Challenge

"You bastard! why do most of you push my people into destruction, we just want to survive!" A Demon with huge goat horns and black demonic armor roared while falling from outer space. opposite him was a white-haired man who looked to be old and young at the same time, he had on silver armor and was currently covered in blood. the two were falling head first towards earth, out of energy to do more than talk.

The demon lord's demonic sword was currently stabbed into the white-haired man's chest. but it had missed the heart, while, the white-haired man's sword had stabbed into the demon lord's heart. the white-haired man would survive the fall and could make a full recovery, meanwhile, the demon lord would die today.

"Your people are the ones who pushed for this war, shameless of you to talk like you're in the wrong while trying to invade this world." the young man, in his early 20s, said coldly. he was 20, yet the stress of being a hero had sucked away his youth, turning his hair white some of it falling out.

"What do you mean when this whole time we have been fighting a defensive battle? Have you seen my people launch any mass-scale attacks? Have you seen my people make the first move unless your people made it? All we have been trying to do was speak to you, with how much we overwhelmed you humans, we could have slaughtered you all. but we tried to talk things through, giving you the time to grow." the demon lord said in regret. he should have stepped down as the demon lord, someone who had ruled in an era of peace wouldn't have the heart for war. his mistake led to the enemy side growing strong enough to rival them.

"Thats a lie. you launched an attack the day I pulled this sword out of the rock, you slaughtered everyone." The hero said in a shaky voice,

"... you're nothing more than a pawn controlled by your government. your people see us demons as some evil monsters. but to us demons, you're the evil monsters. to slaughter so many of my people and stand before me with this righteous nonsense. to try and force people to stay inside a dying world when you have a whole galaxy that you all can't even explore. you humans disgust me down to the core." the demon said his rage reaching heights never seen before.

"My deepest regret shall be the fact I ever tried talking to you monsters instead of just slaughtering you all. I curse you all, I curse you the most. you blind stupid dog of the government, I'm happy they killed everything you loved. I'm happy you're all alone. I'm happy that after today, you shall live a life knowing you have spent your whole life helping the people who killed your loved ones." The demon roared in hatred, although he was out of strength one moment ago, his rage gave him the power to reach out and hold the hero's neck.

"No, I will not even bother trying to kill you. instead, I wish that you will survive. live while the people you fought for try and kill you to remove future trouble. I hope they mark you as a monster, and train other so-called heroes to come kill you. as those people who once supported you turn their blades against you. I wish you will be swallowed by boundless levels of regret... I have never hated anyone more than you." the demon lord said, its rage growing seeing the stunned lost look the hero had.

As they hit the ground, with enough power to cause huge earthquakes, Ling Han found himself shaking awake.

"You're awake? You had a bad dream? My poor baby." Fan Ye awakened by her son's movement took him into her arms. She knew well her son wasn't simple, from the child's sharp senses, and feelings. She knew this child had some degree of wisdom, unlike other children. just reason to prove this child wasn't normal, no wonder the heavens would have such a reaction.

"Well, tomorrow, we will be able to walk around and explore the outside world. you would no longer be limited to this room." Fan Ye said with a smile, it has been 6 days now, and all this time she spent time with the child, mostly sleeping, changing diapers, and so on. although there were maids to do such things, she did it.

"how about I read you a book? how about we read The Little Red Fox today?" She asked while taking a children's book. although her child dislikes children's books, those adult books put it to sleep although the little guy tried to remain awake. in the end, child books were the only thing he found themselves not falling asleep to.

'Fine...' Ling Han thought with a displeased look, he hated the fact he felt moved at seeing the colorful book with a fox.

"Long ago, there was a red fox who had zero tails. he was considered the shame of its people and banished out of its tribe..." the children's books of this era were all based on true events of the past, for example, this story is about a red fox who had no tails but would go on to find he was something special, a 10 tails fox.

it would go on to become a mighty existence, with might allowing it to fight the dragons and phoenixes. From then on, foxes with zero tails were no longer looked down upon and instead looked upon with hope. sadly, the red fox was a one-of-a-kind.

"Are you alright now?" She asked feeling how the child had calmed down from its little nightmare. Although the child did nothing, she felt like it would have nodded its head, so she smiled slightly while getting up.

"What a shame, you could have long become a cultivator." She said softly, her child was talented and could have already become a cultivator just a few hours after birth. but back then, she stopped it. at least before the party, the child wasn't allowed to show it could cultivate at such a young age.

when others have to wait until they are 3 years old to even think of cultivation, while the super-talented can do it as young as 2 years old. to be able to cultivate right out of the womb was unheard of. there were of course items to help hide one cultivation aura, but they were currently being costome made to suit the newborn.

In fact, they were even searching for a talent to take the role of the super genius of the Ling clan. this way, all eyes would be drawn towards this super genius while Ling Han's talent can remain as the clan-hidden trump card.

"... and you're asleep." Fan Ye said with a helpless sigh seeing Ling Han had fallen asleep. this child slept too much, can she not play with her baby? well, at least this child was more easy to take care of than other children. She could feel what the child wanted, and at the same time, the child only cried when something bothered it.

placing the child down to go to sleep, she looked towards the door which opened. there Ling Fang entered with a serious look.

"What is it?" She asked softly, Ling Fang took a deep breath for a moment before explaining everything that had happened since the birth of Ling Han. The Mang Clan ancestor had broken through to level 10 Core formation and was currently making moves to get ready to measure the other ancestors.

at the same time, news that the golden clouds had come from their Ling Clan had entered the ears of many people. this caused everyone to wonder why this was, many thought it was a treasure, and many were wondering if this was Fan Ye's child being born.

So the Ling Clan was madly trying to find some reason to explain all of this. At her words, Fan Ye looked at the robes that held her son. they were a treasure that had many effects, such as keeping one warm, boosting one health, and having the power to withstand even attacks from powerful experts like herself. the heavens had truly blessed her son with a high-grade treasure.

"lie and say it was the birth of a treasure, show this cloth off... but I will change my appearance and appear to steal it. this would draw away unwanted attention from us for some time." Fan Ye said softly, making Ling Fang frown slightly.

"Wife, you might have reached level 10 Core formation, but can you escape from so many people? at the same time, how can you get near them?" Ling Fang asked, he liked the plan but there was just no way to play things off without risking things.

"I can escape, that I'm sure of." She said with a smile, her mother had also reached level 10 core formation realm. in fact, most of the old monsters that were close to Ling Han had reached level 10 core formation. this made them almost the strongest power within this region in a day.

She knew she was strong, stronger than the average level 10 core formation realm experts, although she didn't know where she got such a thought as she had never seen such powerhouses fight. all this time she had been near her son's side, she felt herself growing stronger and stronger. her son's breath was something, and she had found out it was that breath that had been making her sleep. The Qi release brought huge benefits, which she had been greatly benefiting from.

although her son wasn't anywhere near her strength, and her son's Qi he released was super weak. but it was the effect it had which shocked her, that Qi was like the perfect Qi. The fusion of all Qi combined and purified into a state that she could absorb. It might be weak, but this effect was strong enough to help benefit even her over time.

Her mind was clear allowing her to comprehend many things, while cultivation although didn't improve her strength, capability and many other things had taken a step forward. She was sure she could steal anything and escape.

"... we have to go over it with that stupid old man." Ling Fang said with a sigh, although he had the second highest benefits. he had gone from level 5 Core formation to level 8 core formation and was even strong enough to hold his own with the average level 10 core formation realm.

the whole Ling clan would benefit greatly if he could break through into the level 9 Core formation realm. he was sure he could easily take the role his wife wanted to take, but he would need some time to have such a huge breakthrough.

"Okay, while I'm gone you should spend time with your son. Take the time to enjoy the benefit from his breath as well." She said softly, to which Ling Fang nodded slightly. but he was helpless, his son cried if he held him for too long.

The Ling clan ancestors and the many other ancestors of the Ling clan soon gathered. the Ling Clan had 5 ancestors, each with ages touching upon 10,000. they were all at death door until a few days ago.

The strongest there was Ling Fang's father, at his side was one of the wives he had married. sadly, Ling Fang's mother had passed away a few hundreds of years ago due to old age. the remaining others were geniuses of the Ling Clan who managed to withstand the test of time. there were 2 other females and 1 other male.

It was not rare for clans to have mostly females by their ancestors. this is because most females cut themselves off from the outside world and put all their attention to breaking through. most males can't do this, they let their lust and other worldly desires normally hinder their path. of course, not all males were like this. It's just that females mature faster than males.

After hearing Fan Ye's plan, the Ling Clan ancestor first went on to test her power. So, they had a small spar where they suppressed their cultivation. And as the Ling Clan ancestor had guessed, Fan Ye was stronger than someone of the same cultivation and had benefited far more than anyone else.

How strong was the Ling Clan Ancestor? if he was at level 8 Core formation like his son, he would only be slightly weaker than his son who could hold his own with someone at level 10 core formation realm. 

Fan Ye... well, she was a monster. to the Ling Clan ancestor and the other ancestor shock, she quickly suppressed the Ling Clan Ancestor like it was nothing. while at the same level and holding back, she was far stronger than the old monster.

"Impressive... next let's see your speed." The Ling Clan ancestor said with bright eyes, this was his daughter-in-law, how could he not be proud? Fan Ye to say the least was also stunned, she was holding back by a huge amount, yet someone as capable as the Ling clan Ancestor was no match for her.

With a step, she tested her speed, and instantly she disappeared from everyone's sight. the Ling clan ancestor looked all over the place trying to find her, until turning around to find her standing there. chills ran down his spine, if she had wanted to kill him, he wouldn't have been able to react.

"Amazing," Fan Ye said softly, shocked by her own ability. it was odd, but she felt like space, time, air, and the many other laws that govern this universe had a hint of its power within her Qi, leading to her having such a huge boom in power... this was all thanks to her son.

"We should fall through with the plan tomorrow." the Ling Clan ancestor said with a bright smile, to which everyone nodded in agreement. With those words, they went on to take the robes covering Ling Han.

this woke up Ling Han who thought he was about to get his bath, but seeing his robes being replaced with another robe which was far worse in quality, he grew displeased. How could he sleep in these disgusting robes, did the family go poor or something when he was asleep?

With a thought, the robes within the hands of the Ling Clan ancestor suddenly left his hand. To everyone's shock, the robes flew over to Ling Han, wrapping themselves around him.

"Ling Han, we need your robes for some time. I promise you will get it back." Fan Ye said helplessly. She could feel her son hated the other robes, but they were the second-best robes the clan had to offer, but how could they even compare to the robes Ling Han had?

'Do you really need it?' Ling Han asked, although he knew she couldn't hear him, he knew she could feel his thoughts.

"Yes, the day you were born it caused golden clouds to cover the sky. now many people want to know why this was. we would use those robes to draw their attraction away from you. remember the story of the reborn immortal? sometimes hiding one's talent is for the best. we need to hide your talent, or else you can say goodbye to sleep as you would have many things keeping you awake." Fan Ye said softly, hearing this Ling Han sighed.

He didn't know such a huge event happened when he was born, he was busy trying to breathe, so how could he know anything like this? but he knew the importance of lying low, he agreed... but he would call the robes back if they took too long. those robes were magical, how could he sleep in anything else?

"It would not take long, a day at most. we just need to take some time to come up with a better plan to deal with everything thats about to happen." Fan Ye said seeing the robes leave Ling Han, and fly into her arms. the fact Ling Han could control the robe with his mind was a shock to her, it was also a shock to Ling Han. but he felt like he had a deep bond with these robes,

With the robes gained, the elders all began talking while Ling Han listened in.

"We should use this chance to become the head of this village," Ling Fang said calmly, there was currently no head of this village. for many years, the big clans have been fighting over such a position, suppressing anyone else who might even take a step above the others in becoming the village head.

This of course caused many troubles, and for them to be bullied by other cities, but the Ling Clan background normally allowed them not to face so much trouble. Fan Ye being the daughter of the Grand Elders Of the Grand 5 Lotus sect made many powers not dare to go too far in offending them.

Now, this brought the question, why would the Ling Clan ancestor be against his son marrying someone with a better background than theirs? this is because his son already had an arranged marriage to someone else with a background that could rival Fan Ye. plus, with that marriage, his son could marry more than one wife unlike now. so how could he not be enraged?

To make things worse, the father of the daughter his son should have married was a dear friend. but his son's action offended the other parties, this almost led to him dying from rage. 

"What do you mean?" Fan Ye asked while looking at her husband, who smiled slightly, a scheming smile. So, he went on to tell them his plan, leaving everyone sighing as they remembered how scheming this guy could be at times...

So the news was sent to the countless clans in Red Star City, news about the Ling Clan challenging the many other clans for the position of the clan head of Red Star City. this made the many powers In Red Star City raise an eyebrow.

Red Star City was huge, with a population of hundreds of millions, there were countless small clans and Mid-tier clans. at the top of all this were the 4 finding families who built this city dozens of thousands of years ago. they split the city into 4 parts, east, west, south, and north part of the Red Star City.

Ever since the finding of this city, it has been a battle on who would claim the title of village head. Of course, no one would allow anyone to rule over them. So, when they got challenged by the Ling Clan, they instantly came to an agreement to work together to make sure the Ling Clan couldn't take this step.

Plus, Ling Fang's challenge was too arrogant. These were the words his letter held.

'Dear clan leaders of the major clans within Red Star City. My child will be born tomorrow, So I have decided to be the mayor of this city on his birthday. his birth shall mark the date of the Ling clan rise... but I'm sure you are all unwilling to bend the knee, so I challenge every clan head. tomorrow, I shall defeat you all to mark my clan as the true overlord of this city.'

So, when tomorrow came countless clans who were challenged came over. many guessed that the Ling Clan's arrogance had to do with the birth of their treasure, if that was the case then they couldn't look down upon the Ling Clan. Even the Chang clan who just got their hands on a level 10 Core formation realm ancestor didn't dare to be so arrogant, they took this moment with full seriousness. many knew how scheming Ling Fang could be, how could he act like this if he wasn't sure he could win?