Another morning came and winter was slowly getting nearer and nearer. The temperature was slowly getting colder and colder to the point where villages began to wear warm clothes.
The sun had just begun creeping up the horizon. The sky began to brighten but there was no yellow rays of sun striking the houses yet.
At the village's mountain entrance laid Mars's house and right outside were a bunch of children. Countless expressions were written on their faces as some were angry, grumpy, and frustrated while others were excited and actually smiling.
Creak!
A sound came from Mars's house and he slowly walked out of the door.
"Ok boys! Let's get it! Get ready to run your legs dry today," Mars haughtily laughed as he stared at the children in front of him.
"Uncle Mars! Why do we have to wake up so early in the morning?" one of the children asked. He had a very annoyed look on his face as snot trailed from his nose, clearly, the cold weather was getting to him, and from that instant that you looked at him, you could tell that he was an extrovert.
"Today is a special day," Mars responded as he suddenly raged as he coldly asked, "Juan, did you forget?"
"No no no! I didn't forget," the boy responded in panic as he shook his hands helplessly. The rage of Mars was not something that he wanted. He was forced to run up to Leo's house and back down countless times for arguing with Mars.
"Then what day is it?" Mars asked curiously as he composed himself.
"Uh..." immediately Juan lost all his words as he could not determine what was happening, he weakly answered, "Wednesday?"
"You really forgot. Haha," Mars laughed as he raised his head and looked towards everyone, "Ok! Today is a special day. First one to climb up to Mt. Ketumati wins!"
Hearing this, all the kids broke out in confusion.
"What?"
"Isn't that place restricted?" Juan asked curiously.
"It is, but today, you guys are allowed to go up there. We will begin learning how to use arts," Mars explained.
"Art?!" hearing the mention of arts, all the kids immediately seemed to sound excited and they all quickly charged straight onto the top of the mountain.
"I didn't even explain the whole thing yet..." Mars weakly continued before stopping his speech, the kids had completely disregarded him and ran straight up.
Unhappy with how they treated him, Mars unhappily grumbled as he also slowly walked up the mountain, "Leo, why did you have to make me instructor?"
And a few minutes later, Juan led the charge as he first arrived upon the mountain.
"Haha! I am first," Juan exclaimed proudly as he turned back and all the rest of the kids arrived right after him. Each did not seem to be tired out at all and they instead seemed to be warmed up as the running had warmed their bodies as they seemed unaffected by the cold as a firm soft wisps of fog escaped from the mouths and noses.
"You are just too fast," another child spoke out complimenting Juan with a smile.
"You guys took quite a while to get up here," a male voice suddenly sounded from the rocks in front of the peak and a vague silhouette of Leo appeared as he walked out.
"Uncle Leo!" all the children shouted happily as they ran towards him and hugged him.
They all placed Leo very high in their hearts as he was the one who had helped them all cultivate and without him and Mars, they probably would not climb very far in the world's system.
"Wow! When I make an entrance you guys don't hug me but when your uncle Leo does, you all run to him," Mars complained with a downcast expression on his face as he also appeared behind them.
But as he was busy complaining, he felt a sudden tug on his legs and looked down to see a child with adorable green eyes looking at him.
"Don't worry, we love you too, uncle Mars," the boy spoke with a warm smile as he hugged Mars's leg.
Immediately, all of Mars's anger and dissatisfaction had all disappeared and he looked towards the rest and spoke, "Ok, let's get training! Leo, what do you have for them today?"
"I have this," Leo spoke as he brought out a large number of light hardwood swords and handed one sword to each of them. A huge glimmer of excitement and expectation appeared on the eyes of the kids as they eyes the blunt sword in their hand.
"Now, before you guys use this sword, I need to let you know something," Leo spoke with a warm smile as he stood in front of all of them.
"This world is harsh and sad. Evil is everywhere. There is no God. I am passing these arts and training you so that you guys will be able to protect yourselves and also to protect the weak. No matter what the situation is, if a poor person is being attacked wrongly you must intervene. In this world, the words of the strong are true. I want you all to find your reason for cultivating and to also remember. Strength will always bring harm, you must control yourself," Leo left them with a long message before looking to Mars and handing him a scroll.
"I will leave this in your hands. You are the main village instructor now," Leo spoke with a smile.
"What?" Mars asked confusedly but Leo did not reply and he simply walked back and stood at the top of a rock that was easily seen by everyone.
"Today, uncle Mars will be teaching you the passing spider arts. You all will learn about a simplified version of silent slash," Leo announced.
"What about you, Uncle Leo? Can you show us what it looks like?" Juan suddenly asked as he stared at Leo with sparkly glittering eyes of expectation. And immediately, all the rest of the kids joined.
Seeing this, Leo gave a short chuckle before he responded, "Fine. I will demonstrate only once."
Leo then took his right foot backwards and began gathering energy on his sword and a black and red energy streaks that looked like the legs of a spider escaped from his sword. Before the energy could grow too strong, Leo suddenly struck the sword in a horizontal direction and a large black arc suddenly shot out silently, slicing all the clouds in its path in half before fading after a hundred meters.
Immediately, all the kids all gazed in amazement as they stared at the scene in front of them.
"Whoa! You are so strong!"
"Uncle Leo! Are you stronger than Uncle Mars?" Juan suddenly asked as he eyed Mars with an annoyed look.
"Haha!" Leo laughed loudly before speaking, "Uncle Mars is really strong. He can do better than I did."
"What?" Juan asked in disbelief but before he could ask any more questions, he was stopped by Mars who was walking to him with an angry look on his face and he grabbed Juan's cheeks.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Juan screamed in pain as everyone in the peak had a good laugh.
"Anyways, all the instructions you will need are all these so I will leave you to it, enjoy!" Leo spoke as he patted Mars on the back and walked down the peak.
"What? You intend to leave me here?" Mars asked with a cheated expression. Was Leo planning to leave him here alone to deal with the kids?
"No. I will be back. I need to go and see the nighthawk," Leo replied as he walked off from view.
"Lame excuses," Mars grumbled as he began reading the scroll and a shocked expression on his face.
"His speed of growth is unearthly," he commented before instructing the kids.
Leo quickly made his way down the mountain and as he got to his house, he felt a sudden explosion of energy coming from the forest. Usually, this was normal as it could be two beasts fighting but this time, there were two different energies that were over refinement realm, meaning that someone had come here. An unexpected guest.
Kakaw!
The nighthawk appeared in the sky and landed next to Leo at the front door of his house.
"I've brought back a letter from the king," the hawk spoke as it pulled out a letter that was tied to its legs with its beak.
Hearing this, Leo calmed down and he began to open the letter and he read it.
"Interesting... Looks like I will be visiting the Jade Empire earlier than expected..." Leo spoke with a smile after reading the letter.
Suddenly, a loud bang sounded as the forest floor suddenly rumbled loudly and a large number of trees were suddenly destroyed in a long line.
"Who's here?" Leo asked curiously after seeing the hawk with such a calm expression on his face.
"I don't know. He arrived about an hour ago and Garrick has been training with him the whole time," the hawk replied.
"Master..." the hawk suddenly spoke with worry and it immediately flew towards the forest.
"This is strange," Leo spoke as he turned around and casually walked down to the forest.