But what Ethan was most praised for was his business acumen. Ever since he took over as the head of the sect, he used his martial strength to amass rare treasures from all over the world, and colluded with the royal family of Great Chu, ensuring the sect’s coffers were always full and its foundation grew increasingly solid. In addition, he devoted himself to cultivating talent within the sect. Of his seventy-four disciples, more than half achieved the Golden Core path, and among them, four successively entered the realm of True Person. He was also open and inclusive, accepting several cultivation families, which greatly strengthened Tianque Sect, allowing it to leap into the ranks of the great cultivation sects.

After Ethan, the sect was managed by three more generations. By now, this sect with a pitifully short history of only 1,200 years had become one of the seven great sects of the era, with over ten thousand inner disciples, experts as numerous as clouds, and a reputation second to none.

As Tianque Sect continued to grow, Maple Forest Town also became increasingly prosperous. First, the families of the sect’s disciples gathered here, then people from a thousand miles around, unable to endure the harassment of demons and monsters, flocked to settle here. Next, merchants arrived upon hearing the news, and only then did the town reach its current scale.

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About three li east of Maple Forest Town, there is a natural red maple forest covering about forty li in circumference. Every late autumn, countless red leaves dance in the wind, creating a breathtaking scene. It is one of the seven scenic spots of Maple Forest, and the town is named after it.

On this particular afternoon, deep within the red maple forest, a purple-haired boy was leaning against a tree, quietly lost in thought.

The purple-haired boy’s name was Lily Foster, four years old this year, and his home was in nearby Maple Forest Town. His father, William Foster, and mother, Emily Thompson, were both inner disciples of Tianque Sect, members of a minor cultivation family affiliated with the sect. Although on the surface, Lily Foster looked no different from other children in town—just as lively and adorable, just as mischievous and playful—in reality, it was all an act. In fact, within Lily Foster’s small body was the soul of an adult—he was a transmigrator reborn from Earth.

In his previous life, Lily Foster lost his parents at a young age and was forced to beg on the streets to survive. Two years later, a mysterious organization took him in and trained him to become an assassin—one who, though he acted carefree and irreverent on the surface, was cold and ruthless in battle. All his life, he trained, assassinated, and fought without end. He was the organization’s most effective and favored tool, but Lily Foster himself always longed to escape this fate. At last, one day, Lily Foster grew weary of it all and deliberately failed a mission, resulting in his death. In his final moments, he prayed for a happy and complete life in his next existence, and then, carrying the memories of his past life, he was reborn in this bizarre yet mysteriously connected world.

It was awkward, but when William Foster and Emily Thompson carefully cradled him in their arms as a newborn, gazing at him with boundless affection, Lily Foster accepted these two young people—about the same age as he had been—as his parents.

It was a long-lost feeling of warmth, an indescribable sense of love, a bond of blood and heart, a familial affection he hadn’t experienced since his parents’ death in his previous life. In that moment, Lily Foster was moved to tears.

In the four years since, though he had to pretend to be a child every day, which was exhausting, this period was truly the happiest time of Lily Foster’s life. Nourished by his parents’ love, his once sullen personality gradually brightened.

But just when he thought that, despite the monsters and beasts rampant in this world and the ever-present danger, with the great tree of Tianque Sect sheltering him, the nightmare of his previous life was far behind and he could finally live the peaceful life he had always dreamed of, his father suddenly shattered his self-woven dream seven days ago. That afternoon, his father came home carrying his mother, covered in blood.

He still remembered that afternoon vividly. His mother, Emily Thompson, had a gaping wound the size of a bowl in her chest and abdomen, as if pierced by some cylindrical sharp weapon, and by the time she arrived home, she was barely alive. William Foster also had three deep, bone-revealing knife wounds, shocking to behold. His father explained that the two of them had recently joined Tianque Sect’s demon-slaying team, and the reason they were so badly injured this time was because, while fighting a B-class demon beast—the Sky-Penetrating Rhino—they were ambushed by a rival sect.

This scene left Lily Foster, who had been playing with his friends, utterly stunned. Memories long buried from his previous life suddenly surged up: twenty years ago, also on a late autumn afternoon, Lily Foster’s parents from his previous life were shot dead before his eyes, simply because his father, a police officer, had crossed a drug lord. Although, after growing up, Lily Foster personally tortured his enemy to death, what did it matter? What was lost could never be regained.