cultivate for revenge

The Old Bag

"Are you crazy?" Jong Ji asked. "Even if you are terrifyingly strong, you can't just make trash like me a genius. Also, making stories up about some divine genius with divine potentials or whatever would not make me feel any better." Jong Ji said as tears were subconsciously rolling down from his eyes. He barely managed to stop them, but his eyes were still red and teary. He looked like he could start crying at any moment.

The old man's face turned expressionless as he stared at Jong Ji. By the looks, Jong Ji offended him.

After seeing the old man's change in expression, Jong Ji instantly regretted what he had just said, but it was too late.

"Boy..." The old man spoke seriously, "Are you a fool?"

"Hu?" Jong Ji was left dumbfounded by this question. Honestly, he didn't expect this. "N-NO." He replied unsurely and confused.

"No, you are a fool. If you are not a fool, you would be aware of the potential you possess." Because of how seriously the old man spoke, Jong Ji knew he should take this conversation seriously.

"How should I know?" Jong Ji asked.

"I don't know. But your class should have given you some signs by now." The old man said. The mood from before started lessening a bit.

Jong Ji just looked at the man with doubt.

"Don't look at me like that." The man said, the previous atmosphere completely disappeared, and a cheerful smile appeared again on the old man's face.

However, Jong Ji noticed that even when his face turned expressionless, the old man kept his eyes closed.

"Did you go through the class awakening ceremony?" The old man asked.

"I did." Jong Ji replied almost instantly. Though he still wondered what the class awakening ceremony had to do with his class showing signs of its divine potential.

"They got you to think that you are trash." the old man said, a little amused. "Don't you remember something strange occurring during the class awakening ceremony?"

"The vortex cloud!" Jong Ji exclaimed as the dawn of realization fell on him.

"A vortex cloud?" The man asked.

"Yes, when Quin Qi was inside the awakening hall awakening his class, outside appeared a vortex cloud." Jong Ji explained.

"Alright, alright. Let's stop here. Who is Quin Qi?" The old man asked. "Actually, why don't you tell me how you even got here?"

"Mhm!" Jong Ji nodded. "The awakening ceremony was held yesterday. Me and Quin Qi, my best friend, left early in the morning and headed towards the..."

...

An hour or so passed as Jong Ji explained the things that had happened. He explained in detail, from going to the awakening hall to the giant snake attacking the ship.

During the whole process of Jong Ji telling the old man about yesterday's events, Jong Ji cried several times. He just couldn't stop the tears from coming as he remembered what Quin Qi did to him and his mother and how he also lost his mother.

What Jong Ji left out and didn't tell the old man were the things that happened in their house. More precisely, he didn't tell him about the Ice Rose.

"I see." The old man said. He was in deep thought. "But that's not it."

"What? You want to say the vortex cloud was not a sign," Jong Ji asked.

"No, that was a sign. А sign that the boy who stabbed you in the back, Quin Qi, awakened a strong class. He is a genius."

"Then, Am I..." Before Jong Ji could even finish the sentence, the old man cut him.

"The sign your class should have given should have been much more terrifying," he added.

"There's no way," Jong Ji said, remembering the events that happened while awakening his class. "My class is just a tr...ash." Jong Ji paused before finishing his sentence as if he remembered something.

"Looks like you remembered something." The old man said. The expression on his face was screaming, 'I told you.'

"Tell me. What happened?" The old man asked.

"I don't know if it counts as a sign, but when I was awakening my class, suddenly out of the crystal ball spread darkness. The master overseeing the awakening stepped back, and I was swallowed by the darkness. Then the ball broke, and everything returned to normal. But I saw the master holding a fireball in his hand." Jong Ji explained.

"That's it."

"But isn't the vortex cloud more terrifying?" Jong Ji asked.

"That's because you are not a cultivator and couldn't sense at that moment. It didn't hurt you because it was born from your power. Though the boy overseeing the awakening himself didn't know what was happening, he still felt fear when looking at the darkness." The old man said as he landed in a cross-legged position on the ground. Or that was what it looked like at first sight.

He was actually still levitating. He just levitated inches above the ground, so it looked like he was sitting.

"Why is that darkness more terrifying than the vortex cloud?" Jong Ji asked curiously.

"Because it is not a darkness created by the power of darkness..." The old man was about to continue but suddenly stopped. "Even If I explain it to you now, you will not understand." He added.

Jong Ji didn't complain. After all, he was confused about just one sentence, let alone hearing the whole reason.

"Ohh!" Jong Ji let out a sound as he remembered something. "Did you, by any chance, take the old bag I was carrying?" Jong Ji asked politely.

"Do you mean the bag that was next to you?" The old man's expression turned grim as Jong Ji asked about the bag. But he still asked to be sure that it belonged to Jong Ji.

"Yes!" Jong Ji replied anxiously. After all, the items in the bag were the only things he had left from his father. He couldn't bear to lose them at the bottom of the ocean.

"Yes, I took it." The old man replied seriously. He rose in the air and levitated his little body in front of Jong Ji's face.

Only now did Jong Ji notice. Something was off with the old man's behavior. Yes, he had made him a little angry before and then apologized. But this now was something much worse. The old man looked like he could kill him at any moment. If he gave one wrong answer, it could be the end of him.

Jong Ji couldn't believe that the kind-hearted old man had such a monstrous side to himself.

"But where did you get this bag from?" The old man asked, his eyes still closed, but his grim facial expression scared Jong Ji.

Though he asked, he didn't give Jong Ji a chance to speak and continued to explain why he was behaving like that.

"This is not an ordinary bag. It can conceal the breath of anything, anyone. An item stored here, if is next to the god-king, the god-king wouldn't be able to sense the item. This bag cannot fit into a space ring." The old man said, trembling. But was he trembling from anger? "Do you understand how precious this thing is? Where did you get it?"

"It's a bag my father left." Jong Ji said, confused and scared.

"Your father?" The old man asked with visible disbelief.

"I didn't get to meet my father. My mother told me he passed away when I was still a baby." Jong Ji answered honestly.

"That's impossible!" The old man retreated from Jong Ji in disbelief. Though he still levitated, it looked like he could fall to the ground at any moment. "Only one person in the world owned and knew how to make a bag like this. It couldn't possibly be in your hands. I searched for it for years." The shock was great for him.

Jong Ji could see tears coming from the old man's closed eyes. Jong Ji was shocked.

It was only a pair of tears, but they were golden.

Before Jong Ji could even ask, with a quick movement, a little porcelain bottle appeared in the hand of the old man, and he collected the two tears.

He smiled bitterly. "I never thought I would shed a tear ever again." He sighed, and as he sighed, he repeated, "My old friend, my old friend."

"Did you... perhaps know my father?" Jong Ji asked. His heart was racing. After all, this old man was very powerful. If they were friends, then his father would have been strong too. But most of all, his heart was racing because he might hear something about his father. Who was he? That was something even his mother didn't know.

"I'm not sure. Can I see what's inside the bag?" He asked.

"Mhh." Jong Ji nodded.

As the man opened the bag, his eyes widened in shock. The bag fell from his hand.

Clang!

The sword fell from the bag and hit the rock on the ground. But it didn't stay like that for long.

The sword slowly rose and levitated mid-air. The sword released cold brilliance. The temperature in the cave dropped. The flames from the campfire froze in the air.

White smoke came from the tip of the sword. Slowly, it formed a figure levitating mid-air, like a ghost.

It was a man, and though he formed from a dim without color, he was still handsome.

Jong Ji's heart raced even more. He didn't need anyone to tell him who the man was. "Father!" Jong Ji uttered subconsciously. He was unable to hold the tears any longer.

Though he wanted to rush to his father and hug him, he couldn't move. As if his legs were frozen.

His father looked in his direction and smiled warmly. He raised his hand and pointed it at Jong Ji. "Go sleep, my son," he said gently.

As he said this, Jong Ji felt a headache and his vision blurred.

He fell to the ground but didn't lose consciousness immediately.

"Old friend, I don't have much time. Please accept him as your disciple," Jong Ji heard his father saying.

His vision blurred even more and he lost consciousness.