Tiger Instructor flew through the air and landed atop Cyan Nether Main Peak.
His calm gaze swept over Yun ngyao, Elder Bai, the Golden Holy Dragon, and the others who had been knocked unconscious by the powerful blast of energy. A hint of softness appeared on his stern face.
He gently laid Hong Yu on the ground. With a slight shake of his hand, the ancient ring on his left index finger glowed with a faint, dark light, and a translucent jade bottle appeared in his palm.
Tiger Instructor tossed the jade bottle to Feng Xue Xin. "Please help give this to them!"
"Alright!"
Feng Xue Xin froze for a mont before nodding.
He twisted open the cap of the jade bottle, and a faint, dicinal aroma imdiately drifted out. It was utterly refreshing; just slling it seed to clear the mind and soothe the spirit.
"This is..."
Feng Xue Xin's eyes lit up as he carefully tipped the Pill out of the bottle.
HISS!
Luoo Xiaoguai and the others all gasped.
Lying in Feng Xue Xin's hand were two perfectly round, erald-green Pills. On the surface of each Pill was a single pattern that pulsed with a profound aura.
Pills were categorized into nine grades.
Grades one to three were simply called Pills. Grades four to six were known as Spirit Pills. Starting from the Seventh Grade, they were called Celestial Spirit Pills, Divine-level Spiritual Pills, and Holy Level Spirit Pills, respectively.
The appearance of a Pill Pattern was the sign of a Pill reaching the Fourth Grade!
"A Fourth-Grade Pill? Wh-who is this guy? To think he'd just casually hand out Fourth-Grade Pills?" Tie Shou gulped.
Luoo Xiaoguai and Feng Xue Xin exchanged a glance, then turned in unison to look at Tiger Instructor, who was carefully feeding a Spirit Pill to Hong Yu.
This burly middle-aged man had appeared out of nowhere, annihilated the mighty Demon Owl with an incredibly bizarre technique, and was now casually handing out Fourth-Grade Pills. A Fourth-Grade Pill! Throughout the entire Southern Ten Nations, such an item was considered a supre treasure.
To think, Wang Jiankun had been willing to risk universal condemnation just to attack Hong Yu for a Fourth-Grade Pill, the Void Heaven Creation Pill!
But this Tiger Instructor had just tossed them over like they were nothing. Feng Xue Xin shook the jade bottle; there were at least two or three more inside. He was montarily dazed, then smacked his lips and muttered, "Fourth-Grade Pills... I wonder what they taste like!"
"You glutton! Hurry up and give the Spirit Pills to Elder Bai and the Holy Dragon!"
Luoo Xiaoguai scowled and smacked him.
"I'm doing it, I'm doing it!"
Feng Xue Xin clutched his head and hurriedly stuffed the two Spirit Pills into the mouths of Elder Bai and the Golden Holy Dragon.
The Spirit Pills lted the instant they entered their mouths.
Elder Bai and the Golden Holy Dragon, who had been on the verge of death just monts before, slowly opened their eyes. The grueso wounds on their bodies began to heal at a rate visible to the naked eye. On the other side, Hong Yu had also taken a Spirit Pill. With Tiger Instructor's help, he sat cross-legged and began to regulate his internal energy.
After the day's events, Hong Yu was utterly exhausted.
The series of battles had already left him depleted, and the final, sudden burst of the Mysteries of Martial Arts had drained nearly every last ounce of his strength.
Even now, despite the healing properties of the Fourth-Grade Pill, his body still felt incredibly weak.
Three full hours passed. By the ti the sky began to darken, Hong Yu had finally awoken completely.
The mont he opened his eyes, Hong Yu reflexively darted to one side, his expression turning grim as he scanned his surroundings.
Only then did he realize that Tiger Instructor, Feng Xue Xin, Elder Bai, the Golden Holy Dragon, Yun ngyao, and the others were all sitting nearby, watching him with smiles on their faces.
Hong Yu froze. "Uncle Hu? Master? Yaoyao? Why are you all here? Where's the Demon Owl?"
His mind was still stuck in the middle of his duel with the Demon Owl.
"Master, your injuries?"
Hong Yu asked, stunned.
Elder Bai gazed at Hong Yu with a placid look, his weathered face filled with relief and pride. "Thanks to Tiger Instructor's Spirit Pill, I've already recovered forty to fifty percent!"
"Yaoyao, what about you?"
Yun ngyao shook her head. "Brother Feng and Little Sister Xiaoguai were protecting . I'm fine!"
"Good."
Hong Yu nodded, then his expression shifted. "Where's Xingtian?"
"Right here..."
Tiger Instructor's hoarse voice sounded out. He was holding Xingtian in both hands.
Hong Yu turned toward the voice, and his entire body trembled.
Xingtian, who was once shimring silver and incomparably majestic, was now a wreck. Its limbs hung limply at its sides, and a massive wound pierced straight through its chest and out its back. It lay motionless in Tiger Instructor's arms.
'This all happened because it was protecting !'
Hong Yu took a deep breath. Ignoring the strange looks from the others, he solemnly took Xingtian into his own arms. Speaking as if to himself, he said, "I'm sorry, old friend. My weakness is what led to you being hurt like this. But don't you worry. The next ti we fight side-by-side, I promise I'll be stronger!"
The Profound Celestial Tower within his body emitted a soft light that enveloped Xingtian, drawing it into the tower's internal space.
Strictly speaking, Xingtian wasn't a living creature. It couldn't die unless it was completely destroyed.
Of course, given the severity of its current injuries, it was unlikely to recover anyti soon.
After stowing Xingtian away, Hong Yu turned to Tiger Instructor and asked, puzzled, "Uncle Hu, how did you get here?"
Tiger Instructor didn't answer, instead changing the subject. "Young Master, please allow to explain the details to you later. Right now, Miss ng Yao's condition is the most important thing. It seems she's recently consud many powerful supplents, which has triggered the cold poison in her body. If she doesn't receive effective treatnt within half a month, I'm afraid..."
"What? Half a month?"
Hong Yu was alard. "Uncle Hu, do you have a way to cure the cold poison in Yaoyao's body?"
"I do."
Tiger Instructor nodded. "But I must take her away."
"Where to?"
"Away from the Fengyue Kingdom. Away from the Southern Ten Nations, even. To a place very, very far away."
Tiger Instructor fell silent for a mont before continuing, "If I take her with , it might beco extrely difficult for you two to ever see each other again. It could be years, or even decades. You might never et again in this lifeti. But... I can save her life."
"Brother, don't you want anymore?"
Yun ngyao's eyes instantly turned red. Biting her lower lip, she grabbed Hong Yu's arm, her watery, dark eyes fixed on him.
"Don't cry, Yaoyao. Brother would never abandon you!"
Hong Yu dotingly patted the back of her cold hand and looked at Tiger Instructor. "Can't I go with you?"
Tiger Instructor shook his head. "No."
He hesitated for a mont, then stated again with certainty, "My master gave instructions. I can only take Miss ng Yao. Not you."
"Your master?"
Hong Yu was taken aback.
With a wry smile, Tiger Instructor flicked a finger. A Token materialized and floated above his and Hong Yu's heads, emitting a faint curtain of light that enveloped them both.
At the sa ti, outside, Feng Xue Xin and the others stared in confusion. "What's going on? Where did Tiger Instructor and Hong Yu go?"
Elder Bai's white eyebrows twitched. He murmured, "It's a Barrier. Legends say that so experts whose cultivation has reached a Heaven- and Earth-penetrating level possess the power to alter the very rules of the world. They can destroy a kingdom with a wave of their hand and shield the five senses of others with a single thought. They are standing right in front of us, yet we cannot see, touch, or hear them."
"What? Th-then what in the world is Tiger Instructor's background?"
The group was stunned and bewildered.
Little did they know, Hong Yu was even more shocked than they were.
"Uncle Hu, what are you doing?"
Hong Yu said in astonishnt, looking at Tiger Instructor who had suddenly knelt on one knee before him.
Tiger Instructor looked up, his face grim. "This subordinate, Hu Tianwei, greets the Young Master! For all these years, I have failed to properly care for you, allowing you and Miss ng Yao to suffer countless setbacks and hardships. It is all this subordinate's dereliction of duty. Please, Young Master, te out my punishnt!"
"Young Master? ?"
Hong Yu was confused, but a glimr of understanding began to dawn.
He suddenly understood why the high-and-mighty Tiger Instructor would ever pay attention to a humble mber of a side branch like him, and even secretly look out for him.
'So I'm his Young Master?'
'Wait a minute...'
A thought struck Hong Yu. He stared intently at Tiger Instructor. "Uncle Hu, if what you're saying is true... does that an my father is your master? Was he the one who told you to co for Yaoyao?"
Tiger Instructor smiled bitterly. "Everything is just as the master arranged."
"Then why can't I go with you? And why did you say I might never see Yaoyao again in this lifeti?" Hong Yu's emotions surged as he pressed for answers.
Tiger Instructor looked even more helpless. He shook his head and sighed. "Please forgive , Young Master, but so things involve too many secrets. The master gave strict orders not to reveal them to you."
"Then tell what you *can* say!"
Hong Yu said in a low voice.
He was almost certain now that Tiger Instructor was an arrangent left behind by his long-lost father. Entrusting Yun ngyao to him would surely be safe. Still, if he couldn't get clear answers, he would never be able to convince himself to hand her over, knowing he might never see her again.
Tiger Instructor clearly understood Hong Yu's personality. He mulled it over for a mont before he began to explain...
As Tiger Instructor explained, Hong Yu's expression grew increasingly solemn.
It turned out that Hong Yu's family was not actually part of the Hong Family of Shishui City.
They ca from a place incredibly distant from the Fengyue Kingdom. Hong Yu's father had once been a slave in his mother's clan, but through his own efforts, he had risen to beco the number one expert of the younger generation. His parents t, fell in love, and eventually conceived a child together.
But their relationship was considered taboo by his mother's clan, especially since she was already engaged to a genius from another powerful faction.
When the affair was exposed, the genius and the faction backing him were enraged. They used it as a pretext to declare war.
"In truth, they weren't just after the Mistress. The more important reason was that they wanted to obtain the Old Master's ancestral Supre Treasure."
Flas of anger and resentnt flickered in Tiger Instructor's eyes. "If the Old Master hadn't secretly sent the Master and Mistress away, I'm afraid they would have been annihilated along with the rest of the clan."
After leaving that place, they were constantly on the run. It was during their flight that Hong Yu was born.
It was also on their journey that they found an abandoned Yun ngyao and adopted her.
Eventually, they drifted to the Fengyue Kingdom and joined the Hong Family, living under assud identities.
They lived a peaceful life.
That is, until Hong Yu turned seven. The Demon Owl brought a group of pursuers to the Fengyue Kingdom, triggering a massive battle. However, the battle's implications were so great that many powerful experts deliberately suppressed the news, so it didn't alarm the general populace. Only a few of the absolute top masters in the Southern Ten Nations sensed the terrifying power of that clash.
At the ntion of that unforgettable battle, the color drained slightly from Tiger Instructor's face.
Hong Yu frowned slightly. 'I've pretty much guessed that the Supre Treasure he ntioned is the Profound Celestial Tower.'
Taking a deep breath, Hong Yu asked in a low voice, "My father and mother... are they alright?"
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