Huge shelves standing in the area, organized and lined up with an aisle each of its sides. This was the study hall of Situ Clan—one of the rising clans in the Land of Huan Li, where most of the Situ Clan's descendants may have gathered to find skill techniques in this building.
Although such activities are common among other clans as well.
With the echoing footsteps of the floor, rolling of scrolls, and the clack sound slips—can be heard everywhere. About this study hall, it has 3 floors, each consisting of the organizational order level of each skill technique that belongs to the Situ Clan. That being said, it is also guarded by an elder.
On the 2nd floor, a young man is suspiciously taking scrolls from the shelves. His actions were sneaky for some reason as he hid two scrolls behind his back before quickly gathering the rest on the table and placing them on his arms.
"This should be enough," he whispered.
He was dressed in a gray and black garment, adorned with a subtle black crow pattern embedded into the fabric—the insignia of a particular clan.
Preparing to descend down the stairs, he was slowly hoping not to get noticed, until he reached the reception area where an elderly elder in his mid-30s looked a little smuggish now with crossed arms and closed eyes. Frowning slightly until he heard familiar sneaky footsteps. He opened his other eyes slowly, carefully checking who these footsteps belonged to.
"Situ Hu, where do you think you're going?" said the elder arrogantly.
Gradually, a figure of a fifteen-year-old young man named Situ Hu turned his head with a busted face, holding a large number of high-level scroll techniques.
"Hehe… Elder, I-I was about to learn these scrolls… You see.." Situ Hu replied.
"Situ Hu, how many times have I warned you that you can't learn these high-level techniques yet? You're not strong enough to master all of these in one night. Do you even know your father will yell at me if I tolerate your behavior like this," the elder exclaimed.
At the same time, the other clan members on the side noticed the commotion and listened, which had made Situ Hu to feel shame once again, as always. However, he got used to it since he had been doing this for a very long time out of the desire to learn high-level techniques.
Especially, in his current situation in the clan, to be the youngest son among the five sons of Situ Chen or known as the Lord of Situ Clan. When his other older brothers hit the age of fourteen, they were all doing excellent work on mastering the higher-level skill techniques of Situ Clan but him? He was late a year, and the expectations of other people among his older brothers was what also had expected of him to be able to do.
Moreover, all his older brothers had left to pursue their own lives, some moving to different regions and empires. He was the only son remaining in the clan, hoping to enter a prestigious academy. This was one of the reasons he sought to learn high-level techniques—his performance in duels would be on full display, bringing greater prestige to the Situ Clan for producing excellent descendants.
With a pout, Situ Hu's expression shifted into guilt, tightening the grip with the scrolls.
Not long after, the elder extended his arms and said, "Give me those back," demandingly.
There was a clear hesitation in his eyes, but then the elder beckoned him demandingly with raised eyebrows. Situ Hu was left with no choice and slowly approached the reception before putting the scrolls on the table.
"Mmm!" the elder beckoned again, as if telling that there's more. Now sighing heavily, Situ Hu completely surrendered and pulled out two scrolls on his back, gripped by his belt. Putting it down with a long face.
"I warn you this one last time, you're banned from going up to the second floor… Do you also see this sign?" He pointed to the sign behind him saying, 'Book theft is not allowed' which he had put on himself.
Then continued, "And this floor," gesturing to their surroundings, "is the only accessible for you. You got that?" After hearing the elder's warning, Situ Hu nodded quietly.
Following that, the young man walked on the vacant area of a group of shelves while hearing the small taunt laugh of others who were watching him but he wasn't paying any attention to them.
As he arrived in the area, he quickly picked up a random book with a heavy heart, now leaning onto the rigid shelves, murmuring, "He really thinks he's in charge of the study hall now just because he was recently promoted. It's funny, considering he's the one who sneaks around with scrolls himself. That's quite a double standard," and smirked slightly.
It was amusing for him as he thought about it, since he had caught the elder sneaking to steal scrolls from the study hall during the night oftenly, everytime Situ Hu happened to pass by there when getting some fresh air.
Frankly, even if you are an elder of the clan, sneaking in the middle of the night in study hall is not even allowed since it is one of the rules that the previous head leader, Situ Hu's grandfather, set for other purposes. Always needed to tell the leader first before entering it.
Now, Situ Hu spent the rest of his afternoon in the study hall, reading random scrolls and slips that he's not even interested in. Wasting his time on reading the unimportant things doesn't even help him to grow stronger in order to match his other brothers.
With the last bit of the words in the scroll, he finished, then just randomly thought if he did something wrong in his practice that he kept failing on mastering those scrolls. He was quite certain that nothing was wrong with his body but maybe the way he attempted to learn these scrolls.
"I'm at the 2nd Triad with 4-stars. I'll be reaching into a 5-star soon. If I could at least master a 5-star skill technique in that 2nd floor in our study hall, I might even skip two stars to advance to the 3rd Triad," he stated.
Needless to say, in the Huan Li Continent, people have their own way of determining one's strength. This is called the Triad Ascension, which consists of 12 levels. After every 3 levels, the degree of mastery increases, such as the 5-star mastery of the first 3 levels of Triad Ascension.
But even though he thought about it, he just can't understand why. In the end, he dismissed that thought and continued to read.
The following day, when Situ Hu was walking around the residence he happened to see his father talking to an unfamiliar man. This individual seems to be from a different clan or faction but Situ Hu couldn't tell where they came from. These two unfamiliar individuals wore light and warm garments, and the man appeared to be around his mid-30s.
Beside this man, there was another young man who's likely to be the same age as him, with the same clothing. Then he sneakily hid behind walls and listened attentively with their conversation that he barely could hear.
Who are these people? He thought.
"... poison… mother… discipline… child…" With Situ Hu locked his gaze towards them, his father reacted dumbfoundedly, maybe because of the words of the man. He was unsure what this could be since only those few four words could be heard in his distance.
Later on, his father's voice replied, "... see… my best…"
Situ Hu was stuck there in confusion, with his attentive listening to their conversation, the young man standing on their side suddenly met his gaze causing Situ Hu to get startled and quickly hid back into the wall.
"He saw me," he murmured.
After that, he didn't even bother to look again and just decided to leave the area.
…
Lord Situ standing in front of the individual who is his younger brother, Situ Yan and young nephew, Situ Qian, son of his brother who happens to be the same age as his youngest one.
"Brother, you have my thanks. I will let you take care of him, after two years, I will come back to take him," said Situ Yan.
Then with a nod, Lord Situ replied, "Hm, hope to see you again in two years."
Gesturing Situ Qian by his father, he didn't even hesitate to think about it and went to Situ Chen's side.
"Farewell, brother," Situ Yan bowed and completely left the scene.
Now alone with his nephew, Lord Situ's gaze was focused on the young man in front of him. Thinking back to what his brother had said, he still felt dumbfounded at what this child had done.
He murdered his own mother, his own kin.
That is the reason why his brother entrusted his son to Lord Situ, to discipline him. Though normally, those individuals, despite their age, who commit serious crimes have to be detained by the Severance Sect.
The Severance Sect is a faction with righteous principles and rules, and they train their sect members to detain those who commit crimes and right the wrongs in the world. Other than that, they were the sect that nearly held absolute authority in their Liuhe Dominion, the land occupied by the clan within the Huan Li Continent.
He may not know the real story of the murder of sister-in-law, but Lord Situ still accepted the request of his brother to take the child in temporarily even though it's a little concerning.
Though he came to conclude that this young man was not the kind of person who would think irrationally. In his eyes, his nephew looked calm yet he had that fierce expression on his face. Looking at him with pure confidence even after Lord Situ figured about his issue. But for now, no one knows about it except for him.
"I will send someone to lead you to your room," Lord Situ began, "From now on, this will be the place you will be staying until your father comes back to you."
"Understood.." he replied.
…
The zoned out Situ Hu, now sitting on the courtyard. His gaze was locked up into the sky which was painted by the sunset's soft, warm shade. Reminiscing his mother's last memories he had with her before she left.
His mother left him and his father when he was at the age of 6, he barely remembers her face but that warm feeling still stayed. The last time they had spent time together was in this courtyard, the same time as now; during the sunsets.
Though he doesn't know why his mother left, he only thought that she left because his father and her had parted ways. He heard them arguing one time in their room, and the day after that, his mother left with the reason that she had to leave far away to find something. But what could that something be? Is it more important than his father and him? Yet, he doesn't resent her for leaving them since there's nothing to resent her for.
Ending his thoughts with his mother, he stood up and the young Situ Hu began practicing fiercely his swordsmanship and the other skills he had learned since childhood. He swiftly moves his sword smoothly in each direction, ascending and descending from the ground causing the leaves on his surroundings to rustle.
Moving in a circular motion, his red, fiery Soul Flame blazed through the sword, sending a powerful force that sliced the air horizontally. The pressure of his slashing let out a forceful radiation as he moved into the area, not leaving it untouched effortlessly.
The Soul Flame is a common element in practitioners across the Huan Li Continent, manifesting both in the body and soul. Each individual has a Soul Flame Core in their inner consciousness, which is important to protect as it spiritually and mentally connects them to their soul. If failing to protect this, a possible madness the individual could get into.
With his intense training, sweat began to form on his forehead, and the sweat pooling into his palm as he clutched tightly the hilt of his sword. After that, he stood there for a moment until he heard a foot step making the leaves on the ground squeak.
He knew someone was behind him, he slowly turned over his shoulders and spotted his father.