My first memory of my father is when I was five years old. I was playing in front of his bedroom door and the door was slightly open. He was talking to someone and I was looking at them. My father said, "Even though you tried to betray the family, I will forgive you." The person replied, "Why are you doing this?" The person was tied up with ropes and was obviously injured. I didn't see his face. I only saw my father sitting on his own throne and his indifferent gaze was looking at the person who was trembling with fear. "You are talented so I am giving you a chance."
Deep down, I loved this, when you look at everyone indifferently and yet everyone wants to please you, so I was always trying to do this. When I was a child, I stopped playing with my peers and started studying, but I ran into a wall called (Zheng Lao), my older half-brother who was a genius in business, our family's main business. Not only was he talented, but his mother's family was strong and supported him, unlike my mother's family who had introduced my mother to my father just to get close to him and please him. But I didn't give up, I studied and studied more than before. In fact, at that time, I was interested in becoming the next master of the family, so I was in competition with my older brother, but over the years I discovered that my brother's position was stable and it was impossible for me to surpass her.
When I was nine years old, my father brought back from one of his trips a young girl carrying a child. We were gathered at the gate waiting for him to come that day when he came with the woman and her child. Before they even set foot in the house, he announced that this was his third child. After that, he gave her a special wing, which raised many questions about the succession. After I had given up on the matter of the succession due to my weak position, a child less than a day old came and violently shook my older brother's place. This child's name was (Zing Fan). When I understood the matter, I was angry, but after I calmed down, I decided to leave the matters of the succession and not look at them again. Instead, I decided to become a person who could rely on himself without help from anyone.
At the age of ten, I bonded with a spirit, a fire spirit in the form of a snake. I was then called the "Fire Snake." I hated this nickname, but it stuck with me and I had no power to change it. At this time, I entered the "North Wind" sect, which was the largest sect in the north in the entire Hao Kingdom. The sect is divided into three levels. When you join, you become an external cultivator. After you reach the "Energy Refining" level, you become an internal disciple. When you reach the "Silver Body" stage, you become a true disciple. After that, if your level rises, you become an elder in the sect. If you are talented, you will become a disciple of the sect leader. I entered while feeling unwilling to train because I felt inferior to my elder brother. At the time, I thought that he would also excel me in martial arts, but I was wrong. It turned out that my elder brother's talent in martial arts was not equal to his business abilities.
After only three years I became an inner disciple of the sect. I was amazed at how quickly I cultivated. It took my big brother five years to become an inner disciple. Even my brother was jealous of this, which made me go through some things with him. When I became an inner disciple, I was interested in chemistry, where I discovered my talent after the sect's medical elder recommended me to the chemistry elder. He was a fourth-degree chemistry elder. That year, my mother also died of illness, which made me lose my greatest connection with the family. So I focused on chemistry, martial arts, and commerce. My life revolved around these three things. I wasn't talented in any of them, but I loved all three together. Things continued as they were. I would wake up at sunrise and train until noon, then study chemistry with the teacher until sunset, then spend the rest of the time studying commerce and the history of great families. During vacation, I would go to a country house near a waterfall and rest there without doing anything.
This continued until I was nineteen, six years after entering the inner sect. I had become a second-class alchemist. Although some people thought it was slow, in fact, my speed was good. Unlike other things that required bonding with spirits or strengthening the sea of Qi, alchemy was a difficult process of studying various herbs, creatures, and spirits. If you wanted to ascend to a higher level, you had to make very good second-class elixirs and you had to answer all the questions of the masters and experts well. Despite my great achievement, the family was busy with another matter, which was the younger brother who bonded with a golden spirit of the Light category. This category is the rarest category of spirits that gives many abilities close to cheating. With its golden ability, it became almost invincible. At this time, my achievement was incomparable to this achievement, even my father, who had never spoken to me in his life, praised it.
In this particular year, I had become a second-class alchemist, reached the silver body stage, and had great knowledge of trade. I had even learned military strategy and studied law and the principles of government. All of this qualified me to be the next master. If I were in another family, I would have been the next master without a doubt. But in the Zheng family, things were different. On one hand, there was the eldest brother who helped the Huo family control the north, thus making the Zheng family stronger. The Huo family was his mother's family, thus making his position much stronger. He also married into his mother's family, which gave him another trump card. As for the younger brother, whose life was hell because of Lao, who was always bullying and beating him, he had now become the most talented young man in the sect. The sect's master had even made him his number one disciple, which meant that he was supported by the sect. At that time, I was trying to strengthen myself relentlessly, but the war was just around the corner.
One day my father got sick which made things become very clear. I was twenty-four, Lao was twenty-nine and Fan was fifteen. The struggle for the throne was about to happen. At that time, both sides tried to make me join them to increase their legitimacy, but I refused both sides and left the main house and lived in a remote place in the middle of the city to show my rejection of the war that was going to happen. At that time, I had gotten rid of all my feelings towards that family, so it no longer mattered to me. I saw everything as trivial. I completed my studies and training. In that year, I became a fourth-level chemist. I was offered the position of master of chemistry after my master's death, but I refused the offer. Since the sect and the family were both in this war, I did not want to become part of either of them. I entered the golden body stage, which was an achievement that no one in the family could do, and even my soul had evolved to the golden level. At that moment, I thought that if I went to the family and displayed my talents, would I become one of the parties? But I removed the matter from my mind.
One day, while I was training, I was summoned to my father's palace. The palace that was a witness to the father's greatness has now become a grave. I remembered when I was a child and saw him threatening someone, but now I see an old man whose strength has failed him and who cannot prevent his sons from killing each other. When I saw him sitting, coughing loudly and holding a crutch to support his body, my tears were falling down my cheeks without stopping. When he saw me crying, he smiled and said, "You young man, why are you crying? I did not even name you. What kind of father would I be? I could not name my son. I did not give you anything so that I do not remember that I spoke to you, so why are you crying?? She feels pity for this old man. She does not feel it. You understand. You have to become a man." When I heard him talk like that, I became angry without realizing it. I clenched my fist without realizing it and looked at him with a determined look and said, "I'm sorry, you summoned me, clan leader. Is something wrong?" At that moment, all the feelings I had for this person disappeared and instead, there was a feeling of hatred towards him, pure hatred without any feelings. "You have now become a complete man. You have gotten rid of your feelings towards this old man. It doesn't matter. Listen to me, boy. This ring is my ring. It is a magic ring. This is what you will inherit from me. You can go now." I took the ring and went out after he said what he wanted, both my brothers were waiting for me and Lao was angry but Fan was looking at me like a predatory tiger, Lao said ((What does father want from you?? Did he appoint you as the head of the family?)) I looked at him and said with a smile ((No, the old man told me that I was a bad son who couldn't stop his brothers from fighting and kicked me out of the house so I'm going to the capital and I will create my own family)), then I went outside, and quickly set off out of the north.
On that day, after my departure, the north was engulfed in the flames of war between brothers, and as for me, I chose my name to (Yan Tzu)...