A Lion is Always Superior

  "Everything is fine now, Jietsu. Grandpa won't let anybody hurt you anymore. Let's go home now; your mother must be waiting for you," said Tsa ki while smiling at Tsashi. However, to his dismay, he received no response.  He looked at Tsashi only to see him looking back at him, but his lifeless eyes had no focus, and his face was expressionless. He was just lying there limply.  "Jietsu??? Are you alright? Say something..." Tsa ki said in a tender voice. Unfortunately, he received no reaction at all from Tsashi. All he saw was a pair of lifeless eyes, staring back at him.  "Alright, let's go home. You're probably tired, you need some rest."   After saying so, Tsa ki flew towards the Long Manor while carrying Tsashi in his arms.  Tsa ki entered the mansion with Tsashi in his arms and straightaway went to Tsashi's courtyard. His courtyard was beautiful and huge, which was to be expected as it was, after all the dwelling of the genius young master of the Tsai clan.   The outside was covered with a beautiful garden. Having a wide variety of colorful flowers, Tsashi liked looking at them whenever he came out of his room. There were many capable servants assigned to the task of tending to the garden, and they did their work with full dedication as they knew how much their young master liked this garden.  "Father in law, what happened to Jietsu? Why are you carrying him like that?" Just as Tsa ki entered the courtyard, came the worried voice of Mudok Qing. She was the Mother of Tsashi, and the daughter-in-law of Tsa ki.   She had another identity. She was from the Sima clan. In addition to that, she was the daughter of the Sima clan's leader, making her of high standing although her clan wasn't as strong as the three super clans 'Tsai, Vii and Suwon', it was still amongst the top 5 most influential clans in the nation.   "Modok.... Someone attacked him; there was an assassination attempt. Thank the heavens he's still alive." Tsa ki said in a worried tone  Mudok ran towards him and took Tsashi's frail, limp body from her grandfather's arms into hers.   "Jietsu, are you alright? Say something to me, look, its mother. Please, say something!" Mudok had beads of tears drop from her eyes as she looked at her son. She kept talking to him, trying to get him to speak, but there was no response.  "Let him rest first; he needs it. I'll tell you everything that happened later," said Tsa ki. Only then did Mudok came to her senses. She took Tsashi into the house, put him to bed, and covered him with a golden blanket for him to rest. After looking at her son for a while, with tears in her eyes, she came out.  She went straight to where Tsa ki was standing.  "Who did this to Jietsu?" she asked with a voice filled with grief.  "Unfortunately, I don't know who it was, or I would destroy everyone and everything related to them and make them wish they were never born on this planet!!" Said Tsa ki while looking in the direction of Tsashi's room.  Then, he described everything that happened in great detail, how he knew Tsashi was in danger, what he saw when he got there and how he saved Tsashi. Mudok was shocked to learn that her child was dead for a few moments. Tears kept pouring out of her eyes as she imagined what her son must have had faced for the past few hours.  Tsa ki had already sent someone to get the royal physician with his seal in tow. The physician he invited was the best physician in all the nations. He mostly treated members of the royal family and the three super clans. He was called Physician Zhong.  After the physician arrived, he went to check on Tsashi. After a long and thorough inspection, he came out and said, "I don't think there is anything wrong with Tsashi. His body is pretty much healthy other than a few minor injuries."  Physician Zhong stopped for a moment and then continued.  "I'm not sure how or why it happened, but Tsashi has lost his intelligence and has become retarded." He quickly realized that he had said something wrong and hastily corrected himself.  "I mean, he has become slow. He can't process what's happening around him. It's just like when you try talking about complicated matters with a 2-year-old, you won't get any response."  "Is there a solution?" asked Tsa ki in a heavy tone.  "I am not sure what will work. Maybe he'll be fine after a few days of rest, or perhaps he won't ever recover. Anything can happen, and I can't say anything for sure as I've never seen this condition before, but I'll pray that he gets better soon."  "I should go now," said the doctor.  "I'll follow you out," said Tsa ki with a heavy heart as he escorted physician Zhong out.   -------------------------------------------------  As Tsarayu accumulated these memories, he also felt sad thinking about what the 8-year-old child had to face. What made him especially upset was what happened after Tsashi lost his intelligence and became dull and not to forget how the people in his own clan treated him.  His cousins constantly bullied him. His cousins could only be jealous of his talent but couldn't take it out on him due to his strength and position before; but now that he had lost everything, they could finally do so to their heart's content.  They would take him out with the excuse of playing and bully him. They would make him sit on his hands and knees and use him as a table, sometimes even kick him from behind to make him fall and get injured, but whenever they were inquired regarding the injuries, they would give excuses, saying that he fell while coming home. He did nothing as he couldn't even understand that he was actually being bullied.  Even the servants stopped showing him respect when no one was there to supervise them. They would treat him like they were the masters instead of the opposite.  That was how four years passed. By then, he was 12 years old, and his cultivation still stagnated at the peak of the Body Refining Realm; but that wasn't so special anymore as he was no longer the strongest in his generation. Many of his peers had reached the 10th stage of the Body Refining Realm by the time they reach 12.   Even in his clan, there were 5 of them. There were also a few who had already broken past Body Refining and were at Spirit Establishment, with the strongest in his clan's younger generation being the son of his eldest uncle. He was only 13 this year and was already at the 3rd stage of the Spirit Refining Realm.  "Hah, now that I'm here, time to get everything back. I'll show them that a Lion is always superior to wolves, no matter how injured. I must assess the situation for a few days first before I let everyone know that I've recovered. Got to see the friends and enemies."  Tsarayu smiled as he got off the bed, ready to start his journey in this new world.