The crowd slowly dispersed in hushed whispers, while propping their necks to the see the back of Hartley leaving the area, no one around really knew who Hartley was, they paid attention to the handsome youth who had just defeated a 3rd layer xiantian and his grand-dad who was a 5th layer xiantian, in the eyes of the shocked disciples, Hartley appeared to be only a normal handsome youth who could pull of miracles in battle.
One person had her eyes glued to the back of the youth, she was Zhang Shisu, and she knew the altercation was because she looked favorably towards the handsome youth and Lou Lee could tell.
Even though she wasn't interested in Lou Lee, experts who had some attainments always seemed to be possessive towards the females in the clan, they would act as if they owned the females they fancied, even if the feelings were not reciprocated.
Zhang Shisu knew this and had always kept a neutral tone when dealing with such disciples in order to not send out any unwanted signals but it was the opposite when she was dealing with Hartley, somehow her interest in him always manifested itself in her behavior, to her disappointment, he never seemed to have the same interest even though he greeted her as Sister Shisu on the occasions they met.
At first she was hoping that Lou Lee would spare his life, but now she was happy, not only was he alive but he had gotten rid of Lou Lee, sort of like killing 2 birds with 1 stone. A wry smile appeared on her face as she drifted from the area with the other disciples.
Lou Pangie made his way back to the Violet mountain with his grand-son carcass, he had rage in his eyes and tears falling down his cheeks, he inwardly swore an oath that his grandson will be avenged at all cost.
His beloved son had died fighting for the clan and the only thing left was his gran-child. He had doted on the boy since young and allowed the boy to run rampant as one of the young lords of the clan. He didn't care what Lou Lee had done, he would protect him with his own life, paying compensation when needed and taking lives when called for.
As he went up the mountain he couldn't help but sob loudly like a grieving widow, his grandson's corpse was not even intact, his legs were missing and in his hasty retreat he didn't have time to locate them, there was a bloody hole where his left eye used to be and his skin was pale blue from all the blood loss.
His beloved Lou Lee had crossed over to the other side in absolute agony.
After the incident at the Dragon Stew Restaurant he had wanted to stop the duel before it happened, but Lou Lee had broadcasted it all over the clan, if he had backed out, he would have been a laughing stock, but if he lost and paid some compensation, the situation could be salvaged, he had no choice but to try and intimidate Hartley before the duel but he had no idea where Hartley was and the youth only turned up right before the duel so he sent Lou Chingham to have a talk with him, "that worthless bastard" he thought, he couldn't help but be cross at Lou Chingham as well.
As he entered his courtyard all kinds of plans of revenge were swirling in his head, he was imagining the ways he was going to slice Hartley while keeping him alive, but what Lou Pangie didn't know was, that he himself would be dead before the morning bells rang at first light.
Hartley had returned to his courtyard after the duel, the elders had instructed him to get washed up and prepare to go and meet the Patriarch, Hartley knew little about the patriarch, when he projected his voice at the battle stage it gave Hartley a scared feeling, it was the feeling of being insignificant against someone who had power to destroy the whole world.
Hartley washed up and put on a new robe then sat crossed legged analyzing his performance on the battle stage, he was satisfied with his performance against Lou Lee, but he was careless letting himself get sneaked attacked when he was expecting a sneak attack. He had wanted to finish Lou Lee quickly and had diverted all his concentration to do so, he was lucky Lou Pangie didn't come at him with a weapon, his only advantage was that no one could read his power level, so because he just turned up a month ago everyone was assuming he was a 1st layer xiantian just starting out.
He had to make adjustments to keep aware of his surroundings even when he was going all out against a single opponent in front of him. After he processed the events of the day he started to cultivate his blue star energy again, in his daintan there was a miniature Hartley sitting cross legged with eyes closed and blue aura surrounding his little body, he was still on a flat piece of grass land 120 kilometers, the only difference was now there were trees randomly growing, there was now a little pond at the far end and the grass looked more lush and green. Hartley's was approaching that line between 3rd layer and 4th layer xiantian, again he could feel like he was at that thin line but couldn't step across.
A couple hours later two people approached Hartley's courtyard, Hartley opened his eyes with the usual blue glow and went out to meet them. These were elders he hasn't met before, but in reality he had met one of these elders before he just didn't remember because it was so long ago. Both elders wore black robes with hoods obscuring their faces, They asked if he was ready, he nodded and they led the way.
They came down Stellar mountain and went pass all the habitable regions in the clan headed for the far end of the clan grounds which looked like a wilderness, after travelling for a couple more hours they reached a mid-sized mountain in the middle of nowhere, there were no buildings, outposts or guards here, it was so far away from the main part, it actually seems like they had left the Lou clan.
"Here. Go up"
said one of the elders as they pointed him towards a winding dirt track that led towards the top of the mountain.
On the dirt track, there were overgrowth the size of a human man on both sides, big trees blocked out direct sunlight, creating sporadic splotches of light mingled in shadows showing the path ahead.
Hartley noticed there were many thorny bushes growing that only had black roses blooming, there were no green leaves around the roses, only thorns and stems which made them stand out as an amazing spectacle, if one paid close attention, these roses were the insignias on the robes of all Lou clan members.
After half an hour Hartley reached the top and among trees there was a leveled piece of land with a humble old wooden cabin built near a spring, there were frogs croaking and birds chirping, you could hear the sound of the leaves as the trees swayed from side to side in the wind, overall it was a very calming atmosphere.
When Hartley reached the door of the cabin, the door swung open and in the cabin there was an old man with no aura sitting on a prayer mat, he was very thin and could be described as skin and bones, he was not very tall either, he had a head full of white hair and wrinkles which seemed to be carved with the knife a sculptor decorated his sagging skin.
He opened his lively brown eyes jumped up and said
"Come in, I've made some tea"
there were only a table, two chairs and a prayer mat inside the cabin, the simple wooden brown table had matching color chairs, on the table in the middle of the cabin were a solitary teapot with steam coming out of its snout, flanked by two ceramic cups which were empty.
As Hartley stepped in, the old man smiled and said "you've grown."
Hartley respectfully bowed and said "this one greets the elder" the old man said "no need for that, just call me Patriarch Lou" Hartley nodded as the old man instructed "sit."
They sat down facing each other in silence the old man sipped his tea and a look of bliss appeared on his face, Hartley also sipped his tea, it had a soothing aroma and a sweet smooth taste.
"You must really hate the Lou clan"
said the old man suddenly,
Hartley stayed quiet for while then answered,
"If you hate unfairness, you will hate the Lou clan, not even in a death battle can one find fairness in the Lou clan, so the answer to that question is simple."
The old man sighed, he stretched out his feeble looking right hand to the side like his fingers were wrapped around someone's neck, he then said
"The rules of the Lou clan has been passed down for countless centuries, one cannot break them as he pleases."
Hartley could hear a faint voice pleading and begging for forgiveness, the voice sounded familiar, it was the voice Lou Pangie, and then the old man twisted his hand, there was an audible crick sound and the voice went silent.....
With thoughts of vengeance swirling through his mind, Lou Pangie, whose face seem to have two permanent tear drops falling, was sitting in his court yard beside the body of his grandson wrapped in white sheets, suddenly the void opened up in front of him and a hand reached out and grabbed his neck like a vice-grip around a bolt, he heard the voice of the patriarch saying something about rules but he was so frighten that he couldn't clearly make out what was being said, in his panic all he could do was beg for his dog of a life, but begging was futile, he was dead seconds later.....
Hartley was scared out of wits as well, even though he hadn't seen what happened he could make an educated guess, sweat ran down his back.
The old man sighed for a long time, then said
"You remind me of your father so much.....Have you ever wondered why your name is so different from everybody else's?"
Hartley had a childhood memory of his uncle saying his name was so western, but he didn't know what that meant, and still didn't know what that means.