It has been a little more than two years since that day, Ryuu is now a ten year old child over the years he has grown quite well to a respected height of near about 1.4 meters, his hair was arranged into double pony tail, he has just finished his bath after a long day of exercise, the tattoo when he first started walking the road of cultivator by following the unknown sutra that appeared in his head awakening his 'Divine Body', now was a prominent figure of twin dragons intertwined together covering his whole back trailing down to near his knee of his left leg. A couple of tattoos were present on his body which were in fact arrays in the form of tattoos courtesy of Nuwa. Each of these has a specific purpose from increasing his strength, speed or agility, to increase his rate of healing.
But unlike before his eyes have dulled a lot and a permanent scowl etched on his previous happy face, to others it seemed as if the sun itself has dimmed to the point that it has frozen. The reason for this is his mother's health, over time he realized his mother duped him and she is seriously ill, her health deteriorated to the point she can no longer leave her bed, she spends most of her time on bed sleeping because of tiredness, on top of that his beautiful and pretty mother at present looks almost like a skeleton.
He had confronted is masters specially Veena about it and learned about a startling revelation, her mother became permanently cripple when she tried to escape with him when they were attacked by those scum, he cursed himself being so insensible he did not even notice his mother was sick, his 1st mistress Veena promised that she would do her best but apparently nothing is working, he lightly slapped himself on his cheeks in order to bring himself out of the funk as he put up a fake happy smile as he raced to accompany his mother with the stories of his daily life, and as usual his mother fell asleep in the midst of hearing his adventures again, his eyes teared up but he will never cry again, he has promised himself he will never cry never cause his mama any worry he will be good boy, his mommy and aunt always told him if he is a good person good things will happen he will be a good boy and one day his mother will surely be alright, of course she will be after she promised him she will always by his side and his mommy never breaks her promise.
Couple of days passed since then he had just finished his lessons regarding array with Nuwa.
During this time his mother's health took turn for the worse just like couple of months back when she fell into coma. The only time he was free from such terrible nightmarish life was through training, it was during those times he was devoid of any kind of worries uncertainty, and more importantly made him feel happy and alive, his teachers tried to stop him from increasing his training but seeing his improved mood they gladly agreed to it.
Today after he finished his training with Nuwa, when all of a sudden she spoke in a voice devoid of any emotion to Ryuu, "Child, your training with Celestai is canceled for today, why don't we go and visit your mother, she has been planning to have this chat with you for a while now."
Ryuu raised a brow what would his mother want to tell him that would be so urgent that his training was cancelled, but still his mother summoned him he will respond to her even if it meant that he will have to climb the mount Tai or swim across an ocean of lava he would do without a heartbeat.
Nuwa frowned at that the once happy and boisterous child has changed to the point he is nothing more than a statue, his personality has taken a complete flip and everyone was worried.
Ryuu entered his mother's room as his heart almost jumped out of his throat seeing such a tense atmosphere, something was wrong all of his teachers were present and his sisters were just sitting outside near the room.
Xiao Xiao smiled as she saw Ryuu enter her room with the help of Veena she sat upon her bed as she leaned on a pile of pillows as she beckoned Ryuu to come closer, she raised her hands as she held Ryuu's face in her hands, her face held unspeakable joy as she slowly caressed Ryuu's face as if he was the most precious treasure, so fragile that he may break if applied a little bit of more force.
Xiao Xiao spoke her voice very lowly as if even speaking was too difficult for him but she still held her fierceness in her eyes as she looked lovingly towards Ryuu, "Ryuu before I begin you should always remeber you are the most precious treasure of my life, the greatest accomplishment of my life.", she took a deep breath as she continued speaking, " There is a small story I wanted to tell you Ryuu a story about a small child, who was born in big clan named 'Vance', his mother's name is Sabine and his father's name is Fang, his Grandparent's were Beatrice and Salazar, he had two older siblings Jaclyn and Joseph. The child's clan was one of the four super clans of the Xia Empire the clan head Salazar was referred to as one of the four Kings of Xia Empire, the four clans were just below the Royal Clan, the 'Xia' Clan, in fact the child's mother Sabine was the not only the younger sister but also the only sibling of the current Emperor. ", she took a small breath as she saw her precious baby boy taking listening to her story with rapt attention," Our story begins on the day the boy was born, he was a special boy as such he was born without a Dantian as such his family decided to have him kill, they thought he was a great omen and a devil reincarnate, but there was another member of the family the boy's aunt the younger sibling of his father. She was against the decision as such she took the child and fled with the help of her best friend sister in all but blood. They went into hiding as the aunt's friend spied on the clan's activities in order to warn and relocate them as such they were able to hide safely, they were a small but happy family of three and the child had eventually grew his Dantian. But unfortunately this peace did not last long, a very powerful cultivator belonging to Xia Clan found their location through his Divine Senses, but he also understood that the child was innocent of the crimes accused of as such he wanted to bring them back home, unfortunately their enemies caught wind of it and attacked them the aunt's friend sacrificed herself to save the aunt and nephew duo, whom were later saved by a very powerful cultivator, who took the child as her student and gave them shelter."
Ryuu was listening to the story and frowned as he could not help but speak out loudly, "What kind of messed up people the clansmen were specially the parents, how could anyone just decide to kill of their own child like that."
Nuwa spoke with a small smile, "Greed child just because of greed, they just want to be better than others at all cost as such someone who cannot cultivate are simply a disgrace to such clans."
Xiao Xiao muttered sadly, "So true but unfortunately these people praise the geniuses and condemns and abuses the others as trash."
Veena put her hand on Ryuu's head as she spoke, "But the most important thing is that a child like you can understand it, means you are becoming a much better person than those people can dream off, I am so proud of you."
Ryuu just blushed in embarrassment, as he was praised by his teacher in front of his mother who had unrestrained pride upon hearing her child being praised so highly.
Xiao Xiao spoke softly dreading the effects of next words, "Ryuu there is something I hid from you, the child in the story his name is Ryuu and his aunt's name is Xiao Xiao, Ryuu I am not your mother but your aunt."
Ryuu was stunned on hearing that, his world was turned upside down, before he suddenly started laughing, "Mommy is this a joke, well you got me there then."
Xiao Xiao spoke sadly, "Ryuu I am not joking this is the truth, you once asked about my family a couple of years ago, well this is the truth about my family."
Ryuu was stunned before he started shaking in fear as he spoke out, "No no it cannot be you are my mother, mommy have I done anything wrong then please punish me as much as you want but please do not say such cruel things.", he lunged towards Xiao Xiao as he held her like a life line.
Xiao Xiao's heart broke as tears flowed out of her eyes as she held Ryuu in her arms as she wept.
Xiao Xiao spoke out, "Ryuu you are my greatest joy, my everything how can I punish you but unfortunately this is the truth I am not you mother I am you aunt, I know you are hurting because of my words but I do not want to hurt you I just simply wanted you to know the truth I do not want you to get caught unprepared if my past comes to haunt you."
Ryuu simply shook his head as he replied with teary eyes, "I do not care about some Vance clan or whatever clan you speak of, for me you were are and always will be my mother."
Xiao Xiao gave a small smile as she spoke, "Yes child you are right I am your mother no one else has claim to you as their child except Me.", she gently kissed his forehead.
Everyone watched with warm smile as the mother son duo held each other.
After a while Ryuu spoke up, "So momma what do you want me to do about your clan and your enemies, do you want me to punish them, just say it I will fulfill your wish."
Xiao Xiao just gave a small smile as she spoke, "My wish is pretty simple I want you to grow strong and righteous, I want you to grow up a happy and a wonderful person with no regrets, and as for them I want for you to do nothing."
Ryuu was puzzled, "Why mother they are the reason aunt Zhu Zhu is dead why did no want revenge.", he could not help but blurt out.
Xiao Xiao, "Silly child, do you know how vast this universe is someone the likes of them are just the speck of dust, as such I do not want yourself to be held down by such silly notion as revenge I want you to listen to your masters and become the strong cultivator you were meant to be, and along the way if you get the chance for justice then so be it, do not let yourself be consumed by the thoughts of such insignificant peoples. I do not want my wonderful baby devolve into a monster hell bent on revenge because of those insignificants. So promise me you will listen to what I have said to you."
Ryuu nodded at that, he will follow his mother words to the letter as such he promised his mother with a happy smile, a real smile after so many months of faking it to keep his mother from worrying about him, "I promise."
Xiao Xiao smiled before she gave a tired sigh, "Ryuu my baby boy I grow tired so wish to sleep now, okay."
Ryuu, "Okay mommy I will see you soon."
Veena and Celestia both helped her to lie on her bed as Ryuu bade her farewell and left with Maheswara, as Nuwa was about to leave see turned around as she directly looked into Xiao Xiao's eyes as she spoke, "Sister, we promise that we along with our family will raise your greatest treasure your son Ryuu like our own son our own flesh and blood."
Xiao Xiao gave a small smile in return as she spoke, "Thank You.", as she fell asleep with a small content smile on her face.
"Xiao Xiao, Xiao Xiao wake up.", Xiao Xiao opened her eyes slowly as she was shaken awoke from her sleep, her eyes widen considerably at seeing the smiling visage of her two most precious people after Ryuu, Zhu Zhu and her fiancé Wulan smiling at her as they held her hand helping her to stand up.
Wulan spoke with a loving smile, "Let us go my beloved to a new adventure."
Xiao Xiao mother of Ryuu never woke up again.