6 Chapter VI: Cursed Ancestor and the Dragon Princess

"I've heard of the Cursed Ancestor many times. But what did he do that was so bad?" I asked, looking at the illustrious golden tome.

"The Royal Family would say different, but the truth is, he loved a woman that loved him back." My father replied with certainty. " The youngest Princess, at the time, of the Royal Family had the densest dragon bloodline seen in tens of thousands of years. Bloodlines have a way of undergoing random atavisms. Unfortunately, the Royal family was in a civil war at the time, and the princess was on the losing side. In order to win, She and the Cursed Ancestor conspired to turn the tide of war and committed a great sin against the Elven Sages."

I stared at his father intensely before the great tome came to life, and ethereal images of the world surrounded me. I watched as the beautiful dragon princess with vivacious curves approached a great tree brimming with vitality and an ancient aura. This deep brown tree with lush, vibrant green vegetation is called the Sacred World Tree. Its beauty and magnificence looked to be painted by an expert who embodies nature and comprehends the deepest Dao of Painting. Unfortunately, even the words of the great Wang Wei would fail to honor the great tree with words, so I'll give up now.

Behind Dragon Princess was the Cursed Ancestor. He had the common traits of the Eleven Sage race: olive-brown skin, deep green eyes, and long silver hair. Green eyes were a sign that he had been purified and blessed by the Sacred World Tree at some point in his life.

In great haste, the princess slit her wrist and drove her arm into the womb of the ancient tree. A great pressure erupted, and the heavens grew angry. The cursed ancestor smiled as he jetted towards the heavens to take on the heavenly tribulations for his lover. Slowly the princess underwent an intense atavism. Every drop of her thick golden blood was siphoned, refined, then pumped back into her body. In a matter of moments, the princess underwent extensive changes; her already unfathomable cultivation jumped two realms to the peak of Heaven Realm. The peak of the Heaven Realm took her father, the greatest talent of the world, 500,000 years to achieve. In contrast, she achieved it in barely 2,000 years.

Experts from all over converged, but only the Elven Sages could approach the lovers as the Sacred World Tree located in their Holy Lands. The scene then changed to a massive bloody war. The Royal Family and Elven Sages, side by side, slaughtered all those who rebelled against the Royal Family. But soon, years passed by, and the lovers committed a sin that the Royal Family could not abide. The princess had shared her Golden World Dragon bloodline with her lover to change his fate. The Cursed Ancestor touched the Peak of Heaven Realm, making him the Elven Sages' eleventh peak existence. But within his breakthrough, The Dragon Clan Grand Elder sensed something terrifying and attack the Cursed Ancestor. But he failed to kill him. This force would offset the balance and threatened the Royal Family's status.

Though the Elven Sages reasoned that the Princess had committed a sin against them that was overlooked after the two clans agreed to unite through marriage, the Royal Clan, more so the Grand Elder who happened to be the father of the Dragon Princess and the seated Emperor, continued to be unreasonable.

So the Elven wars began. Dragon against Elf was a war that no one wanted as the races shook the planet. Lasting Five thousand years, The Dragons had enough and threw honor to the wind when they secretly enlisted the Lunar Pythons who wanted help in overthrowing their masters at the time. The Elven Sages eventually lost that war and were cast out of the Inner Region.

As for the Cursed Ancestor, he was put to death, and the Princess was put under a slave seal by her very own father before she was imprisoned after she tried to kill herself. The Cursed Ancestor and Dragon Princess also left behind two sons, and the one that expressed the tainted bloodline was put to death to stifle the anger of the royal family. While the youngest Son seemed to be completely Elven. Five generations later, the Daughter of the Third Young Master of the Eldunari Clan was born with golden streaks in her silver hair and eyes of the Golden Emperor Dragon with flecks as green as the viability of the Sacred World Tree. From that day on, all children that expressed the cursed streaks of the cursed ancestor's blood were swiftly put to death. For fear of extermination and the Cursed Ancestor's name was scrubbed from the clan history.

"Do you see why we had to flee? I couldn't allow you to be executed to appease our enemy." My father spoke in a solemn tone.

"Too tyrannical. To think the Royal Family would feast from our hand then bite it off." I was slack-jawed after witnessing the events that drove our family to fall as low as an Immortal Palace could.

"Mmm. Ten thousand skills is a great destiny. Now you know why you must live up to it. The continued survival of this family depends on it."

"Worry not. Saving a race is what I do best…."

"There you go spouting nonsense again. Come on." My father shook his head as he led me to the great library.

When we stood before the far-right column of the library, my father began, "The library has three sets of text: Cultivation, Martial Skills, Comprehension Notes. Cultivation text has three sections according to the three cultivation paths. Martial skills have two sections for combat and movement skills. Each section is further divided into three more sections labeled Mortal, Earth, Heaven. All of our cosmic-level techniques disappeared during the war. Look through the cultivation techniques then the martial skills."

I gave my father a serious nod before reaching out to the Heaven section of the body cultivation techniques. I slowly read through fifteen techniques then put them all back. My father frowned when he saw this, but he withheld his words and allowed me to continue as I pleased.

I then repeated this process for the soul cultivation techniques and the Essence techniques. Hours had passed and then a day. It looked like I wasn't going to finish anytime soon. Still, my father waited for me. When I finally managed to move on to the Martial Skills, I reached for the mortal level first.

My father could no longer hold back as he said, "Little punk. Why would you choose a mortal technique over a heaven technique?"

I snickered as part of my snail-like process was meant to troll the irritable man. "Because," I said, "If I put a pin through your heart. It'll kill just as well as a sword. If I light you on fire, no matter how big the flame, it'll burn all the same. Now, if I master the mortal techniques, who's to say I can't improve them or combine them to create something new and more powerful."

"Hahaha! Go on, go on. I'll tell your mother that you won't be joining us for dinner. Take your time." My father rambled.

"Dinner? We've been here for a day and a half... Are you ditching me because you're tired of waiting?" I asked with squinted eyes.

"Huh?! Of course not! I'll wait a thousand years for my son to take a single step before I ever ditch him. But your mother..." My father's spirits suddenly sunk. "She's...insatiable."

"My mother eats modest meals..." I countered, feigning ignorance. But, of course, I knew exactly what he was talking about, and I internally laughed at him.

His aura then changed as he said, "You'll understand when you get a wife one day... Well, that's if she's half the woman your mother is... Anyway, finish up and come out."

The moment he left, I fell out laughing as I could imagine who was the real war beast among parents. "Old man! When I become an alchemist, I'll make a little blue pill for you! If not, I think mother might accidentally turn you into a yang cauldron!"

My father heard everything. He was about to blow his top when my mother snatched and refused to let him go until his marital duties were finished.

Wiping the tears from my eyes, I took my time to read through every Mortal Grade Martial Skills. Days went by as I submerged myself in strenuous research of the martial skills and the comprehension notes left behind by elders to deepen my understanding. It was no different from my time on Earth when I would lose myself for weeks on end during the Keystone Project.

Nearly a month went by. I put down the last martial skill with a heavy sigh. I looked back at the cultivation manuals and internally went over what I had read. I then moved and grabbed three scrolls from the shelf.

"Nature Sutra- High-Grade Heaven Technique that focused on cultivating Nature Qi. It was comprised of thirteen parts, but the twelfth and thirteenth were missing. During the time of the Eldunari Clan, the technique was given to the main family's direct descendants. But the requirements were steep. After cultivating the first two parts, one could acquire the Reflection of Nature Physique, increased vitality, and perception. From that point, the benefits continue to grow astronomically."

"Ecliptic Battle Body Technique. High-Grade Heaven Technique. Comprised of thirteen parts, with the fourteenth part missing. The name is self-explanatory. War, Yin, Yang, these are the Dao that one can achieve if they can cultivate this Body Technique to its extreme. The requirement is extreme. A complete breakdown and reforging of the body with Yin and Yang energy. Tempering through war, slaughter, and destruction. Only the extreme can cultivate this technique as the Yin-Yang Dao is the closest Dao to chaos, nothing, and everything. After the first part is cultivated, one can achieve the Dragon and Phoenix Physique."

"The Six Natured Limit Breaker hadn't been touched for thousands of years as it was labeled defective and incomplete since parts 5-12 of the technique was of the Cosmic level and naturally missing. Now it's considered a Low-Grade Heaven Technique to cultivate the soul. Cultivating this technique cultivates the five senses to their limit to awaken the sixth sense. Once the sixth sense is mastered, the limits of the mortal body shatters. During the cultivation of this technique, the Sea of consciousness will go through a natural refinement and expansion. Once the limits of the body are shattered, the Martial Soul will be formed, boosting the cultivators' Soul Force by 200%. by the end of part four, the greatest benefit of the technique can be achieved, Martial Soul Sentience. Unfortunately, the manual stops there, and the journey from part 1 to five is extremely slow. But this cultivation resonates with my past life's abilities and I believe I can make it work."

The Ecliptic Battle Body Technique was stolen from the Dragon Clan, while the Six Natured Limit Breaker was won in deathmatch between one of my ancestors and the Young Mistress of the Faye Clan. But that's what made my race so feared --our adaptability. Hence the title Elven Sages. Change, progression, evolution, whatever you want to call it. It's all a by-product of acquired knowledge. Sages crave knowledge and yearn to master the secrets of the cosmos.

After contemplating a bit more, I then grabbed a stack of manuals from the martial skills shelves. The main four techniques being the Cold Water Palm soft technique, the Bone Destruction hard technique, the Flash Step movement technique, and the Dancing Pixie movement technique. The remaining manuals were the basic skill sets of the sword, polearms, archery, short blades, Fan, Warhammer, and a few other weapons I thought could be useful. The most surprising basic manual was the Guqin. I never thought the ancient Zither could actually be used as a weapon.

Leaving the treasury, I appeared in my parents' room and found them soundly sleeping. Besides, my father was a note next to a blood jade ring.

"Orym, When you come out, add a drop of blood to the ring. Focus on your manuals and imagine them entering the ring. Keep your Interspatial ring safe and train hard - Dad."

Following the instructions, the blood jade ring took everything into it. I then made a quiet exit as my parents slept. The moment I shut their door, a smile appeared on my fathers' face.

"What do you think he chose?" My mother asked.

"After the amount of time that he spent in the treasury, I'm sure it's good." My father replied as he pulled my mother closer. He then closed his eyes and sent himself back to the dream world as cultivators of his level didn't actually need to sleep. He and my mother just liked the rest.

Returning to my courtyard, I heard low murmuring coming from Little Wu's room. Looking to the sky and taking note of the two moon placements, I calculated that it was extremely late and nearing morning.

Walking to her door, I push it open to find the girl and Nimue giggling. I shook my head as the girls finally recognized me and took the expressions of two little spooked does.

"Nim," I called out to my sister, "Litle Wu has chores in the morning. Then she needs to study and train. She needs rest."

Little Wu quickly stood up and bowed. "I'm sorry, Master. It won't happen again. I'll get to be right away."

Nimue frowned at the change in Little Wu's attitude. She then glared at me and began to stomp towards the door. "You're so mean!" she hissed, "You never have any fun! If you don't play with me and take Little Wu away, then I won't have any friends!"

Her glare was seeing, but it wasn't anger. Nimue was sad, lonely even. Life in these walls was hard. If our parents didn't take us out, then we didn't go out. I looked at my sister, watching as her eyes began to water.

I couldn't help but sigh. I just couldn't manage to act my physical age. Like my mother, Nimue was suffering because of it. I told myself that night that I had to make a better effort.

"Little Wu, forget about your morning chores. But be ready by mid-day." I then looked at Nimue with a warm smile, " Nim, I never meant to make you feel lonely. If you want to state with Little Wu tonight, you can. I won't disturb you."

Nimue's smile lit up the night, and I noticed the smile that Little Wu failed to hide. Taking a step forward, I used my thumbs to wipe the tears the spilled over the wells of my sister's eyes.

"Ahh, stop that crying... You're supposed to be the big sister." I whispered the latter part.

Nimu puffed her chest up. "I am the big sister!" she declared, "Say, little kid, congratulations on becoming a cultivator. Now I can be your big sister for thousands of years!"

I chuckle at the little girl with a big heart. "Then I'll be diligent in my cultivation to stay with big sister."

"Hmm." Nimue nodded with a slightly pursed-lipped smile. She felt on top and assured like she should be.

Leaving Nimue and Little Wu, I returned to my room, plopped on my bead, then tumbled into a deep, much-needed sleep.