Ye Xuan, an unfortunate boy. His mother, Li Xiuying had died during childbirth.
He was raised alone by his father, Ye Hong. Ye Hong was a merchant, he traveled around quite a bit due to his work.
Ye Hong never blamed Ye Xuan for the death of his wife. He loved his son dearly. Even though he needed to travel to different cities often, most of the times he brought Ye Xuan with him.
The times where he needed to go to places with a harsh environment he left Ye Xuan at home with a caretaker.
Ye Xuan was a very understanding child, facing the adversity of life by not having a mother's warmth to support him.
Even though Ye Hong tried his best to give all of his love to his only son, he still couldn't fulfill the required warmth of a mother for a child.
But Ye Xuan also loved his father dearly. He knew how much his father loved him as well.
On his eighth birthday his father was supposed to come back to celebrate his birthday with Ye Xuan from his most recent venture.
His father promised him a gift.
he was very excited about this matter, he wondered what his father had planned for him. He looked forward to receiving his gift but more so he yearned to spend some time with his father.
However on the designated date instead of his gift the little Ye Xuan was presented with the corpse of his father delivered to his doorsteps.
His father had died to a pack of wild beasts along with a lot of travelers that went with his father.
Ye Xuan's world had shattered on the day of his birthday. He had lost his only family, his only loved one in this world. He was a very understanding child but he was still a child.
There was no way for him to keep calm in such a moment where even most adults would break down. At the age of 8 he had become an orphan.
Seeing his father's corpse Infront of him he was in denial for a moment, refusing to believe his father had died. He was after all very young, he couldn't accept the reality this easily.
Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours. It took Ye Xuan half a day to realize the cruelty of fate that had befallen him.
He wept infront of his father, he screamed his lungs out in sorrow until his voice stopped coming out.
Days had passed after this incident, Ye Xuan didn't have any relatives, at least not any he knew of. So the final rites of his father were done by him, some of his father's friends and his appointed caretaker.
He had shut himself in his room for a few days, he barely ate or drank, just enough to keep himself alive.
He knew he couldn't waste his life his father and mother had given him. He was rather fortunate to receive the fortune left by his father.
Due to it he could afford his caretaker and the two appointed servants that would take care of him and the house. He had enough inheritance to spend the rest of his life without working if he led his somewhat humble life.
....
Few months passed, Ye Xuan slowly accepted reality and started to move on in life. He went back to formally continue his education. His father had wished for him to be a reputed scholar.
Ye Xuan was a smart child, he excelled in his studies, far surpassing his peers. His teachers were very proud of him and sometimes astonished of his comprehension capabilities.
Ye Xuan was a diligent hard working person even more that he was smart. He had started his education at the age of 6 and took the official imperial scholar exams the age of 12. Of course he wasn't even close to being the top graduate but he still graduated much to everyone's surprise.
An ordinary person would usually not even pass the imperial exams in their lifetime much less at the age of 12.
This was quite the feat and it spread his name throughout the entire City.
While he rather enjoyed the fame and recognition he had gotten, he didn't let it get to his head. He neither boasted about it nor did he gain any sort of arrogance, attitude befitting of a scholar.
Ye Xuan had grown a lot in terms of knowledge in the 4 years after his father's death.
He learned about many things including that the city he lived in was part of a small kingdom of the Nanjiang continent which was the smallest continent in the world.
He had learned that there were people even the imperial family had to bow down to.
He learned that strength is the only thing that mattered the most in the world. The weak without any connections or background usually got trampled by the strong.
He learned about how there were people who possessed supernatural abilities. They were strong enough to split mountains and part the seas at will.
These people were the so called Immortals. They cultivated by accumulating the heaven and earth qi in their body to prolong their lifespan. They cultivated mystical abilities to break through the shackles of mortals by challenging the heavens itself.
A strong cultivator can live for hundreds or even thousands of years. They were strong enough to wipe out entire nations if it didn't suit their fancy.
Ye Xuan still being a child of course dreamt of one day becoming an immortal who could make the world bow at their feet.
But it couldn't be played off as only a child's dreams that they would eventually grow out of. Ye Xuan wanted to acquire strength.
He wanted to be strong, strong enough so that no one could defeat him.
But even Ye Xuan with all his knowledge had no idea how to go about on the road of immortal cultivation.
There was extremely limited knowledge about cultivators to mere mortals. Due to this most people in the backwater places such as cities that aren't even the capital of the small Nanjiang continent considered immortals as myths and legends.
The immortals were reduced to being mere folk stories that parents would tell their children.
....
Time continued to pass as Ye Xuan
grew older. Two winters had come and passed by in this time. Ye Xuan was now 14 years old.
He had gotten taller, taller than most people at his age. He was on the skinnier side but not to the point where he would look like a skeleton. He had long black hair and emerald green eyes. He had a particularly sharp gaze that didn't suit his age.
If not for the few hints of childish features on his face, people would assume that he was full grown adult, quite a good looking one at that.
He had come out on a stroll, a stroll to refresh his mind and to gather possible inspiration for a new book he was writing.
At this moment, loud noises could be heard nearby. Someone was shouting. The person was shouting in disbelief and pointing towards a certain direction.
Ye Xuan directed his gaze towards the direction the astonished person was pointing at. The person who was shouting finally managed to form some words "Th- That man, he's flying. He's coming this way"
Ye Xuan also looked at this sight a bit flabbergasted at first. The first thing he remembered was the immortals when he looked at that man flying towards them.
"Immortal?" Ye Xuan murmured quietly. His knowledge of immortals still remained at those in the illusory legends
The news had spread rapidly. The people in the surrounding area were already beginning to discuss this. When someone suddenly said out loud "Immortal. It's an immortal"
The people in the surrounding had already started to wonder different things after hearing that, was that really an immortal. Someone that possessed the power to summon wind and rain, burn the sky and boil the sea?
As people were still dazed and
were wondering about what they were witnessing, the floating man was now amidst them, although he was up in the air.
He gradually started floated down at a place as people beneath him started making space for the man in fear of offending him. He took out a box out of thin air.
As he opened the box, a thin mist of red started spreading in all directions. To the people around them it looked the must had gained sentience and was searching for something.
Their doubts seemed even more likely as all the mist suddenly started gathering together and started floating in a certain direction.
It flew amidst the crowd of people as the immortal followed behind. Immediately the people made way for the middle aged looking man who had an aloof look on his face.
After all this man was afloat in the air moments ago before he decided to descend down and pull out some sort of red mist. The people were weary and fearful of that man but they were also curious. After all curiosity was in the nature of humans.
The red mist continued it's journey of heading towards the same direction in a straight line as if seeking something.
As it continued it's journey it floated in the direction of Ye Xuan. Ye Xuan stepped aside to create way as the other people had but to his surprise it continued floating towards him changing direction for the first time after it had started moving in a straight line.
Ye Xuan stepped aside again moving quite further away this time than he did previously but the mist once again changed the trial of it's journey. At this point it didn't look like the mist was seeking something or someone anymore but it looked like that it was being pulled by Ye Xuan like an disobedient animal being dragged with a collar.
Although looking at Ye Xuan's face it was clear that he was just as baffled as the other spectators except the immortal who continued to have his aloof look on his face. Ye Xuan didn't understand this situation but he somehow recollected his calm as his sharp gaze was returned to his face.
He stopped in his place and stared at this mysterious mist as it approached him with the man following closely behind.
The man stopped in his tracks looking at him still with no hint of change of facial expression. He just stared at Ye Xuan for a moment.
Ye Xuan felt rather awkward at this mysterious man who was an enigma to everyone present simply staring at. He was wondering if he should say something to break the silence but he didn't dare to.
The man opened his mouth and spoke "State your name, junior"
Ye Xuan was somewhat skeptical. A man just appeared out of nowhere, actually he flew here in front of his eyes but that was besides the point. All Ye Xuan knew was that this man was incredibly rude.
Even though he was older than Ye Xuan, it still didn't mean he got to order him around like that. He didn't even ask for Ye Xuan's name, he demanded it, much less having the courtesy of introducing himself first.
Despite all of that Ye Xuan stated his identity, staying vigilant of this man trying not to offend this person. " My name's Ye Xuan. How may this junior be help of you, senior?". He spoke in this way as the person infront of him had addressed him as junior.
The man asked in reply, "What's your relationship with woman who goes by the name of Li Xiuying?"
Ye Xuan stood there not knowing what to do, this man asked him what his relationship was with his mother who died at his birth.
How did this man know that he shared some sort of bond with her? How did he know who her mother was? Why did he ask Ye Xuan this question?
His mind was being filled with multiple questions