Cold sweat was pouring down Michael's back as he stared in distress at the furious Grandpa Yin. For the first time, he felt death approaching.
"Shit…" realising his mistake, Grandpa Yin cursed and retracted his killing intent "Sorry young man, I must have gotten carried away".
I can never piss this guy off he swore to himself internally. "That's okay Grandpa Yin, w…why are you so upset about this anyway?" He'd never heard from his family about Grandpa Yin, so he was quite perplexed as to why he had such a reaction to his story.
"Young man, you wouldn't happen to be in possession of a platinum token would you?" he asked seriously.
Michael was startled for a moment before reaching into his back pocket. He pulled out a linen cloth and slowly unwrapped it, it was indeed the Soaring Dragon Palace token his father gave him before his death.
He outstretched his hand with the token laying face-up, depicting the dragon dancing in the clouds "Is this the token you're talking about?"
Grandpa Yin took a closer look at the pendant before retrieving a seal from his sleeves, he then placed it on top of the token.
ROARRR
Upon contact with the seal, the token began to vibrate and let out a distinctive roar. Michael was so shocked that he almost dropped the damn thing.
"Grandpa Yin, what does this mean?" he asked cautiously.
Grandpa Yin retrieved his seal and slowly put it back into his sleeve. "Young man, would you like to hear a story?" he said with a wistful look.
Michael was about to nod his head but out of the corner of his eye he saw the still unconscious Jason who was now laying headfirst in the ground, like a bendy flagpole. The earlier Qi disruption must have flung him from the couch and into that comical position.
"Maybe we should put him to bed first" following his line of sight, Grandpa Yin suggested with smirk.
The fireplace was crackling away, projecting its warmth onto the seated Grandpa Yin and Michael.
With a childish grin, Grandpa Yin began his explanation. The tale was of a young beauty of the likes that one would rarely see in their lives, and like her beauty, her strength was top notch.
The beauty was captured by demonic cultivators who lived on the eastern sea. Usually, she would have no issues defending herself against throes of enemies, however this was a planned attack. The Sect Master of the demonic sect had learned of her pregnancy through despicable means and set the trap.
"Why would it matter if she was pregnant if she was so strong?" Michael asked curiously.
Grandpa Yin scratched his chin and smiled "I guess it makes sense that you don't know"
"When a woman is pregnant, the Dantian nourishes her womb with earthly Qi. The Dantian and the womb form a special connection when pregnant"
"As long as a woman is a cultivator, the Dantian ceases to produce Qi for the body and redirects the power to the womb. Any use of Qi will have a detrimental effect on the womb and therefore the unborn child" he explained carefully and concisely.
Realisation suddenly dawned on Michael "That's cruel" he said with disgust. How could someone plot against a pregnant woman when they're so defenceless.
Nodding, Grandpa Yin continued with his story "This beauty was captured by the demonic cultivators and were on their way back to the eastern seas. The demonic cultivators have an unspeakable ritual which uses the essence of a foetus still in a mother's womb"
Michael cringed at the terrible thought, subconsciously he gripped his hand into a fist.
"Suddenly, a masked gentleman with black hair flowing down his shoulders arrived in front of the convoy. He was dressed in a jet-black Taoist robe and held a sword at his waist" Grandpa Yin took his time to describe this unknown gentleman, seemingly revelling in the story himself.
"And then what happened??" he was so engrossed in the old man's storytelling, he forgot his manners and blurted out.
Grandpa Yin chuckled lightly "The gentleman looked around the convoy for a few seconds before disappearing, his silhouette melted into the shadows. He was gone".
"What!?" Michael stood up in shock "He just left her? Was he a coward?"
"Now now young man, where is your patience?" Grandpa Yin chastised with an amused look.
"The beauty who had got her hopes up, was crushed. The faint flicker of hope she saw was snuffed out as quickly as it appeared".
"However, in the next moment, from her cage in the convoy she suddenly appeared high above the demonic cultivators. Suddenly being so high in the sky she panicked before seeing the mask of the gentleman within close range"
"Before she could say anything, the gentleman held out a palm toward the ground from his high vantage point and muttered the word… Collapse" Grandpa Yin paused and looked over at Michael who was hanging off his every word.
"And just like that, a loud grinding sound was heard. One moment the demonic cultivators were staring up in the sky at him and the next… The whole area was decimated" he put great emphasis on the word decimated.
"But what happened? What do you mean decimated" Michael asked confusedly.
Grandpa Yin shook his head "There's no other way to describe it, one palm and they ceased to exist" he stated helplessly.
Great shock and admiration flooded through his very being as he imagined the scene. "Who was he? And how powerful was he?" Michael asked excitedly.
The old man got up from his seat "Much more powerful than me" he said with a grin. "As for his identity…" he paused and glanced at the token that was currently sitting on the table.
"He's the original owner of that token"
"…" Michael was dumbfounded, thoughts began speeding around in his head. That gentleman was Ancestor? But wait…
"Does that mean that the Beauty in the story was the Sect Master's daughter? T…The Sect Master of the Soaring Dragon Sect?" Connecting the dots, he asked Grandpa Yin emotionally.
Grandpa Yin smiled brightly, the wrinkles in his face becoming more prominent "Bingo!"
"Wow, Ancestor was that powerful?" he said with admiration. But there was one thing that wasn't adding up, why did Grandpa Yin become so upset when he mentioned the murder of his parents.
Seeing Michael's serious look of concentration, Grandpa Yin chuckled and softly said "The woman he saved was my grandmother, Maya Yin."
"What the f*** is going on??" he cried internally