At this time, within the military barracks of the Northern Region, Li Xinghuo was serving in the position of a scout among the Grand Tutor's forces.
The stars were bright and the moon was clear.
Li Wei was also here, in this world of ice and snow of the Northern Region, watching the child who had pulled himself out from the depths of despair.
Li Xinghuo, who had once wandered alone for five years, had grown up.
The young man stood at a height of one hundred and seventy-five centimeters and was exceedingly handsome.
It seemed his natural disposition was one of a carefree and boisterous youth, yet whenever night fell, or when he was engaged in conflict with others, he would become exceptionally sharp-witted and meticulous in his thinking.
Li Wei looked at the Li Xinghuo of today, clad in armor, with a hint of beard on his face, and on the very verge of breaking through to the Golden Core realm.
The look in his eyes was not just one of gratification, but was filled more so with the deep concern of an elder for a beloved member of the younger generation.
It seemed this boy had been on the run ever since he was small.
He had met with disaster starting from the tender age of ten, and from then on, his life had been one of continuous flight, encountering danger at every turn.
He eventually reached a small fishing village, but had not enjoyed more than a few years of peaceful life there before he was forced to become a fugitive once more.
As year after year went by, Li Xinghuo made a name for himself in the various prefectures and regions of the Azure Dynasty, leaving geniuses from all across the land astonished by his brilliant and dazzling talent.
At his age, every other member of the clan had been cultivating peacefully within the family estate, and no one would have ever dared to bully them.
But Li Xinghuo was different. The hardships he had experienced were far, far greater than those of any other Li family member, and the places he had traveled to at such a young age were more numerous than even those visited by his elders.
He seemed to have grown accustomed to it all. It was just like now; having become one of the thousand adopted sons of Lin Jiu, he felt no particular pride in the matter.
[Your descendant, Li Xinghuo, has survived on his own from a young age. He has grown accustomed to a life of solitude, adventure, and fighting alone. Trait Acquired: Lone Walker]
[Effect: Unafraid of solitude. Disposition increased by 50%. When fighting alone, all personal strength is increased by 10%.]
This boy always puts on a carefree and boisterous act, never sweating the small stuff when he is with his fellow clansmen. Yet every time Li Wei looked at him, he could see the profound loneliness reflected in Li Xinghuo's eyes.
Li Wei had gradually come to understand this descendant of his. The withdrawn nature was merely Li Xinghuo's disguise; no one truly dislikes living alongside others. But... he had simply grown accustomed to being alone.
"Old Ancestor," Li Xinghuo's voice chimed in from the side, "this humble child has now remained by Lord Lin's side for quite some time."
He could be seen taking out the Ancestor's spirit tablet in the dead of night.
Speaking to the tablet in a low, serious voice, he reported, "Although Lord Lin is currently expanding his territory in the Northern Region, his partisans in the Imperial Capital are also supporting one of the imperial princes, though they are not as overt about it as the Imperial Preceptor.
This child has tested the waters; despite becoming Lord Lin's adopted son, it is impossible to get him to truly take action to help us deal with Tian Xing."
"It is just as it was on that day at Ye Xiu's Breakthrough Mountain," he continued. "The Grand Tutor's faction and the Imperial Preceptor's faction are using each other as a check, content to let us and Tian Xing fight it out amongst ourselves."
Upon receiving this report, Li Wei gave a slight nod, and a faint light from the spirit tablet shone down upon Li Xinghuo.
Sensing that the Old Ancestor had received his message, Li Xinghuo placed the spirit tablet back within his robes and silently departed into the darkness.
After becoming the adopted son of the Grand Tutor, he had felt no pride in the accomplishment, nor had he used his new status to grasp for any personal power.
He knew with absolute clarity that he himself was likely not suited for these struggles for power.
He continued to press forward on his path.
Li Xinghuo's expression was firm and resolute.
"For a cultivator of our generation, a hundred years is but the blink of an eye," he thought. "The Old Ancestor said to live every day as if it were the last. I, too, must do so, if I am to have any chance in the battle against Tian Xing. I must, at the very least, become as strong as Senior Blood if I wish to even stand on that battlefield."
Year after year passed. He continuously moved forward. And even when he met with his various elders, even when he entered the Ancestor Space, he never once mentioned the hatred of those bygone years.
But he had never, not for a single moment, forgotten the day his father, Li Changge, had sent him away from Eternal Sun Prefecture.
Nor had he forgotten his father's words, telling him that he must always walk forward and never look back.
This had become the principle and the conviction that had guided him all the way to this very day.
He had to keep moving forward because Tian Xing was always right behind him!
Fortunately, there were still his fellow clansmen, walking this path forward together with him.
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