Training (I): Stirring Shadows

Even with everything that has happened Alex could not help but be in awe of what he saw. There was an open field as far as the eye could see, and then there was an exquisitely built manor. It looked like a cross between the western architecture of the empire of Albion and the oriental styles of the empire of heaven. Ornately carved pillars with sculptures of dragons, Phoenix's and qilins were arranged in a haphazard manner, but still carrying a beauty of its own.

There was a grove of fruit trees, and a garden on the eastern side of the peak, and then to the west was a tree, planted right on it's edge with it's roots growing all the way to the abyss below. The building itself looked like it could house a hundred people comfortably, and with space to spare, it was not what he was used to, but he wouldn't reject such luxury. It was something he never had, and something he had always wished for.

"You and Anya can settle in, preferably I would like for you both to begin training immediately. Whatever skills you've learnt so far, I need you both to practice and master it as hard and as well you can. There will be servants to take care of your needs, and soon enough you will have companions who would join you in your training and serve as your bodyguard. But apart from the martial and cultivation arts, I'll send a teacher who will school you in the way of the court and nobility, because that's what you are now Feng'er, a young master of the Wudang sect.

There's going to be an outer sect competition in three months, I need you two to master your current skills, and choose master the set of Wudang martial arts I will send to you. Also the both of you should have this."

Alex's grandfather said as he gave them a white book with the yin-yang symbol on it. As opposed to a world that's predominantly driven by Qi technology, it was quite a surprise to Alex that his grandfather still owned books. Seeing paper, even within the village was a really rare sight, the ad he received as an invitation was a special occasion. Alex and Anya looked down at the words on the book and felt their breaths hitch in their throats.

{WUDANG HEART SUTRA}

In terms of Qi or internal energy, apart from the Emei sect, no other sect, clan or family could compare to Wudang. And the Wudang heart Sutra was only the entry level cultivation technique of the sect, yet it was powerful enough to be used all the way till the true element realm, right on the cusp of the earth gate. It's only by mastering the Wudang heart Sutra that a disciple would have the qualifications to learn the (WUDANG NINE YANG CULTIVATION SKILL) , or the (PURE YANG WUJI CULTIVATION SKILL).

These skills were so famous and powerful that they couldn't be kept secret, though no one other than the disciples of the sect know how to use it, it was still famous enough that the whole world knew about it. This was one of the things Alex has always looked forward to, a chance to study the most famous series of cultivation skill there is.

Before now, he an Anya had just relied on meditating to get to where they were now, but with a proper cultivation technique, it was akin to giving wings to a tiger. Alex had the feeling that his training would not be as slow as they all say it would be due to his immense talent, rather he believed that he would progress really fast, and with this technique he would probably be breezing through cultivation levels and realms.

"Feng'er your butter would be waiting for you in the mansion. Later tonight I'll send your teacher over of maybe a week from now instead, so that you can have time to settle in. Your mother would have taken care of both your registrations, so there should be someone coming with your uniforms, and monthly allocations. For now settle in and train, Wudang is just as wild as the world you left outside, you both need strength if you want to survive." Then Alex's grandfather ruffled the hair of both youngsters as his figure blurred and he disappeared right from sight, leaving behind a very grateful and determined Alex.

"Come on Anya, let's go."

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(UNKNOWM LOCATION)

The servant shook with fear as he delivered the letter, it was not as if submitting a letter would get him killed, but Cronos Von Delheim had moods that changed and flickered like the wind. So something as mundane as submitting a letter to his leader, might end up with his throat getting cut, or worse, his body being used as an ingredient for an infernal experiment.

Cronos was an enigma to most people in the world, not many people knew how he did it, but Cronos was both a cultivator of the martial and cultivation arts, and a mage and a knight. Three cultivation systems and methods, and he all of them swirling within his body. It made him the most feared but also the most respected man on the face of the earth, his power and ideals made so many people unsatisfied with the world is rush to his banner in droves.

The promise of that power, of being capable to rise above the shackles of control that the empire of heaven and the empire of Albion had placed on people, made them worship him like the bloodthirsty cult leader he is. The servant couldn't judge though, he was also here because he believed in this very charismatic but yet evil man who masks his hunger for power under the banner of a righteous cause that has taken more lives than a war between the two empires.

"So the Wudang sect has gained a valuable pawn piece; in fact there's a possibility that he might be the most valuable piece on the board. With talent unmatched in all of the history of the earth, a child of nature and the wind, a King of spirits and monsters, and an emperor of justice and grace."

As soon as Cronos finished reading the paper he crumpled it up into a ball and threw it right in the face of the still shaking servant. The dark oracle was his greatest asset, his rise to power had been entirely due to all of her help and directions. Of course it helped that she was also his immortal bitch of a sister, who may or may not be the mother of his three sons.

Either way she had sent him a warning, one that at the moment he could not ignore, but at the same time he really couldn't pay much of an attention to. After all this was just a boy, not that he was having second thoughts about killing the filthy half-breed and every member of his disgusting family. But the issue is he couldn't bring himself to see the child as a threat. A lion cub is destined to be fiercest hunter in the land, but alas it's still a cub and without the protections of it's mother and Pride, that fun becomes dinner for the hyenas.

Nevertheless letting a threat to his dreams of conquest exist was not his style, even if the threat was as negligible as the wind he passes out whenever he was a little gassy. Measures had to be taken that would otherwise clip the wings of this young bird, there would be no cubs growing here, not on his savanna, not on his board game, and not on this planet.