[MARTIAL ARTS COMPETITIONS ARE THE FORGE OF GREAT HEROES, GREAT FRIENDSHIPS, AND GREAT ENEMIES. IT IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF EVERY CULTIVATORS JOURNEY TO IMMORTALITY, AND THA IS BECAUSE I FOSTERS A MYRIAD OF EMOTIONS REQUIRED FOR ADVANCEMENT. IT FOSTERS PRIDE, ANGER, DETERMINATION, RESPECT, INADEQUACY, AND FAITH AMONG OTHERS.
SOME OF THEM MIGHT BE BAD, SOME OF THEM GOOD, BUT EACH EMOTIO AFFECTS EACH CULTIVATOR IN A DIFFERENT WAY FROM THE NEXT. BUT MARTIAL ARTS COMPETITION ARE ALSO CLASSES WHERE YOU CAN STUDY THE WULIN AND HAVE UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE WIDER WORLD WORKS, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, IT IS A PLACE WHERE REPUTATION AND LEGACIES ARE BORN.]
BARTHOLOMEW ÁLÈ
To Alex it seemed this guy loved martial arts competitions a lot. Of course Alex has never heard of his so called reputation or gotten a glimpse of his legacy, so he was not sure how much of this bullshit he was supposed to listen to.
"Would you put that book away! It's time we were on our way, it would be bad if we missed the morning bus."
Alex nodded his head and placed the book in the bag his father had bought, there was nothing really special about the bag, except that it was built for hiking tough terrains, so It was quite sturdy. However what really made Alex embarrassed was the amount of traveling bags his father had gathered, to be precise there were seven of them, and Alex knew he did not own enough stuff to fill even two.
"Why are there so much bags, did you pack everything in the entire house."
"No, some of them are mine, as for the others don't worry about it."
Alex felt as if he was talking to a block of wood, his father was only giving half info, almost as if he wanted Alex to keep asking the questions. And Alex could do nothing but indulge his father a little.
"Why in Gods name are your bags included in among my own luggage."
"That's because my boy, you're finally leaving home, and I have no intention of sitting around and waiting for you to come visit me in ten years, that is if you even remember you have a father. So I have decided to go on a cultivation journey. I have been stuck for to long in the open dantian realm, and quite frankly my pride would never allow me sit still while you come and surpass me."
Alex was flabbergasted, his mouth was open wide in surprise as he could not even begin to imagine what brought this degree of change upon his normally docile, meticulous and careful father.
"I'm your son, I'm supposed to surpass you."
"Not in my opinion you don't. Between the father and the son, we need to see who is the better man and cultivator."
"Wait a minute Dad, are you challenging me, because I swear it just sounded like you were challenging me. Are you challenging me old man!"
Fun fact about Alex, this kid really love being dared to do things he would not otherwise be permitted to do. It was like a trigger for Alex, the moment the word challenge is mentioned, he becomes nothing but an extremely competitive child who would do anything in his power to win.
"So what if I am, huh. Would you like to make a wager little boy."
"Bring it on, old school."
"Five years, in five years if you manage to reach my current stage in cultivation, I will go down on my knees and call you grandpa. But if you can't reach the mid stage of the ninth level of the open dantian realm, then I get to have as many concubines as I want."
"......."
No matter how you looked at it, Alex walked right into that one. About six to seven years ago when Alex was about seven or eight, his father had wanted to remarry. Alex had thrown a tantrum so bad his father feared for his son's life. Alex was able to get his father to promise him that he would never remarry or date, because to the mind of seven year old Alex they were men, and men needed no one but themselves.
"Deal"
And then they shook hands. But before anything could be said their door was almost knocked down as a man with a rather huge stature burst into their house. He was almost seven feet tall and had to bow his head to enter, he had a face filled with snow white beard and a piercing look in his black eyes that so far Alex has only been able to see in one other person....Anya.
"Ahh Mr. councilor what a surprise, to what do we owe the pleasure of almost loosing our door."
"Watch your tone with me half breed filth."
Alex was lucky, he was able to catch his father's hand in time before he caved in the face of the man who was the father of his somehow girlfriend/best friend. Yep this huge bald and rude goat was Anya's father, of course Alex could never call him a goat to his face, that would be rude.
Acting as if he had not almost been privy to an intense beating from an enraged father, the Councilor of the village, Shamir and father to resident trouble maker Anya waved his hands and called in a couple of burly looking men.
"Search the house thoroughly. And you two father and son, I have over the years chose to ignore your unnatural relationship with my daughter, but if she was not so stupid and a complete disgrace she would know better."
This time it was Alex's father who had to hold himself back. Alex and Anya treated each other like they were both halves of the same coin, the two of them were like yin and yang, one could not exist without the other. So it would be quite foolish to insult Anya I'm front of Alex, because even if the person talking is her father, Alex would not hesitate to leave an imprint of his fist in his face.
"I'm going to ask you one more time, where is Anyaja?"
Alex wanted to point out, that he had not asked the first time, but his father seemed to want to solve this peacefully, as long as no one insulted or touched his son that is.
"Councilor Shamir, due to the friendship and bond our children share, I will overlook your disrespectful and roguish display. As a father I understand what it means to have plans for your children, good plans. But what you want is at the detriment of your own daughter's happiness. You might get what you want, but I assure you it won't last, and your daughter would hate you. I hope you learn, Anya must have snuck out during the night, if she's on foot she should not have gone far since only one bus comes and leaves the village every morning. So don't take this wrong way, but get your fucking face the hell out of my house."
Alex had a horrified look on his face as if he couldn't believe that his father would sell Anya out to her father. And not in a situation as delicate as this. Councilor Shamir called to his goons and they left the house the same way they came.
"You guy's should be actors."
The sudden voice from behind him almost shook Alex to his very core in fright. Of course it was no one else but Anya who had actually followed her father here, but of course he would not have been able to recognize her if he tried. She was wearing a wig, make up, heels and a dress. She looked every bit the woman she was supposed to be, gorgeous and beautiful.
"You're drooling Alex, and if this God forsaken wig and dress did not feel so damn uncomfortable, I would be flattered. So please let's get out of here before I tear it off and send all our plans to dust. Oh and thanks for doing this uncle Ben."
"No need to thank me Anyaja, you're family, practically my daughter in-law, I have to take care of you any how that I can."
"Sure, then I guess this means I can call you father, ehh."
"Anything you want, as long as it's not old man."
Alex really did not have time for this banter of theirs, he just shook his head and picked which ever bags his hands could carry. It was obvious his father was happy, and he was saying a whole lot more than Alex has ever heard him say in his entire life.
The journey from their home was smooth, a modern cultivation era or not, simple village people would be simple village people. No one even wondered who the sexy new girl in their village was, they only stared at her and whispered about the size of her butt. Of course since Anya had a higher cultivation level it was easy for her to hear everything they said, and it was hard for her to not discard he disguises and beat a whole lot of them into dust.
Many of Alex's teammates on the soccer team came to see him and his father off. This group of people had accepted and created a relationship with them, after all the father and son duo made up the star player and miracle working coach of the team. A lot of people were sad to see them go.
They were not the only group of people heading to the competition, apart from them four other fighters were going too, and one of them just had to turn out to be Anya's step brother.
It made the duration of time they spent at the bus station agony as both Alex and Anya were scared their ruse would be seen through. But all was safe, and even strange since her brother was actually sending side glances to her. Alex's father bent his head and whispered to his son.
"That disguise worked well, too well in fact."
Alex could not help but nod in agreement as the bus began to move. Alex looked out of the window with a melancholic look on his face, he did not have any enemies here, but he also had quite few friends. However this village Oganenigu, was home.
His parents fell in love here, he was born here, his ancestors were also born here and just like them Alex wanted to die here too. Over the years he had come to notice that his village was never really a part of the world, they had carved their own domain here. It was peaceful and devoid of the troubles the rest of the world had to face, Alex really did not want to live, because he felt that the moment he did leave this place, he would be forced to carry the world on his shoulders.
"My son, you don't have to worry, Oganenigu will still be here, waiting for you to come back and redeem our family name. This piece of land is your inheritance, your legacy and your home."
"I know Dad, but I can't just help the feeling that the next time that I come back, things would be very different.