Mortals and Sages (12k-word mega-chapter, Xiahui Territory arc ends, thanks to Alliance Leader Flying Heart Like an Arrow

Ever since he was little, Scott had felt that something was off about the world he lived in.

The first time he felt this way was on the day his grandmother died.

On a peaceful, sunny afternoon, five-year-old Scott had been pulling weeds in the backyard. His grandfather and father were working at the blacksmith shop, while his mother and grandmother were filling the water vat and mending the family's clothes.

Scott remembered that scene with the clarity of a photograph—golden sunlight, his grandmother in the chair in the backyard, the dust-covered yard, smoke from the neighboring house slowly rising into the azure sky, insects chirping by his ears, the scent of azaleas at his nose, and his grandmother watching him gently with a smile.

Then, in the very next second, the old woman's head drooped, and she lost consciousness. Scott sensed that something was wrong. He ran over and called for his grandmother, but she did not respond. Still just a little boy, he anxiously called for his mother. The sturdy Southern Ridge woman immediately panicked and hurried to fetch a physician, but the physician could do nothing either.

It was a stroke. The old woman was too old; even if they had known what to do, it would have been too late. Besides, Harrison Port had no physician capable of treating cerebral blood vessels at the time.

The next day, his grandmother was gone. Scott still did not know what death truly meant, nor did he understand what the old woman's disappearance signified. He only felt that his grandmother had been in great pain.

After the old woman passed away, the house became lively. His father's brothers and sisters, along with other relatives, all came to discuss pooling money for her burial. The house was filled with crying,