Past to Ashes

There were several times when he almost couldn't hold himself back, but Shui managed to leave Suiri's grave without tearing up. This would be a new leaf for him, the next part of his story. He couldn't let it begin with him crying.

Shui stopped right at the main entrance of the clan. He remembered what it used to look like and also remembered this sight in front of him. He made a promise to himself, and he planned on keeping it.

Since the sanctum was in an isolated area, he wouldn't have to worry about it as long his control was alright. Shui took out all of the 'Fire' talismans he had and arranged them above the clan. As the paper strips circled the air of the clan with a strange rhythm, Shui said a prayer with his hands clasped.

"Brave warriors who have died on the battlefield, may your souls be freed from these ruined vessels so that you may ascend to the afterlife in peace. Ahms."

In concert with his 'ahms', the talismans combusted one by one until beautiful spinning wheels of red and orange danced in the air. With the time he spent in the trial as well as his half-step divine body, his vessel could serve as the key point of this psuedo-array sacred ritual.

"Rest in Flames."

The spinning wheels landed on the clan and transformed into a giant rose that was as mesmerising as it was dangerous. Along with the corpses, all structures it touched were melted to nothingness. The power of this rose could melt the body of even a Sky Realm expert, but Shui didn't think too much about its power when he used this technique. It was his way of paying respect to those who died valiantly on the battlefield and erase the presence of the attackers who couldn't die with dignity. When there was nothing but plain blackened field in front of him, the ritual was complete. Shui then drew his strongest concealment array on the sanctum and left. His journey was ahead, not behind him.

The psuedo-array that Shui created was so impressive that even those in Cyrus could spot it. Most were fascinated by the sight, but the cultivators with a bit of insight were frightened. Only the mayor could sense how hot the rose was, but the other frightened cultivators felt fear from their souls. They instinctively knew that that rose certainly had deadly thorns.

The mayor wondered if some great sir had taken it upon himself to purify that area since he remembered that undead creatures had appeared there, but even if that did happen he had no way of verifying it.

Of those who escaped from the Heaven clan, only two, well, three still resided in Cyrus because the rest had gone to other places to start over and live a peaceful life. When Lilia saw the flower of flames that bloomed, tears slipped down her cheek.

"Mommy?"

Tugging on Lilia's skirt as she released streams of tears, was a toddler that looked up at his mother in worry. The small child didn't know why his mother suddenly burst into tears, but he didn't tug on her skirt because he thought she was sad. There was no way he could mistake that smile for a frown. More importantly, there was something that Lilia was supposed to be doing.

"Mommy, food."

"Right, right."

Lilia wiped away her tears and grabbed his hand before turning her back to the fiery rose, but not before looking back at it once more.

Lilia and her son lived with Lily and her siblings. At first, she was stubborn about not imposing more than she had already been, and planned on staying in an inn, but since Yur, who also lived in Cyrus, frequently left the town for business, Lily and Ryan would always come over to check on her. And so, since she knew they wouldn't stop worrying about her anyways, Lilia started living in the siblings' house.

With the funds they made from working for Shui and hunting beast spirits, the house was upgraded to having two floors and Lilia rented the top floor. They wanted to let her live there for free, but Lilia insisted on paying rent since she would also have to leave behind her child when she went to work. Although Lily eventually gave in to her demand, they never spent a coin from what she gave them. Even though they were unable to contact Shui, just the money Lily and Ryan made from hunting was enough to send their smaller siblings to martial academy and maintain their lifestyle so they didn't need the extra funds. Lily felt worried about what Ulus would do now that she couldn't send him anymore talismans, but Shui already told her that there wouldn't be any danger of the Red Ravens becoming their enemies. This was something to be grateful for since the enemy they already had was bad enough.

"I'm only taking one task today so I should be back soon. Take care of the house."

"Yeah sis."

When Yur wasn't in Cyrus, either Lily or Ryan would stay at the house while the other went to the Workers' Association. With Lily gone, there was only one less person from the full set of residents in the house. Since it was the weekend, there was no school for the ordinary students while core students had the option of going. Sia, Ross and Josh were all core students, but they all stayed home. Sia would normally go by herself, but recent circumstances had her staying at home with her brothers.

"Ugh, this is the worst."

Even though one more room was added to the first floor of the house, that was only so that the boys' room could be fully converted into the cultivation room. Sleeping with her big sister didn't bother her that much, but she was at the age where she didn't want to be stuck around in the house with her brothers all day. She wanted to cultivate, but her brothers were already in the cultivation room. At the age of thirteen, both of them were taller and more muscular, but they also sweated a lot and Sia couldn't bear cultivating in the same room as them.

And so, she found herself reading a novel recommended by one of her friends. It was a cliche tragic romance, but it would be enough to pass the time. While she peacefully turned the book's pages, Sia suddenly froze. When she managed to break out of her stunned state, she looked towards the gate with a stern expression.

'Trouble's right at our doorstep.'

Before Sia, who had the third highest cultivation among the siblings, it was Ryan, who had the second highest cultivation, that noticed the approaching group of men. None of them seemed particularly suspicious, but they didn't bother to hide that they came with malicious intention. One of them kicked open the gate and strolled inside the property. Before anymore could enter, Ryan stepped out with his sword and its sheath in his left hand.

"Can I help you?"

None of the men made any moves, but the one in front took out a bag of high-quality spirit gems.

"If you give us the kids, we'll leave this for you."

Ryan didn't even look at the bag. Since he confirmed their purpose, Ryan unsheathed his sword.

"Get him."

With both of their stances made clear, the man in front pulled back the bag of spirit gems and sent the ones behind him at Ryan. They had already done their research, so they knew that Ryan was in the early Soul Realm, but they were confident that a group of them with similar cultivations could handle him. However, they underestimated the power of someone trained by Shui and had his sword skills acknowledged by him.

Although the group worked well together, they couldn't land a single hit on Ryan while he made them accumulate red marks on their skin. Rather than attacking forcefully from the start, Ryan focused on dealing maximum damage while taking minimum hits. To the surprise of the man who stayed behind and watched, Ryan was facing seven men but was still holding the advantage. He coudn't believe that such a skilled fighter was here but he definitely couldn't allow this mission to fail.

"Stop holding back."

When Ryan heard this command, he wondered if the group of seven were truly holding back against him, but when saw them take out certain round objects, he understood what they meant. He tried to stop them, but Ryan could only kill one before the rest swallowed the forbidden medicine that they had.

'Damn it! I messed up.'