The air stagnated slightly at the rather direct question before Lu Yan stepped forward, and sighed resignedly. "It all starts two years ago, back in our hometown. I was a member of the Lu family in the eastern reaches of Tempestuous Heaven. My family wasn't extremely strong, but we were comparable to the families that control Violet Mist City at the very least."
"My family originally came here from Righteous Heaven to try and spread the Confucian school of thought and gain control of this Heaven slowly, but we truly underestimated the difficulties of this idea seeing as we moved here over three thousand years before I was even born." Shaking his head briefly at that, he continued on. "I met Zi Mei a few years ago, and we fell in love. Long story short we had a child together, Lu Yuhan."
He glanced at the little girl who was as carefree as ever as she rode on Hu Meng contentedly. "Everything was fine during the pregnancy, but on the day she was born. A strange vision appeared above the families compound."
He stopped briefly and said "It was a large pair of pale blue eyes that seemed to look down upon everything in the world. It was huge, and unable to be concealed. Almost immediately after it had appeared, the news reached several of the rival families in the area. There was no way to block the information, and our only slight saving grace was that the exact cause wasn't entirely known when it first happened. That very night the patriarch of the family warned us to leave quietly, and to not let anyone get to the baby. He handed us some of the most important inheritance of the family, and sent us away."
He took a slightly shaky breath "Not even thirty minutes after we had made our escape, the family's estate was attacked relentlessly by a large group of rival factions. I doubt they even knew what exactly had happened to cause the vision, but we were still relentlessly attacked regardless."
His eyes became wet briefly. "We just had to continue on with the reality that they sacrificed themselves for my daughter, and ensure that their sacrifices weren't in vain. As we fled we discovered that we were being followed by a group of people that we had never seen before or had even heard of. My best guess is that they managed to torture my clansmen to find out about Lu Yuhan's situation."
Lu Yan took a steadying breath, and managed to squeeze out after calming his tense emotions. "After managing to evade their pursuit by sheer luck, our daughters ability started to show itself. We noticed that she would start crying loudly every once in awhile and she wouldn't stop until we turned in a certain direction. Deciding to take the risk to listen to her instincts we followed the direction that kept her calm. Never once running into the people tracking us again."
"We traveled according to her guidance for over a year, sometimes doubting whether we were crazy to base our survival on just the crying of a baby, but we managed to make it this far based off of that alone. We only stopped here to open up a shop because when we stopped in the city to rest and get supplies she became extremely excited and happy. When we tried to leave the city she would cry loudly again. Seeing, this we decided to settle down here, and temporarily set up this inconspicuous store."
He then said with conviction "I know that this is probably a little unbelievable, but we think she might have been waiting specifically for you, or maybe she saw a path through you to a glimmer of life for our family." He beseeched the youth and the tiger as calmly as possible. "I'm unsure about what exactly she saw, but if possible I hope you all could help us." As he finished both he and Zi Mei bowed solemnly to the slightly dumbfounded duo.
Yin Xiu walked forward and helped them up as he pondered on the overwhelming amount of information. Still unsure he turned to look at Hu Meng who was half in a daze as the little girl on his back kept pulling on his ear and laughing happily. The toddler oblivious to the heavy atmosphere.
Deciding Hu Meng wasn't really going to be much of a help in making any decisions regarding this matter, Yin Xiu turned to look at the storeowners and decided to clear up some of his doubts.
"You said you are hiding from an unknown enemy, do you have any clues as to their overall strength, or any identifying characteristics? If they come from a large force in Tempestuous Heaven then you should be able to discover some clues about their identity."
Lu Yan sighed "All we are sure of is they wear strange white masks on their faces, unmarked red robes. I managed to fight off a couple of them in one of their ambushes which resulted in one severely injured, and the other dead, but we weren't able to stay long enough to grab the dead cultivators storage bag to try and find their identities."
His expression cooled "All I'm sure of is that they are an Unorthodox power that cultivates some nefarious cultivation art related to refining blood. If I hadn't cultivated a technique that heavily restrains demonic cultivators by utilizing righteous Qi I wouldn't have survived that battle."
Yin Xiu nodded contemplatively "Do you think they are from Fiend Heaven?"
Lu Yan hesitated slightly "I'm not really certain... they could be traveling or exploring Tempestuous Heaven or have been sent by their sect to try and gain power here like my family was. Either way that's all I really know. We also only encountered Qi Refining experts on our escape, but I'm unsure about if they have anyone stronger."
Yin Xiu nodded "Alright... what about Lu Yuhan's ability? Do you have any idea what type of constitution she has? If we know that we might be able to find her a safe faction to cultivate in that can make the best use of her talents. She is undeniably a genius that I'm certain many powers would treasure dearly, the main issue seems to revolve around her being followed by that unknown organization."
Lu Yan shook his head sadly "I have consulted all the classics related to that in my clans storage that the patriarch gave me before our just for that reason, but we found no matching cases in our records."
Hu Meng who finally managed to free his ears from Lu Yuhan's clutches cut in "Can we see those records?"
Lu Yan hesitated for a second "May I ask what for? I don't want to be rude, but those are records from my family."
Yin Xiu sighed slightly "I also have an unidentified physique, but like I mentioned before I have just managed to start cultivating by chance a short time ago, and haven't had the chance to find any descriptions of what I might have."
Yin Xiu looked at the little girl briefly before saying "How about this? Hu Meng and I are relatively young and weak in the grand scheme of things, and are more than likely not the ones that can truly help your daughter." He looked at Hu Meng who quickly caught on with Yin Xiu's meaning and expressed his consent with a nod.
"We have an extremely powerful senior that we came to this city to run some errands for. She is extremely powerful and knowledgable. In exchange for being able to see the scroll we'll introduce you and Lu Yuhan to her, and see if she can provide appropriate guidance to you all."
The couple's eyes lit up at this, but they hesitated slightly and asked with caution "Are you sure that senior would be okay with us approaching them?"
Hu Meng lazily waved a paw as his tail quickly swayed trying to avoid Lu Yuhan's grasp. "She shouldn't mind, but it is not certain whether her advice will truly be able to help you all. It just depends on your belief in this little one's ability to find good fortune."
The two nodded pensively before they came to a decision quickly. Lu Yan signaled Zi Mei who quickly made her way to the back of the store to find the records of the Lu family.
In the brief lull in the conversation Yin Xiu finally managed to peruse the scrolls that he had originally came here for. There were five on the table. He picked up the the first titled 'An Overview of Tempestuous Heaven's Geography and Major Forces.' nodding he moved on.
The second was slightly worn from age titled 'The Fundamentals of the Dao'. Yin Xiu's eyes practically glowed at the title. Deciding to read that one with Hu Meng later he moved his gaze to the third
It was a scroll with fine lettering titled 'The Known Cultivation Realms in the Nine Heavens.' He also set that one down carefully.
The last two were the requests he had made. Both were extraordinarily long with various illustrations of both spirit plants and spirit beasts respectively. Satisfied with the assortment Lu Yan had picked, he determined himself to buy all of these scrolls when they were done with the rest of their visit.
Just as he finished briefly looking at the scrolls, Zi Mei emerged from the back of the store with an imposing scroll with vigorous brush strokes denoting the title. 'Known Physiques of the Nine Heavens'
Yin Xiu's eyes were practically glued to the scroll's impressive appearance as Zi Mei carefully placed it down on the table.
Looking up at the two he asked "Is is alright if I read it now? I doubt it'll take me long to search through as I already know some of the major characteristics of my physique."
They nodded back "As long as our deal about being able to see your senior is guaranteed then it is fine." Yin Xiu and Hu Meng naturally agreed.
Just an audience with Hu Fang could potentially clear up the doubts in Yin Xiu's mind about his innate talent which seemed to be a win-win for them. Yin Xiu was originally hesitant to include Hu Fang, but Hu Meng's casual reassurance had eased his worries.
He held his breath as he opened the record solemnly. A dazzling array of names, and descriptions of various techniques entered his vision. Innate Dao Marks, Various Holy Bodies, and a myriad of strange natural gifts appeared in his eyes. Quickly he searched for any description of bone related physiques, as that was the only thing Hu Fang was able to glean when she scanned his body.
At first he came across the description of the Supreme Bone which was branded with Dao meaning at birth. It seemed quite similar to his own, but he had a nagging feeling deep down that it wasn't quite right.
He recorded that information mentally, and then continued to search. Jade bones, Diamond bones, the list continued on and on until his gaze stopped as he read one last name.
'The Bone of Profound Yin' as he read the name his chest heated up in excitement and his vision blurred. Finding himself in a dark environment with the only light coming from a pitch black bone pulsing with runes. As he observed the bone for the first time, a small commotion occurred in the shop as visions of illusory snakes, scorpions, spiders, flowers, and various other poisonous creatures and plants appeared around Yin Xiu.