Chapter 19 - History

"It all started 200 years ago in which the ancient rulers of the great kingdoms had begun to fight amongst each other. Everyone at that time had supernatural powers such as being able to control fire, water and ice. Some even had the ability to fly and teleport much like the superpowers which you said you wished you had. However, at some point, the power difference between the kingdoms grew too vast with one of them having more than the rest. Seeing that they were threatened, the other 9 kingdoms decided to merge as one to take down the 10th," Jun began to tell the tale which had been kept hidden for so long.

"10th kingdom? But there are only 9 kingdoms," Julius argued.

"Yes Julius, there used to be 10 kingdoms, now let me finish the story... Once the 9 kingdoms merged their power, they launched a full attack on the 10th one. Even with the combined forces of the 9 kingdoms, the battle lasted for 9 years in which thousands of people died each day. However, on the last day, the 9 rulers went up against the 10th and managed to defeat him, in turn ending the 9 year long war," Jun continued to speak.

"Immediately after that, the 9 remaining rulers made it law for all magic to be erased from the world so that a war such as the one they faced would never occur again. As for the remnants of the 10th kingdom, each of them were executed and after over 200 years, they were finally erased from existence," Jun finally finished the story.

"200..." Julius said before cutting himself off.

"Yup, it's been 200 years and we've managed to keep our world at peace thanks to those previous 9 rulers," Jun finished the sentence for Julius even though that wasn't what Julius was going to say.

"That number keeps popping up a lot... and that old madman spoke of it on that day. Then those voices also told me that for 200 years they'd gathered my power. Could it be that... I have magic?" Julius asked himself before scratching that idea as he would surely be killed if he had possession over magic, no matter who he was.

...

"We're finally here," said Jun after they'd been in the sky for nearly a whole day.

"Where are we?" Julius asked in confusion.

"That's right, I forgot that you never went outside of your kingdom. Well... this place is another one of the great kingdoms. You might even know the ruler of it," said Jun as he allowed his dragon to descend from the sky at top speeds. Unlike when the dragon first took off, Julius wasn't scared of falling anymore, instead, he stood firmly on the dragon's neck as he descended towards the kingdom.

...

"My queen, there's a large jade dragon with a golden tail and no wings approaching our kingdom at top speeds. We think that it might pose a threat to the safety of your people," said one of the servants as he barged into the throne room of the castle in which Jun and Julius were approaching.

"Jade dragon... no, it couldn't be him," said the queen of the kingdom as he rushed outside her balcony to take a look for herself.

"It really is him," she said as he noticed that he and her made eye contact.

...

"Hey, drop us off at that balcony," said Jun as he pointed his jade dragon towards where the queen was. Just as he expected, his pet dragon listened and brought them to the balcony in which Jun and Julius climbed off the dragon and met with the queen of the kingdom.

The queen instantly got on one knee and looked at the ground which caught everyone off guard except for Jun. Her guards, which had spears pointed at the dragon, had their mouths opened wide as he saw their queen bowing in front of someone.

"Mary..." said Julius in confusion as it wasn't appropriate for any royalty to bow that low for anyone, even other royalty let alone some old man.

"Good evening master Jun. I hope there isn't anything troubling which caused you to come all this way," said Mary with a formal tone. She'd been so distracted in the sight of Jun that she hadn't noticed Julius who she previously wanted to take for herself so badly.

"Why are you so formal? I mean it's been quite a while since we've met but come on, you finished your training so there's no need to be so serious," said Jun as he helped Mary get on her feet.

"Who could've known the child abusing the old man could have such a high status," said Julius, which made Mary's heart stop in fear as she thought that Julius' life was about to come to an end due to him disrespecting Jun.

"You fool! Do not ruin this for me! Unlike I am with you, I've treated all my previous students harshly. You're only getting special treatment because of..." said Jun before cutting himself off as he couldn't let the queen of a great kingdom learn that his new student was able to use both methods of cultivation.

"Anyway Mary, there's no need for you to worry. I just came here to reward this boy because his training has gone exceptionally well.... except the parts where he nearly died. So, just get some food for him, prepare a bath and some new casual clothes for training as these ones have gotten pretty dirty," said Jun casually, which continued to baffle the guards there who had never seen their queen get talked down to.

As expected Mary listened and began to inform her servants what needed to be prepared while he led the way for Julius and Jun. However, while they were walking, Jun grabbed hold of Julius and informed him of something while whispering so that no one could hear what he was saying.

"While you're here to mainly relax for a bit, make sure to not tell anyone that you're cultivating using two methods. Lie and say that you're cultivating through battle alone. Only meditating cultivators can feel your aura when you're sleeping and cultivating so you can continue with that as well.. However, you must not tell a single person that you're using both as you could cause more trouble than you already have," said Jun.