THE DANGER HIDDEN BY THE SHADOWS

While they were hugging each other, right beside the door a few other students were choked, they couldn't believe their eyes! The evil Teacher that they feared so much not only was crying but some random guy even hooked her?! Was the sun rising from the west? Not wanting to be caught in some scheme of the sacred family those few students ran through the corridor and disappeared.

Right after that Lu Ye entered the classroom.

"Student Fang Yun, the vice principal wants to see you-" Before he could finish his words, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets! What the hell was going on!?

Noticing his arrival Shen Xiu pulled away Fang Yun and turned to the wall, she didn't want to be seen crying. Clenching her fist she shouted to them. "Get out of here now!"

Seeing her behavior he could only sigh helplessly, well, maybe people in this world valued too much his or her images... He went back to his chair and packed his things. Seeing that Lu Ye was still chocked in the corner of the class close to the entrance, Fang Yun went to Shen Xiu and said.

"Teacher Shen Xiu, would you like to go out with me some other time?"

"What!?" She looked at him startled, this was the first time someone was inviting her for a date!

"I mean... Cough. Only if you want, in any case, if you agree, we can together after class two days from here." he waved her goodbye and left together with Lu Ye, Shen Xiu could only watch his back, right now her mind was in some kind of turmoil, just a few minutes together with this boy made her realize an ugly truth regarding her identity and family.

People fear her, fear her family, and see them as some sort of demon. To make things worse, she didn't have anything that truly tied her to the sacred family, she was no different than a baby sitter or any other low-level family member. Perhaps her views and decisions all those years were wrong, feeling depressed she locked the classroom and went to her office, she had to drink something to forget her anguishes.

...

Inside the Vice Principal's office, Lu Ye bowed and left, leaving only Fang Yun, Ye Sheng, and a mysterious gray robbed elder.

Seeing those two behemoths, Fang Yun straightened his back and gulped, he didn't remember much about those two guys in front of him, but he was clear of the difference in strength. Both of them should be above the gold rank.

Seeing how stressed the boy was, Ye Sheng, smiled and said.

"Please, take a seat." he pointed to one of the chairs inside the office.

"M-may I ask what matters vice-principal wishes to discuss with me?" Fang Yun was clenching his fists, it was difficult to stay in place with people like those. They were like war machines that could kill hundreds in a few minutes.

This time however the grey-robed elder was the one that spoke. "Young one, we noticed that there was a problem with your enrolment, you are here so that we can complete your registration and avoid future problems."

Hearing this Fang Yun was stunned, what could they be talking about? He couldn't remember anything wrong about the day he registered as a student here in the institute.

Right after that he took out an intermediate soul crystal and placed at the table. Seeing how both of them were looking at him with a smile, he gulped and sighed. Yup, this time he was definitely screwed up, and what's even worse, he didn't do anything that could cause this, he didn't enter any fight or stole anything, he just couldn't understand why suddenly there was someone interested in him... 'Bye-bye secrets, it was good meeting you...'

Having no other choice, he took the crystal in his hands and started injecting his Qi, a few moments later the vice-principal and the mysterious elder looked at him in shock! White soul realm with soul force of 174...

'This is amazing! Look at this... this boy talent is simply unheard of! He could be the next Ye Mo! I must tell the city lord about this, we can't let the dark guild discover this boy!'

Ye Sheng could only gulp and look at the elder, this is an unprecedented event in the story of glory city or maybe even the whole humanity, it's their first time seeing a white soul realm! This could be the change that they were looking for, humans' opportunity to grow instead of simply trying to survive and constantly fearing the demons.

"Boy, I would like you to follow me to the snow wind family grounds, what do you say?"

"Eh? Why?!"

Seeing how nervous he was, the elder smiled and said. "You have the greatest talent I've ever seen or heard of if the dark guild discovers about you, they will surely try to kill you, but if you come to the snow wind family things could be different! I assure you at least that your progress will be way faster if you come to the snow wind family."

Hearing his words Fang Yun thought about the benefits and the harms this could bring to him, first of all, there was a possibility of Ye Zhong trying to make him the next city lord, which would indirectly make him Ye Han enemy after all this was one of the objectives of the city lord adopted son. However, what if the snow wind family truly decided to groom him without sparing any efforts? Just how easy it would be to get access to secret books, resources, and money? If he was that lucky then yeah, his progress would probably skyrocket.

In the end, he decided to see at least, if things weren't like how he imagined, he could always leave after giving some bullshit excuse like being a pacifist or whatever.

Seeing that the boy agreed, the elder smiled and after bidding his farewells to Ye Sheng, he left together with Fang Yun. The snow wind family was the most powerful and oldest family of glory city, most of their current power could be attributed to their legend rank cultivator, lord Ye Mo. But this didn't mean that he was their only powerhouse, as far as Fang Yun could remember, up to this point in time, the snow wind family had at least 3 or 4 black gold rank demon spiritualists.

The grey-robed elder took him to the snow wind family and asked him to wait at the city lord's residence living room.

A few minutes later, Ye Zong, the city lord entered the house together with the elder. He turned to the elder and spoke in a volume that only both of them could hear.

"You can go now Ye Shuo, good work."

He bowed and left the place, how things would end now, only depended on the city lord himself.

Seeing Ye Zong in the comics and real-life were two different matters! The guy looked like some bodybuilder with the temperament of a monster, his entire being seemed to be surrounded in a powerful aura.

"You must be Fang Yun..." he stopped for a moment and observed the boy in front of him, based on what Ye Shuo had told him, this boy seemed to have some relationship with Shen Xiu, something that one of his spies saw with his own eyes, not only that, this brat seemed to be an extremely hardworking person that spends most of his time studying or training.

Thigs didn't end there, he had reports suggesting that this boy wasn't proficient only in inscriptions as witnessed by Ye Shuo himself, this boy seemed to have some alchemy knowledge as well since he dared to rent a room in the alchemy association.

Thinking up to this point he decided to first test the boy. He was truly interested in taking him as his disciple, this boy could be humanity's last hope in the future, besides, he would be an extremely powerful addition to the snow wind family if they manage to hook him up...

Frowning he looked at Fang Yun and said, "Follow me."

The poor Fang Yun could only nod and follow silently.

Soon they arrived at some sort of open courtyard, there were only a few trees at some distance from them, other than that it was an open place, perfect to train.

The city lord crossed his arms and looked at him. "Take out your weapon, fight me using all you've got!"

Hearing this Fang Yun nodded and took out his spear. Knowing that he wouldn't win, he didn't even try to prepare himself. pushing forward using all his strength, he waved his spear trying to slash at Ye Zong, the man however easily avoided his attack that was soon followed by a thrust.

This time however Ye Zong countered his attack by pulling his spear to the side with some strength, he expected the boy to lose his balance and fall, however, he was surprised seeing that the boy managed to avoid this situation by using his strength against him.

Fang Yun used Ye Zong pull to spin the spear and bring it back at him. Seeing this Ye Zong used his arm to shield himself from the impact, the moment the spear stopped he stepped forward, and after spinning once he used his leg to try and make Fang Yun fall on the ground. But since Ye Zong was using only the same level of strength as him, Fang Yun noticed this and jumped, avoiding his kick.

Minutes passed and Ye Zhong was constantly getting surprised by Fang Yun, in the beginning, he was a little clumsy and his moves were a bit robotic as if he was imitating a book, but as the fight kept going he increasingly adapted his fighting style, not only that but his battle awareness was much better than the average people, he could predict his enemies movements to some extent and even do some countermeasures in the heat of the battle.

All in all, he had quite a good fighting skill, not the best, but still good enough for someone of his age and level. However without setbacks, one would never be capable of improving. Ye Zhong countered one of Fang Yun attacks and without waiting for him to recover, he increased his speed by a notch which took Fang Yun by surprise, incapable of following his attacks, he subconsciously jumped back the moment Ye Zhong feet hit his belly making him fly for a few meters before falling like shit on the ground.

Seeing that the boy still managed to react after that, Ye Zhong smiled satisfied, this boy had a lot of potential just waiting to be polished.

After some minutes struggling to get up, Fang Yun looked at Ye Zhong with stars in his eyes, this guy was so cool! This fight was a joke for him, from his point of view, Ye Zhong was no different than a superhero like Batman or Captain America, but with superpowers.

"Fang Yun, would you like to become my disciple? I promise you that as your master, I'll make sure to do everything in my powers to make sure you will grow faster, and correctly, in the future, I'm sure you will be the next Ye Mo."

Hearing this, Fang Yun nerd side, from the time he was addicted to those novels and comics, spiked up, he was so thrilled right now! This was so awesome that he didn't know how to react. After thinking for some time and concluding that benefits outweighed the harms, he bowed and spoke with his voice filled with emotions. "Disciple greets master!"

Hearing this Ye Zhong smiled.

"Very well, then, a servant is going to prepare your room, you can move in today, don't worry about tools or resources, I know you are someone interested in inscriptions and alchemy, fell free to use our resources, your place will also have an alchemy furnace.

Just make sure to remember that you're not allowed to approach my daughter nor her house, otherwise, you will be punished." His eyes seemed to glint with a cold light that made Fang Yun shudder, this guy was so protective of his daughter...

...

In the next few hours, Fang Yun went to his home and told his parents about what happened, then after explaining that he would have to live inside the snow wind family they nodded and helped him pack his things. For his parents that was the best thing that could have ever happened to them, their son was now Ye Zhong's disciple, this was something that they would brag for the rest of their lives.

His house in the snow wind family was quite good, it was close to the path the patrols took and had quite a few rooms, the decorations itself was quite luxurious, it was expensive enough to make him feel like selling the whole place.

After making himself comfortable, he went to the alchemy room and smiled seeing so many interspatial rings filled with ingredients. Today he would finally refine an elixir.

...

Divine Continent, south of Glory City.

The sound of the water running through the walls and the ground were the only things that could be heard, the corridors filled with blood and skeletons were the only places that seemed to once have life. But inside a hidden chamber, roars of a beast could occasionally be heard.

At the wall, there was a single lit-up pattern that seemed to turn on and off from time to time, and right in front of it, a single lonely throne with a crown resting on top of it. Suddenly the crown started trembling as a white mist started to shroud it. Soon the mist took the form of an armored knight, clad in diamond-like armor and the crown disappeared.

He stood up and looked around, the moment he saw the pattern on the wall his body started trembling, soon after he kneeled and extend both of his hands, the moment he did that, white lightning bolts surged from within the patterns and slowly took the form of a golden shining spear that fell into the knight's hand.

Clenching his fist the knight stood up and went towards the place where the roars of the beast were coming from. It was some sort of underground cave with a ritualistic altar on the center, the moment the knight approached the altar, white lines shined through the place, and above the altar, a single orb appeared, inside the orb was a dragon with golden scales, it was a demon spirit.

The knight took the orb and stored it inside his armor, at that moment, countless other knights appeared, each one of them wearing different sets of armor, he turned to them and looked for a few seconds, right after he spoke with ghostly and demonic voice.

"Master finally have an heir, our mission is to prepare him..." he pointed towards his chest where the demon spirit was. "Go on, take upon your weapons and find him! For now, only one pattern has lit up, so per orders, only the bronze knights are allowed to go."

"Kill him, and you will finally regain your freedom..."

The bronze knights hit the ground with their legs, making the sound of metal hitting metal resound around the cave. Then each one of them started shining and disappeared from within the cave, making darkness once again cover every place besides the chamber were the pattern would occasionally lit up.

...

Twelve hours had passed since Fang Yun had moved to the snow wind family, since that time he has been practicing Alchemy, and this time, he was finally going to make some real progress!

Inside the room where his alchemy furnace was, Fang Yun was sweating as he carefully liquefies one ingredient after the other, seeing he had finally acquired the necessary amount, he sighs and increases the pressure inside the flames, seeing that the temperature was about to go beyond the limit he gritted his teeth endured the pain he was feeling from over exhausting his [Soul Force].

Soon the liquid solidified into 4 different pills, each with a shiny white outer layer that looks as smooth as the surface of a frozen lake.

Seeing this he smiled. 'Finally! My first pill! And look at this, 0 impurities! Yao Lao's alchemy refining technique is truly wonderful! Perhaps I should try selling these, the original formula was supposed to be an enhancement of 150% in body cultivation, but... Seeing this it should at bare minimum increase the efficiency to 200% even for those at the gold rank...'

Having decided on what to do he was about to go out, but the moment he opened the door he was shocked! It was already night! He didn't even notice the time flying by. Sighing he went back inside and decided that it was finally time to consciously cultivate, his dantian passively collected the Yuan Qi around him, but it wasn't as fast as cultivating for real. But it was still pretty useful for him, considering that it allows him to focus on other matters, such as alchemy, inscriptions, etc.

The moment he started cultivating, he could feel the increase in the speed on which he absorbed the energy around him, but this time he also felt that something was wrong, the feeling had that was coming from the south was getting increasingly stronger, as if something was happening there, it felt like something was trying to make him feel a sense of urgency as if someone wanted him to get stronger faster. A few hours later, he could feel that he had a breakthrough to 2-star Bronze rank, which in turn also made the feeling he was having get a little bit better.

Fang Yun wasn't that stupid, considering how everything started, he could at least associate that feeling either with his cultivation method or the fact that he broke through Bronze Rank, in a way or another, that couldn't mean something silly like knowing it was going to rain, right now he could already identify that with something comparable to a feeling he felt when facing a dangerous situation.

And that probably meant that something or someone related to him was doing something that would surely affect him. sighing he remembered that Nie Li, was going to make some cultivation pills, perhaps he should try and buy some from him...