I chatted with Jiao on the way, I asked about his homelife, his wife was currently pregnant, so he had taken some time off to take care of her. I had met his wife a few times and they were both lovely people.
After many minutes of walking, we arrived in front a big building, inside was a hallway leading to Li Hong’s study.
Jiao said his goodbyes, and I promptly entered. The walls of the hallway were adorned with marvellous paintings of men and women, beneath them were descriptions of their life.
They mostly consisted of big contributors of the family and previous Patriarchs and Matriarchs.
Right at the end of the hall was a portrait of the current Patriarch, the one I was about to see.
Since I hadn’t seen him with my own eyes before, I took a moment to study him. The portrait was of an intense looking man with sharp sword like eyebrows, he also had those same emerald green eyes that seemed to pierce through the portrait and look right at me.
He was well kempt with a short dark-haired beard, the colour matched his hair that was tied up neatly behind him.
After carefully observing the portrait for a while, I heard a deep voice call for me, “Come in.”.
I was startled, and quickly opened the dark wooden door at the end of the hallway.
What greeted me was a robust man sitting behind a big dark wooden desk, the room was dimly lit with simple, yet clearly expensive decorations.
I had to admit, the man had good taste. The paintings and objects around the room were outstanding and matched perfectly with each other.
The only difference between the man in the portrait and the man sitting in front of me was the hair colour, the man before me had streaks of grey in his hair and beard. Honestly though, it matched him quite well. I hoped to age as well as he did.
“Greetings Patriarch!” I said with a deep bow, this was a man I had to show respect to, and one that deserved it.
The middle-aged man gave a chuckle, one that I recognised, because it was exactly like Li Tian’s. Speaking of Li Tian, the resemblance between the two was striking.
“How formal, little Duyi, what happened to Uncle Hong?”, he said teasingly. Uhm… That was awkward for me.
I gave an embarrassed laugh, “Well my memory was a little messed up, so I forget some things from time to time.” I tried to explain, but I could feel how terrible the excuse was.
“Hm. I was indeed informed about this matter.”, His tone turning deadly, “Well, they deserved to die for that. I’m glad I got rid of them all.” He said whilst waiving his hand as if to hit an annoying fly away.
Woah woah, so casually?
He talked about wiping out a gang as if it was nothing to him, I felt my stomach churn at the thought.
I knew this so called ‘gang’ was on bad terms with me, obviously, but the thought of them all being killed? That was another matter entirely.
My ethics were completely different to this world’s natural order. I hesitated before bowing and formally saying, “I thank Uncle Hong for his help.”, speaking in third person as I found most people do when speaking formally.
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Even though I was uncomfortable with it, he still did it to help me a lot considering they endangered me and even killed my predecessor. I was grateful for what he did.
“No matter,” He stated, “your father and I were very close, I feel I have failed in looking after you.”.
He sighed deeply, a look of tiredness showing on his face.
This momentary show of weakness didn’t last long before he continued. “Your condition was… difficult. I couldn’t interfere with something so personal to you, your emotions were valid, so I let you walk your own path. I do regret this sometimes, but I have been informed of your recent changes. This is why I called you over.”.
He looked me in the eyes and asked with sincerity, “How are you keeping?”. I could feel deep warmth in my chest at the question, I struggled with emotion.
I didn’t expect the sudden surge of emotion, so it was a little overwhelming. Although it wasn’t obvious, I was quietly lonely. I had no family. I didn’t feel the warmth of coming home to anybody. I didn’t feel the care of an adult I truly respected. I had nobody to look after me.
This was the man closest to that craving in this world.
“I am doing very well Uncle Hong,”, I wiped my glossy eyes, “very well. Much better than before.”. Li Hong gave a genuine smile at this.
“I’m truly glad.” He said softly, he paused momentarily before turning a bit serious and saying “I hear you have an interest in becoming a cultivator. Are you sure about this?”.
“I am.” I said without hesitation. Li Hong nodded slowly.
“You understand the risks?” he asked with gravitas.
“Yes.” I said, meeting his deep gaze.
Li Hong closed his eyes for a few moments, staying silent. Until he suddenly said “You have my blessing. You are your own man and nobody can force you to do anything under my watch. As long as you are prepared, go ahead.”.
I grinned, “Thank you Uncle Hong!”. By now, even in my mind he was Uncle Hong, no longer the mighty Patriarch of the Li family, he was someone who cared for me.
Uncle Hong spoke again, “If you have any questions, you may ask me. As far as I know, my son is teaching you… His mind is a little different to others, so feel free to ask away.”.
I thought for a while, I had a solid understanding of most things, and I couldn’t access the true techniques until I pass the sect examinations. So considering the exams I asked something related to them.
“Could you tell me more about Spiritual Roots?”. I asked.
He replied, “Of course, what do you know so far?”.
I detailed what I knew, that Spiritual Roots could be any of the five elements and came in different tiers, I knew they were what allowed cultivators to cultivate.
“I see,” he said, “there are indeed some gaps in your knowledge. The way they are graded is from Low, Medium (Mid), and High.”, he then stopped, considering how to explain the next part.
“Spiritual Roots are mostly of the five elements as you say, however there are exceptions. There are also Special and Mutated Spiritual Spiritual Roots too, although most people don’t know this because of their rarity. Special Roots are from people born with one of muted elements outside of the five elements, such as Ice or Lightning.”.
He paused before continuing, “Mutated Roots on the other hand are quite mysterious, nobody truly knows how it happens, but sometimes Spiritual Roots can mutate, at any time during life. They usually happen with significant events that change a person, or they could happen at random. Again, nobody knows. The change can be an extra element, or a completely new one. There were rumours that the Jade Divine Sword had one of these. Do not be fooled though, Mutated Roots are rarely stronger than they were before, they are just different.”.
That was interesting. My understanding was that Spiritual Roots were sort of like an organ, the fact that they could change for unknown reasons was outstanding.
“Thank you for explaining.” I said with a bow. “Think nothing of it,” he said, “anything else?”.
“Just some information about the Cloud Sword Sect exam, if possible.”, Li Hong smiled gently at this.
“That’s much simpler, they test two things. Your talent, which means your spiritual roots, and your character. Very simple.”.
I wasn’t sure if that was reassuring or not. The fact that half of the test was based on something I couldn’t control was worrying. “Thank you, Uncle Hong. That is all of my questions for now.”.
“Good luck in your training then.”, he said, “you may take your leave now.”.
I said my goodbyes and was about to leave before he called out one last time.
“Actually, I have a gift for you if you are accepted into the Cloud Sword Sect. Work hard.” He told me as he winked at me, then the doors suddenly shut right in my face, without anyone touching them.
Okay, that was cool.
He had good taste, and good timing. The Li family was clearly quite capable.
I briefly wondered about Li Tians sister, why hadn’t I seen her around? It was odd. I should ask Li Tian later.
Favourite character?
