James Anderson, or was it Yin Hu, listened with rapt attention as Hu Shui regaled him with a winding story. A mythical being that had existed thousands of years ago. The great and powerful founder of the Hu Cn, Yin Hu.

  Obviously the cn was named after him.

  He patted himself on the back for suggesting to have the storytelling session during their stroll back towards civilization and his new life. Pass by the time and make it go quicker. He had not been expecting the head spinning tale she started to weave.

  Killing dragons, taming mythical beasts, falling in love with a northern wastes barbarian princess, and then eventually escaping her to find true love. The only child, a daughter, of a middling cn with no prospects or renown.

  Eventually starting a harem when the barbarian dy found him. With said princess as the head wife. And to top it all off, establishing a mighty city that led to him walking into the skies on a road made of rainbows.

  “I’m so happy!” Hu Shui shouted.

  She started spinning and dancing around him. His first time seeing her smile in the brief moments together. Well on that matter, it was the first expression that wasn’t abject fear or face drenching sobs. It was good to have stopped that uncomfortable sequence of events from reoccurring.

  Hu Shui stopped directly in front of him.

  Yin Hu almost crashed into her. “Shui?”

  That was another oddity he seemed to know without anyone telling him. How did he figure out the first word was the surname and the second that actual first name? It seemed like someone messed with his brain. He would have been pretty mad and honestly believed that if there had been an ancient being in the tutorial isnd. But there wasn’t.

  It left him confused.

  “My cheeks hurt,” Hu Shui rubbed her face. Pinching her cheeks. “I think I smiled too much.”

  Ooof. An arrow to the heart.

  Kids weren't supposed to be confused when they ughed for a few minutes. It should have been common enough to run and py for hours at a time. Much less the scant moments they were together. Walking through the forest.

  He needed to change the subject fast.

  “What happened to all the mighty mountains of treasures? Why are you here? Dressed like this? What happened to the Hu family?” He asked.

  This ancestor story seemed like the usual ancient tale. Embellished like there would be no tomorrow. He probably fought and nearly lost to a grass snake instead of a dragon. Caught himself a house cat after getting tore up by is sharp cws. Dragged into a tent by a Barbarian dy and subsequently forced to marry her or face the thousands of horse riding barbarian tribe that were her family.

  Said tribe then went on to conquer a city while he was with them. Forcing him to supervise the city and become its leader since none of them had a clue how to manage one. Considering all they knew were horse riding and living out in the wild. Not mountains of paperwork, judicial hearings, and legistive processes.

  Hu Shui kicked rocks. Head low and hands behind her back. Not willing to meet his eyes.

  “…” she whispered.

  Yin Hu recognized that the girl had a serious speaking up problem. How many times had she already done that? There was no point that he would eat her alive because of what she would say.

  Clearing his throat made her jump in her spot.

  “Ancestor! Your children fought for the throne a thousand years after your ascension. Demonic Cultivators and their masters swooped in and destroyed everything you worked so hard to build. All because they started killing each other first. None of them followed your great Code of Honor!”

  Yin Hu couldn’t help the eye twitching. He closed them in his best attempt to get it under control.

  Ancestor this! Ancestor that! Damn you and your unreliable ancestor!

  He took a deep breath. Trying to think his pn through. Maybe he could take advantage of this. As strong as he was physically, there were things that surpassed it though the cheat that was cultivation. If anything, his millions of years on the isnd had taught him a simple fact. He couldn't even dent a tree if his life depended on it.

  Still mortal and weak compared to what could be out here.

  Afterall, there were always ancient monsters hidden under rocks just waiting to mug an unsuspecting small fry. Steal their soul and body to extend their lives. That had been the main plot of too many novels for him to overlook currently.

  Even as a person stronger than an average cultivator. He had to be careful lest he lose the life he had struggled to gain. Yin Hu had not survived all that time by his lonesome only to die the first day he met an op, murderhobo MC.

  Spping him to paste for sneezing wrong.

  That meant he needed some sort of backing. An alibi to not get strapped onto the proverbial experimentation b table and dissected by a madman.

  Or an army of nukes… err… disciples! Who wouldn’t want to serve the ancestor of an entire cn!

  “—Pace Gate. Me and Hu Jun ran away. It was not fun…”

  Yin Hu blinked. Hu Shui was still talking. Another story she had been regaling him while bouncing up and down. Skipping next to him. Swinging her arms back and forth. As a kid her age should be.

  He mentally ughed. Preparing to act his heart out as an Ancient Being. Predecessor of the Hu Cn! Trick the kid!

  That didn’t sound right.

  “Such heartbreak! To think my progeny would disgrace me so!” Yin Hu started his glorious scene.

  Doing his best to sound upset. Yin Hu just hoped he hadn’t failed spectacurly. Ruining this great chance he had to have a power base under him. Though he would need to prepare emergency exit protocols if their real ancestor showed up.

  Hu Shui slid to a stop. She bought his action wholesale. “Forgive our incompetencies, Ancestor! Me and Jun will be better! I promise!”

  This was perfect. Easy to fool the kid. But what came after her would be harder to convince. Senior brothers. Elders. A patriarch or matriarch if one existed. And a hundred other adults in the building. Next step was to make excuses for himself.

  Hu Shui’s real ancestor was supposedly this dragon sying, harem chasing, run from responsibilities, protagonist. Everything that he was not. He didn’t have their special cultivation that made them uniquely Hu cn members. Nor did he have any special abilities he would use as a crutch currently.

  It made the situation tenuous if he was not careful .

  “Such long ages have passed!” He said.

  Hu Shui kowtowed. “Forgiveness! Forgiveness!”

  Yin Hu channeled his inner ancient being even more. He kneeled before the little girl, picking her head up from the ground. Wiping away the dirt from her forehead and knees.

  “A Hu does not kowtow!”

  She nodded. Eyes full of tears and intensity. Biting her lip.

  “My powers, Shui. They have diminished as the eons passed! At least in this realm. In the higher realms, I was powerful and strong. But here my strengths are limited. I am not the mighty hegemon I used to be!”

  Yin hu turned away. He looked up at the sky through gaps in the canopy. A contemptive look on his face as he ‘reminisced’ the past years. When he had once supposedly tamed a mythical beast or something. Or married a barbarian princess.

  He kept his eye on Hu Shui through his periphery. She stared at him with starry eyes, hands held together and energy bubbling under the surface.

  It almost broke his act.

  Tricking a kid was wrong on so many levels.

  More than he was willing to count. But he had to do what needed to be done. His survival in this new world counted on it. If that meant tricking a little girl into thinking he was their super special primordial predecessor, then so be it.

  He just hoped it didn’t catch up to him. Cause he was fully committed now.

  Zer0n1gh7s