Journey Towards Dao

“You both can come out now.”

In the corner of the study, space seemed to twist and tremble before a screen of pure light materialized. Suddenly, the screen shattered into shards of golden light, revealing Cedrick and Amabella’s tall figures.

Amabella's face was painted with an astounded expression at what she had just witnessed in the study. She initially did not believe her father’s earlier insinuations about Auslen, however, she had no choice but to be convinced at this point.

Beside her, Cedrick spoke with some hesitation and apprehension, “I have never heard of something like this before. Is his intellect growing preternaturally fast? Or, was he born with innate intelligence?

"If it was the former, what's causing such a rapid change, and when will it cease? And I frankly have no conclusions if it were the latter. The only beings that are said to be born with innate intelligence are…”

Tobias nonchalantly supplied, “Demons with Divine Bloodlines.”

Silence resounded in the study as the three of them contemplated to themselves.

Amabella couldn’t stop herself from thinking back to Auslen’s unrecognizable personality and frighteningly mature sentences, and hints of anxiety and guilt began to replace that astonishment.

Suddenly worried, she asked aloud, “Do you think he noticed that we were in here?”

Tobias unhurriedly replied, “He couldn’t put it together, but thanks to that abrupt question you begged for me to ask, he obviously became somewhat suspicious of my intentions.”

Tobias walked leisurely towards Auslen’s chair before sitting down on it with an indifferent expression.

“In any case, I've given you both direct evidence of his advanced maturity so that you will no longer needlessly fret over the boy’s safety. He'll be just fine at the Sect and is more than smart enough to take care of himself while keeping his talents unsuspected. With that said, I wasn't aware that you both already had your own suspicions.”

“Neither was I.”

Amabella sharply turned to gaze at Cedrick in fierce anger, blue eyes slightly bleeding with specks of gold.

“Was what Auslen said true? Have you been bullying my son behind my back, Cedrick?”

The corner of Cedrick’s left eye twitched slightly in distress. But before he could exonerate himself, Tobias interrupted their bickering with a sharp clap.

“Now that that’s settled, it's time to talk about you, Amabella.

"Your injuries are too severe for you to be so lax with your Anchors! Including your husband and children, you only have five Anchors to help stabilize your Dao Soul, and that's far from enough if you wish to have any hope of recovery within the next 500 years. When are you planning to have more children?”

Amabella’s anger receded gradually as she let out a gentle, but conflicted sigh.

Turning away from Cedrick, she explained to her father, “There's been a certain complication in our plans, and it's not small.”

Tobias’ eyebrows scrunched together as he asked, “Complication? What's so complicated about producing a child? Could it be performance issues?”

While ignoring Cedrick's seemingly uncomfortable cough, Amabella’s eyes slightly glared at her father before clarifying, “We're lacking Body-Nourishing Elixir! Auslen’s body consumed far more than expected, and now, there's only enough for us to safely bear, at most, two more children. Our only choice is to slow down!”

“If we run out of Body-Nourishing Elixir too quickly and a large number of years pass without us having another child, we'll be placed in a passive position and can only hope that no one grows suspicious. But, if the Imperial Family begins to wonder why we're not bearing the amount of children they provided the Elixir for, all of our children would be suspected and Auslen would be hunted down!”

Tobias understood, as he finally remembered how much Body-Nourishing Elixir they had applied for.

Now that he was made aware, he wasn't at all surprised by their wariness.

After all, monitoring the Soul Force of infants born from powerful cultivators was the primary reason the Imperial Family was so willing as to give away a supreme treasure such as the sap from a Divine Grade Spirit Plant.

Amabella continued, “Cedrick and I decided to push back the next child for another 10 years, or so. We plan to bear the last child 10 to 15 years afterwards.

"By then, Auslen would have surely obtained a Heaven Grade Cultivation Method. And by the time anyone becomes suspicious enough of our lack of children to come and investigate, with Auslen’s talent, he should've acquired the strength to at least hide himself away from pursuers, if necessary.”

Tobias frowned as he considered his daughter's words.

He spoke, “I’ll try to think of something in the meantime. However, you both should prepare yourselves to inform Auslen of the situation at some point in the near future, so that he can be mentally prepared. He can be quite hateful when it comes to unwelcome surprises.”

The couple glanced at each other in incredulity. Neither could understand how their son's brain developed in the way that it had.

Cedrick spoke up suddenly in confusion, “Tobias, how exactly did you come to understand Auslen’s hidden personality so clearly.”

Hearing his son-in-law’s query, Tobias couldn’t help but cough briefly. However, he didn’t really mind explaining the truth to the two.

He chuckled as he came clean, “I only found out during the previous year, in a quite similar fashion to the two of you. In this very room, no less! How do you think I know that he really doesn’t appreciate unwelcome surprises?”

Both Amabella and Cedrick sighed as he explained. They finally understood that Tobias’ strange habit of spying on others played the principal role.

Tobias didn't look in any way embarrassed at his actions as he thought to himself, ‘I wonder how Auslen and little Nathan are doing? I hope Auslen's not bullying his cousin too much. After all, little Nathan is a bit too fragile…’

…

Auslen, whose hair was fixed and retied, walked through a large, vaulted hallway at a leisurely pace towards the Dining Hall in the Main Palace. Behind him, Vincent, who he picked up before leaving his personal palace, was obediently matching his stride from behind him.

He could see the Dining Hall doors in the distance, causing feelings of dissatisfaction to swirl in Auslen’s heart.

From his grandfather's numerous rants about his cousin’s behavior and lack of positive influences, Auslen knew full well that his grandfather didn’t just want him to watch the brat, but to also help shape him into a proper adult.

The old man had been hinting at this for quite some time. However, Auslen had no interest in raising a child in this life, so he always managed to slip away before the old man could get a word out.

This was also the sole reason why he had recently started ignoring the boy every time they met, as he hoped that the boy’s growing hatred towards him would banish his grandfather’s wishful thinking.

Regrettably, the old man didn't allow him the option to evade his wishes this time.

The old man was hoping that, by keeping the two of them in close proximity, Nathaniel would have the chance to mature more quickly, in both intellect as well as in cultivation, as he would constantly have an example nearby to compare himself to.

The old man had always wished for a reason to separate Nathaniel from his parents, mentioning that his slightly timid, but mostly irrational personality traits originated due to his parents' excessive spoiling.

From one perspective, this could be viewed positively, seeing as his grandfather had always appreciated Auslen’s publicly displayed manners and propriety, both of which Nathaniel lacked in spades.

Unfortunately, what his grandfather thought of him did not make him loathe the situation any less.

Before Auslen and Vincent could even make it to the Dining Hall, they could see Nathaniel’s small figure angrily exiting the Hall with the accompaniment of a seemingly nervous Palace servant.

Suddenly, Nathaniel’s brown-haired head swiveled quickly, as his vision caught Auslen’s nearby presence in the hallway. His already frowning face somehow scrunched up even more.

Sigh. What a hot-blooded little boy.

He pointed bitterly and yelled, “Auslen!”

After hearing his name being yelled, Auslen's expression enigmatically bloomed into a sunny smile, which seemed to catch Nathaniel off guard.

As he could no longer ignore the boy anymore, Auslen sweetly replied, “Hi, Nathan!”

Nathaniel did not quite know what to do with himself as his face revealed bewilderment. His extended arm was frozen in the air, and silence awkwardly fell in the hallway.

Auslen maintained his smile as he walked up to Nathaniel slowly, who was confused silly by Auslen’s uncharacteristic actions.

Auslen reached out with his small hand and grabbed onto Nathaniel’s outstretched one as he giggled in childlike glee.

“Come on Nathan! Let's go play!”

He pulled his arm as he began to run down the hallway, jerking Nathaniel out of his stupor as he hurried to catch his balance.

Seeing that he was being pulled by his hateful cousin, Nathaniel tried to yank his hand out of Auslen’s grasp. However, his hand didn’t seem to budge no matter how hard he pulled!

He even tried using his newly acquired strand of Profound Qi, but it still was useless.

Auslen noticed Nathaniel’s attempts and shook his head in amusement as he dragged the struggling brat even quicker.

Behind them, Vincent smiled apologetically at the visibly relieved servant before hurrying to follow the two boys.

Eventually, the group made their way outside of the Main Palace and ran along the wide, stone path that led to the Royal Palace Gardens as the passing servants and guards glanced at their speedy little figures in confused amusement.

Leaving Vincent behind at the entrance, Auslen continued running as he dragged the stubbornly-reluctant Nathaniel into the expansive Gardens, kicking up tufts of grass and petals of flowers as they ran off of the stone path underneath the evening sun. They had barely made it underneath the shade of a large Oak tree before Nathaniel decided that he had enough.

“Let go of me!”

At the sound of Nathaniel’s scream, Auslen slowed to a stop, with Nathaniel panting from behind him.

The boy pulled himself together in indignation as he began, “Wha –”

But before Nathaniel could even start, he saw Auslen slowly turning around, revealing fat droplets of tears that ran down his small face. Nathaniel was so shocked that he started choking on his spit.

Auslen tilted his head to the ground, his lips quivering exaggeratedly as he spoke with a trembling, stutter-filled voice.

“D… do you n–not l…like me, Na–Nathan?”

Nathaniel’s furrowed face loosened by half, his anger beginning to dissipate as he grew hesitant at his cousin's heavy tears.

“I… I… umm.”

Nathaniel couldn’t seem to remember what he had wanted to say so desperately earlier.

Auslen shamelessly continued his charade, tears sprinting down his face as he started hiccuping continuously, “I-I… I’m sor–rry. I shouldn’t… have [hiccup] pulled you [hiccup] so hard!”

Nervously glancing around the garden, Nathaniel just wanted to make Auslen’s cries stop. He took an anxious step forward and grabbed Auslen’s black sleeve as he tried to console his cousin.

“It’s okay, Auslen! You really didn’t pull me that hard! I didn’t mean to yell at you like that.”

Auslen raised his head slightly to peek at his cousin’s troubled little face.

“Really?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Okay!”

Auslen stepped forward with a big smile on his tear stained face and grabbed Nathaniel’s hand once again. This time, he did not struggle.

It seems like I still got it.

Auslen laughed refreshingly and exclaimed, “Then, we're friends now!”

Nathaniel fell silent once again, his face equal parts embarrassed and happy, his previous anger with Auslen quickly and unknowingly forgotten.

Then, the two children walked hand-in-hand in the garden, their little heads whipping around periodically to gaze at the various colored flowers and trees in apparent excitement.