2 Ren's confidence

After the battle Hao Ren was left alone to care for himself. Hao Ren tried some of the herbs he could get from the Sect through some of His meticulous deeds, at the end it was all in vain as there was nothing they could do.

Three months went by in the blink of an eye, during this time Hao Ren's cultivation started decreasing gradually, with the crack in his dantian was also increasing.

And during this time Wu Chen with the help of his father, finished recuperating and gained a cultivation breakthrough from Qi Gathering Stage Six to Seven, his father hosted a party to celebrate this. It shook the entire sect when they heard this. Wu Chen gained back his past glory as the Sect's number one genius since after the battle Hao Ren hasn't made any improvements yet.

When Hao Ren heard about this news he felt a huge burden on him and was down, Hao Ren paced in his courtyard thinking about how to handle this storm that was coming in his direction as he was currently unable to come up with any plan to handle it.

Hao Ren thought 'If there's no way to deal with all these things I'm going through for now I'll just keep myself in check and try to avoid every possible thing that will lead to me getting into trouble' Hao Ren went to his room and took out to a box from under his stone bed and then brought out a golden token given to him by Hao Yi.

A strand of Hao Yi's spiritual sense was left in the token, so he'll always know if he's alive or dead. The token was shining brightly which indicated that Hao Yi is still alive, Hao Ren looked at the token "Dad when are you coming back, if you're not back in the next nine months I will be leaving the Sect to come search for you, besides this place is no longer safe for me"

Three months went by with Hao Ren feeling devastated because in this time period his cultivation level dropped from Qi Gathering Stage Six to Five, Hao Ren decided to visit Elder Li and tell him about his plans of leaving.

Early morning the next day there was an incredibly handsome looking youth with fair skin, blue eyes, long dark hair dressed in an all black martial suit was walking in the Silver Lining Sect heading to the direction of the Elders mansion that youth was precisely Hao Ren. When Hao Ren got to the Elders mansion's gate, Hao Ren was unfortunate to bump into one of Wu Chen's henchmen Yun Lu. An average looking youth with a pair of long front teeth.

Yun Lu looked at Hao Ren with a mocking face and said with a smile plastered on his face "Hao Ren what are you doing here, after not seeing you for six months I thought you were dead, but who knew you were still alive"

Hao Ren looked at the pleased Yun Lu and shook his head "When masters are talking dogs don't bark. And besides, your master Wu Chen is still a dog to me so you are not qualified to be talking to me now screw off"

Hao Ren walked towards the gate of the mansion without even sparing another glance at Yun Lu. Yun Lu felt greatly humiliated and stared at him with an angry look on his face.

"You use..." Yun Lu was then immediately interrupted mid sentence by Hao Ren. Hao Ren was already standing before him and tapped Yun Lu on his shoulder like they were good friends "I'm wondering when last you saw your reflection on the mirror, because with those teeth of yours you look like the ancestor of rats"

Hao Ren walked passed Yun Lu, turned and looked at him with his usual smiling face and said "I'm just telling you as a friend"

Hao Ren made a gesture of filing down his front teeth and said while laughing "It'll help just give it a try and I promise you'll look better" before heading inside the Elders mansion towards Elder Li's courtyard.

"My boy, how are you doing today?" Elder Li asked with a smile on his face the moment he saw Hao Ren

"I'm doing fine. I just wanted to check on you, you know you're one of the few people in the sect I can talk to freely" Hao Ren replied with a smile

"Sigh my boy, I'm really feeling bad about your current situation. I've looked for herbs in some of the places I could but none with the effect to help fix your dantian" Elder Li said to Hao Ren with a sad face

"Thank you for trying Elder Li. I'll think of something, though there's nothing I can do about it for now I'm confident about working something out sooner or later" Hao Ren said with a confident smile though he's not too sure but he believed he'll recover soon.

Elder Li looked at him with a wry smile and shook his head. But he was happy Hao Ren didn't sink into despair like others would've if they were faced with such situations

"Has the sect leader come out to seclusion yet. He's been in seclusion now for quite some time now" Hao Ren asked

"Not yet, but I can sense his aura his gradually increasing. At this rate in about five months he should have made a breakthrough. But I'm not sure since I've not seen anyone who has made a breakthrough to that realm before. For me that's a realm I'll probably never enter, but I'm hopeful though" replied Elder Li

"You'll definitely get there one day. I believe if there are no incidents, the Sect Leader will make a breakthrough to the Core Formation Realm" said Hao Ren

"Elder Li, I'll be leaving the sect if my father doesn't return in six months time. That's the reason I came to ask about the Sect Leader, so he'll be informed ahead of time before I leave" Hao Ren said

"You're leaving, where are you going to?" Elder Li asked with a shocked expression

"I'm going to search for my father, I know where he went to so I'll go there first to get some information before thinking of what next to do" replied Hao Ren

"Sigh, I knew you'd be leaving but I didn't expect it to be so soon. How about waiting a little longer, if the Sect Leader leaves seclusion he'll be more useful searching for a remedy for you with his strength" Elder Li said with a sad face

"I know it'll be better to leave after healing myself but you should know this place isn't safe for me with both Elder Wu and Wu Chen's influence increasing in the sect. I don't like leaving my fate to chances, I'd rather have things under my control while also hoping for things to get better than waiting, leaving my life up to fate" said Hao Ren

"I know, especially with Wu Chen making a breakthrough recently, Elder Wu is channeling everything he has into Wu Chen. He hopes his son will be the next Sect Leader, and from the look of things he'll do everything he can to ensure nothing threatens his position" said Elder Li

"Yeah, even though he knows I have no interest in staying in the sect, yet he still doesn't want to leave things to chances that was why he has always tried to get rid of me. I've always been careful with Elder Wu but never really took Wu Chen seriously. Sigh, I was too careless in accepting his challenge, I was confident I could easily defeat him but didn't expect Elder Wu would come up with such a scheme" said Hao Ren

"Hao Ren, how are you still so confident about your father still being alive even though we haven't heard from him since he left?" Elder Li asked

"Well I guess there's no need hiding it from you anymore" said Hao Ren before taking out a shining golden token

"Could it be because of this" Elder Li said

"Yes, my father left a strand of his spiritual sense on this token. So long as it's still brightly lit, it means he's still alive" Hao Ren said will looking at the token

"Hahaha, I knew a your father won't die that easily. no wonder you've not been bothered about everything they've been saying. I feel more assured about your current situation after hearing this" said Elder Li while laughing loudly

Hao Ren stayed and chatted with Elder Li before he decided to return home. Elder Li decided to see Hao Ren off

"Are you going to be fine going back home on your own" said Elder Li

Hao Ren was touched by Elder Li's kindness towards him. He looked at him saying "Don't worry I'll be fine besides you can't always protect me, you still have things to attend to do and no one will do anything to me since we're in the sect. I'm off".

Hao Ren stood up and walked out of Elder Li's courtyard heading back to his courtyard. Before he got to the gate of the Elders mansion, Hao Ren saw two young men staring at his direction. One of which was a tall and well built average looking boy with a long nose, which was Wu Chen and the other was Yun Lu with the long front teeth.

As soon as they saw Hao Ren, Wu Chen started laughing "Hao Ren the crippled genius how are you doing come and greet your father, it's be so long we met".

Hao Ren ignored Wu Chen and continued walking but before Hao Ren got passed the gate, his path was blocked by Wu Chen and Yun Lu.

Wu Chen was happy seeing Hao Ren's bad situation and said in a loud voice on noticing other disciples where in the vicinity "You brat better listen to me when I'm talking or I'll break your legs"

His loud voice immediately attracted the attention of some of the disciples in the area as they started gathering to see what was going on. Hao Ren stood opposite Wu Chen and Yun Lu, he darted a glance at Wu Chen and finally landed his gaze on Yun Lu.

Hao Ren made a gesture like he was stroking his teeth "Oh my, Yun Lu so you couldn't stand up for yourself and decided to call your master over. It seems like you've forgotten how I beat him up the last time he stood in front of me"

Wu Chen's face turned red after hearing this

Hao Ren had an expression of being lost in thought "Oh Yun Lu, I heard the Sect is lacking some tools at the Spirit stone mine we will be very glad to accept your teeth as it will be very good for mining"

Yun Lu was filled with anger that is face turned red "You!...." before Yun Lu could finished speaking

Hao Ren interrupted with a playful tone "You, you what, ancestor of rats don't even dare to say anything before me again"

Wu Chen looked at Hao Ren feeling furious for being ignored "Hao Ren what's all this, aren't you going to greet you father before I get angry"

Hao Ren looked at Wu Chen like he just found a new toy to play with "Mr loser, I don't like talking to defeated foes and besides how do you live on with that nose of yours. I'm not surprised since animals walk together. The ancestor of rats and the chicken lord, what a great combination"

Hao Ren walked pass them after leaving this sentence. Leaving both Wu Chen and Yun Lu angry