Chapter 3: Su Xin'er
12 years had passed since that fateful day and a lot of things had happened, as expected the child had grown into something truly divine. The beauty and handsomeness he possessed could not be put into words, he wholly dwarfed his mother in this aspect and there was no being under and above the heavens whom could be called equal or above him.
The fame of his looks were spread around by the female disciples and even some of the female elders anytime they had a task away from the sect, and although nobody on the outside ever got to see him some peculiar features he possessed made him instantly recognisable to anyone who's ever heard of him.
The constant features described by the girls were;
A luscious crimson red hair with a ponytail reaching a little beyond the end of his waist which already made him stand out from 99.96% of everyone, slitted crimson red eyes with golden inner rings that almost made you think you were staring straight at a primal dragon and the most outstanding feature apart from his looks which was his tail.
A long slender black tail with a tip resembling that of an arrowhead, it was truly impossible to miss him unless you were a truly blind person.
But even beneath the already well known description of his looks was something even more secret and held truly secret to a very tight circle of women trusted by the elders, the younger female disciples although having a much larger circle of whom they told still didn't just tell it so freely.
It was this secret that would eventually come to make sexually frustrated wives still in the prime of their lives commit the most damning taboo with their thoughts day and night with someone whom they were at least twice his age, they solemnly swore to taste it at least once one day.
[Back at the Heng Yue sect]
It was quite early in the morning, the sun only partially risen, most of everyone and everything still so asleep or cultivating in silence.
And a young 12 year old Nezha stood atop a mountain peak with his hands behind his back and looking over the vastness before him, although he was atop the mountain peak his feet weren't touching it as he was levitating.
His tail swayed in an almost hypnotic fashion, so long and slender but dangerous at the same time, anyone who would ever mistake this part of him as a weak point will most undoubtedly learn the hard way.
Nezha didn't get dressed the traditional cultivator way as it felt too uncomfortable, his mother and two disciple sisters felt out of options. But it was then that they'd discover another ability of young Nezha, his natural darkness affinity manifested into the perfect material for him.
His original clothing style from a life which young Nezha had no recollection off, although his original style now had a little addition to it. His shoes made of darkness now reached the point where they were just about 3 centimetres below his kneecap and some sort of Draconian gold pattern was engraved into it.
Nezha was absolutely too tall for his age, standing at the height of 6 foot 4 at his current age of 12. The prospect of him getting any taller than this slightly terrified his sisters who didn't want to stretch their neck even higher when looking at him.
So they all hoped this was his peak, anymore was unacceptable.
At some point at the age of 2 Nezha learnt the ability to summon and retract his dragon wings into his being at anytime he wanted, when retracted his wings became a tattoo on his back, they had grown to become massive and insanely powerful.
He smiled a bit and began levitating higher into the skies, then he was gone. Nezha was headed towards the sect which rivaled his, and that was the Zhengyang sect.
Because Nezha wanted to enjoy the cool breeze and scenery he slowed his flight so it would take only a couple of minutes to reach his destination many kilometers away else he could be there in an instant and back.
Reaching his destination Nezha secretly moved around so as not cause a ruckus, his goal was to enter the inner sect and find their meeting spot.
And as he flew around the place with such a high level of familiarity he finally found it, a beautiful massive lake with crystal clear waters and surrounded by multiple luminescent white flowers full of spiritual energy.
So Nezha lay down in rest while in mid air, falling deep into his inner conscious which rivaled that of a Half-step Heavenly Immortal in terms of size. Nezha met his heart fire once more, this innate fire he was born with was something he quite disliked a bit.
Because the flames were ingrained with an innate pride from him, so even though they were his to command they were still in conflict with him. The first time he tried wielding it they burnt him, something was missing and he didn't know what, he could almost feel contempt and disappointment whenever he looked at those flames.
Many times Nezha battled the will of these flames but it didn't get any easier to wield his own damn innate power. These flames, crimson in colour just as his hair and far more powerful than any special flame that exists under and above the heavens.
His hands were reaching out to it once more before he suddenly stopped and smiled, two very incredibly warm and soft slender hands were placed onto his eyes.
"You still refuse to listen don't you" her soft and soothing voice reached his ears and Nezhas smile turned a little wider.
"I wonder how sad you would have felt if I really listened to you and not come at all, Ji Ning" he replied, Nezha was met with silence but he took the time to still take in the absolute beauty she was. The only woman whom he could call second under heaven in comparison to his mother's beauty, that's just how great she looked.
She pulled her hands off his eyes and placed both of them gently on both sides of his cheeks, a massive turmoil of emotions raging on in her heart as she looked at his peaceful face of inexplicable divine beauty.
Although he was four years younger than her he was absolutely not someone that could be called a child, that mind of his which she was witnessed in action so many times, the absolute darkness hidden in there.
And then there was this side of him, she smiled and brought her face a bit down to his, parting his luscious crimson hair and placing a small kiss right on his forehead.
Nezha opened his eyes to meet those starry bright green eyes of hers with a tinge of blue, "you've broken through again" he noted.
Ji Ning smiled "it's nothing great" she said.
He almost laughed, the last time he came to her was about a month ago and she had broken through three more layers since that time alone. Now she was a 9th layer Void spirit cultivator, just one step away from being a Void soul.
Ji Nings cultivation talent was absolutely in the top 5 under heaven, the way cultivation worked it's supposed to get longer and harder to breakthrough the higher you ascend, using much more resources than before also.
And the most important part which Nezha left out, her cultivation was partially this fast and smooth because of a particular sacrifice he made. It was this event that showed Ji Ning just how much evil he was willing to commit so casually, and that was the tip of the iceberg.
Ji Ningshuang was absolutely not someone that could be used as some beacon of morality as she understood the cut-throat world of a cultivator, especially as a genius she was well aware of the countless futures of others whom were being sacrificed to strengthen hers and she was even more aware of the more countless bodies that would pile up in the future.
She flicked his head and he pretended to be in pain which made her eye roll, "even as I am right now I still won't be able to defeat you, if anyone's cultivation deserves to be noted then it should be you".
Nezha's eyes met with hers "you know I've never cultivated since I'm not allowed to" he reminded and she smiled again.
"I know, that's what makes it even more worthy of praise". Both stared into eachothers eyes and Nezha turned around and levitated vertically before her, his hands gently cupping her chin as he leaned down.
But her finger stopped him, "the sun is up now, they'll be looking for you" and then he looked up, paying attention to his surroundings which had gotten much brighter than before.
He smiled a bit and begun levitating higher, looking down at her as he left. Then in a moment he was gone and Ji Ning clutched her beating heart, nearly collapsing from how weak and nauseous she felt but still able to hold as steady as she could.
It took every last bit of her will to stop him and maintain a calm facade when he made that move.
*hah* *hah* "how could the heavens truly create someone this dangerous and unfair" she asked herself. By the heavens she wanted him, even if he may be that much younger than her she still did, but Ji Ning couldn't do it, not with everything holding her back from it.
Nezha was back to the Heng Yue sect in just a second but it seems he was still too late as he found his Sister staring straight at him at the doorstep to his home, "Oh boy" he whispered underneath his breath and slowly began backing off.
"One more step, just do it" she threatened, a glow rising up around her iris.
Chu Ling'er was dead serious and Nezha knew it, so he sighed and put his hands up in surrender. "It seems I have to keep upping the illusion, I thought it was perfect this time".
And it was then she smirked in quite a devilish manner, "no matter how strong you make the illusion, these eyes will still see through it so it's pointless, even for you" she came down the stairs and stood before her very troublesome brother.
Then she held his ear "you just can't listen huh, if you're caught it won't be easy to calm the two sects down for your acts of invasion and you may be thrown under the rug by those jealous old fools, and then that'll mean our Matriarch would have to step in and suppress them. It's just unnecessary stress " she sighed and pulled down a little after her sentence.
Nezha slightly winced "that only happens if I get caught which is just straight up impossible" he said in a smug tone and she pulled down harder which made him wince a bit more.
"Ahh what do I do with a troublesome little brother like you, I'll just tell--
Nezhas eyes widened for a moment before he suddenly put his hand around his sisters waist and vanished many meters above, Chu Ling'er was shocked for a moment because that was just too unexpected.
Meanwhile Nezha was smiling, below was a very tall two meter black cat with dark luminescent purple patterns around it's four hind legs and a red flame pattern on it's forehead.
It's figure was quite slender indicating it wasn't the same shadow beast from 13 year's ago, the shadow beast below them was his daughter. There's some history that won't be revealed yet, for the meantime Nezha worried about something else.
Chu Ling'er noted the beast "oh for heavens sake, you're really going to do this now" her tone was one of exasperation, she pulled away from her brother and floated down.
She didn't even say anything else and just left, she was completely done with this. That troublesome beast didn't stop once it started, just like her master, what a perfect couple they were.
Nezha had a stare down with the shadow beast, then both of them vanished. Nezha had already made more than a hundred rounds around the whole sect in a matter of seconds with the shadow beast hot on his tail, literally.
**She got faster than before** he thought to himself, but her speed kept on increasing and Nezha smiled mentally at this as he changed tactics and moved in a straight line.
They were already hundreds of thousands of kilometers far out of the sect now and just kept on going, then Nezha suddenly stopped his flight and moved to the side, afterimages following his movement as the shadow beasts hand missed him
But she had been waiting for the moment when he would use that strange movement, and bursting with a speed that actually had Nezha shook, the whole space around Nezha turned into a dark sphere in just a split second.
She had simply moved that fast that and he was simply amazed, even her father needed some buildup to achieve this level of movement.
He was happy, incredibly happy to see this. The shadow beast was now floating before Nezha, two meters in height and burning purple eyes gazing straight at him.
Nezha scoffed "you're so much more gifted than him, but you're not there yet". The power in her eyes blazed even more, the muscles in her legs visibly contracted and Nezha too was prepared for the final move.
The both of them vanished and appeared on the other end of eachother, Nezha still with a smile on his face and the shadow beast missing one of it's whiskers.
She moved her head to the side and grunted in visible annoyance, Nezha levitated towards the shadow beast and placed his hand on her head giving her a little pet.
"Your growth still amazes me you know, even with what he did it still shouldn't have been this fast. This is all you Chang'er, this is your own potential" she faced him directly at that last statement.
Nezha smiled again then begun heading back to the sect, Chang'er followed close by. There was no race this time, they just went back at a steady pace.
It took 35 minutes before they were back at the sect with the pace they took, the day had already broken out enough and activity was on the rise.
Chang'er shape shifted herself into a much smaller form and sat on Nezhas shoulders, he flew towards the main grounds of the Jade Maiden peak and was thankful no one had come out yet so he kept going until he reached the compound where the Matriarch resided, which was also all five of them lived.
The fifth member being Chang'er, Nezha checked in on the separate space which was built by the former Matriarch of the Jade Maiden peak, this was also where he was born according to his mother.
Nezha pushed open one of the doors leading towards the back and instantly found himself in something that looked it was just another world entirely, the field of special white roses had spread even further than before, the trees grown here were now hundreds of meters tall and so much more diversity had been added to this space along with an influx of harmless spirit beasts all around.
Over the years his mother had been making some adjustments to this spatial world left by the first Leader of the Jade Maiden sect, although he himself didn't know how powerful his mother was currently, he only knew she had far surpassed the level of the first Matriarch when she created this world.
Nezha didn't have to look that far to see them, his first elder sister Chu Xuan'er was busy trying to cultivate in peace but Chu Ling'er wasn't letting her have it as she kept narrating her worries about Nezha's carelessness to her sister.
*Sigh* "Ling'er, I get your worries too, but it won't change anything like this. Unless the Matriarch takes it upon herself to indefinitely ban him then there's no stopping his movements" Xuan'er said her sister after giving up on cultivating peacefully.
"Humph, I still wonder why she doesn't ban him. He's a walking bag of mischief" she pouted silently to herself and with a whoosh Nezha's lips were right next to her ear.
"You know sis, the after-effect of me getting banned would mean you have to deal with me.... every....single....second of the day" he smiled softly right after and Chu Ling'er was now fully aware of how close he was.
Her hand involuntarily moved to give a hard slap to his cheeks but Nezha moved so fast he left an afterimage and was now sitting cross-legged in the air right besides Chu Xuan'er who couldn't hold her laugh looking at Ling'ers beet red face.
"I'll definitely kill you" she said in embarrassed anger and Nezha couldn't help but smile at her.
"You most definitely can try" he taunted with a smug look on his face and Ling'er looked at Nezha angrily for a couple of seconds before she felt something nudge against her.
She looked down to see Chang'er looking up at her with those beautiful eyes and her anger immediately dissipated as she gently picked up her up and nudged against her with a smile on her face.
"You definitely deserve better than him Chang'er, he's a troublesome little idiot who has no regard for his sister's mental health" she eyed him as she spoke and Chang'er who wasn't listening to her was just enjoying the rub she was receiving.
Xuan'er smiled at what she said and turned towards Nezha and whispered "do take it easy on her a little, for I am always the one on the other end of her long rants after all" she then gave a sigh.
Nezha giggled to himself "I'll try sis, but no promises" he shrugged.
Xuan'er tapped his shoulder "good enough for a start", she looked at her younger sister and smiled for a moment before returning to cultivating once again.
"Ah well, I have things to do now" Nezha announced and levitated high enough to stand properly midair, Ling'er also got up as she too had things to do.
"Am I getting her back now" he asked but she ignored and walked past him with Chang'er sitting on her shoulders, Nezha smiled and took that as a no.
But it was okay anyways, Chang'er also seemed content and he knew she'd eventually come back to him when she began missing him.
So Nezha willed himself out of the space and back into the main house, he looked at the stairs leading up for some moments before he left for his own house some distance away from his mother's
His was big enough to be called a small palace and had been built for him some years ago, he was the only one who got a lone house while his two sisters still lived in there which was quite normal when considering their position.
Nezha collapsed on his bed without a care in the world, as an ex-cultivator he could go for months on end without rest but even then it didn't hurt to wilfully rest a bit sometimes.
And so before he knew it Nezha already drifted off into a deep sleep, falling into his inner world once more just as always, but this time Nezha didn't do anything else and just let himself truly rest this time.
Hours later he had woken up and looked at the time, the mechanism for keeping track of time was a palm sized smooth blue crystal which read in hours and minutes.
"Mid-noon huh" he said lazily and then levitated off the bed, Nezha picked up his spatial ring from the bedside and wore it. It's design was just a simple one, only the top was made to look fancy as what sat there was an octagonal shaped gold crystal.
Inputting his spiritual sense into the ring Nezha checked just how much he had and it was a whole lot, Nezhas wealth was such that he could fill up his home with the amount of gold and spirit stones he possessed and it still wouldn't reach 1% of what was in this ring.
Satisfied he pulled out his consciousness and left, he left the Jade Maiden peak in secret and went down to the outer hall. As Nezha walked he caught the eye of every passing disciple present, and in all their gazes there was a profound air of fear, pity, disgust and burning envy.
He had a name given to him amongst the disciples in both the outer and inner halls, "The Fallen Son Of Heaven". It was one that couldn't be anymore perfect for him in ways Nezha was and wasn't even aware of yet but he never complained, what was the point anyways since he did like it after all.
"Oi trash" some voice called out loudly from amongst the people around but Nezha paid no heed to it and just kept walking his own way, the voice laughed and said nothing else.
All that was left was the silent gossip amongst the disciples as they moved along, Nezha soon reached his destination which was the Book collection pavilion, basically the library of martial arts skills and history for the outer hall.
Immediately as he stepped foot into the hall Nezha drew all eyes on him but he ignored all of it and began levitating higher, going past the first floor and the second, then the third all the way until he reached the fourth floor.
Meanwhile the teachers and disciples were hit with the fact that nobody's allowed to just go further upwards without the direct qualification and the pass, but no one dared to stop him.
The unwritten rule here was Nezha is basically the untouchable King of the sect, his backing gave him so much freedom and power that it was unnerving. The only person who could basically say or even attempt to inflict the rules unto him was the Grand patriarch of the Heng Yue sect, but even he couldn't go past anything but the basic and lowest rules to enforce.
The main reason for this? The entire elders along with every last disciple of the sect were scared to death of his mother, no. Being scared is an understatement, that woman was the very personification of Absolute and unrivalled under the heavens and to be the most favoured son of that woman meant they should thread ever so lightly.
"Tch, that disgusting Devil of an abomination" said some spiteful disciple under his breath with pure venom in his voice.
The others looked at him and said nothing else as they returned to whatever they were doing before. Nezhas appearance, the balance between a monster and a god. He was really abnormal in every single way, and although none has ever said it to his face, no single soul saw him as human.
How could they, only something inhuman could be born with such a terrifying bodily constitution and overwhelming dark power that could cause the heavens itself feel so threatened as to want to obliterate him on the spot.
A cold shiver travelled down their spine as they remembered the incident from 7 years ago still so fresh in their minds.
Meanwhile at the fourth floor Nezha had already found his target, a young black haired girl in a waist length ponytail with greyish green eyes, a bang divided in three places like an M, with two natural extensions coming from behind her ears and resting on her plentiful Bossom.
She wore a light green jade dress, a face that can be called beautiful but nowhere near Ji Ning nor his two sisters and especially his mother.
Su Xin'er who still wasn't aware of Nezhas presence some distance away from her still sat down absorbed in the martial skill book she was reading.
"A little lacking is it not" his voice came from beside her which startled her for a moment but she was calm in just moments once more.
"I know" she calmly replied and Nezha leaned back up.
"I'm surprised this caught your eyes compared to the better ones I've shown and created for you" said Nezha as he sat down right next to her.
Xin'er closed the martial book and smiled "I guess every once in a while you find something completely inferior that interests you a bit" said Xin'er as she pulled the martial book into her spatial ring.
Nezha understood where she was coming from, Xin'er knows she can ask for more and improved martial skills anytime she wanted as he had quite a huge soft spot for her.
And you would think they met under favourable and friendly terms but it was quite the opposite infact, there was once a time where he was the most terrifying being to her and Nezha had also nearly ended her life once.
Nezha cracked a small smile unconsciously as he remembered those moments of the past and Xin'er could help but get mesmerized for a moment before she caught a hold of herself and doubled the strength of her mental defenses against him.
Xin'er mentally dove into her spatial ring and took out about three scrolls and a notebook, she mentally moved them towards Nezha. The first he took was the notebook, then he began looking through it.
"This month's profit was one the top 3 highest we've had in a while, it's quite a comeback especially after the massive leak we experienced two months ago" Xin'er narrated and Nezha steadily nod his head in response.
"Still no progress on the ones who leaked the information out huh" he closed the notebook with a satisfied look on his face as he picked the scrolls next
Xin'er shook her head "none, I have no idea how it's possible for them to hide this long from us, especially with the methods you've created" it really was a most impressive of feats indeed.
But Nezha smiled "considering the level of the empire we compete with, it would be incredibly disappointing if those methods worked".
"Besides, I intend to let this drag out for a little while more" then he got up, Nezhas clothes almost turned alive as it began growing and morphing into a flaming and shadow like cloak that connected right in the middle with the addition a hood over his head.
His two spaced out extension like bangs on both side turned an almost luminescent white, his tail was wrapped around his waist and from his spatial ring Nezha took out a smooth red oval shaped mask which he placed onto his face and it sat perfectly safe, nigh-indestructable and unmovable by nearly anyone but himself.
His disguise was now complete and he was ready to move, Xin'er didn't question his reasons for wanting this chase to carry out for a while more, from experience she knew it would always be worth it in the end and she was sure of the penalty coming to those guys once he's finished playing his game.
Nezha checked his spatial ring for something and when he was done making sure he turned towards Xin'er "we'll be making a purchase today, something I need will be arriving in hours".
She nod her head and understanding and already knew the preparations she had to make, Xin'er herself needing no disguise opened a portal with a transportation stone she owned and walked into it with him.
EnD.