Gone...

"Sniff... sniff..." Currently in a white space, our dearest protagonist, Xin Jianyu, was sobbing with teary eyes while sitting at a table with his head plopped down. A tremendous catastrophe had surely befallen him!

"How long... are you going to continue that?" Xin Dongyang, who had to bear witness to this sight for the last hour, was losing patience.

"It hurts a lot, you know!" Slamming onto the table in front of him, Jianyu spoke angrily.

Yet, looking at his grandson's current appearance... Xin Dongyang couldn't really take him seriously.

Glossy teary eyes, a crumpled frown, a pouty face, and a height definitely shorter than the last time he had seen him... It was as if he had regressed in age...

No, his grandson was never truly like that. He was an extremely mature child from birth due to the past memories residue. But now...

"Ughh... They hurt so much... I thought horns would be cool and all but... If I ever try to attack someone with them I'll be the first to die..." In despair, Jianyu continued his own ramblings, distressing Xin Dongyang even further...

"Isn't it about time you give me an explanation?" Finally having enough of this, Xin Dongyang spoke sternly. After all, this matter was definitely beyond the level where he could remain carefree.

"There's no need to be so serious, is there? Ah..." He paused for a bit as his words trailed off, "I guess, now that the little secret of the sect has been shook, there's a bit of panic spread around, huh?"

Xin Dongyang's body seemingly stiffened up momentarily as he looked into his grandson's now glowing violet eyes, it was a strnagely familiar feeling but, he decided not to think about it. "...And how might you know about that?"

"Well, it's more or less how you remember about 'certain things', fragmented memories reverberating through Dao, a distant echo through the rivers of time."

While in theory, this wasn't exactly unthinkable, as the Jianyu from the other timeline had reached half-step into the Dao realm with his intent. So, him reaching Dao Realm was quite feasible. However, it was too random...

And while this random remembrance could be due to the half-step ascension that just occurred, even then the change in personality was too odd.

Somehow understanding his grandfather's inner turmoil, Jianyu continued, "Well, parts of my soul have been burnt off especially ones related to 'my past life'. At the same time, my soul has recovered to its peak through rather unconventional methods... well, you can just soul search me to see it for yourself."

Not really hesitating, Xin Dongyang wasted no time in using a soul-searching art. While such an act might be looked at as barbaric, soul searching one's descendant, for the Xin family, it wasn't that much of an issue.

Of course, even in the Xin family, such a thing will only happen on serious occasions and this was most definitely one of them.

The sect's greatest purpose, the sole 'treasure' they had been eyeing for countless millennia, their plans that predated the grand elders themselves... It had all gone astray within a single moment.

Soul-searching his grandson, Xin Dongyang fell quiet.

"So? Is there anything wrong?"

For a moment, Xin Dongyang remained quiet, deep in thought, and finally unleashed a wave of his aura. His eyes burned alight with a crimson hue, with a radiance akin to the solar star. "What is your name?"

Xin Dongyang's aura turned the pure white area into a blazing crimson. His aura, although just a mere inkling of his true strength, was suffocating and domineering to someone of Jianyu's level.

However, it was simply 'impossible' for Jianyu to feel fear from this.

"I am..." looking into Xin Dongyang's crimson sun-like eyes, Jianyu could feel his vision burn up and shift and change, his eyes changing from violet to two different colors, one taking a silvery hue while the other enveloped with golden strands swirling. "... Xin Jianyu."

"...Fine." Xin Dongyang's aura receded, and the surroundings changed back to the same white as before. "Anyways, your current situation is rather odd. Your soul has contorted beyond recognition. Much more like chaos critters rather than a human's."

"Chaos critter?"

Looking at Jianyu's raised eyebrows, Xin Dongyang continued, "Creatures born out of an excess of chaos qi, somewhat akin to elemental beings. Innately, they are rather weak and lack intelligence even though they possess a faint affinity for chaos. Yet, as chaos is fickle, as they grow, they lose their chaos affinity which in turn births a new affinity."

"Ah, you mean chaos spirits?" Rubbing his chin, Jianyu continued, "Well, critter isn't a bad name for those annoyances... But I don't believe myself to be weak or lacking intelligence..." Jianyu spoke in a sulky voice completely unnatural and rather creepy considering his usual behavior.

"Haa..." Xin Dongyang sighed, feeling his head ache from the immature behavior from his grandson... he always troubled by him being mature but now... He didn't even know how to explain this to his daughter, even worse how he will explain any of this to his wife when she exits her seclusion. Thankfully she hadn't seen Jianyu since his birth so she wouldn't be able to know about this blunder...

"...Your body has its outer 'shell' made through the Chaos Qi covered by a 'skin' made from five elements... and its core is a spatial distortion or rather you are a spatial distortion covered by chaos Qi in a shell mimicking life... Most wouldn't be able to see through it because of the thick chaos qi. Finally, inside the spatial distortion is your true self... a mystical realm with your soul being.... nevermind."

"That's just making me more curious, you know?" Jianyu spoke with narrowed eyes.

"Well, it's not something you need to be concerned with. Your soul is just in a strange state. Moreover, your whole 'realm' is lying in between the border of reality and dreams. While it's quite real, it lacks many of its fundamental building blocks which are filled in through fake dreamlike creations..."

"Dreams, huh?" The word caused a strange feeling to run ablaze within Jianyu, but he couldn't really put a finger on the reason. "Well, I can feel weird as well... It's like my body is more so a puppet, moreover, the very way of controlling my body and thoughts seem different. Anyways..."

Narrowing his eyes, with a smile Jianyu asked, "What will the sect do now?"

Coughing into his fist, Xin Dongyang returned to his stern demeanor. "We've decided to hold you accountable for the chaos you've caused."

...

About an hour ago,

...

"Feh?!"

Right after his half-step ascension, a monumental feat, Xin Jianyu, who couldn't feel stable, tripped and fell.

"AAAAAAAAARRRHHH!!!"

The pain he felt was truly beyond anything he had ever felt, far worse than one's soul being corroded. But that wasn't even the worst thing that happened.

*RUMBLE!

The rumbling that reverberated through the central continent and originated from the five grand peaks of the sect sent the top brass of the sect into panic. It was but a moment after, the rumbling began to halt.

But, that moment was enough for their ancient plans to go haywire! Millennia worth of effort, secrecy, cautiousness, and the goal they inherited from their ancestors... everything turned to dust from a single "error"!

Moreover, they could not even take action against the one who caused this! Why? Because they didn't even know who did this.

Well... they did know that Grand Elder Xin's grandson was the cause of this "blunder" but, at the end of it all, he was just a conduit for this chain of events, not the origin.

Thus, they decided to change their plans for now and have Xin Jianyu stay away from the central continent.

...

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

...

"So... You want me to leave the central continent?" A slight frown and creased brows, yet Jianyu still had a smile.

"The Xin family has a certain tradition, a rite of passage you could say. You'll have to live within a Quasi-Immortal ranked realm overseen by the Xin family for three years without any help. The realm has been isolated for millennia so, you can't use the family's influence there."

Slightly unsettled by his grandson's smile, Xin Dongyang continued, "However, in your case, we might have to extend this to more than three years..." Xin Dongyang had hardened his heart and was prepared to go through his daughter's complaints and his grandson's dissatisfactions... To be fair, he had already been very lenient towards both of them till now.

"Well, I guess it can't be helped~" However, in quite the contrast to his expectations, Jianyu answered rather merrily... a bit too cheerfully.

"You do understand that you'll not receive any help nor get to keep a servant from the family, right?"

"Of course, I understand." Jianyu's answer was just as cheerful, further confusing Xin Dongyang...

'Why... wait, could it be?! N-no there's no way... maybe?'

"During this time you are not allowed to 'play around' with women." As these words left Xin Dongyang's mouth, the change in Jianyu's demeanor was apparent even though his smile did not change at all.

"NOO!! Why?!"

"As of now, the Xin family does not possess a true 'scion'. I am sure you know what I mean by that." In response to this, Xin Jianyu slightly nodded.

"What about Xin Guang? Even if he's from a branch family... I believe his bloodline is pure enough to be useful if adopted into the main family." Jianyu's demeanor changed to a serious one, yet his smile never disappeared much to Xin Dongyang's discomfort.

"Xin Guang's path and heart both have deviated too far from the family's Dao. Moreover, his talent isn't worthy of an investment as great as to help him change his path." Xin Dongyang's words were far more like that of the patriarch than the usual grandfather, harsh and cold...

In hindsight, It made quite sense as according to what Jianyu had heard, his grandfather had ascended to be a patriarch through the family's olden tradition... He had competed with his siblings in the battle for the position of the patriarch, resulting in the demise of all of his siblings except for those who gave up on their right to the main family.

Ignoring Jianyu's ponderance, Xin Dongyang continued, "To secure the family's future, we'll use the ancient arts passed down from our family's founder. A dual cultivation method that will create an heir with a suitable physique to inherit the family's dao, a true scion... The only drawback being that this technique requires one to have their 'Vital Yang Qi'..."

Vital Yang Qi... a Special type of energy that a male has at birth lost upon intercourse, in a similar way females possess Vital Yin Qi.

"Argh, dammit... 'My' past life's regrets! Left unfulfilled even now!" Just then Jianyu paused, as if remembering something, "What about you? Did you... I guess that's to be expected of the frivolous 'night star of the Xin family'~"

Before his eventual marriage, Xin Dongyang was... well a bit on the 'cheerful' and energetic' side, having made acquaintance with many wonderful ladies.

As for how such a person became so um... what should I call it? Responsible? Yeah, let's go with responsible and faithful.

Anyways, the cause for this change was his wife, a rather astonishingly amazing cultivator who had reformed the 'wild' Xin Dongyang singlehandedly.

Thinking about his grandfather's rather colorful history, Jianyu's smile widened, causing Xin Dongyang's expression to falter as he flinched from that creepy smile.

"What?"

In response to Jianyu's inquiry, Xin Dongyang sighed and weaved a circle with his index finger. A ring of fire appeared mid-air, which soon turned into a flaming mirror, showing his grandson's reflection.

Seeing his reflection, Jianyu's demeanor changed at an exceptional speed, Xin Dongyang felt a bit sad for his grandson. After all, getting rid of side effects from ascension is something quite complex. However....

"MY MUSCLES ARE GONE!" His grandson's worries lay elsewhere.