Sword & Ash

As the child got out of his 'shell', everything was bright for a moment. When his eyes had finally adjusted, he saw new faces and heard sounds that he never heard of before.

With a sweet but wavering voice, and a faint yet worrying tone, the woman asked "Is he alright?".

In turn, the man replied "Yes, he is. My dear."

"Can I hold him?" said by the woman with a joyful and shaky yet hopeful tone. Instinctively, he somehow felt a connection with her. And one word came to mind. "Mother'. The child instinctively knew that this woman was his 'mother'. As the child saw his mother's face filled with content, happiness, and tears from joy, it was the first memory that was engraved into the child's mind.

Everything went silent for a while, and all that could be heard was the mother's cries, the sounds of nature, and the wind breeze. It was a moment, where he thought that living life doesn't seem so bad after all.

- Seven Years passed by in a breeze, and the child who was once fragile, is now a vigorous kid, who plays with his friends all day, whilst enjoying the life he wished and longed for.

As the winter solstice approaches, even if it was late in the afternoon, it was getting cold. Thus, you can see a lot of people chopping woods for fire, hog up on livestock, preparing to store food on their home's *Lingyin or warehouse in order to have enough food to last themselves for the whole winter.

It was quite the busy season, as resources become extremely scarce during winter, and it might as well be the time where you could die at any moment due to starvation.

Moments later, after Xi Luo's father went out for the last time to gather firewood, he finally arrived.

But something was off with his father, it was as if he was in a rush. He was nervous, his sweat was clearly dripping on the floor, his eyes were shaking and fear was completely displayed.

Even though it was instinctive and strange, as a child, he knew that something wasn't right.

"Pack your things, we're leaving. Now!" his father yelled with a tone of urgency

"Why is it, dear?" Ruan Luo asked in the middle of cooking dinner.

"There's no time to explain, do it!" Jian Luo replied as he turned back and headed to their room. He was going to pack everything they needed.

Moments later, there were cries of people and children in the air. Sounds of swords clashing, buildings collapsing, and qi swords colliding with each other.

A minute passed, and a colossal sword aura that was expelled, hit Xi Luo's home. There was severe damage to the land, but fortunately, it missed, so no one was injured.

Out of the ash, came a voice, and said: "Huh, you bastards are really blessed by *Hsuan - wu!"

"But that luck won't last today, as you fuckers will die!!" as she yelled, thousands of swords came out from the cinders. All stained with both blood and ash, and enveloped with a ghastly energy.

As it was about to hit them, his father suddenly vanished, leaving a strand of light with it.

Turns out, he blocked this person's attack, and for all these years, what he didn't know about his father, is a cultivator, and a powerful one at that.

Before speaking, the woman cackled terrifyingly, "Huh, finally showing everything now, huh? Jiang Luo?"

"Turns out, you're ready to die this time!!" With a smile, she swung her sword at a terrifying speed, so fast that it couldn't be seen with a normal eye!

Before Xi Luo came to his senses, everything was cut in half, it was so powerful that it even cut mountains!

But when he came to notice, his mother and father were split in half too. His father's lower body was maimed in half, and his intestines started falling apart, while his mother's head cut in half and was spurting blood everywhere.

That sight had him shocked. He was traumatized by it. He couldn't handle the sight. It was to be expected, especially for a child, who was no less than seven *winters old.

"Huh, that's it? I expected more of you Jiang Luo, but to think that you're this weak, seems like I overestimated you." The unknown assailant said it with a scoff, and a disappointed expression.

She then turned back and said, "Looks like I came here in vain then.".

"Your wife could've been one of my toys, but sadly, she got caught by my sword too." with a smirk, she then turned around Xi Luo and said "Hoh? So you're still alive? Good! " before she continued, she gave a terrifying smile, as if she were a devil, "Because when we see each other again, that would be the day you'll die!"

And with it, she vanished in thin air, like the wind. But one thing was stuck in her mind when she met the boy's eyes, it was pure evil.

For when Xi Luo came to his senses and came in contact with the mysterious woman's eyes, all he had was hatred, so much hatred, that you could basically say that it would manifest and turn into a demon itself.

When the mysterious woman finally disappeared, Xi Luo couldn't hold his tears back, all sorts of emotions were swelling inside of him, anger, sorrow, and grief. His legs got soft, and fell down on his knees. He cried, and shouted from the top of his lungs. He continued crying and shouting, till he no longer had tears to shed, and voice to shout.

Xi Luo looked back, and saw the jade pendant that was hanging on his neck. He took it, for it ought to be at least something for him to remember his parents.

But when he took hold of the pendant, his mind was immediately bombarded with memories, his bloodline awakening, his physique and bones were reconstructing, his path to cultivation was multiplying, and all sorts of things.

With so much happening at the same time, it would be hard for someone to keep their sanity. But with Xi Luo's rage, there was something that kept him sane at the last moment. The face of his parent's killer.

Upon his awakening, he emitted massive amounts of both qi and pressure, it was something both horrendous and amazing, for the birth of a new expert is something to behold, and also terrifying, for the aftershocks for those that are affected by it really are quite severe.

"RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he yelled. "SO THIS IS WHAT HUMANS HAVE BECOME?! AFTER WATCHING ALL OVER THEM FOR ALL THESE YEARS, YOU ARE ACTUALLY THIS EVIL?!!?" he cried.

"Since you have killed my parents, I'll find you and I'll kill you!" he yelled.

"After that, I'll travel this world and rid it of evil!! Humans, mark my word, for this Deity, shall not spare any evil person in this world!!!" he cried.

Right when he said that, his eyes turned from a normal black color, to a cold azure blue.

Little did he know that his bursting qi actually pierced through the realms, and even reached the heavens!!

Thus, marking this day, the missing Deity has returned!!

- Look out for what happens in the next chapter~!! -