"Xiao Li,"
Jason was sitting in the backyard with his father, eating a slice of watermelon when his father suddenly called out to him.
"Ah?" Jason turned to his father with a questioning gaze.
His father gazed at the sky and asked. "Do you know what the tallest thing in the world is?"
'A man's honor!'
Jason thought but stopped himself from spilling it out. He was currently a child and speaking it would only be weird so he replied with something only a child could think of.
"The sky!"
"Hmm," Nie Ming nodded his head but then asked. "Then what is taller than the sky?"
"I don't know. Sky should be the tallest."
Nie Ming smiled and said. "The thing taller than the 'Sky' is a husband!"
Hitting his chest, Nie Ming continued seriously. "Husband means a man! A man's honor is taller than the sky! As a man, you should be responsible! You should be daring!"
He turned to him and continued. "You must understand that you carry the responsibility of protecting the glory city! Always follow your words! And the most important thing is you must protect the most important people in your life, even if it costs you your life. Because to me, the most important people are you guys!"
Jason looked at his father and nodded his head with a smile, keeping a few words in his heart.
'I do not care about the Glory City but I will protect you guys with my life!'
After having a heartful dinner with his family, everyone went to their room to sleep. Back in his room, Nie Li lay down on the bed.
'Now, I am at the peak of the Bone Forging. With the current speed, I might break through into Innate Realm at the end of a week. The progress speed from the passive ability is there but it is still slow. I need a life-and-death battle to break through. I think it is about time for me to go out and explore the world! But first thing first...'
'Shadow Clone!'
Puff!
Jason made a few hand signs and a cloud of smoke exploded near him. The white smoke scattered and revealed an exact copy of himself. It was the same as looking at himself in a mirror.
'Wow! I read it in the description of this skill but he looks like me.' Jason observed the clone and nodded satisfactorily. 'But it sure divides half of my energy into him. Now I am only at the 5th stage of Bone Forging.'
"You'll stay here in my place in my absence. Make sure they will not be suspicious of you." Jason patted the clone's shoulder and spoke seriously, feeling a little weird about speaking to himself.
[Master doesn't need to worry. He is you in a sense with all your memories. There will be no flaws.]
"Leave it to me." The clone assured him with a nod.
Jason looked towards the room of his parents and sighed. 'Mother, Father, I will be back soon.'
With those words, he jumped out of the window and disappeared in the dark of the night...
There was a giant mountain range covering thousands of miles. It had spread for far too long, traveling from north to south, and acted as a natural defense for the Glory City. The weather there was naturally very cold, seen clearly by snow on the ground even in early summer. The mountain range was home to tens or hundreds of thousands of species of demon beasts.
Swish!
In the deep forest in that mountain range, a young boy could be seen slaying a big black colored tiger. The tiger howled in pain but the sword had penetrated his heart. Eventually, he fell down lifelessly after a few seconds.
It's a Black Star Tiger, a silver-ranked demon beast.
'Devour!'
The boy raised his hand and a giant black hole appeared in front of the corpse of that tiger. A powerful suction force pulled the corpse of that tiger instantly swallowing it inside.
Jason closed his eyes and felt the change inside his body. Even though it was a Silver-ranked beast but it was just a cheap change for him now.
It had been three months since he left his home. After traveling for over two weeks, he entered the St. Ancestral Mountain Range.
The low temperature of the St. Ancestral Mountain range could cause trouble for any normal person but Jason was trained to survive in extremely harsh conditions. He instantly sprung into action and hunted a few demon beasts. He then used the fur of a golden-ranked Giant Snow Bear as a coat to keep him warm.
Jason also learned more about his 'Devour' ability. His ability could instantly suck away a target, completely ignoring the difference between their strength.
But even though his ability let him devour other cultivation, possessions, skills, etc., it was still not easy to use it without any side effects. He needed to properly absorb it slowly and integrate it into his own Sovereign Qi.
Even though he had hunted dozens of demon beasts in the past months, but most of his time was spent purifying the energy.
Jason had barely reached the 3rd layer of the Spirit Gathering realm.
And now his speed was turning even slower because the beasts at Gold rank and below were basically useless to him.
[Master should go deeper. You should devour Black gold rank or legend rank beast.]
'You are right, Rin. Maybe it is really time for me to go deeper.'
Jason looked at the periphery again and walked deeper while hanging the sword behind his back. He named his system 'Rin', the same as the name of the little girl from his favorite diner. She was the only child daughter of the owner and chef of the shop, Lily.
Her husband was a businessman and abandoned her, hooking up with a rich woman. Well, Jason had a thing with her in the past but since it could put their lives at risk because of his job, he left her more than half of his money, disappearing from her life...
'Hmm... it is going to be night soon. Maybe I should first look for a place to rest for tonight.'
Looking at the sun shining like a red mango on the horizon, Jason decided to call it a day.
After tirelessly searching for over an hour, he finally found a cave to rest in. But just as he entered and sat down to take a breath, he smelled a weird smell in the cave.
'What is this smell?'
He shot up and entered deeper into the cave. In the deep part of the cave, he saw a yellow flower giving a faint golden light.
'What is this?'
[Master, this is True Healing Spirit Grass. It is a divine herb that can heal life-threatening injuries with ease. It can only grow at a place with an abundance of heavenly aura.]
Jason nodded his head but the next words made him panic on the spot.
[Master should leave this place quickly. With a such divine herb here, it must be guarded by a powerful demon beast.]
'What?!' Jason was startled by it.
Just then, a beastly roar echoed in the cave. Followed by the loud roar, a dark figure rushed inside, charging at Jason covered in golden flames.
Jason quickly jumped to the side to avoid it but the flames still scorched his shoulder.
Raising his head, Jason observed the predator.
It was a large black tiger with golden stripes, covered in scarlet flames all over his body.
'Shit! It is a Scarlet Black Tiger and even at 4th layer of Black Gold rank.'
//
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