Dragon and 6 years

The next day Xiaogang woke feeling better, knowing that his parents loved him whatever happened and that Pao wasn't at fault. Pao had struggled not wanting to absorb the ring, it may be the ring that wasn't a compatible one. So Xiaogang put all blame in his uncle Luomian who forced him to absorb that ring.

Xiaogang decided that in the future he would do it better, repairing the error, always following Pao's instinct. He also made a new objective to the future that it was beating his uncle someday. It won't be easy as he was a Spirit Sage with the clan's spirit, but it didn't mean that it was impossible.

Overcoming his sadness, Xiaogang remembered what happened yesterday and couldn't forget what happened when he was alone, he thought that place was very mystical and wanting to know more about it, he decided to ask his father.

Leaving his room, Xiaogang found his father in his office while he was looking at some paper related to the clan. "Good morning, papa!" greeted Xiaogang smiling.

Seeing his younger son's smiling face he sighed in relief, having been worried about him since yesterday, happy that Xiaogang seemed to have overcome or rather forget about. He though that will be some little phase of his young son.

Yu Tianhe signaled for his son to come. Xiaogang approached sitting on his lap. Due to how strict was the clan this father-son moments could only be made when nobody was around, Xiaogang having it learned at a young age.

"Good morning, son. Are you feeling better?" Tianhe asked smiling.

"Yep!" Xiaogang nodded.

"There's something that worries you?" Tianhe asked.

"Yesterday, in the Blue Forest, uncle Luomian said that there was a sacred area that was prohibited to enter. What's in there?" he asked cutely blinking his big eyes.

"Oh? That? As you're part of the clan, you can know about it. But you should know that is a secret, never tell anyone, you promise?" Xiaogang nodded quickly "You know why the Blue Forest is important for our clan, no?" Tianhe asked his son.

"Yep. It's because the beast living there is the best for the clan spirit" Xiaogang answered.

"You're right, but, the Blue Forest in the only place in the continent with this beast, all thanks to the Lightning Trees, exclusives of the forest. This trees were created and are growing thanks to the power inside the sacred area"

"What there is inside?" Xiaogang asked impatiently.

"A treasure. A treasure left by our ancestor. You already know that what makes the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon the strongest is its Dragonification. This was inherited from our ancestor. Our ancestor, the founder of our clan, was a True Dragon, he was an Azure Dragon capable of controlling the Lightning, we inherit his blood. His legend explains that he fell in love with a human and turned himself human to be with her. With time his strength continued growing awing the entire world. He arrived at the apex of the world and beyond, surpassing even the Title Douluo rank and becoming a God. He lived a long life and had a lot of children, neither of them having the same spirit as him, instead, they had a lower grade one from him, our Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. After a time he ascended to the God Realm accompanied by the woman he loved leaving his children behind. The legend tells that worried by his children he left some treasure in a barren desert, this treasure would help his children and descendants to grow in the future. That barred desert was our clan and the place where the treasure was left is the sacred land. Our ancestor also said that in the case that one of his descendants inherit his spirit, that treasure will help him or her to attain godhood. Our clan had waited a long time for the Divine Beast, the Azure Dragon, appearance but until now, there wasn't any"

Xiaogang listened to all his father's story with shining eyes, a new world opening before his eyes. True Dragons, Divine Beast, dragons turning human, surpassing Titled Douluo, gods. So many new things and new knowledge waiting to be discovered, this thrilled Xiaogang, strengthing his resolve to study and discover the mysteries of the world.

Seeing his son's eyes, Tianhe knew that something mad may be running in his head "Of course, this is only a legend, don't take as true. A good researcher investigates before accepting the truth. However, you should not approach the sacred area, is a very dangerous place with a high electric power that could kill you easily. But our clan respect that place as thanks to it or clan had prospered. There's also the legend that in case of danger, the sacred area will protect us. But it may be only referred that in the Blue Forest we are stronger, so don't think too much, son"

Xiaogang left the room very excited by the story, another objective for his future was made, investigate the sacred area and the legend. He then ran to the library to find useful information.

6 years had passed since Xiaogang absorbed his first ring. Now Xiaogang's life took a great turn to worse, he passed from a genius with Full Innate Spirit Energy to the clan's shame.

He needed 6 years to attain the 20 rank. A 12 years old, rank 20 it wasn't bad, it usually means that it had good talent, but in Xiaogang's case with his Full Innate Spirit Energy, needing 6 years to gain 9 ranks was a slow growth, not only that, the elders of the clan thought that this speed will only slow in the future and that it was only luck, the form and attack method of his spirit not helping him. Finally, it was decided to lower the resources given to Xiaogang to the bare minimum, it was never the highest due to the weight that the clan put in people with the clan spirit, but now it became quite pitiful.

In these 6 years, there were big changes to the clan. The clan head, Yu Xiaome, gave out his position to his oldest son, Yu Tianhe, who had become a Titled Douluo at the age of 58, showing great talent and possibility to go beyond. Yu Xiaome became the patriarch of the clan, guardian of it being the strongest one with his 95 rank. As the title of heir was absent it was decided that the next heir of the clan would be the most talented youth generation, the oldest son of the clan master, Xiaogang's older brother, Yu Tiandong, at his 15 years old arriving at the 31 rank, one of the youngest spirit elders of the clan.

This decision made it worst for Xiaogang and Tiandong's relation. All the rage and jealousy accumulated to his 'false' genius of a brother exploded as contempt, teasing, and abuse for Tiandong's part. Boosting the fact that at the age of 12 he was rank 23.

Being the shame of the clan, looked down and with contempt by all clan members, Xiaogang passed most of his time closed in the library, protected by the books, making his parents, who continue loving him like always, quite worried about him.

With all of this, it could be expected for Xiaogang to be sad about it, however, the truth was quite different. Xiaogang wasn't buried by books trying to hide, he was preparing for the future. He made another objective for the future, the most important one, as he was always looked down, he would show them that he wasn't trash, to accomplish this goal he thought on 2 directions.

The first one was becoming strong himself, this had some problem as, since his first ring, Xiaogang could sense that something was wrong with Pao and that this could affect him in the future, limiting his potential. So he tried to find some solution to this, he decided that the clan's spirit configuration wasn't the correct one for Pao, the next ring he would find another spirit, one that Pao was attracted to it.

Even if Pao didn't improve, as he also had his other spirit, the Pen. He tried learning more about it, when Pao absorbed his ring, Xiaogang discovered that there's a little time lag when the absorption could be stopped without much of a problem, just before this time, it would be possible to notice the compatibility of the ring with the spirit, of course, it was a very little time, easy to miss it. Not knowing even the type of his spirit, he decided that he at least wanted to discover, killing very weak beast near 10 years old of different types, speed, power, defense, he also tried plants. He discovered something that made him even more confused, his Pen didn't seem to be able to absorb any of it. When his Pen was in contact with any spirit ring, the Pen rejected it, not even starting the absorption. Xiaogang would need more investigation in the future.

Seeing that his first method didn't seem to go well, he decided to go for another path, following what he liked most in the world, knowledge! Becoming the best and most knowledgeable spirit scholar he could be recognized, even if his strength wouldn't be high. That would help others, even if he couldn't reach the top, he surely could help make someone arrive. And he would follow, learning the most of it.

As he arrived at rank 20, it was time to hunt his second spirit ring for Pao. After some argument, he could finally convince his father to let him choose his second ring. The truth was that it was one of the perks of being considered a shame. As the clan didn't expect anything from him, they won't really force him to follow them, because, what have they to win? The only one that Xiaogang needed to convince was his father who was worried about him, a cute face when they were alone was enough to do the trick.

The place Xiaogang decided to capture the beast was Star Duo Forest, as the biggest Forest of the continent, dividing the two big empires, Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires, Star Duo Forest has the greatest variety of spirit beast, the perfect place for the undecided Xiaogang, who didn't have in mind a concrete beast.

Even if in the outer part of Star Duo Forest there weren't any strong beast it would be close to suicide for Xiaogang to go alone. The clan dispatched a guardian who will help him. Even if Xiaogang was considered a shame, he was still part of the clan. Of course, this time his guardian wasn't an elder, it was a member of a branch of the clan, Lu Miang, he was a tall man with brown short hair and big muscles, at the age of 50 something he was blocked at the 39 rank, without much hope to breakthrough.

In Xiaogang's opinion, he would be enough and everyone would be better than his uncle Luomian. It also had the advantage, that Miang being a branch member, Xiaogang could order him around with his position as the son of the clan head, even if he thought it wouldn't take much time for him to be thrown at a branch of the clan.

Preparing himself for the trip, with medical herbs, spirit beast repellent, food, a tent... Xiaogang was finally ready for the trip.