Chapter 12: The Origin Of The Hatred - Part Two

"So Grandmaster had this kind of past ... As a prisoner of the Black Horns tribe's two leaders..." Zax said in a sober tone. His gaze was directed forward, confronted with the wild vista of Valgarel, which generally was to his liking, but in this moment, as his eyes gauged the path ahead, his face wore a cold expression.

"I've told you about it already. To both of us, since childhood, big brother was a figure of undisputed significance! From being our Master, our bond grew and transformed. Kartion to little sister became a spouse, and to me became a big brother".

"What I did not mention was that a bit earlier before little sister and big brother confessed their feeling, big brother's name had already risen to prominence as a genius talent. Knowing that big brother was part of the Black Horns tribe, many came, seeking his teachings, but only two had the capacity to ask for them. Among these two, one, who was the first leader of the Silverhorned tribe, Raroken, sent his youngest son, his sole Chaoyue offspring, to the Black Horns tribe to be admitted as big brother's apprentice. Naturally, since this being a good opportunity for the Black Horns tribe, Kardelion and Karns happily accepted".

"Of the three strongest tribes in Valgarel, His Valor Ozeyn is the leader of the number one tribe. The Black Horns tribe always occupied the second place, but after the two leaders of the Silverhorned tribe reached the Core Master realm, it did not take them long to bring the power of their tribe to the same level as the Black Horns tribe".

"Kardelion and Karns wanted to deepen the relationship of the tribe with the Silverhorned tribe, and so agreed to provide accommodation for the youngest son of Raroken. As for this youngest son, he was, and is, your Martial brother, Raroen".

Kartius did not give Zax a chance to react. Narrating about how Raroen became Grandmaster Kartion's apprentice was only to lay the foundation to the story ahead.

Kartius continued with the same breath he said Raroen's name. "Then, a short time after accepting Martial nephew Raroen, big brother and little sister appealed for Karns to allowed to be together". Now Kartius loosen his consecutive speech as a baleful shimmer flickered in his eyes.

Zax sensed the split second of killing intent his Master emanated and his face turned serious. It was not because the terror the killing intent contained scared him, but the thought of what happened in the next part of the story, that aroused such animosity in his Master's heart.

"Regardless of big brother also being a Chaoyue type beast, Karns's obstinacy and rigid traditional zealotry could not accept a Brown Stag as his daughter spouse. In addition, other than me and Karns, the tribe had another Black Stag, which Karns already favored and groomed to be little sister's spouse".

"You can't imagine big brother reaction after being refused by Karns. Big brother was practically the slave of the Black Horns tribe for close to a century. The time he did not spend instructing me and little sister he mostly used to study the tribe's cultivation techniques and improve them. As for improving his own cultivation, big brother barely had any time, yet the fact that he did position him as the unrivaled genius cultivator of the tribe. Despite his accomplishments and aptitude for the Martial path, he was constantly being restricted by Kardelion and Karns".

"Waiting for little sister and big brother outside of Karns's residence, I was only able to hear the conversation inside. The moment Karns denied big brother's and little sister's mutual affection, big brother could not restrain himself and uttered a curse. Karns, in response, decided to punish big brother for his supposed impudence. At the time, due to big brother's contribution he was allowed to cultivate to the first level of the Core Master realm, Karns, on the other hand, was in the Intermediate phase of the third level. The disparity between the two was too vast. With his upper hand, Karns struck big brother a deadly blow, nearly killing him and then threw him into the tribe's imprisonment chambers".

Kartius averted his eyes to Zax and his voice turned aggrieved. "Martial son, the mental shock little sister had to suffer from our own father's actions ... for that alone our household won't stand to exist in the same world as Karns". He said and continued mockingly. "Karns and Kardelion thought that they had big brother under their finger, that every bit of his doing did not miss their prying eyes. Little did they know that while helping me and little sister cultivate to the second realm in his steps, big brother developed the initial gates of the Seven Stages Of Bodily Refinement".

"To hide his bodily cultivation, big brother only trained each gate in accordance to the fitness level his mist energy already refined his body to. Big brother, when taking Karns's attack was a first level Core Master, his mist energy naturally refined his body to the Core Breaker level. That being said, as a practitioner of the Seven Stages Of Bodily Refinement, you should already know that the refinement process a bodily refinement technique is far more potent than the refinement process of a breakthrough in mist energy".

"While big brother was heavily injured from Karns's blow, and his appearance was wretched, his body's ability to endure was beyond Karns's expectations, which made it easy for big brother to execute his revenge".