Departing Qingsu City

The blazing sun was beginning to rise in the east and its warm rays of creeped into Qingsu City. Within the Zhou sect, many young men and women along with their families gathered in preparation for a departure. All of this was held in secret. In fact, an illusion seal was placed above the sect to make it seem like nothing was happening at all. The truce between the Zhou sect and the rebels was coming to a close and an event like this could almost certainly trigger the war. After all, who would want to let their opponents descendants escape to come back and bite them in their necks. Regardless, all the factions within the Zhou sect that stayed with the Zhou family begin to prepare for the worst. This included sending the young ones off to cultivate far away.

"Friends and families of the Zhou sect, although I would love to chat with everyone longer, it seems our time is running out quickly. All of the youth generations under the 7th realm of Qi circulation will head to the Qingyan city where they will attempt to admit themselves into the many schools of the Yan dynasty. You will be split into groups and assigned one elder each of which each group will take separate routes in order to contain the news. Stay safe and cultivate well." Zhou He waved his hand and rose into the sky while watching the departing groups.

"Ill be back father!" Zhou Xinqiu smiled at Zhou He.

"Don't you dare come back unless you reached Qifu" Zhou He laughed and gave her a hug before pushing her to her group.

"Goodbye Qiu'er" he whispered and looked into the sky before leaving.

Little did he know that deep in his heart he had gained some feelings for the mysterious woman that had delivered his daughter to him, but before he could help her, she had already been taken by the royal guard of the human world and been imprisoned, and although Zhou He was a sect leader, compared to the central world, his power was compared to an ant. Because of this Zhou He had made sure that no-one in the sect would ever tell Zhou Xinqiu that she had a demon bloodline because they were concerned that she might fall into deep depression which is something he definitely didn't want to see since she was the great happiness of the Zhou sect, after all she was just an innocent, kind, beautiful young girl who made everyone laugh and smile. Who would want to ruin her life with such news? who knew what her reaction would be?

Therefore, although a single demon was much stronger than a single human due to their strange bloodline powers and demon techniques, Zhou He had only given Zhou Xinqiu man level techniques because he was worried that those special demon techniques might awaken her demon bloodline.

All that had now gone into nothingness as both him and his daughter turned a new page in the grand book of destiny. This great weight on his shoulders had finally been released as Zhou Xinqiu found out about her identity. However, with all this came the new burden of the rebellion.

---

The crowd of students ran into different directions dispersing away from the Zhou sect at the same time. Zhou Xinqiu's group consisted of Yu Qingsu, Yu Ling, and Huo Mingliang as well as the elder escorting them which was at the 7th level of Qi circulation. Their group's route began inside the Rolling hills forest.

"Alright, we will head to the Rolling hills forest first and stay there for the night. The outer part of the forest has beasts that can compare to the early Qi circulation levels. This is where we will set up our camp. All that being said, we will have to pass through the core area of the forest as well. The beasts there can get to the high levels of Qi circulation as well. There we must be extremely careful." The elder spoke and started walking into the forest.

"okay lets go then" Yu Qingsu spoke and followed the elder with the rest following behind her.

Along the way many low level beasts were killed and eventually they began to head deeper into the core area of the forest.

"Watch out!" Yu Ling yelled as an injured level 2 brown bear pounced toward Yu Qingsu.

Crackle!

A bolt of electric lightning surged in the surrounding air as a figure dashed from tree to tree around them.

"Die" The figure spun in the air gathering momentum before launching the bolt straight at the head of the bear, killing it with one shot.

"Ah? Lan Lei?" Yu Qingsu exclaimed with her mouth open. "How? Wha-? Why?"

"Theres not much time to explain. The rebel faction have also sent their juniors to the capital after getting news of the Zhou sect's plan. It seems a fight will break out anytime" Lan Lei smiled.

"But you-?" Yu Qingsu confusedly asked.

"The lightning devouring faction has deferred to the rebellion side. As for me.. I have my own thoughts" Lan Lei rubbed his nose with an awkward expression.

"Well I guess I can forgive you since you helped with that bear" Yu Qingsu looked away and kept walking.

"Hah, She would've forgiven me anyway" Lan Lei mumbled, laughed and started talking with Huo Mingliang while the group slowly entered the deepest part of the forest.

…

The group reached an area where a tall ancient looking tree was able to be seen from a distance.

"That tree seems to be emitting a great aura of life and vitality. Hmm, it would be a good place to stay for the night…. Is what a lot of beasts probably also think. Let me go take a look. All of you stay here and wait for my directions." The escorting cultivator spoke briefly before running off towards the tree.

An awkward silence befell the group and Yu Ling was just staring at Lan Lei with her eyes wide open.

"Aiya, Ling'er don't stare at people." Yu Qingsu scolded and flicked her on the head.

"Ahhhhhhh, Sister he's just so good looking." Yu Ling teased.

A cold aura came out of Yu Qingsu's eyes as her eyes began to twitch. "Then go be with him!"

"Ahah She's a little young" Lan Lei made a weird face and hid behind Huo Mingliang.

"Sir Huo Mingliang, I have a question" Zhou Xinqiu called out.

"Mm what do you need" Huo Mingliang answered indifferently.

"I was told the story of sir and your father many times by my father. I just want to know exactly why sir and the sixth elder came to our Zhou sect in the first place?" Zhou Xinqiu curiously spoke out.

"This.. Long time ago, the Royal Huo Clan which ruled over the Huo dynasty had two top geniuses leading their time. One was my grandfather, while the other.. is the current emperor. They were neck and neck vying for the throne. Evidently my grandfather lost the battle. The emperor started feeling threatened by my grandfather day by day and sought some reasons to get rid of him. Knowing this, a battle broke out and my grandfather was killed in battle. After all this, the 'merciful' emperor still felt like he had not done enough and so he exiled anyone of my grandfather's bloodline including my father and I. His greed was so strong that he even changed the empire's name to his own given name, hence the current name of the dynasty, The Yan Dynasty." Huo Mingliang looked forward at the ancient tree while speaking. 

"It must have been a difficult thing to experience" Zhou Xinqiu tried saying some comforting words.

"Your life will be exponentially more difficult than mine. For now, although we don't care much as to your identity, based on the reactions of the others, you will probably experience many more troubles than I." Just as he replied to her words the ground began to shake and a loud exploding sound radiated out from within the ancient tree.