Shi Lang brought Tao back home and even cooked dinner personally after ages. He was happy from the bottom of his heart. After putting Tao to sleep for the night, he sat down with Amelia and his parents.
The older generation was happy to have someone call them grandparents, but Shi Lang was acting a bit too happy. Luna asked, “What is it? Why are you so happy?”
Shi Lang looked at her and said in a calm tone, “As the cultivation grows, your body becomes stronger. The stronger you become further you stray from the path heavens have decided for you. As you stray away from this path, the harder it becomes for you to have children of your own.”
This statement enlightened the old people and they were shocked, which human did not want to have children of their own? With such advanced technology where people can have children even if they have problems with their germ cells. Shi Lang’s revelation to them about the bounds of the heavenly path was too skeptical.
Shi John frowned and said, “What do you mean by that? Did you not say that cultivation means defying their fate?”
Shi Lang smiled and replied, “It is not that simple. People can defy their own fate at the cost of constantly staking their life as they grow stronger, how much strength do you think is needed to defy the fate of someone who cannot even control their limbs?”
The parents could tell that this was a serious issue but they did not want to give up just like that. A human wished to have children so that their family line can continue. A child was like an extension of their own. Shi John asked in a dejected manner, “Is there really no other method for you to proceed?”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “There are methods to conceive, however, the process will be dangerous. It will need us to locate the rarest of the rare heavenly elixirs. The spiritual energy on the planet is too small to give birth to such elixirs for now. It could take a decade, or even centuries for the spiritual energy to grow strong.”
Luna sighed and asked, “Why does heaven give people strength but then shackle them in an even crueler manner?”
Shi Lang chuckled and said, “You misunderstand the purpose of these rules mom.”
Luna chided, “Enlighten me oh great wise man.”
Shi Lang smiled faintly and said, “You may think that I am the strongest in the federation. However, there could be a lot of hidden experts who are laying low. Federation is our home, so we do not have to be worried about it too much, however, what about the people in the vast stellar space?
For the sake of my duty, I have offended a lot of people, and some are strong enough to destroy the entire planet, let alone a puny ant like me. So, till the time I am strong enough to face these people, I do not want to increase the possibilities of the people around me getting harmed.”
The two elders finally understood what he meant. For the sake of his family’s safety, he was not in a rush to have a child with Amelia. They understood and then everyone calmed down. After a few minutes, the entire family went back to the rooms to sleep. Shi Lang was sitting cross-legged on the ground and was cultivating when he sensed a gaze on his back.
He smiled faintly and said, “You are thinking that I do not want to have children because of you?”
Amelia nodded and said, “Is it because I am weak?”
She has just reached the peak of the core condensation realm, and her strength was too far away from that of Shi Lang. This disparity between the two of them has always bothered her. Shi Lang opened his eyes and looked at her in surprise. He asked, “Have you lost your mind?”
Amelia avoided his gaze. Shi Lang sighed and said, “It is not that you are too weak. It is because I am too weak. When I went out for the Galactic showdown I found that despite being strong, I could not take on the people in the A tier.
The strength and the speed they all displayed in the showdown was something that I can only achieve after a hundred years.”
Amelia was surprised and she asked, “What did you say? The strength that would take you a hundred years to achieve? How strong were these people?”
Shi Lang sighed and said, “I had OB-One record footage from their matches. It turns out these people have special bloodlines, and they were capable enough to leave a desolate planet in rubbles.”
Amelia sucked in a cold breath. Shi Lang went on to tell her the things he saw, and his voice was filled with battle intent. His scarlet eyes were glowing with flames of war. Amelia understood his heart very well, the strength displayed by those people must have triggered something inside Shi Lang that made him so cautious.
However, she did not know that the reason he had become so calm was to tame his asura mind even more. The battle lust in his mind was enough to urge him to commit suicide by challenging stronger people than himself. The other reason was that Shi Lang recalled the people in his past life were killed just for breathing in the presence of a supreme being.
Supreme beings were the people who could cultivate. They did not leave a way out for the mortals and thought of them like slaves or puny insects. He did not wish to cause trouble for the people around him by being too daring. He was cautious for the sake of his ties.
If he was the orphan that he was in his last life, he would have tried to seek adventure and opportunity, but not in this life. He had to take things one at a time. Amelia went to sleep with a resolution to get stronger. Shi Lang did not wish to see her down-hearted and so he told her that they were still young and given that they could reach the current realm at their age without splurging on high-quality resources, they were very good, all they needed was time.
The night passed quickly, and the next morning, Shi Lang got ready, and he went to see Tao in her room. He found the girl to be rubbing her eyes, she seemed to have just woken up. She saw Shi Lang and smiled at him. The smile was akin to a lily coming to bloom. Shi Lang smiled as well and said, “Good morning.”
Tao replied, “Good Morning.”
Her voice was very gentle. It was because of her physique, the spirit body. Shi Lang asked, “Do you want to go to school?”
Shi Tao thought for a bit and nodded. The young man walked up to her and sat down beside her on the bed and said, “In the next month, we will start to learn things at home. Then we will take you to the school to get admitted.”
Shi Tao nodded, she did not have any problem with this. The child was still sleepy and she leaned against the big body next to her, feeling warm. Shi Lang patted her forehead when Luna’s voice sounded, “Tao, baby come for breakfast.”
Shi Tao replied, “Yes, Granny.”
Shi Lang scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the room. The family ate in peace and Shi Lang left the house after telling his mother that a simulation pod will be arriving at noon, so she should get it set up in the study room.
…
When he came to his class, he found the students grinding on the books with great focus. They were also helping each other with things they did not understand. Shi Lang got on the podium and the students stood up to greet him.
Shi Lang waved his hand and said, “You guys have been too stressed, I have decided to give you all a little push for the finish. How does that sound?”
The students cheered and Shi Lang smiled as well, he said, “Calm down, the next phase is your schooling. You all have a poor foundation, and I plan to restore that. I want to ask you all, do you wish to stand at the peak of this world and lead it forward to stand on the peak of this realm?”
The students fell silent for a moment before they all said in unison, “Sir, yes sir!.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “You all will fail miserably.”
His words surprised the people they did not understand why he said such a demoralizing thing. Shi Lang said, “You all will fail miserably, because you have yet to even suffer what it feels to have your chest burned with napalm, and that is just to steel your resolve.”
The schooling of the sadistic master had begun and the students were in for a round trip to hell.