Four years had passed,
Deno could walk and talk fluently easily conversing with Martin, the only company he had other than Ally.
Martin had trained him in the most basic cultivation technique of the Pride sect, available to all starting disciples just before he was ready to leave.
Martin was finally releasing a lion into the wild.
When Martin wasn't around Deno would train in the Martial arts he learned on Earth and do basic cardio exercises building his tolerance.
Ally on the other hand, in that short period of time, had reached a 3rd stage cultivator, she was completing missions for the sect and was dubbed the 'Sun Swan' thanks to her blonde hair and beautiful looks as immense progression, all the other disciples her age were either jealous of her potential and looks or entranced by her beauty and charms.
She had built an expansive network with the other disciples of the sect, from sons and daughters of master stage cultivators or even disciples of elders. It couldn't be better for her as she would do multiple simple missions for the sect from gathering spirit crow feathers or spirit turtle shells going for immense margins on the market.
***
Martin loomed over Deno, his jet black hair and eyes peering back up in response.
"So Deno, it's finally time for you to go out on your own into the prestigious Pide Sect!"
"Hm."
"Aren't you excited to meet other disciples, train in caves and on mountains, find adversities and allies to help you on your missions to reach the pinnacle of Dao!?"
"Hm."
"Don't forget you have your senior sister Ally to help you if you need anything! Just ask her for assistance, she sees you like a real brother, I hope you know that."
"Hm."
Profusely sweating Martin didn't know how else to continue with the conversation. He had expected the cool Deno to at least be pumped to become an official disciple but he was as aloof as ever.
Sighing, Martin put both his hands on Deno's shoulders. His giant stature needing him to kneel down to reach Deno.
"Deno, You'll find that out there is very harsh and cruel at times, people will betray you, hurt you and lie to you but in the end never give up. You're smart, witty and resilient, I know because I've seen your abilities first hand and I know you know you're potential isn't the greatest but either way, hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard so work hard Deno, work hard."
Looking at Deno in anticipation Martin saw for a moment Deno open up a little bit towards him.
"..."
Deno felt a chill go down his spine, he had many masters on Earth as well as teachers and they were people that kept him going and pushing, he cared about them but now they were all gone.
No matter how cringe and cliche that speech was he truly appreciated it.
"Hm."
Looking at the man that had taken care of him for years Deno nodded one last time but with an untold eagerness.
Smiling Martin patted Deno on the head and stood aside giving way to the door. He had made Deno a starting disciple, gave him enough spirit stones for cultivation and provided him with a residence, now it was all up to Deno. It was all up to him to train diligently and grow his power with the little potential he has, but his gut him that Deno was dangerous, something beyond the level of even The Heavenly Demon, the demon-like human.
***
"Ally! Look out!"
-Ssskkk
Ally spun her luscious blonde hair cutting through the air and stabbed her sword through a colossal cobra. The cobra's mouth was inches from swallowing her whole, its teeth on the edge of reaching her head but she was far too quick for the cobra to follow through with its attack. Blood spurted out in terrible red rain and the multiple Immortals watching the scene were speechless at her absurd speed.
A short boy with orange hair streaming to his shoulders leapt down from a branch closing the distance between him and Ally. As he set his eyes upon her, for just a second he forgot what he was planning to say, Ally's majestic beauty was enthralling to look at and could make someone lose their cool at a glance.
Ally and her friends had gone out to gather cobra scales as they had increased in value at the Pride sects market. They had ventured out in a group of 5: Jeremy, Mearna, Alena, Chase and Ally but to no luck, as they were planning to head back they came across a quiver of cobras surrounding them.
Jeremy came back to his senses turning away from Ally's beauty, he personally was the son of one of the sect's masters and had been advised to get close to Ally and yet he felt that they needn't even mention that part as he would have attempted it anyway.
When they first met, he had approached her cautiously expecting her too arrogant and haughty due to elder Nicholas having brought her. Luckily for him, Ally seemed to not be as prideful as he expected and was rather sweet.
Jeremy turned his head towards the Pride Sect, it's a colossal figure in the distance that seemed tiny from afar.
"Hey, Ally, didn't you mention that today you had to get back to the Pride Sect early due to a special occasion?"
Ally's eyes exploded in shock as she remembered that today was her junior brother's birthday.
"Right! I can't believe I forgot!"
Ally began to look around, it would be too late if she began to head back now, how would she apologise to her junior brother, what would she say? Numerous thoughts rushed through her mind but she couldn't seem to figure out what to do.
Jeremy quickly noticed her panic. What was so important as for her to be in such a frenzy?
Chase, a tall boy with a large stature for a 10-year-old placed his arm on Jeremy's shoulder and leaned on it with a smile while comforting her.
"I'm sure if we begin to head back right now at full speed we'll reach the Sect in a few hours."
A girl with auburn hair cheekily grinned retorting Chase.
"Yeah, It'd only take an hour without you."
Mearna said.
Chase's joyous smile quickly turned into a frown as he prepared to retort back but before he could say anything, Ally disappeared.
Ally wouldn't bother wasting any more time with useless bickering, she didn't even like them. They were spoilt and annoying, they hadn't seen the things she had in the Mortal realm, either way, they were her age and she had been instructed by both her masters to make connections as cultivating in the future would be far more arduous.
Ally was the fastest of the 5 so she knew that if she didn't waste any time she could get to her junior brother's birthday.
Suddenly, Jeremy, Chase, Mearna, and Alena appeared to her right, each with a face of a struggle doing their absolute best to keep up. Their sweat trailed behind them as Ally remained completely unfazed. Jeremy grinned, he knew she was a prodigy but nevertheless he felt immensely jealous, I mean who wouldn't be? She appeared out of nowhere and took the Sect by storm.
He was a high-ranked 4th stage cultivator close to Ally and yet the gap between them was immensely great, it was simply unfair and yet he couldn't get mad as his heart would flutter whenever he would even set his eyes upon her. He was sure this was the case for most of the other boys in the Sect considering how beautiful she was, this wouldn't phase him though as he had been instructed by the great elder to get on her good side and pull her away from Nicholas's grasp.
***
Deno peered up at the titan-like mountains surrounding the sect as he strode out of Martin's home. Finally, he was now free to train however he desired, where to start. Cultivation, physical exercise, learning techniques or practising the Martial arts of his past life?
While deciding he kept feeling like he was getting nudged by someone.
'What is it Adriana?'
Deno was impatient, he had enough of conversing with the annoying female dragon for so long, now it was time to experience a fantasy world, maybe this world will change his opinion about it.
'We should search the Sect grounds first, understand the layout before heading out to train.'
'Why? What's the point?'
Deno was confused, was scouring the sect really so important?
Adriana continued.
'Yes, if this is a large sect only second to the great sects, then it must have extensive markets, understanding them will allow us to know which spirit beasts sell for the highest price.'
Deno had almost been convinced by her persuasion but another call that was far more important suddenly appeared.
-Rumble
Deno's stomach rumbled with the magnitude of 9 on the Richter scale seemingly shaking the entire Immortal realm at once.
Deno internally shook his head at Adriana stating,
'It seems that it can wait, first let's head towards this place's cafeteria.'
***
Deno leapt his tiny figure onto the front porch of the cafeteria. Pushing the mountain-like doors open, he was greeted with the mouthwatering smell of meat, salads and other delicacies provided by this prestigious sect.
He couldn't recognize any of the smells coming from this place, but it smelt good, very good.
Deno began trudging to the food at the other end of the cafeteria, none of the other disciples noticing his presence.
All the starting disciple's attention was placed in the middle of the cafeteria, the small presence of Deno didn't bother their focused entertainment.
Deno continued his heavy yet slow pace, his stomach beginning to eat itself up. That bastard of a master hadn't even given him food before his departure and had left a 5-year-old to his own devices.
Deno would get that bastard back one day, but right now he had to eat something, anything.
Suddenly, Deno noticed a large fat kid a bit older than himself wearing an enormous cocky grin around his face whilst holding another boy by the collar.
The boy held by the collar had been bruised and beaten, blood trickled down his lip and he seemed to be forcing his tears back as he sniffled. His white clean robe had stains of dried blood on it as if this had been going on for quite a while now.
Deno looked past the boy to the table with the food neatly placed atop it.
Deno shook his head in disbelief, there was no chicken, no beef, no burgers, fruits or vegetables that he had ever seen before.
Deno began to walk faster, his heavy steps increasing in mass as his rage grew.
One by one the audience realised that there was someone else stepping in, a boy with jet black hair and even darker eyes was stomping over with fury and confidence that gave them all hope, a hope for the unfortunate boy getting beaten by Link.
'Is he going to stop him?'
'There's no way, the guy hasn't even cultivated the dao yet, it looks like he's only removed the impurities while brother Link is a 5th-stage cultivator in the mid ranks.'
'Yeah but still...'
Link slowly stopped pummeling the skinny boy hearing the whispers of the crowd, his father was a direct disciple of a great cultivator, who in their right mind would dare to stick heads in his business.
Link gazed around the cafeteria, the 5-8-year-olds in the area all had shocked expressions on their faces with one standing out, the boy with the plain face marching over.
His face had plain features but his aura was terrifying.
Link quickly came to the conclusion that this kid was a nobody, most likely retarded and if not, will be after he's done with him. This nobody dared to steal the spotlight away from him, a young disciple with a promising future.
Even though he thought this, he was still hesitating, he would attack as he had all the advantages: his father had influence, he had good potential, he had a good standing and was of higher cultivation. But even with all this something was still off, and he couldn't put his finger on it.
Deno slowly grew closer, each step making Link more and more nervous.
All the audience's breath was held in, this kid had to be stupid to put his entire future on the line for someone else, if Link had anyone he didn't like, he would always make sure to put in a good word with his father to get their cultivation resources cut off, they would have a tough time at the market and nobody would even converse let alone get close to them.
Deno realised that something was up, all the other disciples in the cafeteria were whispering to each other like low wind sighs and it wasn't quiet whispering or anything, they might as well be talking out loud cause he could hear them perfectly fine.
It didn't matter to him though, he didn't care who they were talking about but it probably had to do with the fat kid in front of him, the kid had to have been at most 7 and weighed like 75 kilograms.
The fat kid seemed to be done with beating the other kid to a pulp because he had suddenly dropped him out of nowhere. Deno had no business with either of them so he was indifferent to everything besides getting his food.
The cafeteria was enormous, fitting at least 150 disciples at once and stretching 90 feet long.
As Deno stomped past the two boys, Link sent a destructive kick flying out towards Deno's face to which Deno dodged with ease.
"Woah!"
"Holy!"
"D-did he just dodge?"
The entire crowd gasped at once realising Deno's smooth dodge. Deno had barely adjusted his posture and Link's kick went flying past him.
Link had begun to sweat, he placed all his power in that one move with his full speed and yet it was like nothing to this nobody. Impossible, surely it was a flunk, merely luck, nothing else, the boy hadn't moved from there so he must be shaking in his boots right now.
Deno hadn't even realised what had happened, he merely dodged out of instinct sensing the fat kid's lumpy leg move at him.
"What the hell? Watch where you're kicking dumbass."
Deno's stomach felt like it was eating him from the outside and getting stuck at this random sidequest pissed him off. Looking at the body he grinned.
'This kid'll be good to blow off steam.'
Deno thought.
Link's frown deepened as a result of his remark, his vein was bulging out of his forehead, how dare this pathetic kid make fun of him, did he not know who he was, was that why he was doing all this?
"How dare you, you, you mongrel."
Deno halted himself and looked at Link, his chunky greasy face didn't match his manner of speech. Chuckling to himself with cringe swallowing him whole Deno didn't know how to respond. Maybe he really had taken it too far calling a child stupid.
Seeing his amusement at himself simply speaking, Link had to end this bud in his side once and for all.
Link Placed one foot on the boy still recuperating on the ground and leapt into the air cocking his fist back in one swift motion and dashed at Deno.
Before Link could send out his devastating straight punch, Deno's forehead smashed into Link's peaches in midair causing his face to scrunch up in agony sending Link's soul into the heavens.