Seven days ago at the Evermore estate a huge celebration was underway, nearly one hundred people were at the gathering.
People were talking enthusiastically, children were running around with other children, and some of the older children were even sparring.
"Senior Liam, it seems that dragons are truly born in the house of dragons, it is not a lie." someone spoke to him.
"Indeed, I reckon this is a one in a millennium type of talent." another person interjected.
Liam Evermore was the father of Anissa Evermore, if he had been part of the Heavenly Divine Demon Sect he could have been an elder as he was a cultivator at the Quasi stage of the Heavenly Eye realm.
He bowed slightly to the two greeting him.
"It has nothing to do with me, I have mediocre talent and got lucky enough to reach the Heavenly Eye realm within seven hundred years, how can I possibly compare to the guest of honor today."
As he said this he looked up the stairs where Anissa was descending.
"Brother Liam, I wonder if you can give me some pointers on how to raise children, my useless son is nearing two hundred years old and still hasn't reached the Actualized Ethereal Core."
"I figured that no one in this family could approach brother Liam's talent, but it seems your daughter is dead set on becoming the next family head."
As Anissa reached the bottom of the staircase, she was instantly crowded by her family.
"Cousin, please come look at my sword technique."
"No no me first."
Anissa was at a loss for what to do.
Thankfully she was saved when her father approached her which scared away everyone flocking around her.
"RUN, IF THE SWORD DEMON CATCHES YOU, HE'LL PUNISH YOU TO REVIEW YOUR SWORD TECHNIQUES FOR TEN YEARS!"
One of the fleeing family members yelled.
Liam was stunned, was he really that scary?
It was true that despite being a loose cultivator, he had managed to establish his own faction and raise his family from being common soldiers of a mortal kingdom to a level almost on par with a small sect.
Within his rise to glory, he had to show off his stunning swordsmanship to keep enemies at bay. After all, there was a saying in the cultivation world, to grow the reddest rose you must feed it blood.
"How are you feeling, is your cultivation stable now?"
"Yes, father, I've successfully consolidated my divine sense."
Divine sense was an ability that was a qualitative upgrade to spirit sense, in addition to acting as a sensory field that can spread to five hundred meters in the Quasi Spiritual Awakening realm it also allowed the user to directly attack the opponent's mind, of course it could be used in different ways, it just depended on how each individual utilized their divine sense.
"I've heard you've also perfected the fifth form of the Ocean Splitting Sword."
Anissa withdrew her sword and quickly demonstrated each exact motion present in the fifth form.
Liam's usually uptight expression with furrowed brows slowly faded away, and a smile dawned over his face, maybe in a hundred years or so he would be able to retire and enjoy a quiet life by the lake.
"I-"
Just as he was about to say something, his divine sense caught a hold of something rapidly emerging from the ground.
"EVERYONE BACK UP!"
Just as he said this a figure shot out of the grounds at speeds that he could not even describe.
The moment the figure appeared everyone knew it was bad news, the sheer presence and the pressure the figure carried was enough to knock have people vomiting.
"Dao Lord…." Liam's face had quickly distorted into a frustrated expression.
A person, a man had emerged from the ground he had a dark red robe, but that was all they could make out. Even for him looking directly at a Dao Lord exhibiting their aura was too much.
"Could I ask who this venerable one is?"
Liam fell to one knee and asked while forsaking his pride, he knew his pride wasn't worth anything in the face of a Dao Lord's wrath.
Anissa who had fallen on both knees and could only look at her father humbling himself, he had never humbled himself in his entire life, she had heard tales of him defeating people in realms above him.
She wanted to tell him to stand his ground and fight like a warrior but she suddenly felt a small hand grab her leg.
She looked down at her leg and saw her little sister grabbing her while trembling uncontrollably, at this moment she knew that he bowed only for the sake of his family, she could only grit her teeth and watch powerlessly.
"Those I deem worthy address me as Dao Lord Fury." a voice sounded from the figure.
Even the sound-waves emitted from him seemed to clash against people's very soul, as if they could easily shatter them if they wanted to.
"Dao Lord Fury wha-"
*slash*
A distinct slashing noise sounded, and an arm fell from the torso of Liam Evermore. At first glance it may seem inconsequential, but it was commonly known that if a Dao Lord struck you, those wounds would never heal unless you yourself were a Dao Lord or you had some sort of secret method.
Anissa wanted to scream out, but she heard a mental transmission from her father.
"Don't say anything, or he'll lash out and kill everyone, stay calm."
This message was broadcast to every member of the family there.
She did all she could do and covered up her little sister's eyes from watching any more of this.
"Seems you have a listening, problem, don't question me and just answer, where am I?"
"You are on the dark side of the Etheria continent, governed by the three great demonic sects, they all have Dao Lords presiding as their leaders, this place is the Evermore estate."
"I see, well, this was helpful. Unfortunately, I don't need anyone to know of my existence just yet."
At that second Anissa saw her father's soul manifestation appear before her, he had finally managed to manifest it and it was a shield an aquamarine shield which radiated feelings of life.
A soul manifestation was something that would appear in the heavenly Eye realm and served as a weapon, tool or even support to a cultivator, it was the expression of the cultivator's deepest needs and at that moment Liam knew he had to defend his daughter.
At this moment the Dao Lord merely slightly swung the sleeve of his robe and that was the last sight Anissa remembered.
Hours later when she awoke, the entire estate was in ruins and the sister in her arms was no longer breathing.
Only she had lived, only her. Her father who could have saved himself didn't even have a corpse to bury anymore.
In a second, she had lost a century's worth of love and gained an eternity's worth of hate.