A Desolate Welcome

The moment the mysterious girl vanished, once again hidden within the depths of Yaan's mind, Yaan and the devil spirit were unfrozen. From their perspective, the old man was just staring at Yaan silently and intently. Yaan felt uncomfortable under this gaze, even though there was no pressure or malicious intent directed at him.

He felt uncomfortable, because this situation was extremely confusing…

"Who are you? What are you doing in my master's inheritance?" The devil spirit asked darkly after a long period of silence.

It seems that the devil spirit had managed to calm himself down, because his tone when speaking to the strange old man was now serious, wary, and even respectful. He had clearly acknowledged the old man's abilities, causing him to have some thoughts.

The old man glanced at the devil spirit casually.

"Hmph, asking who I am?"

"Well…yes…?"

"Since you wish to know, then I will tell you!" The old man's demeanour changed once again, though his aura still remained non-existent. He placed his hands on his hips, wearing a majestic and proud expression, as he pointed towards Yaan and the devil spirit and made a shocking declaration.

"I am known throughout the universe, feared across the four planes! Every divinity in this world trembles in terror at my esteemed name! I truly strike all with awe, respect and deference with every move I make! Nobody important in this world does not know me, I am famous, grand, majestic, and powerful!"

After saying this, he paused, then exclaimed:

"They call me…Old Thief!"

Both Yaan and the devil spirit stared at him with strange expressions. Their faces became slightly dark, because at this point, they felt like this old man was just messing with them.

The old man frowned when he didn't get the response that he was hoping for, so he decided to repeat himself.

"They call me…Old Thief!"

"…"

"…"

"Tch, don't look at me like that! I'm seriously an amazing person, it's not my fault that my title turned out this way! It's not like you get to choose your title, you just earn it based on whatever you're best known for."

"You're best known for being an old thief…?" Yaan finally spoke, unable to contain his silence any longer. He really didn't know what to think about this person.

The old man glared at Yaan and snorted in annoyance.

"Little brat, let me tell you something. I bet you think that the person who left behind this inheritance was someone amazing, right?"

"Of course master was incredible!" The devil spirit interjected, not giving Yaan the chance to respond. The old man turned to the devil spirit and grinned fiendishly.

"Well let me tell you, when he was still around, I robbed that guy on three separate occasions!"

"You- there's no way you- wait…you knew master?!" The devil spirit seemed agitated for some reason, glancing back and forth between Yaan and the old man with a severe expression.

"What are you doing here, really?!"

"Hmm, maybe I'm here for round four?" The old man replied with a shrug, then burst out laughing when he saw the devil spirit's gloomy expression.

"You…you're robbing this inheritance…but you were asleep, waiting in the 5th Trial Realm…"

"Right." Old Thief nodded seriously. "I'm stealing the inheritor."

"You would actually dare to poach master's inheritor?!" The devil spirit once again burst out in anger, forgetting his previous caution and rapidly expanding in size. "You cannot! This boy is actually-"

"That's enough out of you." The old man's smile faded as he threw the devil spirit an indifferent glance. With seemingly no movement of his own, Old Thief caused the devil spirit to vanish!

Yaan's eyes widened as he stared at this…Old Thief…in shock.

What sort of power did it take to completely and utterly subdue the devil spirit? What level of strength did this eccentric old man possess that allowed him to intrude this inheritance and act so rampantly, doing as he pleased?

"So..." The old man turned towards Yaan with a serious expression. Yaan tensed up, remembering the old man's words from earlier, about 'stealing' the inheritor…

"Relax, I was only joking. I don't have the patience for the whole 'disciple' thing."

After calming himself down, Yaan stared at the old man and asked:

"Then what do you want? Were you waiting here for me specifically?"

"Of course I was waiting for you, why else would I waste my time here?"

Yaan blinked. The old man answered that more easily than expected…no, he still hadn't expressed his intentions.

"So anyway, I read your entire memory and had a look at your dao. This and that happened, so I've decided to rob you and then send you to the inheritance exit." Old Thief said casually before Yaan could ask anything else.

"Huh?"

"I'm robbing you. Pay up everything you have."

Yaan stared forwards dumbly for a moment before the old man's words truly registered in his mind.

"Seriously?" Yaan's eyes widened, hardly able to believe this person.

"Yes, seriously." The old man glared at him. "Oh, keep your clothes on though…also, you can keep that stone ring, I don't want that thing, or the annoying girl within."

As Old Thief continued to glare at Yaan with an increasing look of annoyance, Yaan felt a rising sense of danger that caused his hairs to stand on ends.

Slowly, and with great pain, he took off his spatial rings, before passing them across to the now gleeful looking old man. Yaan felt bitter when he saw that unhidden joyous expression on the old man's face, but he felt even more bitter at his next words.

"The armour too."

"But this is my soul bound treasure…" Yaan protested cautiously, but Old Thief merely snorted and pointed at him arrogantly.

"Your treasure? This armour was originally mine to begin with! Though I suppose for a mortal like you, unbinding it is problematic…since I'm feeling so generous, I'll help you out."

Old Thief casually waved his hand, causing a golden rune to appear between them. Yaan was startled and instinctively took a step back, but before his foot even landed, the golden rune collapsed into a beam of light and shot into his body.

Yaan immediately stiffened as a golden runic power slammed into his soul. He felt a distinctive sense of loss as the connection was cut between himself and the golden armour…

By the time he recovered from the shock, he was no longer wearing the golden armour!

"Not bad, at least now I don't feel so bad about waiting here for so long." Old Thief laughed to himself in self-satisfaction whilst Yaan stared at him bitterly, feeling uncertain about his future.

"Right then, let's wrap this up."

After saying this, he waved his hand. Yaan blinked, not sure what that had achieved…until he heard it.

"Wh-where am I, what's going on?!"

Slowly, he turned to the side, wearing a strange expression as he met Zue Yin's gaze.

"Yaan!" She gasped, feeling even more bewildered and wary now. "What's going on, where are we, where have you-"

"So noisy, shut up."

Zue Yin became silent and uncertainly turned towards the old man ahead of her.

Yaan speechlessly stared at the old man, seeing that he had changed his demeanour yet again. He adopted the posture of a noble scholar, raising his head up high whilst slightly puffing out his chest. The way he was standing gave off an air of supremacy and indifference, as if he was above all worldly matters and could look down on all manner of life. He cast a slight glance towards Zue Yin as he spoke.

"You will help him to continue cultivating, understand?"

Zue Yin didn't understand the situation, and whilst this old man possessed no aura, she realised that it was he who had transported her to this place. She knew from this alone that he was someone powerful, and that she should not go against him.

"Of course, senior…"

"Good. Oh, there is one more thing before I send you off." Old Thief waved his hand, sending a golden flicker of light towards Yaan's mouth. Yaan's eyes widened in surprise as he felt something enter his mouth, then forcefully sink its way down his throat and into his stomach.

Before he could even feel afraid or shocked by the vibrant golden energy being released into his body, Old Thief waved his hand casually, materialising a ten feet tall black portal beside the uncertain pair.

"Go." He said simply. With a wave of his hand, a gust of air picked them up off the ground, throwing both Yaan and Zue Yin into the depths of the unknown.

After the portal closed behind them, Old Thief stared at the location where Yaan had just been for some time, before sighing and taking a single step.

With one step, he reappeared within a dark space, void of almost all energy and pressure. There was no air, gravity or Spiritual Pressure in this space, making it impossible for anyone at the Foundation Step to survive.

Below the old man was an enormous celestial body; this was the planet that he had just been on. At the Northernmost point of this planet was the Ghu Province, specifically, the inheritance entrance. Yaan and Zue Yin, after entering that portal, reappeared at the Southernmost point.

"Kid, your very existence is going to attract the hatred of far too many powerful people once they understand what you are…" Old Thief muttered as he stared down below.

"I almost feel pity for you. For Little Spirit, too. Even she couldn't see the truth, she misunderstood your existence…she also doesn't know that her sister is already interfering with your fate. With the Primordial Sage scheming against you, you're done for."

"That Little Sage is too much. Of everyone I've met in this Era, only she can toy with fate like this."

"Finding the other outsiders in this Era has been more difficult than expected. Sage, Defiance and Law, I'm only sure that these three are outsiders to the Era." Old Thief muttered, now moving his mind on from Yaan's matter and considering the point that was most important to him. Three people appeared within his mind, the first of whom was the mysterious girl from before.

"Primordial Sage…to enter this Era as such an overpowered entity, just what did she sacrifice to achieve this?"

"Defiance Sovereign…that obstinate guy is damned crazy, I don't even want to think about him."

"Law Empyrean…you bastard, we both entered this Era as mortals, so how come people call you something so grand like 'Law Empyrean', whilst I'm stuck with 'Old Thief'? I'll murder you one day, you bastard…"

After a long while, the old man sighed.

"This whole repayment has been such a damned pain. I think I'll go rob the Divine Court again to make myself feel better. I heard they've been having trouble at the Neutral Star System border…mm, that'll make me feel better. I can also check out that new planetary brothel whilst I'm there!"

Old Thief beamed a bright smile, his mood cheering up in an instant as he thought about all the fun things he could do now that his debt had been repaid. With a single step, his figure caused ripples to spread in the surrounding space, before he completely vanished from this region, without a trace of his presence left behind.

Back down on the planet below…

After Yaan and Zue Yin stepped into the black portal, they were briefly encompassed by a feeling of absolute darkness, before they found themselves in the outside world!

The open air was refreshing and all too welcome…or at least it would be, were it not for the terrifying predicament they found themselves in as soon as they arrived.

"Cultivators!"

"They exited from a portal!"

"It must be the inheritance exit!"

"How is this possible? We've been guarding the inheritance entrance ever since the first opening, nobody has entered since then!"

"Regardless…to emerge from the evil inheritance, they must be demonic path evil doers!"

Zue Yin paled and instinctively stepped towards Yaan when they were suddenly and without warning surrounded by four Origin Soul Realm cultivators! Yaan's expression darkened and he became on guard, prepared to battle…or run. He had no confidence that he could put up any sort of a fight against this group of powerhouses!

At the very moment that Yaan arrived in this place, a man far from here opened his eyes slowly. He turned towards Yaan's direction with a calm yet bright gaze.

This man was not close to Yaan right now, he was many thousands of miles away in fact. The man had long white hair extending down to his waist, whilst his bright blue eyes seemed to pierce through his cave abode atop this isolated mountain surrounded in grey fog, travelling across the vast distance as if it were nothing.

"Fragment of Dao…" The man muttered to himself quietly. "He really came, just like she said…"

After saying this, he stood up and walked through the air.

"Hmm?"

The four Origin Soul Realm powerhouses paused right before starting their assault to detain Yaan and Zue Yin. When they saw a white-haired figure appear between the group, they were all startled.

And then, the figure released his aura.

Every single person present, Yaan included, showed a drastic change to their expression. Everyone felt frozen to the spot, unable to even speak or move.

Yaan stared ahead at the white-haired man. From his appearance, he looked to be in his mid twenties, but no cultivator with this level of strength could possibly be so young.

More importantly though, the cause for Yaan's shock, besides this person's shocking level of power, was the fact that…Yaan and the white-haired man looked vaguely similar…

It wasn't as if they were the same person. It wasn't even that the white-haired man was like an older version of Yaan…it was a blurry resemblance that would only be noticed by some people if the two stood side by side, and even then, it was indistinct enough to be a coincidence.

Yaan didn't for a second believe that this resemblance was a coincidence, no matter how small it may be. Because, the moment he faced the white-haired man, a green chain, even thicker than the one to appear between himself and the inheritance entrance, formed between the two!

The chain was thick and so strong that Yaan could almost feel it pulling him towards the white-haired man!

For a brief instant, Yaan felt a surge of killing intent towards the white-haired man erupt within his heart, startling him greatly. He was forced to hastily suppress this feeling back down, until it vanished without a trace. He had no clue why he felt this way, but the white-haired man's gaze flashed for an instant after seeing this disruption in Yaan's emotional state.

After recovering and suppressing his countless doubts towards his own turbulent emotions, Yaan stared at the fading green chain with a serious expression.

Like Yaan, the white-haired man stared down at the chain with a bright gaze. As the chain gradually faded away, he raised his eyes and faced Yaan calmly.

"You all may leave now. My Fragment Sect will handle this matter."

As the man spoke, his words were gentle, yet carried a commanding aura with them that made it impossible for others to disobey. As the Origin Soul Realm guards felt themselves being influenced by these simple words, they felt shocked in their hearts.

They all realised something at the same time.

"Junior greets Lord Immortal!"

"Junior greets Senior Immortal!"

"Junior greets Sir Immortal!"

"Junior greets…Fragment Sect's Immortal Ancestor!"

The fourth member of the group seemed to recognise the white-haired man. He trembled slightly, both with fear and reverence, lowering his head and clasping his hands together. All four reacted similarly, they were filled with reverence and admiration, along with a trace of fear.

Yaan found it strange that fear was not the most predominant emotion they were expressing, but that respect prevailed in their hearts…

The four no longer paid attention to Yaan and Zue Yin. After clasping their hands and greeting the white-haired man, they quickly flew away, not daring to linger after being given their instructions.

Of course, they needed to report this matter to their own sect, but the white-haired man did not seem bothered by this.

He stared at Yaan with his bright blue eyes, a simple yet imposing action that made Yaan's heart rate accelerate. He gritted his teeth under the pressure of that stare, but he did not budge, he did not look away…he had learned his lesson from the past. When dealing with a powerhouse like this, in a situation where he was massively overpowered, he needed to observe their every action carefully!

However, he could never have predicted the white-haired man's following words, nor did he even have enough time to think of his response.

"You have entered the Southern Continent, a vast land ruled by the righteous. You may be a demon at heart, but you will join my sect and integrate yourself into the Southern righteous cultivator society…and you will become my personal disciple. You have three seconds to agree, or else I will kill you here and now."

After saying this, a terrifying murderous intent slammed down into Yaan's body. It was so powerful that Zue Yin, whom was nearby but not the focus of this attack, felt her legs shaking and nearly fainted from the shock. As for Yaan, he was even worse off - his vision was blurred, and all that he could see now were those horrendous pair of glowing blue eyes, which seemed to stare into the depths of his soul…

Through his tumulus emotional state, Yaan was forced to speak without having the chance to think this through. He hated the words that flowed out through his clenched teeth, but he really had no other option here.

"I accept…teacher…"