Martin peered down at the two children he was left with, his enormous figure towering over the two.
-Sniff
The young girl that seemed to be around six or seven began sniffling while holding onto her tattered cloak. Tiny tears began two gather around her eyes.
"He didn't even say goodbye..."
Ally said lifting her head to meet the giant's eyes.
Understanding her sentiment, Martin kneeled down next to her, even on his knees being thrice her height, and placed his hairy hand on her head being careful not to push down too hard.
"The great elder has urgent business to attend to, his mind was probably filled to the brim with questions and concerns that he simply forgot,"
Martin said giving her a warm smile, he clenched his fist and lifted it in front of her face while continuing,
"How about this? Train hard so that the next time you two meet you can surprise him with your immense strength!"
Cheering up slightly thanks to Martin's condolences, Ally hardened her determination to cultivate as diligently as she could. She had grown quite fond of Nicholas in the short time they were together, he was like the older brother she wished she had.
Nodding her head Ally remembered that she hadn't even formally introduced herself to her caretaker.
"My name is Ally, and the boy in your hand is little Deno. I hope you take good care of us sir!"
Surprised by her sudden formalness he chuckled out loud replying with a mighty voice.
"I'm Martin, a master stage cultivator of the sect and a core disciple."
Looking Ally up and down, Martin realised that although she was old enough to be let loose upon the sect to train to be passed the five-year-old minimum requirement, she still hadn't been cleansed of the impurities of her body.
The sooner the impurities are cleansed, the easier the path of dao would be for the average cultivator but seeing Ally's potential which was second to Nicholas, having it done now should have any effects on her cultivation.
Looking down at the boy he was holding, he inspected Deno as well.
Deno felt the same palpitating pressure surrounding him that he had felt back at the cellar but this time it was not as threatening.
'Hmm, this boy is! Completely average... What on Earth does Nicholas see in this boy? Either way, I made a promise to educate him on Nicholas's behalf, might as well do my part.'
Martin thought, ceasing his inspection.
Deno's eyes were locked on him, in a cautious and wary manner practically piercing through Martin. This part of the boy, Martin admired. He could see it, the grit. Even at this young of an age, Martin could see the boy's daring nature.
The only part that terrified him was the sleepless nights he would be forced to endure because of Deno as any parent would.
Even though he had promised Nicholas to take care of the two children, in reality, he would merely check on them and provide them with the necessary resources to find their own paths.
This was the path of the martial dao, they had to toughen up at an early age, otherwise, the brutality of the outside world would tear them to shreds.
"Look over at that mountain,"
Martin said pointing at one of the four mountains to the right corner of the Sect,
"do you know who that belongs to?"
Looking to where he was pointing Ally answered in surprise.
"Someone own's that entire mountain?"
"Indeed. That someone is your master, Nicholas. The man who saw great potential within you, so don't let him down!"
Ally's awe had only just scraped the surface of her understanding at how powerful of a cultivator Nicholas was. The more she thought about it, the more she was amazed.
'Master saved Deno and I from certain death... If only I could repay him somehow.'
Mentally coming to the conclusion of someday returning Nicholas's kindness Ally hardened her determination even further. Her new life was just beginning, her path to immortality. Someday she would save her family from the mitts of terror within the mortal realm.
Looking down at Ally's bright golden hair and her cute yet serious look made her seem extremely goofy.
Chuckling, Martin stood back up his colossal figure towering over the two kids as he beckoned for Ally to follow with a hand wave. He carefully gripped Deno wrapped in a multitude of blankets and headed towards his home.
He walked past many disciples that bowed as he passed, Ally felt embarrassed since she had never gotten such attention before. So many people paid their respects to the three of them as they walked past.
---
Arriving at the steps to Martin's home, Deno was baffled, the structure had looked like a traditional Chinese building and yet this was supposed to be a different world.
Although this thought was immediately wiped from his brain as he was taken inside Martin's home, Adriana had stated that this man had quite a large power level compared to the other sect members.
Deno could clearly see that the man was quite queer. He had a myriad of trophies and medals hung around his home, weapons ranging from axes to katanas to long swords were similarly hung. In addition, paintings of different cultivators that were well expertly created placed in frames and placed in the middle of the house for all to see. Otherwise, the house had little furniture compared to the decoration. In a way, Martin reminded Deno of a fanboy from Earth.
Interrupting Deno's judgment of his home was Ally's high-pitched voice.
"Wow! This is awesome Master Martin!"
Rubbing the bottom of his nose, Martin didn't even attempt to hide his pleasure at her compliments on his things. On the other hand, he couldn't get rid of the feeling of someone's opinion of him has plummeted.
Placing Deno down on a bed in the corner of the room, Martin said,
"Don't get too settled to this home Ally, as once I'm done explaining the fundamentals, you'll be out on your own, with your own apartments within the sect."
Ally nodded in understanding.
Martin knew that she was old enough the become an official disciple, but there were things that he needed to prepare before she began her cultivation journey.
Martin had decided to personally teach her the basic education for children her age, clear the impurities in her body as well as teach her the cultivation techniques of sect.
Deno on the other hand was far too young to become an official disciple but would still have to be educated on subjects such as math and languages.
Martin sighed, so much work, but it was all for the sake of his idol.
'So then until I'm five, I'll be allowed to venture the world on my own?'
Adriana had just finished explaining to Deno what she had understood from the conversations of Martin and Ally and Deno had been extremely shocked to find out that children are allowed to leave to train by themselves at the mere age of five.
'What if they had questions, who would answer them.'
'Where would they stay?'
'How would they pay for their things, what's the currency?'
Numerous questions flooded his mind which Adriana didn't even bother to answer since her answers would lead to even more questions by Deno. Either way, she didn't know the answers even if she wanted to answer.
Understanding that she didn't know, Deno ceased his barrage of questions and began to ponder on his own.
'So in reality, I have a little over four years to prepare myself before I can begin training in the martial dao. Using the dragon imperial martial arts, I'll be able to reach the level of deities. Maybe I can start my own cult or something.'
Interrupting his thoughts, Adriana quickly put a stop to his unusual thoughts.
'Don't forget our deal human, otherwise, the supreme dao with give you the proper punishment. Also, I would suggest not training the Imperial cultivation technique in public. How would you explain yourself to the human cultivators.'
'Relax, I understand. I'll help you get revenge on the humans and demons but in the meantime, how do you expect me to help if I look like this.'
Understanding that he was right, Adriana calmed herself.
Deno gazed into a mirror and glared at his reflection, his red bloated cheeks and tiny body wrapped in the brown warm blanket made his heartache.
How many years had he trained his body, refined his muscles and trained his muscle memory just to restart all over again? Although he couldn't regret it as now he had an opportunity to go beyond the mortal limit.
His entire life, Deno had felt like he reached the limit, reached the summit, the opus magnum of martial arts but in the end, he died to humanity's weapons all because he pissed off some mob boss.
Adriana listened to Alexander's thoughts in silence, he had a rough life, she had seen it while he was sleeping back in the mortal realm, two families, both dead; losing his job; losing his home, it was all very unfortunate.
Besides that, the years of training he endured in the various parts of his magnificent world, which she had never seen before dazzled her. Such dedication was truly admirable.
But even his past life would be merely slightly worse than many of the lives in the mortal realm here.
Although she had seen his entire past, she was still far more advanced in controlling her own sea of conciseness than Alexander and so he couldn't read her past unless she gave him permission to.
This had earned her the title of creep in Deno's eyes.
Snapping both of them out of their contemplation was Martin and his suspicious choice of words.
"First things first, let's clean your body!"
Ally hearing this face grew beat red as she blushed at Martin. He was tall, handsome and strong, she had lived in the mortal world for a long time and the immortals were far more good-looking as they were younger longer and had their impurities removed making their faces flawless.
"Ew, Are you crazy?!"
Ally screamed at Martin. Martin confused, innocently continued.
"What? You don't want your impurities to be cleansed?"
Ally finally realised what he meant ally grew even redder. Martin squatted down and sat on the floor as she did the same while blushing profusely.
He placed his hands on her back Martin began to transfer the impurities from her body to her dantian to release it all at once.
A white hue began to envelop Martins's hands and slowly transferred around her cloak creating a tight pressure in the atmosphere. Deno looked on in disbelief, he had seen things like these in movies.
Suddenly, Ally began to scream as she felt her entire body burn and then her dantian to harden as all the impurities from her now bulging veins travelled to it.
Martin stood up and waited, it was up to her, the more impurities within a body the less the child's potential but it would be far more painful as a result. Ally's body didn't have many impurities and so it would be easier for her to tolerate it than other children.
Even so, it was still extremely painful.
Ally's consciousness was on the brink of collapse as she felt like her body was eating itself from the inside, she had never felt such pain in her six years of living but she could still tolerate it.
All the impurities reached her dantian and slowly began to release from her skin giving the entire house a huge stick making both Deno and Martin's faces scrunch up as they both held their noses.
"Haaah, Haah."
Ally began to pant as sweat trickled down her forehead, she had done it, her first step to saving her village, now all she had to do was begin cultivating, but... what was that smell?
Realising it was herself she turned red in embarrassment.
Seeing this martin immediately pointed in the direction of the bathroom to which ally dashed at the speed of light.
Her body felt far lighter and clean even though she stunk like rotten fruit.
Martin pulled both hands close to each other and clapped creating an immense shockwave clearing the stench out through the open windows.
Deno looked on in amazement, his eyes were glistening with determination, it was like the man had superpowers.
Deno couldn't control himself, he wanted that power.
Maybe it could lead to more dangerous fights in the future...
Deno watched as Martin picked him up, his enormous hairy hands the same size as his pale body.
They both locked eyes for a moment, both seemingly entranced by each other. Both admiring each other without even a word.
Martin saw Deno's sharp and terrifying eyes, which had been sent back to when he faced the Heavenly Demon, all of the Sutra Empire had fought him off, countless sects and families working together in unison.
At the time Martin was a measly middle-rank 2nd stage cultivator threatened by the mere presence of the other cultivators. He was just a dispensible soldier at that point, and the only thought he had was if he could live to see another day.
He watched on along with the other lower stage cultivators as the Empire's Mystics and leaders of the other sects surrounded the Heavenly Demon.
His eyes were like a beast, ravage-like. He had wounds scattered all over his body as he faced off against thousands.
He was a human, a problem of the Sutra Empire and yet had the ferociousness of the Demon sultan himself.
His slit bloodshot eyes and gut-wrenching aura dazzled Martin, and he hated himself for that.
The entire Sutra Empire hated the demon for all those he'd killed in search of power sucking their souls and vitality away making it his own.
And yet, despite the hate, he was admired.
Who else could glare down a swarm of mystics and saint stage cultivators like they were ants?
He was like a lion surrounded by a clan of hyenas. One on one, no, three on one he could take but even a lion cant keep hundreds at bay.
No one knew where he had come from but the entire Immortal world had never seen such rapid cultivation alas he was taken out before he became too great of a threat.
Martin glared down at Deno and laughed,
"You have the eyes but luckily not the dantian, or else we'd have the reincarnation of the Heavenly Demon right within our large sect."
Deno glared at Martin, being held up by him face to face.
'This is an immortal.'
Deno thought still not being able to wrap his mind around it, he had come to a new world and had an opportunity straight out of a fantasy novel.
Suddenly both Martin and Deno heard Ally rush back down the stairs.
"Wait!"
Ally screamed at Martin. Martin looked blankly back and responded.
"How did you wash so quickly?"
Ally looked confused, she had taken a good ten minutes to clean. How was that by any means quick?
Martin realised that he must've been too lost in thought that he lost track of time.
"Okay little Deno, let's take care of your impurities shall we?"