family conflicts brewing

Morning came, pushing away the cold night of a vast desert, and in came the scorching heat and sun rays casting a golden glow on the sand that extended beyond the eye could see.

'Finally, today is the awakening ceremony.' A youngster covered in sweat looked through the window where youngsters were slowly gathering on the outskirts of the oasis.

'A shame I was born in the Western Desert. I have no way of knowing where I am in the novel or if I am before the novel started.'

The youngster stopped his strength training and started his stretching training.

'As far as I know, it should be before the zombie arc. There's no news of the Mo Clan having a rank 5 called Mo Yan and the Lan Clan has not been destroyed by Fang Yuan.'

The youngster remembered the chapters of the novel with great precision. A benefit of having a high soul path foundation.

'Han Li.' The youngster had a character in mind in one of his first moves that would increase his standing.

'You suffered a tragic end for being too lucky. You found the inheritance of Zhen Yuan Zhi in the Tremor Desert. You could have gained rank 8 battle strength by controlling a green claw ghost winged lion, but you bit more than you could chew.'

The youngster stopped for an instant, catching his breath before continuing to stretch like a folded cloth.

'Sorry, I felt bad for you, but I have to kill you for your luck. If my timing is right, I might be able to get Ye Fan too.'

Tock tock

"Young master, your bath is ready."

The youngster's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door followed by the alluring voice of a young woman.

"You may enter."

The youngster said after unstretching he looked at the door with vigilance. He had a dagger on his waist, ready to draw at any moment, and a short sword hanging on the wall in case the dagger wasn't enough.

The youngster wasn't worried about an assassin bypassing the security and entering the heart of the clan and onto the house of the strongest elder but he was cautious of members of his family with bold ideas.

"Young master." The maid opened the door subconsciously flinching when she saw the ordinary brown eyes of the young man she served.

"Lord Feng Wang Hao waits for you in the dining hall." The maid bowed respectfully intentionally showing her ample cleavage.

"Didn't we talk about being casual when outsiders aren't around?" The youngster asked while he got dressed in a white robe.

"Sorry, it won't happen again."

The maid apologized before turning around and exiting the room with the youngster following behind her.

'Come on, Li Ling, you have nothing to be afraid of. you have served him since he was a toddler. He isn't a cold-hearted eunuch. He has desires. You just need him to spill his seed inside you, and you will become his concubine.'

The maid said to herself once they entered the bathroom.

Li Ling sat in front of the door while the youngster entered the bathtub in the middle of the room, his gaze never leaving her until she, too, was naked.

'What if he kills me as soon as he deflowers me? He has no qualms about killing but it was all to build a reputation to protect himself against his family… or is killing his only desire'

Li Ling looked at the youngster. His face was average, but his tall, strong body and tanned copper skin gave him an aura of power and resilience very different from when he was 10 years old.

She looked at his sleeping member already too used to seeing it to be embarrassed. The only time she had seen it awaken wasn't when he first saw her naked but when he killed an old musician who didn't let him sleep.

'Wang Wei stood still for a couple of minutes. His pants were drenched with his seed. He even moaned like a man deflowering a maiden for the first time. A ten year old shouldn't have done that… right?'

"I'll call you if I need anything."

The youngster's voice brought Li Ling out of her thoughts.

"Yes, Wang Wei." The maid nodded, stopping herself from trying to seduce him.

'Her loyalty is above average she has no skills I already have. Killing her doesn't bring me enough benefits it might even compromise my reputation within the clan.'

Wang Wei thought as he whistled a beautiful tune he got from the old musician while he bathed.

'To think it would come a day I would see human lives as nothing but crops to be harvested or leave rooted.'

Wang Wei inwardly sighed seeing another reason why Paradise Earth suppressed Soul Path.

Cultivating the soul was like a drug once a milestone was hit; for example, every 100 souls increased in the foundation, a feeling better than sex, drugs, and food combined washed through the Gu master's body.

Once a 1000 soul increase was reached the feeling was ten times better.

As for 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000 Wang Wei could only guess how addictive it would be.

'No wonder Spectral Soul's era was known as the most bloody with so many Gu masters and immortals cultivating soul path there would be more than one junkie working for his next dose.'

Wang Wei thought as he concentrated and saw his soul, a gray lump resembling his current body.

'One thousand two hundred and twenty six man soul (1226). I haven't even awakened my aperture, and I already have a soul foundation similar to a rank 5 enslavement path, Gu master.'

Wang Wei could sense the dao marks that made up his soul and instinctively thought of many possible arrangements that would provide different effects in exchange for consuming his soul's foundation.

'If my cheat is this strong I wonder how strong the others are right now.'

Wang Wei refrained from doing anything to his soul until he tested his theories on others.

'I need to kill the other guys, especially the one with Star Constellation's cheat, and cooperate with the guy with Paradise Earth's cheat.' Wang Wei remembered the 11 options in the Reddit post and how he was transmigrated to the Gu world.

Wang Wei had no evidence they also transmigrated but still prepared for them, the biggest obstacle being who and where they were, but the same applied to him.

'It doesn't matter right now. I need to focus on the present cultivate to rank 6, raise my soul foundation, and travel to Tremor Desert. As for how to pass my immortal ascension… I might find the answer with thieving heaven.'

Wang Wei exited the bathroom, got dressed in a plain white robe, and entered the dining hall, where an enormous and ridiculously long table took up the entire center.

"Good morning, nephew. Did you sleep well?"

The first to greet Wang Wei was his great grandfather's firstborn son, a 90-year-old with no cultivation talent.

Next to the old man were his children, who were 70 years old also with no cultivation talent.

Next to those their children in their 50s who also had no cultivation talent only some of their children and grandchildren in their 30s and below had d grade talent.

Wang Wei put on his most sincere smile and quickly greeted them, passing the curved end of the table, pointing at the main door, and walking towards the other end that was not curved where his great-grandfather sat.

'This man truly had endless stamina in the bedroom.'

After walking for a couple of minutes and passing through many sons of his great-grandfather and their own family branches.

Wang Wei reached the end of the table where the man himself sat an elderly man as thin as a toothpick with closed eyes and wrinkled skin like a mummy greatly hidden under his long white mane and bushy beard.

"Wang Wei greets grandfather." Wang Wei bowed following table courtesy before sitting to the right of the man with half a foot on the grave.

"Wang Wei today is the awakening ceremony. Eat well and walk as far as you can." Feng Wang Hao opened his eyes and exhaled a cloud of smoke before raising his opium pipe, a piece of art with an engraved battle where he killed a rank 5 Gu Master.

"If your aptitude is at least a C grade, I'll give you the family's most prized possession. Of course, I shouldn't worry. You are the greatest genius our family has produced."

Feng Wang Hao breathed from his pipe once again, closing his eyes to savor the smoke while the eyes of the rest of the family turned to Wang Wei.

'This old fox… is this really the time for another lecture?' Wang Wei gazed back at the remaining family members, the majority retracted their gazes while some remained gazing at him with hate, envy, fear, and frustration in their eyes.

'This family is too big, too untalented, but mostly greedy.'

Wang Wei slowly ate while he looked at his cousins who would also attend this awakening ceremony.

Unlike their parents, they had defiance in their eyes, hoping he had no cultivation talent or, at most d, grade talent, allowing them to leave him in the dust with their great-grandfather's support.

'They are not wrong. He has created 5 d grade elders.'

Wang Wei knew Feng Wang Hao burned through his wealth to nurture worthy family members by giving relic gu, injecting their apertures with his rank 4 peak stage primeval essence, and using a mountain of cleansing gu to reduce the side effects.

"I wish I could keep spending time with the family but I might miss the awakening ceremony."

Wang Wei finished eating, bid his farewells, and turned to leave. Seeing that 3 cousins stopped eating and followed him.

"Catch."

Swoosh

Wang Wei didn't even manage to turn around, his instincts screamed at him of the incoming danger.

He stepped to the side, dodging a big heavy sack, landing on the floor and cracking the floor tiles into countless pieces.

"Your monthly allowance will now be weekly. The caravan is going to arrive in 3 days. Treat yourself to that past time of yours but don't spend it all in one place."

Feng Wang Hao spoke nonchalantly before smoking once again ignoring the expectant gazes of his great grandsons.

'Why does he have to be overly implicit?'

Wang Wei understood the implication as he picked up the bulging sack of 100 primeval stones. It was about 14 kilos, about the size of a large microwave.

'He aimed at my chest. If this hit me I would have a few broken ribs. If it was on the head I would be dead.'

Wang Wei was going to hand the sack to a servant to bring it to his room but Feng Wang Hao stopped him.

"Carry it. Once you awaken your aperture, you can do whatever you wish with it."

Wang Wei nodded cupping his fists in thanks as he thought of what he implicitly said and walked to the exit.

'He threw the sack when I was distracted, meaning I should not lower my guard; I could be attacked at any moment. He also did it to incite the rest of the family to make a move against me by showing his favoritism.'

'But he also expects much from me with how many resources he is giving me, someone who is not guaranteed to awaken a c grade aperture and he is reminding me that I gathered too much attention making me a target like how I will gather too much attention by carrying a huge sack of money around.'

...

1974 words