Peace And Decline

Following the incident, disaster after the disaster occurred in Lu Clan. They declined from the position of number one clan of the woodsman village to third. Lu Clan lost all three Clan's trump cards in a single day. Lu Donghai, not only lost his chieftain position to Lu Taio but also got his soul gravely injured during the incident, so the Lu clan acted like a turtle ready to retreat inside its shell.

The overnight changes of the Lu clan induced the rise of the Liu clan which abruptly became the only clan to possess a semi-Apex weapon, a weapon that only a Pinnacle Stage Alleviation Realm like Liu Longwei and Lu Donghai can harness. Before the incident, the Lu clan had Soul Pincer Rainbow Dash, an apex weapon crafted by Grandmaster Blacksmith, so the Liu Clan hesitated to act against them altogether. However, things changed, the sudden shift in the power structure at the top brought confusion among subordinate clans of the Lu clan which led to a default in alliance and allegiance of smaller clans and families leaving the Lu clan to embrace the Liu and the Bai clan, making the Liu clan even more powerful.

Primarily the main foundation and manpower lay in the clan itself and dependence on the subordinate clans were relatively insignificant. Regardless, the loss of the Ultimate weapon and the betrayal of the subordinate clans dragged the reputation and the influence of the Lu Clan to decline further and even the sales in their markets were also severely affected.

Upon learning of Lu Donghai's injury, the Bai clan immediately allied themselves with the Liu clan by offering Pseudo Tribulation Pill to the latter. The Bai clan had three Expert Stage Alleviation Realms within their clan and if only they have even a single Pinnacle Stage Alleviation Realm they could have used a Pseudo Tribulation Pill in their possession to become the most powerful clan in the village, but unfortunately, they did not. And being a business family, they decided to do what they do the best. Gift the Liu clan their Pseudo Tribulation Pill and become allies. Acquiring another Pseudo Tribulation Pill was not impossible for them, they just had to request another pill from the headquarters they are affiliated with and pay for it. This was a win-win situation for both clans.

On the other hand, Lu Clan had a very difficult time. Lu Taio who became the new clan head knew for certain that the Liu clan will strike soon and fearing the invasion coming before Lu Donghai's complete recovery from his injuries made him inclined to negotiate and appease the Liu clan instead of opting for confrontation. On having learned about the acquisition of the Pseudo Tribulation Pill by Liu Hongwei and the cooperation between the two clans he realized he had to act fast as those two clans will never let go of an opportunity to suppress them thereby he called for a clans meeting.

The atmosphere in the Lu clan was was grim and tense. For two complete days, the clan members working outside received threats and insults from Liu and Bai clans. On the third day, the clan heads of the two parties visited the Lu clan proposing to introduce a new form of regulation in the village. That is to create a three-clan-alliance headed by Liu Longwei. They established that uniting the clans under one system would eliminate conflicts among different clans and everlasting peace would prevail bringing unity and prosperity to the village.

The proposal was a clear provocation to the Lu clan. It was not aimed at the collective goal of peace and prosperity but the alliance was a sham. It was in reality, a very clever disguise devised by the Liu clan to corner the Lu clan for a huge concession or subjugation under them.

Certainly, Lu Taio rejected the proposal receiving a harsh rebuke from Liu Longwei. The dismissal of the three-clan-alliance by Lu Taio was perceived by Lu Taio as provoking and humiliating the authority and judgements of the Liu clan. They deliberately cornered the Lu clan between the rock and a hard place. The threat of war loomed over the Lu Clan and after a long and gruelling discussion, the elders of the Lu clan finally acceded to the demands made by the two clans. Then, they were made to sign an agreement to give away two major shops which were invariably eyed by the Liu clan's top members to the Liu clan, and the disputed store which was under their control was conceded to the Bai clan.

Consequently, upon realising the aim of extorting the Lu Clan's best shops in the village the two clans' heads left the premises of the Lu clan and peace prevailed in the valley once more. The problem was resolved without bloodshed but, the sacrifice the Lu clan paid was so much that everyone within the clan suffered heavily.

After a month of recuperating when Lu Donghai ultimately regained his strength and exited his confinement, it was already too late. The settlement among the three clans was already reached, furthermore Liu Longwei received the Pseudo Tribulation Pill so, inciting the Liu clan was not a wise choice to make. Lu Donghai then decided to focus on his grandson instead who was still slumbering.

Two months later, when Arthur opened his eyes. He saw his parents smiling happily at him and his grandfather staring at him intently as if trying to gauge him, making him feel like all his secrets could be seen through by his grandfather. To avoid his grandfather's inquisitive gaze he began to wail and likewise, his mother came to his rescue.

"Sansan is hungry, I need to feed him," saying that she lifted him in her arms and chased her husband and her father-in-law away from the room.

"Mei-mei, didn't you just feed Sansan when he was sleeping a while ago? Let me hold him and check his condition first," protested Lu Donghai. To Arthur's dismay, Zhao Mei nodded and placed Arthur in her father-in-law's arms. He didn't know why, but he felt that his grandfather was up to no good. Holding Arthur firmly, Lu Donghai glared at Arthur's eyes and tried to send his spiritual perception directly into Arthur's soul space.

Lu Donghai had been monitoring Arthur's condition regularly since their victory over the ancient soul attack and to his great astonishment, he noticed a small boy sleeping peacefully inside his grandson's soul space. He also noticed Water-Emperor-Silk-Cloth apprehending voracious spiritual energy that was trying to break out from its bondage to attack the small boy. Lastly, he noticed a flow of wild spiritual energy that seems to leak out constantly was feeding and strengthening the sleeping boy's soul smoothly without injuring the boy.

"Grandpa Hai is that you?" Asked Arthur.

"Sansan, you can communicate? When and how did you learn to talk? Asked Lu Donghai instead of answering, he glanced doubtfully between the bound spiritual energy source and Sansan."

"Yes, I can communicate. I have been feeding on that spiritual energy and I also know lots of things now. And grandpa, I'm not stupid, everyone has been talking around me and I have already grown up, you know. How can I not learn to talk?" replied Arthur smugly like a proud child.

Lu Donghai said, " Yes, yes, Sansan is all grown up so you should be able to talk admitted Lu Donghai like it was a natural thing."

Lu Donghai was very much shocked that his grandson who was only three months old has his soul grown to the age of 7 or 8 years old and could talk, but he swallowed everything and said casually, "Tell your grandfather everything that you know."

"I see, you guys named me Sansan..." Then he narrated everything that happened except his reincarnation and fight with Li Jun.

He asked, "Grandpa, who is he actually, I was just a small baby why did he come to kill me? Is he our clan's enemy?"

Lu Donghai said, "No one knows him, we just know that he was trying to possess you." He also shared everything that happened during the naming ceremony to Sansan, including the part where they used the clan's treasures to subdue it.

"Grandpa Hai, come let us see what's inside that good cloth." Then ordered, "Good cloth, open up that Li Jun and show it to Grandpa Hai."

"Good boy, you have already subdued and unified with the Water-Emperor-Silk-Cloth," said Donghai.

The cloth soon made a small opening and spiritual energy started rushing towards Lu Donghai. The spiritual energy contained inside was so pure and abundant, that it benefited the old man greatly but it was wild and rampant thus, he needed time to assimilate it completely.

Then three soul crystal fragments were thrown out toward the old man. Lu Donghai caught it and discovered that it was a shattered piece of memory crystal. He called, "Sansan! Try to comprehend these memory crystals, it'll be beneficial to you."

He further instructed, "Sansan, I'm going out now to absorb and resolve this unbridled spiritual energy before it harms my soul. You also should try to comprehend the soul crystals but if you cannot do it don't force yourself. Take this soul cultivating technique and practice it well. We will continue communicating mentally from now on and do guard your soul space, never allow anyone to enter it. One more thing, keep this whole thing a secret even to your parents, for now. See you later my good grandson."

No sooner than he left Arthur's soul space Donghai laughed aloud hysterically for some time then smiled at the puzzled couple and said, "Xiang, Mei, we are blessed by the heavens. There is hope for our clan to rise again, there won't be any cultivation bottleneck for your boy. Sansan is going to be an extraordinary genius of genius. Take good care of him and protect him well, he will become a marvel for all to see."

"Don't utter a thing about this to anyone lest it brings troubles to us. I'm going now, call me as soon as Sansan wakes up." Saying that he left the bewildered and happy couple.

Just as Lu Donghai finished assimilating the rampant energy and started preparing tea a small girl came running into his porch.

"Grandpa Hai, aunt Mei.."

"Little Niu, calm down and breathe first," said Lu Donghai and hold her into his arms.

A minute later Donghai said, "Now, tell me why aunt Mei sent you."

Lu Niu Na replied, "Aunt Mei said that baby brother Sansan has woken up and acting weirdly."

Lu Donghai left immediately to see Arthur. On reaching the room Lu Donghai saw Zhao Mei feeding Arthur and Lu Xiang standing nearby. Lu Donghai asked mentally, "Sansan, what happened?"

With a happy voice, Arthur replied, "Phew! Grandpa Hai, finally, you came...I nearly talked with my mother."

"What happened Mei-mei? Why did you call me? And give him to me." Said Lu Donghai.

"Father, It is so weird, Sansan was crying loudly non-stop without tears and smiling happily," replied Zhao Mei and gave the baby to Donghai.

"Sansan, tell grandpa what happened," he said.

"Grandpa Hai, I got nothing to do and I can't move also. Sleeping like this whole day got me bored so I was singing a song and mother freaked out and started feeding me milk, luckily you came," answered Arthur.

"Hahaha," laughed Donghai and finally decided to let Arthur talk to both the parents mentally. He cannot be with Arthur the whole time and they had to know too.

Donghai said, "My Son, daughter come here." Then he whispered, "I'm going to tell you a big secret but you cannot tell this to anyone, it is for the safety of Sansan." They both nodded and promised to keep the secret.

Donghai continued, "You don't need to promise, I know we all care about Sansan. I'm telling you to be careful so other people don't discover it. Our Sansan is a genius, you know that Sansan fell into misfortune during his naming ceremony and we killed an ancient soul who tried to possess him, Right?" The boy's parents nodded in reply.

"It was a blessing in disguise for Sansan. The ancient soul we killed has formed into a spiritual energy source for Sansan and he is benefiting hugely from it, there won't be any cultivation bottleneck for our Sansan. The water-emperor-silk-cloth which no genius in our clan was ever able to subdue, generation after generation is already tamed by Sansan and it has already been incorporated within the soul. The Silken-cloth has bounded and stored the violent spiritual energy safely and is feeding Sansan constantly to nurture. Your cultivation rank is low so you cannot move your soul out of your soul space but I have been inside Sansan's soul space and Sansan's soul has grown bigger than Niu Na," told Donghai to the couple. They were both astonished and happy simultaneously.

"Those old fellows already think that Silken-cloth got destroyed during the fight, so don't mention it to anyone about it." He continued and asked, "Are you guys surprised?"

"Yes, very much," they replied cheerfully.

"You guys become so happy even with this little surprise. Get ready to be shocked, here comes the biggest surprise, our Sansan can talk, try reaching out to him mentally." Said, Donghai with a satisfied face.

Soon they started talking to one another. All of them talked nonstop and little Sansan got tired of it and fell asleep.

Some days later when things finally cooled down and his parents started behaving with him normally, instead of acting like curious and overcaring parents, he learned from his mother that there are seven cultivation ranks/levels of the Body Preparation Phase namely,

1. Beginner (children of 3-5 years of age)

2. Progressive learner (4-6 years)

3. Competent learner (7-12 years)

4. Proficient Practioner(13-18)Prodigy(Juniors)

5. Skilled Practioner (19-25) Prodigy(Seniors)

6. Initiation Realm (25-40) His Parents belong to this group (Instructors)

7. Alleviation Realm (50 above) His grandpa belongs here in this group (Elders & Village Chief)

To rise from one rank to another one has to go through 5 stages namely

1. Early

2. Advanced

3. Intermediate

4. Expert

5. Pinnacle

After Pinnacle Stage Alleviation Realm when the body is finally prepared for tribulations from heaven. If a person can withstand the wrath of heaven he can enter the Body Reconstruction Phase to become a Tribulation Realm practitioner.

No one in the village has reached the Tribulation Realm. It was said that the nearest town has many Tribulation Realm Cultivation experts. Beyond Tribulation Realm is the Connate Realm cultivation expert. They heard that only Solitary Peak Academy has got a Connate Realm expert but no one in the village has seen or met him.

Arthur also learned that Lu Clan has three Expert Stage Alleviation Realm and one Pinnacle Stage Alleviation Real expert. His grandfather was the latter.

Liu Clan has the same number of cultivation experts as the Lu clan and the Bai clan also has the same number of Expert stage Alleviation Realm but is short of Pinnacle Stage Alleviation Realm. These were the top experts of the Woodsman village.

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