《When Earth learns to cultivate》


 1 Tian Long

    At an unknown place and time. Somewhere in the vastness of the dark space. An insurmountable amount of lifeless bodies floated with varying degrees of carnage, clear signs that a battle of unprecedented proportions took place.


    Amidst the carnage. Seven people, four men, and three women, all of them with varying degrees of wounds and exhaustion, surrounded the lone figure of an exhausted old man.


    He was a man of medium build. He wore a once white silk robe that hung to the knee, now stained by blood. He had a head full of disheveled snow-white hair that fell to the hip, and a short white beard. Wrinkles filled his olive-colored face, proof of the vicissitudes of time the old man had lived. Still light shined in those black eyes, deep as the darkness of the space they stood.


    A man that looked in his mid-forties took a step and with a superior tone said: "Surrender Tian Long. The alliance of sects and kingdoms you created to oppose my Heaven devouring sect lies destroyed. Now only you remain, no matter how mighty you are. You alone stand no chance against us,"


    Tian Long stood in silence, looking with his deep black eyes at the enemy leader. The leader did not dare to be rash and attack right away. He was still wary of Tian Long''s battle prowess, still wanting him to surrender in peace.


    Tian Long stood thinking. After a few breaths of time, he spoke.


    "Dark devourer, I may be incapable of winning against you with my prowess and saving the galaxy of your devil sect. However, I''m not without cards to play,".


    Tian Long took out a small black sphere. The sphere rested in the palm of his hand. The sphere had tens of thousands of small inscriptions that started glowing with the intensity of a sun.


    Dark devoured and his generals attacked as soon as they watched the sphere appear, but it was too late as before they could reach Tian Long. They found they could not take a step forward. Time itself had frozen.


    The sphere in Tian Long continued to increase its glow intensity. They saw all the heavenly Qi from the battle that took place and the divine Qi still inside the Dantian of the fallen cultivators dashed off towards the black sphere.


    After a few more moments, their horror began. They felt all the heavenly Qi inside their bodies being absorbed by the black sphere; they tried to struggle, but to no avail. Nothing they did allowed them to escape the area of effect. This all takes time to describe, but in reality, it happened in a single breath time.


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    Dark devourer looked at Tian Long''s eyes full of hatred. He did not know the effect of the black sphere, but he knew the effect of it would be terrible for them. With the vast amount of Divine Qi, it was amassing. Furthermore, the Dark devourer noticed that Tian Long was also being subject to the effects of the black sphere. Dark Devourer noticed Tian Long Divine Qi was also being devoured by the sphere. However, this brought him no joy, as he understood this most likely was Tian Long''s sacrifice to kill them. His heart grew cold and the hatred in his eyes toward Tian Long intensified tenfold. They had won against the alliance formed to stop them. Yet their victory would not come to be, all because of a geezer that already had a foot in the grave.


    Tian Long looked at the sphere, waiting for it to be ready. This was his masterpiece, something he had created, perhaps by nostalgia, or perhaps as a last resort in case the alliance failed. Even he was not sure why he had created this artifact, however, now that he had activated it, there was no going back. It was a onetime use artifact.


    As Tian Long waited. He looked at the generals and, to the dark devoured, a playful smile appeared on his face. He saw the terror they were experiencing. It was a little payback. They had exhausted the lives of countless planets in order to increase their cultivation. Now their galaxy was little more than a cemetery of planets with no sentient life on them.


    Once the artifact was ready, Tian Long spoke. With a calm voice that resembled more the sound of thunder than the voice of a human:


    "Heaven time controller activate. Take me to my home planet. At the time of my transmigration to the world of Elaria, take me to planet Earth,"


    With those words spoken, all the light produced by the heaven time controller contracted back to the sphere. Light enveloped Tian Long as he disappeared.


    Tian Long opened his eyes. He stood before the planet he had called home over one million years ago.


    Before he transmigrated into the body of Tian Long. He went by the name of Li Chang, a useless memory before, but now he stood here before planet Earth, days after he had transmigrated to the world of Elaria. The planet where he grew, loved, and gave life to his descendants. Where he took his first life of many that he reaped during his long existence, however, there was always a lingering feeling of longing for his home planet.


    Now he had returned, he wanted to see his family once again. Of course, he understood that he no longer had the body of Li Cheng. Instead, he sat in space in a meditative position to recover his Divine Qi. He then scanned the planet with his divine sense. After a few moments he located his family, he saw his parents holding the funeral rites for Li Cheng. A pang of sadness overcome Tian Long. He wanted to reassure his past parents but refrained from doing it.


    He no longer was Li Cheng, he now was Tian Long. To him, coming here was a last resource. He only wanted to stop the Heavenly devouring sect from killing the scarce, sentient life remaining in the Azure galaxy. To him, creating the Heavenly time controller had been an impulse. He never expected it would come in handy to eradicate the upper echelons of the devil''s sect.


    After all, what had happened in the Azure Galaxy was no longer, something for him to care about. He was now as good as dead. He knew the distance that he would need to traverse would be immense. Just going there now it would take him thousands of years at full speed.

 2 End of civilization

    As he was contemplating his thoughts, a doubt surged as he explored the whole planet with his divine sense, he wanted to know what made this planet different from the hundreds of planets he had visited in the Azure Galaxy where every planet could cultivate, however, this planet beside Chinese fantasy cultivation did not exist.


    As he spent an unknown amount of time Tian Long''s face changed from curiosity to deep thought, then to a frown, then to surprise, then to disbelief, such that without noticing he spoke aloud: "Amazing, no wonder there is no Qi in the world the world root of the planet is nearly dead, all Qi produced by it root is entirely used to sustain itself, this caused the halt of the growth of the world that is why is so tiny compared with planets in the Azure Galaxy, furthermore with the intervention of humankind the world root has continued to deteriorate, if it continues like this the root will perish in the next ten thousand years, but the most incredible thing is the sheer talent of the inhabitants of this world," said Tain Long before marveling at the mortals in planet earth.


    In the Azure galaxy, it was common knowledge that you may find one person with a low spiritual root for every one hundred people, one medium spiritual root for every thousand people with low spiritual roots, one high spiritual root for every ten thousand medium spiritual roots, one supreme spiritual root for every one hundred thousand people with high spiritual roots, one holy spiritual root for every million of people with supreme spiritual roots and finally a divine spiritual root the greatest of them all could be found in one of every ten million holy spiritual roots, Tian Long knew that in the entire Azure Galaxy that encompassed thousands of planets there were less than five hundred cultivators with a divine spiritual root, those cultivators were distributed among those planets with each planet holding only five such frightening talents, even then each planet had required the passage of thousands of years for a spiritual root to be born and be allowed to mature."


    Yet on this planet, with its world root damaged Tian Long found over one thousand humans with a divine spiritual root, he always thought he was a heaven-defying talent and he was, but in the Azure Galaxy, here his talents were rare but not at the extend that he was used to.


    Not only were the spiritual roots here superior, but Tian Long also found that many humans had unique constitutions. The most precious ones, Tian Long concluded, were nine constitutions belonging to nine different bloodlines around the world.


    This only brought many questions to Tian Long, why the world''s root had been damaged? He could at least feel the damage to the world''s root had been intentional, why there were so many talented humans in this damaged world impeded to transcend their mortal limitations? how strong were the people that had condemned such talents, many more questions raised in his thoughts but he had no answer to any of them.


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    "One thing is for certain, I returned to the past before the Heaven devouring sect became known, if I were to repair this world root and help the inhabitants of this planet to cultivate the Heaven devouring sect would stand no chance, not only that but this planet would become the strongest in several galaxies, giving them a helping hand would not be a bad investment in the long run" thought Tian Long.


    A look of determination appeared on Tian Long, he continued to recover his Qi for a few days, once he was in adequate condition and with renewed energy he disappeared from where he sat and appeared at the center of the earth''s core, there in front of him a teen foot blue tree stood, the tree appeared to be in autumn season as its branches only held a few light blue colored leaves, the bark of the tree could be seen with its blue hue ever so slowly dying, this was the world root, Tian Long stood there a few moments before taking out from his interspatial ring several heavenly plants and leaving them at the root of the world root, which immediately began to envelop the plants in order to absorb their energy, at the same time Tian Long placed one hand on the trunk of the tree before infusing massive quantities of life energy and heavenly Qi.


    He didn''t wait for the tree to finish absorbing all the energy provided instead he once again disappeared and appeared outside the planet, with a wave of his hand every human was gone from the planet and a small white cube appeared on his hand, all the humans had been moved to that small cube and were in a state of hibernation where time did not pass, Tian Long knew that repairing the world root and hastening its grow would bring many changes to the surface, terrain, atmosphere, the size of the planet, most of these mortals would likely die before those changes, Tian Long once again disappeared, he reappeared way behind the moon as this celestial body would also suffer changes because of the changes taking place on planet earth, once there Tian Long simple seated to meditate and closed his eyes.


    Meanwhile, the earth rapidly increased its size, the land mass increased, earthquakes took place, volcanoes were erupting, new mountain ranges formed, Qi seeped out from the world root into the world transforming vegetation and animal alike, and the world continued to change for the next year, once the world root finished changing the planted Tian Long opened his eyes, after some inspection to the planet with his divine sense he felt satisfied, the planted had increased its size at least forty times, whereas before oceans and seas occupied around eighty percent of the planet now they only occupied around forty percent, in the landmasses, there was an abundance of lakes and rivers, even in the desserts there were several oases, the forest, and meadows and mountain ranges were the most abundant scenario by far, Tian Long saw some places that with time would become High-density Qi environments.


    The signs of humans ever living on the planet, as cities, villages, and technology smitten by the planet into nothingness.

 3 Of Patriarch, Matriarch and Councils

    Tian Long also found that the sheer quantity and quality of the Qi was nothing to scoff at. The planet now was a cultivation treasure. This was his primary worry, and why he had infused all that extra energy into the world root. If the planet didn''t have enough Qi, how could these mortal talents grow?


    So he was pretty satisfied to see the countless treasures he gave to the world root. which gave astounding results.


    With a smile, Tian Long sent his consciousness inside the white cube where he had stored the humans. While the Earth changed. Tian Long had decided how to approach the humans about the changes that took place. Also, how this world would administer itself from this day onward.


    Once his consciousness was inside the white cube. Tian Long clustered the humans by bloodline. After all, even if they lived in different parts of the world, they shared the same bloodline. And for someone at Tian Long''s level, identifying and grouping them together was something that he could make even half asleep.


    As for the significant others of the humans. He puts both of them along with their offspring in case of existing. With the family of the most talented significant other.


    His primary interest was the people with unique constitutions and divine spiritual roots. These would compose the nine great families, clans, royals. He cared not what they called themselves. But they would be in charge of providing a haven for the less talented individuals of the humans. Of course, he knew that some counterbalance in power was necessary. Where those talented but without a background could thrive. So he would set up six sects around the world, filled with talented individuals with no bloodline ties to the nine families.


    As for the rest of the humans, they could choose to serve under one of the fifteen powers, or try their luck on unclaimed land.


    The members of the nine families with divine spirit roots, and the humans with divine spiritual roots. Tian Long decided would form the sects. He sent them to a personal space formed by a meadow for each family. The humans that would form the sects shared a meadow. Once the humans lay in their assigned meadow, Tian Long awoke them. All the humans looked in confusion. They were at a loss for what had happened to them. One moment they were doing something, and the next moment they were in this meadow, along with several other people. Before they could process what had happened, an indescribable feeling of calmness invaded every awake human mind. The feeling made them forgo their fears and anxiety. Tian Long caused this with a technique. He didn''t want the humans panicking and distressing themselves. Not yet anyway, they could do that, at a later time.


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    Tian Long then used his Qi to send to the humans all he wanted them to know. Beginning with him being a cultivator that transcended the Deity boundaries a long time ago. The cultivation realms in the Mortal, Earth, Sky, Heaven, and Deity phase. Each of them with five realms of cultivation realms and nine sub-cultivation levels. The Mortal phase being Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, and Ascendant lord. As for the sub-cultivation realms, they went from level one to nine. As for the cultivation phase of Earth, Heaven and Deity, they would need to shed the Mortal phase before learning their names.


    "Short attainable goals first," thought Tian Long. He put a limit to the knowledge imparted the humans, about cultivation phases, realms, and levels. Also, he imparted the full extent of the universal language spoken in the Azure galaxy. Without it, they won''t be able to read and understand cultivation and techniques manuals.


    Next, he transmitted what there was to know about the basics of cultivation. Such as the Dantian, Qi, Tribulation, demon beast, alchemy, formations, blacksmithing, spirit stones, and spirit herbs. As well as their ranks in the mortal phase. Tian Long also informed them of his plans for the nine families and the six sects.


    For the families, he let them reach a council about whom would represent them, in the choices they would need to make. For the humans to be forming the sects, Tian Long instructed them to get to know each other and divide into six groups. Selecting at least one leader among each group.


    Tian Long retrieved most of his consciousness and waited. After all, each group had people with divine spiritual roots, with over fifty people in each group. And that was because he had only woken those older than fifteen years old.


    The families discussed this for a long time. The discussion ranged from all they were feeling with the sudden changes, and how they would organize. They did not know how long had passed since they awoke in the meadow. The place where they were did not have a night, it was a constant sunny day. At long last, families formed either a council or parliament by votes or age. Others named a patriarch or matriarch in the family. Once the families finished, they informed Tian Long that they could continue. But only received a brief message in their mind. "you need to wait until all families and the sects had reached a consensus. Do you want to sleep meanwhile? or stay awake and get to know your family, and decide the roles each will fulfill".


    Two families who had chosen a matriarch and patriarch slept. After all, the patriarch and matriarch could assign the duties to whom they deemed right. The families shared information about what each member could do. From there, they decided what role they would fulfill in their new world.


    After an unknown amount of time had passed. The meadow that hosted the humans that would form the sects had also formed six, almost even groups. One of them was a tad bigger and one other a tad smaller. Three sects had chosen a patriarch, one a matriarch, and two more a council of elders, once formed they informed Tian Long.


    All this takes a long time to describe, and for the humans most likely felt like weeks. However, in the real world, Tian Long had only breathed a few times. Once he knew the decisions of the families and the sects. Tian Long created a small thin white bubble around himself. Then he sent to sleep those who were not representatives of their faction. Allowing the representatives to step out of the cube into the white bubble.

 4 Great Library

    Tian Long allowed them a few moments to take in the world''s view and of him, this was the first time they were laying eyes upon him, some wanted to say something for suddenly changing their lives but refrained from doing so the benefits they would receive were immense not to mention that most likely Tian Long could kill them with a thought, also the numbing sensation that Tian Long had made them felt was still in effect.


    After a few breaths time, Tian Long began explaining: "I have put barriers on the zones that humans won''t be able to access for the next fifty years, these zones marked on blue are not to become eligible for your settlement, these areas will allow spirit herbs and demon beast to thrive and then humans with enough capability could harvest its rewards, as for the rest of the areas you are free to choose an area to inhabit and protect of seventy million square kilometers."


    After saying that Tian Long allowed the humans to choose their territories, he wasn''t worried about them wanting the same territories as even taking out of the equation the lands he had restricted and their territories did not take even thirty percent of the land available.


    The representatives didn''t know where to choose after all; the landmass was simply massive, and many places looked appealing; they had thought perhaps to choose the land where their country had once been, but with so much changed to the planet, the continental masses differed much from their knowledge.


    A middle-aged man named Alexander slowly approached Tian Long and asked him if he could suggest a place where his family could thrive, Tian Long thought for a moment and then dismissed the man stating that this was their choice that would shape their family destiny, it was not his place to step in.


    Disgruntled, the man did not dare to pursue the matter. Some other people that had had similar thoughts dismissed them.


    Tian Long had informed them that they were not o occupy the same land, although in the future they could form treaties or alliances if they so wished.


    Like that, the councils deliberated for a long time and the patriarchs and matriarchs fell into deep thought searching for suitable land for their families and sects to develop and thrive, Tian Long patiently waited for them to decide the location they selected would determine the starting point of their group.


    After a few hours, they selected their lands to be, there were some occasions when they wanted the same land but after a little discussion they agreed on where they were going to settle, the families chose mostly valleys close to lakes, however, two families decided differently, once would settle in a giant oasis inside a massive dessert and the other family had settled on a mountain range with a river that traversed right in the middle.


    As per the sects, most of them settled on mountain ranges with lush forests, while one sect settled in a valley in the tundra that lay in the northern part of the world.


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    Once all the groups informed Tian Long of where they would settle, Tian Long waved his hand and all the representatives returned to the white cube.


    After that, he sent once again his consciousness to the representatives of the families, once there he informed them that each family was special because through their bloodline or bodies a special constitution may appear in talented members of their families, Tian long told each family their special constitution those being:


    1.- Pure Yang Body


    2.-Pure Ying Body


    3.- Heavenly Warrior Body


    4.- Qi-blessed body


    5.- Ancient Dragon bloodline


    6.- Blue Phoenix bloodline


    7.- Heavenly Demon bloodline


    8.- Great Shadow bloodline


    9.- Violet Sky bloodline


    Tian Long also explained that while each constitution gifted the person with increased talent and comprehension, the level of the gift depended largely on the grade of the body or bloodline of the person, the grades being low, middle, high superior, and complete, each grade up the ladder provided an exponential growth of the talent and comprehension of the person, at the very least a low grade constitution guaranteed a medium spiritual root and a complete constitution almost secured a divine spiritual root.


    Once Tian Long finished explaining the benefits of their constitutions Tian Long once more reunited the representatives of families and sects and moved them inside the cube, they were once more in a meadow, except this time before them stood a red and white beautifully carved with dragons and phoenixes a four-floor pagoda, all the representatives thought a world wonder stood before them for how beautifully made the pagoda was.


    While the representatives were in their trance observing the pagoda an avatar of Tian Long appeared and told them breaking them from their stupor "Each floor contains cultivation manuals and techniques manuals those last ones range from martial arts, weapon arts, movement arts to auxiliary or supplemental arts, their grade divided by floor, the mortal techniques are on the first floor, earth techniques in the second, sky techniques in the third and heaven techniques in the four-floor, once you have selected a manual you want to purchase just grab it and say purchase"


    Tian Long allowed a few breaths time for the information to be assimilated by the mortals, then he continued "Each family will get ten million merit points and they can use them to gain what they consider necessary for your families and sects." as Tian Long finished saying those words his avatar simply disappeared leaving their representatives to choose the techniques.


    ________________________________________________________________________________________________________


    Damian one of the representatives of the Violet Sky bloodline family, 20 years old, was a normal complexion leaning a bit towards chubby Caucasian male with a few moles on his arms and neck, with a head filled with dark brown hair, beard, and eyes, he was wearing a pair of blue jeans, sneakers and a gray t-shirt.


    "So we should split the ten million between each of us that way each will have a million and we will cover a larger area" said James say, he was the de facto leader of the representatives of the Family, he wore similar facial characteristics to Damian although rougher and a bit taller and a tad tanner, he had a domineering aura about him, he wore a pair of jeans, white t-shirt, and sneakers.


    "Maybe we could stick together. That way, we all can reach a consensus on what techniques to get. What do the others think?" said Celia, a tall woman with brown skin and a delicate face. Her eyes and hair were dark brown. She wore a t-shirt and some shorts and sandals.

 5 Choosing techniques

    "I think splitting the points would allow getting things done. After all, almost everyone has their own point of view and if we buy everything by consensus, it would be impossible," said Max, another representative of the family. "Although splitting sounds good for the techniques, as everyone is different, at the very least we should agree on one or two core cultivation manuals. Once we secure those, we can distribute the remaining points," said Jack, Damian''s older brother. He was the spitting image of Damian, although with a more triangular face and a few years older.


    After going forward and back, the ten representatives expressed their points of view. In the end, they decided they could go by Jack''s suggestion. Only per Damian''s suggestion, they should choose the core cultivation manual on the fourth floor. The representatives of the violet sky bloodline marched towards the pagoda. It came to Damian''s attention that, except for the patriarch and matriarch. They were one of the first groups to head inside the Pagoda.


    Once Damian stepped inside the pagoda, his mind blew off. He was an avid reader of the Xianxia genre and kind of expected this to happen. Nevertheless, expecting it and experiencing it are two separate things. The inside of the pagoda was astonishingly large. Rows upon rows of books adorned the pagoda as far as the eye could see. It took but a moment to realize that the inside of the pagoda was far larger than the outside. On the outside, the pagoda looked to be around thirty yards wide, yet on the inside, Damian could see the rows of bookshelves continued beyond his sight.


    After a few breaths time, Damian and the rest of his family regained their composure. They were still under the effects of Tian Long''s technique. They advanced through to the fourth floor. While going up Damian had not failed to see that below each manual there was a number stating its price. The books were around 100 points on the first floor. On the second floor where the earth manuals were, he saw 1,000 price tags. On the third, the price was 10,000 for each manual. When he reached the fourth floor a frown had made it to his face, as well as all the other representatives.


    The manuals on the four floor had price tags at 200,000. That was 20 times the price for a sky-grade manual. However, even with the exorbitant price, they had already decided that a heaven manual would be the best option. From the knowledge they had gained from Tian Long, they were aware of how much more impressive was a Heaven manual compared to a sky one.


    So they all chose a few corridors where the cultivation manuals were. Each chose a row of bookshelves to search for a cultivation manual.


    Damian chose the last row of bookshelves to the right. There Damian saw that the four floor was far smaller than the first. On the first floor he could not see a wall on the other side of the library. Here on the fourth floor he could at least see it, even if he could see it was at least two hundred yards away. After what felt like hours of reading each manual and trying to memorize its introduction, Damian had caught a few interesting ones on his bookshelves. First, there was the [Shatterer of heaven manual], then the [divine green lotus manual], and finally, [Heavenly Chaos manual].


    He continued looking through his bookshelves. Yet nothing else seemed as amazing to Damian as those manuals. He went to the rendezvous point. Some representatives were already waiting, just as James and Celia had yet to return. After a few more minutes, they returned. After each of the representatives gave exposure and reviewed to their capabilities the pros and cons of each technique, they reached a consensus to buy four heaven cultivation manuals.


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    [Divine Galaxy Path manual] brought by James.


    [Heavenly Chaos manual] brought by Damian.


    [Nine Ascending Stars manual] brought by Celia.


    [Blue Sky Sovereign manual] brought by Jack.


    Once James held the chosen books in his hands, he said "purchase" and the four manuals disappeared. It seemed to their relief they would not need to carry all the purchased books in their hands. With the number of merit points they had left, they would lack the hands to carry them. They believed Tian Long would provide them with them at a later time.


    They had decided to spend two million points on the fourth floor. After all, they could not just use all their points here as they will need to purchase lower leveled manuals. Not every member of the family would be talented enough to cultivate those four manuals. Also, they may need to hire people in the future and could use lower grade manuals to entice them to join their ranks.


    So with the two million points down to one million two hundred thousand points after the purchase of the four manuals. They had enough to buy 6 manuals; they discussed what types of techniques they should buy. The discussion didn''t last long, as they had the knowledge given to them by Tian Long about cultivation and techniques. They soon reached a consensus they needed at least one movement technique, one attack technique, one weapon technique, and one defensive technique.


    So once again they scattered around the four-floor, searching for something that, according to what they know, could be beneficial for their family. Damian focused his search on movement techniques. Damian was an avid reader of web novels, especially those of the Xianxia Genre, and he knew that a movement technique could save his life at a crucial time. It could allow him to escape a death situation. And while an attack technique could overwhelm your opponent. Damian knew he was no fighter, and although he will learn how to fight, he didn''t know how good of a warrior he could become. So a movement technique that at least allowed him to escape in a difficult situation was nice, even if he would, of course, try his best to become strong.


    Damian continued to search. He found several movement techniques that caught his eye. Damian felt shocked at the sheer number of techniques the pagoda had at least one thousand movement techniques of the heaven grade had caught his eye. When he finished reading the last of the techniques that had caught his interest. In the end, Damian decided on manuals where the beginning step didn''t seem in over complex metaphors. At the very least, they should not be as difficult to train, and even if they didn''t get their hands on the very best techniques of the library. He knew they were viewing for the progress of the family as a whole, not just one individual. If only a few could learn a technique, those people would be more powerful. However, if only one of those people died, the family would receive a major blow. But if most of the family could learn the technique, then even if they were not as strong individually, they could make up for it in numbers. And the death of two or more people would impact the family. It would not be to the point to destabilize their position within their own territory. Therefore, moderately difficult to understand techniques were the king. With this mindset, Damian reduced the number of manuals to five.


    [Nine steps a World of Lightning art]


    [Swift Roc art]


    [One Step the World is Left Behind art]


    [Fallen weeping willow movement art]


    [Storm Cloud movement art]

 6 Craftmanship

    Those were the techniques he took from the bookshelves to the rendezvous point. He was the first to arrive. While he waited there, he saw people from other families or sects pass close to him, but aside from a small nod as an acknowledgment. They didn''t really exchange any words.


    After waiting for a few minutes. The others began arriving at the rendezvous point. And soon all ten representatives of the Violet Sky Family, as they had decided their family would be named forgoing their last name forever to be lost in the annals of history, had arrived.


    After sharing the manual they had selected with the others, they all went through it. They argued a little about which technique they would purchase; in the end, they bought the [Teen thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art] this was a weapon heaven grade manual that would allow the cultivator to summon teen thousand jade swords to attack or defend. The teen thousand swords could fuse into a single heavenly copper sword, far stronger than the jade swords. Practitioners of this technique will awaken their sword intent.


    [Soaring Heavenly Dragon spear art] This spear art created lightning that could attack or defend while also enhancing the cultivator''s speed with momentum. Practitioners of this technique will awaken their spear intent.


    [Fallen Weeping Willow movement art] is a movement art that follows the currents of the wind like a weeping willow; this technique allowed the practitioner to move at an explosive speed that created a weeping blade that could attack. The weeping blade was a wind blade that hollowed like a weeping willow; therefore, the name.


    [Flourishing Blue Lotus movement art] is a movement art that creates flourishing blue lotuses wherever the practitioner steps; The blue lotus could be used for attack and defense.


    [Defensive Divine Lotus art] is a defensive art that creates a pink energy lotus for protection; upon mastery of this technique, the practitioner can summon seven pink lotuses. The lotuses can be piled, fused, or in different places, as the lotuses would move according to the practitioner''s mind.


    [Great Sky Sundering Palm art] is an attack art that produces a palm strike capable of sundering the skies. The palm strike gathers surrounding Qi to boost its strength in a never-ending cycle; this meant that if faced against another technique of the same level, this one would continue to strengthen itself, and eventually overcome the other technique. The only form to stop this technique was to overpower it.


    James said "purchase," while grabbing the heaven-grade manuals and they disappeared. Then he said, "Each of us has eight hundred thousand points. Remember, we need to choose not only for our benefit but for the benefit of our family. We need to see the bigger picture here. "


    The representatives of the Violet sky family agreed with James. They all shared similar thoughts. Their family always had strong familial bonds, even if they didn''t know each other until recently. They knew they shared the same blood, and that was enough to want benefits for the family.


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    Jack approached Damian as they descended to the third floor and said, "What will you buy?"


    "I think most of my points will go to sky manuals with a few to earth and mortal manuals," replied Damian.


    "mmm, why mortal manuals though? I''m sure family members won''t use those." continued Jack.


    "True, but those are not for them. These are for the future, I think. In time, people with a low talent for cultivation may live in the settlement; and they will be able to access these manuals. At the very least, being able to cultivate may allow them to carry out their duties easier and to live healthier lives. As for those with higher talent like medium or high spiritual roots that don''t have the backing, we can hire them as guards with access to earth manuals; and if they prove themselves to sky manuals, this will ultimately maintain a positive opinion of the family as people with scarce resources will be able to climb the social ladder somewhat." said Damian.


    "That Makes sense. How many manuals do you think you will need for that?" Jack inquired.


    "Don''t know maybe one hundred cultivation manuals, one hundred weapon manuals, one hundred movement manuals, one hundred defensive manuals, and one hundred miscellaneous manuals. so that''s five Hundred manuals in total." Replied Damian.


    "I see, well good luck with that. I, however, will buy some earth-grade manuals, also I''m quite interested in alchemy, so maybe some manuals for that too," said Jack. Then they arrived on the second floor.


    Damian said, "good luck choosing brother" and continued his descent to the first floor. Once there, he went to the cultivation manuals and counted exactly one hundred of them. Without even opening the manuals to see their contents, then he said "purchase."


    Damian then went to the weapon, attack, and defensive bookshelves and repeated the process. Once he finished, he looked at the other bookshelves with craftsmanship manuals for farming, herb gathering, blacksmith, alchemy, formations, tailors, and so on. He went over many names of those manuals and decided to increase the destined points to mortal manuals to seventy thousand. So he spent some time purchasing miscellaneous manuals.


    After Damian finished with the mortal grade manuals on the first floor, Damian went upstairs to the second floor to select and purchase four hundred manuals, one hundred of each cultivation, weapon, attack, and defense.


    Damian wasn''t worried about the pagoda being left without techniques as on the second floor, there were still tens of thousands of manuals, if not more.


    On the third floor, there were fewer books than on the second; still, it had tens of thousands of books without considering the books already purchased by others.


    After the manuals Damian had purchased on the first and second floor; he still had left three hundred thirty thousand points, enough to buy thirty tree manuals in the sky realm or three in the heaven realm. However, Damian decided against heaven manuals as they had already chosen some and going for others could create friction with the rest of the council.


    Damian went to the bookshelves containing the craftsmanship shelves and looked for the ones he thought would become a necessity in the future. First, he went to look at blacksmithing books. He noticed some books had already been taken, but he didn''t know if they were taken by his family or other parties. Still, he decided to take some books related to this craft.

 7 Entrance fee

    Damian searched bookshelf after bookshelf of blacksmithing. In time, he had searched over a dozen of them, and he had yet to decide. The most appealing to him was a series of codices with in-depth information about the grades of accomplishment of blacksmithing; and what they needed to know to establish themselves at that level.


    What caught Damian''s attention was that the set of codices also contained a blacksmithing technique called [Svarog heavenly hammer] and each codex had the next step of the technique; the only downside to the technique as far as Damian could see was that it required at least a high spiritual root to cultivate the technique.


    However, Damian wasn''t that worried. He estimated his family should at the very least produce a few people with high spiritual roots or higher, interested in blacksmithing.


    Damian grabbed the [Codex of the Blacksmith Apprentice by Svarog] a two-foot thick manual and said "purchase"


    He then grabbed the two volumes two-foot thick of the [Codex of the Blacksmith Journeyman by Svarog] and said "purchase"


    Damian went to the next codex, it divided into two volumes. Each volume was three-foot thick [Codex of the Blacksmith Expert by Svarog] "purchase" said Damian.


    Finally, he grabbed the last codex he had purchased for blacksmithing, it was divided into three tomes each, a three-foot thick monstrosity [Codex of the Blacksmith Artisan by Svarog]


    Damian muttered to himself, "I think that''s enough for blacksmithing from what I could gather from the Codex. The Artisan realm could produce weapons up to the top mortal phase," while a small satisfied smile crept to his face.


    The young man then went towards something he always had imagined himself learning if he ever transmigrated into a xianxia world. Of course, this would still benefit the family as a whole. However, this was his chance to forge a path as an inscriptionist. In his opinion, an often ignored path in the novels he read, but he thought differently.


    They could create talismans imbued with techniques, as well as inscribe spiritual weapons to forge special spiritual trinkets and some spiritual artifacts. This was also why he had purchased the blacksmithing codices. That way, the family could produce talented inscriptionists. Inscriptionists were complementary to the work of a blacksmith producing stronger weapons. This could give an edge to the Violet Sky family.


    A smile crept over Damian''s face. He searched the inscriptionist manuals for what felt like hours. True enough, even here, it seemed the inscriptionist''s craftmanship wasn''t as valued. There were far fewer manuals than for any of the other crafts; even farming and herb gathering had more manuals. Still, he continued to read each description of the manuals. He found the manuals for inscriptionists were not quite as thick as the codex for blacksmithing. The [Codex of the Artisan Inscriptionist] was only a single volume, although it was three-foot thick.


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    Damian bought the guide for the inscriptionist craft from Apprentice through Artisan and the inscription technique [Divine Inscription art]. The inscriptionist codex didn''t have a technique to inscribe like the codex for blacksmithing, which disappointed Damian at first; but the inscription technique he had selected was, in his opinion, only subpar by a little to the [Svarog Heavenly Hammer art]


    Damian had completed the purchases for craftsmanship. He still had enough points to buy twenty sky manuals, so he in swift succession selected fifteen techniques between cultivation, attack, defense, and weapons.


    "Now then, the last five techniques I should get something special and that will give an edge to myself, and perhaps the family," thought Damian.


    Damian searched once more for hours for something that matched his criteria. He preferred something that allowed one to heal fast from wounds; even if cultivators could even restore missing limbs with enough time and resources. He wanted something that, although not in direct battle, could prove helpful.


    After all his research, he only found two techniques that were not combat-oriented that picked his interest. One being [The forest restores the tree manual], a technique that, upon mastery, allowed him to heal wounds with Qi in the surroundings in a passive manner. It also provided resistance against poisons, and could even deal with most poisons by just circulating the technique.


    This technique would allow Damian to come out on top in case of a fight with a tied opponent, or recover faster in continuous fights. The other technique to catch his attention was [A Drop In An Ocean art] this technique allowed the user to refract light to make them one with the surroundings, making them invisible to sigh and Qi perception. Upon mastery could even make attacks invisible.


    As for the remaining three manuals Damian had yet to choose, he continued searching and finally choose the manuals.


    [Sight Through Beast] that technique allowed a person to see what a beast sees.


    [Ten Thousand Rain Drops Strengthens The Mind art] this manual enhanced mental strength and perception.


    [Qi sundering] this technique created a seal in the target, suppressing its cultivation up to three realms. With it, one could suppress a cultivator all the way from Qi condensation to Nascent Soul; an excellent technique to practice against lower leveled cultivators and to subject unruly cultivators.


    After Damian finished, he went to the rendezvous point on the fourth floor. He noticed he was the last of the representatives of their family.


    As soon as he arrived, the violet sky members were in front of an avatar of Tian Long.


    "You have selected the techniques that will become the backbone of your clan. Now then, as I mentioned before, you need to establish the requirements for joining your settlement. The people outside the nine families and six sects will have to choose if they want to join a faction or create their own on unclaimed land," said Tian Long.


    "Tian Long, we hope to request ten earth or three sky techniques per family in order for them to join., we seek no monarchy nor dictatorship; but a mutual agreement that can benefit all of us. Therefore, we will designate a mayor and a council of four members of the four great clans. The mayor is to be rotated every twenty years. Of course, our Violet Sky clan will be one of them. We will decide the other three based on the contribution made to join our faction," said James.

 8 First steps

    This was something they had discussed before themselves and agreed. The idea of giving some special benefits would allow them to get more manuals. Even if in the future they will hand down control of the settlement. It will be more stable even if there is politics involved. Some amount of treachery at the very least is to be expected. They would maintain the power balance as long as the Violet Sky remained at the top strength.


    "Understood. Now then, go to sleep," said Tian''s long avatar as he waved his hand and the violet sky clan disappeared. He then dissolved.


    Similar scenes passed with the other''s families and sects where they placed their settlement requirements to join and the avatar sending them to sleep.


    Tian long then awakened the people of the rest of the families with the highest spiritual roots. He repeated the process of imparting knowledge to them. Tian Long allowed time for them to discuss how their families would function. He then provided them with points and took them to the massive pagoda to select their techniques.


    It made little sense to allow them to choose their settlement first. If they wanted to join a settlement, they would need to know if they could afford it. After all, every settlement required manuals as an admission fee. It was impractical to do otherwise.


    An unknown amount of time passed as the families choose their manuals. Meanwhile, Tian Long continued to observe the beautiful planet. He could see as the planet condensed ticker and richer Qi. How the demon beasts formed their demon core and increased their realm.


    Once the families finished choosing. Tian Long took them outside with him. There, they were told the requirements to join each settlement. Tian Long told them they had the liberty to establish their own if they wished. Most families settled on their own; Others thought a settlement would be better for them in the long run. Therefore, choose to settle on a settlement.


    The representatives also could ask if a certain person was in a certain faction. Tian Long told them the earthly last names of each settlement,


    Certain factions asked for an exorbitant price for the benefits they provided. They demanded a cut of at least fifty percent of the techniques with no real visible benefits. However, there were a few popular options, and the Violet Sky settlement was one of the popular ones. Even less well-off families in manuals had at least teens of manuals at the sky grade and hundreds at the earth grade. Also, they had a chance to become one of the great clans. This was an enticing offer.


    The families ended up deciding where they would live. The bigger settlements were in order: the Ancient dragon, the Blue phoenix, the heavenly Alchemist sect, the divine sword sect, and the Violet Sky.


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    Tian Long returned the representatives of families to the white cube. He awoke every human above the age of eight. He imparted the same knowledge he had given before. Younger saplings would need to be taught by their progenitors or family.


    He then spoke in the minds of every human. "I have a few last gifts to give you before you all embark on your journey to immortality. I''ll reverse your time to fifteen years old if you''re above fifteen years old but below forty. For those older, I will reverse your time to thirty years old. This will allow you to regain some of the talent lost to time. But make no mistake. The decrease of the spiritual root grade caused by age and not cultivating will remain."


    Tian Long waved his hand and millions of runes flew from his sleeve, attaching to the body of every human rejuvenating them.


    "The next gift will be based on the number of inhabitants and spiritual root talent. I will provide spirit mines to the leaders of each great family and sect. as you already know. Spirit mines can produce different grades of spirit stone depending on the concentration of Qi. The lowest is white, then red, yellow, green, blue, orange, violet, and black. However, the last four are scarce to the extreme and would be useless to you for the foreseeable future. It''s your job to place them." continued Tian long as once more several dots of light-colored white, red, yellow, and green flowed to the leaders and entered their bodies.


    Tian Long continued. "As for the next gift, I will provide each family and sect a library with the manuals you have selected. Books will be separated by their grade. Its equipped with protective formations to prevent stealing and limit access based on parameters given by the leaders. It also possesses a talent and comprehension detector artifact." once again, Tian Long waved his hand, and grey lights appeared in front of each representative.


    "Finally¡­ I will gift you time in a special space abundant with spiritual energy for three years. Before you return to the planet, you will need strength." Tian Long spoke as he once again waved his hand and all humans disappeared once more.


    When Damian processed what had happened, He noticed family members and the other representatives of the family surrounding him. They soon realized they were inside the special space Tian Long had mentioned. The place was a clearing, surrounded by a forest on one side and by a river on the other. All looked towards James as he had received the library.


    James''s understanding of what they wanted said. "As I''m sure you are all aware of, by the knowledge imparted to you by Tian Long. Having a greater cultivation manual does not mean having a greater chance at cultivation. As if you don''t have enough talent and comprehension. You won''t be able to unfold the mysteries of the manual and use the cultivation technique to its maximum. Also, we don''t have an unlimited amount of manuals. We will put the following restrictions. Low and middle spirit roots would access the earth grade manuals. High and supreme spiritual roots would access up to the third floor where the Sky grade manuals are. As for holy, and divine spiritual roots will access the heaven grade manuals. But don''t feel disgruntled as we possess the Violet Sky bloodline. With that, how can our talent be mediocre?" Said James to reassure the family. Once he finished speaking, he threw the gray light into an open space beside a small river. Soon the gray light expanded and transformed, leaving behind a four floor pagoda. it was almost a perfect imitation of the one they had visited earlier.

 9 Disgusting gunk

    Of course, people felt some apprehension except for the members with divine spiritual roots. No one knew which one they had. Therefore, they knew at last they didn''t have that one. They hoped to have a holy or supreme spiritual root.


    "Now each person will enter the library to test the spiritual root and comprehension. Once inside, you may grab a cultivation manual and a technique manual to study. Please form a line." People formed a line. After a few hours, most people tested their spiritual roots and comprehension. Fortunately for the family, it seemed they were indeed talented. Only four percent of people had medium spiritual roots, and one percent of them had low spiritual roots. A vast majority of the family had high spiritual root with fifty percent. Thirty percent of the family had supreme spiritual roots. Thirteen percent of the family had holy spiritual roots. This resulted in only one hundred and fifty people or two percent of the family with divine spiritual roots.


    As for comprehension ability, they were similarly talented, with a vast majority at good or excellent comprehension.


    The grades of comprehension were low, normal, good, and excellent.


    Damian himself had gotten an excellent comprehension talent, the same that his brother Jack.


    Damian had four brothers in total. Rodrick, the eldest, had a holy spiritual root and good comprehension. Caleb, the second brother, had similarly excellent comprehension and a holy spiritual root. Then there were Jack and Damian. and finally Jurgen, the youngest of them at twelve years old. He had a divine spiritual root with good comprehension.


    To Damian''s surprise, the limited number of manuals that they originally thought would be an impediment. Didn''t happen, as once one selected the manual they wished to study, a copy of the manual appeared in their hands.


    Once Damian was inside, he choose the heaven manuals he had previously selected the [Heavenly Chaos manual] and the [Fallen Weeping Willow movement art. Something called to him about those techniques.


    His brother Rodrick choose the [Divine Galaxy Path Manual] and the [Teen Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art].


    Caleb choose [Nine Ascending Stars Manual] and the [Great Sky Sundering Palm art]


    Jack choose the [Blue Sky Sovereign Manual] and the [Teen Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art].


    Jurgen choose the [Blue Sky Sovereign Manual] and the [Fallen Weeping Willow movement art].


    Soon, close family members joined the five brothers. They all went to meditate on the manuals outside in the clearing. Damian opened once more the [Beyond Heaven manual] and read the instructions on how to feel the Qi in the surroundings.


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    Fifteen minutes after Damian had cleared his mind and tried to feel the Qi surrounding him, he finally succeed to feel the Qi around him. He then tried to grab a speck of Qi that he introduced into his body and tried to circulate the Qi through his meridians according to the technique. However, before passing through the fifth meridian in the cycle, the speck of Qi escaped his control and returned outside. Damian had sweat rolling down his forehead.


    Maintaining control of the Qi was far harder than he had initially thought. Damian continued with determination to repeat grabbing ambient Qi and circulating it. After twelve tries, he finally completed a full cycle through his meridians and rest the speck of Qi on his dantian.


    With a long sigh of relief, Damian opened his eyes. He was feeling exhausted from the process, as it required incredible concentration. Damian took in the sight of his family members around. All were showing expressions of struggle and exhaustion.


    After resting a few minutes and contemplating the process, he had accomplished ingraining into his mind. He continued to cultivate two specks¡­ three specks¡­ ten specks¡­ one hundred specks¡­ five hundred specks. The specks no longer looked like specks inside his dantian. They felt more like a small pond.


    Damian found himself immersed in the process of cultivation. He always wondered how people in Xianxia novels could spend years upon years meditating. Now he thought he understood. As the sensation of the ever-minuscule increase of Qi filled him with energy and power.


    From the very first time they woke up, they noticed they hadn''t eaten. They didn''t know how but knew Tian Long was doing something to sustain them. They felt no hunger or thirst.


    Damian continued engrossed in the process of cultivation. Enlarging the pond of Qi inside his dantian. Every time the pond grew ever so slightly larger and deeper.


    After some hours, Damian felt like his dantian could hold no more Qi. However, according to the technique, once he reached that point. He needed to gather his Qi and attack the barrier around the Dantian in order to breakthrough. If he failed, he would need to try again. Being unable to break that barrier was referred to as a bottleneck. Once one encountered one, he would need to further cultivate to break it. Damian spend a few minutes using his Qi to attack the invisible wall around his Dantian. Soon, he finally broke the wall, blocking him. He felt it. All the Qi that had been on the pond in his dantian overflowed. The Qi inundated his meridians, muscles, and bones, transforming them, and cleansing them. At the same time, his pores gorged ambient Qi into his body to assist the process. Damian felt a cooling sensation as the Qi coursed through his body. Once the process finished, his dantian felt bigger, his muscles coursed with a strength he had never felt, his bones felt firmer, and his meridians had fewer impurities blocking his pathways.


    He had finally made it. He had broken through to the first layer of the Qi Condensation realm. Damian opened his eyes. A disgusting smell assaulted his nose. He saw to his horror; he was filled with black gunk. All the people beside him saw him with disgusted looks as they retreated away from him. He clearly smelled disgusting.


    Damian felt embarrassed. He just wanted the earth to swallow him whole. He had expected some gunk to pour out of his body, but never something that smelled so awful. Damian forced himself to hold in the need to vomit.

 10 Cultivating

    Damian stood and went to the small river near the library pagoda. There he submersed himself as he left the gunk to be washed away by the river. He took off his t-shirt and pants, remaining only in underwear. Damian noticed that whereas before; he was a little chubby; now he had a normal frame and even the outline of his muscles could be barely perceived. He washed his clothes in the river. The water washed away the gunk after some moments. However, part of the smell continued to impregnate the clothes, although bearable.


    Damian put on his pants, remaining topless and seated in a meditative position beside the river. He continued to cultivate for like what felt like minutes, then the smell of gunk assaulted him again. Only this time it wasn''t him, it was James, Celia, and Jack as they washed in the river. Damian understood that soon the river would be no place to have the clearness of mind required to cultivate.


    So he stood and didn''t return with his close family. After all, he still smelled bad and would most likely disturb them. Instead, he went to a nearby tree on the other side of the river and sat to meditate.


    Damian never was one to meditate. Now the simple act of absorbing the ambient Qi and cycling it brought him great calm. Therefore, he continued to cycle his cultivation technique until he felt like the night had fallen. Damian opened his eyes to see a full moon hanging in the sky above.


    Damian stood. He felt tired, as he had not moved for the past few hours. Damian felt small cramps on his legs and hands. Still, he raised his hands, stretching his back. Damian returned to his brothers and a few of his cousins, aunts, and uncles. Damian and his brothers had lost their parents a few years back. Their mother died in a car accident. His father, in his depression, wasted himself on alcoholism after losing the love of his life.


    When he arrived, Damian noted his brothers felt different, as well as most of his cousins, aunts, and uncles. Didn''t take long for him to understand they had broken through as well. That was why the other family members that had not broken through felt more mundane, less clean.


    Damian now understood why, in cultivation novels, the cultivators treated mortal lives with total disregard. They barely considered them human. If he himself a neophyte cultivator could perceive them as less clean and mundane. No doubt in the future, prejudice will form and mortals will receive such poor treatment. If possible, he wanted to avoid that from happening.


    Damian and his close family had a small chat about what they felt while cultivating their prospects. After a few minutes of talking, they all went to sleep.


    Days passed. Soon, six months passed. The family had fallen into a constant routine. They would wake up to train in their cultivation or technique manual. Then they would go wash in the river either daily or with a breakthrough. Then they continued to train. When the day was close to an end, they spend some time with the family to know each other. This was especially so for the members of the council. As once outside, they will be the backbone of the family. Mostly, they had decided the council would handle important decisions. However, Divine spiritual roots mostly would focus on cultivating. They needed to create a strong backing as soon as possible.


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    Damian had just broken through to the nine-layer of the Qi condensation a few days ago. He now was a few feet taller, standing at 6.5 feet tall, whereas before cultivating, he was 6 feet tall. His skin looked paler but far healthier. His beard was still trimmed to a two-week beard, his hair now shoulder length.


    Damian had dedicated the last six months to cultivating and training [Fallen weeping willow art] to great achievement. An impressive feat judging by the description of the technique. It stated that one needed at least five years of practice to reach it. No doubt his speed to reach the great achievement was thanks to his excellent comprehension ability and his divine spiritual root. Talent really tore people with it and without it apart.


    But he was not the only person in the family to progress. Nor was he the only talent. The other members of the council and the family members with divine spiritual roots were on the seven through the ninth layer already.


    His brothers were also in the upper part of the Qi condensation realm. They had their own achievements in the techniques they had selected.


    The achievements for techniques were minor achievement, achievement, great achievement, master, great master, and finally ingrained. This was the last stage of mastery of a technique. It was where one could be said to truly dominate a technique. However, the [Fallen weeping willow art] stated that a high talent would require at least six months for the small achievement of diligently training, two years for achievement, Five years to reach Great achievement, nine years to Master, fifteen years to reach Great Master and forty years to reach Ingrained.


    However, Damian could not further cultivate [Fallen weeping willow art] at the moment. His cultivation was lacking. Right now he could only use once this technique at full power of his achievement before running out of Qi. Even then, it would only display around seventy percent of the speed and the power of the wind blade.


    As for advancing his achievement, he would need to wait until he broke through to the foundation establishment. He could not cultivate further at the moment. For the past few days, he had been practicing the [Ten Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art].


    He could practice that technique with the sword that appeared in his hand when he selected the sword manual. Something he knew would happen as his brother Jack and Rodrick also practiced this sword technique and received a similar sword.


    But not only them, all that choose a sword manual would receive one. The same went for those that chose a spear manual or other technique that required a weapon or instrument. What varied, though, was the quality of the item depending if the technique was earth, sky, or heaven grade.


    The Jian sword Damian had received was green with a black flat circular pommel, a wooden hilt, and a golden tree hand guard. The sword came with a black scabbard.

 11 Tenth layer

    Jack was Damian''s main training partner. He had already reached a great achievement in this technique. Damian in return helped Jack train [Fallen weeping willow movement art], although he also sparred with his other brothers and a few other family members.


    The council had reached a consensus. Each family member would have to fight at least once every two days in order to familiarize themselves with fighting. They had decided on this, as they needed actual combat experience against an array of different opponents. Even if many practiced the same techniques, they were many different ways to use the same techniques.


    So far, Damian had gotten the hand of the set of sword movements. Despite that, they were not nearly fluid enough to say he had reached the small achievement. To Damian, that was fine, though. He had only been practicing the sword set for two days. Not every moment of his day was dedicated to training in this art. He still had to cultivate and train other arts, as well as meet with the council.


    From the moment Damian had reached the fifth layer of Qi condensation had only needed to sleep four hours every three days; that was enough to wake up feeling refreshed.


    The interactions between the council were amicable. They really didn''t have needs at the moment. However, certain tasks were assigned to family members depending on their abilities. Once they returned to Earth, they would need an array of people to perform tasks ranging from building, food, administration, education, security and so much more.


    Damian had worked a summer in a library, and therefore had experience organizing books. That was why he would be the head librarian. This sat well with Damian. He would have tons of free time to cultivate.


    As weeks passed, Damian continued to improve, both in his cultivation and technique training. He had, at last, achieved the small achievement in the [Ten Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art]. Regarding his cultivation, he was ever so close to breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm. The pond that once sat in his Dantian was no more, now a great lake was inside his Dantian. Damian felt he could no longer store more Qi inside of him.


    He wondered if, like in some novels, the mythic tenth layer of Qi condensation existed. The knowledge Tian Long provided contained no information regarding the tenth layer. He felt a hunch the tenth layer existed ever since he reached the peak of the ninth layer. The manual only mentioned nine layers. If he attempted to reach that mythical layer and it didn''t exist, he didn''t know if he would become a cripple or if he would need to start cultivating from scratch again. The hunch in his heart told him he was right, and if it actually worked, then he would become far stronger.


    Damian thought about whether to try for the tenth layer or to go straight to Foundation Establishment for days. Last night, he decided the potential rewards from the risk were worth it. Today he went further away from the view of the family. After using his movement technique for ten minutes, he soon found himself several kilometers away from the camp. He stood atop a small hill covered by trees.


    Damian sat and circled his Qi as he had done in the past according to the [Heavenly Chaos manual]. He like days before felt he could no longer increase the amount of Qi in his Dantian. Damian directed his Qi to break toward the barrier instead of condensing his foundation pillar. He did what he had done, breaking any other layer. However, the barrier didn''t even budge, but Damian didn''t give up. He continued to attack the barrier.


    After half an hour of trying to break the barrier. Damian stopped to think. "Maybe I need to swirl the Qi inside my Dantian into a vortex. That will create centrifugal force far stronger than creating waves to attack the barrier."


    The waves created by Qi were not weak. They carried the momentum of the Qi inside the Dantian. However, a vortex increased the momentum of the Qi, creating a greater centrifugal force.


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    So with those thoughts in mind, Damian rested a few moments and began swirling this Qi. After a few tries, he found out it was difficult. It required not only precise control to maintain the vortex and not make it collapse into itself. It also required enough concentration to maintain the speed of rotation.


    Damian swirled his Qi first, slowly taking in the Qi behavior, then he increased his rhythm.


    One rotation¡­ five rotations¡­ twenty rotations...


    Soon a small vortex appeared in the center of his Qi lake. it ever so slowly became bigger and bigger; until the vortex was spinning at a vertiginous speed.


    Damian used part of the momentum of the vortex to attack the barrier. Nothing happened. He didn''t use all the momentum, as that would have collapsed the vortex. The attack was as strong as the strongest wave he had produced.


    He didn''t stop there. He continued to build up momentum in the vortex. As he reached a climax of speed, he continued to strike the barrier every three breaths time. unlike the twelve breaths of time that took him to produce his most powerful Qi wave.


    Now, although the barrier didn''t break, it at least reacted to the strike. The barrier expanded ever so slightly before returning to almost his original place. Damian didn''t notice this until he attacked the barrier a thousand times. He knew the space the barrier had left empty would return to normal once the vortex stopped. However, this space allowed him to increase the centrifugal force by a little, creating stronger attacks.


    Time passed and Damian figured that even if he didn''t break the barrier to the tenth layer. He had an opportunity in front of him. The barrier would return to normal once he stopped attacking the barrier, but if he cultivated now, it would force the barrier to remain where it was. As he began to once again cultivate as he continued to barrage the barrier with attacks.


    -AGHRRR-


    Damian felt excruciating pain as he cultivated, increasing the amount of Qi inside his Dantian. He slipped off for a moment before he did his best to regain control of the swirling Qi. Fortunately; the barrier didn''t straight away return to its original size. However, Damian felt he had lost at least the advancement of the last half hour.


    If there was one word Damian thought defined him, it was resolute. He had decided he would do this, and he would see it to the end. He would live with the consequences of his actions, whether they led him to greatness or to despair.


    Damian continued to cultivate, this time he was more prepared for the pain. A gaze filled with resolve adorned his face at this moment. He did his best to multitask. After what felt like hours to him, he had grown somewhat numb to the pain, allowing him to focus more on his attacks. Ever so slowly, his Dantian that before, no longer accepted Qi; now while swirling in a vortex, welcomed the new Qi.


    Although difficult to do, Damian continued cultivating while attacking the barrier. Without noticing, hours passed. Without noticing, Damian entered a trance.


    Like that, one day passed. Two days. At the end of the third day, Damian returned from his trance as he noticed the barrier full of cracks all over it. The pain returned far stronger this time, but Damian didn''t withdraw as he stood his ground. A seed of doubt appeared in Damian''s mind. Was he going against the laws of heaven? Should he stop what he was doing? Would he incur the wrath of heaven?


    Damian felt all his senses screaming at him to stop. He, however, was a man who saw his decisions through. As if to confirm the doubts plaguing his mind, Damian heard it.


    -Rumbling.-


    Damian could not part his concentration to see the tribulation clouds forming high above him. He knew they were there. It yet was a warning. If he stopped now, he knew instinctively that the cloud would dissipate, but if he continued and broke to the tenth layer. The lightning would strike him down.


    He knew from the novels he had read, the tenth layer of Qi condensation was an act against the heavens, as the heavens forbade anyone to walk the same path as the heavens. The events taking place right now confirmed the heavens indeed were jealous of humans following its steps.


    _____________________________________________________________________________________________________


    Tian Long had been meditating since he sent the families to the realm he had created. Suddenly, he opened his eyes as he felt the tribulation lightning forming inside his realm. He observed the situation surrounding Damian.


    "Interesting. Although some have already stepped into the Foundation Establishment surviving their tribulation lightning. This is the first person to attempt to break to the tenth layer. Although I''m sure he will not be the only one." muttered Tian Long to himself. A small smile creep into his face. He reminisced about his own tribulation lightning. When he reached the tenth layer of the Qi condensation realm.

 12 Successful breakthrough

    Damian decided he had to act before the tribulation lightning killed him. He gathered all the momentum of his Qi and struck with the full force of it at a part of the barrier filled with cracks; the barrier tried to put some resistance but ultimately broke upon the powerful attack.


    When the barrier broke, Damian felt all the ambient Qi in the surroundings rush towards him, filling his Dantian. What before was a great lake now was beginning to feel like a sea as the lake of Qi extended tenfold.


    As Damian saw the sea of Qi forming inside his dantian, he began to think that maybe he hadn''t thought this through; as even if he only theorized the possibility of the tenth layer existing, he didn''t think how terrifying the tribulation would be and how would he survive it.


    He had seen Max break through to Foundation Establishment. He was a member of the council and knew he would be able to withstand that tribulation lightning, and perhaps Damian had grown overconfident because of his talents for cultivation.


    But this lightning was thrice as strong as the tribulation Lightning Max had received. He had been incautious, he should have learned [Defensive Divine Lotus art] to feel confident to survive the tribulation.


    Standing up and clenching his teeth in frustration for overlooking the strength of the tribulation but knowing it was too late to learn the [Defensive Divine Lotus art]. He promised himself that if he managed to survive, he would not be so careless again.


    As thoughts passed Damian''s mind as he planned how he could survive, lightning stroke towards him.


    As the lightning descended towards him, something primal awoken inside Damian as his eyes acquired a violet hue. Perhaps it was the primal instinct of survival or perhaps something related to his constitution. It mattered not. Before lightning could strike Damian, he used [Fallen Weeping Willow movement art] to its fullest capability. A cry echoed as Damian moved a few dozen meters and a wind blade struck the lightning. However, Damian did not stop there as he moved three more times, creating powerful wind blades. The lightning destroyed the blades as it redirected towards Damian''s new location. However, half of its power had dispersed.


    Damian prepared as he unseated his sword and encrusted it into the ground beside him. He would use it as an improvised lightning rod. He stood his ground and prepared to receive the lightning.


    As lightning closed in on Damian, part of it was redirected by the improvised lightning rod. However, lightning struck true and impacted Damian into his chest. The lightning coursed through meridians, Qi paths, bones, and muscles overflowing everything and breaking down his muscles, expanding overflowing meridians and Qi pathways alike, shattering his bones.


    Damian gritted his teeth as he supported the pain and circled the lightning through his body in order to disperse it and minimize the damage done to a single area.


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    Damian, in his primal instinct, hadn''t used all his Qi [Fallen Weeping Willow movement art] because he knew this wasn''t over, as the Cloud still was gathering lightning.


    Once he finished dispersing the lightning, he prepared for what his instinct told him was the last lightning. He breathed in and resolved himself.


    Lightning rumbled and once more struck out towards Damian. This lightning was more powerful than the last strike. Damian used five [Fallen Weeping Willow movement art] flashing five times at different locations and creating wind blades that impacted the tribulation lightning. Once he stopped moving, he appeared beside his sword.


    Damian was devoid of Qi, as he had used his current capacity of eight [Fallen Weeping Willow movement art]. He used it at the full one hundred power of his great achievement, not at the seventy percent power he could use before breaking through.


    Damian''s strikes had halved the strength of the lightning. Still, this was stronger by a tad than the last lightning strike. As the lightning reached Damian, another part struck the sword. Because of the tribulation Qi, the sword changed its green color to an emerald luster with crackling sounds produced by the sword, as it seemed the sword made of spiritual ore had acquired a lightning affinity.


    As Damian dispersed the lightning through his body. he found out that the lightning was improving his pathways as well as his meridians. It was making them bigger because of the overflow. The muscles were breaking apart and being reconstructed, and his bones had been fractured and restored.


    Then an Epiphany hit Damian, lightning tribulation was a force of destruction that destroyed what went against the heavens. However, it also was a source of creation and restoration. Proof of that was his body was being restored by the very lightning that had attempted to destroy him a few moments ago in the form of the tribulation Qi inside his body.


    Damian stood there on the hill, immersed in his epiphany. Once the epiphany ended, he fell to the ground, unconscious.


    When Damian woke up, he was back at the camp where the family stayed in this realm, his clothes long gone. He saw he was wearing a violet robe just like the one Max received from Tian Long when he faced his tribulation.


    Damian stood and took in his power. He was far stronger than before. He gauged he could even battle Max and perhaps even win, and Max was in the Foundation Establishment realm. Damian felt his cultivation had stabilized and even improved.


    "Young Damian, that was indeed reckless. Do not attempt to break through to Foundation Establishment without proper preparations. Your tribulation will be far stronger compared to the tribulation for Foundation Establishment you have witnessed." whispered Tian Long into Damian''s mind.


    It seemed the old cultivator had taken a liking to the young sapling.


    Damian made a ninety-degree bow and said, "Thank you for the advice Immortal Tian Long."


    Damian deemed that was the appropriate course of action, from the similarities between what he had read in xianxia novels and what he had experienced were incredibly similar.


    Once he survived the tribulation to reach the tenth layer of Qi condensation, he informed the council of the benefits along with the risk.


    As they determined that the reason why Damian had succeeded was his divine spiritual root and the heaven-grade cultivation manual he cultivated, along with his technique achievement. the council decided to bane the knowledge of the tenth layer from anyone without at least a high spiritual root. they considered the minimum requirement to have a chance at success in reaching the tenth layer. they had reached that decision, as many people were intrepid and may try to reach the tenth layer, and while no doubt some would reach it, many more would not.


    So at the very least those that would have the knowledge will have a pretty good chance of surviving, that, of course, according to the council estimations.

 13 Return to Earth

    Time passed and soon the three years period was about to end today. They would return to earth. During that time, the family had organized different types of combats to let the members gain combat experience.


    Damian was now eighteen years old, had waist-long hair still full dark brown with a streak of white hair, a characteristic he had since young, eyes dark brown with a violet hue, and a handsome face.


    He had managed to reach the fourth layer of the Golden Core realm. His foundation establishment tribulation was difficult, but he managed to survive it. He had also achieved the tenth layer of the foundation establishment realm and survived the tribulation.


    The family had learned that the tenth layer of the foundation establishment realm was banned and unreachable for those that did not reach the tenth layer in the Qi condensation realm.


    Not everyone had attempted to reach it, and from those who had attempted it. Around one hundred had died, but thousands more had reached it. A few didn''t attempt it, they considered that the strength gained was not worth the risk of facing stronger tribulations every time they transcended a realm, as they would face a greater threat of death.


    Of those who didn''t attempt to reach the three-layer, all were above forty years old before their bodies were rejuvenated.


    All his brothers had faced the tenth layer of the Qi condensation and Foundation Establishment. Jack was above Damian in the sixth layer of the Golden Core realm. Rodrick and Caleb reached the first layer of the Golden Core realm. Jurgen was in the tenth layer of the Foundation Establishment.


    Damian on his part had been holding back his advancement to the fifth layer of the Golden Core. He had focused most of the past year on further improving the achievement of his techniques. he now had achieved master level on the [Fallen Weeping Willow movement art]. Master level on the [Ten Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art]. Master level in the [Divine Defensive Lotus art]. A great achievement in the [Great Sky Sundering Palm art]. A great achievement in, [Ten Thousand Rain Drops Strengthens The mind]. A great achievement in the [The forest restores the tree manual]. An achievement in [Qi Sundering art], and an achievement in the [A Drop In An Ocean].


    Because of his training in the [Ten Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art] he had attained achievement sword intent. he had dedicated a significant part of this cultivation schedule to strengthening his foundation. He didn''t want to feel so utterly unprepared when facing tribulation lightning again.


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    He had also invested himself in learning the path of an inscriptionist he had memorized by heart the apprentice, journeyman, and expert guides by heart. However, in practice, he found himself he was at the peak of the journeyman level.


    He had inscribed his sword with a Qi accumulation rune and transformed it to the lightning affinity of his sword that he now called thunder jade sword.


    He also had inscribed some wood pieces with minor effects. The thing he lacked most were materials to work on and improve.


    He also changed the swords of his brothers, giving them a little edge, and a small protection token to them and to himself.


    All the family stood around the library pagoda. Now no longer did they wear their previous clothing. Everyone was wearing a cultivator robe all of them violet, with some white cloud pattern, the only difference between the robes was the end of the sleeves and the collar as both had a streak of color blue for Foundation Establishment and golden for Golden Core realm cultivators.


    Damian looked back at all the changes his family had gone through and the ones that they would now need to face. The realm was a safe haven, where they faced no dangers outside of the tribulation lightning. They now would need to fight demon beasts to stand their ground and defend their settlement from other humans.


    As they all readied themselves, the library downsized to once more become a ball of gray light. The light this time flew to Damian. He was the guardian of the library. The light entered Damian''s chest he instinctively knew that all he needed to do was summon it and the library would appear.


    Tian Long voice sounded. "Violet Sky Clan it is time. Remember to honor your word as the protectors of the land you have selected, it is your duty to ensure the demon beast are kept at bay. I have put the families that selected your settlement to sleep. I will send them one week later for you to start creating the settlement. The young offspring below the age of eight will be sent one week later after that."


    All members of the family bowed and said, "We remember our duty, Lord Tian Long."


    Like that, they disappeared from the special space and reappeared once more on earth, in the land they had selected. It was a beautiful valley to the south. A beautiful long river passed to the west, a lush forest filled with tall trees.


    Even with the people that had died due to tribulation. The Violet Sky Clan as they had decided to call themselves, after their special constitution. Still stood over three hundred thousand strong with less than three hundred of them still in the later stages of the Qi condensation and a vast majority in the middle and later stages of the Foundation Establishment.


    Only around four thousand clansmen were in the Golden Core realm. Two thousand of them were in the early stage of the realm, and the other two thousand varied from the four-layer to the fifth. whereas there were only four people in the sixth layer, James, Max, Jack, and Celia.


    However, they had learned that cultivation level was not everything. As Damian even if was at the four-layer could win against someone in the fifth layer, numerous matches had demonstrated this. However, not all matches had been won, he did from time to time have a match end in a tie.

 14 Demon beast

    They had planned before arriving the duties each person would fulfill. The four in the six-stage would stay behind to defend the family if the need arose. There would be people assigned to gathering materials, buildings, scouting, and searching for beasts to hunt down or retrieve as cattle. Even if most people in the family had reached the Foundation Establishment realm, they still had food requirements.


    Especially the young ones to be sent in two weeks'' time. they were normal humans and needed three meals a day. Fortunately, once one reached the four stages of Qi condensation one meal every one or two days was fine; a late stage Qi condensation could eat something light like an apple or a sustainment pill every week or so.


    At Foundation Establishment, a cultivator would need a small portion of food or a sustainment pill every week in the early stages; and every three or four weeks in the later stages.


    Golden Core cultivators were better off. They would only need some small portion of food or a sustainment pill every two or three months. The same principle applied to the need for sleep in cultivators.


    The rest of the time, cultivators could simply sustain themselves from Qi.


    Damian had volunteered to lead a scouting party of six persons. He was assigned as the leader, and the members of his party all were in the early stages of the Golden Core realm. His second-in-command Christine was at the third layer, Raymond at the second layer, Paul at the second layer, Nathalia at the second layer, and Nathan at the second layer.


    Different squads would follow behind them. Those other squads had as their key role to gather resources. Damian''s squad was meant to scout ahead and eliminate any threat.


    They began to swiftly move using moment arts towards the forest. Before reaching it Damian activated [Ten Thousand Rain Drops Strengthens The Mind art]. With his great achievement, his senses had extended to ten miles, instead of the three of four miles that a Golden Core cultivator at the four-layer could perceive.


    As soon as Damian used the technique, he felt Qi signatures in his mind. He could locate what he was already familiar white signatures belonging to his companions and clansmen. Blue signatures to herbs or trees with Qi, and finally something new, red signatures for demon beast. A special perk of the technique, as otherwise, he would only be able to identify a Qi source but not so effectively discern its origin.


    The red signatures were weak they should be around the middle and later stages of the Qi condensation real. They were not a threat to their family and they could become possible cattle in the future. All of them were at least five miles away based on Qi signatures, therefore, the members of his squad had yet to locate them.


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    They continued moving, at the speed, they were going they would reach it in seven minutes. Soon enough Damian''s group would pass thirty meters near one of the demon beasts. It was at the late stages of Qi condensation, from the Qi signature Damian assumed it was a bear. It appeared it had yet to notice them as the bear most likely was sleeping but unfortunately for it, it would never wake up again.


    Damian came to a halt and unseated his sword as he slashed toward the bear. The slash produced a blade made of sword Qi on which Damian used the [One Drop In An Ocean] technique to make the Qi blade invisible.


    The unsuspected bear lost its head while soundly asleep.


    The team members shot him strange looks. They had felt the presence of the demon beast at the Qi condensation, but paid it no mind, as it was only a beast in the Qi condensation realm.


    Damian, feeling the team gazes being sent his way, said. "I need its fangs and skin to get something crafted. However, that I need it dead doesn''t mean I want it to suffer." As he spoke, he approached the bear''s body and extracted the fangs and skin of the bear with a combination of swift sword movements and a display of sword intent. He also took the beast core, as it had a variety of uses or he could ultimately sell it.


    They didn''t have anything to carry the materials, so Damian folded the skin and put it inside the piece of cloth that acted as a belt for his robe. As for the core, he put it inside his robe.


    Damian''s senses now could feel at the edges of his Qi perception, stronger Qi signatures. Foundation Establishment demon beast. He made a mental note to return from another point to confirm if it was a general norm of this forest. At least on this part of the forest, the first fifteen or so miles were only inhabited by Qi condensation demon beast.


    They continued the journey forward with no encounter inside the forest towards the one hundred miles goal of their scouting group; they encountered some demon beasts from time to time, but Damian did not continue to kill them, nor did the rest of the group. The demon beasts, upon noticing the group''s strength, did not dare to approach.


    At the seventy miles mark. Damian noted at the edge of his perception something that may become a problem later. It was a congregation of demon beasts. At least one thousand of them, the stronger at the peak of the Foundation Establishment. After pondering for a few moments he informed the team, that they would take them out.


    The team changed their path towards the group of demon beasts. After a few minutes they reached them, Damian now could feel the Demon beasts more clearly it was ¡­ a nest of spiders. The ones in Qi condensation were half a meter tall with a pitch-black luster, and the foundation establishment ones were a meter tall. Something not overly troublesome at the moment but in the future, they could become a treat, especially if they reached the Golden Core realm.


    Of course, the demon beast had noticed them and began to encircle them. However, Damian wouldn''t have that. From a six hundred yards distance, he unseated his sword and performed the [Ten Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art]. Sword Qi transformed into hundreds of Jade swords that he sent straight into enemy lines, he performed this thrice more.

 15 Golden Core Demon beast

    They had planned before arriving the duties each person would fulfill. The four in the six-stage would stay behind to defend the family if the need arose. There would be people assigned to gathering materials, buildings, scouting, and searching for beasts to hunt down or retrieve as cattle. Even if most people in the family had reached the Foundation Establishment realm, they still had food requirements.


    Especially the young ones to be sent in two weeks'' time. They were normal humans and needed three meals a day. Fortunately, once one reached the four stage of Qi condensation, one meal every one or two days was fine; a late stage Qi condensation could eat something light like an apple or a sustainment pill every week or so.


    At Foundation Establishment, a cultivator would need a small portion of food or a sustainment pill every week in the early stages; and every three or four weeks in the later stages.


    Golden Core cultivators were better off. They would only need some small portion of food or a sustainment pill every two or three months. The same principle applied to the need for sleep in cultivators.


    The rest of the time, cultivators could simply sustain themselves from Qi.


    Damian had volunteered to lead a scouting party of six people. He was assigned as the leader, and the members of his party all were in the early stages of the Golden Core realm. His second-in-command Christine was at the third layer, Raymond at the second layer, Paul at the second layer, Nathalia at the second layer, and Nathan at the second layer.


    Different squads would follow behind them. Those other squads had as their key role gathering resources. Damian''s squad was meant to scout ahead and eliminate any threat.


    They began to swiftly move, using moment arts, towards the forest. Before reaching it Damian activated [Ten Thousand Rain Drops Strengthens The Mind art]. With his great achievement, his senses had extended to ten miles, instead of the three of four miles that a Golden Core cultivator at the four-layer could perceive.


    As soon as Damian used the technique, he felt Qi signatures in his mind. He could locate what he was already familiar white signatures belonging to his companions and clansmen. Blue signatures to herbs or trees with Qi, and finally something new, red signatures for demon beast. A special perk of the technique, as otherwise, he would only be able to identify a Qi source but not so effectively discern its origin.


    The red signatures were weak they should be around the middle and later stages of the Qi condensation real. They were not a threat to their family and they could become possible cattle in the future. All of them were at least five miles away based on Qi signatures, therefore, the members of his squad had yet to locate them.


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    They continued moving. At the speed they were going, they would reach it in seven minutes. Soon enough, Damian''s group would pass thirty meters near one of the demon beasts. It was at the late stages of Qi condensation, from the Qi signature Damian assumed it was a bear. It appeared it had yet to notice them as the bear most likely was sleeping, unfortunately for it, it would never wake up again.


    Damian came to a halt and unseated his sword as he slashed toward the bear. The slash produced a blade made of sword Qi on which Damian used the [One Drop In An Ocean] technique to make the Qi blade invisible.


    The unsuspected bear lost its head while soundly asleep.


    The team members shot him strange looks. They had felt the presence of the demon beast at the Qi condensation, but paid it no mind, as it was only a beast in the Qi condensation realm.


    Damian, feeling the team gazes being sent his way, said. "I need its fangs and skin to get something crafted. However, that I need it dead doesn''t mean I want it to suffer." As he spoke, he approached the bear''s body and extracted the fangs and skin of the bear with a combination of swift sword movements and a display of sword intent. He also took the beast core, as it had a variety of uses or he could ultimately sell it.


    They didn''t have anything to carry the materials, so Damian folded the skin and put it inside the piece of cloth that acted as a belt for his robe. As for the core, he put it inside his robe.


    Damian''s senses now could feel at the edges of his Qi perception stronger Qi signatures. Foundation Establishment demon beast. He made a mental note to return from another point to confirm if it was a general norm of this forest. At least on this part of the forest, the first fifteen or so miles were only inhabited by Qi condensation demon beast.


    They continued the journey forward with no encounter inside the forest towards the one hundred miles goal of their scouting group; they encountered some demon beasts from time to time, but Damian did not continue to kill them, nor did the rest of the group. The demon beasts, upon noticing the group''s strength, did not dare to approach.


    At the seventy miles mark. Damian noted at the edge of his perception something that may become a problem later. It was a congregation of demon beasts. At least one thousand of them, the stronger at the peak of the Foundation Establishment. After pondering for a few moments, he informed the team that they would take them out.


    The team changed their path towards the group of demon beasts. After a few minutes they reached them, Damian now could feel the Demon beasts more clearly, it was¡­ a nest of spiders. The ones in Qi condensation were half a meter tall with a pitch black luster, and the foundation establishment ones a meter tall. Something not overly troublesome at the moment but in the future, they could become a treat, especially if they reached the Golden Core realm.


    Of course, the demon beast had noticed them and began to encircle them. However, Damian wouldn''t have that. From a six hundred yards distance, he unseated his sword and performed the [Ten Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art]. Sword Qi transformed into hundreds of Jade swords that he sent straight into enemy lines. He performed this thrice more.

 16 Winning the battle

    As the Spider had moved out of the way of the palm along with the swords evaded, it continued forward towards hundreds of poor Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment spiders that just were not fast enough to avoid an attack at the speed level of someone in the Golden Core realm.


    In an all-out attack, the spider gave its back to Damian. From where its spinnerets used to be a black ray erupted as it shot towards Damian. A part of the black ray created a defensive cocoon for the spider, and the abdomen of the spider began deflating at a visible pace. It was obvious the spider would not be able to use the ray for more than ten breaths time.


    Damian felt dread upon the sight of the black ray. He instinctively knew it was an attack at the latter stages of the Golden Core realm. He knew if it touched him; he was a goner. He, however, could not just evade. The members of his party stood a hundred meters behind him. Even if they had a chance to evade, it would be unwise to allow the spider to freely change targets. It was better to avoid casualties.


    So Damian unleashed once more a [Great Sky Sundering Palm art]. As he did so, he called back the [Divine Defensive Lotus art] from the other team members and summoned the seventh lotus.


    Damian fused three of the lotuses in front of each other and sent it to protect him a few meters ahead of him. He then fused the remaining four lotuses to make a bigger and stronger defensive lotus. This stronger lotus he used to cocoon himself inside. At his current level of attainment, he could not fuse all seven lotuses into a single stronger defensive lotus.


    Damian activated the runes on his Thunder sword and began gathering green lightning.


    As he finished those actions. The [Great Sky Sundering Palm art] gave in to the black ray attack. Damian still needed to withstand the attack six more breaths of time before the Spider run out of Qi and wasted its life away.


    The rest of the spiders noticed the technique of the stronger of them. They knew if it failed to kill the human, they would all die. So all the remaining spiders rained down attacks on Damian.


    Christine, Raymond, Paul, Nathalia, and Nathan, although not used to fighting demon beasts. Much less in these numbers knew that they had not given their best performance, although it wasn''t a bad one either. They used this opportunity to swiftly cut down the number of spiders and to provide cover to Damian from the attacks he was receiving.


    Christine took over Damian in creating Lotuses for all six of them, the one for Damian she sent over to stand between Damian''s defensive lotus.


    Nathan and Nathalia made sure to eliminate the rain of attack sent to Damian by the spiders, while Paul and Raymond used their stronger attacks to eliminate thousands of spiders.


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    The spiders'' numbers have reduced to only ten percent of what they were in the beginning. Still, there were around a few thousand.


    The black ray reached the first defensive lotus and after only two breaths time it collapsed. Christine''s shield break apart, stopping the black ray a little less than a breath''s time, but gave time to Damian to unleash the lightning he had been accumulating.


    As the lightning impacted the black ray, it momentarily stopped. a few seconds after, the black ray continued. Damian still had to hold three breaths time before the spider run out of power.


    As the Ray was about to collide Nathan performed the [Soaring Heavenly Dragon art] and Christine performed the [Ten Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art] attacking the black ray. Their combined attack managed to stop it for two whole breaths of time but didn''t stop as soon it continued towards Damian''s defensive lotus.


    As the black ray collided with Damian''s defensive Lotus, Damian retreated from there. His goal had been accomplished. The spider had not attacked other team members, and they had put through the ten breaths of time.


    The defensive lotus trembled but didn''t break as the black ray thinned out. The cocoon on the spider began to crack, revealing a withered-out spider with no signs of life on it. However, Damian would not risk it. After seeing what it was capable of when put against a corner, he used the [Fallen Weeping Willow movement art] and appeared above the spider as he swiftly used the blade of the technique to chop off its head.


    The head of the spider put no resistance. Soon the spider''s head touched the ground, and all the team members heaved a sigh of relief. If things had been different, they would be the ones lying dead. They had used more than half of their Qi in this battle. Nathalia and Paul were out of it.


    They realized that if they hadn''t achieved the tenth layer in previous realms, they would have attacked less fiercely to save energy, and that could end up being their downfall.


    Then they slaughtered the spiders. However, by Christine''s request, they would leave five in the Qi condensation realm alive, as she wanted to capitalize on their silk.


    The battle from the arrival of the team to finish killing the spiders took less than five minutes, yet there were over one hundred thousand spiders lying dead.


    On the spiders, they had let alive. They used [Qi sundering] turning them basically on mortal spiders, then using a technique Christine put them to sleep.


    Each member collected a sleeping spider, except Damian. He took the carcass of the abdomen of two of the peak Foundation Establishment spiders. He then instructed the team to retreat two miles towards the settlement to rest and replenish their Qi.


    They arrived a few minutes later. They all sat to restore their Qi. Damian took his blade and cut down a tree, and after several swift movements of the sword, he created a wooden needle. He also cut part of the three into tree fiber, then he knotted the fiber to create yarn. After a few minutes of trial and error and hundreds of swift movements from his hands, he created a few meters of yarn.


    With that done, he took the abdomen of the spiders and cut them into ten patches of skin. The gunk and viscera that stained the hide were removed with the use of Qi. He could not produce something like leather right here, but he would make do. He took one piece of hide and with the needle injected with some of his Qi, inscribed the hide using a blueprint pattern in his guides of inscriptionist he had learned. After several minutes, he put a piece of yarn through the needle and began to sew the hide into a small bag.

 17 Reporting back

    Once finished, he proceeded to replicate the process ten times. Once he had the ten bags, he used some more yarn to make a knot and seal the bag.


    Then he grabbed one bag, and made a small cut on his index finger, letting a drop of blood touch the bag. The bag glowed with runes for a brief moment, then returned to normal, then Damian opened the bag and four bags flew into the bag he was grabbing.


    The team members all looked at Damian with curious looks. Damian ignored the looks of his team members, grabbed the five remaining bags, and threw one at each of them.


    Then Damian told them. "These are bags of holding. Because of the material I used, I don''t think they will be very durable but should suffice. Long enough to serve our needs during our mission and more. Perhaps later I will provide some proper bags of holding. To use them you only need to send your Qi to it, also I recommend binding it with a drop of blood so it can''t be opened by no one but yourselves."


    They all thanked Damian and made a small cut to their finger. Once the drop of blood touched the bag holding the bag shined with runes for a brief moment, then they sent their Qi to the bag and inside observed a four cubic meter space, they tried to put the unconscious spiders inside the bag with no success; they shot glanced towards Damian as if the bags he gave them were defective.


    Nathan even told him, "I think this bag of holding is not working properly. It doesn''t store the spider."


    "That''s because it can''t store living creatures. It has limits. It also can''t store something stronger than the material it is made of, but you could store the meat of some beast or some other thing that you want," said Damian.


    They still thanked Damian, as it would surely be useful for the following months.


    Damian put in his bag of holding the skin, fangs, and core of the bear. He then sat in a lotus position to meditate and restore his Qi. after half an hour they were in top form once more, so they returned to the original route.


    once they reached the one-hundred miles mark, Damian could feel several early golden core demon beasts at the edges of his perception.


    Damian marked a few trees with the number one hundred, then they continued to the north to meet the next team. They would make a circle to ensure that all teams returned or weren''t in a dire situation.


    After one hour, they meet the next team. They greeted each other and continued their route. During their trip, they collected a few spirit herbs and demon beast meat, core, and different demon beast parts.


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    After five hours, they returned to the settlement. Some people had sustained minor injuries, as not all teams were fully formed by Golden Core real members, some of them had Foundation Establishment in them, and only five leading teams were fully formed by Golden Core cultivators, they would be in charge of checking in on the others.


    As they returned to the settlement, they saw some buildings were already built; the family had some architects and civil engineers. They had formed teams to plan the way the city would be built.


    The city would be square shaped with tall walls surrounding them. Tall towers in the walls would serve as vantage posts. The streets of the city would be wide, either vertical or horizontal oriented, and the center of the city would have the main buildings to maintain governance over the city, as well as the market.


    The city would be divided into six main sections. The center area where the management buildings, as well as the market, would be located. A common area where people would be able to live, and a great state for the four great clans. The state to the south would belong to the Violet Sky city, the states of the other families had yet to be divided.


    The squads went to one of the buildings at the center of the city. The building had a surface of fifty yards with four floors. They climbed the stairs up to the last floor. There they went to a room where James, Jack, Celia, and a few others from the council were seated on wooden chairs.


    The scout teams gave the report. All of them had been assigned to the forest, and it seemed consistent that for the first three or four miles only normal animals inhabited, from five miles to twenty miles Qi condensation demon beast could be encountered, beyond twenty miles Foundation Establishment demon beast roamed, and beyond one hundred miles early Golden Core beast began to roam.


    They also talked about the encounter they had with the spiders. It seemed they were the overlords of the outer region. This was also why Damian''s team original path only sensed a few demon beasts, as the spiders devoured most of the demon beasts in the area.


    Once they provided the report, they were dismissed, except for Damian that took a seat beside Jack. Time passed, and the teams reported the completion or progress of their assigned task. They were then told by the council to either go rest, told them to continue, or reassign tasks.


    Time passed and night fell. Damian went to his assigned house in the area designated area for the Violet Sky Clan. As a member of the council, he had been provided with an above-average home. it had four rooms. Two equipped with beds and other room necessities, a workshop, and one for cultivating, a yet off-service bathroom, a space for a kitchen, and a garden made from local flora, the garden was adorned with a small pond.


    Once in his room, on one corner of the room was his bed, beside it was an ample wardrobe. On the other side, a chair and a small desk, a wooden chest rested to the side.


    Damian went straight to the cultivation room. There, he observed a Qi gathering formation had already been laid. The Qi in the room was of higher quality than the outside.


    Damian gave a simple smile. He had to admit that while he put runes to gather runes; it paled in comparison with a full formation made specifically for this purpose.


    Damian sat in his cultivation room and began to meditate. At Golden Core, he still had mortal needs, but he could forgo needs like eating or sleeping for months, just sustaining himself from Qi.

 18 Gathering materials

    He had already been at the peak of the fourth layer before returning to earth. With the experiences he had had today he felt enlightened. After an hour he finally broke through to the fifth layer. The gunk that Damian exuded from the breakthrough was instantly cleaned by the formation in the room leaving Damian and his robe spotless. Damian at seeing this was truly grateful for this function, he would not need to worry over staining everything with gunk. He spent the rest of the night stabilizing his cultivation.


    He knew that what he had read in novels about breaking through in the middle of a battle was suicide. The cultivation after a breakthrough would be unstable and could be damaged. The only exception to this was tribulation, as precisely when the cultivation was unstable could tribulation lightning refine the body and dantian.


    Once the sun rose, Damian felt the worst of the instability had already passed. He should be able to fully stabilize his cultivation the next day.


    Some more excursions to gather different resources were being secured. Damian didn''t take part in those, as he still had matters to attend to as a member of the council.


    Damian put up a notice that he was searching for a clan member who knew how to make leather, and some threat or yarn. While he waited Damian gave the stored meat to the person in charge of cooking, the spiritual herbs he planted in his garden, and the beast parts he stored in his chest.


    A day later, a Clansman by the name of Francisco reported to Damian he was a thirty-year-old man in the middle stages of the Foundation Establishment. He was an old man close to ninety years before being rejuvenated by Tian Long; he knew how to make leather and yarn. Francisco was amicable enough and after discussing for some time, they reached an agreement.


    Damian would provide the skin he had collected. Francisco would make the leather with the skin provided and seek a good material for the yarn and after producing it, he would return it to Damian. Who then would make bags of holding and would return three to Francisco, one to himself, one to his wife, and one to his grandson who was at the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm.


    Days passed as Damian fully stabilized his cultivation and continued his duties at the council. He placed the library at the side of the Clan hall where he continued with the restrictions placed. However, he added one restriction a clan member could borrow one manual each month for a time of one month. Upon the month they would need to return it. If a clan member delayed, they would not be able to enter the library for a month, and a spirit stone penalty would be established once they began to be in circulation. However, clan members were free to read mortal, earth, and sky manuals while on the premises of the library.


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    The cloned copies the library had produced in the special space created by Tian Long. Damian requested back to those in the Golden Core realm and peak Foundation Establishment. They had already memorized the contents of the cultivation and techniques manuals. Those manuals would not be of use to them. With that, the library was in no shortage of copies of the manuals.


    On the sixth day since his arrival on earth, most of the Violet sky clan state had been built. Bricks were making their appearance in buildings and houses now, as well as a periphery wall to protect the city.


    Damian walked down the streets observing the changes to the village. Now looking much more built, streets were made of dirt, of course, but many commodities had found their way back to the earth. One such commodity was brooms and buckets, hot water, and even electricity, although it was generated by Qi.


    They had found some ores in a mountain valley nearby, close to where they had put the spirit stone mines. Both resources were already being mined.


    The Violet Sky city had been provided with four white spirit stone mines, three red spirit stone mines, two yellow spirit stone mines, and one green spirit stone mine.


    Each mine of white spirit stone mine produced around thirty million spirit stones a year, after that, they would need to be left to rest for a period of two years to regrow spirit stones. A red spirit mine produced seven million spirit stones a year, before needing to rest for two years. A yellow spirit mine produced three million spirit stones a year before needing to rest for three years. Lastly, a green spirit stone mine produced one million spirit stones a year before needing to rest for five years


    As per the exchange value. They had decided to establish an exchange rate of one hundred white spirit stones to one red spirit stone, one hundred red spirit stones to one yellow spirit stone, and one hundred yellow spirit stones to one green spirit stone.


    They were a valuable resource that would need to be allocated among the families living in the city. Fortunately, cultivators didn''t have many mundane needs so a cultivator could use around three spirit stones a month to fill in house necessities. One spirit stone could afford several kilograms of food, one spirit stone powered the arrays in the house, and one to cultivate. The minimum monthly wage would be set at eight white spirit stones. Mainly reserved for mortals with null spiritual roots that could only remain in the Qi Condensation realm.


    As a council member of the Violet Sky clan. Damian would have a monthly salary of ten yellow stones, fifty red spirit stones, and a thousand white spirit stones, as well as a yearly allowance of fifteen green spirit stones.


    The money the clan produced and wasn''t used on expenses or salaries would go to the treasury. It would need at least the approval of four council members to take spirit stones from the treasury.


    Damian''s walk was ending as he approached the city hall, where the council held sessions. Francisco was waiting for him in front of the city hall. As Damian approached Francisco came to meet him.


    "Damian, we meet again. I have brought the leather and yarn requested," said Francisco, wearing the clan robes. His hair was black, his eyes brown, and his skin olive-colored. He could be described as mildly handsome.


    "Good, come by tomorrow and I will provide three bags of holding as promised," replied Damian.


    They exchanged a few more pleasantries, then Francisco retired to continue his duties.

 19 Receiving the families 1

    Damian went inside the city hall. The day passed pretty much the same that the previous days, discussing issues and how to fix them, and attending to clan members'' requests. Once they finished, the sun still hung in the sky.


    Damian went straight home and began producing the bags of holding. Now he held a true inscription pen requested to one of Nathan, as he was actually a journeyman blacksmith.


    Damian used his inscription technique [Divine Inscriptionist art] and swiftly inscribed runes on the patch of leather. After a few minutes, he finally finished inscribing twenty-one patches of leather. He then sewed the inscribed patches of leather. Soon enough, bags of holding were finished. When Damian finished the twenty-one bags of holding, the moon had just come out.


    Damian bound his improved bag of holding. Surprisingly, now that he was using proper leather to inscribe the inscriptions were more well-defined instead of a four cubic meter space. The bags of holding now contained twelve cubic meter space.


    He went to meet his brothers and provided them with the bag of holding. After spending some time with them, he said his goodbyes and returned home to continue cultivating. Tomorrow would be an exhausting day.


    In the morning Damian stood up from his meditation. He walked towards the city hall where surely enough he found Francisco, after exchanging some pleasantries Damian gave him three bags of holding, along with three inscribed pieces of wood he had inscribed with [Divine Defensive Lotus art]. This was an extra token to show thanks for the help Francisco had provided him.


    Francisco assured him it was not necessary to provide the defensive tokens, but Damian insisted, leaving no way out for Francisco. Francisco finally accepted as he thanked Damian from the bottom of his heart. With those, his family would be just a tad safer when venturing outside.


    Damian bid him goodbye and told him he would seek him once more when he had the materials to produce some good quality leather. Francisco thanked him and went on his way.


    Damian entered the city hall. James, Celia, Max, and Leticia were already there, waiting for the other., Leticia was a lean woman with white skin and blonde with a pair of brown eyes like Damian was at the fifth layer of the Golden Core Realm. She was beside Jack one of the few expert level Alchemist of the family.


    As Damian approached, he greeted the others and was greeted back. As they exchanged pleasantries about the village and what they could do to protect themselves from lurking dangers deeper in the forest. The rest of the council members arrived.


    Once everyone was present, Damian proceeded to give each council member a bag of holding. The council gave thanked him. They definitely had some uses for these convenient artifacts.


    Damian even told them that in time, if they could manage to procure a peak Golden Core beast skin. He could produce bags of holding of better capacity, and he would only charge them fifty red spirit stones.


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    Some of the members gave Damian an incredulous look as the price was steep. However, they could not deny the capabilities needed to produce one. So they told him that if the need arose, they would seek him out.


    Leticia told him that perhaps later on she could provide some beneficial pills to Damian as a thank-you gift for the bag of holding.


    Once done with the formalities. All council members went to the designated area where they would receive the family heads of the families on the four floor of the city hall.


    They waited for around two hours when they felt massive amounts of Qi appear outside the village. Damian esteemed that there were at least twenty million people. An astonishing amount of people. More than seventy percent of them were in the Qi condensation realm, around twenty percent in the Foundation Establishment realm, with less than five thousand thousand having reached the peak of the realm.


    Damian noticed too, less than two thousand Golden Core realm cultivators, all of them in the early stage. No doubt they would be part of the people they will be speaking to in the following hours, along with some of the peak Foundation Establishment realms.


    Damian had required a good fifteen minutes to go over the ocean of people''s cultivation. The other council members had gauged similar realms as him.


    They were not worried that the people would riot as they had put teams of twenty Golden Core realm cultivators outside the city in order to receive the families. Plus the hundreds they had inside the village, the team they formed had people that in the past had been dedicated as orators or politicians in charge of those teams, as they would need to organize the families.


    After what felt like an hour, a Peak Foundation Establishment clansman assigned as a guide inside the village took five people to the conference room. The party comprised three Golden Core realms. They all wore plain blue robes and appeared of French origins.


    When the person arrived in front of the council an almost unperceptive tremble went down his spine. No doubt, before this party had arrived on earth. They had expected to use their Golden Core realm to get some higher benefits. But when put in front of a mass of Golden Core cultivators receiving them at the entrance and the Violet Sky upper echelons all of them at the middle layers of the Golden Core realm those thought were completely crushed.


    He immediately presented himself. "Violet Sky Council, we are the Russo clan and I''m the clan patriarch, those behind me are the elders of the clan. We have decided to follow you, and are here to pay our admission fee ten sky grade manuals and twenty earth grade manuals."


    "Good to have you here. The Russo clan contribution will not be forgotten by the Violet Sky Clan," replied James.


    Some of the council members gave the Russo clan a nod, backing up James'' words.


    After some pleasantries, they continued. James said. "It is nice to have your support, we the Violet Sky clan will do our best to fulfill our duties to this city. Once we have greeted all the families we will inform the new great families. Please follow Rick, he will take you to an open area where you can enjoy some refreshments." said James as he motioned.


    After Rick led the way for the Russo clan. Another Peak Foundation Establishment clans woman appeared at the door with a trio of people at the Golden Core realm behind her. One in front and two persons behind him carrying several manuals. All of them had Asian features, with black hair and eyes, and they all wore light green robes with embroidery at the chest of a river.


    Once inside the room. The guide stood by the door as the newcomers advanced to the center of the room. There the Golden Core realm cultivator gave a courtesy bow as he said. "Good day, Violet Sky clan, I''m patriarch Li Ma, I come on behalf of my family to show our sincerity in joining your settlement, we expect to cooperate to get mutual benefits."

 20 Receiving the families 2

    As the man said that, he instructed the two persons behind him to put the manuals on the table before the council. As they did so, Damian could clearly see two heaven-grade manuals. One on cultivation and one on technique, alongside fifteen sky-grade manuals, and twenty earth-grade manuals.


    "Dear friend Li, please you don''t have to bow. I''m James, leader of the council of the Violet Sky clan. Since we will be allied clans. Of course, we will seek mutual benefits for our clans and the city as a whole. Please accept our invitation to have your clan enjoy some refreshments. Little Aby will take you," said James with an amicable face as he approached to help the man stand straight.


    "Thank you, dear friends. James, and elders of the council," said Li Ma, as he began to follow Aby to the area designated to hold the clans while the council sorted them.


    As Li Ma left, the door closed. James'' expression turned into a smirk and said, "First one to get the message. I think we are seeing one of the new great clans of the city."


    "He is indeed a crafty fox," said Celia.


    "That seems to be the case," said Damian, comments of agreement followed.


    They had not requested heaven grade manuals directly. But they had hinted that the better the manuals the clans provided. The better chance they would get to become one of the great clans.


    As such, it was no surprise some people would try to get an edge in this new life by providing some more manuals than were needed. However, for the Li clan to give away so many heaven manuals, they could only guess how many heaven manuals they had acquired.


    Time passed, and the council continued to welcome clans with Golden Core realm cultivators. They continued to give the manuals from the earth grade all the way up to heaven grade.


    Now the last clan with four Golden Core Cultivators. it was formed by two women and two males, their robes were black in color, with white embroidery of a full moon. Their factions were of French origin all of them with a light tan on the skin, light brown hair, and beautiful blue eyes.


    As Damian inspected the newcomers, his sight sat on one of the males. Damian didn''t know why, but as soon as his sight fell on him, he felt a connection with him. He didn''t know why, as he had never seen him before, yet to him, it was clear as day that there was a connection between them. As for the origin of the connection, it escaped Damian''s grasp.


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    It seemed the man was also perceptive of his sight as those deep captivating blue eyes locked sight with him.


    One of the women spoke, pulling Damian and the man back to reality. "We come representing the Lambert clan. I''m Charlotte. To my left is Lucrecia, and to my left Albus and Cedric," as she introduced the members of her party.


    The council introduced likewise. After exchanging some pleasantries, Charlotte continued, "We are here seeking an alliance with the Violet Sky clan. We believe our skill set would be very appreciated by the Violet Sky Clan, as we specialize in stealth and divination. "


    "nn¡­ of course, we desire to have your Lambert clan in this city as a partner. However, the admission fee still is applicable," said James.


    "Of course, we will pay the fee," said Cedric. From his sleeve, black smoke came out and formed a small cloud on the table. As the cloud dispersed, three heaven-grade manuals, ten sky-grade, and fifty earth-grade appeared on the table.


    "That''s an interesting technique. I can see you have achieved mastery of it. Congratulations," said Damian as a small smile appeared on his lips.


    "I indeed have. Thank you for the compliment," said Cedric as he gave a smile to Damian.


    Damian didn''t know why his heart had jumped. He certainly found Cedric a handsome and attractive young man, but he didn''t know why someone he had just met caused him such a reaction.


    Damian had had his part of male and female one-night stands in the past. Even some relationships, but he had never felt such uncontrolled reactions to them. This made him feel all the more intrigued.


    Damian just managed to say, "You''re welcome".


    James invited the Lambert clan to enjoy refreshments. Soon enough, they left the conference room.


    Time continued and no other clan produced a heaven-grade manual. Perhaps they didn''t have one, or most likely they didn''t plan to hand one over to the Violet Sky clan. That was also alright, as they would still be the strongest clan in the city.


    The sun was beginning to set. The council had received more than two hundred families; they had just accepted the last of the families.


    As it stood, the three great clan positions would go to the Li clan, the Lambert clan, and the Markov clan. They were the only ones to give heaven-grade manuals, and although there were families that handed over fifty sky-grade manuals. In the end, the value of a heaven-grade manual could not be counted on a scale of value of twenty sky manuals to one heaven grade manual.


    In this life, heaven-grade manuals would be so much more valuable than that, therefore the decision of what family would receive the title was easy.


    All in all, they had received more than ten thousand earth-grade manuals, a little less than two thousand sky-grade manuals, and thirteen heaven-grade manuals, with more than half of them coming from the Markov, Lambert, and Li clans.


    The council quickly gathered at the reception party. Most people were meditating. The food had run out; they had had a massive amount of food, and they simply never imagined that they would receive so many people.


    Still, they proceeded to announce that the Markov, Lambert, and Li clans had been granted the title of great clan alongside the Violet Sky clan. They informed that they could occupy an area not belonging to the four great clans; the space given had been allocated based on the number of people in the clan.

 21 Lambert Clan

    As the council said that, the crowd dispersed to search for materials to create their houses; they had been informed of the resources around the area and where to locate them, also not to venture beyond one hundred miles into the forest if they didn''t want to die.


    Several weeks passed. The soon-to-be city was quite busy with the clans settling in. Damian was walking around the city.


    In the Violet Sky clan, the council was a decision-making organism and a power showcase for the family. However, most of the administrative work had been delegated to several clansmen more adept at planning.


    So Damian could enjoy his walk. He was going to meet the Lambert clan; he had already gone to the Markov and the Li clans; he had created a bag of holding for the patriarch of the Li and the council members of the Markov and Lambert clan.


    As he reached the Lambert clan state, a member of the Lambert clan approached, and said, "Lord Damian, you are being expected. Please follow me".


    Damian was a little taken aback, but then he remembered they were diviners. As such, they should have been able to divine his coming here.


    Damian observed the state of the Lambert clan, they indeed had some capable constructors, and the houses were small but beautifully decorated even on the outside, Damian could only wonder what the outside would look like, what prevailed through the state was vegetation and gardens as well as communal areas, no doubt the Lambert''s were quite social humans.


    They soon entered a wooden arch that had a stair leading downwards. Small Qi-made flames illuminated their path. Damian continued following the Lambert clansmen. As they went in deeper, Damian began to notice the Qi was becoming thicker and purer.


    After a few minutes, they arrived at a large room. Damian could not help but feel mesmerized by the beauty of it. It was a giant Quartz cave; the floor was made of quartz tiles, the natural quartz columns were there and at the far end four quartz seats stood, and four people were sitting on them. He had met them before; they were the council of the Lambert clan whom he had come to meet.


    When Damian was around five meters in front of the council of the Lambert clan, the guard came to a halt and said, "Elders of the council as requested I have escorted lord Damian of the Violet Sky clan, with your permission this clansman will take his leave."


    Charlotte motioned for the guard to leave. He turned and walked away. Once the guard was gone, she spoke, "Elder Damian, it is a pleasure to see you are doing well. We understand you come bringing gifts for us"


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    Damian was once more taken aback but didn''t let it be shown on his face, but he wondered just how much could they divine into the future. No doubt they could become an invaluable ally in the future.


    Damian calmly spoke, "Indeed Elder Charlotte, I come bearing a gift for the council of the Lambert hoping to strengthen our relationship and work together to achieve common goals," as he said that he produced the four bags of holding and handed one to each of them.


    Then Damian continued "These are bags of holding I have created with my meager skills, however, I hope these will come to serve your needs, to use bind them to you, you will need to put a drop of blood, then no one but you will be able to open it as long as you are alive or the other party spends arduous time breaking the binding, to use it you just insert a little QI in the bag of holding and the space available and its contents will become available to you and with a thought you can guard or reiterative anything as long as is not alive and it''s not insanely stronger than the bag itself, that bag should hold anything in the middle stages of the Golden Core realm and below." As he explained the uses of the bag of holding that Damian had a passionate face. After all, he enjoyed his craft.


    All the council members bind their bags of holding and said gave their thanks to Damian for such a useful gift.


    Damian exchanged a few more pleasantries and talked praising their divination skills and how impressed he was, while doing so, several glances were exchanged between Damian and Cedric.


    As Damian was about to say his goodbyes Cedric spoke: "Elder Damian, we would like to give you a token of our gratitude for the gift you bought us. Please follow me" as he said so he stood from his seat and began walking towards the exit. Damian followed behind him.


    They emerged from the underground quartz cave and went towards an above-average house when compared with the rest of the Lambert clan.


    Cedric and Damian went inside the house there Damian was led toward a small room with a small table and two chairs.


    On the table, a tea set was neatly put.


    Cedric offered Damian a seat and waited for him. Damian sat and saw Cedric leave the room. He observed the unique design of the room it seemed more like inside a tree than a house. Several spiritual plants were in pots and to the right a door frame that leads towards a garden that similarly has several spiritual plants. As Damian took in the unique beauty of natural harmony Cedric returned with a pot and a few spirit herbs.


    Cedric sat opposite to Damian and began to prepare the herbs cutting the leaves, then put the leaves on the table and began to fold them using his hands. After a few minutes, several leaves were folded on the table.


    Then Cedric proceeded to put the leaves in the teapot. Several breaths later, he slowly pours hot water into the pot.


    Damian paid close attention to the beauty of a master at work. Cedric''s movements were precise and swift with a certain beauty to them. Damian could feel dense Qi swirling around the process almost like it was dancing along Cedric''s movements as it was directed into the teapot.


    After several more breaths, Cedric put served a tall vessel. After letting the tea rest for a few more breaths, Cedric poured the tea from the vessel into the tea bowl.

 22 Vision

    Cedric returned the teapot to its place and took the tall vessel. He gave it to Damian as he said, "smell the fragrance".


    Damian complied and smell the vessel. A calm aromatic fragrance assaulted his senses, and the smell was calming. Damian felt from the simple smell of the tea the Qi inside his dantian stir.


    Then Cedric held the tea bowl with one hand below and another hand on top of the tea bowl. He handed it to Damian as he said, "The tea is a gift from my Lambert clan to show our thanks for the gift provided. There is a second gift. One gift from myself to you is to show gratitude and hope for a long-lasting alliance. However, I trust this second gift will remain only between us. "


    Damian gave Cedric a nod and said. "Of course, Elder Cedric, the generosity of your clan touches my heart. Your generosity touches my soul. No word from this shall ever leave my lips."


    Damian then took the tea bowl, then Cedric poured a tea bowl to himself.


    Damian began slowly sipping his tea. As soon as he did so, a profound sense of calm permeated throughout his body. A weight he hadn''t noticed he had been constantly lifting fell apart. The concerns for his and his family''s future were simply gone, if only by a brief moment. His mind felt a sense of clearness he hadn''t felt outside of when he had reached enlightenment while breaking through the ten layer of the Qi condensation realm. Even if the clearness was subpar to what he had felt during his breakthrough, it was clearly still there.


    As Damian was absorbed in his semi-enlightened state. The Qi contained in the tea went straight to his dantian. Damian felt the Qi of the tea had already rushed towards his dantian, increasing slightly his cultivation. This was the result of a single sip of tea.


    Damian continued to sip on the tea fully immersed in the enlightenment state. He began to feel how his comprehension of cultivation and towards the techniques he practiced increased ever so slowly. At a certain point, Damian''s consciousness began to drift away until, unknown to him, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.


    When Damian opened his eyes, he was not in his body. It was like he was the wind himself, hovering just above the city. He found he could not move. He tried but to no avail. No matter what he did, he could not move.


    Then he felt a pull to the west. Towards the forest. He traveled for what felt like hours. Damian passed the marks he had put on the trees marking one hundred miles deep. He went beyond that. Damian felt no fear. He was one with the wind and the wind was one with him. He saw wondrous and horrific demonic beasts alike, some that were weaker than him, some stronger.


    The wind that was Damian continued onward for what felt like hours. Then stronger and stronger demonic beasts could be spotted all of them in the later stages of the Golden Core realm. Soon he even spotted one beast that could squat him but with a thought, most likely it was a Nascent Soul beast, although it appeared to be sleeping. Damian continued forward until he saw a large chasm in front of him. As he got closer, he suddenly was pushed towards the chasm. He tried to change route, but he was unable to; he was still not able to decide where to move.


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    Damian went straight inside the chasm for like what felt like minutes until it reached the bottom of the chasm. Once there, he continued to be pulled towards a cave. Nothing seemed extraordinary about the cave except the pulling force. That was until he entered the cave. Once inside, he was astonished by the heat inside and the hyper concentration of Qi. Although, the cave was inside the devoid of light chasm. Inside the cave, small sparks of white fire hovered, providing a light source. The concentration of Qi was greater than in the quartz room of the Lambert clan.


    Damian continued to be pulled deeper into the cave. He came to a larger chamber, this one full of white light and indescribable heat. The concentration of Qi was almost as concentrated as the place Tian Long had kept them for three years, a heaven-trove of cultivation.


    Damian knew that if the cultivated here, he could reach the peak of the Golden Core before the year-end.


    At the center of the chamber, a head-sized white flame fluttered. Damian continued to be pulled towards the white flame, the heat irresistible.


    Damian observed something close to the white flame he had not noticed before. Close to the flame, he and Cedric were cultivating the flame. He saw himself, now on the eighth layer of the Golden Core and Cedric on the seventh layer. Distributed at the entrance of the main chamber, Damian now saw Christine and Nathan, as well as one man and one woman of the Lambert clan. All of them cultivating. All of them were in the middle stages of the Golden Core realm.


    Then Damian touched the white flame, and the vision ended, and he returned to himself. He quickly opened his eyes. He was still in the tearoom and Cedric was still in front of him, quietly enjoying his tea.


    Damian was in utter shock.


    Just what had happened?!! asked Damian as he stood up.


    Cedric calmly put the teacup to rest on the table, then he looked at Damian and said," That was the second gift, the hidden gift I told you about. It is a vision of opportunity to increase your strength."


    Damian was shocked. He only managed to say, "How was that possible? I was here sipping tea."


    Cedric continued, seeing the face of disbelief on Damian. "I have a special ability. One I can only use it every so often. I can induce a vision of a possible future in the tea I brew. I can somewhat direct what kind of future I wish to show. In this case, I choose a cultivation opportunity for you."


    Trying to regain his composure as best as he could, "I see, then what I see actually exists?"


    Cedric answered, "It does indeed. Just remember Elder Damian that you promised to keep this vision a secret," as he continued to sip on his tea.


    Damian was now somewhat more composed. " I will keep my word. In the vision, I saw not only an opportunity for me but also for you, Elder Cedric. We should go together towards it. After we made proper preparations, as the place where an opportunity is usually danger lurks," he told Cedric what he had seen in his vision. After all, even if he was not a trusting person by nature, he trusted Cedric. He didn''t yet understand where that trust came from. But so far his gut hadn''t failed him, and his gut told him to trust Cedric.


    Cedric was a little taken aback as he said, "I was also included in the vision? how very strange¡­". Cedric pondered for a few minutes.

 23 Preparing for the journey

    Damian could see doubt in Cedric''s eyes. He didn''t know if he felt Damian was untrustworthy. After all, he knew enough about people that he guessed Cedric was perhaps thinking he wanted to get rid of him. Ensuring no one else knew of this opportunity or other''s opportunities.


    Damian was thinking about what to say to reassure Cedric it really was not a trap of some sort, but that would only end up being even more suspicious.


    As Damian was lost in his thoughts Cedric said: "We should indeed go. We should bring some guards with us to make the journey somewhat safer. For now, please let''s continue our tea." he then motioned for Damian to return to his seat.


    Relieved, Cedric had accepted. Damian returned to his seat. As he waited for Cedric to serve him a cup of tea, Damian felt his dantian and was amazed he had advanced quite a bit. Before the tea ceremony, he was around twenty percent completion of the fifth layer. Now he was around eighty percent through to the sixth layer. Just a single cup of tea had saved him weeks of cultivation. Not only that, but he also knew he had entered a state of enlightenment. No doubt Damian had been saved of weeks, if not months, of training these techniques.


    Once Damian received the cup of tea, he stood and bowed to Cedric in gratitude; he knew his gift was truly lacking when compared to the two gifts he had received. He didn''t know how to repay Cedric but he definitely will ensure to do so in the future.


    Damian and Cedric got to know each other better. Cedric had told him about how he had been a psychotherapist before the arrival of Tian Long. Damian, in turn, told him he had been a tax accountant. They shared stories about what each of them liked or disliked, and about how they would plan their trip in the coming weeks.


    Cedric also explained that it wasn''t good to rely too much on the effects of the tea. Its effects decreased with time. Unless one used greater spirit herbs, and that was because this was the first time Damian had consumed spirit tea brewed by an artisan tea master. The effect was of nearly one layer of cultivation, but if he continued to drink spirit tea daily, before long, a whole pot with the same grade of tea would at most save him a few days, and that was considering the tea was brewed by at least an artisan tea master. Cedric told him that the increase in comprehension was an effect to the brewing technique he practised, as well as his realm of attainment in both the technique itself and the path of a tea master.


    Their talk continued, as they both enjoyed talking with each other. When they finished, night had fallen.


    Damian once again thanked Cedric. He then excused himself for the night. They would meet in four weeks'' time to embark on their journey. Enough time for Damian to break through to the sixth layer. The tea had saved him several months of cultivation. He was almost at the point of breakthrough. In the future, he definitely had to obtain good spirit herbs for Cedric, for them to share some tea. He also needed to craft something for Cedric. He would have to think about what to craft him.


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    Damian went to his house and called a clansman that served as a guard. He was in the middle stages of the Foundation Establishment realm. He informed him that he requested Nathan and Christine''s presence at the first sun ray. He also told the guard to inform the council he would be entering secluded cultivation to break through to the sixth layer.


    The guard, awed by the talent of the council members, quickly went to comply with his duty. After all, that they would have one more clansman at the sixth layer of the Golden Core realm. This was good new to the clan.


    Damian arrived at his house and began to cultivate. When morning came, Christine and Nathan had arrived. He informed them that he planned to have an excursion deeper into the forest, and that they would be joined by the Lambert clan. They were to secure ropes, tents, some dried meat, some formations and a few other items. He told them they would depart in four weeks'' time. Damian then gave them five hundred white spirit stones from his bag of holding and excused them.


    After they left, Damian headed towards Jack''s house. There he saw his sister-in-law. Lydia, she was pregnant. She received him and guided him towards Jack as they made some small talk. Once they reached the courtyard, Jack was executing a set of movements from the [Ten Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art]. After a few breaths, Jack sheathed his sword and came towards Damian and Lydia. They all shared some small talk, then Lydia excused herself and went away.


    Jack guided Damian towards a small studio room, where he asked, "It is rare for you to seek me out this early in the morning. What''s the matter?"


    Damian replied, "I''m thinking of making a little trip to seek opportunities. For that purpose I want to obtain some sustainment pills, as well as some Qi replenishment pills, Qi gathering pills, and a few healing pills, they should be enough for a party of six members all in the Golden Core realm, I expect the journey to take under a year."


    Jack was taken aback. After all, they had gained knowledge from Tian Long that when one''s cultivation became stagnant, one should seek adventure and opportunity to advance. But he didn''t think Damian was in such a situation. Therefore, he inquired, "I''m certain you have yet to reach a bottleneck that requires adventuring, especially for so long. What are you planning?"


    Damian just replied, "Unfortunately. I''m not sure yet. I have a gut feeling that I should embark on this journey," Damian trusted his brother. However, he had promised to keep Cedric''s abilities a secret. As such, he could not reveal much.


    Jack just shook his head, knowing his brother was hard-headed when he wished to be. Then he said: "Very well, I will provide the pills, but they won''t be cheap. I will charge you one yellow and forty red spirit stones for what you are asking. It will take me one week to complete. "


    Damian replied with a grin on his face, "Of course brother, here is the money" as he did so, he took twenty red spirit stones and handed them to jack.


    They exchanged some more small talk before Damian left Jack''s house. Then he went to visit his brothers, Rodrick, Jurgen, and Caleb. As well as his nephew and niece Ian and Xiali, both offspring of Caleb and his wife Diane.


    The children returned to earth two weeks after they arrived. The city had erected an academy where children from the age of five would attend and gain general knowledge, such as language, mathematics, and Cultivation. there they would provide guidance to cultivation to the students and they had a variety of manuals to choose from the library. Most manuals had been provided by the Violet Sky clan, both of them were attending the academy as they had seven and five years, respectively.

 24 Journey 1

    It was already noon when Damian returned home. He focused fully on cultivation, and didn''t come out until three weeks later. After he fully had broken through to the sixth layer of the Golden Core realm. He also felt his attainment in the technique [A Drop In An Ocean art] had reached the great achievement level. Now he could become invisible for a few minutes or hide his presence for a few hours. He could also hide larger and stronger attacks. His [Ten Thousand Rain Drops Strengthens The Mind art] had reached a master level where he could now perceive twenty miles away.


    Damian went to jack to retrieve the requested pills. They were exactly what he expected from an expert alchemist that was just a step away from reaching the artisan realm. The pills were all of high quality.


    Damian continued dabbling the market the following day, where he brought a spirit metal shield. It was made with fourth-grade spiritual metal, a realm higher than his thunder sword. It was suitable for cultivators on the Nascent soul realm; it had cost him a fortune ten yellow stones. Damian felt he was almost broke, but also understood just how difficult was to extract the ore from the spirit stone mine.


    Spirit mines following the colors white, red, yellow, and green, produced spirit ores of the first, second, third, and fourth grades. This grading had been used for materials in general.


    Damian spent the last days inscribing the shield into a proper spirit weapon, following one of the hundreds of blueprints he had acquired when studying the manuals for inscriptionists.


    The day of departure finally arrived and both teams meet at the western gate of the city at sunrise. Now a wall had been erected with spirit threes of the second grade. The city had to send people deep into the forest.


    Damian was accompanied by Christine and Nathan. Both of them had recently broken through to the third layer. Cedric, on his part, had broken through to the third layer. His companions were a male and female, both wearing black robes with a full moon. Both with light brown hair and blue eyes, the woman had a voluptuous contour, and her face was beautiful.


    The male had a beard and could be considered handsome. He looked somewhat similar to Cedric. They were called Adrien and Agnes; they were Cedric''s cousins, and both of them were on the first layer of the Golden Core realm.


    After the team introduced to each other. They departed towards the west. Except for Damian and Cedric, they only knew they were to act as guards for them during the journey and that it would likely last a year. All of them swiftly moved using their movement techniques. In a few minutes, they reached the forest that was twenty miles away from the gate.


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    They continued their journey. Once they had reached the one-hundred-mile mark, Damian told them to stop. He asked the Lambert clan if they had any technique to conceal themselves. All three of them nodded. He then looked towards Christine and Nathan. They both shook their heads.


    Damian asked Cedric and his cousins to move using their concealment technique. While asking Christine and Nathan to hide their Qi and to remain close to him while he used [A Drop In An Ocean art] to cover them and make them harder to detect.


    At one hundred miles. They were more than capable of taking on a few demon beasts, but Damian had seen hundreds, if not thousands, of them in the next few hundred miles in his vision. Better be on the safe side.


    They continued their journey for a few hours. Concealing their Qi meant they had halved the speed provided by their movement techniques.


    The sun still hung in the sky. They still had two hours of daylight. They were four hundred miles away from the village. Fortunately, they had managed to avoid demon beast detection, part of it was because of their concealment, and another part because Damian took detours around most demon beasts.


    They still needed to cross six hundred miles, and they should reach the chasm. Damian didn''t feel like taking any risk, so they decided to camp there. Wandering in the forest at night was crazy. Predator demon beats were the most active at night. Therefore, they installed the tents and two formations. One for disorienting beasts that came too close, and another one for blending in with the forest. To someone looking from outside the camp, they would only see the forest.


    Damian went to his tent and cultivated to be in top shape for the following day. They would only reach the chasm on the third day of their journey.


    On the second day, they continued advancing towards their goal, concealing their movements and avoiding the demon beasts. However, they could not avoid the notice of a cheetah at the third layer of the Golden Core that quickly approached them.


    Damian quickly noticed the actions of the cheetah and took out his sword. He then used [Divine Defensive Lotus art] to parry the attack of the cheetah, while also slashing a lightning slash. Then while the cheetah was busy parrying his lightning attack, he continued with [Ten Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art] summoning hundred of swords. However, he used simultaneously [A Drop In An Ocean art] to hide a few swords aimed towards the vitals of the demon beast.


    The other party members didn''t sit idly by. They also launched several attacks towards the cheetah. The cheetah avoided several attacks, but it could not avoid all of them, some hit true. While the hits did some damage, they only delayed the cheetah. However, that was all Damian needed. Damian''s hidden sword attacks struck true directly piercing the beast in the neck.


    The beast launched a few attacks that the team dodged with the help of Damian''s swift attacks, and soon the beast finally died.


    Damian quickly stored the beast inside his bag of holding and told them to continue.


    The battle had lasted barely five breaths of time.


    The party pressed onward toward its goal. The day continued, and they had some more encounters with demon beasts that attacked them, but with the coordinated attacks of the team, they were quickly dealt with.


    They were fortunate they were attacked by lone demon beasts and not by packs or swarms of them otherwise, they could have been in a dire situation.

 25 Journey 2

    At noon of the following day, they finally reached the chasm. Fortunately, it seemed they hadn''t caught the attention of the incredibly strong beast Damian had seen in his vision. They had, of course, made quite a big detour to ensure nos getting its attention.


    The party took a moment to appreciate the sight; the chasm was only a few dozens meter wide and extended its length as far as the eye could see in both directions, the other side of the chasm was a few dozen yards below the level of the side of the chasm they found themselves, this side was above the canopy of the forest on the other side, all around where they could see was filled with forest and at the end of their sight, enormous mountains piercing the clouds could be seen.


    Looking at the mountains, Damian felt something primal inside of him. His perception, of course, didn''t reach that far, but something inside him knew if he were to ever step on those mountains with his current strength, he would inevitably die.


    Damian decided to focus on the present and the reason they had come this deep into the forest. He focused on the Qi and heat concentration that could be felt all the way to where he was. Damian let out a sigh he didn''t know he had been holding. He was relieved to be reassured that his vision had not been only a hallucination produced by the tea.


    The party noted that the Qi coming from the chasm was nothing to scoff at. It was incredibly dense and a certain warmness could be felt even from hundreds of meters above.


    When the party members besides Damian and Cedric saw the chasm, they began to understand the reason for the trip. They were searching for some kind of treasure.


    Damian produced five swords with his [Ten Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art], one for each member of the party, except Christine, and told them to hop on.


    Anyone with weapon intent could use said weapon to fly. The only reason they didn''t do it before was to not attract the attention of the demon beast in the forest. As Damian was unable to hide the party with his [A Drop In An Ocean art] while also making them fly.


    Christine produced her own sword to fly.


    The party members got on the swords and began to descend. The journey was slow, as they were not used to maintaining their balance on a flying sword.


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    An idea struck Damian while they were descending. He would have to check if he could inscribe some swords with a trace of sword intent that could be powered through Qi to replicate the flying effect. If he succeeds, he would secure a steady income source from lower-level cultivators.


    They didn''t let their guard down. However, one of the perks of having reached the Golden Core realm was splitting the mind to multitask without sacrificing any attention to the task at hand.


    After a few minutes, they finally descended. The amount of Qi in the ambient was nearly as much as that in the Quartz room of the Lambert clan. In the chasm, the darkness was ever-present as well as a heat comparable to a summer day. The darkness didn''t present an obstacle to them, as cultivators had an extremely good sight.


    Damian sharpened his senses to the extreme. They were close to their goal. He didn''t want to slip up after all the effort and Qi he had spent making sure they were not easily discovered by a demon beast.


    It was easy to know where the cave was located. They just had to follow the source of the Qi and the heat.


    As they approached the source, the heat and Qi continued increasing. The heat now was that of a desert. After a few minutes, they reached a hole in the side of the chasm big enough to fit one human at a time.


    Even from where they stood. They could feel that the Qi and heat inside the cave were on another level altogether. It was obvious to the party that the Qi inside was a cultivation throve. There, they would be able to get double the results with only half the effort. Damian having had the vision was the first to enter forming a thin layer of Qi protecting him from both the heat and the dense Qi.


    The ever-present darkness inside the chasm was no longer present, specks of white fire came floating from deep into the cave, illuminating the space. When Damian stepped inside the cave, he was already sweating. It was obvious to him that he would not be able to take more than a few dozen steps before the heat burned his skin and the Qi. The rock that formed the cave had clear scorched marks produced by the constant wearing of the intense heat.


    After Damian, the rest of the team members went inside the cave. Christine was the first to say: "Are you sure this isn''t the path toward the gates of hell?" as she cleansed a few sweat drops from her forehead.


    Damian simply replied, "I what lays at the end of the cave and it is not a gate."


    As Damian finished speaking, Nathan said: "Could you tell us what''s inside? no need to be so secretive."


    Cedric''s guards didn''t say anything, but it was clear in their expressions they also wanted to know what they were searching for.


    Damian looked back at Cedric, and he nodded in return. It was time to inform the rest of the party of the white flame, and that they would be staying here to cultivate. Even if they most likely already had assumed as much. It was still better to tell them.


    Damian looked at every team member and said: "I won''t tell you how I came to learn of this location. However, I will tell you that what lies at the end of the cave is a special type of flame. All I know is that it can be used to booster cultivation, and we will be doing just that."


    Damian took a few steps forward and seated in a meditative position.

 26 Cultivation can burn

    Damian circulated his cultivation technique [Beyond Heaven manual]. He took a strand of Qi from the surroundings. As he led the Qi into his body, he felt how truly hot it was. But Damian noted the Qi was so pure that it would barely require any refining before he added it to his own.


    Before pulling the Qi into his body. He sent some of his own Qi to the pathway where the strand of Qi would enter, in case it began to wreak havoc. He then used the Qi to create a thin layer of Qi protecting his Qi pathways.


    As the Qi entered Damian''s body, he felt how the heat that came with the Qi began to burn his pathway slightly. If he had not created the protective layer, he would have sustained some nasty burns. The Qi tried to escape outside his body, but Damian Swiftly used his own Qi to envelop the strand of Qi. It tried to resist, but because of the sheer quantity of Qi Damian had prepared; it was swiftly overwhelmed.


    He then continued to circulate the strand of Qi through his pathways and meridians according to the [Beyond Heaven manual]. He felt how, ever so slightly, the strand of Qi cleansed his Qi, pathways, and meridians of impurities he didn''t even know were there.


    Once Damian completed the circulation of his technique and he added the Qi to his own, he sighed in relief.


    Phew... "That could have been dangerous" muttered Damian to himself.


    Damian turned to see the rest of the party members and surely enough similar scenes were playing out with the other team members. But most of them only had surprised expressions, except for Agnes, who had a pained face. It seemed she had not prepared as well as the others.


    Ugh! "This is insane. You guys are insane. How will we cultivate if the Qi as soon as it enters our body tries to burn us to escape," said Agnes.


    Adrian was the first to answer, "It seems you cultivate without using your brain, it''s obvious the Qi would wreak havoc inside. That''s why you should insulate it."


    Tch, "How was I supposed to know that ambient Qi could harm us? So far, Qi has always been cooperative." replied Agnes.


    They exchanged a few more bickering. The rest of the party had grown used to the bickering of Adrian and Agnes by now. Their fighting was almost like a hobby to them.


    Cedric sighed as he raised his hand towards Agnes and Adrian, motioning for them to stop. Once they saw Cedric, the pair composed and turned to Cedric.


    Once Cedric had their attention, he spoke: "Agnes, remember never to assume opportunities come without danger," Cedric then looked towards the other members and continued, "This goes for all of you."


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    Damian gave Cedric a grateful look. After all, they didn''t want Adrian and Agnes disturbing the Qi inside the cave. As it could turn chaotic and it would be much harder for them to refine and absorb.


    Agnes, on her part, simply took out a healing pill and swallowed it. Then she sat and let the pill heal her damaged pathway. After a few minutes, she once again cultivated, now properly protecting her pathways.


    The rest of the team continued slowly cultivating. Inside the cave, they had no real sense of time. Even if cultivators had far better senses than mortals.


    Damian found himself immersed in the process of cultivating. He couldn''t help pondering how his life had changed. Before the arrival of Tian long, he had spent every free moment either reading some light novels or playing video games. Now he spent every free moment cultivating, and he truly enjoyed the sensation of ever so slowly getting stronger.


    He truly enjoyed cultivating in this cave. To Damian''s estimation, it had only passed a few hours since they arrived in the cave. Yet he had achieved the progress of two days of cultivation. Furthermore, the Qi not only cleansed his meridians and pathways. His own Qi, foundation pillars, golden core, and his Dantian overall were ever so slightly cleansed of impurities.


    The lake he formed while in the Qi condensation realm was purer. The ten pillars he had erected from his lake now looked a little more solid without impurities, Damian hadn''t even noticed were there. His Golden Core now was a tad smoother.


    When he read Xianxia novels in his past life, he always wondered why the protagonists were so adamant about having impurities inside his Dantian. Now Damian knew they made weak foundations, but also made it impossible for the Dantian to store more Qi, as impurities would use that space.


    Damian stopped his thoughts from further drifting. He needed his attention in the process of cultivating the Qi, as he didn''t want to end up messing up and causing himself harm.


    Time continued to pass and before long, an explosion sounded beside Damian, along with a familiar disgusting odor. Cedric had sat to his right, which meant he had broken through to the fourth layer of the Golden Core realm.


    Damian finished circulating his cultivation technique, and immediately spoke to Cedric: "Congratulations on your breakthrough, Elder Cedric, I''m sure you will become the soaring dragon of the Lambert clan."


    Cedric blushed a little, likely he was self-conscious of the smell more than anything else. Cedric swiftly replied, "You are too kind, Elder Damian. I''m sure you will break through in some more time, now if you would please excuse me. "


    Damian was a little disappointed his compliment was not taken seriously. But he also understood that when one broke through, you only want to get rid of the smell and the sticky gunk.


    Cedric then stood and walked towards the entrance, where he cast some sort of cleaning spell, throwing the black gunk outside the cave, where he then proceeded to burn it.


    After a few moments, Cedric returned, gunk free and without smelling like a decaying corpse. The other team members had concluded circulating his cultivation technique. They all congratulated Cedric.


    "Congratulations Elder Cedric," said Adrian and Agnes.


    "Congratulations Elder Cedric of the Lambert clan," said Nathan and Christine.


    "nn.., thanks for your congratulations, please don''t mind me, I''m sure we will break through quite regularly, no need to be so formal," replied Cedric, as he said that he gave Damian a meaningful look.


    "Alright, I won''t be so formal next time," said Damian as he smiled at Cedric.


    Cedric simply smiled and returned to his cultivation.

 27 Cultivation in the cave

    Damian noticed that as he spent an increasing time cultivating inside the cave, he grew somewhat more resistant to the heat of the cave as well as the heat of Qi.


    He noted that soon he could advance further into the cave. So Damian continues to cultivate. As for breaking through to the sixth layer, it would still take a few days of cultivation.


    However, Damian was still impressed. Before he had had the vision, he thought. It would at least take him six or more months to finally break through to the seventh layer. Now he could do it in a few weeks. That, of course, if he continued to cultivate in the same spot. However, Damian wanted to go further inside the cave. Where the density of Qi was several times higher than where he was.


    Once Damian felt he was ready, he moved forward. He stood and gave one step.. two steps... Three steps... At the seven steps, Damian stopped. Once again, the heat had increased enough to make Damian like ice cream in a desert.


    "It''s amazing how just a few steps and the density of Qi had more than doubled along with this horrendous heat. I truly wish I had a fan with me. Although on second thoughts it would not be the best idea, I would only be fanning hot air," Damian muttered to himself.


    Once he confirmed he could not advance further right now unless he wanted to risk the Qi passing his defensive barrier and burning him. So he sat on the ground and continued to cultivate.


    Soon enough, the other team members also began moving toward the deeper part of the cave. Still, it was clear they had not all developed the same level of resistance to the heat.


    Damian was at the front, followed by Cedric and Christine. Then Nathan and last were Adrian and Agnes.


    The party knew they had spent around three weeks cultivating inside the cave. Although deprived of a precise time notion, they could at least somewhat accurately guess the time they had spent inside the cave. This ability of cultivators is what allowed them to spend years on end cultivating in secluded meditation. Aside from Cedric, the other team members also had broken through. Except for Damian, but he knew he was close to finally breaking through. He only needed a little push.


    Damian was near the end of the entrance chamber of the cave. In front of him there was a corridor. It was not that long, perhaps fifteen or twenty yards. From the other side of the corridor, Damian saw an extremely intense white light.


    Damian steadied himself. He knew he could break through if he continued to cultivate where he was, but it would take him two or three more days, and the other team members were closing in on him. Perhaps it was his own pride. Perhaps it was Damian''s own ego. But Damian was the one with the highest cultivation of the team. He did not want to be outperformed. He could not be outperformed.


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    Damian did not even know he had that competitive side to him. So far, he had always cultivated at his own pace. Without regard for other achievements, he knew it was natural there were people more dedicated or talented than him. But here, but now, he, for the first time, truly wanted to be the strongest. Not because Damian needed the strength to protect himself or his family, but because Damian wanted strength for strength in itself.


    Damian stood and moved forward. The heat in the corridor was several times higher, only a single step, and the density of Qi had more than doubled. But Damian didn''t stop, then he took one more step, then another... Damian could hear in the background some worrying words from Nathan and Christine, as well as Cedric. But Damian did not stop until he was halfway through the corridor. It took all his effort and Qi to keep the ambient Qi at bay from forcefully entering his body. The robes he wore were now scorched in some places.


    Damian sat on the ground. He then circulated his cultivation technique and began to cultivate slowly. The Qi in his pathway passed his defense and made some burns on his pathways. Damian swiftly took out a healing pill from his bag of holding.


    The healing effects of the pill and the burning of the pill collided. However, Damian swiftly overwhelmed the Qi. The healing effect came out on top every time. Damian''s Dantian sustained some damage. Damian felt an excruciating pain throughout his body. He had to force himself to stay awake, otherwise, he would most surely die.


    Ten minutes passed. Damian''s robe was burnt, and some areas of his body were left exposed and even scorched. His Dantian was overflowing with Qi. He had to break through to the seventh layer of the Golden Core realm soon or he would harm his cultivation.


    Damian concentrated on circulating his cultivation technique as he bombarded the barrier to the seventh layer attack after attack. The barrier was now full of cracks. However, Damian hadn''t been able to shatter it. After a few moments of deep thought, he resolved to go all out. He gathered all his Qi and sent one single powerful strike toward a part of the barrier filled with cracks. As the attack struck the barrier, Damian felt his Dantian explode from the inside. It rapidly began to expand. The process was incredibly painful as to fill his new expanded Dantian, the ambient Qi greedily rushed towards him. Burning him in the process.


    Damian saw how a sea of white fire entered his Dantian. Damian used his full concentration to try to mitigate the damage the Qi would do to his Dantian, while his golden core refined the Qi and made it it''s own.


    Before Damian had been able to control the ambient Qi easily, that was because he overwhelmed the Qi. Now, however, he could not overwhelm such a massive amount of Qi. He could clearly see how his golden core was overwhelmed by the fire Qi. Damian could only try his best to try to protect his Golden Core from burning away. So he sent most of his Qi to protect his golden core.


    This created a balanced unbalance where the fire Qi burned Damian''s own Qi, and Damian and Damian''s Qi protected his golden core from the fire Qi.


    Like that, Damian pulled through the excruciating process of refining the ambient Qi. after several hours that felt like days on end. Damian finally fully managed to stabilize the Qi that had rushed to his body and made it his own. There had been some minor damage sustained inside his Dantian, but it was slowly being healed by his now-aflame golden core. Which now had a small white flame engulfing it, but it caused no harm to his core. It was like the flame was protecting the core.


    "I must truly have gone insane. Just what was I thinking? If something had gone wrong, I would be a goner. I promised not to be unprepared again, yet here I am rushing toward death''s grasp." Damian was apprehensive about himself.

 28 Decision in the cave

    After some more time berating himself for his actions, Damian stood up from where he was and went back to the beginning of the cave. He had to finish healing his wounds. As Damian approached the rest of the team, he noticed Cedric giving him a look with a hint of worry and berating. When he approached a few steps from Cedric, he told him. "Are you okay? That decision was the action of a brave man or a madman, although I haven''t decided which of the two you are."


    Damian just gave him a sheepish shrug and replied. "Sometimes I also question it, you know. I like to believe that I am brave, but in cases like this, I think I am rather insane." Damian let out a sigh, donned his face with a smile, and told him. "I think I may need to rely on you next time I try to do something insane."


    Cedric just scoffed at his actions, then he said. "I''m sure you need to rest. I hope you recover soon. It would be a shame if the rest of us consume all the Qi in the cave," Cedric gave him a playful smirk.


    Damian wanted to continue the conversation. After all, talking to the person he likes gave him some sort of comfort from the pain he currently felt. Damian, however, knew better. He had to rest or his injuries could worsen. So he continued towards the entrance of the cave. Nathan and Christine also exchanged some words with him, mainly asking whether he was alright. Damian reassured them he sustained some injuries, but nothing a little rest and some healing pills couldn''t fix. They appeared to have regained their calm and continued to cultivate. Damian left them to it and reached the entrance of the cave.


    Once there, he pulled one healing pill and threw it in his mouth. He then sat to meditate and throughout guide the healing effect of the pill in his body.


    __________


    In outer space, Tian Long opened his eyes. He muttered to himself, "So that kid was the first to find one of the divine flames I leave on earth. I wonder, will he keep the benefits of the flame to himself? Would he share it with his clan, or with the city even?."


    Tian Long pondered his thoughts as he observed the team. He lost interest a few moments later and continued to cultivate.


    _________


    Time passed inside the cave. Two days passed and Damian had completely healed. He hadn''t moved from the entrance of the cave. The rest of the party had continued to advance at their own pace. They were now way closer to the entrance to the hallway that led to the next chamber. Cedric was the only one that was directly in front of the hallway.


    Damian stood, and after stretching for a bit, he moved forward and reached the hallway. He continued a few more steps inside the hallway until he felt he could not advance further without incurring damage. Damian sat to cultivate once more.


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    The party fell into a routine, they cultivated until they needed either to eat something or throw their waste. For hunger, they consumed sustainment pills, and for the disposal of their waste, they exited the cave. After the casting of a cleansing technique, no evidence of their waste remained.


    It was easy to lose themselves cultivating. After all, cultivation was even more addictive than drugs. Cultivators felt the ever so slowly and steady increase in their cultivation base, making them much more than they were before.


    Soon eight months passed. All the members of the party were fully in the second chamber, close to the white flame. All of them had grown fairly stronger. Damian was now at the eighth layer of the Golden Core. Cedric reached the seventh layer. Christine and Nathan had reached the sixth layer. Adrian and Agnes, on their part, reached the fourth layer.


    All of them had shared the changes to their dantian''s went through. All of them had their Qi sea purified and increased, before it was of a translucent color, now it was of an intense pearly white. Their Foundation pillars had gained a white hue, and now streaks of pearly white adorned the otherwise gray pillars. Their core''s showed unique patterns of golden and white. The size of the changes varied from person to person.


    Even if they had yet to measure up against others on the same layer. They knew each of them was far stronger than a normal peer at the same layer.


    Damian exhibited the greatest changes of them all. He could only guess, but he felt he could easily wing against ten of him at the eighth layer without going through the baptism of fire.


    He knew the flame was a treasure. Damian had read enough novels and was aware enough because of his profession of the greed that humans could exhibit. He had been pondering about how to proceed once they returned to the city with the flame. He had noticed the flame had lost some energy and heat. As such, it was unlikely to share the flame with the city. The flame most likely could not sustain the consumption of the entire city, draining it from Qi. Perhaps he should only share with special members of his clan, and on special occasions, in order to let the flame recharge.


    That, however, brought the next issue if he decided that. Three members of the Lambert clan were aware of the existence of the flame. Would he need to silence them? Could he trust them?, perhaps share the use of the flame with them on special occasions.


    Similar thoughts had been invading Damian''s mind like a plague during the past few months. If not, he believed he would have already reached the ninth layer of the Golden Core realm.


    Today Damian had finally reached a decision. He would take the flame and fight to restrict the use of the flame to a few clan members, including the council. Then, every five years, they should host a tournament for the young clan members. The reward would be access to the flame for a time period. They could also use it as a reward to clan members for their service to the clan. They would grant the Lambert clan five or ten tokens to allow them access to the flame every five years. This way, they could garnish the favor of the Lambert clan. Even if they would not receive the full benefit of the flame, they would still benefit. As for the council members of the Lambert clan, they would have a period of access every year.

 29 White Flame

    Now that Damian had made his decision, doubt and uncertainty no longer plagued his mind. He focused his entire being on reaching the ninth layer as quickly as possible. He believed that once he reached that layer, he could bridge the gap and seize the flame.


    More than a month had passed before Damian finally broke through to the ninth layer of the Golden Core Realm. Damian stood just centimeters away from the flame, extending his hand cautiously, prepared for any aggressive reaction. With each passing second, Damian''s hand drew closer to the flame. Finally, his hand hovered right below it, establishing a connection of sorts.


    "Phew¡­"


    Damian let out a sigh of relief, genuinely concerned that the flame might attack him. Although it couldn''t kill him instantly, it had the potential to cause severe harm. Damian speculated that the flame offered no resistance because it had baptized his dantian.


    Mesmerized by the flame, Damian noticed that the oppressive ambient Qi in the cave no longer assailed him. However, the flame continued to emit an enormous amount of Qi. Damian understood that they couldn''t return to the city with the exposed flame, as it would attract unwanted attention from both beasts and other families.


    Damian attempted to store the flame in a bag of holding, but as soon as he tried, the bag burned to ashes. Fortunately, he had used an empty bag for the attempt. Damian, along with the others, pondered how to transport the flame. The Qi emitted by the flame made it impossible to return to the city discreetly. They brainstormed several ideas, but none proved successful.


    After numerous failed attempts to conceal the flame, Cristine and Nathan tried enclosing it within a shield formed by their own Qi, hoping to mask the vast amount of Qi it emitted. However, the flame reacted violently to a different Qi signature, the flame reacted as Nathan and Cristine Qi approached. It battered its Qi against the barrier formed by their Qi, shattering it.


    Damian proceeded to replicate Cristine and Nathan''s actions, and after a few attempts, he achieved partial success. He discovered that he couldn''t completely suppress the flame''s Qi, so he left a small opening in his barrier to allow it to escape.


    After resting and restoring their strength, the group embarked on their journey back to Violet City. Damian summoned a sword using the "Ten Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword" technique for each team member, including Cristine. They mounted the swords, while Damian activated his "A Drop In An Ocean" and "Ten Thousand Rain Drops Strengthens The Mind" techniques to their fullest. With the significant increase in his Qi quality and quantity, Damian could now fly with the team while concealing their presence to some extent.


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    Their primary objective was to reach the city as quickly as possible. After careful planning, they concluded that the reason the beasts hadn''t claimed the flame as their own was due to the aggressive Qi within the cave. However, once the flame left the cave, everything would change, and many would be eager to seize it.


    Thus, the team decided to rush back to the city, or at least to a safe distance from the powerful beasts. They aimed to create enough distance so that by the time the beasts realized the flame was gone, they would be far away. Damian focused on swift retreat, while the rest of the team remained on guard. With this plan in mind, Damian pushed the swords to their maximum speed, and within seconds, they soared above the chasm, continuing toward Violet City.


    During their journey, Cristine also activated her "A Drop In An Ocean" technique to enhance the team''s concealment. After four hours of full-speed flight, they finally stopped to rest briefly, allowing Damian to replenish his strength. Even though he had only used around half of his Qi, he needed to be in top condition in case of any unforeseen events. While they rested, Cristine continued to conceal the party, particularly the flame held by Damian.


    After a twenty-minute break, they resumed their path toward Violet City. At their current speed, they would arrive in approximately five more hours, with another rest stop scheduled in about three hours.


    Fortunately, the combined concealment abilities of Damian and Cristine made them nearly impossible to detect by a Core Formation beast.


    The journey to their next stop was uneventful, which would be their final break before completing the last leg of the journey. This last part would be accomplished by flying, but they planned to descend a few kilometers from the city to avoid attracting attention.


    While Damian rested, Cedric approached him, with Cristine and Nathan on high alert, standing close by in case Cedric attempted anything suspicious. They were fully aware of the flame''s immense value and the desire it would stir in others. Despite spending the past months alongside the members of the Lambert family, they wouldn''t risk jeopardizing potentially the strongest member of their clan while he was recovering. Of course, they also knew that the three of them could easily overpower Cedric, Agnes, and Adrian if necessary.


    Cedric came to a halt a few steps away from Damian. He could guess, more or less, what Cristine and Nathan were thinking in such a situation. However, he was not worried, not really. After all, he could divine that this journey would end up being fruitful for both clans. Moreover, it would strengthen the relationship between them. He was also able to sense that the flame had formed a bond of sorts with Damian, and it would be unwise to steal it.


    "I believe it''s as good an occasion as any to ask what your plans are for the flame, Elder Damian?" asked Cedric with a calm tone. If he was nervous, he didn''t show it.


    Damian continued to replenish his Qi as he gathered his thoughts. A determined glint appeared in his eyes as he spoke, "The flame is undoubtedly a valuable resource for cultivation. I can''t speak on behalf of my whole clan, as the decision will be made by the council in conjunction. However, rest assured, I will do my best to share part of this good fortune with the Lambert clan. After all, without the tea you provided, I would not have had the vision of the flame. Also, I believe we can reach a mutually beneficial agreement in the future regarding the growth of the younger generation of the Violet Sky and Lambert clan."

 30 Return to the city

    Cedric wore a pensive expression as he assessed the truth behind Damian''s words and contemplated the future relationship between their clans. The Lambert clan needed a strong ally in the treacherous world they inhabited, and they were aware that their tea and divination abilities would be sought after not only by the Violet Sky Clan but also by other clans in the city. They would become an essential presence in the city. However, they were also wary of human greed and thus felt the need to form alliance bonds.


    "I understand, Elder Damian. Please consider, in your negotiations, that the Lambert clan is willing to forge an agreement with the Violet Sky clan to secure the prosperity of both our clans. If you grant us access to the flame, we can provide tea crafted by our masters and offer assistance with the fate and luck of the Violet Sky clan," Cedric calmly voiced his proposal. They exchanged a few more words before their allotted time came to an end, and they had to continue their journey.


    As they reached the edge of the forest, they paused, relieved that the rest of the trip had been incident-free.


    "It seems we''ve made it out of the forest," Nathan remarked.


    "Yes, we have. Now, to avoid any unnecessary confrontations, Nathan, you will go to the clan compound and bring back my brother Jack and James swiftly, to prevent any potential trouble," Damian instructed.


    Nathan obeyed and hurried towards the city.


    "Elder Cedric, we can part ways here if you''d like. As previously stated, this opportunity greatly benefits both of us. I hope we can establish a friendly relationship," Damian said to Cedric.


    Cedric raised an eyebrow at Damian''s words, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Only friendship, huh? That''s disappointing. I had hoped for a more direct approach, but it seems you are too shy," Cedric expressed with a hint of disappointment. He then added, "We will stand guard to further deter any mishaps."


    "I truly appreciate that," Damian replied, a slight blush appearing on his face, undoubtedly brought about by Cedric''s return.


    It was evident that once they entered the city, the Qi leakage from the flame would be noticed by various powers. Although no animosity existed between them, it was better to err on the side of caution. Currently, Damian and Christine were utilizing the "a drop in the ocean" technique and the shield crafted by Damian Qi to avoid detection. This way, the Qi remained relatively inconspicuous unless someone specifically focused on the area and noted the denser Qi concentration.


    They engaged in casual conversation, in the last few months the relationships between guardians and elders had developed to the point of forming a kinship. Around fifteen minutes passed when they spotted four figures approaching. As they focused their attention, they recognized James, Celia, Jack, and Nathan. Damian felt considerably safer now, as there were two more cultivators in the Seven Realm and one at the Sixth Layer, Jack being the latter. It seemed Jack had somewhat neglected his cultivation in favor of studying alchemy.


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    After a brief moment, they reached their destination. Jack was the first to speak. "You''ve finally returned, you little scoundrel," he said, embracing Damian. Damian returned the hug, saying, "I''m back, brother." James and Celia waited patiently for the brotherly reunion to conclude, and then James inquired, "So, Damian, what have you brought back to the city that will cause us a headache?" He had already noticed the origin of the incredibly pure and dense Qi in the area, as well as the increase in temperature.


    "It''s a white flame that exudes an incredibly dense and pure Qi. We have cultivated using its Qi, and the results have been astonishing. See for yourself," Damian said, releasing his Qi to reveal his cultivation progress.


    Jack, James, and Celia gasped audibly. "Ninth layer of the Golden Core Realm. Incredible!" Jack exclaimed, after a moment''s pause. "It''s truly a treasure. We must take measures to protect it," James stated, with Celia nodding in agreement.


    Jack appeared pensive and, after a moment, asked, "Knowing you, you would love to share it with everyone unless it''s a finite resource, isn''t it?"


    "I''m not that softhearted," Damian retorted, met with a smirk from Jack, and he could almost swear he saw a similar expression on Cedric''s face. He felt a pang of being targeted but chose not to address it for now. He would have his chance for revenge upon both, Jack and Cedric at the appropriate time.


    "Its Qi reserves are amazing. During our usage, we barely made a dent as it continuously replenished the absorbed Qi. However, if used by thousands or hundreds of thousands continuously, its regeneration rate might not keep up with the absorption rate. I''m concerned that constant abuse may diminish its purity or density. Therefore, I have a proposition for the council, but we can discuss it once we return to the clan compound," Damian explained.


    Damian, though compassionate, was not naive. He understood that human nature was often driven by greed, especially when it came to something people felt entitled to, whether rightfully or not. That''s why he felt the need for additional support. The relationships between the clans were based on a cost-benefit analysis. If the benefits outweighed the costs, they would be willing to offend the Violet Sky clan to possess the flame. Thus, Damian''s strategy would be to showcase their strength.


    After all, a gathering of several elders from one or more families would attract attention, regardless of the flame''s leakage. It was simply impossible to go unnoticed by the families. Therefore, they approached the city cautiously, with all members of the Violet Sky clan utilizing the "a drop in the ocean" technique to conceal their presence.


    As they entered the city, they could feel the weight of eyes upon them. It was clear that three elders of the Violet Sky clan had left and swiftly returned with one more elder and an additional elder from the Lambert clan, which raised suspicions among the scouts stationed in the city of other clans. Messages were rapidly dispatched to their respective clans, alerting them to the discovery of a treasure.


    Damian''s group remained vigilant, expecting not an attack but rather a reprimand for hiding a treasure from the city and not sharing it. Such a situation would have consequences for their commercial relationships and the reputation of the Violet Sky clan¡ªa severe blow.


    They were halfway to the clan compound, with only a few more minutes until they reached the entrance where no unauthorized individuals would be allowed to enter.

 31 Defusing the situation

    Sure enough, before they could arrive at the entrance of the compound, in a relatively crowded area of the city¡ªa plaza¡ªa group of over twenty people were waiting for them, obstructing their path. The leaders, unmistakably, were Li Ma and Tiana Markov. It was evident that they believed this treasure would benefit their families and sought a share of it.


    Li Ma, the crafty fox that he was, took the lead and spoke first, his voice soft yet audible to everyone present. "Dear friends of the Violet Sky and Lambert Clans, good day to you. We have heard rumors that the Violet Sky and Lambert Clans have come across something of great value to the city. We are curious to know what it might be."


    The elders in Damian''s group exchanged quick glances, assessing the situation. They understood that this encounter could potentially lead to a delicate negotiation or, if mishandled, escalate into an unwanted conflict.


    James stepped forward, his voice firm yet diplomatic. "Greetings, esteemed leaders of the Li and Markov Families. We appreciate your curiosity and interest in our recent discovery. Rest assured, it is indeed a treasure that holds great potential for the city''s prosperity. However, the specifics of this treasure require careful consideration and deliberation among all concerned parties before we can share further details."


    Tiana Markov, known for her straightforward nature, spoke next. "We understand the need for caution, Elder James. However, it is only fair that all four great families of the city have a say in this matter. Our clans have made significant contributions to the city''s well-being and deserve to benefit from this treasure as well."


    Celia stepped forward, her voice carrying authority. "We acknowledge the importance of unity and fairness. The Violet Sky Clan and the Lambert Clan are fully committed to fostering harmonious relations among the great families. That is why we propose convening a council meeting where all four clans can openly discuss the matter. It is in the best interest of the city and its inhabitants."


    Li Ma''s eyes narrowed slightly as he pondered Celia''s words. He recognized the wisdom in seeking a collective decision. After a brief pause, he responded, "Very well, Elder Celia. Your proposal for a council meeting is reasonable. We shall convene to discuss this treasure and its implications for the city. However, I trust that the negotiations will be conducted in good faith, with equal consideration for all parties involved, regardless of clan strength." He looked at Damian warily, noting Damian''s strength at the ninth layer of the Golden Core realm. Li Ma was determined to stand his ground, even though he feared offending the Violet Sky Clan. Nonetheless, he had to make an effort to secure a share of the treasure for the growth and prosperity of his own clan.


    Celia nodded, indicating her agreement. "Indeed, Elder Li, we value fairness and transparency in our dealings. Let us strive to find a solution that benefits not only our respective clans but the city as a whole."


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    With those words, the tension in the air eased, and the leaders of the Li and Markov Families stepped aside, allowing Damian, Cedric, and their companions to proceed. The onlookers observed this exchange with great interest, whispering among themselves as they dispersed, their curiosity piqued by the mysterious treasure.


    As they continued their journey toward the clan compound, a sense of relief enveloped them all. Celia apologized to the other members of the council present. "Sorry for taking the initiative to hold a council with the rest of the great families, but I deemed it our priority to avoid immediate conflict."


    "It was a bit rash of a decision, but I agree that in the long run, it could avoid unnecessary animosity among the clans," said James.


    Damian, Jack, and even Cedric agreed that it was at the very least a measure to gain some time and provide an opportunity to plan how to proceed.


    The immediate confrontation had been successfully defused, but they were aware that the council meeting would present its own challenges. They would need to garner support and present a compelling case to ensure the fair distribution and responsible use of the treasure.


    The fate of the city hung in the balance, and it would require all their diplomatic skills, strategic thinking, and unity to navigate the intricate web of alliances and rivalries among the great families. The stage was set for a dramatic clash of interests and ambitions, and Damian was determined to guide the Violet Sky Clan through the storm, towards a future of prosperity and harmony.


    Their first priority was to reach a consensus within the Violet Sky Clan, followed by gaining the support of the Lambert Clan. They also needed to carefully navigate the Markov and Li Clans. Damian understood that the Violet Sky Clan, with the backing of the Lambert Clan, could overpower both clans if necessary. However, he recognized the importance of the bigger picture. They had less than fifty years until Tian Long dispersed the barriers protecting humanity from stronger beasts. It was not in the interest of his clan or the city to lose a substantial portion of their main power and create a web of conspiracy, animosity, and treachery among the clans, ultimately weakening the city''s strength in the face of a potential beast wave¡ªthe very reason the barriers erected by Tian Long existed.


    Upon reaching the entrance to the compound, Cedric and his guards bid farewell to Damian and his clanmates and headed to their own clan compound.


    At the entrance of the clan compound, guards at the first layer of the Golden Core were stationed. James swiftly instructed them to call for an emergency council meeting within the next twenty minutes.


    All the members hurriedly made their way to the clan hall, where council meetings were traditionally held, and took their seats. Nathan and Cristine stood guard at the entrance alongside the stationed guards. Damian swiftly created several hundred inscriptions in the air, sending them towards the walls. Soon, a thin barrier of Qi formed, and he allowed more of the Qi from the flame to leak out. The temperature in the room instantly rose, and the council members felt the heat and dryness on their skin. They were once again astonished by the sheer density and purity of the flame. Swiftly, they formed a Qi shield around their bodies, protecting themselves from the intense heat.


    "This is amazing," Jack exclaimed. "If the clan cultivates this Qi, we would become significantly stronger."


    "Much stronger," Damian confirmed, releasing his grip on his Qi to reveal his cultivation level. The members could feel the vastness of his power.


    "I am at least twice as strong as I would be without cultivating with the flame," Damian revealed, emphasizing the potential the flame held for their growth.

 32 Concensus

    Soon, the remaining elders arrived at the clan hall after being briefed by Nathan and Cristine. They were instructed to create a Qi barrier around their bodies before entering the room. Without exception, they were all taken aback by the dense and pure Qi inside, although it was somewhat obscured by Damian''s Qi barrier.


    All the members of the Violet Sky clan council were present: James, Celia, Jack, Max, Leticia, Helena, Malik, Hiroshi, Shiva, and Damian. Taking the lead, James addressed the council, "We have called this emergency meeting to discuss the treasure discovered by Elder Damian and the Lambert clan¡ªa white flame that produces incredibly dense and pure Qi, as we have all sensed."


    James allowed a few moments for the information to sink in before continuing, "We need to decide how to handle this treasure, how to administer it, and who will have access to it¡ªwhether it will be limited to our clan or extended to members of other clans. Unfortunately, we were unable to bring the treasure into the clan compound without alerting the other great clans. They argue that they deserve access to it due to their significant contributions to the city. To avoid immediate conflict and unwanted attention, we agreed to hold a meeting where their concerns will be heard, and we can discuss how to allocate the treasure among the great families."


    Leticia, known for her straightforwardness, was the first to express her disagreement. She stated, "Why should we share the treasure? The Lambert clan and we should be the sole beneficiaries."


    Malik, the scholarly elder, spoke up, "Before we delve into the discussion, we need a comprehensive understanding of the treasure''s history. Elder Damian, how did you and the Lambert clan obtain this flame?"


    Damian chose not to disclose the secret of the special tea given by Cedric, as he had promised to keep it confidential unless the Lambert clan chose otherwise. He explained that the Lambert clan was aware of an anomaly several miles deep into the forest but hesitated to explore it due to the presence of powerful late-stage Golden Core beasts in the area. Consequently, they made an agreement with Damian, who ultimately acquired the flame before the elder from the Lambert clan, forging a connection with the flame.


    "Intriguing," said Malik, pausing for a moment. "It seems the Lambert clan recognized that they couldn''t protect the treasure alone but couldn''t resist its allure. They decided to share it with us, considering our clan''s strength. Even if the other clans unite, they wouldn''t be able to wrest it away from us. However, monopolizing the flame may not be wise. I propose that we determine the capacity for cultivation from the flame and establish a timeframe for its recovery. Then, we can allocate a certain number of spots to each of the great clans. Naturally, we will have more spots than the others. The remaining spots can be given to promising youths from the city, this can be accomplished by a tournament. This approach would minimize complications and reduce animosity."


    Hiroshi, a former self-made billionaire, and the clan''s business manager, interjected, "That sounds reasonable, but we must also consider the current generation. It is expected that the clan leaders or elders of each great clan would desire reserved spots independent of those allocated to their clan members. This could lead to conflicts, especially since the Markov and Li clans have only one leader, while the Lambert clan has three, and we have ten. They would undoubtedly argue about the significantly higher number of spots for the flame."


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    Damian was taken aback. He hadn''t even presented his proposal, yet here they were discussing something remarkably similar to what he had pondered for months. It was humbling, to say the least. Damian realized that he needed to be more resolute in the future, as such indecisiveness could become problematic for his future endeavors.


    Damian spoke up, "Based on my experience in the cave with the flame, I estimate that we can use it every two to three years, allowing for around one hundred spots to be available without harming the flame."


    James chimed in, "Let''s allocate fifty spots to the great clans and fifty as rewards for the tournament Elder Malik suggested, this way not only the great clans would benefit but the city as a whole. We will keep twenty of those, distributing ten to each of the great clans. If they raise objections, we can argue that we deserve more spots due to our investment in safeguarding and protecting the flame. If they are dissatisfied with this arrangement, we may need to adopt a less accommodating stance," James added, determination evident in his eyes. Damian realized from the way the elders spoke of the great clans that some arguments between the great clans had unfolded during his absence, and things hadn''t been as smooth as he might have assumed.


    The council meeting continued for another two hours as members provided their input on the proposed use of the flame. The strongest opponents of sharing the flame with the rest of the city were Leticia, Shiva, and Max. However, being in the minority, they had to accept the majority''s decision, which in turn represented the clan''s will. During the meeting, they decided not to disclose that the Council of the Violet Sky and Lambert clans, along with a select few, would have unrestricted access to the flame, as they were unlikely to deplete its pure Qi according to Damian estimations, However, this could be adjusted if the Qi quality or density were affected. Moreover, they needed to maintain their position as the strongest clan, and the flame had the potential to be a game-changer. They were willing to share this benefit with the Lambert clan, as they had proven to be powerful allies in the making.


    The council briefed Damian on the events that had transpired during his absence. It appeared that certain individuals were dissatisfied with the current state of affairs, leading to the formation of small criminal groups most likely backed by other clans of the city. They suspected the Li clan backed some of them. However, as no definitive evidence had been found they could not go and punish the Li clan. What''s more, the backing of the criminal groups could be the action of a small faction within the clan, and not of the clan as a whole.


    While the Violet Sky clan desired a peaceful society and aimed to avoid tyranny, they acknowledged that if push came to shove, they might need to eliminate one or more clans.


    Finally, the council rewarded Damian for his eight-month absence, providing him with his due wages: eight thousand white spirit stones, four hundred red spirit stones, eighty yellow spirit stones, and his yearly allowance of fifteen green spirit stones. With these resources, Damian had more than enough to procure inscription materials or make purchases at the Markov auction house.

 33 Auction House

    The meeting between the great clans was scheduled to take place one month after the arrival of the flame in the city. Despite concerns raised by Patriarch Li and Matriarch Markov about the delay, the Violet Sky clan assured them that they needed time to handle the treasure properly.


    Demonstrating their construction prowess, the Violet Sky clan completed the four-story building within two weeks. Standing over forty meters tall, the structure was constructed using blackroot wood, known for its heat resistance properties and durability, making it ideal for withstanding the residual heat of the flame. The tiles, crafted from a special white clay found in the spirit mines, added to the building''s unique charm. Elaborate carvings of fire, swords, and magic adorned the doors, showcasing elegance and simplicity.


    Multiple formations were implemented both inside and outside the building to ensure the safety of the flame and its inhabitants. These formations served the dual purpose of protecting those inside and safeguarding the flame itself.


    Damian learned from Malik, the elder overseeing the construction, that the building was designed to accommodate cultivators at different levels of cultivation. The first floor would cater to Qi condensation cultivators, the second floor for Foundation Establishment cultivators, the third for Golden Core cultivators, and finally, the fourth floor would house the Nascent Soul cultivators and serve as the dwelling place for the flame. The intention was for the fourth floor to receive the majority of the flame''s Qi, with formations distributing the energy accordingly to the lower levels.


    Impressed by Malik''s thoughtfulness, Damian recognized him as one of the smartest individuals in the council. Over the past two weeks, Damian had managed to establish a rudimentary form of communication with the flame through their link. Although lacking a distinct personality, the flame possessed a certain level of sentience. This explained its aggressive reaction when it sensed other cultivators'' Qi attempting to restrict it. However, Damian''s intense baptism by fire in the cave distinguished him from the others, causing the flame to recognize him as an extension of itself.


    Impulsed by this connection, Damian personally infused Qi into the protective formations surrounding the flame. Initially, the flame resisted and broke the formations, but Damian persisted in reassuring it and demonstrating that the Qi within the formations posed no threat. As a result, the flame gradually calmed down and recognized the Qi as a means of protection for itself.


    The council unanimously decided to name the building "Flame Tower." Satisfied with the flame''s secure containment within the tower, Damian decided it was time to visit the Markov auction house. Having put his inscriptionist training on hold during his time in the cave, he was eager to resume his studies.


    <hr>


    On a cold winter evening, with the air crisp and chilly, the enchanting lights of Violet Sky City illuminated the streets, formed by the interconnected houses and buildings. Accompanied by his two designated bodyguards, Christine and Nathan, Damian walked purposefully towards their destination - the Markov auction house. He had learned that the auction house only held auctions once a month, while the rest of the time it served as a store open to the public. However, the most valuable items were exclusively auctioned off monthly.


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    Arriving at the central plaza of the city, Damian stood before the five-story Markov auction house, a testament to grandeur and magnificence. The building emanated a sense of awe, enhanced by the illuminating formations at the entrance. Stepping inside, Damian was greeted by a series of showcases displaying various cultivation resources, including pills, herbs, weapons, and technique descriptions. As it was only the first floor, the items catered primarily to Qi condensation cultivators.


    Immediately upon entering, Damian, Nathan, and Christine were welcomed by a tall woman. She possessed a delicate and proportionate silhouette, with vibrant crimson lips matching her one-piece dress that accentuated her figure. Her blonde hair and blue eyes added to her allure.


    "How may our humble auction house serve the honored Elder Damian of the Violet Sky clan? I am Violet, and it would be my pleasure to attend to your needs," she said, performing a medium bow as a sign of respect for Damian''s status and strength.


    Nathan, curious, was the first to inquire, "How did you know who he is?"


    All three of them exchanged glances, as it was evident to the others how the woman could deduce Damian''s status and importance. Nathan, feeling the weight of their gaze, pressed further, "What is it?"


    Damian, aware that further delay could lead to Christine saying something sarcastic and thus ending in Christine and Nathan engaging in an argument, quickly spoke up, "We are all wearing the robes of our clan, indicating our origins. Additionally, we are not concealing our cultivations, making it easy for her to identify a ninth-stage cultivator before her. From there, it becomes apparent who I am, as I am the only ninth-stage cultivator in the city."


    Nathan finally realizing how she could deduce it, simply said "I see" as he grabbed his chin with one hand as he delved into his thoughts, fortunately, because of that he didn''t notice the smug smirk on Christine''s face.


    "Thank you for the clarification, Your Excellency," Violet responded, showing her understanding.


    Damian continued, aware of their purpose, "I am in search of materials for an inscriptionist journeyman."


    Violet''s eyes gleamed with a shrewd business glint as she recognized the opportunity presented by Damian''s status and needs. Leading the way, she proceeded to fulfill her duty of catering to VIP customers. She was well aware of the tensions between their clans due to the treasure, but her focus was solely on providing exceptional service. The matter of clan conflicts was left to the matriarch''s discretion.


    Ascending to the four floor, they were escorted to a private room. Inside, a couch, a table set for four, a tea set, and two maids awaited them. Damian settled into a seat and was promptly served a cup of spirit tea. Savoring the taste, he appreciated the moment, being a fan of tea, after he had tasted the wondrous tea made by Cedric. This tea was of course lacking in comparison but it was not bad, he could tell the spirit herbs used were of good quality. Poison was the least of his concerns, given his baptism by the white flame, which granted him the ability to purify weaker toxins within his Dantian. Moreover, he carried several antidotes in his spatial pouch, courtesy of Jack. Lastly, his impression of the Markov was, that they were not imbeciles nor backhanded people, they were the straightforward and overbearing type.

 34 Inscription items

    Damian enjoyed his tea, he could notice small notes of some sort of fruit, but he didn¡¯t know the spiritual herb that had been used. He was not an Alchemist nor a tea master for that matter, so his knowledge of spiritual herbs was limited to the original knowledge bestowed by <mark>Tian</mark> Long and what little he had learned from his conversations with Jack and Cedric. After a few moments, he noticed Violet standing at a respectful distance in front of him, her face spoke of a saleswoman ready to hear the needs of a client to deliver her goods.


    Damian didn¡¯t make her wait long as with a calm demeanor he spoke ¡°I appreciate and thank the hospitality shown by the Markov clan. Ms. Violet I would like to request that you can show me your highest quality goods related to the craft of <mark>inscriptionism</mark>¡±


    Violet wore a courteous smile while her eyes flashed with information thinking about the goods that she should display to secure a sale. After a few moments, she excused herself to retrieve the goods not before making sure to instruct the maids to cater Damian every need.


    Nathan and Christine had sat at the table beside Damian, they were sipping on a cup of coffee served by the maids this coffee was also made with spirit grains. After all, with the transformation of the planet spiritual energy was abundant in the planet everything had been affected by it, it was pretty common that even mundane things like plants of coffee absorbed Qi from the environment after the great metamorphosis, as the people of Violet Sky city had decided to refer to the arrival of <mark>Tian</mark> Long and the transformation of the planet.


    Damian in less than the time that incense stick burns Violet returned with four clerks all of them wore gray robes with red strips on the collar each of them held an item, Violet didn¡¯t miss a beat as she spoke: ¡°Esteemed Elder Damian, these are the best items our Markov Auction house has to offer regarding <mark>inscriptionism</mark>¡±


    Damian took a quick glance over the items the first one was a folded piece of leather, it most likely belonged to an intermediate golden core beast, it seemed like it had been expertly produced and minimal had been made to the skin, therefore it was quite useful for the creation of good <mark>craftings</mark>. The second one was a brush that exuded a strong Qi, this brush was similar to the one Damian had however the inscriptions on it made him of a better quality, Damian recognized the inscriptions on the brush it would make it flow easier while inscribing it would also be able to filter a specific type of element to inscribe, really it would make the process of inscription a little easier.


    The third one was a <mark>jian</mark> sword the blade was made of white jade, the edge of the blade had a beautiful blue hue, the <mark>handguard</mark> was made of green silver, the <mark>pommel</mark> was of pure white jade, while the sword hilt was made of black rood wood. He read the inscriptions, they would cause the air resistance when swinging the sword would be reduced by at least half, making it able to go faster, it also had inscriptions to make the Qi flow more easily on the blade. It had even an inscription to make the blade store Qi in order to be used to unleash techniques, of course with what Damian could deduce, it would take the blade at least two days to be fully charged and could unleash at maximum capacity a late golden core attack, it was quite a useful item really. However, for Damian none of those really picked his interest.


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    For the demon beast leather, he could hunt one of better quality, for the brush he could make one of little less quality, for the sword although it was a really good sword, he preferred to have one custom made to his linking and then inscribe it himself, it seems he had overestimated how many people had chosen the inscriptionist path. Therefore he concluded the lack of variety in objects related to the craft.


    Then Damian moved his attention to the four and last item, there laid in the hands of the clerk a plain medallion silver in color, he didn¡¯t recognize the type of wood used in the crafting of the medallion, and he could neither see any inscription, this in <mark>itself</mark> piqued his interest.


    Violet finally noted interest in Damian and spoke: As expected from the strongest cultivator in our city you can easily distinguish the treasures apart from the rubbish¡±


    Damian, Christine, and Nathan made an incredulous face, hadn¡¯t she said that these objects were the best they had to offer? yet they suddenly turned to trash. Violet noted the faces of the three but continued to speak ¡°This object is a transmission medallion, basically, it''s a substitute for cellphones. Truth be told this is the only piece as of now, but we expect they will soon be used by the important figures of the city especially when outside, it has a transmission range of 1000 miles and is made of silver moon blossom¡±


    Damian was surprised to be honest he hadn¡¯t really thought about it but it made sense, he also deducted that the reason he didn¡¯t see any inscriptions was because they were inside the medallion. Damian didn¡¯t show this surprise on his face, however, as he nonchalantly asked ¡°You said this is the only piece, why it is so?¡±


    Violet swiftly responded, ¡°This is due that it''s the first one made by our clan leader, she will make more of them but they are exhausting to create and with the limited time she has with her responsibilities as the clan leader, it will be a while until she is capable of producing several ones of those.¡±


    ¡°I see, they were made by clan leader Markov, she is an exceptional inscriptionist it seems. How much does it cost?¡±


    Violet hesitated, aware that the price was exorbitant, but her clan leader aimed to keep the item exclusive to prevent overworking herself and to ensure an influx of spirit stones to the clan.


    Damian saw Violet face showing a faint hesitation and had a foreboding feeling.


    ¡°10 green spirit stones¡± said Violet, truth be told the green spirit mine was able to produce one million spirit stones every seven years, and even an elder of the Violet Sky clan only earned 15 such stones every year so the price was basically more than half than Damian yearly wages.

 35 Partnership

    Damian struggled to maintain his poker face for a fleeting moment; the price exceeded his expectations. However, he couldn''t deny the allure of owning such a magnificent item in the future.


    Moreover, he contemplated disarming and analyzing the item to replicate it, making it more affordable. Though this approach would inevitably lead to conflict with the Markov clan, he wasn''t committed to that path yet. Having options was something he enjoyed.


    Being from a middle-class background in the past, Damian found spending money in such a manner extravagant, though not entirely unenjoyable.


    Violet, an excellent saleswoman, noticed Damian''s expression and grew apprehensive about offending him with the price. As the designated person to handle VIPs, her position carried both high rewards and potential dangers. If Damian felt she was trying to swindle him, it could harm her current position or even result in a demotion to a regular clerk. The commissions she earned in her current job were at least three times higher.


    Damian noticed the anxiety on Violet''s face but chose to ignore it momentarily while he weighed the pros and cons of purchasing the product. For Violet, the minutes seemed to stretch on before Damian finally reached into his storage bag and extracted ten green spirit stones, handing them to Violet. "This is the price, Ms. Violet. It''s a pleasure doing business with your Markov auction house," he said.


    Violet immediately bowed respectfully and replied, "Thank you for your patronage, esteemed Elder Damian."


    Damian returned a small smile before continuing, "Now, seeing your wares wasn''t the only reason for my visit, truth be told. I would also like to discuss an agreement to sell some of my own creations."


    Violet swiftly responded, "Of course, Elder Damian. Our auction house would be glad to act as an intermediary for your products. May I ask about the nature of the product you intend to sell and your intended price?"


    As the clerk in charge of VIPs, Violet had the authority to form sales agreements with them as long as they provided sufficient benefits to the auction house.


    Damian took a brief moment to organize his thoughts and then said, "The products I would like to include in our agreement are storage bags with a capacity of twenty-five cubic meters and defensive talismans created using my own techniques. I would initially expect the price to be around one green spirit stone for the storage bags and ten red spirit stones for the defensive talismans."


    Violet was amazed. She had heard of the storage bags developed by the Violet Sky clan, and attempts to replicate them had been made, but the most successful attempt had only created a three cubic meter space, and that was attempted by the clan leader herself. If they could sell these bags, their earnings would skyrocket even further, especially if they were able to increase the size. Of course, they wouldn''t be foolish enough to try creating bags with the same storage capacity as Damian''s, but they could make ones with less space, making them more affordable. This would also benefit Damian as it would make his storage bags luxury items, resulting in higher returns.


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    Regarding the defensive talismans, Violet could see the underlying meaning behind Damian selling them at such a low price. After all, these were defensive talismans made by a rank 9 Golden Core cultivator. In the wilderness, they would be invaluable for foundation establishment or even early and intermediate golden core cultivators, potentially saving them from perilous situations. Violet understood that these talismans were intended to help the people of the city survive without yielding high returns, but also not be so cheap that the demand overwhelmed Damian.


    Unaware of the forging attempts on his storage bags, Damian believed that the blueprint for creating storage bags was relatively common, perhaps a little rare but nothing more. The reason he stated his expected price in green spirit stones was due to the price of the transmission medallion. He was confident that his storage space was of top quality, as his divine inscription technique allowed him to create minute inscriptions and connect them with surgical precision, enabling him to fit more runes into the same space compared to other techniques he encountered while choosing techniques in the Library of Tian Long.


    Regarding the talismans, Damian indeed wanted to create something that the talented individuals of the city could use in dangerous situations.


    After taking a few moments to process the information Damian had provided, Violet said, "We have, of course, heard of this creation of yours, Elder Damian, and we would gladly accept your offer. As you are an important customer and a potential business partner, we can offer a twenty percent commission per sale. Additionally, we would procure the materials you need to produce them and pay fifty percent of your earnings upfront upon delivery of the goods. If you would like to add different goods to this agreement, we can respect the same conditions."


    Damian pondered for a while. The commission wasn''t cheap, but the auction house would bear the cost and time of procuring materials. It wasn''t a bad deal, but it also wasn''t the best. For his profession, he needed a constant supply of materials, which he could more easily obtain through an organization rather than procuring them himself and finding someone to process them.


    After a few minutes, Damian added, "It''s not a bad deal indeed. I can see the sincerity of the Markov auction house in its dealings. However, I would like to request that it be added to the agreement that I receive at least a five percent discount on any and all purchases my clan makes in this auction house. This could help the prosperity of both clans, don''t you think?"


    Violet wore a pensive look for a few minutes. What Damian asked was not impossible, but it would impact several purchases in the short and long term, affecting the growth of her clan. However, she also recognized the benefits of the deal with Damian.


    Violet then responded, "Very well, we can agree to those terms, as long as the sum of the discounts given to the Violet Sky clan each year does not exceed two green spirit stones. If this limit is reached, no further discounts will be provided for the remainder of the year. Is this acceptable, Elder Damian?"


    Now it was Damian''s turn to seriously consider the conditions laid before him. After pondering for the time it took an incense stick to burn, Damian finally said, "The terms offered are acceptable. I assume our agreement will be put in writing, right?"


    Violet, with a slight smile, as she stood up, replied, "Of course, Elder Damian. Our Markov Auction House always deals in good faith with its customers and suppliers. Please wait a while as we draft the contract. It should be ready shortly. Meanwhile, please enjoy our tea." Violet swiftly left the room to secure the contract.


    Meanwhile, Damian waited and engaged in light conversation with Christine and Nathan. During their conversation, he discovered that the spiders they had caught upon their arrival were named Dark Weaver Spiders. Christine''s parents had been tending to them, steadily making a small fortune by selling spider silk, which was primarily used to produce high-quality clothing.

 36 The fate of the treasure

    When Violet returned she held a thick stack of papers, which she swiftly handed to Damian. As Damian got a hold of the documents he carefully read each clause of the contract, in it the agreed terms were mentioned along with other minor benefits such as special treatment within the store among others for the promising young members of the clan. It also stated a breaching clause in which whoever breached the contract would have to pay five green spirit stones to the affected party.


    This pleased Damian as this would dissuade the Markov clan from going back on their work, therefore he imbued his finger with Qi and left a thumbprint in the contract, then Violet followed suit and did the same. He then stored one copy of the contract in his storage bag.


    With that, Damian took ten storage bags and twenty defensive talismans which were imbued with the seven lotuses of his ¡°Divine Defensive Lotus¡± art. He handed the goods to Violet and told her the upfront payment could be sent to his house in the clan compound. He then excused himself and left the Markov auction house with Nathan and Christine.


    ____________________________________________________


    The day of the meeting between the four great clans had finally arrived, the four clans were seated in the main hall of the city hall, each occupying a side of the square-shaped room.


    The violet sky clan was the most numerous as they had ten members as the council, the Lambert clan had three elders, and the Markov and Li clan only had the clan leaders and an elder that was accompanying them.


    James was the one to open the conversation: ¡°We can begin the discussion of the treasure found by the Violet Sky Clan and the Lambert Clan, and how it will affect the city and its inhabitants¡± he allowed a few moments to let his words sink in.


    James then continued: ¡°The nature of the treasure as I¡¯m sure you perceived when you welcomed us in the city, it¡¯s a cultivation treasure that excuses a dense and pure Qi, which can boost cultivation speed, as demonstrated by the members of the Violet Sky and Lambert clan that brought it. ¡± as he said that he sent an accusatory look to <mark>Tiana</mark> Markov and Li Ma, Li Ma feigned ignorance while <mark>Tiana</mark> simply rolled back her eyes.


    James then continued but his voice turned into one of authority that admitted no rebuttal: ¡°I want to make it clear to everyone present, we of the Violet Sky Clan will keep and protect the treasure. However, we will allow eleven permanent spots to be assigned as the Li and Markov clans see fit, they will have relatively free access to the tower we build around the treasure to cultivate. But access can be restricted when the treasure needs to recharge as if the treasure is abused the quantity and quality of the Qi may decrease.¡±


    Tania Markov was the first to ask the straightforward character she was: ¡°How many will the Lambert and Violet Sky Clan?¡±


    James had expected this question even before it was asked ¡°Both clans will get assigned fourteen spots as a reward for the discovery and protection of the treasure respectively¡±


    Li Ma then added: ¡°As the four great clans shouldn¡¯t we get an equal number of spots? this is the way the Violet Sky Clan rewards the contributions our clans have made to the city?¡±


    James responded: ¡°While each clan has indeed made contributions to the prosperity of the city. we do not see this as an unfair treatment, after all, the Violet Sky clan and the Lambert clan elders carried the risk of finding the treasure, therefore they should also receive a higher reward, had your clan found the treasure, would you have shared it equally?¡±


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    During the time they had arrived the elders of the four great clans had come to know each other. Li Ma was a crafty old fox that sought to get the most benefit out of everything, therefore he vying to get at least the same number of reserved spots didn¡¯t surprise anyone. That way they all knew the answer to James¡¯s question, he would not. Unless they gave something of at least equal if not a higher value.


    If Li Ma lied and said that he would of course share it equally they would know immediately it was a lie, however they couldn¡¯t directly say to his face after all, he was the head of one of the most prominent clans of the city, and was in charge of most of the food supply of the city.


    Li Ma responded: ¡°That¡¯s an if scenario, elder James, and at least I can assure you I would have provided a negotiation ground to get some spots. Which Need I remained you were the objective of this meeting, yet from your words you provide no such friendliness.¡±


    Li Ma said with all his reunited courage, after all, he was only a second-layer Golden Core Cultivator while the weakest among the Violet Sky Clan council sat at the fifth layer, without counting the thousands more Golden Core Cultivators they had <mark>amidst</mark> their ranks. After a brief pause to gather some more courage, he then, continued: ¡° I would like to request that we be provided equal spots among my clan even if my clan did not get the flame, we can surely provide something of valor to the Violet Sky Clan to earn my Li clan the few missing spots.¡±


    Li Ma then slid into his seat, he truly had used his courage to utter such words.


    James was giving some thought to the Li Ma request, after all, it was true that not providing them spots could potentially create a rupture in the city that could, later on, affect them if the sects or some of the lineages were to wage war upon them to gather more resources. <mark>Tian</mark> Long had said to them he would not intervene in whatever happened inside the world. Some would no doubt try to use their power to bully the weak, after all, humans were in one way or another of an insatiable nature.


    Before the great metamorphosis, it was wealth and fame, now no doubt would be wealth and power, and power could be most easily earned with a higher amount of resources, this would no doubt at some point cause some conflicts among humanity.


    Celia was the first to speak: ¡°I have a proposal, although you didn¡¯t let James finish the plans we have for the treasure, the truth is, we will allocate a total of fifty spots among the great clans, however, there is a slight disparity for the reasons stated by Elder James. However, another fifty spots will be distributed among the winners of a biannual tournament for the young of the city, I believe that we of the Violet Sky Clan could hand over one spot in exchange for paying the cost of the tournament, How about it?¡±


    Charlotte, of the Lambert Clan, swiftly spoke: ¡°We can also forgo a spot if the condition made by Elder Celia is kept.¡±


    A palpable tension could be felt in the room, Tania Markov was the one to break it: ¡°My Markov clan will gladly build the Stadium and pay the cost of the tournament. However, the money the tournament makes will be for my Markov clan. Of course, if the Li clan wants we can share the investments as well, as the rewards.¡±


    The people in the room were <mark>unsurprised</mark> by Tania¡¯s comment, after all, she was a businesswoman to the core. She had seen an opportunity to get an extra spot and even make a profit from it. While the initial investment would be huge, no doubt in a short few tournaments she would be making some big money.


    Li Ma responded Tania comment¡°My Li clan would be honored to make this venture with the Markov clan. we can discuss the specifics of it at a later time.¡±


    Li Ma was content he had secured an extra spot for his clan, and he would indeed make quite a profit working with Tania, after all, in his eyes, she was the reincarnation of King Midas, everything she touched became made of gold. And he knew he could not push it too much either, Damian had been giving him a look that stated that if he asked for more he would not return home. He was of course bluffing he never had killed any human being, but being the strongest in the city Li Ma felt sufficiently intimidated by Damian¡¯s look.

 37 Flame Tower

    Having agreed to the use of the treasure, some other issues were tended to such as the tokens that would be used to access the flame tower, they had decided on a black one made from blackroot wood for the permanent ones and gray ones made with ash wood for ones to be given as a reward at the tournament. the later ones would allow access to the tower for five months, enough time according to Damian to increase somewhere between one and three layers for a Golden Core, he knew for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator or even on a QI condensation cultivator, the effects could be greater depending of how close to the flame they could get.


    They also saw things such as logistics and the time of the tournament, as the flame was still charged they will initiate a rough construction of a stadium with several platforms and wood tiers from where the spectators could see the matches. Having cultivators as builders truly speed thing up which would normally take two to five years, cultivators could do it in a span of a few months if not weeks.


    The initial plan would be ten platforms made from spirit moon marble, a material found to be quite resilient and with regenerative qualities, as long as the damage was not too severe. The one it would be used should withstand the full strength of an early Foundation Establishment, and with the enhancement of both formations and inscriptions they could maybe withstand the full strength of an intermediate Golden Core, all in all, it would be quite the sturdy platform.


    Several formations would be set to facilitate hearing and sight to the audience. They also had decided that the set range for participants would be from ten to fifteen years of age, as time passed they could increase the age range. Participants should at the very least had reach the fourth layer of Qi condensation. The sun was setting went the meeting ended.


    ____________________________________________________________________________________


    Damian had a small gathering whit his brothers and their families that night. There he found out Rodrick and Caleb had reached the third layer of Golden Core. While Jurgen had reached the first layer of Golden Core. Damian had agreed to take all of them to the flame tower. After all, the Violet Sky Clan had reserved in the outside thirteen spots while in reality, they planned to have around twenty tokens distributed outside the council, the only condition would be that when other clans or people from outside the clan were on the flame tower only thirteen people from the clan would be allowed to be inside the tower.


    The only exception to these rules was Damian, he would enter regardless of the number of people inside the flame tower, the other clans did not oppose this arrangement as for one the flame was bound to Damian, and secondly it would mean directly opposing the currently strongest cultivator in the city. Between Damian and Jack, they had secured three tokens for their brothers.


    Damion summarized their journey as well as the insights he had gained about the flame and what he thought was the best way to cultivate using the flame. His brothers also shared the occurrences of their life while Damian was absent, pretty much they were just easygoing about cultivation, However, due to their high-quality spiritual root, cultivation pretty much came naturally to them, so even if they didn¡¯t put a crazy amount of effort, they were still were able to ripe decent results. The reunion lasted well beyond midnight.


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    Damian soon bid farewell to his brothers and returned to his home, he went straight to meditate, after all, he was by now costumed to only sleep once every one or two months and he had sleeper like a baby when he returned to the city and to his comfy bed.


    ____________________________________________________________________________________


    The first sun rays had yet to shine, and Damian was already going to the library. He was, after all, the Elder in charge of it, and while during his absence, Raymond, Paul, and Nathalia as well as other clan members assigned to the library had tended to it, he wanted to sort some documents before meeting with his brothers.


    He quite enjoyed his time in the library among the books and the classmates looking for some techniques. During the month since he had returned to the city when he was not cultivating or practicing either his martial arts or his craft, or even helping with the construction of the Flame Tower. He found himself reading techniques in the library. He also had taken quite a liking to guide young seedlings to choose their martial arts technique and cultivation manuals, even offering some pointers.


    The first three levels out of twelve of the cultivation manual ¡°Divine Galaxy Path¡±, ¡°Beyond Heaven¡±, ¡°Nine Ascending Stars¡±, and ¡°Blue Sky Sovereign¡± manuals could be cultivated by anyone in the clan who had at least a high spirit root, for clansmen with spirit roots of lesser quality they could choose freely from the sky level ones.


    They could, of course, also access a heaven cultivation manual through family members or as a reward for contributions made to the clan. They could also cultivate those heaven manuals but it was less efficient for them as the comprehension bound to the spirit root quality was lesser, therefore they would end up yielding fewer results in the long run with a heaven manual than a sky one.


    On the other hand, the clan had decided that every clan member would learn at least the first three levels of the ¡°Great Sky Sundering Palm¡± manual, and the ¡°Ethereal Mist stride¡± manual, both of them of heaven rank. This last one was provided by the Markov clan when they first joined the city. These would be the signature moves for which their clan would be known, both of them are relatively easy to learn for their rank but are top-tier techniques.


    ____________________________________________________________________________________


    When the sun finally rose Damian left the library to meet his brothers outside the flame tower. When he arrived all of his brothers were waiting for him. They greet each other and after exchanging a few pleasantries they approached the entrance, and showed their tokens to the two guards, then proceeded to enter unimpeded to the flame tower.


    As soon as they entered, Rodrick, Caleb, Jack, and Jurgen formed a barrier with their Qi surrounding their bodies, they all were able to sense the increase of heat, of course, the level of Qi on the first floor was ineligible for Golden Core Cultivators but they wanted to gauge and experiment a little with the heat and the Qi barrier to be prepared for anything in the upper floors.


    After a few minutes, they finally stopped at the third floor. This floor was meant for Golden Core cultivators after all. It was on this floor they finally felt like their throat was dry, they needed to send a higher quantity of Qi to their barrier.


    It was then, that Jack took out five white incense sticks packs, each containing ten sticks and a dark-colored balm from his storage bag. He then said: ¡°Advance up to where you feel you can withstand the heat, don¡¯t force yourselves¡± He looked at Rodrick, Caleb, and Jurgen, making special emphasis on this young rascal, as he tended to be quite impulsive and reckless.

 38 Entering the Flame Tower

    Jack then continued ¡°The balm and the incense stick are strong in Yin energy, while the flame is strong in Yang energy, therefore these should help us to cultivate more smoothly, that is to say, less pain and yielding the same results, at least that¡¯s what Damian and I have worked on for the past month¡±


    The other three brothers bickered a bit about being left in the dark regarding the balm and incense stick, but it was truly an experiment for the last month, Damian had been using his time helping with the construction of the Flame Tower to test the balms, pills, potions, and incense sticks Jack provided him with, at least they found that an incense stick made by Moonlight Grass and water ginseng, coupled with a balm made of dark moss and moon touched bark, were perfect to add a tinge of Yin energy to the chaotic Yang energy of the Flame making it tamer.


    The concept had been explained by Jack to Damian in the previous month. The Yin-Yang cycle was one of the eight great principles of Alchemy. where there was an unbalance of these energies, chaotic phenomena occurred. In the case of the flame being pure Yang there was an unbalance of Yin, making the Qi chaotic. However, if a bit of Yin was added to the Qi absorbed the Yang would try to feed on the Yin, burning away the impurities the sticks and balm may have in the process. All alchemy products had a level of impurities, that¡¯s why they should not be overused, especially the ones to increase your cultivation level.


    Yet they had found a way to circumvent the impurities, as the pure Yang energy of the flame would consume them, cleansing them, thus elevating the Yin to a higher level of purity, which in turn be absorbed by the flame, nurturing the Yang, balancing out the chaotic nature of the flame Qi.


    During the test Damian had previously done, he had noticed a negligible decrease in the purity of the Flame, far less than 1 percent, while the chaotic nature of the flame was at least halved. In this manner, his brothers would get double the results with half the effort, allowing them to get closer to the flame more easily. They had yet to know how the golden core would be affected when it went through its baptism by fire. But according to Jack the effect should be the same or nearly the same, they could still increase their cultivation level quite swiftly.


    After they had explained the theory and the experiments, Jack continued: ¡°The balm should be put on the soles, hands, forehead, and below the belly button. The incense stick should be lighter in front of you to use the medicinal effect of the incense in your Qi barrier¡±.


    Once the explanation ended they each took off their shoes and put them in their storage bags, they then proceeded to apply the balm on the soles, forehead, hands, and below the belly button as instructed by Jack.


    Once they finished, they began to walk at their own pace, Jurgen was the first to stop at ten steps, he then sat in a meditative position put the incense stick in front of him, and began to meditate, the surprise he felt for the quality and quantity of the Qi left him astonished. Jurgen''s surprise was due to the difficulty of cycling the Qi inside his channels and Dantian, especially, since this was with its chaotic nature halved.


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    Jurgen could feel, that the pureness and the vastness of the Qi would allow him in a single day to progress in his cultivation what he could advance one or two months on the outside.


    Soon, similar scenes were playing with Rodrick and Caleb, they were able to advance twenty-five steps. There were a total of seventy steps to the ladder upstairs. Jack for his part was at the sixth layer, therefore he was able to advance up to the fifty-nine step, for this first time he had indeed done quite well, At this part of the floor the corridor was nearly at the end of the first chamber of the cave, no doubt this was due to Jack top tier Qi control, as well, as the balm.


    Jack then sat and began cultivating. Damian observed his brothers reminiscing of the old simpler days, and fearful of the distant future. He knew right now, the city was at peace, however, beast waves, as well, as internal strife, and wars with other clans were a palpable scenario they would have to face at least once. Rodrick and Caleb weren¡¯t truly interested in cultivating to become strong, after all, with their spirit root they should have reached at least the middle stages of the Golden Core realm, They only cultivated because of Damian and Jack''s constant bickering.


    Jack did cultivate diligently and was quite strong, but a great deal of his attention was directed towards Alchemy, therefore slowing down his cultivation. Jurgen did want to be strong because he wanted to explore and adventure, the only reason he hadn¡¯t done so yet, was because he had been forbidden by Jack and Damian to leave the city.


    He did like to test out his abilities against classmates and other cultivators, but he was quite reckless, and they knew that if they allowed him outside he would just go to find a strong opponent. Damian hoped that once Jurgen grew up a bit, he would be more level-headed.


    Damian wanted to grow strong because of himself, but also to protect his brothers. In this world, all could be subject to danger, that¡¯s why he wanted his brothers to be able to fend for themselves. The same could be said about his clan in general, most of them were pacifist at heart. The council was well aware of this situation, and that¡¯s why they wanted to motivate classmates to cultivate, otherwise, the other clans would in time surpass them and overthrow them. They understood that the relative pace of the city was maintained because they were strong.


    Damian stopped himself from delving into his anxiety and fears and went up to the four floors. The four floors were thought for each cultivation realm, however, it was not restricted for cultivators to go up to the next floor. It was more, like a safety net for the cultivators, they could go up as long as their cultivation and determination allowed them.


    Once on the fourth floor of the Flame Tower, Damian went up to the flame and put the incense between himself and the flame. He then began to cultivate pulling on the connection that existed between himself and the flame. He truly marveled at the efficacy of the incense sticks and the balm, even with the connection he had with the flame the Qi still was quite chaotic, but now the Qi flowed into him quite easily. At this rate, he should be able to reach Nascent Soul in less than a year.

 39 Three months later

    As weeks and then three months went by Damian, Jack, and Jurgen continued to cultivate daily at some time of day in the Flame Tower. Rodrick and Caleb were more inconsistent some days they came, and some days, they did not. Damian had expected as much, however, after a thorough bickering session hosted by Jack and himself, they began to show up daily. Of course, some other clans clan members had begun to show up at the Flame tower, and some days they could not enter, except of course Damian and Jack, as an Elder of the Family clansmen gave him face and gave their spot to Jack. Other Elders of the clan also came frequently to cultivate. Even people from the three other great clans came frequently, but usually because of the pain, many of them did not come daily. So more often than not the five brothers were able to cultivate inside the Flame Tower.


    Jack had not shared with other clan members the recipe of his Flame Tower Yin kit as he had baptized the duo of incense stick and balm. They had not asked about either. The people inside the tower usually were more occupied with containing the chaotic Qi inside their bodies to be paying much attention to their surroundings. He did plan to make the kits available to clan mates for a price, of course. But he did not have an ample supply of the materials needed, he had begun a small garden in a plot of land he had for planting and harvesting spiritual plants, but it would be a while before they were ready to be processed, right now, he only had enough to supply himself and his brothers for two more months.


    Jack had already broken through to the seven-layer in only two months and he was incredibly close to breaking through to the eight-layer, he would break through in a matter of weeks. He could now cultivate on the fourth floor of the Flame Tower. He had pushed through his limits when he arrived on the fourth floor and received his baptism by fire. His core as well as his body had undergone a qualitative change, a white flame floated above his golden core, but instead of the chaotic nature of the flame that enveloped Damian¡¯s core, Jack¡¯s was more tamed but it was easier to control. Half the golden core of Jack was pure white, while the other half was golden, almost as if resembling the duality of Yin-Yang.


    Jurgen had broken through to the third layer. Rodrick and Caleb had broken through to the third layer. Rodrick was more invested in practicing his spiritual cook skills, he truly enjoyed cooking. he had even become an expert and according to him, he was halfway through reaching artisan. Of course that was only speaking about knowledge and skills, but he knew he could only achieve such a realm when he reached Nascent Soul, he felt no pressure as he knew he would reach it eventually. Caleb on the other hand was more about motivating his children to cultivate more than doing so himself, he did not care if he was not strong but he wished his children would surpass him. This was perhaps a shackle he had set on himself, both Damian and Jack had talked him into putting more effort into cultivation in case he needed to protect his offspring, which somewhat had convinced him but not too much.


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    Damian was thoroughly convinced that the flame would help his family and his clan to survive through the adversities this new world would eventually face with.


    Damian also tried his best at the library helping young classmates here and there with choosing their techniques or even reading. He had fallen into a routine without realizing it. In the morning before the sun came out, he would practice his martial arts. Then he would go to the library to read and tend to the library matters. Fortunately for Damian, being the Elder in charge of the library was quite a straightforward role, and didn¡¯t demand him that much attention. and there were ten people in charge of assisting and managing most affairs of the library, so there wasn¡¯t much for him to do, other than to be a deterrent for anyone having bad thoughts about stealing or not returning a book in time to the library.


    When the sun hung high in the sky he would go to the Flame Tower to cultivate, when the sunset came, he would go to his house and practice his craft of inscriptionism, he was steadily improving he would soon reach the expert level.


    He would only eat or sleep when he felt the need for it. Some days to break off the routine, he took a small portion of time from practicing his craft to visit Cedric and have a cup of tea with him, they got to know each other a lot more and truly enjoyed each other company. During his visits, Cedric would prepare him some spirit tea, so even then, he continued to cultivate and advance the comprehension of his martial arts. And it¡¯s with this renewed semi-enlightenment state that he would return home to further hone his skills.


    _______________________________________________________________________________


    Today the stadium had been finished. The tournament would finally be held the following week. The stadium could house up to the tournament had been advertised two months prior, including the multiple possible rewards, the great clans had taken the opportunity of the tournament to also increase the general strength of the city.


    Therefore, some special pills, weapons, armor, talismans, technique manuals, and spirit stones would be awarded according to the performance in the tournament. They could even directly be offered to form part of the Azure Guard which was the city Guard, composed of four battalions the Blue Lotus, Golden Lion, Ashen Phoenix, and Silver Moon. Each one of those battalions was mainly composed of members of the Violet Sky, Li, Markov, and Lambert clans respectively. Together that was the first line of defense of the city, of course, people from other families and clans could join, after all, the salaries were quite good.


    They were in charge of protecting the city and also exploring the surrounding wilderness to kill strong demon beasts too close to the city, the farms, or the quarries.


    They even advertised an opening match between elders of the great clans to garnish more attention from the general public, three such battles would be held. The participation fee would be three white spirit stones, while the spectator fee would be ten white spirit stones.


    Damian had been informed he would be one of the participants of the exhibition duels, he would go last, and his opponent would be Cedric, as he was the only Elder from the other clans closer to his cultivation. The other fights would be Tania Markov vs Li Ma and James vs Jack.

 40 Markov vs Li Clan

    The day of the tournament had finally arrived. The sun was still rising on the horizon. People from all over the city crowded the stadium, taking their seats, conversing among themselves, and waiting for the aperture of the tournament.


    The Elders of the council of the Violet Sky Clan along with promising members of the clan waited for the tournament to begin on a balcony reserved for their clan. Several other important clans had balconies reserved for their families, while other minor families had to seat on the benches along the stadium steps.


    Soon a beautiful and voluptuous woman wearing a vermilion dress, skin with an olive tone that shined with the sun, her black hair falling to her waist, and her eyes of a deep green like the lush of a forest, appeared at the only stage on the arena, the platform encompassed almost all the arena.


    The woman in the vermilion dress spoke: ¡°Welcome everyone to the first tournament of Violet Sky City! Prepare yourselves for a breathtaking spectacle, as we become witness to the sheer power and grandeur of our city. Throughout the upcoming hours, you shall be captivated by the incredible talents of our rising stars who are destined to ascend above the heavens. However, before you witness the first page of their legend, it is our honor to present the awe-inspiring might of the city¡¯s most formidable cultivators. Rest assured, dear guests, that your safety is paramount, guaranteed by the protection of high-level formations. So please, remain seated and lose yourselves in this extraordinary display of might and skill.¡± with her piece spoken, the woman made room on the stage. As soon as she did so Li Ma and Tania Markov appeared on the stage.


    Each of them wore their clan robes, this was of course a friendly match to showcase their progress. Both of them had gone several times to the Flame Tower, and they had managed to increase one layer in their cultivation, making Tania a third layer, and Li Ma a second layer Golden Core Cultivator. Because of that the quality and quantity of their Qi were on another level compared to a cultivator of the same level who had not cultivated using the Qi from the white flame.


    The woman in the vermilion dress continued to speak: ¡°Let the opening match begin¡±, as soon as the woman said those words she disappeared from the arena, after all, she was only a peak Foundation Establishment, she had no power to defend herself against the aura and the havoc left behind by a battle among two Golden Core Cultivators. They both allowed the woman a few breaths of time for her to reach inside the protective formation.


    Both cultivators made a martial bow, showing their sincerity. each of them stood straight once more. Li Ma was the first one to make a move, as he put his open palm in front of him, his hand began to glow, and after a single breath, a bright beam of light shot from his hand.


    Tania unsheathed her spear and with a swift vertical slash, the beam of light was parted in half. Li Ma retracted his hand and took out his saber. Tania took this as an invitation and pierced her spear forward, as she did so intense heat surrounded her, and a bird made of pure scarlet fire and white eyes advanced toward Li Ma.


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    Li Ma moved his saber in a circular motion and eight rings of green light formed in the path of the saber movement, the circles gained size and collided against the fiery bird. Gales of wind and fire danced in the arena causing a chaotic spectacle. The firebird and the green light rings continued to collide until they consumed each other.


    The spectators mainly in Qi condensation and the Foundation Establishment with a few early Golden Core were quite awed by the strength of the clan leaders. Even if they were only putting on a show with their skills in a flashy way without any intention to make any harm to one another.


    Li Ma blended his saber and lounged forward, in a single breath he had appeared before Tania bending forward, he slashed diagonally. Tania simply moved her spear and parried the incoming attack with the shaft, a shock wave was liberated as the saber and spear clashed. Both of them then activated their movement techniques, clashing their weapons in a violent and melodic rhythm, every time they clashed, shock waves were created and collided against the ground and the formation barrier. If the barrier were not in place, all the Qi condensation cultivators would have died from the impact of the shock wave, while Foundation Establishment cultivators would have had internal injuries.


    In the span of a few breaths, they had clashed several dozens of times, each clash, accompanied by a strong shock wave. Both of them exhibited their movement and martial arts. They moved with incredible finesse. after the few dozen exchanges they had had, they distanced themselves landing on the platform.


    Tania spoke, with a slight smile on her face:¡± How about we wrap things up Patriarch Li?¡±


    Li Ma grabbed his chin with his free hand, then he spoke: ¡°Very well Matriarch Markov, let¡¯s show them our might¡±


    Both of them circled their Qi ready to unleash one last technique, Li Ma created dozens of green rings. In the middle of each ring, a star seemed to come alive, lightly pulsing. Each of the rings circled itself creating gales of wind that left cuts on the platform.


    Tania put her spear in front of her. A fiery aura surrounded her, the heat from the aura of her first attack was mild in comparison to the heat she was unleashing. The humidity in the air burned away. Li Ma had to put a protective barrier of Qi on his body, otherwise, his skin would be burned from the heat exuded by Tania aura. The aura condensed in a fiery phoenix, the shape was so refined that the mythical beast almost seemed to come alive. The fiery phoenix encompassed almost half the arena.


    Each of them attacked, Li Ma sent all his rings to attack the incoming fiery phoenix made by Tania. Both attacks collided in the middle of the platform. As soon as the attacks collided an explosion occurred, blinding light along a great shock wave formed from the explosion, the ground, and the formation barrier shock, constantly vibrating. The shock wave continued for several breaths of time until it finally stopped.


    In the aftermath, a cloud of dust and debris had formed. The platform could not be seen because of the cloud. It took nearly one minute for the dust to finally settle, on the platform Tania Markov and Li Ma could be seen each standing on one side of the platform. The platform showed several levels of damage, cracks, and debris found all around the platform. The public was utterly shocked especially the cultivators who had yet to reach the Golden Core realm.


    Both cultivators were perfectly fine to the regular onlooker, however, stronger cultivators could clearly see who was the victor in that exchange, Li Ma¡¯s right hand had a thin trail of blood and light burns. Both cultivators gave each other another bow and left the stage.

 41 Second exhibition duel

    The stage was in shambles. With cracks and craters decorating its surface, the pristine spirit moon marble left participants and onlookers alike curious about the continuation of the fights. The marble started to siphon the surrounding Qi. It repaired itself at a slow pace.


    At this rate, it would take at least half an hour before the platform repaired itself. While spectators were amazed by the high-quality material of the platform, several looks ranging from anxiety to annoyance could be seen in the audience.


    Damian jumped from the balcony of the Violet Sky Clan, to the onlookers it seemed as if Damian was moving extremely slowly, yet in only a few breaths he had landed on the center of the platform as his violet robes flapped in the wind.


    Damian had come to the platform to speed up the repair. This was spirit moon marble. As long as they provide sufficient Qi to it, it could easily repair itself.


    Damian sent a small portion of his Qi into the marble and spread it throughout the platform in a web pattern, allowing all the spirit moon marble to fest on his Qi. The repair of the platform hastened. In less than two minutes, the platform was as pristine as before the battle had taken place. A small cheering came from the crowd.


    Damian simply walked off the platform and walked towards his balcony. The woman in the vermilion dress soon returned to the platform. She announced: ¡°As you could witness in the spectacular exchange between the Patriarch of the Li clan and the Matriarch of the Markov clan. This was a battle of might and skill. With such powerful guardians of the city, no Demon beast would be bold enough to venture into our city not now, not never. Now for our second exhibition duel. Please welcome Elder James and Elder Jack, both from the Violet Sky Clan, and bear witness to what being the strongest clan in the city means.¡±


    As the woman finished her speech, both James and Jack walked towards the platform. At the same time, six cultivators from the Violet Sky clan at the early stages of the Golden Core realm led by Celia, Max, and Malik. They took strategic positions surrounding the barrier and sat in a meditative position.


    The woman in the vermilion dress waited for both Elders to arrive on stage. People began cheering for the cultivators walking toward the platform.


    People were expectant of this battle. They would see two of the strongest cultivators in the city fight. Li Ma and Tania Markov were strong, but they were still in the early and intermediate layers of the Golden Core Realm. The fight that was about to happen would be a memorable one that would go imprint in their memory for years to come. Both cultivators were at the eighth layer of the Golden Core realm.


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    After a few moments of tension in the crowd, James and Jack arrived on stage. The woman in the vermilion dress announced: ¡°Let the second exhibition fight begin¡±. As the words left her lips, she once more dashed toward the safety of the barrier. As soon as she entered the barrier, the elders from the Violet Sky Clan stationed around the barrier infused their Qi into the barrier. The barrier seemed to come alive. It grew far thicker and more vibrant.


    They had done so as a precaution, as the expert formation masters that created the barrier were in the intermediate layers of the Golden Core realm. They preferred to be safe rather than sorry. After all, the barrier would have to withstand the strength of two cultivators at the eighth layer. The barrier had been quite strained by the fight between Li Ma and Tania Markov. In this fight, the barrier had a high chance of breaking without reinforcement.


    James and Jack waited for the woman in vermilion, and the barrier to be reinforced. They gave each other a martial bow. James said, ¡°Please give me some pointers, Elder Jack. ¡°


    Jack simply responded: ¡°Likewise Elder James, I will show my meager skills.¡°


    Both men straightened their backs. As they did so, each of them sent a palm against the other. A bright golden light shaped like their palm lunged forward, as the palms closed the distance they were siphoning the Qi in the surrounding area. At the time of the collision, James¡¯ palm was twenty feet tall, while Jack was twenty-five feet tall. Both palms showed exquisite detail. They were perfect copies of their owner¡¯s palms.


    The collision created a shock wave that impacted the ground, creating a massive crack at the point of collision and it spread in a web-like pattern. The air itself was vibrating. The barrier was in constant vibration.


    The elders were glad they had stepped in to reinforce the barrier. This clash would have pushed the limits of the barrier.


    Both men were unfazed by the happenings inside the barrier, testimony to their battle prowess. This had been a probing attack. After thirteen breaths of time, Jack¡¯s attack overwhelmed James¡¯s palm.


    As the golden palm approached James, he took out his sword. It was a masterfully crafted violet sword, he pierced forward against the golden palm. Another shock happened as the sword and palm collided. After a single breath of time, the energy of the palm dissipated.


    The crowd was awed by the martial progress exhibited. Either of the golden palms could have crushed both of the attacks from the first fight.


    Both men gave each other an acknowledgment nod. In a single instant, thousands of swords made from jade surrounded both men.


    The audience became silent. Many were shocked at the sheer number of swords. What¡¯s more, each sword emitted a terrifying aura. No attack had been performed, yet the air vibrated continuously. Small slashes constantly appeared on the platform. The barrier was under constant attack from the aura created by the swords.


    Damian on the balcony was watching interested the proceedings of the fight.


    ¡®Incredible, both of them have reached the master achievement on the ¡°Ten Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword¡±, it seems I need to begin sparring regularly with both of them to gain more insights into the technique, as seeing other masters could help me advance toward the great master achievement.¡¯

 42 The second exhibition duel ends

    James and Jack¡¯s swords stood still. No doubt they were delaying a few moments to build up tension and expectations from the audience. After all, this was the first tournament in the city, and they wanted it to become famous throughout their land. What better way to achieve that than to build up suspense?


    After a few breaths of time, each of them released the reins on their swords. They propelled nearly twenty thousand swords, whizzing through the air. Swords clashed, creating a vivid and vibrating cacophony. Metal clashing against metal, again and again.


    In the arena, a spectacle of swordplay was taking place as the swords clashed, parried, and even made attack formations. The barrier continuously quivered. Vibrations in the air distorted the arena¡¯s space. Crying spectators had to protect their eardrums with Qi. Lest they go deaf. People in the audience had trouble seeing the cultivators on the platform by the sheer number of swords continuously clashing.


    Jack took out his sword. This masterpiece was an azure and green blade. Jack and James lunged forward, their sword in hand. They evaded or parried the incoming swords as they closed the distance. Their footwork being a sight to behold. They could freely move with grace even under the assault of thousands of swords. At the same time, they commanded the movement and trajectory of thousands of swords.


    Jack leaped into the sky as he evaded a sword aiming for his feet. He had to divert his attention between controlling the swords, predicting the patterns of James¡¯s swords and where they would attack.


    While also evading or pairing some himself, fortunately for him, he could manage this level of compartmentalization. After all, as an Alchemist, he needed to pay attention to minuscule details at the same time. From several spirit herbs, their preparation, how they reacted when interacting inside the cauldron. To the heat or other spirit herbs, being in constant need to adjust and change his course of action.


    James, on the other hand, could keep up this level of compartmentalization, however, it put a great strain on his mind. He preferred to parry the incoming swords as it came more naturally to him.


    All this takes time to describe but, from the time they had started to move to this moment, only three breaths of time had passed. At this time, they had already parried or evaded dozens of swords.


    Jack dropped from the sky, taking advantage of the high ground. He put his sword in front of him in a piercing position. James was preparing to evade. However, at this time, ten swords came for him from several angles. They had passed the defense of his swords; he used his bound with the swords to call them to deflect the incoming swords. However, the slight surprise had made his response slower, allowing Jack to come close enough, leaving no room for Jack to evade the incoming attack.


    James took a defensive stance, planting himself on the ground and slashing his sword above his head in order to parry the full brunt of the incoming attack.


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    Swords collided with the might of their wielder. A thunderous eruption of energy erupted forth. The shock wave expanded in all directions. Creating distortions in the surrounding space and propelling ten of thousands of swords outwards toward the barrier, creating a surreal and awe-inspiring display of strength.


    The ground surrounding James for several meters caved in as he diverted part of the strength from Jack¡¯s attack toward the ground.


    With a harmonious melody, the swords collided against the barrier in a constant barrage of attacks. The elders had to put their all for the barrier not to break. They could easily protect themselves, but they were not formation masters, they were simply supplying Qi to the barrier. Several cracks began to appear on the barrier even with the effort of the elders. If this continued, the barrier could break.


    It was then that a dozen more Golden Core Cultivators from the Violet Sky clan came to help sustain the barrier. With all the incoming Qi, the barrier reformed, allowing it to withstand the barrage of attacks.


    Inside the barrier, the clash of strength continued, the continuity of the exerted strength creating newer, weaker shock waves.


    The audience was in utter silence. They were having a hard time processing this level of strength, a speck of desire beginning to form in the hearts of many of them, young or regressed alike.


    Many of them were practicing cultivation, as the prospect of an extended lifespan enticed them. Though aware of the potential risk of Demon Beast. Most of them had not encountered one, or if they did, it was far weaker than them. Therefore, they paid little concern to this threat. Having lived a life nearly devoid of conflict, they were not quite interested in martial techniques, but in these fights, a transformation had begun to stir a transformation in the hearts of the audience.


    Jack and James retreated a few steps, their gazes locked on each other, creating a sort of understanding of each other; both wanted to win against each other. They will have to truly spar at a later time. Right now this was an exhibition, and they had to awe the people in the city. Both to make people more interested in cultivating and to attract young lads into the city guard, especially to the Azure guard, of which they were in command.


    Jack and James showed their masterful swordplay, exchanging dozens of moves as they launched a Jade sword here, or a sky sundering palm there. They also practiced other techniques, but they would not showcase them to the public. After all, it was wise to have an as under the sleeve or, if possible, several.


    After the show had gone for a few minutes of trying to outwit each other with simple attacks and techniques at a far lower level than they had displayed. The reason they did not display further strength was for one they had accomplished the goal of awing the audience with their strength. The second reason was, they didn¡¯t want to inconvenience the family. After all, they were the ones in charge of maintaining the barrier. Also, if they truly fought all out, they could have broken the barrier. They had purposely not used all their strength in their attacks.


    This also showed a substantial difference between cultivating with and without the holy lame. Although Max, Malik, and Leticia were all at the intermediate layers of the Golden Core realm, none of them had yet to cultivate using the flame. Hiroshi had made this arrangement as a way to gauge the actual difference between a cultivator who cultivated using the Holy Flame. As they had come to call it, or not.


    Jack and James retracted giving each other some space. Facing each other, they gave a martial bow and began to walk back to the balcony of the Violet Sky Clan.

 43 Third exhibition duel begins

    Before leaving the stage, James and Jack infused their Qi into the platform. A few moments later, the stage was pristine once again.


    As James and Jack left the platform, the crowd erupted in a ferocious roar. The participants were amazed by the prowess shown by both Elders from the Violet Sky clan.


    The first fight between the Li and Markov clans had only been an appetizer. This second fight had been the main course. The last fight should be a dessert, something so sweet and addictive that you will be left desiring more. A rising expectation formed in the hearts of the crowd.


    James and Jack kindly received the cheers of the audience waving back to the crowd as they left the arena and returned to the balcony of the Violet Sky Clan.


    The woman in the vermilion dress had arrived at the platform when James and Jack were leaving the stage. She, however, saw the audience was thrilled with the cheer and waited for them to calm down a little.


    When The woman saw the crowd had calmed a bit, without missing a beat announced: ¡°Today you have been witnesses of the might and skill of the Elders of the Violet Sky Clan. With such strength, they will remain the guardians of our city for tens of thousands of years.¡±


    She paused for a second and then said: ¡°You have seen the strength of three of the four great clans. In but moments, you will see a breathtaking spectacle. One that will defy your very views of might and strength. Today, you will see the pinnacle of power of a Golden Core realm cultivator. And remember that the young seedling that will fight after will, in time, become soaring dragons and hidden phoenixes that reach such pinnacle. For the last fight, we have the strongest Elder of the Lambert clan at the eighth layer of the Golden Core realm. Please give a strong welcome to Elder Cedric.¡±


    As the woman spoke the words, Cedric appeared on the platform. The crowd erupted in excited roars. Cedric waved back to the audience, and the crowd erupted in an uproar of cheers and applause.


    The woman in the vermilion dress then continued: His opponent will be the strongest cultivator in our city at the ninth layer of the Golden Core realm. He is the great guardian of our city. Give a warm welcome to Elder Damian of the Violet Sky Clan.¡±


    Damian arrived at appeared on one side of the stage. When he arrived at the platform, the crowd erupted in an uproar. Many throats will be sore tomorrow. Damian simply smiled back at the crowd. After a few moments of roaring from the crowd, the sound quieted down.


    The woman in the vermilion dress said: ¡°Let the fight begin¡±


    She then sprinted with her movement technique once again toward the safety of the barrier.


    Damian and Cedric exchanged a martial bow. Once they saw the woman in the vermilion dress in the safety of the barrier. Cedric took out a staff made of wood. The staff was carved with trees, mountains, and rivers. It was a breathtaking work of craftsmanship.


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    Damian conjured two green jade swords with a long, pure white line along the blade. He took a sword in each hand and assumed a relaxed stance.


    The crowd was silent, not wanting to miss even the smallest of detail from the fight.


    Cedric slammed the tip of his staff with both hands. A small shock wave spread along the platform. At the same time. An illusory silhouette made of Qi of an ancient oak tree formed behind Cedric. The tree was at around a hundred feet. Hundreds of branches sprouted from its trunk. Its leaves were of vibrant emerald color. White fruits were hanging on some branches of the tree. A thin layer of white fire surrounded the fruits.


    Air in the arena hummed and vibrated in the tree¡¯s presence. Cultivators in the audience tried to look at the tree, only to hurt their eyes when they tried. Almost like they were seeing something far above themselves. Golden Core cultivators could see the tree without pain, yet they could feel a profound fear when looking at the tree. To them, it looked like a sovereign.


    Damian waited for Cedric to make the first move. After all, it would be anticlimactic that the strongest of the two made the first move. Damian had come quite a way in both his martial arts and its cultivation. He could have broken through to the tenth layer of the Golden Core realm a few weeks prior to the tournament. But he was pushing back his breakthrough, bidding his time. He wanted his foundation to be as strong and robust as possible before attempting it.


    A few moments passed. Then Cedric moved. More precisely, the roots of the tree moved. Dozens of roots sprouted from the ground all around Damian. Roots whipped around as they enclosed toward Damian strenuously fast.


    Damian raised both swords and, with a swift and elegant spin. He cut the incoming roots with finesse. As soon as the roots from the tree were cut, dozens more emerged from the ground, launching a relentless assault against Damian from all angles. Damian moved, brandishing his jade swords, each movement severing dozens of attacking roots. Damian¡¯s movements as he spun, trusted, slashed, evaded, and jumped had an uncanny elegance to them. To the audience, it appeared like Damian was dancing on the stage. Damian cut hundreds of roots, and yet even more were sprouting, aiming to trap, impale, or slash Damian.


    On the Violet Sky Clan balcony. The Elders were questioning what technique Damian was using. After all, they had not yet seen this technique.


    Elder Leila, however, recognized the technique, as she also practiced it. In fact, it was a technique that was taught to all the Azure Guard of which she was the commander-in-chief.


    She was the one to shed light on the Elder¡¯s doubt: ¡°The technique¡¯s name was ¡®Tranquil Tempest Dance¡¯ It¡¯s a Sky rank technique. It¡¯s the fighting technique we teach to the new recruits at the Azure guard. It delves into the principle of the center of force. The technique allows the user to exert at a moment¡¯s notice either the full force of their body or a smaller amount. The technique is especially efficient in making it near impossible for the enemy to accustom to the user, flow, movement, and strength, as there are thousands of combinations making it hard to differentiate in battle if it¡¯s the same martial art of several ones.¡±


    Hiroshi responded, ¡°I see. It¡¯s indeed a wonderful technique. You did great on making it a basis for the Azure Guard. It will give an edge in battle.¡±


    The Elders of the Violet Sky Balcony agreed with Hiroshi statement, as they noded or expressed their agreement.


    This was a technique Damian had been learning since returning from the cave, and thanks to Cedric¡¯s tea, he had achieved ¡®Great Achievement¡¯ in it. Without the tea, which induced a semi-enlightenment state. Damian would have needed at least six more months to achieve his current level.

 44 The exhibition duels end

    It had been a few minutes since the fight between Damian, and Cedric began. The audience was absorbed in the fight. The people among the crowd who practiced the skills used by Damian and Cedric were gaining insights into the technique. This fight would prove beneficial to them.


    Cedric extended his hand upward toward a branch bearing fruit and made a ripping motion. The fruit fell from the branch and landed on his hand. He then put it in his mouth. After chewing it a few times, he swallowed. His Qi swelled. The muscles in his body bulged. Those deep green eyes glowed in a mix of white and green shades. A haze exuded from Cedric¡¯s pores, later condensing around his body. Forming a type of energy armor with patterns of a tree and a white flame.


    Cedric¡¯s body was not the only thing undergoing changes in the arena. The illusory tree behind him seemed to become more tangible. More alive. Cedric brandished his staff and moved. A small shock wave erupted on the spot he stood a few moments ago.


    As Damian saw Cedric eat the fruit, he thought: ¡®So you used the buff aspect of your ¡®Guardian of the Ancient Verdant Forest¡¯. You want to show the young ones that your technique it¡¯s not only for defense. Very good, bring it on.¡¯


    Both of them had sparred before. They were quite close to each other, so they knew the techniques of one another. Damian put both his swords in and crossed position. Cedric¡¯s staff slammed against the convergence point of the swords. The strength behind the staff pushed Damian a step back.


    As their weapons continued to clash, Damian with a small smile on his face said: ¡°It seems you broke through to the master achievement, congratulations!¡±


    Cedric responded with a confident smile: ¡°Indeed. Today I will force you to use your copper sword.¡±


    Damian retorted back with a smug smile: ¡°We will see¡±


    Damian put more force in his swords and pushed Cedric back. Then Damian conjured thousands of swords. A tangible pressure assailed the arena. Even outside the barrier, people felt a primal fear.


    Cedric summoned thousands of roots and branches, ready to defend or attack.


    In a flash, both moved, forming blurs as they did so.


    Most of the people in the audience could not follow Damian and Cedric¡¯s moves. They could only see the distorted space created by the aftershocks of the clashes. As they fought, thousands of roots and branches clashed against thousands of green jade swords. Branches and roots were severed by the hundreds, yet an even greater number of them took their place. Dozens of swords struggling to break free, parried, or trapped swords.


    The battle left the platform in shambles. Damian had connected several hits on Cedric, however, either a branch or the armor protecting his body impeded his sword. Cedric, on the other hand, had yet to connect a hit. He knew Damian had an incredible dexterity. He could see no opening in Damian¡¯s guard, and when he did so, Damian countered and, more times than not, connected with a hit. Fortunately, he had his armor of the guardian. He enjoyed fighting against Damian, but the fight had gone on for long enough. It was time to go all out on a last attack.


    Cedric retreated and made all the branches and roots continue to assault Damian, except the ones that bore fruit. He made a hand gesture and the branches that guarded fruits intertwined around Cedric, forming a cocoon. Inside the cocoon, all the fruits fused into one fruit that exuded pressure, unlike anything this arena had ever seen. Cedric punctured the fruit with his staff. The juice of the fruit slide on the staff, penetrating into it.


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    Damian saw the cocoon but didn¡¯t know what it did. In the times they had sparred, Cedric had never used this. Most likely it was a new movement that came from reaching the master achievement. He pondered what the cocoon did as he opened a path through the forest of branches and roots. When Damian felt it. He felt the sheer pressure inside the cocoon. It was nothing to scoff at. If it hit him, he would suffer severe injuries. Damian put more force on his move and slashed a few hundred branches and roots. He then summoned seven pink lotuses encasing himself. The Branches and roots tried to pierce through the lotuses but to no avail.


    On the Violet Sky Balcony, Jack and James positioned themselves to intervene. This attack from Cedric was terrifying. It was on par with their copper sword.


    In the cocoon. The staff had finished absorbing the fruit. Now the staff had become a celestial spear. The spear was made of wood, yet it would not pale against any metal. The material of the temporary spear was ¡°Celestial Oak Monarch¡±.


    As Cedric took the spear, he could feel an intense pain. He was not yet worthy in the eyes of the spear. He steeled his will and endured. Cedric planted himself on the ground, took a stance, and trowed the spear.


    This all takes time to describe, but it all happened in less than ten breaths of time.


    The spear pierced through the air. Making a thunderous sound and leaving havoc on its path. All the branches and roots on the path of the spear got pulverized. Cedric was swift to create a new cocoon with the tree branches.


    The spear was about to collide with the pink lotuses. However, before it could do so, a sword made of copper broke from the inside of the defensive pink lotuses.


    Damian had thrown his copper sword against the incoming spear. When the lotuses broke, he moved at lightning speed away from the zone of collision. As he escaped, Damian conjured again his seven pink lotuses, creating a cocoon around himself.


    As fast as Damian was. He was still quite close to the zone of the collision, between the copper sword and the wooden spear. When both weapons collided, a massive shock wave erupted sending, sending ripples through the barrier. Several Golden Core cultivators could see the barrier would break and move to reinforce it. After all, if the barrier broke, the might of the shock wave would hurt if not kill them. The barrier continued to shake and quake for several minutes until it calmed down.


    Debris obstructed the vision inside the arena. Members of both the Violet Sky clan and the Lambert Clan were anxious on their balconies. Ready to move at a moment¡¯s notice.


    When the debris cleared. A hundred-meter-wide, fifty-meter-deep crater appeared in the center of the arena.


    The audience could see a worn-down cocoon made of wood resting against the barrier. Inside it, Cedric came out. He had clear signs of exhaustion. Most likely, defending against the explosion had depleted his Qi. He had small brushes and cuts on his body, but nothing serious.


    On the other side of the arena. Damian stood still in his encasement of five pink lotuses. His breath was ragged, but otherwise fine.


    Both Damian and Cedric gave a martial bow to one another. Cedric¡¯s smile showed he was proud. He at last forced Damian to use his copper sword. Damian gazed at Cedric. His gaze told Cedric he had overdone it.


    They both left the arena with the respective clans, where they got an earful for getting carried away. This was only an exhibition match, after all.


    The audience, on the other hand, was in a complete uproar. The woman in the vermilion dress came to the arena. She then said:¡± You have witnessed the might and skill of the strongest cultivators of our city. You will remember this day for years to come. Now we will repair the arena and will continue after we rebuild the platforms.¡±


    Soon, several cultivators came to fill the crater with dirt and compress it in order to reform the ground. The workers cast the pieces of moon marble to the side after retrieving them. After a great infusion of Qi into the marble to reform, they could remake five smaller platforms. It was on those platforms that the battles of the young ones would take place.

 45 Tournament ends.

    When the platforms were restored, the tournament commenced. The contestants were divided into five brackets, each bracket had eight hundred participants. The rules of the battles were simple. The winner only had to make the other party surrender or push him off the stage. Knockout was also an option. Killing contestants was forbidden. The Azure Guard would cripple the cultivation of anyone who killed a contestant. The Woman in the vermilion dress had made this clear to all participants, and a waiver had to be signed. It was a simple yet effective method to avoid silly bloodshed.


    Fortunately, with the prospect of severe punishment, no wanna-be young Lord dared to kill in the tournament. Even before there were people that killed for fun. The Violet Sky Clan knew they had to enforce strict laws in order to deter such people from committing crimes unpunished, just because they were strong. This was another reason this clan deemed itself a pacifist and wanted to remain strong. Otherwise, chaos would rule this land.


    The fights of the young cultivators of the city were dull in comparison. That was the audience¡¯s opinion. Of course, they still enjoyed them. Some young ones still impressed the crowd and the Elders of the Great Clans with their battle prowess. The winner of the tournament had been a young girl fifteen years old by the name of Freya Bladewalker. She was in the later layers of the Foundation Establishment. The girl came from a small family in the city.


    Rewards had been given to the top two hundred contestants. As they got closer to the top, the better the rewards they got. The rewards ranged from weapons and armor at the Earth and Sky rank, spirit stones, cultivation pills, martial art techniques, and direct invitations to one of the four battalions that formed the Azure Guard with great sign-up bonuses. For the top fifty contestants. A token that allowed them into a cultivation haven, the Flame Tower at the Violet Sky Clan.


    When the tournament concluded, the sun had set on the horizon. People in the audience left the stadium. Some of them went to celebrate with their family or friends that had won rewards. Others returned home. Damian walked toward Cedric¡¯s house. After all, they had much to talk about. He also wanted some tea to induce him into a semi-enlightenment state. Soon, he would be ready to attempt his breakthrough. He could feel it.


    At the entrance of the compound, the guards on duty saluted him. He was a regular visitor. Cedric had instructed the guards to guide Damian to him whenever he came by. They asked Damian to wait for a few moments as one guard went away. Damian didn¡¯t mind. He had grown used to this small routine. After a few moments, he returned with another guard in tow. This guard was the one who would guide him.


    As Damian and the guard navigated through the compound, Damian took in the changes in the compound during the past year. The Lambert clan compound had evolved to a new level of ambiance with nature. It almost looked like a small wood elf city taken out of a fairy tale.


    A few moments later, they arrived at Cedric¡¯s house. It still looked majestic, a house carved inside a tree. The guard knocked three times and waited for Cedric to open the door. When Cedric slid the door open, he saw the guard and then Damian standing behind him. Cedric¡¯s body no longer showed signs of the wounds he incurred in the fight.


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    The guard informed Cedric of the presence of Damian. After exchanging pleasantries, Cedric dismissed the guard. The guard gave a small nod and walked away in a monotonous routine. Cedric then looked at Damian and said: ¡°I was expecting you to show up, come in.¡±


    Cedric made half a turn and began walking toward the inside of the house. Damian followed suit, closing the door behind him. they entered the tea room that lead to Cedric¡¯s spirit garden. After they sat, Cedric began the tea ceremony. As Cedric performed the ceremony, Damian said: ¡°Your ¡®Guardian of the Ancient Verdant Forest¡¯ is amazing. I could feel you could not draw upon the full power of the spear, yet it was beyond anything you had used before.¡±


    Without stopping preparing the tea, Cedric responded: ¡°I gained quite useful insights into my technique. In part was thanks to you. You said before I didn¡¯t have any life-saving attacks. Well pondered on it for a while and that¡¯s what I came up with. Unfortunately, the staff did not survive the strength of the technique. I will need a stronger staff crafted¡±


    After a brief pause, Cedric continued: ¡°And I, at last, made you use your copper sword.¡± as those words left his mouth, a small smile crept on his face. This was a sense of personal pride. As he made the strongest cultivator in the city use his strongest attack.


    Damian responded to Cedric: ¡°That you did. I had trouble gauging how much power I had to put into my attack in order not to harm you. Please don¡¯t put me in that position,¡± Damian said with a complex look in his gaze.


    Cedric was a little taken aback, as not even such a powerful attack that had near depleted him of Qi was enough to force Damian to use his full strength. He had gotten the feeling that he had held back, but now hearing it from him made him wonder just how strong Damian was. He had never seen Damian fight at full strength. That made Cedric feel a little inferior, but he stopped himself from that line of thought. He knew Damian was strong, and he was glad for it. After all, he was the man he liked. However, He could not help but feel deep inside that he was not suited to walk proudly alongside Damian. And such a feeling hurt.


    Damian noted a complicated look on Cedric but didn¡¯t comment. He realized his words had caused Cedric to hurt. Internally, Damian was berating himself for not being careful with his words. He was dense in reading people¡¯s emotions. He thought Cedric felt down because he hurt his competitive side, not because he made him feel he was not suited to walk toward immortality at his side.


    Damian tried in a profuse manner to apologize to Cedric. After a few minutes of seeing Damian clumsy apologize as well as talk about several topics, Cedric¡¯s heart felt a little more at ease. He was not turning him away. It was Cedric¡¯s own insecurity. He would have to work on that. Cedric resolved to grow stronger. Even if he could not be stronger or as strong as Damian to protect him, he would be strong enough to stand proud at his side.


    They continued to talk and drink spirit tea. Cedric had given Damian a stronger blend he had recently mastered. While Damian gave Cedric a few Flame Tower kits, explaining the use of it.


    The moon hung high in the sky when Damian returned home to train in his martial arts, taking advantage of his semi-enlightenment state, thus elevating his comprehension ability. He set a goal for himself. He would work his ass off until the next moon, then he would attempt the breakthrough. Damian knew he could not remain forever in this layer, or other people would soon catch up to him. And that was only in this city. In other places, most likely there were people as strong, if not stronger, than him. He didn¡¯t know if those people would be peaceful or would try to rob this city of their resources, once the restrictions set  by Tian Long were released, and they were strong enough to wander the world

 46 Breakthrough

    A month had passed by in the blink of an eye. Today was the day Damian set for his breakthrough. The moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the valley with its veiled light. Damian was at the top of a small hill a few miles outside the city. Two dozen Golden Core cultivators from the Violet Sky Clan stood guard at the foot of the hill. Their duty, was to stop anything that may disturb Damian¡¯s breakthrough to the tenth layer.


    During the last month, Damian made his foundation as vast as possible. He knew he could overcome this trial. His fears lay in the unknown of the future. Was he too hasty during his past breakthroughs? perhaps at some point in the path toward immortality, his hastiness would cut his path short? up to what realm would he be able to climb? Such questions assailed Damian¡¯s mind during the past months.


    During his time at the library. He read biographies of strong cultivators that throughout thousands of years thought their foundation to be strong and sturdy. Only to find at some point in time that at some point, a breakthrough was rushed. A small crack along their foundation passed unexpectedly. Making their advancement to the next realm near impossible.


    That¡¯s why Damian decided to set a goal for himself to breakthrough. Those were the stories of those cultivators, not his own. Whatever challenge appeared in his path, he would overcome it. And even if he was unable to overcome it, he would have at least given his all. That was enough for him. The spark of desire that had begun to burn that day at the cave was still present in his heart. He desired to grow stronger, not only to protect his family or the city but for himself.


    For that reason, he could not doubt his path. He could feel he was prepared. Today he will breakthrough to the tenth layer of the Golden Core realm.


    Damian wore a simple pair of white shirt and trousers. He sat in a meditative position. Around him several incense sticks burned, forming a circle. The Qi in the surrounding area flowed toward the top of the hill.


    Damian accumulated Qi on guiding it toward his core. Compressed the Qi around his core and made it form part of his core. Soon his Core was filled to the brim with Qi, no more Qi could be added to it.


    In the sky around the hill, a giant, thick black cloud formed. The cloud rumbled with lightning. Damian felt it. Soon his tribulation will begin.


    After a few cycles of cultivation, Damian Golden Core finally gave in. His Core expanding and surging with purer greater Qi. Damian had to stand. He knew the lighting would soon fall. The Cultivators at the foot of the hill were awed and terrorized by the might of the tribulation cloud.


    Damian summoned his sword and three talismans from his storage bag. The first bolt of lightning fell from the sky. Damian trowed one talisman and slashed it in half with his sword, activating its effect.


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    Three thousand jade swords formed around him. Swords darted toward the incoming lightning bolt, illuminating the sky in a contrasting green shade. The swords collided against the bolt in a relentless assault. Hundred of swords broke as the lightning bolt hurled its way to Damian.


    When the lightning bolt was upon Damian, he moved his sword in a slashing motion, severing the lightning bolt in half. A small part of the heavenly Qi of the lightning bolt entered Damian¡¯s body, reforming both his Qi and his body. The amount of heavenly Qi that entered his body was minuscule, yet the pain it inflicted on him was tremendous. Damian¡¯s face contorted from the pain. The pain was greater than in the previous tribulations. However, the quantity of heavenly Qi that entered his body was also greater.


    The cloud in the sky churned. Almost as if it became angry that Damian was not smitten by its lightning bolt. A second lightning bolt descended. Damian this time activated two talismans in quick succession. The first one created a thirty-meter golden palm. The Golden palm was an almost exact copy of Damian¡¯s. The second one created another three thousand jade swords.


    Both attacks hurled toward the incoming lightning bolt. The Golden palm collided from the front against the lightning bolt, while the thousands of swords assaulted it from the sides. The lightning bolt was bit by bit weakened by Damian¡¯s attacks.


    At the time the lightning bolt reached Damian, it was only a shadow of its former self. Damian pierced his sword toward the incoming attack. The collision pushed down Damian planting him in the ground, cracks spread at his feet in a web pattern.


    Damian stood his ground withstanding the remnants of the lightning bolt. From the lightning bolt, more heavenly Qi entered his body.


    Seven more lightning bolts descended from the sky with the intention of either smiting him or reforming his body to new heights. Each new lightning bolt was stronger than the previous one.


    By the time Damian¡¯s tribulation ended. The sun had risen on the horizon. Damian was battered, blood and burns adorned his tattered body and clothes. However, Damian felt more alive than ever, his body, flesh, blood, Qi, and senses elevated to new heights.


    Damian¡¯s tribulation had been quite eye-catching. The existence of the tenth layer in the realms of cultivation would have to be revealed by the Violet Sky Clan to the other three Great Clans. Of course, the Lambert Clan already knew of this, and some of its most prominent members in the older and younger generation had undergone the tenth layer.


    The other two clans were mad that no one informed them beforehand, but they realized it was already too late for their generation. However, the young ones could use it to become stronger. The clans also agreed to not shed light on the existence of the tenth layer to the common citizen. After all, they all were interested in remaining the overlords not only in this city but of this territory.


    Damian spent a week meditating on that hill in order to consolidate his cultivation. During that time, the Cultivators guarding him rotated in shifts of day and night.


    When Damian returned to the clan, his closest family held a small feast. The following day. Damian went to the library to write his experience and insights into the tenth layer of the Golden Core realm. The returned members of the clan wrote their experiences and insights into cultivation in a small book kept in the library. this book was called the ¡°Journey of the Violet Sky Clan into Cultivation¡±

 47 Marriage

    Time passed in the Violet Sky City. Soon, five months flew by.


    People continued with their daily lives. The spark of desire etched on the hearts of many in the audience during the tournament didn¡¯t go extinct. Every day people became bit by bit stronger, people also indulged in the perfection of their craft.


    The contestants of the tournament that had earned their flame tokens had gone to the Flame Tower on a near-daily basis to strengthen themselves. Results varied from person to person, but each of them become stronger. The ranks of the four battalions of the Azure Guard grew. In the end, the bountiful benefits offered by the battalions enticed the Cultivators, making them join.


    Damian was no exception to this. He continued to train with diligence, both his cultivation and his martial arts. He had worked diligently to stabilize and strengthen his cultivation at the tenth layer of the Golden Core realm. Damian had benefited in no small amount thanks to the sparring matches he did with James, Jack, Celia, and Cedric. This helped him to get more used to battling different cultivators. Even if a hundred people practiced the same martial art, each would have distinct patterns and rhythms unique to each person created by their own life experiences and personalities, creating slight variations of the same martial art.


    All four sparring partners of Damian had also improved by leaps and bounds during the last five months. They all had reached the ninth layer of the Golden Core realm, which, in turn, helped Damian to benefit even more from the sparring.


    Politics and clan duty also took a portion of Damian¡¯s time in the past months. After all, he was a strong Cultivator, therefore; it was expected of him to have offspring to continue the prosperity of the clan. Elena took care of finding suitable suitors for Damian, as well as other promising single members of the clan. She also engaged in negotiating the dowries to be given or received with the involved clan.


    By law, in this city, both males and females could have more than one spouse, be they of the same or different sex. However, anyone with a high spirit root or above was required to bear offspring before reaching the Nascent Soul realm or the age of fifty, whichever happened first.


    The reason cultivators were required to bear offspring before reaching the Nascent Soul realm is because of the growing difficulty of conception as they progress through the realms of cultivation.


    The Nascent Soul realm marked a crucial turning point where cultivators¡¯ fertility periods changed significantly. Rather than being fertile every day in the case of males or a few days each month for females, cultivators experienced varying periods of fertility. They were limited to short spans of time. Cultivators also referred to this fertility period as the ¡°lethal span¡± as it also is the Cultivator¡¯s weakest state.


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    This situation created several complications, from the need to seek a partner within the same realm of cultivation to ensure the survival of both individuals during intercourse. Additionally, it entailed the requirement of synchronizing fertility periods, and the challenge of placing trust in someone not to betray you when in a vulnerable state.


    Nascent Soul Cultivators¡¯ average fertility was somewhere around one week every five or ten years. There were records of strong cultivators in the Heaven Phase who were fertile only a few hours every ten or fifteen thousand years, thus making conception incredibly difficult.


    There were two strong suitors for Damian, he liked both of them, but each of them came with different political ramifications. One of them was Tania Markov, which stated that the firstborn would belong to the Violet Sky Clan, while the following two would belong to the Markov clan. She would only have three children. Damian thought Tania was beautiful, arousal clear in the exchanges they had in the previous months. However, he did not like to give two of his children to another clan.


    The other was a single returned one. She had brought back no family whatsoever. She would marry into the Violet Sky Clan. She would bear up to five children in exchange for top cultivation resources. Her name was Elara Frostborne. This, of course, was the name she had taken for herself after returning to Earth.


    Elara had a Holy spirit root, better than even Tania. She was at the fourth layer of the Golden Core realm. Damian had met Elara a few times. She was incredibly beautiful, her skin white as porcelain, her hair of a pitch-black color that cascaded to her hips. Her eyes were of a clear blue that resembled more the frostiness of the ice than the clearness of the sky.


    During those exchanges, Damian and Elara had hit it off quite well. The only risk factor Elena saw was that she had no family. Therefore, aside from the bearing of offspring, the clan would gain no other benefit.


    Damian had told Elena that he preferred Elara, but let him decide, even if she was not the first wife, he could propose to her to be the third spouse. He had been thinking for a long time. Damian wanted Cedric to be his second spouse. In the last few months, their relationship developed quite a bit, turning from flirtatious to straight romantic.


    Tania, while beautiful, would merely be a political marriage. However, he enjoyed his time with both Cedric and Elara, he cared not for their family or background. He wanted to pursue greater heights alongside them. Of course, they could also marry other people, but the first spouse has more say than the second one, in tow, the second one has more say that the third spouse.


    In the end, Elena decided Elara was the better candidate to become Damian¡¯s first wife. Elena had decided this, as Elara had agreed to be more involved in the rising of the children. Tania made it clear she would take care of the Markov clan¡¯s two children, not the first one belonging to the Violet Sky Clan. That was the deciding factor for Elena. She was a psychologist before the Great Metamorphosis. She knew that the first child would virtually grow up with an absent mother creating trauma for the child, and the Violet Sky clan, to deal with the consequences.


    Elena also knew of Damian¡¯s bisexual orientation and of his relationship with Cedric. That¡¯s why she had also negotiated with the Lambert clan. Someone had also betrothed Cedric to a woman to take as his first wife. So they could be each other second spouse. This was acceptable to both clans. It would bind their fates.

 48 Beast Wave.

    A year after the Betrhotal of Damian.


    In the Beast Expanse, west of Violet Sky City, the place was named by the inhabitants of the City. Below the mountains, Damian had seen in the distance when he arrived at the rift where he and Cedric found the Holy Flame.


    A battle of unprecedented proportions was taking place. A twenty-meter-tall boar, with fur vibrant with the colors of a violent flame, fire orbs stood above its horns, its eyes of a pure crimson shade. The boar stood before a thrifty-five-meter-tall stag, its fur as dark as a moonless night. The stag had pristine white moons as eyes. Its massive antlers were ten meters high, with a blue and golden shade. This was the demon beast that Damian saw in his vision so many months ago.


    The boar had broken through to the Nascent Soul realm a few days ago and decided it could hunt the stag. The stag at the moment was the strongest Demon Beast in the outer region of the Beast Expanse.


    The boar, blinded by the confidence of its newfound power, wanted to indulge in the best meal available, and that was the stag before him.


    The stag was calm at the sight of the boar. Something inside him told him this would happen when he knew that another Demon Beast had broken through. Nascent Soul Demon beast had acquired a sliver of consciousness. It could not truly be considered a complete consciousness, but they were more self-aware and could process and rationalize simple thoughts. This, of course, elevated the level of difficulty of dealing with such Demon Beasts.


    The boar circled the Stag, looking for an opening. Once it stood looking at the rear of the stag, the boar inhaled deeply and exhaled a great fireball. The heat of the fireball burned everything in its surrounding, it was more akin to a miniature sun.


    The stag kicked the dirt with its back legs and the ground shook as a massive waterfall raised from the ground. The fireball collided with the waterfall, creating a thick massive hole in it, but the waterfall stitched the hole almost as fast as it had been made.


    The stag turned and its antlers glowed. The massive waterfall advanced toward the boar with an unstoppable rhythm. The path of the waterfall remained flooded even after it passed through.


    The Boar once again inhaled, except this time it inhaled like never before. The fireball this time was several times bigger. The impact of the massive attacks created an explosion of steam, obliterating everything within a one-hundred-kilometer radius. Hundreds of Demon Beasts got caught in the blast and died. Several others ran away from the conflict as fast and as far away as possible. The view in the area of the collision was obscured by a thick fog made of steam.


    Inside the fog, the boar stood with several levels of wounds on its once fiery red fur. Now it was a bloodied fur. The Stag, on the other hand, was covered in a golden light that had some cracks on it. This light had shielded it from damage.


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    There was one difference in the stag. Its head hung a little low, exposing the true beauty of its antlers. In the center of its antlers was a mid-size orb of blue and gold orbited pulsing. Each time the orb pulsed, it grew. The stag had taken the opportunity to charge its next attack while the boar was busy protecting itself.


    The boar had felt the actions of the stag but was unable to do anything while protecting himself from the explosion. Nascent Soul Demon Beast, as well as humans, developed a divine sense when reaching this realm. This ability allowed them to feel anything and everything within its radius of effect. This divine sense had a tapestry of uses, limited only to the strength, reach, and imagination of its user.


    The boar had used a good chunk of its Qi in the battle. If it took head-on the attack of the stag, it knew its Qi reserve would hit a critical level. Realization struck it. The stag was stronger than it. It had been too blinded by the new strength that thought itself invincible.


    The boar turned to run. The boar this time exhaled and with it its body shrunk, its chubby body thinned. It ran away from the stag. The stag released the orb and a blue and golden light shot from it. The boar had already run several miles by the time the beam reached it. A fiery sphere protected its body. The beam pierced through it, leaving a gory gouge in its back.


    The stag had given it all on that attack. It decided not to chase after the boar. To it, it was not worth the risk. They would have to fight it out to the death. Even then, the winner would end up heavily injured.


    For the stag, the reward was not worth the risk. So it landed on its belly and started to recover its energy.


    The boar lay on its side, its vitality leaving it, the remains of the power of the stag continued to eat away its Qi and flesh. It had to use all its divine sense to halt the progression of the eroding effect of the Stag attack. It would take months, if not years, to recover. The boar stood, using all its might and determination. It had to get away from the stag in case it choose to chase it.


    Unbeknownst to the boar, the direction it was going was Violet Sky City. Thousands of demon beasts ran away from the boar, fearful of the might of the predator.


    ___________________________________________________________________________________


    The fight had been of such a massive scale that it had been felt even in the Violet Sky City. massive quakes in succession were enough to alert its inhabitants.


    In the City Hall, an emergency meeting was taking place. All the important figures of the four great clans were seated on one side of the wall, where a banner representing each clan hung, as well as several designated chairs.


    On the east side of the room, the banner of the Li Clan was of a deep blue color, a white star encased in a white circle was depicted in the banner. The banner of the Markov clan hung on the south side of the room. It was a yellow color, and inside of it, a red phoenix was depicted. The Lambert clan banner was on the west side of the room. It was of a verdant color with embroidery of a golden tree. The last banner hanging on the north side of the room was deep violet. This last banner had embroidery of a white cloud, this was the banner of the Violet Sky Clan.


    A heavy atmosphere hung in the room. All of them could feel the quakes. They knew they were caused by something way above their league. They all feared whatever happened deep in the Beast Expanse would affect their city.


    Some were inclined to send some recognizance squads to see what was happening, but several others were adamant about that idea. As they had stated, battles between powerful Demon Beasts displaced weaker ones, causing stampedes of the Demon Beasts trying either to not get devoured by the Beast forced to migrate or be stomped to death. More often than not, such occurrences could last days, if not weeks. In the end, more than one human settlement could be overrun by the wave of beasts.


    Thus, creating the Demon Beast waves.