The Past

Was already broken? Grandma Mo's eyes flashed, she could perceive that this injury was quite recent simply by looking at Yang Lin's wrist, she was no fool, despite her seemingly old age. The second indicator was how the place suddenly turned dead silent; everyone around was shocked out of their wits for two reasons.

First, Grandma seemed to have a special eye for this boy. Second, everyone near the elevator clearly heard the crisp crack of bones; this boy dared lie straight to Grandma's face. This, above all else, was interesting. Yang Lin could feel multiple pairs of eyes scrutinizing him as if meticulously studying him.

The one who was shocked the most was the guard in front of Yang Lin, he gazed down at the boy in shock, this kid have such high pain tolerance, he even lied with a straight face. Not he, nor even Grandma Mo felt any disturbances in his heart rate, as if he wasn't blurting out nonsense, or as if he was adept at lying.

Little did they know that he was speaking the truth; his wrist was broken before he attended here, just like every other bone in his body. Not a muscle, tissue, and meridian was left in peace for only that woman knew how long. Yang Lin wasn't lying, but he wasn't exposing the guard either, he had no time to waste on trivial matters such as right and wrong, there was someone he desired to meet as soon as possible.

"Ahem, is that so, child…" Grandma Mo cleared her throat after some contemplating. If the boy didn't feel like pursuing the matter, then she wouldn't be as petty either. More importantly, she was curious about this get-up. This blood seemed rather fresh, less than two days old. Dry but yet not coagulated, and she had an odd feeling about these robes, they're a kind of fashion that belonged to the 'aliens' and not the 'natives', which confused her.

"Alright, step into the elevator." Grandma Mo said softly, a heartfelt smile on her face, a smile exuding warmth and tenderness as she looked at Yang Lin. Nodding his head, Yang Lin took his calm steps to circle around the burly figure, only to catch a glimpse of the latter person giving him a nod of appreciation and turning around submissively to salute Grandma Mo in a military fashion.

After excusing himself, the man turned around and backtracked his destination. He had plans to brand Yang Lin and earn commission based on Yang Lin's performance on the battlefield of nations, but the kid seems to have something else hidden in store for him since Grandma Mo took over personally. As Yang Lin stood beside Grandma Mo, she picked up that his wrist was healing; albeit slowly, it was visible to someone of her caliber, somewhat shocking her.

Peep!

She tapped the keyboard, choosing one of the furthest floors underground. Yang Lin noticed that even though there were about two for this orphanage, there were actually eighty-one underground floors, and Grandma Mo selected the last floor of them all.

"Child, don't let anyone know you wield the surname Yang in the future." Grandma Mo sighed as if lamenting. On the side, Yang Lin was actually not as cold and distant anymore, but his eyes kindled with childish curiosity again, this Grandma seems to have many stories.

"Why?" Yang Lin asked, quite curious.

"There are the ancient times, and there was an era preceding those times. Ancient scriptures speak that this planet had phased through the extinction of a major civilization that heavily relied on Cultivation. Given your looks, you seem to have already encountered a fate, last time you were just an ordinary boy, look at you now." Grandma Mo said, smiling faintly.

"One day, for some reason, the world lost all its Spiritual Qi that permitted cultivation, and it was but a prelude to catastrophe…" Grandma Mo's demeanor changed ever-so-slightly as she spoke, some longing and fear mingled in the undertone of her speech.

"Those days were called the Dark Ages. People had to adapt to the inability to further cultivate, chaos swept across every nation, continent, province, and so on. There were many colossal figures who stood at the pinnacle of the cultivation world, but they slowly dwindled as their strong cultivators died one after another."

"Surprisingly, it was an epoch of peace. No force dared risk a war; every man counts. Every nation wanted to preserve its manpower of cultivators regardless of their realm or plane. They could no longer nurture disciples, they could only utilize what they already have. Slowly, life regressed and developed just like the waves on a shore."

"Fast forward in time, just as thousands of years passed and people have already adapted to a world without cultivation, machines, and technology was basically everywhere you look, subtle traces of Spiritual Qi was found in the atmosphere. This news, as expected, caused an uproar that swept the world overnight." Grandma Mo sighed with emotion, she looked down at Yang Lin.

"People are greedy by nature, and they seek dominance. In the modern world of business, the behemoths of the cultivation world were no hurdle to any major force. But now, with Spiritual Qi being discovered again, many families felt threatened. Their main concern was a prestigious family that produced many, many talents who reigned supreme prior to the Dark Ages. The family at the pinnacle of such prestige was, indisputably, the Yang Household." Grandma Mo's eyes flickered as she spoke, this child was smart enough to come to a conclusion of what was the fate of such a family, she believed she needed not further elaborate…