Unbeknownst to them, at a distant cliff, a group of black-clad men kept their eyes on them.
The rest weren't long.
With a sharp whip, hooves struck against the pavement and the horses ran.
The wagon surged forward. With a sudden move, Master Ping almost spilled his herbal tea, while other two sat firmly at their seat.
The wheels spun rapidly, dust stirred behind them, trees blurred through the window and they roared through the valley.
Inside, however, they barely felt any movement.
"Master Ping!" Zheng called calmly. "May I ask what happened to demonic spirit sealing scroll?"
"Yes! Young Master, as per your instruction I had an experienced master strengthen the seal and locked away the scroll at our treasury."
"Great!"
"Moreover, hereafter, no one are allowed to enter the treasury without my permission and we have guard guarding the treasury for 24/7."
"What's Demonic spirit sealing scroll?" Asked Mei Chen. "That both the Master are worried about?"
"It's a scroll, my family had for generation without knowing its true origin."
"What's its true origin?"
"According to the history, during the ancient cultivation era, when ambition and the hunger for power consumed the world, four terrifying entities emerged and ravaged the lands, plunging the world into devastation and igniting the first great cultivator war." Said Master Ping.
"To restore peace, five grandmasters embarked on a decade-long journey across the world to confront and seal these spirits. The task proved catastrophic. Each spirit was overwhelmingly powerful, and the grandmasters were forced to sacrifice their lives one by one to imprison them. The final and fiercest battle was against Wrath, the strongest of the four. The last two surviving grandmasters, Jinxing and Xiulan, had fallen in love during their journey and had a son together, who was only six months old at the time of the final confrontation."
"In order to seal Wrath and protect his family, Grandmaster Jinxing gave his life. Xiulan survived but was gravely wounded. Realizing the danger of keeping the sealing scroll and its corresponding script together, she hid them separately before ultimately succumbing to her injuries."
"Their orphaned son was discovered beside a corpse by a local lord returning from a hunt. The lord adopted him and raised him alongside his biological son, who was a year older. Both boys were gifted cultivators, but as they matured, the adopted son's talent surpassed that of the lord's true heir. Though the lord favored the adopted child, his biological son concealed his growing jealousy."
"At fifteen, the adopted son received an encrypted letter found with him as an infant. It led him to his mother's hidden journal, revealing his parents' epic quest and sacrifices. However, the journal did not disclose the locations of the scroll and script. The two brothers spent decades searching for them. After thirty-five years, they found the scroll, by which time the biological son had inherited the lordship and founded his own sect."
"Their differing intentions—one wishing to unseal the power, the other to honor his parents' legacy—led to a bitter fallout. One lived out his life as lord; the other ascended to the immortal realm. A century later, when the ascended cultivator's grand-nephew discovered the missing script, war erupted once more. Amid the conflict, the scroll was stolen by a bribed disciple, lost in transit, and eventually resurfaced in the present."
"It's all I heard from Young Master Zheng." Said Master Ping. "Can young master complete the story."
"It is said that after gaining the lordship, the real son's influence grew around the northern region. And the influence grew larger during his son's reign. During his deathbed, the real son told his child about his unfulfilled ambition- to obtained the scroll and use it's power to rule the world."
"That ambition ran through their family for generation. By their third generation, the real son's grandchild somehow managed to obtain the information of whereabout of adopted son and he knew that his grand-uncle had the scroll."
"During that century, even though they didn't have the written record, existence of the script and scroll were believed through the world. When the word got out that the family are at the verge of obtaining both the scroll and the script, the world was divided into two faction- one trying to win their favor and other opposed them."
"Thus, a war began between those two factions, later the world was known as the 'The Great War'. The war lasted for four years and it was almost like those four perils was causing it. Some say the damaged caused by the great war was almost the double of the war caused by those four perils."
"Growing tired and frustrated of the war and failure to obtain the scroll, the lord bribed his grand-uncle's disciple and had him stole the scroll. When the news reached the adopted son, he personally descended to the mortal realm to reclaim the scroll, in the process he managed to stop the great war. However, amidst the war, the scroll was never found until few days ago."
"Today, the world knows the adopted son as the legendary grandmaster Xuixing." Said Zheng. "The only master who ascended to saint level."
"So, the great war was stopped the legendary master?" asked Mei Chen. "But no history ever reveals the identity of that hero."
"At the end, Grandmaster blamed himself for the war and never acknowledged his contribution." Replied Zheng. "Then as a respect and gratitude for the master, the history never revealed his identity to the world."
"But master Zheng! How do you know all these?"
Zheng paused but didn't answer out. My master was the last disciple of the legendary master Xuixing and he occasionally told me the story. But for now, I can't reveal how I really am.
When Mei Chen got no answer from Zheng, she didn't press any further, rather asked: "What will happen if the scroll is unsealed?"
"haha… then god help the world." Zheng said with a laugh but Mei Chen and Master Ping saw seriousness on his face.