In the morning of the next day.
A young man sat on his bed, his hands were clasped in a weird yet relaxed manner. His chest peacefully rose and fell with the rhythm of his breath, as if he was one with nature.
Everything was just… so natural! With every breath he took, the wind, trees and the earth in the forest seemed to be in synchrony with him.
Threads of air floated around him and melted into his pores, making his skin lightly glow.
"Arg!" He grabbed his head, feeling the stunning pain deep within his head. A mouthful of blood ejected his mouth in a instant, the slowly let out his breath and opened his eyes, his face pale white.
"It happened again! My body is rejecting any trace of vital energy…" No matter how hard he tried, not a single thread of energy would stay in his body, in fact it would only hurt more.
When the pain stopped, he curled his hands into fists and was rapidly clenching and unclenching them. Eventually, he suppressed all his anger as his gaze turned serene.
Aedan was lying in bed, eyes fixed on the ceiling and thinking. Last night he searched everything, but couldn't find an explanation for the hole or the voice he heard.
*Knock Knock*
It was this instant that he heard somebody knocking on his door. A thin old man carrying a pot of the clan's medicinal soup.
"Grandpa..." Aedan's eyes turned slightly red upon looking the old man. He knew very well how hard it was to lead the yellow wood village to survive in this wild land with powerful beasts that could raze whole empires to the ground.
The old man gave a small nod then put the pot in the wooden table. His eyes wandered across the interior of the cottage that had just been rebuilt with sad eyes.
"Aedan have this soup made with Vagan Herb, it will be good to your injuries. As the head of the Clan I should be giving this, but as your grandpa this is the least I can do."
Among all the herbs growing in the village, Vagan was the most precious since its medicinal properties could help even a Core Formation warrior advance to the next layer.
"Thanks..." Feeling his eyes watery, Aedan was about to reject it, but, once looking at his grandpa's old eyes he could bring himself to do it.
Leading his old grandpa to his room, they chat about times before it was time for him to work.
Watching his grandson heading to the kitchen for another day of work made him immensely sad, but he knew the village would show rejection, and the other old man may even try to replace him if he helped anymore than he already did.
On the way to the kitchen Aedan noticed several children practicing in the training hall, nostalgic memories appeared in his mind.
Down in the kitchen, the young man held onto his knife as he deboned a whole cow when an old voiced sounded outside of the door: "Young master, the chief has requested your presence in the hall."
He was surprised somebody in the village would still call him young master. Well, it's not like he didn't have friends, some of which were still hidden in the inner clan and would rarely come to the village.
Aedan followed the old man to the main hall's gate. After politely knocking, the two softly went in.
Upon entering the hall, the hall was quite large, but there were many people already in it. Eight green-clad men and women were in the hall with his grandfather. All those people had the same greenish skin, pointy ears and branch-like horns on the back of their head.
He recognized them to be part of the Green Tribe, elves and descendants of the Zeaphin. Their tribe is located only a few miles away from the Yellow Wood Village and it's one of the four tribes neighboring the Village.
The elven people and the yellow wood clan are pretty close for as long Aedan could remember.
In center was the village chief, then was Aedan's grandpa, the Yellow Wood Clan's Clan Head, behind the two was was Kayla and left was the village's first elder.
The young man's eyes quickly swept through the Green Tribesmen. He could easily feel the pressure of their vital power and respective levels.
7-layered Astra Core! This guy's a Astrar? He was surprised to find an Astra Cultivator among the tribes of Ironwood Forest. It must be know that Astra cultivation required twice the effort and talent than a warrior, but with much greater abilities.
Even Kayla, with her higher cultivation should be weaker than that elder if he knowns a couple good spells.
Aedan turned to the Village Chief. "What is happening that you called me here?"
"Er..." The Village chief hesitated then exchanged glances with Kayla who responded for him. "Do you remember of your engagement to the Green Wood Tribe's Tribal Chief's fourth daughter?
Now that you are back, they are asking that our clan annuls the engagement contract we have with them and pay them 200 gold as compensation for wasting their daughters time."
Pausing, Aedan did seem to recall there was something like that. His fiancée, a young lady named Sanya.
Much like himself she was a prodigy in cultivation and was said to be the prettiest girl of the tribe. They had met once or twice in certain occasions, but not enough so it would remain in his mind.
She must have also gotten a lot prettier over the years, but after everything he went through, even if as a goddess she wouldn't be able to move him.
Felling the heavy stares of the green wood clansmen, Aedan shrugged his shoulders and gave his nod. "Fine, annul this marriage."
He pulled a sack filled with coins and threw it to the Sorcerer of the Green Tribe. The latter counted the coins and saw it was a exact 200 gold coins of extreme high quality, those that couldn't be found anywhere in the forest.
The elder nodded and stored the coins. "Prefect. Everything between Sanya and Aedan is considered to be finished."
Watching as the sorcerer and the rest of their people left the hall in a hurry, the Village Chief's face was red with fury but there was nothing he could do.
Other than that was also deep shock as his eyes were locked onto his grandson. "Where did you found that much gold?"
Aedan's face darkened, but he still said in a calm voice. "It's the leftover of what I got in the outside world. It was more than enough to pay back the Green Tribe for all five years I've been gone."