Patriarch Of The Ji Family

It was night and Xi Ansel was sleeping soundly with a peaceful smile on his face.

But somewhere deep inside a manor, in a large rectangular room people were frowning and cussing. Each had a strange look on their face. Some people's faces were filled with unprecedented rage.

Among those many people, one who sat on top a throne was silent but no one could see his face as his whole body was hidden in the shadow. Only his two eyes were visible. Those two solemn eyes that could gaze through the depths of one's soul, those eyes that would never even budge, even if the whole world collapses, twitched ever so slightly. The action occurred in such a small amount of time that no one noticed.

In front of those solemn eyes was a person kneeling enshrouded in a black mist with a mask on its face.

"So, what you are saying is that, He already expected your arrival and even knew the fact that I instructed you to do so?", finally the voice came from the throne. The voice was calm and tranquil, it was so soft that it would want a person to listen even more. No one could determine the age of that voice.

When this voice spoke, everyone else in the room immediately ceased talking and looked towards the figure on the throne which was covered in the shadow. Their eyes shone brightly with reverence as they looked because this was none other than the Patriarch of the Ji family.

When the black masked figure below heard this tranquil voice, his whole body trembled and sweat poured down from his back, instantly soaking him in sweat.

"Ye-Yes", although afraid the black masked figure spoke in a low voice while stuttering. He knew that his performance today has deeply dissatisfied the figure sitting above. He was just silently waiting for his punishment.

But then suddenly something happened that shocked him and the people gathered below.

"Hahaha! Interesting! Truly Interesting! A real opponent has appeared!", the patriarch suddenly burst out in laughter. Those eyes of his trembled and contained contentment.

"In the previous thousands of years no one had appeared to challenge me but finally someone has appeared and from the looks of it, it's a little brat Hahaha!"

The people below were already shocked as this was the first time they saw the patriarch laugh and call someone his opponent.

Just Who is the patriarch?

He is the most powerful existence in cyclops city. Forget Cyclops City, he is one of the most powerful being in the Heavenly Lord Continent.

His strength is rumored to be on par with the grandmasters of the biggest sects.

The most shocking thing for them was 'they had expected some reaction from their patriarch but never in their lives had they imagined the reaction they would get would be that of joy'.

If word were to get out that the Ji family's patriarch laughed after someone made his descendent crippled, then they would become the biggest joke of cyclops city.

One of the Ji Family elder frowned and asked hesitatingly," Venerable Patriarch how could a lowly mongrel be your opponent? Aren't you overvaluing him too much? Isn't he just an ant?"

At this question everyone turned around once more towards the figure on the throne, expecting an answer to this question. Their eyes twinkled with hope to get enlightened, 'as why the venerable one exaggerated him so highly.'

Seeing those gazes the patriarch sighed gently. Then he spoke with a tone full of mockery.

"Lowly Mongrel? Overvaluing him? He is an ant? You people think too much of yourselves, don't you? As your cultivation base rises your hair along with your brain becomes rusty! Do you think a lowly mongrel would have achieved a feat that no one in the past 100,000 years could have? You say he is an ant? Can an ant, whose cultivation is so low be so brazen in front of Black Shadow, whose killing intent can faint even a Mortal realm practitioner?"

'Black Shadow' was the masked person kneeling in front of the patriarch and also the one who went to intimidate Xi Ansel but instead himself got frightened.

"A little brat like him calculated the moves of his enemy and even prepare the countermeasures to beat it. Furthermore, he is even aware about the fact that I personally sent Black Shadow to him. How many of you even knew of the fact that I personally sent Black Shadow?", the patriarch stopped but his voice was filled with mockery and disdain towards the elders sitting below him.

Silence

Absolute Silence

Everyone instantly became grave and went into contemplation. The elder who spoke of the question became red from embarrassment. If someone else were to say these things to them, then they would probably die the most gruesome death even without being aware. But the person saying this was the venerable one, forget getting angry, they were actually happy getting schooled by the patriarch.

After a long time, one of the elders spoke with a momentous tone, " If that is so Venerable One, then why did you send Black Shadow to snatch the treasure from that brat? You already knew that he is....."

Before the elder could complete the patriarch interrupted with a single word.

"Uncertainty!"

"Huh!", everyone present looked at each other with confusion as they didn't understand, even the kneeling Black Shadow couldn't help but raise his head in puzzlement to look towards the patriarch.

The patriarch already expected this reaction, so he continued, " I was uncertain about this fact of that brat being some heaven defying genius. So, I personally sent Black Shadow to create some trouble. Do you really think that the treasured sword from that mountain would have been obtained by us? Is it really that easy? That is some ancient treasure and all the ancient treasures, recognize their owners by themselves and if one gets their blood imprint on them then until the death of the present owner no one else could own the treasure."

Blood Imprint is a way to own a treasure. If one releases a drop of blood on their treasure and it gets absorbed that means the bond between the owner and the treasure will be unshakable until the owner's death.

"My motive to send Black Shadow was to verify if the rumors were true or not and indeed they were true. If the brat would have complied with us and abandoned the treasure sword then I would have looked down on him and ordered Black Shadow to kill him. This would just have been a simple revenge for crippling our little Jian. But he exceeded my expectations, he might appear as a 15 year old kid but he is even more sinister and crafty than those thousand year old fogeys."

"He hid his powers and ruthlessness for years. He suffered the torments of people and made himself look as a trash. He was a wolf hiding in sheep's clothing."

"His calculative abilities, his foresight, his courage leaves me in awe." the patriarch couldn't help but praise Xi Ansel. There was also a frown in patriarch's mind but he didn't bring it up. It was, 'Why did this kid reveal his fangs now? Why not earlier?'

How could the patriarch know that Xi Ansel had travelled back in time.

By now everyone was dumbfounded listening. Hearing the praises of an enemy and that too from the mouth of their patriarch, they didn't know whether to cry or laugh. This was truly an unexpected situation. That patriarch who always disdained everyone was actually praising this kid. If this happens, 'Will Patriarch forgive him?'. Thinking about this everyone became tensed.

Sensing the atmosphere the patriarch immediately understood what was in their minds. He couldn't help but sigh.

"Hah! An enemy is an enemy , for me Ji Clan's survival is of utmost importance. If that brat were our ally then it would have been good for our clan but a pity the moment he crippled little Jian he was an enemy."

Finally after hearing these words did everyone sigh.

Then once again the same elder who questioned the first time spoke, " Venerable Patriarch how should we address this? Should we kill him?"

The patriarch frowned, " Kill? Absolutely not! The moment you kill that mad old fogey will come at my door and no one could stop Ji clan from being annihilated. I haven't recovered from my old injuries yet. So it would be impossible for me to save the clan."

As the patriarch stopped speaking and looked at everyone, he saw them trembling. How could they not tremble at the mention of the word ,'mad old fogey'. It was another heaven defying existence - The GRANDMASTER of Cloud Martial Sect.

The patriarch then continued, " Don't worry! Isn't this just 3 years! Cloud Martial Sect keeps disciples for at most 3 years and after that they have to go out in their respective ways. No matter how much of a genius he is, he can't become a monster who can compete with us old fogeys who have cultivated for thousands of years." These lines were affecting the masses below as they were getting more and more relaxed.

But then the patriarch suddenly said, " But there is a strange feeling bugging me. My instincts are saying that the longer we wait the worse it gets. Hmm! Ji Bachu, tell me after how many months after which a disciple goes out to do missions outside Cyclops City?"

Ji Bachu was one of the respected elders of the Ji Clan. His standing in among the Ji Clan's elders was very high. The reason was because of his cultivation which was soaring the heavens. He was a short person, his hair completely white and his eyes were that of an eagle.

He came forward and bowed then said with reverence, " Venerable one, a disciple of Cloud Martial Sect can go out to do missions after 1 year of being enrolled in it."

The room became silent for a while. After sometime, a solemn voice came from the throne, " We have to take the risk! My gut feeling is never wrong, he might bring a great disaster to our clan. After 1 year we will eliminate him. If the brat dies outside, then there is less chance of we being suspected and even if we are, when there is no evidence, even that old fogey couldn't do much."

"I have made my decision cease all activities involving Xi Ansel and tell everyone to not lay a finger on him. Try to avoid him at all costs and do not engage with him. Make the Ji Clan go low profile for a year."

"Black Shadow, don't observe him any longer!"

After saying this the patriarch didn't even wait for a response as he disappeared in air.

After he was gone, The kneeling figure-Black Shadow disappeared and everyone from the room dispersed. Tonight the quite Ji family became busy.

**********

Elsewhere

"Fuck! These mosquitoes are biting on my ass! Damn it!"

Eventually our peacefully sleeping Xi Ansel got disturbed by mosquitoes and woke up.