Ancient Wusun Clan
After walking for a while, Taotie soon reached the border of the Green Rock Village from where the dark forest started. He stood there for few moments and nervously looked around himself. After confirming that no one was following him he entered inside the forest.
After walking for many hours he finally reached the densest and the darkest region of the forest. It was said that in this region most violent and vicious wild beasts used to live and thrive and no one had ever left this region alive after entering.
But with a worriless face, Taotie entered inside and disappeared.
It was almost dawn outside the dark forest. All the children who had come for hunting honeycomb beasts in the outer region of the forest as well as the experts who had entered the inner region for hunting wild beasts started leaving the forest with quick steps.
Right now only a few roaring sounds of animals could be heard coming from inside the forest but the decrease of sunlight outside the forest increased the roaring volume coming from inside the forest. Those roaring volumes used to become so fierce at the midnight that if someone were to come near a mile radius of the forest, his ears would start bleeding as he would lose his hearing capability forever.
At that time Taotie was standing before a huge but simple looking manor, a few people were entering and exiting the manor.
"Home...."
While looking at the manor an inaudible voice leaked out of the Taotie's mouth as he walked towards the entrance of the manor.
This manor was one of few remnants of an ancient royal clan as well as the only home for the decedents of the royal family of that clan. The manor showed Wusun Clan's history of being a royal clan who once used to look down on everyone on the Orient Continent to a royal clan who now had to live in hiding inside a forest, cutting their relationships from the outside world.
Not just the clan but even the royal family was on the decline. The previous family which once had hundreds of blood relatives now only had four survivors, Taotie and his father George, his uncle Surf and Surf's son Noah.
Standing before the guard-less gate of the manor, Taotie was thinking about the stories of those glorious days his clan had back then and now when no one even bothered to look at him.
"Taotie." A familiar voice sounded behind him as he turned to look at the person calling him. He was outside in the village for almost a month now so he was missing almost everyone he knew.
"Uncle Surf!" With an excited voice, Taotie called the man in front of him.
In front of him stood a muscular man, he was at least 6 feet tall and looked like he was still in his forties. His face had few scars but on his white skin and dark red hair, they look fiercer and increased his masculine charm.
His name was Surf Wusun; he was the younger brother of George who was the current Wusun Clan's chief.
"How was the experience outside, Tao? Did you enjoy the world outside?" With an amiable smile on face, the man asked curiously.
"Yes, uncle. There were so many different people there. I thought they would be scary but they were helpful...
Hehe... I even participated in some of their contests. Hehe… they were so easy." With an innocent smile, Taotie replied.
"Is that so? Did you make any friends there?" The man asked.
"I…..no. Everyone of my age knew each other already. They kept on talking with each other. No one even looked at me." With sadness filled eyes Taotie replied, "If only I had one more day I would have definitely made a friend."
"Ah… Don't worry you'll make lots and lots of friends in the future." Seeing the sadness in the eyes of Taotie, Uncle Surf consoled.
"Yes." With his head down Taotie replied. But suddenly something came up in his mind. Raising his head, with a voice filled with eagerness, he asked, "Uncle, did our clan have any Saint-level warriors before?"
Astonishment appeared on the face of Surf as he looked towards Taotie for few moments curiously before asking, "Why you ask?"
"I heard outside that saint level warriors are really powerful. They could blow mountains and dry up seas alone in an instant. Is it true? Uncle is it possible that one day I can become like that?" Taotie curiously asked. From the moment Taotie had heard about the strength of saint level warriors, a desire had taken place in his heart to become a saint level warrior.
Surf was taken aback. He had never seen Taotie's eyes filled with such desire for anything before. Right now it seemed like the red pupil in Taotie's eyes were filled with a different light.
Becoming a Saint-level warrior was not just a difficult task; it was almost next to impossible. Taking a look at recent Wusun Clan, there was no one in the clan right now or even a hundred years ago who reached the saint level.
To become a saint level expert, someone not only required to work profusely hard from day to night since childhood from a very young age but it also needed fortunate encounters as well as the unimaginable amount of resources.
Even Surf himself was a Level 8 Swordsman and the present clan head, his elder brother was Level 9 Swordsman. Both of them were rare prodigy since their birth but even after passing a century and working hard day and night till now, they were not even able to reach Level 10 Magus, much less becoming a saint.
Surf wanted to tell Taotie everything in his mind but looking in the eyes child before him he couldn't bring himself to say that.
"Son, your uncle believes in you. I am sure one day I'll be called as the uncle of Saint Taotie." Unable to bring himself for breaking a child's dream, Surf let himself lost in that dream.
"But you shouldn't rush to increase your level. You should take your time and make your foundation strong. This is very important if you want to reach higher levels without many bottlenecks. Alright?" Looking towards Taotie, Surf reminded him of the lesson he was taught a long time ago.
Taotie's eyes shone brightly as the desire to reach that unattainable goal become even more when he heard that phrase 'Uncle of Saint Taotie'. That would be such a wonderful thing he thought.
"Uncle, please help me with training. From tomorrow onwards, can you please teach me?" Taotie asked.
Surf was surprised for a moment and stared at Taotie for few moments.
He was unable to believe that this child in front of him a month ago was a rowdy kid who was hell bent on going outside to see the outer world and even escaped outside while threatening his father and uncle to not chase after him.
"Of course I'll help you but you have to promise me something if you want me to teach you." Surf said.
"I'll accept any condition for you to teach me." The child excitedly replied.
"Here… here… first listen to my condition before agreeing. The condition is you'll not leave and go in outside world till you reach Level 10." Surf put the condition.