiding out at home her health and mental state rapidly declined day by day until she began to feel symptoms of pregnancy.

After learning she was pregnant she thought of killing the child by dying with her as if killing one of the bloodline of the man she would die satisfied but she could not kill her own child as it was innocent.

She could not bare to harm the child that shares the same blood as her even if the other half of it comes from a vile existence.

So began her long pregnancy as she tried her best to nurse her injuries and raise her child.

She kept in touch with the family still during that time as they visited often trying to keep her company to raise her spirits.

Knowing that she did not have much time left she made preparations with the family, giving them back the cultivation manual and every bit of money and things she had collected over the years in exchange for raising her child.

The day came when she gave birth to a son, a week after she passed away giving her son the name Noah Smith.

He was raised by the family alongside their little daughter of the same age, Noah inherited his mothers cautious nature and talent in cultivation and began cultivating at an earlier age than she did so made better progress but he was not as courageous as his mother when faced with life and death situations especially after learning of what happened to his mother at the age of 18.

His mothers story was like a warning to him not to overly trust others that he does not know everything about, the dangers of turning his back to someone holding a knife and blinding trusting them not to thrust it into him without knowing their true nature would be stupid.

So he began his journey into the desolate forest alone several times, increasing his strength and avoiding any serious dangers.

He never took on any jobs on the job board in case of encountering a situation like his mother, anything he ran into in the forest he began taking note of it and found that selling the information would earn him a lot of money.

He remained cautious using random people to handle the information to exchange for the money as a middleman to avoid the eyes of the nobles giving them a small amount of the overall earnings.

Successfully earning a living while avoiding the eyesight of the noble families he looked in the direction of the Jackson clan with hatred.

Still he supported himself and the family until the elders passed away leaving only him and the daughter.

The daughter was a little less talented in cultivation than him but not by too much however she never joined him in the forest, so he continued his journey solo until the day he met a sun bear during the age of 23...

His chance came and he was to be one step closer to getting justice for his mother if he could sell the spirit fruit then he could purchase a spirit pill to increase his strength.

He gave up instead of risking his life after his initial failure and decided to sell the information just in case it remained there, he was not in a hurry but still a little disappointed over his loss.

As long as he was living there would be hope!

And then...pain.

And darkness.

[1] Dantian, dan t'ian, dan tien or tan t'ien is loosely translated as "elixir field", "sea of qi", or simply "energy center". Dantian are the "qi focus flow centers", important focal points for meditative and exercise techniques such as qigong, martial arts such as t'ai chi ch'uan, and in traditional Chinese medicine