Lin Yuan City, Younger Sister Xu Yu

Lin Yuan City was an urban area in Dong Lai Kingdom which was located at a place facing the sea and surrounded by mountains.　 

The strength of Mystical Cultivators could decide the result of everything in that golden age. One could get anything including status, wealth and women if one had strong cultivation. The governor of the city was surnamed Li. He was sent to the city by the emperor of Dong Lai Kingdom as he had a cultivation of a Mystical Lord.　 

There were three established families in Lin Yuan City under the rule of the governor, Lord Lin Yuan. They were the Xu family, Yu family and Ge family. The heads of the three families were masters at the Mystical Grandmaster stage.　　 

Xu Yang stopped his thoughts and looked at the towering city gate. 

The guard of the city gate stopped him and checked his identity. He gave up his intentions of requesting for incentives from Xu Yang, and grudgingly let him in after seeing Xu Yang's Ascetic Certificate.　　 

"What rotten luck! He's an ascetic, can't get even a dime from them lot." The guard mumbled. To the city gate officers, the ascetics were the poorest of them all. They were solo cultivators who would go into the wild for three months. They would not be able to bring in money. Even if they were to find any herbs, they would just consume them on the spot. 

Xu Yang was not in the mood for such things. He followed the route in his memory and trotted to the southwest direction of Lin Yuan City. That was his place of residence.　 

The three families had been residing in Lin Yuan City for centuries. It could be said that they were deeply-rooted in the city. The Xu family occupied the southern region while the Yu family and Ge family occupied the eastern and western areas respectively. The three families had been going against each other for the other regions in the city except for the northern area managed by Lord Lin Yuan. 

Certainly, there were co-operations when competitions occurred. The other two families would secretly collaborate to go against the strongest family when a genius had been produced in one of the three families. This had made the statuses of the three families equal over the centuries. 　 

For example, there was a genius called Xu Qingyuan from the Xu family fifteen years ago. His cultivation had advanced to the pinnacle of a Mystical Master during his twenties, and he had no opponents below the stage of a Mystical Grandmaster. The Xu family had gained the most advantages at that time when the three heads were of equal strength. This had made it difficult for the Yu family and Ge family to survive.　 

After that, the Yu family and Ge family finally regained their statuses as they collaborated to resist the Xu family at the markets and dojos.The Xu family was not bold enough to go against them as they knew that the Xu family could be massacred if both of the families were to work hand in hand to deal with them.　 

After all, Xu Qingyuan was only a Pinnacle Mystical Master and not a Mystical Grandmaster. The Xu family could not deal with the heads of the other two families whose cultivations were at Pinnacle-tier Mystical Grandmaster as only one person in their family had such power, the head—Xu Changling. 　 

The Xu family had gone through a misfortune after Xu Qingyuan provoked a huge faction. The faction was a hundred times more powerful than the three families in Lin Yuan City. All of the elders from the faction had a cultivation of a Mystical Grandmaster. The faction did not set out to annihilate the whole Xu family but merely sent people to warn them.　 

Xu Qingyuan went missing after the incident.　 

The huge faction had obviously shown their dissatisfaction toward the Xu family. Plenty of families and factions had stopped their collaborations with the Xu family after the incident. This had caused the status of the Xu family to fall dramatically. 　 

The reason that Xu Yang had these memories was because his father was Xu Qingyuan. He had a younger sister called Xu Yu.　　 

Xu Yang and his younger sister were ostracized by the Xu family because most of the members believed that it was Xu Qingyuan who caused the huge loss in power in the Xu family. Their current power was not able to deal with the Yu family or Ge family. 　 

"Ha… a group of family members who have never thought of strengthening themselves but only want to rely on the power of the younger members. How can they place the blame for the weakening of the family's standing solely on my father?" Xu Yang exhaled and stopped thinking about those family members.　　 

"I have to make arrangements for my younger sister after my return. This is the way to cut off the last of this body's relationship with the rest." Xu Yang was in deep contemplation. "I would then have no worries as I focus on advancing into higher realms and climb onto the pinnacle of Mystical Cultivators in the future."　 

Xu Yang followed the route in his memory and it brought him to a ruined mansion. The door and the tower of the mansion were high. The mural on the spirit screen with blurry intricate patterns told of its prosperity once upon a time.　 

The mansion was ruined. The walls were collapsing in bits and pieces, every corner, every edge. Vines of green bristlegrass were growing lushly on the walls and the rooftop. The colors of the blurry mural on the spirit screen were faded, washed away by rainwater. 

It was one of the side courtyards of the Xu family, and the main courtyard of the Xu family was one street away from it. The door was tall and well-renovated. It showed a big difference between the main courtyard and the one where Xu Yang lived.　　 

Xu Yang opened the door gently and found that the rusty door was not locked.　 

'The little girl is only ten years old. She doesn't know to take care of herself. She doesn't even lock the door when she is at home alone.' Xu Yang thought to himself. He could not describe his feelings for the younger sister of the dead Xu Yang, Xu Yu. He was somehow concerned about the girl he had not even seen before. The possible reason for it might be the merged memories in his mind.　 

After going around the spirit screen, there was an overgrown yard. Xu Yang, who had good eyesight, immediately found a small figure weeding in the yard.　 

"Sis… Xu Yu, I'm back." Xu Yang said.　　 

The small figure stood up and her shovel dropped to the ground. She squeaked in surprise.

"Brother—"　　 

Having said so, the small figure fell onto the ground. 　　 

Xu Yang was shocked and used the Running Horse Position. He dashed to the girl's side with a gush of wind. Seeing her pale face and weak breaths, he quickly squatted down to check on her.　 

"I'm fine, brother." Xu Yu did not lose consciousness. She stared at Xu Yang with her big eyes with deep joy. "You're finally back... These days, I have been having nightmares. I dreamed that you were in danger… I thought that you would never come back..."　　 

Xu Yu's dirty little hands held onto Xu Yang's arm tightly as if afraid that he would disappear with the wind if she were to let go.　　 

Xu Yang felt a touch of warmth in his heart as he could feel Xu Yu's strong dependence on him. He took a close look at Xu Yu's condition.　　 

One could easily black out due to the sudden lack of oxygen when one stood up suddenly after squatting for a long time. Xu Yu's physical condition was weaker than others would normally be. Thus, her condition was much more serious. She was so happy that Xu Yang had returned to the point where she had collapsed, it was not any sort of illness she had. 　 

Xu Yang slightly berated Xu Yu after he helped her up, "Why don't you eat more? Your body has become so much thinner."　 

Xu Yu smiled but did not explain the reason why. She held onto Xu Yang's hand and said, "You must be hungry. Let me cook for you..."　　 

Xu Yang felt a lump in his throat. He pretended to look at the sky and sniffed. He then lowered his head and smiled, "I'm not hungry..."　　 

"Oh!" Xu Yu said suddenly. "Come with me, brother."　 

Xu Yu pranced like a happy deer back into the house. She had been living in fear for the past two months. She was finally relieved seeing her brother's return. 　 

Xu Yang was touched looking at Xu Yu's back. He shook his head and quickly followed her.　

The room was a little dim.There were only two beds, a tiny table and two broken stools in the mansion. It was not an understatement to say that they had nothing but the bare walls in their house. 

Xu Yu ran to the side of the bed and took out an item wrapped in a red cloth from the bedside table carefully. She handed it to Xu Yang, "Look!"　　 

Xu Yang was a little curious. What treasure could Xu Yu have?　 

Xu Yang saw a yellow pill after he opened the red cloth.　　 

"What's this?" Xu Yang was a little dazed. He had browsed through a lot of books in the future and he knew of many elixirs of this golden age in his era. However, this elixir had him confused.　　 

It was not about how precious the elixir was. After observing it for a while, Xu Yang realized that it was a Body Refining Elixir that was not usable. The elixir was made by at least three kinds of herbs conflicting with each other, and the heat control was terrible. It was impossible for it to succeed. 

Xu Yu did not notice Xu Yang's expression. She said happily, "Brother, this is the Fire Wheel Elixir. It can help you to remove impurities from your body. It can increase your success rate when forming a Fire Turbine by thirty percent."　　 

Xu Yang smiled bitterly and did not say anything. It was a useless elixir and not the Fire Wheel Elixir. He would have been sick if he were to consume that elixir.　　 

"Where did you get this elixir?" Xu Yang asked. He speculated that Xu Yu had been cheated by someone.　　 

"It is from Shopkeeper Ma of Ji Min Drugstore. He is a good man. This Fire Wheel Elixir is sold for at least one hundred Leopard Coins at the Thousand-Treasure Pavilion in the northern city. However, it was sold to me for fifty Leopard Coins by Shopkeeper Ma. He even allowed me to pay by installments." Xu Yu was getting more and more excited. Her pale face showed a sickly redness.　　

Xu Yang shook his head and slightly berated her, "Fifty Leopard Coins is not a small amount. How could you think of buying this expensive thing at your age?"　 

"The Grand Family Tournament is in one month's time." Xu Yu looked at her brother timidly. "Haven't you been taking the Grand Family Tournament seriously?"　　 

Xu Yang realized that there was a strong strand of memory about the Grand Family Tournament in the imperfect memories of the dead Xu Yang.　　 

For the members of the family, the family was their root. They could only cultivate in good condition when relying on the family.　　 

Putting all things aside, there was a sense of belonging that was in their very blood.　　 

For Xu Yang in the past, the motivation for his efforts was to be recognized again by his family and return to the family without being alienated by the other members.　 

Xu Yu said softly, "I can't help you much but I can create cultivating conditions for you… Therefore, I used our ancestral house as a guarantee and bought this Fire Wheel Elixir… As long as you can advance to the realm of Mystical Warriors, I would be happy even if that means that we have no house to live in..."　　 

Waves of warmth rolled through Xu Yang's heart. He no longer berated his younger sister but sighed in his heart.　 

Originally, Xu Yang was thinking about giving up this relationship and leaving after he had made arrangements for Xu Yu's future. However, Xu Yu's dependence on him had changed his mind.　　 

"What happened to you, brother?" Xu Yu asked anxiously, looking at the dazed Xu Yang.　　 

Xu Yang smiled and answered, "Nothing. Let's go back, I'll cook some porridge for you."　　 

Xu Yu felt that her brother was acting kind of weird after returning from the Python Mountains but she still smiled and said, "Okay… Let me cook for you. You have to cultivate and your time shouldn't be wasted on such things."　　 

Xu Yang of the past worked hard in cultivation. He cultivated whenever he had the time. He had never thought of what he had to do to earn money. He had nearly depleted all of their valuable items and resources, and this had resulted in the deplorable conditions of their house.　　 

'Cultivation, cultivation. He has cultivated to the point where he has nothing but the bare walls in his house. He was not eating well. How could he temper his body and improve his body strength when he was lacking nutrients?' Xu Yang sighed. No wonder he only had two or three juns of physical strength when he was at Early-tier Mystical Learner. He was not even comparable with a normal healthy man.　 

It was time to think about ways to earn money. The members of a huge family would eat the meat of Ferocious Beasts, even Mutant Beasts.The meat contained rich energy that could temper one's body and set up the foundation for the way of a Mystical Cultivator.　　 

Xu Yang was rather confident about being able to earn money. He came from the future so he possessed inestimable knowledge in alchemy, smithing and runes. If he were not able to make money with the knowledge that he had accumulated, it would be better off if he did not exist. 

When the two siblings entered their house, a voice difficult to distinguish between that of a man and a woman came from the spirit screen.　　 

"Has Xu Yang returned? It's time for you to pay your debts."