As Rose was about to continue her story, a voice called out to Leo.
Leo! Leo!" A youth with an average face and a robust build ran over, shouting for Leo.
Leo and Rose turned their heads and saw that the person calling out to Leo was actually his closest friend, Alex Crimson.
Alex was the grandson of the chief of the punishment hall of the family, Grand Elder Avalon, one of the demigods of the Crimson family. He was one year older than Leo and was born with a Rank 5 fire affinity. He had already managed to master the Crimson family hereditary mana refining technique, "The Red Lotus Scripture," to the bright Orange Core stage. He was one of the geniuses being groomed by the family.
The moment the outer members of the Crimson family reach the Blue Core stage, they are able to adopt the Crimson family name with their descendants if they wish while also receiving the same treatment as a direct descendant of the family. Grand Elder Avalon was one of the elders who adopted the Crimson name, and as his descendant, Alex will naturally inherit the name too.
Within Leo's generation in the family, there are also quite a few geniuses: Rian, the greatest genius of them, Rose, Noah, Alex, and Jackson, the son of Augustus's third brother.
Because of Elijah's personal nurturing, the youngest son of the patriarch, Rian Crimson, had already refined his mana core to the Dim Yellow stage at the age of 11, which had never been heard of in the whole world.
There were many members of the same generation as Leo in the family who despised him but were not able to fully bully him into their hearts, as he was the patriarch's son. Those who often bullied him sometimes met with mishaps that nobody knows what causes them except Leo, like in the case of David and his underlings, whom nobody believed were hurt by Leo as he hadn't yet formed his mana core.
Since the induction of mana five hundred years ago, Blue Planet has become a world where cultivation is everything. For someone who had not formed his mana core by the age of thirteen, Leo was destined to be considered trash and held in contempt by everyone.
The only true friend he had was Alex, who didn't look down on him, as he knew Leo was actually stronger than most of their generations. This, which he discovered through their regular sparring.
Leo met Alex when he was once training in the outer forest surrounding the estate at the age of 10. Seeing Leo was stronger than the rumors portrayed, Alex decided to ask him to be his sparring partner, which Leo agreed to. And from there, their friendship was established.
"What's that about? Can't you just walk over quietly rather than shouting like a barbarian?" Leo asked, annoyed. He took another deep breath to clear the noise in his mind.
"Relax man!"
"Good day, sister Rose. Can I take you out for lunch today?"
"Hmph!"
Rose smacked his head in response while shooting him a fierce look. Alex had always tried to hit on her whenever he saw her.
"How fierce." Alex's tone remained unfazed by her glare.
"Alex!" Rose suddenly called out to him in a coquettish voice. Her beautiful eyes stared into those of Alex. "Do you really wish to hear an answer from me? I will accompany you to lunch if you can defeat me in a duel."
Alex was frozen in shock; he was not expecting Rose to suddenly speak to him in a flirtatious manner. "Oh, sister Rose, I'm sorry, I was just joking," responded Alex while casting her a sideways glance, as he knew the present him was not even close to her match. He did not want to be beaten to a pulp like the other victims of Rose in the family.
Alex turned back to Leo and said, "Man, yesterday was really hot. I really wish I had followed you guys out yesterday. Have you heard about what happened at the Frost family estate after you lost consciousness yesterday?
No! Replied candidly, Leo.
"That was what I wanted to tell him before you interrupted us," said Rose, still fuming with anger at his interruption.
The three of them continued walking towards the family martial arts field as Alex continued with the story.
.....
The previous day at the Frost clan,
A large, luxurious hall was erected alone in the southern part of the Frost estate. This hall was the family meeting hall of the Frost family.
Presently, inside the hall, there were many people. On the large patriarch seat at the extreme end of a long table sat an old man dressed in a white suit with a blue lotus embroidered on it. This man was the patriarch of the clan, "Demigod Westley."
On the other smaller seats surrounding the table sat the various blue and magenta core elders of the family.
Only one elder, the son of Westley and Adamson's adoptive father, didn't sit down. He was crying on the floor while holding Adamson's corpse in his arms.
Witnessing this, the other elders didn't console him but only condemned the man.
"Didn't we tell you to banish this boy away from the clan?"
"He had tarnished the family name several times without being reprimanded due to your protection."
"What is the usefulness of talent without good behavior?"
"He brought great danger to the clan by attacking a direct descendant of the Crimson family in daylight. Did he want to bring destruction to the clan?"
"Silence!"
As the various elders continued condemning the man, a powerful voice abruptly resounded from the patriarch sitting throughout the hall.
"Would all of you just stop your whining already?" Commanded the Patriarch, as he could no longer bear their criticism towards his son. The temperature in the hall instantly dropped by several degrees as he released his demigod aura on all the elders in the hall.
"Unfortunately, the issue has already happened. I called you all here today to discuss the solution to the issue."
"I will kill both of them! How dare they kill my only son?"Interrupted Harrison, who was holding Adamson's body, with his killing intent filling the hall.
On hearing this, all the elders in the hall except Westley were stunned, as they didn't know he was the biological father of Adamson.
Ten years ago, when Adamson was adopted, seeing the little resemblance between him and Harrison, some people started spreading the rumor that Adamson was Harrison Bastard's son, born outside the wedlock.
A week later, some of the people spreading this rumor suddenly disappeared from the planet's surface, and they were never heard from again till today. They were all killed secretly by people sent by Harrison.
Other people, fearing for their lives, immediately stopped discussing this matter, thereby putting an end to the rumor before it spread like wildfire. Only the patriarch was aware that Harrison was Adamson's father.
Without warning, the dome of the hall was destroyed by sharp wind blades, and an old man with a head full of white hairs, carrying a sword on his back inserted in its sheath, flew into the hall. His movements were fast, as only Westley noticed his movement into the hall. Others only discovered him after he remained floating in the center of the hall.
Upon sensing him, all the elders in the hall could feel the surrounding wind being submissive to the invader.
"A strong wind, Demigod!" Westley exclaimed in his mind.
On seeing a stranger suddenly appear floating in the center of the hall, one of the elders inquired as he was about to attack the invader, "Who are you? How dare you invade the Frost family hall?"
The invader's eyes turned swiftly toward the elder.
The elder felt suffocated by the invader's gaze. He felt as if he were a prey ready to be pounded on by a predator. His entire life suddenly flashed in his eyes within a few seconds, as he abruptly felt a sharp pain coming from his mind before he lost his consciousness permanently. He was killed by the sword aura, which shot out from the invader's eyes.
A Magenta core elder was killed with just a simple glance.