Chapter 37: Seeking Conviction

“Ucel Sax, ucel Sax”. A pair of chubby hands reached up after tagging for attention at the long and silky, fiery pants.

The toddler had olive skin and brown hair just like his mother, and gemlike, yellow eyes similar to his father.

“Jing Jing, give your uncle a big hug”. The man wearing the silky, fiery pants bent over the baby boy, picked him up and embraced him with two muscular arms that concealed the little figure.

“Stop, big bro! You’re doing it on purpose so I won’t be able to get to Jing Jing! Jing Jing, can you hear me? It’s your number one aunt that loves you so much! Do you want me to carry you instead of your oaf of an uncle?”

“Pipsqueak should wait their turn!”

“Big bro... !”

The actual name of Jing Jing the toddler was Jingrow, and he was the fourteen months old son of the unmarried Zetsa and her partner Grerown. The “oaf of an uncle” and “pipsqueak” were, obviously, Zax and Liz.

Almost three years passed since the move to Green Snow village, thirty three months, to be precise. In New Earth’s calendar it was the year 5799, Zax was twenty four years old, Zetsa thirty five years old and Liz ten years old.

The place was Zetsa’s and Grerown’s small wooden cottage in the village. It was built ahead of time when the couple decided to move together. As for their anticipated wedding ... Grerown was born in a village in the northeast part of the Eastern Continent, where they taught the belief in a God called Namurus, who bestowed the customary blessing for marriage only if a couple already had, before the ceremony, exactly three offspring. In other words, the duo was two children short before they could get married with the consent of God Namurus.

“Big sis Zetsa, big bro isn’t giving me Jing Jing, help me!” Liz whined, as she frequently does when both Zax and her fight over Jingrow.

“Don’t get involve, sis. This brat began to think too highly of herself ever since she became an aunt”. Zax scoffed and then grinned mischievously. He channeled dark attribute energy around Jingrow that lifted him up in the air and caught his little sister before she could resist, giving her the same hug he gave his nephew. “You dare telltale on me to big sis, you pipsqueak! I’m your big brother and I can pamper or pick on you as much as I like and you can’t do anything about it”. He tickled her and she struggled to no avail.

“I’m- Hahaha! I’m sorry, big bro- Hahahaha- Stop! Stop! I’m sor- Hahahaha...” Liz cried in laughter and Zax stopped only at the sign on tears.

“So long as you remember”. He held her in one arm and with the other caught Jingrow. “Go to your little aunt, Jing Jing”. He put both down.

“Lissss!” Jingrow stretched his chubby arms.

“Let’s go play, Jing JIng”. Liz lovingly picked him, stuck out her tongue to Zax and ran away.

“Showing up two days in a row, Zax?” Zetsa raised a brow. She extinguished the flame of the twenty five centimeters tall torch in front of her, stashed it somewhere Jing Jing will not be able to get and got up from the straw mat at the southeast corner of the living room.

Both the straw mat and torch were cultivation instruments she valued deeply ever since she had a fortuitous moment of enlightenment in the process of giving birth to Jingrow and realized to which attribute her affinity predisposes.

During her pregnancy Zetsa still wished to cultivate. As a matter of a fact, she found herself inspired to explore the boundaries of her condition as a pregnant woman. First, to refrain from harming the embryo, she pushed her accomplishments in the Blaze Frost Entanglement mist refining technique – the succeeding second realm cultivation technique of Radical Fiery Icy Provocation Qi Refining Technique – to the limits, attaining new comprehension for equilibrium. Then, days before the third term, she had an epiphany which helped her untangle the Blaze from the Frost and to detect to which she is more attracted to. Lastly, as she gave birth, she spontaneously broke through the third level of the Core Master realm, simultaneously realizing a newfound connection to the fiery attribute while also abandoning her mist cultivation technique that concentrates on both fiery and icy attributes to the Peak of the second realm.

Zetsa’s endeavor does not take long to describe, but it is far from being simple and risk free as it may sound. The whole procedure of caring for the embryo drained Zetsa mentality and when she broke through if Zax did not sense the fluctuations and rushed to aid her in consolidating her mist energy, both she and Jingrow, who was still attached to her in the cord, would have died.

A white veil of isolation emerged on the walls of the cottage and Grerown, who fed Jingrow when Zetsa meditated and until their guests arrived, lowered his right hand.

“Before you tell me that there is no need, young brother Zax, entertain this habit of mine of keeping things private. Besides, I sensed that something irks your mind. Such matters are best to discuss behind closed doors”.

Zax did not argue with Grerown over the concealment formation, not that there was a case of spying in the village or he thought it was necessary to begin with. Even if he did, he can erect a far more superior formation with dark attribute energy. He let it go because there was nothing wrong with a bit of discretion.

The three converged around the living room table, sitting on three different sofas. From upstairs they could hear Liz’s rowdy footsteps as she stamped the wooden panel in Jingrow’s room, as if the little fellow could keep up with her.

“How is your meditation of the fiery attribute going?” Zax asked Zetsa.

The torch was something similar to his volcanic rocks, its wooden handle to be accurate. He obtained it in a short, probing trip in Malignant Monkey clan. Exploring the prestigious establishment in the mighty clan, Zax found the torch on sale in a store of some guild that is quite renowned at the southern part of the continent. With zero interest in the guild, Zax was solely enticed by the merchandise exhibited in the store and eventually purchased the torch for a little over two hundred thousand Splinters.