Cause

--- City Lord's Mansion ---

After Nie Li safely returned, he continued to cultivate.

The Soul Puppet with the soul of the Ancestral Founder sealed within was flying around. After staying in the Heavenly Sacred Border for so long, it felt fresh no matter where Ye Yan went.

"I never thought that after a thousand years, Glory City would remain standing. There is still fear lingering when recalling those days back!" Ye Yan sighed with sorrow as he thought about it. "I heard that the current City Lord is also surnamed Ye. I wonder if he's a descendent of my Thunder Family?"

Nie Li opened his eyes and said, "Ancestral Founder Ye Yan, stop thinking about it. The Thunder Family is already gone. The current City Lord is part of to the Snow Wind Family!"

Ye Yan snorted as he proudly said, "Boy, I bet you don't know about this. The Snow Wind Family originates from the Thunder Family. It is one of the branches of my Thunder Family. Even if your City Lord sees me, he'd have to obediently call me Old Ancestor! And yet you are so disrespectful to me..."

"City Lord? You think I will place the City Lord in my eyes? If it wasn't because he's my father-in-law, I would have forced him to hand over the City Lord spot long ago!" Nie Li felt disdain towards Ye Yan's words and said, "The strongest existence that you guys have seen is only Legend rank!"

"Brat, that's quite the tone. Have you even seen experts above Legend rank?"

Nie Li lightly smiled and said, "Of course I've seen them. Legend rank is only the beginning of cultivation. Do you know how the demon beast riot happened?"

"How would I know? Those demon beasts probably received some form of provocation!" Ye Yan said, still reluctant to admit his mistakes.

Nie Li leisurely said, "They weren't provoked. A demon beast unlocked divine wisdom, reached an existence beyond Legend rank. Over three hundred Legend rank experts in the Divine Continent felt that demon beast and decided to kill it. However, they angered the demon beast and suffered the consequences. They were destroyed. In fury, that demon beast commanded all the demon beasts in the divine continent to hunt down humanity. Various empires fell within a few months. That year, was the beginning of the Age of Darkness!"

"So that's the case!" Ye Yan suddenly understood. No wonder why before the tidal of demon beasts appeared, several experts of the various empires had suddenly disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again.

"In your view, a demon beast that exceeds Legend rank is already a domineering existence. But in another realm, he's at the most basic level of a living creature! In the pinnacle of my strength, I can kill it with a thought!" Nie Li's gaze looked far in the distance in front of him. Although he was just sitting cross-legged, he was a mountain.

Suddenly, Ye Yan felt a wave of powerful soul force breath blowing.

This soul force breath had been through countless years and months. Although its strength was still very weak; vaguely, there was an extremely frightening power. This kind of power could only be felt by Ancestral Founder Ye Yan who was in the form of a soul. This frightening power would cause others to tremble in fear.

Who exactly was this kid?

Although Nie Li's cultivation was only at Silver rank, Ye Yan's soul felt as though he was in the middle of a terrible storm.

Even Legend rank experts couldn't give Ye Yan such a frightening feeling.

Nie Li retracted his gaze, looked at Ye Yan, smiled and said, "Ye Yan, do you want to rebuild your physical body and take a look at that mystical realm?"

Ancestral Founder Ye Yan was stunned. That terrifying soul force breath disappeared in an instant, as though it had never appeared. Nie Li was obviously only a thirteen year old brat, but how could he give such a frightening feeling?

Seeing Nie Li's calm smile, Ye Yan suddenly felt the desire and hope in his heart uncontrollably sprout out. What kind of place was the realm that Nie Li spoke of?

"I want to go!" Awe covered Ye Yan's gaze. Unknowingly, his tone became humble when he spoke to Nie Li.

Although Ye Yan didn't know why Nie Li had the appearance of a child, he could firmly determine that within Nie Li's body, rested the soul of a supreme expert!

Only he, who was in the form of a soul, could feel that in that moment of time!

The moment Ye Yan's soul was sealed within the Soul Puppet, his soul had already been under Nie Li's control. From this moment onwards, however, he truly surrendered to Nie Li.

Without speaking any further, Nie Li entered into a cultivating state, preparing to attack the border into Gold rank Demon Spiritualist.

After practising within Nie Li's yard for a moment of time, Du Ze, Lu Piao and bunch left the City Lord's Mansion, and returned to their own families.

--- Du Family ---

Du Ze and his family lived in a run-down village. There were about three hundred people in the village, and they all belonged to the Du Family.

Du Ze walked along the small trail. Along the way, members of the Du Family all greeted him with smiles across their faces when they saw his return.

"Du Ze is back?"

"Yes uncles!" Du Ze replied with a smile. Although the Du Family was poor, the relationships between the relatives were extremely close.

When they saw Du Ze, they smiled and said, "Du Meng's family is really fortunate to have a kid like Du Ze!"

"Yeah. He's already a Silver rank Demon Spiritualist at such young age. It is indeed incredible. The whole Du Family is proud of him!"

"If my kid had half of Du Ze's talent, even if I died, I would be laughing!"

These uncles were being too exaggerating, Du Ze's face turned slightly red and he headed towards his own home.

The whole Du Family was proud of Du Ze today. He was already an irreplaceable existence to them.

--- Du Family's Ancestral Hall ---

"Du Ze, this is the keepsake of my Du Family. The Fire Qilin Jade Waist Pendant. Only the Patriarch can have this Jade Waist Pendant. Now, I'll pass this over to you. When you are of age, you will be the Patriarch of my Du Family!" said an old man wearing a plain robe. He had a white beard and a hunched figure. He was slightly bent as he stuffed a sparkling and translucent jade into Du Ze's hands.

This old man was the current Patriarch of the Du Family, Du Rong.

"Lord Patriarch, Du Ze could not afford to take such a precious item!" Du Ze nervously said. He could feel a pure soul force emanating from the Fire Qilin Jade Waist Pendant.

"My Du Family has been declining for such a long time now. As the Patriarch, I have failed the ancestors. Now, only you can bring our Du Family back up. You are worthy of this!" Du Rong solemnly said. Compared to his peers, Du Ze was more mature. Therefore, Du Rong passed the Fire Qilin Jade Waist Pendant over to Du Ze.

Du Ze hesitated for a long time before taking the Fire Qilin Jade Waist Pendant from Du Rong. His emotions weren't able to calm down for a long time.

The past flashed across his eyes.

Du Ze's family was extremely poor. The whole family only had dozens of farm lands. Hunting in the mountains was only able to barely sustain themselves. Du Ze had two elder sisters. In order to let Du Ze enter the Holy Orchid Institute, they had to marry to a disabled person from the next village.

Du Ze had carried a great burden within his heart. Only in the deep silent night, he could cry out loud. He felt that he had wronged his sisters.

After entering the Holy Orchid Institute, although his talent wasn't very extraordinary, Du Ze had put in several or even dozens of times the amount of effort into his training. If he worked hard, he could change the fate of his family and clan!

Originally, his aim was too far away. Until he met Nie Li.

Nie Li had completely changed his fate. He had made him a Silver rank Demon Spiritualist! This also caused his family to completely change from the poor situation they were in.

Du Ze tightly clenched the Fire Qilin Jade Waist Pendant. His eyes were already moist with tears.

"Nie Li, from now on, my life is yours!" Du Ze silently said in his heart. His gaze became firmed.

Because of Nie Li, Du Ze could change his fate, the fate of his family!

"Du Ze, Bei Zhen's Chen Family, Yu Family and Jin Zhen's Lin Jia all sent people over for marriage!" Both of Du Rong's hands trembled. Over many years, very few ladies were willing to marry into the Du Family. But now, these families were scrambling to marry into the Du Family. This was a glorious moment.

Du Ze raised his head, firmly shook his head and said, "Lord Patriarch, I will not marry any of those women. When my Du Family declined, they shunned us. Now, one after another are trying to curry favours. I despise these families!"

Du Rong thought for a while, and realized that this was indeed the case. Du Ze was now a Silver rank Demon Spiritualist, how could he put those small families in his eyes?

Du Rong smiled and said, "It seems that Xiao Ze has his own thoughts. I shall not talk much about it."

At this moment, in the Lu Family.

The Lu Family was a very small aristocratic family. The Lu Family's Patriarch, Lu Ning, who was Lu Piao's father, was a 3-star Gold rank Demon Spiritualist. He was incomparable to those super experts from those super families, but he was still quite prestigious within the small area of the Northern part of Glory City. Under his care, the herbal business was doing quite well.

Lu Ning strode into the living room with big steps.

When Lu Ning entered the living room, he saw that Lu Piao had his legs on the table, and was eating a dark purple fruit, looking leisurely.

Seeing this scene, the corner of Lu Ning's eyes twitched. If it had been the past, if Lu Piao even dared to make a noise in front of him, he'd definitely smack his butt. Until now, Lu Piao had been one of the most disappointing ones among the younger generation. He was extremely lazy. It got to the point that Lu Ning felt his bones itch if he didn't smack Lu Piao.

But that lazy Lu Piao, unknowingly, had suddenly become enlightened. In the previous family test, he had reached 5-star Bronze rank, pushing all the other younger generations within the family down.

This was simply something he couldn't imagine.

Even if it was Lu Ning himself, at Lu Piao's age he was only able to barely reach 1-star Bronze rank. Lu Piao's cultivating speed was simply too frightening. He was actually able to reach 5-star Bronze rank.

If Lu Piao were to train hard daily, then it would be fine. However, he didn't even see Lu Piao putting much time into cultivating. Furthermore, Lu Piao was totally restless, scurrying around. Yesterday, he had run into the Xiao Family next door to peek at a girl bathing, simply lawless. Lu Ning originally thought that there would be lots of trouble with this matter. The Xiao Family would definitely not let this go easily. In the end, the Xiao Family sent over a letter early the next morning, wanting to marry the girl over to Lu Piao. Lu Ning understood that the Xiao Family fancied Lu Piao's potential. From Lu Piao's cultivating speed, he might even be able to become a powerful Black Gold rank Demon Spiritualist in his lifetime!

Even though he was the laziest person, his cultivating speed was frighteningly fast. He had stolen a peek at other people's baths and gotten his father a daughter-in-law!