"Dear couple, your son is the one I am looking for. Is it ok if I give him a legacy?"
The couples' mouths were open in shock.
They couldn't believe their ears at this moment.
A cultivator of unfathomable power was looking for their son!
It was even to give their son a legacy no less!
They did not know exactly how powerful this person was, but it was likely that he was the strongest person they had ever encountered.
Just how much of a fortuitous chance was the passing of a legacy to their son from someone so powerful?!
The man, stuttering from surprise, asked the wanderer a question.
"If it is ok to ask, why are you giving a legacy to our son and what exactly is involved the legacy?"
The wanderer, upon hearing the question sighed slightly.
After a moment's contemplation, he answered.
"Sigh…. The legacy I am going to give your son, is one that originally was found by my wife and me on the brink of death. The legacy is a special Pearl, an Artefact of unknown use or power. My wife was an artificer who, upon her last breath, requested that I find the person who can make the Pearl react and to help them inherit it correctly to the best of my abilities. While travelling, the Pearl lit up with a luminous light as I passed this world through a spatial passage. When I noticed, I spent almost half a decade trying to find this world again and following the signals of the Pearl. In the end, the Pearl led me to where we are now. Just then, I tested the Pearl's reaction to your son and it lit up within my soul space, far brighter than it has yet. It also passed me information on how to pass on its legacy."
The couple was mute, unable to respond to such an explanation.
After a moment, Fan Hui spoke.
"Do you know the effects of the inheritance procedure?"
"Yes, I do. It is not dangerous, although he will be unconscious for about a week or so, and unable to cultivate for a period of time. Around a decade I think if all goes well."
"A DECADE!"
Fan Hui exclaims.
"Do you know how long that is, most of the kids our son's age will be in the middle stages of the Preparation Realm! Meanwhile, he will be stuck with no cultivation and his weak body."
Fan Heng yells, anger and disbelief giving him boldness.
The wanderer simply smiles slightly as he rebuts their complaints.
"Yes, it may take a decade, he may start over 5 years later than any other cultivator of his generation. However, this legacy will give him a talent and potential so terrifying, even I am scared of it! Nothing good comes without suffering. The boy will be 15 when the inheritance is finished, correct? Well, this will give your son time to temper his will. If he had such talent from the start then how would he deal with setbacks, which are likely to come in the future, considering the path he will walk due to what will likely be a heaven-defying talent!"
The couple falls silent because the words of the cultivator did make sense.
They both knew that if they had such talent that their arrogance would be higher than the heavens. Sharing a look, the couple agreed to allow their son to receive the legacy of the unknown Pearl.
After all, if they gave up such an opportunity that their son had just because it didn't immediately give benefits, what kind of parents were they?
Would they prevent their son from sparring with his contemporaries or adventure the world for experience in the future because of the possibility of short-term suffering?
That was just foolish and would only produce a spoiled son who knew nothing of the harshness of life.
It would actually be doing their son a big favour by giving him this challenge, after all, if he passes this tribulation then his willpower shall be strong enough to withstand the brutality inherent to the world of cultivation.
So, with a nod to each other in confirmation, Fan Hui accepts the wanderer's offer.
"Yes, we request that you grace our son with the legacy of the Pearl."
"Excellent!"
The wanderer claps his hands with a joyful smile upon his face.
The wanderer knew that he would likely be killed because of the Pearl in the future anyway; therefore, he was happy that it wouldn't fall into the hands of his hated enemies that had killed his wife for their greed.
He was also glad that he could finally fulfil the dying wish of his wife, the woman he loved more than anything else, even cultivation.
"We will begin immediately. Now before we start, I need to explain the situation of your son and what exactly the Pearl's information told me. Your son has no Earth, Sky or Heaven energy system within his body. Not a single Acupoint, Meridian or Dantian is present in his body. However, his soul has an incredibly high innate affinity for a very powerful Dao, the Elemental Dao. The Elemental Dao is the group of 8 Dao; Fire, Water, Air, Thunder, Light, Dark, Earth and Metal. This Dao is the equal of the highly powerful Dao like Yin-Yang, Space-Time and such."
"Innate soul affinity!"
Fan Heng and Fan Hui uttered in shock.
Despite their seemingly rural location, the Fan clan used to be one of the strongest clans of the world.
This meant that their knowledge and ability to judge talents was at the same level as any other clan that was at that level.
Although they lacked the equipment to truly check such things, every above average level clansman had knowledge of things like innate soul affinities and a vague knowledge of things like Dao.
They certainly knew what innate soul affinities were and what it meant for a Dao to be as strong as that of Yin-Yang or Space-Time.
The wanderer, giving them a moment to let the information sink in, continued after a half dozen breaths of time.
"The information that came with the inheritance ritual the Pearl released to me told me roughly what it would do as I said. The Pearl's creator was actually someone who specialised in the Elemental Dao, this means that the Pearl will be able to give its entire legacy and nothing would be wasted. Therefore, the Pearl can do three things. The Pearl will recreate the inheritors into the Divine Elemental Body, one of the 10 Sacred Body for cultivation; it will additionally give him the supreme cultivation art of the Pearl's creator."
The couple looked like they were statues at this point.
Truth be told, even the wanderer was shocked beyond words, though he did not outwardly show it.
He knew that there were some incredibly rare treasures called inheritance pearls that could do all the things that the Pearl was apparently going to do.
Though he had never heard of an inheritance pearl doing all of those things as a singular inheritance pearl.
Usually, the expert would have several different inheritance pearls; one for each aspect of his inheritance.
He realised now that the Pearl was the Legacy Artefact of an extremely powerful cultivator far beyond his level.
The wanderer, taking a minute to compose himself despite not being the one receiving this apparent completely new life, continued to speak.
"There are downsides to all of this, however. For the Pearl recreates such a powerful body for the user and passes on a cultivation art. Recreating such a powerful body alone would take a truly indescribable amount of power, let alone the time it takes for the Pearl to carve the remaining inheritance on your son's soul. This is a very delicate task which is why it takes so long and the only reason it is possible is due to the boy's innate soul affinity to the same Dao as what the Pearl's creator used. So, are you willing to begin the ritual? I will create a secure area for your son to seclude himself while the first step completes. After that step is done, he simply needs to wait until he is 15 or so before the engraving upon his soul is complete. He can't cultivate until that is done, otherwise, the strain on his soul may kill him."
The parents of the boy nod obliviously, still numb and aghast at the massive amount of shocking revelations dropped upon their heads.
"Alright then, let's begin."
The wanderer says with an expectant smile.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
2 days later
"Captain, we have found the couple and the boy! They are with a young, white-haired man who is randomly drawing on the ground for some reason. There is a narrow path around half a day's walk ahead of us on the left that leads to a clearing against a cliff. They are camping in the clearing while the young man is drawing around a small cave."
A burly warrior on a red tiger with black stripes reported to the leader about his discovery.
The leader stood with a thoughtful look on his face when he heard about the young man that was with the trio.
Despite his attempts to appear like a wise and thoughtful leader, most of his warriors just thought he looked stupid when they saw his facial expression.
This irked the leader when he noticed some of his warriors snickering to each other, hearing their jokes about his face looking more wrinkled than the ancestor of their Fierce Tiger Tribe.
Because of this, the leader decided to throw caution to the wind; immediately hunt the trio and kill the young man too if he got in his way.
Thus, with indignance in his heart at his subordinates' inward mocking, the leader gave a loud shout the group and lead the charge through the pass.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
After a day or so of travelling, the group reached the clearing.
When the husband and wife saw the group, their eyes widened as they said something to the young man in a reverential manner.
The leader walked forward a few meters before yelling from his mount arrogantly.
"Oi, you white-haired guy! If you leave and let us kill the couple and their son, we won't brutality beat then kill you. So scram and let our Fierce Tiger Tribe attend to our business!"
The white-haired man looked at the group and chuckled slightly.
With a grin on his face, the white-haired man asked a question in reply.
"Do you guys know what happened to the last group of people that acted so arrogantly around me?"
The leader laughed heartily when he heard the voice of the white-haired man, paying no heed to the steel cold calm of the man's voice.
Stepping forward a meter closer, the leader of the group of warriors answered; roaring in anger and arrogance.
"Hmph! Unfortunately for you, we aren't some weak children that you would likely claim are fierce men with strength strong enough to split mountains and shatter the heavens. So, roll the fuck away or I will make your head roll myself!"
The white-haired man's expression turned as cold as ice.
Suddenly, an invisible wave of domineering heat emanated from the man's body and was directed at the group of warriors.
The leader, sensing danger, ordered his men to charge with a fierce war cry as he swung his war hammer towards the man.
The white-haired man snorted in response, snorting a single word.
"Hmph. Disintegrate!"
At the man's word, a domineering wave of power that was pure heat shot towards the group of warriors.
When the wave went through the leader, he disappeared, nothing remaining of his body, not even dust.
The rest of the warriors immediately tried to turn around after seeing their leader being turned into nothing.
However, they had committed completely to the charge and were unable to turn around.
Before they could get out of range of the wave of qi, they were overtaken by it and also disintegrated.
The couple stared in shock.
Although they knew that the wanderer was strong, they never knew he was this strong.
This level of strength was far beyond anything they knew even existed, and this was including the ancient records from when their clan was one of the ultimate powers of the world.
While the couple was awed to silence, the man in question had turned around and approached the couple.
When the couple snapped out of their daze they noticed the man muttering quietly under his breath, before smiling afterwards and speaking to them.
"Done. They are so weak; I didn't even need to use my complete Yin-Yang Dao to completely annihilate them. The Yang part was enough to do it just by condensing the natural yang qi in the world..... Anyway, all that is left is the ritual because I finished the arrays around his secluded cave just before they arrived. Come on, let's begin this. I am interested to see what happens."
The couple just got up and followed the wanderer in silence as he walked towards the cave.
Entering the cave, the pair saw their son in the middle of a large and unfathomable array.
The wanderer, eyes alight with anticipation, swiped his right hand across the ring on his left index finger and a large phosphorescent pearl the size of their son's head appeared in the wanderer's right hand.
Walking up to the couple, the wanderer spoke.
"Can you please each place a drop of blood on the Pearl. This is so the Pearl can analyse your son's heritage. This will give a clearer idea on how strong it can make the kid's energy systems and body. After all, although the heavens have a hard maximum limit on things like talent, everyone has a different limit that the heavens have imposed due to differences in bloodlines and such."
The parents complied quickly to the wanderer's request, happily cutting their finger and dripping a drop of blood on the Pearl.
With a hum, the Pearl started to gain a reddish tint to it, indicating the processing of the blood spilt on it.
After a few minutes, the Pearl returned back to its original luminescent light and kept humming eagerly.
The wanderer then approached the young boy, and carefully placed the Pearl in the boy's lap.
Then, without hesitation, the wanderer cut his palm and a fluctuation of qi from his body caused an incredibly dense amount of blood to leave the wound.
The blood, a strange combination of white, black and red, was compressed into a single drop and with a wave of the wanderer's hand, sent into the Pearl.
The Pearl immediately shone brighter than ever before, entering the boy's body fervently.
Suddenly, the wanderer coughed hard and his face instantly turned pale white.
The boy's parents immediately approached the wanderer and helped him stay standing.
"What's wrong?"
Fan Hui asked, scared because of how severely injured the wanderer looked. The wanderer on his part, however, smiled as he merrily replied while coughing.
"Ohh… *cough*… it's nothing… *cough cough*… I just gave the Pearl the absolute maximum amount of my blood essence I could without killing myself. It barely met the Pearl's energy requirements to give your son the… *cough*… complete inheritance. Apparently… *cough cough*… your son has a completely mortal human bloodline. They are the only bloodline that can reach that gain such a perfect body due to the complete absence of any other type of attributed qi or Dao from the presence of beastly bloodlines. The Pearl required an astronomical amount of energy to create his energy systems, body and spirits to be at the absolute maximum."
As the man spoke, he coughed less and his face started to regain some colour.
After sitting down to recover his energy, the man said one last thing before he began his recovery.
"I shall stay here and recover my strength for the year that your son shall be reborn. After then, I will leave. You should go back to the clan and come back in exactly a year. Goodbye, I will see you in a year."
The couple, smiling with tears running down their faces, said their farewell to the wanderer before leaving.
The wanderer smiled and spoke to the wind, before closing his eyes for a year.
"Oh, my love… I wonder if you are watching the successor to the Pearl inherit your will. I hope you are because then I know you are watching me too… and I can tell you one last time before I go off to war against the Invincible; I love you."