The Sect's History

Many days have passed since Hyunhei's recovery. Lijie stopped asking about Rushi so Hyunhei could focus on his cultivation training. Lijie taught him how to control his yin energy to use it efficiently in battle or when casting spells. His student is very obedient and attentive during their training sessions.

"Since you already mastered some spells, we might also learn the whole thing." Lijie presented Hyunhei with a pile of books containing all the spells on the continent.

"Woah! I never thought that the Feng Huang Sect had collected all the spells of the previous immortals." Hyunhei was fascinated by the number of books he needed to study.

"But before we learn all those, let me tell you some historical details relevant to your training." Hyunhei poured some chrysanthemum tea into his master's cup and his own for them to enjoy the learning process.

Nine thousand years ago, the Celestial Palace was the peaceful dwelling place of the Great Immortals, who watched over the realms. There were five realms before the Bloody War. These are the Light Realm, Fairy Realm, Beast Realm, Mortal Realm, and Dark Realm. The Light Realm is the place where immortals and deities live in harmony. The Fairy Realm is the home for fairies and elves caring for nature and animals. The Beast Realm is where powerful beast men reside, like the Great Dragon King, several famous legendary beasts, fox people, merfolk, and the like. The Mortal Realm is the home of humans, who practice cultivation techniques to serve the Great Immortals accordingly. Lastly, the Dark Realm is a forbidden area where dark creatures like ghosts and demons dwell. The Netherworld is also located in the Dark Realm, where the souls of the dead reside as the Angel of Death watches over them.

Two realms were wiped out after the Bloody War between the Dark Realm and the Light Realm. The Fairy and Beast Realms survivors took shelter in the Light Realm, which also suffered significant casualties. Many Great Immortals died during the battle trying to suppress the Demon Chief, but they all failed. The remaining Great Immortals who managed to subdue their powerful opponent are Yaoguai, the Night Immortal, and his dear friend Xuan, the Fallen Immortal. Yaoguai could not destroy the Demon Chief's primordial spirit, but they sealed it in the deepest part of the Dark Realm, which consumed much of their celestial power. On the other hand, Xuan used his remaining divine power to maintain the yin and yang balance in the remaining realms.

The mortals and other living beings, including Xuan, heard the news of Yaoguai's passing due to the depletion of his celestial energy. Xuan thought Yaoguai's primordial spirit was corroded by the filthy, dark qi energy, so he lost hope in living. Using the last of his remaining celestial power, he created a puppet of himself to visit the remaining realms and see the current situation. The remaining deities, fairies, beast men, and mortals are trying their best to survive the aftermath of the Bloody War. They all blame their unfortunate situation on the incapability of Xuan without even knowing the whole story.

Xuan was the only son of the Celestial Creator Lixin and Moon Goddess Yuechan, who sacrificed their bodies to create the perfect dwelling place for many living beings. Despite having a powerful background, Xuan manifested his celestial powers, unlike the other immortals born with them, when he reached the end of his 100-year cultivation training supervised by his teacher Nuanli, the most ancient immortal created by his father, Lixin. Xuan is a benevolent and humble immortal who was often bullied due to his poor cultivation skills since he was a late bloomer. Another thing is that his mother, Yuechan, foretold a prophecy during his birth. Xuan will be the key to restoring peace after the great calamity, the Bloody War. The heavenly immortals became anxious about this news and began blaming Xuan's existence.

Hearing the hurtful words of his people, Xuan could not bear the pain in his heart any longer, so he decided to cease his existence and chose to be reincarnated after thousands of years just to ease the suffering of his soul. Before he performed this, he instructed Zhi Peng, the lone disciple of Nuanli, to preserve the divine knowledge and the truth behind this catastrophe and teach it to the deserving ones when the right time came. The divine scholar Zhi Peng founded the Yanhuo Alliance, which later changed into the Feng Huang Sect. Its goal is to preserve divine knowledge by teaching deserving people how to properly use it and pass it from generation to generation.

The Feng Huang Sect follows the example of some of the late Great Immortals and establishes the Elemental Classes. The Fire Elemental Class was named after the late Fire Immortal Shoiming. The Earth Elemental Class was named after the late Liling, the Guardian of Nature. They took after Xiangmei, the Wind Immortal for the Wind Elemental Class. The Water Elemental Class took after Jianghai, the Water Immortal. The Light Elemental Class was recently added when Xin Huo inherited the authority of being the Sect Leader. His heart was captivated by the story of the late Fallen Immortal Xuan, so he added the class they were in.

"That reminds me of something interesting." Hyunhei went to their room to get the folded paper he kept and showed it to Lijie.

"This was Master Huo's painting! Where did you get it?" Lijie asked excitedly. Hyunhei told him he found it inserted into a scroll at the sect's private library. "You never failed to surprise me, little brat." Hyunhei wanted the painting back, but Lijie refused to return it.

"That painting is mine! Give it back!" Hyunhei cried out while pouting.

"No. This is Master Huo's property. I witnessed the progress of this painting." Lijie protested.

"I don't care! It's mine! I'll only give it to you unless you give me something with the same value!"

"Fine. I am three years older than you."

"Who cares about your age? Give it back!"

The chasing struggle continued until they were both exhausted. Lijie proposed a condition to Hyunhei in exchange for the painting.

"I will not return this painting unless you tell me who the man named Rushi is." Lijie wants to confirm how his disciple knew his old name. But looking at Hyunhei, his facial expression became gloomy as he looked down to suppress his tears.

"R-Rushi was my friend! But he's already dead! Are you happy now?" Hyunhei grabbed the painting from Lijie's hand and left a few words before leaving. "Please pardon my rude behavior, Senior."

Lijie was left speechless by Hyunhei's words. His hands trembled as tears flowed from his eyes. Despite being one of the Great Scholars of the Feng Huang Sect, he cannot process anything now. He almost buried his past along with his regrets, but his so-called disciple wasted all the years of his effort. It all means one thing: he can ask the forgiveness of the most precious person he left to suffer alone. But he does not know how.

Disregarding all the essential things he needed to do that day, Lijie rushed into their bedroom and saw Hyunhei's sorry state. He was weeping all by himself while hugging his knees. Hyunhei saw him approaching, so he summoned his Shandian to prevent Lijie from getting close.

"What do you want from me? Are you not satisfied digging up my past?" Hyunhei cried out as he pointed his sword at Lijie. Without hesitation, Lijie knelt in front of Hyunhei and questioned him.

"By any chance, are you Nian-Nian?"

Hyunhei's past suddenly flashed in his eyes. His beloved friend Rushi gave him a nickname because her name was so hard to pronounce. "Since you're my friend, I'll call you Nian-Nian from now on!" The little Rushi told her young self.

Hyunhei dropped his Shandian on the bed. He was frozen, and tears kept falling down his cheeks. He thought seeing Rushi on the night he was sick was all because he was delirious. He can't grasp all these things at once. The only person who treated him with care suddenly left him but came into his life unexpectedly.

"R-Rushi?" Hyunhei asked nervously, but Lijie hugged Hyunhei tightly as if he wanted to cherish every second of their reunion.

"Yes! I'm Wang Rushi, your best friend!" Lijie whispered happily. They cried their hearts out until both of them calmed down to talk. They're both confused about what happened, but they tried explaining.

"I was reincarnated as Chen Lijie and was destined to serve the Celestial Palace if I ascended as an immortal. No one has ever known this, even Master Huo. He accepted me as his disciple because he saw my potential. And my memories as Wang Rushi was retained on my reincarnation as if I have a mission to fulfill." Lijie elaborated. He was still holding Hyunhei's hand. "How about you, Nian-Nian?"

"I died in a car accident right after I was fired from work as a senior fashion designer. Then I woke up in this body. My big boobies are wasted because of that stupid accident. Hmph." Hyunhei was frustrated when explaining to him, but Lijie chuckled because of the cute frustrated face Hyunhei made.

"You haven't changed at all. You're still the Nian-Nian I knew. I mean, look at you. You're beautiful in your past and present self. What can we expect in the future? You will still be a beautiful living being. Hehe." Lijie pinched Hyunhei's cheeks, and he also pinched Lijie's as revenge. They both laughed as they wiped their tears dry.

"We need to live the lives we're given to. But our friendship will remain for eternity. This is our chance to make up for the mistakes we've made in our past lives. I'm glad you're by my side, Rushi, I mean, Senior Lijie." Hyunhei hugged his master once again.

"We'll help each other, my cute junior." He patted Hyunhei's head while hugging him.