A young man around seventeen years old was running down the mountain in a panic. He was startled as the person he was observing suddenly looked at him and even seem to have said something.
"Was that really him?!"
The young man whispered to himself. He had heard rumors of a man that was mortal but had the strength that went beyond even immortals. A man that supposedly could crush the heavens and the earth with a smile on his face. When he first heard these rumors, he thought they were exaggerating things, blowing them out of proportion, so that their sects could lessen the shame of being defeated.
Yet after listening to more and more of the rumors, he found the description of the man in question was somewhat familiar. The strength that went beyond all reason, a thirst for battle that could never be quenched, and a vicious smile that signified death to every enemy.
That description was very similar to the Ancestor of his clan who was an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul. His clan was one of many clans created by an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, but unlike the others, his clan had been declining recently due to many factors and at this point, there were only five of them left. The prestige of his clan was at its all-time lowest, so to show the other clans of the Strongest Mortal Soul that his clan was still worthy of being a descendant, he went to the battlefield to kill the rampaging Demi-Gods as a show of strength. That was when he heard the rumors about Ren.
The rumors of the smiling devil had spread and many knew that he was challenging every single sect in the Eastern Region. The young man knew that Ren would be coming to the Dajiao Sect so he waited for him to observe how he fights. He wanted to see if this man could truly be a reincarnation of his Ancestor. If he truly was the current reincarnation of his Ancestor maybe he could help save his clan which was about to fall and its remaining members' force to join the other clans.
...
The young man arrived a few days before Ren and Fang Mu did, as he waited for the two to arrive he started cultivating. For a cultivator a few days would pass by in a blink of an eye, in fact, even a few years were like a blink of an eye to those who can live for centuries. So waiting for a few years much less a couple of days wasn't a problem.
As the days passed the person he was waiting for finally arrived. The young man looked at Ren from a distance and found that there was nothing extraordinary about him. Ren's looks were rather average in fact, his looks were below average. Ren's physique at glance wasn't anything special either. There was also the structure of his Qi and body, no matter how hard the young man looked Ren was nothing more than a mortal.
'No, I shouldn't think like that. Based on the tales passed down by the elders the Ancestor was always a mortal. No matter the incarnation, that was a law that did not change. No matter what race he had reincarnated into, he would never be anything but a mortal.'
The young man continued to observe Ren from a distance. He saw that Ren was about to fight the Golden Core Realm Cultivator. As the young man got ready to observe how Ren fought, what happened next made him feel a little disappointed. Ren did not fight instead it was his disciple who fought the Golden Core Realm Cultivator. Instead of watching the fight between his disciple and Golden Core Realm Cultivator Ren slept.
The young man found that this was the best opportunity to observe Ren closely. Yet the moment he got close to the sleeping Ren he felt numerous warning signals sounding in his head. As a descendant of the Strongest Mortal Soul, he was trained since birth and was taught to show no fear, but for the first time in his entire life, he was actually feeling something he has never felt before. The young man was actually feeling frightened, he was feeling fear so great it almost made him want to puke. The young man quickly backed away his body still shivering, he no longer dared get close and continued observing from a distance.
The young man calmed himself stabilizing his thoughts and breathing. Once he had calmed down he hid further away before continuing to observe Ren. The young man started to think as to why he suddenly felt that way when he approached Ren. He was aware that if you train your body it could potentially unconsciously move if it felt threatened
'What the f*ck was that? I wasn't even trying to attack him, I didn't even dare think of doing something with ill intent. That feeling, it was like he was going to attack me the moment I came close enough. Is it spell or something, or is he not really asleep?'
The young man who was trying his hardest to think of why he suddenly felt so much fear, stopped. Since he could not find an answer, it was best not to think too deeply about it and continue to observe.
...
After a while, Ren woke up and headed to where his disciple was. It was there the young man finally witnessed Ren fighting. To the others who had watched, the fight between Ren and the True Monarch Realm Ma Jun would seem like it could have gone either way, but the truth was Ren had absolute control of the situation.
From what the young man saw, Ren never considered that battle as something serious. Ren had willingly handicapped himself just so that the fight would seem somewhat fair, but even with that much of a handicap, Ren was able to win with relative ease.
Still, to be fair Ma Jun was a rather weak True Monarch Realm fighter since that wasn't his true realm and was only temporarily boosted by the Sword Array. Even the young man was confident that he could beat Ma Jun quite easily.
'Even after all that I still can't determine if he's the real deal or not.'
It was at that point when the young man was thinking that, he saw Ren looking directly at him. Ren then spoke some words, the young man could not hear what was said but he saw Ren's mouth movement.
'Meet me later, near the giant boulder two hundred meters north of here.'
At this point, the young man was half convinced that Ren was truly a reincarnation of his ancestor. Still, until he finds further proof he didn't want to make a conclusion about it. So to learn the truth the young man went on ahead to the meeting spot.
The giant boulder Ren was talking about was easy to spot as it was the only boulder among the field of trees. The young man looked around and saw that Ren wasn't there yet. Seeing that Ren wasn't here, the young man began to doubt if he was in the right place, or if he misinterpreted what Ren actually said. As he was starting to think of what to do next, he heard someone's voice whispering in his ear.
"So whose descendant are you?"
The young man instinctively raised his fist in defense and got into a stance as he looked behind him but so no one.
"No need to be so jumpy, I won't hurt you. Well, not too much."
When the young man heard that voice again and this time he felt something, he then instinctively lowered his center of gravity and covered his right abdomen. It was at that moment he felt a massive force hitting him. It was obviously aimed at his right abdomen but the young man was able to block it by intercepting the attack with his left hand.
Even though he had blocked the attack and his center of gravity was lowered so that he would be able to withstand the attack, the young man was still blown away. It was a good thing that he had reacted fast enough and at the moment of impact when he noticed that he could not stop the attack, he quickly jumped following the flow of the attack negating some of the damage.
The young man who had jumped to the side hit a nearby tree, the damage he received was minor. As the young man quickly stood back up, he once again heard the voice.
"Oh, you're pretty good, as expected of a descendant of one of my past incarnations."