Li Wen looked out the window at the calm day below. As far as he could tell, the village of Rantori had remained peaceful much the same as what Hong Zhao had predicted. The boy had said that they may have a few visitors within a year to a year and a half's time. He had been counting the days since the young boy had left. Such ominous forewarnings could not be overlooked, even if they came from a child. 'Child.' Li Wen snorted at the thought. Hong Zhao was as much a child as he himself was. He couldn't understand why, but a mature adult seemed to be stuck within a now almost ten year old body.
He thought of his own children. Before they met the boy, they would run around and play like any other children. He had to send them off to their grandfather's to get their cultivation method. He wasn't looking forward to ensuring they took their training seriously, but now it seemed like it was all they would do. It felt almost as if Hong Zhao had stolen their childhood. Yet, the boy had saved them on multiple occasions. If they hadn't met him, they would most likely already be on a ship to Obopin, if now, they would already be Li Xiao's slaves or worse.
Hong Zhao had preached to them before he left that they should not resign themselves to the fate of a slave. He had given the Li family hope. He had helped Huang Ji and himself attain the first star disciple rank, a rank that had been out of anyone's reach within Yuan since Li Xiao's first great purge. Since then, he had been able to excel even further thanks to the books and spirit fruit the boy had left behind. He himself sat at the second star disciple rank now, though he didn't know just how strong Huang Ji had become. As soon as Hong Zhao had left Rantori Village, the old man had gone into seclusion. No one could bother him, at least until the City Lord's men arrived.
Li Wen grimaced slightly at the thought. He knew that Hong Zhao didn't have all the information, but would it have killed him to find out how many the City Lord would send? Or what ranks of cultivation the men would have, just in case they had to get stronger? They had sent out a lot of the knowledge that Hong Zhao had given them to the public of Rantori Village. They made sure to monitor the gates for anyone coming or going. Anyone who left, they would mark on a piece of paper with the time and location of exit. When they reappeared, they would cross off the name. So far, anyone who left always came back by the end of the day. He assumed that meant that they were training, and the village didn't have a spy for Yuan City.
It had been a year to the day since Hong Zhao had taken his children. He wondered just how strong his Little Wuhan and Little Wei had gotten. With someone as mysterious as Hong Zhao and his backer, there was no way to tell. But what he did know, was that they would have the strength necessary to take on these adversaries, so long as his children remained diligent within their studies. He could almost see them now, their heads held high before the enemy as they showed their undeniable strength. They could be just as strong as him for all he knew. He had been in the ninth star student rank for years, but not as long as Huang Ji. Yet, the longer one remains in the same rank, the more stagnant their qi became. It was always important to seek the higher realm of strength even after attaining more, or one would excel, but not be the true strength of the rank they attained. Such structure weakened overtime when one were to achieve Knight, the time which one needed to rise another rank would vastly increase. Yet the power they had now was like a fly, whereas a Knight only needed to swat them. Even a Warrior rank was enough to wipe out the village, disciple rank or not.
Li Wen thought not only of his children, but of Hong Zhao. It had been a year since they left, and the boy was quite adapt at climbing the ranks. He wondered just how much of a monster the boy had become. The last time Hong Zhao had gone into seclusion, he had not only risen one star, but two! In a short year, he had done what others would find near impossible to do. If he should have to worry about anyone getting too powerful, it would be that boy. Whoever the City Lord sent their way would most likely have the most trouble with Hong Zhao.
He still remembered the day that the small boy had shown up at the estate, dressed in shadow panther pelts with a young panther cub around his shoulders. He paid little attention to that, but more the look in the boy's eyes. The intensity in Hong Zhao's eyes had softened slightly over the years, yet he could still sense danger as he looked into them. The boy wasn't normal, pure and simple. A child shouldn't be able to come up with such strategies to save the village. He shouldn't be able to come up with forgotten texts in order to rise in rank, or come up with the spirit fruit needed to boost the effects of cultivation. It was true that he had a backer, Li Wuhan had told him as much. The lady had shown up during the fiasco of a tournament, yet she didn't mingle with them, and his son couldn't even sense her rank. It was as if she wasn't even there, aside from seeing her with the naked eye.
So many mysteries surrounded the young boy, yet he found he had little time to muse over such thoughts. He still had six months of preparing to do, so far as Hong Zhao had told them.