Who are you?

"Who exactly are you young boy?"

William looks at the old man funny "where I come from its good manners to introduce yourself before asking someone else's name".

"Where I come from, it's not good manners to interrupt someone's cultivation and lecture them about their Dao".

"Oh, right… ugh... name…I guess I am William Lie?"

"What do you mean by that?" The old man is curious about the wording, it's as if he is not sure of his identity.

"I am a bit confused about my circumstances at the moment, I've been through a lot today"

"Do you know how you got here?" The old man asks, changing the subject.

"Not really…but I'll describe my memory of the process if you help me by telling me who you are senior and where I exactly am?".

"Hmm, I suppose I can tell you that much, my name Alexander Sear".

Alexander then looks at William funny "you are currently in my private cultivation villa inside the Spirit Cleansing Sword Sect and I am the sect leader of this place and you bypassed all the barriers I set up, so how, did you get you get here?"

"Ugh, can I request you to give me the broadest and detailed location like country, continent, and realm?"

"So you are from another realm?"

"Perhaps I forgive my ignorance senior I have no clue where I am"

"Very well, we are located at the Spirit Cleansing Sword Sect in the Western province in the Western continent in the human realm".

William puts on a thoughtful expression 'Human realm hopefully their relationship with the Asura realm isn't, too, bad'.

"I ran away from my home after seeing some scary imagery and I ended up here".

"Where is your home?"

"The Asura realm, there was too much death and war, I had to run away from that".

William tells a half-truth since the death and war were the indirect cause, making him run away but he has never seen it first-hand. He guesses he has seen the resentment caused by it, which was terrifying enough for him, his expression and mannerisms were sincere.

The old man's expression twists in rage and disbelief "An Asura who is afraid of death and war? How preposterous, are you saying you've never spilled blood as an Asura!? The Asura race is known for their bloodthirst and their hunger for war managed to produce a child like you? Why do I find it hard to believe your words!?"

'I fucked up, of course, a race with so much blood on their hands has a terrible reputation' William regrets telling the truth.

Before William can defend himself Alexander presses William down with heavy bloodlust *thump* William's head and body on the floor.

This makes William wince in pain he then cries out "I did nothing but training to escape, I ignored all my parents' well-meaning advice to study or fight until It was too late for when it mattered, I took to a desperate escape after it almost killed me".

'Or at least killed the original owner of the body' William starts crying incoherently after this body's sadness over all the bloodshed done by his neighbors, his sheer horror at what he saw, his desperation to escape from there, his confusion of how this happened, his longing to retain his easy lifestyle wash over him.

Both times he ran away from reality though Wu Lie's escape was more dramatic, the similarities make him feel a little closer to Wu Lie.

"Haah" the old man lets out a long sigh then thinks to himself with a conflicted expression 'I am now bullying a child who is also my benefactor, just because of his race, maybe I should observe him before coming to conclusions'.

The person before his breakthrough mightn't have thought this way, due to his overzealous nature he would have killed William immediately the moment William mentioned the Asura realm. This is a form of fate, should William have not made the decision to lecture the old man he would've been ground to dust before he could react.

William doesn't see the old man's expression or even hear his sigh but the bloodlust has lessened so he can speak and move better.

"I swear on my life I've never killed anyone; I want to do it on the right terms to the right person or beast" he has his hand flat over his heart to express sincerity.

The old man releases all of the bloodlust then sizes William up again "If I were to help you find your footing would you help me with my goal?"

"What is your goal? Why are you recruiting a child to help you and not some strong, hidden master?"

"What strong hidden master do I have left to call upon? I've already tried that, they say it's too troublesome; it's a daunting and lengthy task, I need all the help I can get".

"My main goal in life is to eradicate the evil spirits that have taken over the village and by extension the country where I used to live".

William is about to agree out of fear and respect for the old man's power but something clicks and he decides to get information even though he risks offending the old man again.

"I'd like to know a few things before I agree to it".

Alexander motions for him to continue.

"What makes you think I will be able to help you?"

"Simple, it is because I don't need a massive amount of help, you should be strong enough to help take out some of the weaker ghosts after training in my sect for a while".

Putting on a thoughtful expression William asks "why would you allow me, someone really suspicious into your sect to train?"

William is a bit confused at the old man's change of heart.

"It's not in me to lie to a child so I'll tell you, I want to monitor you and see if your statements hold true and allow you to earn a place yourself through your own talents".

"I wouldn't know how talented I am," William says on the outside whilst inwardly thinking 'probably super talented considering a God or whatever chose me for transmigration!'

"You'll find that out at the talent assessment we are having today that determines most of the assessed kid's future in stone".

"The reason I am sure you will be able to provide a minimum of help is that you have eyes that allow you to see some of the weaker spirits of resentment at such a young age".

"I would have loved to have such a head start on my peers" the old man trails off at the end of his speech in a hushed tone "perhaps I could've been able to help at the right time alas".

William is curious how such a troublesome ability that caused his death and is scaring him into wanting to keep a constant conversation with this overzealous old man is helpful but seeing the look of envy and sadness on the old man's face he keeps his mouth shut.

"What is your second question, young one?"

The old man says in a gentle tone, this might have worked if William was truly a 12-year-old child but it feels weird since he knows the old man suddenly put more expectations on his shoulders out of nowhere.

"What is the cultivation system of this realm?" Whilst William doesn't appreciate expectations he knows that asking a complicated question like this at the right time is crucial for getting insider information.

"Hmm, the cultivation system of this realm is divided into 3 different systems Physique, Qi, and Soul with 3 different subcategories for each of them. Each person is individually graded for their talent for each cultivation system and their subcategories from 1st which is the best to 5th which is the worst.

The grade of your talents in each area will determine the rest of your life, that is unless you find rare treasures that can change your talent. My sect will have a teacher explain the different categories and how you should train them after you have been graded".

'After I have been graded? What an eerie thing to say, after all the grading will determine the rest of your life'.

"What is your third question?"

"What are the forces in the surrounding land including your sect-like?"

"The forces of the western province consist of 5 Sects, 3 Kingdoms, 5 Families, and 3 Guilds. Most of the forces focus on Physique and Qi training whilst my sect is one of the few that focuses on the soul.

My sect ranks in the middle in terms of strength but the top when it comes to prestige.

Our image is that we deal with ghosts, both good and evil, and help people a lot, we would rank higher if talents in the soul were more readily available, haah" Alexander sighs towards the end.

William keeps silent throughout the entire rant taking it in before asking "where would I find more specific information on the other sects?"

"Why? So you can join another one? If it's your talent you are worried about I'll test you right now" the old man takes out a stone.

"Wait, answer two last questions before that!"

"This determines whether I promise to help you or not". William pauses for the old man's response.

"Fine I am not unreasonable and I know you suspect me of something" the old man harrumphs.

"What was your identity in your old country and how strong are the ghosts that have taken it over?"

The old man reminisces for a short time "I was the rule enforcement officer at the original Ghost Cleansing sect"

'Oh, no wonder he is like this!'

"And their leader is on par with me but I don't have enough people beside me to take him on one on one".

'Oh it's not as bad as I thought, I don't have to carry the entire sect on my shoulders, phew'

"Ok I promise to help you rid your home of the ghosts"

"Now that is done" The old man pulls out the stone again and William is placed into an illusion.

******

An hour later after getting out of the illusion a bunch of numbers show on the rock in the old man's hand.

"A rare talent! Hopefully, he can fully mature to help me!"