Awakening of the Ancient: Rise of the Fallen

"I am sorry."

Xu Ming lowered the skill book and saw Valeria standing before him on the table.

She looked regretful, and she was apologizing to Xu Ming.

He didn't say anything, though. He again raised his book and started putting his focus on it. He was ignoring Valeria.

"I know I screwed up. I was just too excited after seeing the Spirit Fruits that I forgot about informing you. I regret my decision, and I promise that I won't do this again," Valeria replied as she apologized again. She was really feeling bad, and she was hoping to get forgiveness for her mistake, which might have put them in danger.

"Pleaseeeee," She let out again.

"In our Spirit Fairy Realm, each person gets three chances as long as their mistakes are not too big. Think of it as my first mistake," Valeria said.

"First? What about the stealing?" Xu Ming whispered as he shook his head.

"Ah, take it as my second mistake then. I won't make a third one. I promise!" She let out as she placed her hand on her chest.

"What if there's a third time?" Xu Ming asked in a low voice while still keeping his eyes on the book as if he was reading it.

"Then you can give me any punishment you want," Valeria let out.

Xu Ming sighed as he nodded his head. 

"This should be the last time," He told her.

"It will be," Valeria said as she nodded her head repeatedly. She placed her hand close to her chest as if she was promising in her strange manner.

"Good," Xu Ming nodded his head and forgave her.

Xu Ming started reading the skills. Since it was his first time, it took longer to read the books, but the skills were surprisingly easy to learn. That's what he noticed. These were the skills that had limited potential. They were able to give the Cultivator strength, which was considerably more than other skills, and these skills were the easiest to learn, but the strength of these skills didn't grow strong with an increase in Cultivation. 

This was the reason why most of the Cultivators didn't choose these skills since learning these skills was beneficial at first, but these skills became useless as the Cultivator became stronger. The Cultivators preferred using skills that had similar strength and had the potential to grow with the Cultivator even though they were complicated.

'I wonder if he intentionally chose the skills that were fast and powerful since he was worried about the trials. He probably didn't believe that he could live longer than the trials, so he didn't bother looking at the potential of the skills,' Xu Ming muttered as he guessed the motives of Li Mu for choosing these skills.

"It's good for me. It takes me a much shorter time to comprehend these skills, at least," He muttered.

He went back to his courting and started practicing the skills while trying to make sure that he didn't accidentally destroy the courtyard of Li Mu.

During the night, he practiced the skills and gained a mastery over these skills. His six-winged martial soul helped him in learning as well. Without the 6-winged martial soul, it would have taken him much longer to master these skills.

The night passed away in practicing while Valeria slept soundly.

It was soon the morning. Xu Ming was ready to leave. He had showered and dressed the best he could. Just as he was about to start leaving, he heard a knock on the door.

He opened the door of his courtyard and saw an old man standing outside.

"Greetings, Prince Mu. I'm here to escort you to the Royal Palace. Are you ready to leave?" the old man inquired.

"Yeah, let's leave," Xu Ming replied as he stepped out of the courtyard.

The Old Man brought out a talisman and crushed it.

A shining formation appeared on the ground.

"This will take us outside the Sect," The Old Man informed Xu Ming as he stepped on the formation.

Xu Ming stepped on the formation as well while Valeria sat on his shoulders.

The Formation shone even more brightly, and Xu Ming disappeared.

Xu Ming and the Old Man appeared outside the barrier of the Sect.

Xu Ming looked back and only saw a Golden Barrier. He understood that it was to keep the sect safe from intruders, and this was something which made it impossible for anyone to see the sect while they were standing outside the barrier.

There was a silver carriage standing before the Old Man. The Carriage was pulled by a beast that seemed like a three-horned dark rhino.

The Old Man gestured for Xu Ming to enter in the carriage.

Xu Ming entered the carriage and sat inside. The Old man was sitting outside since he was the driver of the carriage.

'They sent the driver to escort me. I guess that really didn't respect the Third Prince. At first, I thought that they sent a butler at least, but I guess that was too much to expect. It's not like I care, though. I'm not the real Prince,' Xu Ming thought as he shook his head.

The Carriage traveled for around four hours without stopping. After traveling for four hours, the carriage stopped. 

As the carriage stopped, Xu Ming opened the door and looked outside. He realized that the carriage was right before the entrance of a giant mansion. There were a lot of carriages before his Carriage. Generally, as a prince, his carriage should have been given space to pass, but he understood why this wasn't happening.

According to his assumption, the Royal Palace didn't send the Royal Carriage to bring him. The carriage he was sitting in was probably just a normal carriage, which was why no one was giving the carriage space to pass.

He found this thing somewhat disappointing, but he didn't put his mind to it. It didn't matter if he was fast or late to the party. All he needed was to attend it and then leave.

The carriages ahead kept moving as the people kept stepping out of the carriage and entering the Palace.

After a wait of twenty minutes, it was Xu Ming's turn. The carriage was right before the door. He stepped out of the carriage and stepped towards the door.

The servants recognized him and greeted him as they escorted him inside.