Ten years passed without any interruption. Then ten more. And another ten more.
It was about at this time that Lu Wei began to become suspicious. In fact, he was less suspicious and more certain.
One day, he invited Zhou Fan and the old man into the library's basement and seriously asked them.
"Father, Uncle, are you two cultivators?" He asked seriously.
The old man sighed. It was a sigh of relief.
"It's been hard to hide it from you all these years. Let me explain it to you." The old man said.
"I was born in this city a few hundred years ago. At a young age, I began to cultivate. At that time, due to multiple events, I had already come into contact with the cultivation world, and I did not like it a single bit." The old man said.
"I had seen the cruelty and competition that others went through, a constant struggle for more and more power. I did not wish that for myself. On one side, I saw an old couple peacefully living their last days together, and on another, I saw cultivators killing endlessly for the slightest gain. Even those who are self proclaimed as righteous have killed thousands of people intentionally. Unintentionally, they have probably killed hundreds of thousands. Those were not exactly accidents, but the results of not caring." The old man explained.
"It did not take long for me to choose to hide my cultivation. Although I wanted to live a peaceful life, I must admit that I am somewhat of a hypocrite. I continued to cultivate, wanting to see how far I could go. I do not know if I have reached my limit, but here I am today." The old man finished.
Lu Wei took everything in.
"I don't blame you for hiding it from me. But I am curious, what is your cultivation?" Lu Wei asked.
"3rd level soul formation." The old man answered.
Lu Wei's jaw literally dropped. "Wow." He said after a moment.
"I know it is quite good, but don't tell anyone." The old man said jokingly.
Lu Wei nodded and turned to Zhou Fan.
"And what about you uncle? If father is that strong, then you must be as well." He said with excitement.
"My cultivation is okay." Zhou Fan said.
"What level?" Lu Wei asked.
The old man paid attention as well. He had always been curious.
"Somewhere around the levels of cultivation." Zhou Fan answered.
"But what realm?" Lu Wei asked.
"Above the 1st realm." Zhou Fan answered.
"And below the space shattering realm?" Lu Wei asked.
"Perchance." Zhou Fan said.
"You can't just say perchance, uncle." Lu Wei said.
"Alright, this is obviously a sensitive topic. Not everyone likes to share their cultivation." The old man said.
Although he was curious, he respected Zhou Fan enough to stop it there.
"I understand, father." Lu Wei said before turning to look Zhou Fan in the eye.
"One day, I will become strong enough to see your cultivation." He said seriously.
"Good luck with that." Zhou Fan chuckled.
After discovering that his father and Zhou Fan had a high cultivation base, Lu Wei felt much more relieved. He had always worried that something would happen to them, but it seemed that his worry was unnecessary.
50 years passed calmly.
Despite living in the same city without changing their appearance, nobody got suspicious of them or even mentioned cultivation.
Firstly, they were just two minor characters. Nobody would pay too much attention to librarians. Secondly, it was not uncommon for a mortal to become a Qi gathering cultivator.
It would simply be assumed that they had just barely treaded upon the path of cultivation if anyone ever noticed it.
As a whole new generation was born, the old man began to start sighing. It was different from the usual. It was a sigh mixed with a bit of relief.
"I am glad that I get to see new generations bloom with time. Perhaps some random child from this city will one day become the ruler of this world. Nothing is impossible." The old man said.
"I agree." Zhou Fan said.
If Lu Wei's innate gift could exist, then it seemed that anything was truly possible.
30 years passed quietly, before another crisis overcame the city. On a normal day, the sky suddenly seemed to turn red as a giant array covered the city.
From beyond the city walls, laughter could be heard.
"Demonic cultivators." The old man said.
From the sky, a great pressure descended.
"A soul formation realm demonic cultivator!" The old man exclaimed as his eyes widened.
A woman appeared above the city, dressed in red robes.
"I've heard legends of a… what was it again, hidden sword king? Whatever, you come out and fight me, or this city will be destroyed." The woman said.
Zhou Fan tossed the old man a piece of black cloth. The old man tied it over his face and flew into the sky. No matter what, he could not allow the city to be destroyed.
"Are there so many soul formation demonic cultivators that you can send them to die in any city?" The old man asked, attempting to stop any sort of fight before it happened.
"I like the way you talk. Take my attack!" The unreasonable woman shouted before pointing a finger at the old man.
A normal sized finger formed from blood Qi appeared and shot towards the old man at a fast speed. The old man took out a sword from his hidden spatial ring and covered it in sword Qi and air Qi.
He sliced it and a crescent formed that sliced through the finger and continued towards the woman. The woman shot out ten fingers in succession. 3 fingers were blocked before the crescent dissipated.
The old man began to rapidly slash at the woman while the woman shot countless fingers towards him.
Meanwhile, other demonic cultivators began to enter the city. The old man noticed this, and some of his attacks focused on the weaker demonic cultivators.
They were killed instantly, but this allowed the woman to pierce the old man's shoulder.
The old man, suffering from the injury, had his combat strength lowered. Without hesitation, the woman was about to kill the old man. Suddenly, she backed away at a speed she hadn't shown before.
A black hand pierced through the void and grabbed the back of her neck, ripping her spine out of her body, before disappearing.