Zhou Xinqiu arrived before Zhou He and for a time he looked at her with a guilty smile before the awkward silence was finally broken. "What did you want to give me?" Zhou Xinqiu raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly.
"Oh, yes.. well I need to tell you a story. Take a seat" Zhou He patted the chair in front and Zhou Xinqiu sat down.
"Quite a while ago, after the demon war had ended, a squad of lost demons passed by the Zhou sect and demanded us to abandon the sect and allow them to live here. Of course I disagreed and a fight broke out. Although I was barely able to defeat them, I was poisoned by the demon blood and was on the brink of death when a beautiful women approached me. She looked at me with decisive eyes and asked me one question, "I will cure the demon blood poison if you promise to take care of my child until the day of your death. If you promise to raise her into a good women who has good values and allow her to live a life of peace and happiness. Do you agree?" I didn't have a choice, and even if I did I would have chose to agree without hesitation. That child was you Qiu'er. She then gave me a locked case and told me to give it to you if you ever learned about your true bloodline and were put into danger. She stayed in the Zhou sect for a few days and one day when she went out to pick vegetables, the human guard found her and took her away. I never learned that woman's name nor where she was from or who she was. This is all I know about your past, I am sorry I do not know anything else." Qin Gong looked at the ground in sadness before looking up and seeing that Zhou Xinqiu had an expressionless face. He then took out a dark brown wooden case out from his ring and placed it on the table in front of him.
"You can unlock it by placing a drop of your blood on the seal. The woman told me if I were to ever try to open the case by taking some of your blood without you actively opening it, the case would release a poison 10 times worse than that of the poison that I was previously poisoned with."
"Thank you.. Father" Zhou Xinqiu stood up and accepted the case before placing it back down on the table and hugging Zhou He. "I'm not angry at you. No matter where I came from, you raised me, fed me, and sheltered me from all harm during almost my entire life. You will always forever be my father."
Zhou He began crying tears of sadness, relief, and happiness as he hugged Zhou Xinqiu even tighter. "Go my child, Open the case and take this spacial ring which you can store all your things in. In one week along with the other Zhou sect juniors, you will go to the central city of the yan empire and join any academy you like." Qin gong patted her shoulder before standing up straight again.
"But father.. what about the Golden Jade alliance..?" Zhou Xinqiu worriedly said.
"Hey! Look at your father, I am not a little ant who can be stepped on! Not by those little Golden Jade traitors at least!" Zhou He laughed and pushed her out the door before closing it.
Inside her little cave, Zhou Xinqiu sat on the cultivation mat with Qin gong sitting beside her and the mysterious locked case in front of her. The locked case seemed to have a symbol inscribed on it which looked like it represented the word demon, however this symbol gave off an extremely strong blood vitality.
"Ah little fool, open the case and stop just staring at it. Staring at it wont make all your problems disappear. In fact it's quite the opposite! Open the case, Increase your strength and find your mother!" Qin Gong yawned and looked at the expressionless Zhou Xinqiu. Although he didn't know it yet, these words would be the path that paved out her journey and motivation for a long time to come.
She slit her wrist and a drop of blood dropped onto the seal. In this moment, it seemed like a great array had been broken. A visible circle of qi surrounded the locked case with many intricate designs and symbols within the circle. One by one, the symbols and designs began to disappear until the circle it self split into two pieces before disappearing completely itself.
Zhou Xinqiu then opened the unlocked case and found four jade scrolls along with an ancient black ring sitting within a piece of soft leather. This ring looked similar to the ring that Zhou He had given her. After she touched the ring her mind was suddenly sucked in and she saw a dark red robe with beautiful designs on it that gave off an extremely mysterious aura. Beside it was a great sword which shined a bright silver color. Right above the hilt and between the blade was a dark red crystal.
The great sword was very heavy and she was barely able to hold it dragging it on the ground. Qin Gong then appeared within the ring as well and saw these two items. Within the ring in the distant space was a barrier which had the same circular array that also had the word for demon in the center. Above this demon symbol was the number 1.
Zhou Xinqiu walked up to this array and had an abnormal temptation to insert her qi and blood into it. She put another drop of blood into this array, along with injecting it with some of her qi. The array began to spin in a circle before the elements in the array began to disappear once more and the array broke open. Behind this array was another big space that consisted of two more jade scrolls and a jade slip that had an extremely blazing hot aura permeating out from it.