《Reincarnated With A Divine Bloodline System》 Power Hierarchy

Chapter -1: Power Hierarchy

1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core 5. Sage 5.5 loose immortal - Qi Refiner-----------Body Refiner 6. Earth Immortal-----6. Void God 7. True Immortal------7. True God 8. Celestial Immortal---8. Empyrean God 9. Ancestral Immortal--9. Ancient God 10. Chaos Immortal----10. World God - - Weapon ranks: Unranked - Mortal Ranked - Transcendent Transcendent - Revolving Core Earth - Golden Core Heaven - Sage Immortal - Earth Immortal Pure Yang - True Immortal - - 1. Beast 2. Fierce Beast 3. King Beast 4. Emperor Beast 5. Deste Beast 6. Primal Beast 7. Ancient Beast 8. Primordial Beast 9. Chaos Beast 10. Divine Beast Chapter 1: -1- Prologue

Chapter 1: -1- Prologue

"It''s a boy," was the first thing Adam heard. ''What?'' Adam thought as he opened his eyes. ''What the hell is going on?'' He thought as he was being handed to some randomrge woman. "Oh my baby," the woman, who looked to be about 25 years old with brown hair, said as she gazed down at him with loving eyes. "Ss, my precious baby boy," the woman said. ''Did I not die? What''s going on? Am I a baby?'' Adam, now Ss, began to think as he looked around the room. The room wasrge and currently had three people in it, not including himself. There were two women, one of whom was his young and beautiful mother. The other was an older woman who had helped birth him. The next person was a mountain of a man who, oddly, had a raven perched on his shoulder. "Rey, your son finally has a brother," Ss saw his father talk to the bird. ''Dammit,'' Ss thought as he started to be more aware of his current circumstances. ''I somehow reincarnated,'' Ss thought in frustration. ''How am I going to get back to Lilian?'' Ss began to think frantically. He started to think back to hisst days as Adam and the ups and downs that went with it. His life had been great. He lived in a small vige, but it was home, so he didn''t mind. He had both his parents, who loved him dearly, and he had his girlfriend Lilian, who he had known his entire life. Everything was great until one day, warriors from a nearby city showed up in the vige and demanded that every able-bodied man had to join their army and fight in their war that was soon to take ce. Ss, scared for his life, wanted to run, but they had their vige surrounded, so he quickly came to terms with his future. The good news, though, was that he had Lilian. The day before he was set to be sent off, she had chosen to marry him, even though she knew he would likely nevere back. As hey there in his new mother''s arms, he couldn''t help but think back to that night. *** Three days ago, in a small vige inside Ss''s old home. Ss, or Adam at that time, stood in front of his lovely new wife, Lilian, who was still wearing her wedding gown. Adam gazed at Lilian, her silvery white hair gleaming softly. His heart raced as he reached for her hand, feeling its warmth. "You look incredible," he whispered, his voice trembling. Lilian blushed, smiling shyly under his gaze. A flutter stirred in her stomach as their eyes met, her fingers gently tracing the rough outline of his face. Without speaking, Adam pulled her close, pressing their bodies together and kissing her deeply. His lips moved slowly, their tongues intertwining. His hands explored her, sliding over thece of her dress and lower down her back. Lilian moaned softly into the kiss, arching toward him as he teased her senses. He caressed her back before moving lower to cup her perfect ass. He then kissed her neck, nibbling gently, sending shivers through her. "You taste amazing," he murmured, making her pulse race. As their passion built, Adam''s fingers began to unfasten her gown, revealing hercy bra. His eyes lit up as he saw her breasts which were already erect with anticipation. He couldn''t resist leaning forward to capture one in his mouth, gently sucking it between his teeth while teasing it with his tongue leaving goosebumps in his wake. Lilian gasped, pleasure surging through her body. He traced patterns on her skin with his fingers, eliciting goosebumps that spread across her chest and abdomen. With a few deft motions, Adam removed her bra, his mouth moving between her breasts while his hands traveled lower, caressing her thighs, sending electric currents coursing through her body. Lilian''s breath quickened as Adam inched closer to her core, brushing aside her panties. He knelt, pulling her hips forward, and buried his face between her legs. His tongue explored her, finding every sensitive spot. Lilian''s moans filled the room as Adam intensified his efforts, bringing her to the brink of ecstasy. Her body tensed, then convulsed as she climaxed, waves of pleasure washing over her. Adam rose, wiping his lips, admiring her as shey panting, her chest heaving. Slowly, he undressed, revealing his muscr frame. Lilian''s eyes widened as she took in the sight of him. She reached out, wrapping her fingers around his erection, feeling the heat of him. He wanted nothing more than to bury himself inside her warmth, to im her body as his own. With a growl of approval, he positioned himself between her legs, guiding his cock towards her entrance. With a slow thrust, he entered her, their bodies moving in sync as they found their rhythm. The intensity built as they pressed against each other, their flesh slick with sweat. Adam could feel her muscles clench around him as he slid deeper inside. Her wetness enveloped him, and he growled loudly, the sensation of her tightness overwhelming him. Lilian gasped, her eyes widening in shock and delight as she felt the fullness within her. "I love you so much," Lilian whispered in his ear. "I love you too, Lilian," Ss whispered back. Their bodies moved seamlessly, their flesh pping against one another with each powerful stroke. "More," he heard her whisper, so he continued to pound her relentlessly, his cock stretching her walls to their breaking point. Despite the pain thatnced through her, Lilian found herself bing increasingly aroused by the intensity of this moment. As his orgasm neared, Adam reached down, rubbing her swollen clit. Lilian bucked beneath him, and with one final thrust, they both climaxed together, their bodies shaking as pleasure overtook them. They copsed, spent, and entwined, knowing that something had shifted between them, something that went beyond the physical. However, it wasn''t meant tost. The next morning, Adam was forced to leave, and dayster, fighting in a war he cared nothing about, he died at the young age of 19. Chapter 2: -2- Divine Bloodline System

Chapter 2: -2- Divine Bloodline System

"Rey, your son finally has a brother," Ss saw his father talk to the bird. ''Dammit,'' Ss thought as he started to be more aware of his current circumstances. ''I somehow reincarnated,'' Ss thought in frustration. ''How am I going to get back to Lilian?'' Ss began to think frantically. After thinking back to the night of his wedding and the wonderful night he had spent with Lilian, Ss was brought back to the present when his father walked over to him with a baby raven in his hands. "Ss, I know you can''t understand me yet, but this will be your big brother from now on. You two will grow up together, and I expect you to look after each other," his father said as he ced the baby raven next to him. "Alexander, it will be more than enough if he considers him a brother," Ss watched Rey, the raven on his father''s shoulder, transform into a tall, slender man with ck hair. He then reached down and patted Ss on the head. Ss began to think about what all this could possibly mean. ''Does this mean in this life I''ve reincarnated into the family of cultivators?'' At this thought, Ss was giddy with excitement. In his previous life, he had been just a normal person from a small and weak vige that was always under the threat of being wiped out by any cultivator or beast that happened to cross their path. But in this life, maybe he had the chance to be a cultivator himself. Soon, the day went by, and Ss found himself lying in his crib next to his new brother, the baby raven, thinking about his glorious future to be. That''s when something that would change his life forever and set him on the path of the immortals entered his life. [System finished loading...] [Divine Bloodline System activated] ''Divine Bloodline System?'' Ss was confused. He wasn''t from a modern world with novels of reincarnations and transmigrators, so this was something he couldn''t evenprehend. [Unlocking Divine Bloodline... would you like to start your random draw?] ''Random draw? Does this mean I can be a dragon or a phoenix?'' While he didn''t know what a system was, he could assume what was happening, and even in his previous life inside his small vige, he had heard tales of mystical beasts like dragons and phoenixes. ''Yes,'' he said, interacting with the system. [Starting random draw...] He watched as a wheel appeared in his mind''s eye that was filled with question marks. [Spin the wheel?] He once again interacted with the system, and the wheel began to spin. ''Please be a dragon, please be a dragon,'' the coolest creature he had ever heard of was a dragon, so that would be his favorite pick. The wheel started fast, but it quickly slowed down, eventually crawling to a stop. [Ding!] [You have been granted the Grim Reaper King bloodline. Congrattions on bing the 2nd Grim Reaper King in existence.] ''Grim Reaper King?'' Ss had no idea what this was, but he was a little disappointed that he wasn''t going to be a dragon. That was until the system sent him the details of his new bloodline as well as some inherited memories. He first learned what a Divine Beast was. A Divine Beast was the rarest, most powerful, and talented being in the universe, with each Divine Beast only ever being birthed by the universe a handful of times in therge expanse of the multiverse. ''I''m the second-ever Grim Reaper King, so that has to mean my bloodline is extremely rare, which likely means it''s extremely powerful as well,'' Ss thought. The Grim Reaper King bloodline was centered around its innate talent and divine ability, the [Grim Reaper''s Eye]. It was the core of its power. This eye allowed the Grim Reaper King to directly attack the souls of its enemies. It could deliver fatal strikes to those at the same level of power, instantly killing them, and it could even heavily injure those at a higher level of power. Also, when the [Grim Reaper''s Eye] was used to kill an opponent, every clone of the enemy would also be killed. The Grim Reaper King, unlike many Divine Beasts, had no fixed form, allowing it to alter its appearance at will and even change its size within reason. After learning of this ability, Ss knew that he would change his appearance to that of his previous life as he grew up. ''I was a little disappointed at first, but this sounds too good to be true,'' Ss thought as he began to think of all the enemies he would be able to kill with his [Grim Reaper''s Eye]. After reading through all the information, another system prompt popped up. [As a gift, you will also be given a Divine Beastpanion... would you like to start the random draw?] ''Another draw?'' Ss began to get more excited. ''This time will I end up with a dragon as a beastpanion?'' ''Yes,'' he quickly interacted with the system. [Starting random draw...] The wheel once again appeared. [Spin the wheel?] He then spun the wheel. [Ding!] [You have been given the beastpanion Godeater Rat. Congrattions on bing thepanion of the 2nd Godeater Rat in existence.] ''A Godeater Rat?'' Ss began to think. Once again, he was a little disappointed that it wasn''t a dragon or a phoenix, but then again, a Godeater anything sounded cool, so he decided not to judge too quickly. He then looked at the abilities of a Godeater Rat, and once again, he wasn''t let down. It looked like regardless of what kind of Divine Beast it was, a Divine Beast would be OP regardless. The Godeater Rat, much like the Grim Reaper King, was able to attack the very soul of its opponent and could instantly kill a being that was of the same power level and could also heavily injure those that were higher ranked. [Would you like to create the Godeater Rat now or wait forter?] ''Wait forter,'' Ss didn''t know how his parents would react to a rat suddenly showing up next to their baby, so he decided to wait until he was old enough to protect it before summoning it. He waited for another gift, but he soon figured that was thest one. He messed around with his system a little more and soon discovered his status. Name: Ss Armstrong Race: Grim Reaper King (Divine Beast) Innate Talent: Grim Reaper''s Eye Qi Cultivation: Early Mortal Body Cultivation: Early Mortal ''So I wasn''t born as a Transcendent lifeform in this life,'' Ss thought, a little disappointed. Ss knew some of the ranks from his previous life and from his newly inherited memories, and once again, he was born as a normal human. The ranks he knew from his previous life were: Mortal. Transcendent. And the ranks he new from his inherited memories were: Revolving Core. Golden Core. Sage. He also knew that as he grew, he would unlock more of his inherited memories, but this was as far as his current inherited memories went. All humans were born as Mortal lifeforms, but Ss, in this life being a Divine Beast in the Grim Reaper King, thought that maybe he would be a Transcendent lifeform instead. Transcendent lifeforms were birthed by the heavens and the earth. There were some beasts that were naturally born as Transcendent lifeforms, and then there were, of course, Fiendgods that were all born by the heavens and the earth and were at least born as Transcendent lifeforms, if not higher. But that was about the extent of Ss''s knowledge on cultivation and higher lifeforms. He then started to look around, and soon his focus was brought to the raven sitting beside him. [Raven (Beast) - Qi Cultivation: Early Mortal - Body Cultivation: Early Mortal] ''So my beastpanion is also just a Mortal lifeform and a regr beast.'' Ss had hoped that since Rey, the father of this beast, was already at least a Transcendent lifeform since it could transform into human form, that the baby raven would also be a Transcendent lifeform and possibly even a king beast. But it was just a normal beast. Soon, Ss was too tired to keep his eyes open, so he fell asleep, and the next day came. That morning, Ss was woken up by his parents, who he learned were named Alexander Armstrong and ra Armstrong. Both of his parents were powerful Transcendent lifeforms as well. [Human - Qi Cultivation: Early Transcendent - Body Cultivation: Early Mortal] (If their body cultivation is Early Mortal, that means they are either really young and haven''t started cultivating yet or they are purely Qi refiners and not body refiners.) [Human - Qi Cultivation: Mid Transcendent (Crippled) - Body Cultivation: Early Transcendent] He was then taken to a family event where he was shown off to his rtives. While at the family event, he met several rtives and learned many things. One of which was that the Armstrong n was a powerful n that was in control of four prefectures. And not only that, but he was in the direct lineage of the prefect lord of the north prefecture. His father''s grandfather, his great-grandfather, was the Lord Prefect. His name was Charles Armstrong, and he was a Peak Transcendent lifeform. [Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Transcendent - Body Cultivation: Peak Transcendent] *** *** (Beast Ranks: 1. Beast 2. Fierce Beast 3. King Beast 4. Emperor Beast 5. Deste Beast 6. Primal Beast 7. Ancient Beast 8. Primordial Beast 9. Chaos Beast 10. Divine Beast) Chapter 3: -3- Path of an immortal

Chapter 3: -3- Path of an immortal

Ss was now being held by his grandfather howard, an Early Transcendent lifeform. "Alexander, I can already tell this child will be a great and powerful cultivator. Should we go ahead and n for him to take the position of Lord Prefect after my father?" Howard, Ss''s grandpa and the son of Charles, said with augh. ''Lord Prefect? What if I don''t want to be a Lord Prefect?'' Ss thought. He had no interest in being a Lord Prefect. With his talents and his divine bloodline system, Ss was currently dreaming of bing an immortal and hopefully one day tracking down his old vige and finding Lilian. "Don''t you think it''s too early to be nning that, Howard?" an old grumpy voice could suddenly be heard. Ss watched as an older man weaved his way through the crowd, followed by a younger man who resembled him, likely his son, who was carrying a baby of his own. "Brother, I didn''t think you would make it. I happened to forget to send you an invite," Howard said with a smallugh. Howard''s brother, Harvey, then looked over toward their father, Charles, and said, "Father, we don''t know if this boy will be talented or not. Just because his father Alexander was talented and used to be powerful doesn''t mean he will be as well. It''s just as likely that my grandson, Emmitt, will be more powerful than him." Howard, at the mention of his son Alexander''s injury, was immediately angered. "Of course, my grandson will be talented, like his father was before him. Alexander was the most talented descendant our n has seen in hundreds of years, and his son will be just as talented, if not more." Harvey began tough. "How could you say something so oundish? It''s true Alexander used to be talented, but genes aren''t everything. Take you, for example. You are Alexander''s father, and you don''t have a bone of talent in your entire body." Before Howard coulde up with a counterargument, Charles, their father and the Lord Prefect, said, "Boys, this isn''t the ce." "Yes, Father," both Howard and Harvey said through gritted teeth. "Father, how about a littlepetition?" Harvey suddenly said. Charles thought for a moment, then nodded. "What do you have in mind?" Harvey smiled, knowing he had his father''s approval. "My grandson Emmitt versus Howard''s grandson Ss. In 21 years, there will be a battle of the region for the various youths of the Moonvale Mountain. Whoever does better bes the Lord Prefect after you." Charles thought about it for a little while under the gaze of everyone at the gathering, and finally, after a minute went by, he nodded. "Let''s go with this arrangement." "Thank you, Father," Harvey said, while Howard, in the background, was furious. *** Ten years quickly went by, and Ss was now old enough to start cultivating. He stood in front of his father, who began to exin the various realms of power. "The first stage is Mortal, with a lifespan of a hundred years. The second stage is Transcendent, with a lifespan of two hundred years. The third stage is Revolving Core. At this level, you will be addressed as a rank 3 Disciple, with a lifespan of five hundred years. And as you know, the realm we live in is an inheritance realm that only allows one to reach the 3rd rank. The only way to leave this ce and enter the wider world is to reach the top of the battle pagoda in the very center of this realm. The fourth stage is Golden Core. At this level, one will be addressed as a rank 4 Adept, with a lifespan of eight hundred years. The rank above Golden Core is Sage and can be referred to as such. At this rank, you will have an infinite lifespan as long as you can make it past the cmities and tribtions that I will exinter. The sixth stage is an Earth Immortal. At the peak of this rank, you will be tested by a heavenly tribtion. If you fail, you will either die or, if your soul can escape, you will be what is known as a Loose Immortal, whose power is on par with an Earth Immortal. The seventh stage is True Immortal. If you manage to pass the heavenly tribtion, you will be a True Immortal and truly gain eternal life, no longer being gued by cmities and tribtions. These are the various levels to bing an immortal, but the first step in cultivation is to break past the bonds of a Mortal and reach the Transcendent rank." His father Alexander exined. While Ss had known some of this from his previous life, most of this was new information to him. So, he took his time to process it and then asked, "What are the cmities and tribtions?" His goal was to be an immortal, and it seemed like one of his obstacles would be these cmities and tribtions. His father then began to exin, "Bing an immortal, by definition, is against thews of the universe. So, starting from the day you step on the path of the immortals, which is the day you reach rank 3 and establish your revolving core, you will be tested every two hundred years with a cmity, and every thousand years you will be tested with a tribtion. The cmities aren''t that hard to avoid, but tribtions are hard to escape. Unless you can be a True Immortal, every cultivator''s fate is to die by the increasingly challenging cmities and tribtions." "So knowing all of this, do you still want to walk down the path of an immortal?" his father asked. "Of course," Ss immediately nodded. "Ok, there are two paths you can choose from: the Qi refinement path or the body and Qi refinement path. Most people choose to be an immortal by the Qi refinement path because it is slightly easier. This path allows you to use immortal treasures, create golems, develop powerful magical formations, and much more. This is an amazing and extremely profound path. The other path is the body refinement path. This path is harder. To be a body refiner, you have to choose the path of the fiendgods. Fiendgods are born from nature itself, and they are all powerful from their birth. Thousands and thousands, if not millions or even trillions, of years ago, many elders began to examine fiendgods'' bodies, and they eventually were able to create a ''fiendgod body refining'' technique, which allowed its practitioners to possess bodies on par with fiendgods. Their bodies be indestructible, in possession of boundless strength, and they are able to regenerate from a single drop of blood, bing immortal and undying. To kill a fiendgod practitioner is more than a thousand times as difficult as killing a same-level Qi practitioner, and on the same level, a fiendgod body refiner could easily dominate a Qi refining expert." "So, which path do you want to choose?" Ss began to think. He couldn''t possibly tell his father that he was already on the path of a body cultivator. As a Grim Reaper King, he already possessed the body of a fiendgod, and his body was much stronger and more durable than other fiendgods, being that he was a divine beast. From his inherited memories, he had also gained a godly divine ability (This divine ability is man-made, and while it is really good, it isn''t nearly as godly or divine as a divine beast''s innate talent/divine ability.). It was called [Reaper''s Immortal Husk]. The [Reaper''s Immortal Husk] was a formidable full-body defensive ability exclusive to the Grim Reaper King lineage. It enabled the practitioner to transform their body into an imprable fortress. The divine ability operated through a cycle system with the first cycle being a dual cycle. (Cycle 1A) where the user''s base durability improves naturally, and (Cycle 1B) gains a significant boost whenbined with rare treasures. The Reaper''s Immortal Husk starts at the Transcendent level and continues evolving through higher realms of power. Cycle 1A was naturally reached upon first mastery of the divine ability. At this stage, the practitioner''s body takes on the durability of a low-tier Rank 2 weapon. while cycle 1B was unlocked by infusing the body with precious treasures and essences. Cycle 1B allowed the practitioner''s durability to reach the peak of a rank 2 weapon which was supreme grade. Ss had already unlocked Cycle 1A, so his natural durability was now on par with a low-tier rank 2 weapon, and considering that most weapons in this inheritance realm were low-tier it would be hard for someone to harm him unless he was attacked by a rank 3 weapon or someone much stronger than him wielding a rank 2 weapon. He wished he could unlock Cycle 1B, but in this small inheritance realm, where was he supposed to find the natural treasures to infuse into his body? ''I''m already a fiendgod, so I can''t not choose it. Once ites out that I have a body of a fiendgod, my parents would be too confused. I''ll just try and choose one that they won''t be able to tell if I use or not and act as if I''m learning it,'' Ss thought, finally making up his mind. "I''ll choose both, Father. I''ll walk down the path of an immortal as both a qi refiner and a body refiner," Ss said with confidence. "That''s my boy," Alexander said with pride. His father thenid out several books of fiendgod body refinement methods. There was [Indestructible Cmity Fiend], [Vajra Buddhist Sutras], [Void Dragon Sutra], [Heavenly Thunder King''s Edict], [Phoenix Rebirth Incantation], [Deste Emperor''s Path], [Heavenly Sovereign''s Scripture], [Freeform Soul], [Dragon-Tiger Convergence Mantra], [Pangu''s Might], [Primordial Chaos Method]... Ss began to read through each of the books given, but he was soon drawn to the Deste Emperor''s Path. Not because he wanted to use it, but because it somewhat favored his own manual that was in his inherited memories. The Deste Emperor''s Path wasn''t the best fiendgod body refinement manual that was in front of him, but it took one down the path of destruction and death, which were the same two paths his own Grim Reaper King manual took him down. ''I''ll go with this and no one will be the wiser,'' Ss thought with a grin. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 4: -4- Scythe

Chapter 4: -4- Scythe

"Father, I select the Deste Emperor''s Path," Ss said after making up his mind. His father nodded and asked, "Are you sure? This isn''t the worst manual, but it isn''t the best either." Ss nodded his head. "Yes, Father, I''m sure. There''s something about this one that''s calling to me," Ss quickly made up. "Ok, if this is the one you want, I won''t say anything else. Besides, you can always switch back to another er," his father said. "The Deste Emperor''s Path only has six levels. The first three levels are for the Mortal stage, and thest three levels are for the Transcendent stage. This is why it isn''t the best manual. While it does teach one how to start using both death and destruction, the farthest you can progress is the 2nd rank, while the best manual we have, the Heavenly Sovereign''s Scripture, allows one to reach the peak of our inheritance realm: the 3rd rank." "I understand, Father, but it is still my pick, and like you said, once I reach the peak of Transcendent, I can always switch to the Heavenly Sovereign''s Scripture to rank up to the Revolving Core stage," Ss said. His father nodded in understanding. "If this is the path you want to walk, then I''ll allow it." His father then began to exin, "Once you reach the Transcendent stage of this manual, your body will be light and agile, and all of your senses will be sharpened. Even severed limbs can be regrown. Then, once you reach the third rank, you will finally be able to regenerate from a single drop of blood." His father soon left to leave him to start cultivating, and soon a day had gone by. His father hade back. "Have you made any progress?" his father asked. "Yes, Father," Ss said, which wasn''t a lie. He had been old enough to cultivate for about a month now, so he had long since started to cultivate with his inherited memories. Name: Ss Armstrong Race: Grim Reaper King (Divine Beast) Innate Talent: Grim Reaper''s Eye Qi Cultivation: Mid Mortal Body Cultivation: Mid Mortal He had even managed to reach mid Mortal stage in both Qi cultivation and body cultivation. He then red out some of his aura, and his father, shocked, said, "You''ve already hit mid Mortal level?" "Yes, Father," Ss said with a smile. He had managed to hit it a couple of days ago, and he couldn''t wait to show it off to his father. "This is great! You must be even more talented than I was at your age," his father began to say while thinking of the amazing future thaty in front of his son as both a cultivator and the future prefect lord of the North Prefecture. ''My son will definitely win thepetition and be the lord prefect,'' his father was thinking. "Good, very good!" his father raised his voice in excitement. "Now that you have started to cultivate, it''s time to start learning different abilities. While training in a Fiendgod body technique will give you immense power, the training in both footwork and whatever weapon you select will decide how much of that strength you will be able to use," his father said. "So which weapon would you like to use on your path as a cultivator?" his father asked him. Ss had long been thinking of this, and after a long time, he had finally made his decision. "Father, I will take the path of our n and the path you chose yourself and go with the path of the scythe." (Also, in this novel, anytime a scythe is mentioned, it will be referring to a battle scythe, which is when the de of the scythe isn''t just on the concaved side. It is on both sides.) He had known for a long time that his n was founded by a strong cultivator who had entered the inheritance realm thousands of years ago and was unable to escape. He had been a user of the scythe himself, and he passed down all his cultivation, weapon, and footwork manuals to the n, so the Armstrong n naturally became a prominent user of the scythe. "That is an excellent choice. There is no weapon our Armstrong n knows more about than the scythe," his father said with immense pride. "But before you learn the path of the scythe, you must first learn how to move." "You will not always be as strong as your opponent, so the most important thing is to be able to quickly and skillfully escape." His father then pulled out a movement manual called [Whirlwind Drift]. "This is our Armstrong n''s best movement manual. It has seven basic movements. Quickly learn them," his father said as he passed him the manual. About an hour went by with Ss going over the movement manual, making sure to remember every detail. After learning the movement manual, his father took him to a training location in the n. "This is where you will practice your movement techniques," his father said as he pointed to a bunch of poles of varying heights sticking out of the ground. "You must be able to effortlessly move on top of these beams as if you were on the ground," his father said. Ss then hopped up on a nearby beam, and he quickly noticed how hard this was going to be. The beam was so small, he couldn''t even stand t-footed on the beam. "There are three different levels to learning the Whirlwind Drift technique, and really all things such as weapon techniques as well." "The first is foundation. At this stage, you understand the basics of the skill. Your movements are mechanical, practiced, and deliberate. The focus is on building muscle memory and consistency. Most Mortal lifeforms are able to master this stage." "The second is mastery. At this stage, the practitioner achieves a deeper control of the technique. Body and weapon are perfectly synchronized. The practitioner moves effortlessly; the technique bes an extension of their body and mind. Most Transcendent lifeforms are able to master this stage." "The third and final stage is cosmic resonance. Here, the practitioner taps into the universal forces, seamlessly blending in with the environment. They are not merely performing a technique but channeling the power of the cosmos itself. They achieve an effortless mastery where everything around them bends to their will. Most rank 3 disciples are able to reach this stage, and a select few talented Transcendent lifeforms," his father finished exining. "So, Father, I just have to be able to run through this course?" Ss said. He knew it would be hard, but he thought he could quickly get the hang of it. His father justughed, then walked over to the side and pulled a lever. Then, all of a sudden, the training course was filled with ropes that had various sized and weighted objects tied to the end of them, swinging around. "Once you canplete the entire course ¡ª all 2000 beams ¡ª in less than 20 seconds, only then will you have reached the first stage," his father exined. Ss nodded in understanding, and soon his training began. *** Hourster, he was standing in a new part of the training ground with a practice scythe in hand. "You did very well in practicing your movement technique, and you even managed to make a little progress, so keep up that hard work," his father said. "Now, learning the scythe is much harder than learning the movement technique. To reach cosmic resonance in your movement technique, you need to be one with the cosmos, but to reach cosmic resonance in your scythe technique, the man, the scythe, and the cosmos must all be one. So naturally, it will be much more difficult," his father exined. "First, you must learn how to properly control your body. So, put down that scythe and learn this first," his father said as he handed him another manual, this one to teach him how to control all aspects of his body. "Only after mastering this can you move on to wielding a weapon." Ss quickly learned the entire manual and was soon putting it to action. After his practice session was over, Ss asked, "Father, how long before I can reach mastery in the scythe." "It''s too hard to say," his father said with a shake of his head, "in the past, I spent six years mastering the basics, then it took me eight more years before reaching mastery, so you can say it took me fourteen years." "But if you work hard with your talent, you might be faster than me," his father said. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 5: -5- A real test

Chapter 5: -5- A real test

Six years quickly went by with Ss learning the basics of movement at 14 and the basics of the scythe at 15. He was already considered a genius by his parents and the select few who knew. He was now 16 years old and was standing in front of 10 warriors from his Armstrong n. They were each peak Mortal lifeforms, much like Ss himself, though most were only qi refiners, with only two of them being both qi and body refiners. "Same rules as always. If you can strike me, you get 200 gold coins. If you can defeat me, you get 1000. Nowe," Ss said as he readied his scythe. "Be careful, young master. Here wee," the captain of the 10 men said as they all started to rush him. For the past year, he had trained like this, hoping that in the chaos of it all, he would finally master the second stage and reach mastery in either his movement or scythe technique, but so far, he had no sess. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!" Ss weaved through the 10 men, both defending and attacking. When he had first started this, it was a bit of a struggle not to be hit, and he would asionally mess up and lose. But now, after a year of constant sparring, he could effortlessly weave through their encirclement without being touched. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" He blocked two more attacks and even cut into one of the men slightly, which signified his loss. There were now only seven men remaining, and they were quickly brought down to zero. "Very good, young master. You were as excellent as always," the captain said as his neck quickly healed from the small cut Ss had just given him, ending the fight. The captain and most others in the Armstrong n all treated Ss with great respect, knowing that he was one of the frontrunners for the next position of lord prefect. "Thank you, and you all did well," Ss said as he got his maid to pass the men each 20 gold coins for their efforts. Ss then walked away, and soon, a ck raven with two red feathers, one on each wing,nded on his shoulder. [Raven (Beast) - Qi Cultivation: Late Mortal - Body Cultivation: Late Mortal] "That was easy as always. I don''t know why you still bother," the raven said in a human voice. "For once, I think you''re right, big brother Red. That''s why I think I''m going to finally ask my father for a real challenge to push myself over the edge," Ss said to the raven, which he called big brother since it was two days older than him, and red because of the two odd red feathers on each of his two wings. "Oh, really? You think he will agree?" Big brother Red asked. "I can only ask. The worst he will say is no," Ss said with a sigh. He soon was back home, and he quickly went and found his father. After some small talk, he finally got the courage to ask, "Father, I think it''s time you let me fight a real life-or-death battle with a beast. I need it to stimte my full potential." His fatherughed and said, "You''ve only been at the foundation stage for two and one year, respectively. Why are you in such a rush?" "Why wouldn''t I be? As you''ve said a thousand times, the only person''s strength you can rely on in this life is your own," Ss said. His father nodded, seemingly in deep thought. "Fine, I''ll allow it, but first, I think it''s time you learned your first advanced scythe technique manual. I''m not sending you into a fight with a beast without one." "Thank you, father," Ss quickly said. Not only had he agreed to the fight, but he had even finally decided to let him learn one of the n''s advanced scythe techniques. So far, he had only taught him the most basic of scythe manuals. His father then sent a maid to gather the scythe technique manuals from the n library, and an hourter, Ss was making his selection. There were four advanced scythe manuals in his n''s possession. The first was [Reaper''s Embrace], a style focused on close-quartersbat and precision strikes. The second was [ck Harvest Form], a defensive style where the wielder uses the scythe''s reach to create a nearly imprable defense. The third was [Wraithde''s Dance], an ethereal style where the wielder seems to move like a ghost, weaving through foes with effortless grace. The fourth was [Phantom Reave], a style focused on sudden strikes and unpredictable movements, leaving enemies in confusion. "Which one or ones would you like to learn?" his father asked. Ss thought it over for a while and decided to learn [Reaper''s Embrace] and [ck Harvest Form]. "I''m going to learn Reaper''s Embrace for when I''m stronger than the enemy, I can just overpower them with my strength and skill. And I''ll also learn ck Harvest Form for when I''m outmatched and need to escape," Ss exined. His father nodded his head. "Those are two good choices. I personally learned ck Harvest Form for its defense and Phantom Reave to suddenly attack after lulling the enemy with my defense, but your path is good as well." "Father, I would also like to learn the other two, but I will save them forter. First, I will focus on the two I selected," Ss added. "I see," his father nodded. "That''s ambitious, but all cultivators should be. Now quickly go learn those, and once you''re ready, let me know, and I will set up your battle." *** Three days quickly went by, with Ss gaining mastery over his two new techniques. After feeling like he had learned and trained enough, he sought out his father, who, after a brief test, set up his battle with a beast. Ss was now standing in a massive arena that was 700 meters long, wide, and tall, plenty big enough for even peak Transcendent lifeforms to battle in. "You are now a peak Mortal lifeform, so you will be up against a peak Mortal lifeform as well. It is also a King Beast, so it is much stronger than a regr peak Mortal beast, so be ready. This is your first life-or-death battle; it will be the most dangerous fight of your life. You previously fought and killed some death row convicts of the n, but those were nothingpared to what you are about to face, so prepare yourself," his father said as he walked out of the arena and prepared to watch his son battle an insane and ferocious beast who would do anything to escape this ce. Ss could now hear the sounds of chains being unleashed as the peak Mortal lifeform was let out of its chains and began making its way toward the smell of food. Soon, his opponent was in sight, and it was a massive 4-meter-tall red lion. [Red Lion (Fierce Beast) - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Peak Mortal] "GRAAAWR!" the lion roared as it made its entrance. ''Damn, that''s big,'' he thought. This wasn''t the first time he had seen a peak Mortal beast, but it was the first time he was standing in front of one that was unchained and ready to fight. ''Just stay calm and fight like you always do,'' he told himself. He knew this fight wouldn''t be easy, but that''s why he was here ¡ª for a challenge to push him past his limits. Ss knew the beast was just as smart as any human, so once he pulled out his scythe, he knew the beast would see it as an official challenge to fight. "GRAAAWR!" the lion roared as it charged toward him. Ss then began to charge as well, effortlessly gliding through the air with each step, thanks to his near mastery-level movement. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" He swiped down with his scythe three quick times to test the lion''s limits, and it was able to block twice, but on the third hit, he managed to cut deep into the lion''s paw. But the lion, being a Fierce Beast, had its own inherited memories, much like Ss did himself. Only a Fierce Beast''s inherited memories were clearly worse than a Divine Beast. However, it still had its own weaker version of a fiendgod body refinement technique, and since it was peak Mortal in body cultivation, it wasn''t slowed down at all, and its paw quickly healed itself. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" Ss used his [ck Harvest Form] to defend, creating an imprable defense. This was his first time fighting with his new scythe techniques, so he wanted to test out their full capabilities. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" After defending for a while, he went back on offense, asionally getting past the lion''s tough defense and slicing bone-deep into its flesh. Ss had long since reached the soul stage of splitting one''s mind, so he was able to, with one mind, either focus on his footwork and defense/offense, or he could focus on defense with one mind and look for opportunities for offense with the other. Even though Ss had reached the soul stage of splitting one''s mind, he still hadn''t told his parents. This would be far too shocking. Generally speaking, Revolving Core rank 3 Disciples were able to split one''s mind. Golden Core rank 4 Adepts were capable of ''divine will.'' And Sages were capable of opening the ''third eye,'' the ''eye of heaven,'' and utilizing their ''divine sense.'' But Ss, thanks to his inherited memories, was able to reach the soul stage of splitting one''s mind since, from his birth, he was able to meditate daily on a divine-level soul visualization technique called [God of Death]. It was a picture imprinted into his mind of the first-ever Grim Reaper King holding a scythe, about to execute a deadly attack. The longer the fightsted, the more amped up the fight got. ''I can feel it. It''s closer than ever,'' Ss began to think, but after another 5 minutes of fighting, he was still just beyond the reach of mastery. ''I need more,'' he thought. He knew this wasn''t challenging enough. With his Grim Reaper King''s Fiendgod Body Technique, this lion couldn''t kill him if he sat there and let it. "Father, send another one! I need a bigger challenge!" Ss yelled. "Are you sure?!" his father asked, worried. He could tell that Ss was in full control of the fight, and so far, his defense had truly been imprable, but adding a second beast into the mix was apletely different level of challenge. "Yes, Father, please just trust me. I''ll be fine!" Ss said. "Ok, I''ll trust you!" his father said. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 6: -6- Not interested

Chapter 6: -6- Not interested

His father soon had the second beast released. [Grey Wolf (Fierce Beast) - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Peak Mortal] The beast quickly entered the arena, and upon seeing the lion and the human, it instantly decided to kill the human before dealing with the lion. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" The fight was now on an entirely new level, and he was being pushed even harder than before. He weaved in and out of their pincer attacks, defending blow after blow, even managing to get in a hit or two. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" ''I''m so close!'' he thought. He continued to fight the beast, and the more he dodged, the quicker he got. Soon, in front of his father''s eyes, he was about to get hit in the back by the lion. The way the three were positioned, there was no way for Ss to escape at his current skill level. ''Dammit!'' his father thought, almost wanting to jump down and stop the fight. But he knew this was what his son wanted, and while it would hurt, his son had the body of a fiendgod, so he would survive. But just as Ss was about to get hit, he exploded off the ground quicker and in more control than ever before. ''Mastery!'' both Ss and his father thought at the same time. ''I did it. I''ve reached mastery in my movement. Now I just have to reach mastery in my scythe technique,'' he thought, but no matter how much he fought, it never came. Hours went by, with body refiners able to battle almost endlessly without tiring. "Son, I think that''s enough. If you haven''t reached it yet, I don''t think it''s going to happen. Now that you''ve reached mastery in your footwork, adding a third beast would be pointless," his father told him. "Damn!" Ss said in frustration. He was just at the threshold but couldn''t quite cross it. "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" He sent out four quick attacks, two for each beast, killing them quickly. "Well done, son. I know you wanted to hit mastery in your scythe as well, but look at the bright side: you managed to achieve half of your goal. You are now at mastery level in your movement technique, and you did it at the age of 16. I didn''t reach that until I was well into my 20''s," his father said. Ss nodded in understanding. "Father, I want to enter in the Battle of the Region." "You what?" his father asked, not sure if he had heard right. "I want to enter in the Battle of the Region in two months. Will you let me?" Ss asked. "And why would you want to do that? The bet isn''t for another five years," his father said. "I know. I just want to test out my new strength, and honestly, I have no interest in the Lord Prefect position," Ss exined. "You do know that everyone under the age of 30 can enter thepetition, so there will even be a couple of talented Transcendent lifeforms entering," his father tried to dissuade him. "It''s fine, Father. I''ve reached mastery in my footwork. While I might not be able to beat them, I can easily escape. This is another chance to temper myself. Please agree," Ss said. His father sighed, then said, "Fine. As you said, if you want to run, there isn''t much anyone could do to stop you. And even those few Transcendent lifeforms won''t all have reached mastery in their movement or weaponprehension. Usually, only the winner of thepetition might have reached mastery in one, but it''s umon." "But what is this about not wanting to be the Lord Prefect? What else would you be? Where else would you go? You should know by now that our n is stuck inside this inheritance realm, and the only way to leave is by reaching the top floor of the Battle Pagoda. But we don''t even know if anyone has ever been talented enough to do it. Of course, some people enter and never exit, but they could have just as easily died inside. And while you are extremely talented, I don''t know if you will have what it takes to aplish what so many others have failed to do," his father exined. "I know how challenging it will be, but I have confidence," Ss said. Of course, he would have confidence. Could anyone in this inheritance realm be more talented than a divine beast? There were ten stages of beasts: regr Beast, Fierce Beast, King Beast, Emperor Beast, Deste Beast, Primal Beast, Ancient Beast, Primordial Beast, Chaos Beast, and finally Divine Beast, and he was an extremely rare Divine Beast. He didn''t know the exact number, but from the little knowledge his system told him and from his inherited memories, if he had to guess, there would only be roughly forty or so types of divine beasts to ever exist. This meant there were definitely fewer than two hundred, with most divine beasts only numbering one or two, and a few of the weaker ones might go up to five or six. So, the odds of another divine beast being born in this small inheritance realm (small being rtive¡ªit was close to the size of all of North and South America. 16.43 million square miles, give or take.) were close to zero. His father just sighed. "Well, if you don''t want to be the Lord Prefect, I can''t make you. Your life is your own to walk." They then went home and told his mother what had happened and how he was going to enter the Battle of the Region at just 16 years of age. "Are you sure, sweetie?" his mother, ra, asked, slightly worried about him. While killing wasn''t permitted, it asionally happened. In a close battle, it was hard to win by pulling your blows, so sometimes nothing could be done, and someone would die. "I''m positive, Mother, and don''t worry, I''ll be fine," Ss assured her. *** Two months quickly went by, and now they were just five days away from thepetition. During the past two months, Ss had continued to practice and train, and he had even learned the other two advanced scythe techniques of his n: the [Wraithde''s Dance] and the [Phantom Reave]. The entire North Prefecture had now gathered and were getting ready to leave for the Redstone Prefecture. The Redstone n was the strongest n in Moonvale Mountain, with their n leader being a peak 3rd-rank disciple, so they always hosted the Battle of the Region. But before everyone could leave, they first had to take count of who all would be participating and representing their Armstrong n''s North Prefecture. Currently, there was a loud crowd gathered with all the important and high-ranking members of the n present. The Lord Prefect and Ss''s great-grandfather soon walked onto the stage. "Quiet down!" he slightly raised his voice. "Every youth under the age of 30 who would like to participate,e forward," he said. About 50 youths walked forward, the highest rank being a peak Mortal, just like Ss. "Well, it looks like we won''t have a chance at winning this year," an elder of the n said with a sigh. Since they didn''t have a Transcendent lifeform in the running, they stood no chance of taking first. "Wait, is that Ss?" another elder quickly pointed out. This gained everyone''s attention, and soon they had all found Ss, who was standing on the stage with all the other youths. "Ss, you''re participating as well?" Charles asked, surprised. "Yes, Lord Prefect," Ss calmly answered. He and his parents had kept it a secret that he would be joining, and currently, no one knew his strength or that he had reached mastery in his movement technique and was close in his scythe technique as well. The majority of the people here didn''t even know Ss had reached the foundation stage, so everyone was shocked that the 16-year-old Ss would dare to join the Battle of the Region. "Ss, you do know the bet for Lord Prefect doesn''t take ce until you and Emmitt are 21?" Charles said. "Yes, I''m aware, Lord Prefect. Me joining has nothing to do with the bet. I just want to test my strength, and also I would like to formally pull out of the bet for the Lord Prefect position. I have no interest in it," Ss said, to the shock of the crowd. "What did you say?" Howard, Ss''s grandfather and likely biggest supporter of him bing Lord Prefect yelled. "Grandfather, please calm down. I just have no interest in being the Lord Prefect. I n to fully devote my life to cultivation," Ss said, meeting his grandpa''s frustrated gaze. "Alexander, what is the meaning of this?" Howard said, looking at his son. "Didn''t you hear the boy?" Harvey, Howard''s brother, started. "He has no interest. That means the position will naturally fall to Emmitt," Harvey finished with a smile. Howard just stood there, too stunned to speak. How could Ss possibly not be interested in the Lord Prefect position? He wanted to focus on cultivation? Could he not do both? The highest rank one could reach in this realm was the 3rd rank. It was rare, especially for their Armstrong n, to produce such a talent. But he knew how talented his grandson was, and he had little doubt that, if nothing went wrong in his development, he would be able to reach the peak of this realm. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 7: -7- Thea

Chapter 7: -7- Thea

Charles, being the great-grandfather of both Ss and Emmitt, didn''t care who the position fell to, so he quickly ended his son''s argument and asked his grandson, "Alexander, are you certain he should enter the battle of the region? At 16 years old, he will likely be the youngestpetitor by almost 10 years." Ss''s father stepped forward and confidently said, "Don''t worry, Lord Prefect, I''m more than confident that no one in thepetition will be strong enough to take my son''s life." This bold statement quickly sent murmurs throughout the crowd. "Quiet!" Charles raised his voice again. "Now that we have marked down those who willpete, we will head out. Those of you who areing, gather your things; we leave in one hour," Charles said as he walked off the stage. *** Several dayster, the Armstrong n''s North Prefecture made it to the Redstone Main Prefecture. Now all the ns of the Moonvale Mountain region had gathered, and each of the over 1,200 youths who would be participating was standing in the arena, waiting for the first event to start. Ss, being tall and well-built for his age, didn''t get many looks for being 16. Only the men and women from the Armstrong n''s North Prefecture had any idea he was 16 and the youngest person in thepetition. Ss stood there in the crowd of youths, his head held high in confidence, and he wore the new robe his parents had given him for thepetition. It was a ck robe with hints of red the two main colors of his Armstrong n. He also held tight to his brand new scythe. His parents had only ever let him use a practice scythe, but now that he was going to enter the battle of the region, they had to get him a real unranked weapon. The scythe, much like his robe, was pure ck with red spread across its de. (Weapon ranks: Unranked - Mortal Ranked - Transcendent Spiritual - Revolving Core Earth - Golden Core Heaven - Sage Immortal - Earth Immortal Pure Yang - True Immortal) Soon, the patriarch of the Redstone n, the peak 3rd rank and strongest cultivator of Moonvale Mountain, stood up and walked to the front of the Lord Prefect section and officially started the event. "Wee all!" he said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Another five years has gone by in the blink of an eye, and here we are once again. "We are all very busy, and most of us have been through this too many times to count, so I will skip the long and boring speech and start the first event. We all know what it is, but I will briefly exin for those who don''t," the Redstone patriarch said as he pulled out a golden treasure. "This here is a dwelling-type magic treasure. It is something my Redstone n''s founding patriarch brought from the outside world thousands of years ago when he was forced to enter the inheritance realm. "A dwelling-type magic treasure is essentially arge spatial ring capable of storing beings full of life. As most of you know, the inheritance realm we currently live in is just arge dwelling-type magic treasure. Mine isn''t nearly as grand, but it does hold about 40,000 square miles ofnd (the state of Kentucky is 40,408 square miles). "It has been fully stocked with beasts at the various ranks of Mortal. Each of you youths will be randomly teleported into my magic treasure, which I have full control over, and your only job is to kill. Kill as many Mortal beasts as you can, and after 12 hours, I''ll pull you out. The top 100 of you youths who have killed or gathered the most beasts will then move on to the tournament and will be able to fully represent your ns on the grand stage. "There is only one rule: do not kill or maim your fellow humans. "As you might suspect, you can steal other people''s beast corpses, as long as you don''t kill them. "Now, this is where I would usually end it, but this year I have a special surprise," the patriarch said as he turned around and weed a young woman to his side. "This here is my great-great-granddaughter, Thea. She is 20 years old this year and likely the youngest youth to enter thepetition. I''m not bringing her up here to tell you to go easy on her. I''m here to tell you that for anyone who can defeat her, their n and the prefecture they belong to will not have to pay taxes to my Redstone n for the next five years, until the next Battle of the Region." At the sound of this, all the Lord Prefects shifted in their seats and began to send looks to their most talented youths, clearly saying what should be done. The patriarch of the Redstone n, seeing this, smiled with excitement. This is exactly what he wanted to happen. His great-great-granddaughter was extremely talented, even more than him, but she was like a greenhouse flower, never being put under any real pressure. This was meant to be a tempering session for her, and he had now set a clear target on her back. Ss watched as Thea then jumped down from the arena and, with a calm look as none of this fazed her, walked into the mix of the 1,200 gathered youths. ''She''s gorgeous,'' Ss couldn''t help but think. From the first moment he saw her, he was enamored with her beauty. She was tall, and her eyes were sharp and brown. Her nose was small, and her lush brown hair was tied up in a bun not to impede her movement. She wore a blue robe, but even through the robe, one couldn''t help but notice her plentiful twin peaks and various curves in all the right ces. Xander quickly snapped out of his daydreams and focused on the event toe. He looked up at the Redstone n patriarch, who was ending his speech. "Now, I''m going toe down there and pull you all into my magic treasure. Don''t resist, and the second your feet hit the ground, the event begins." The Redstone patriarch then jumped down into the arena, and secondster, Ss felt his surroundings change. He was now standing in a mountainous region withrge trees all around. Ss was only here to temper himself, but that didn''t mean he didn''t want to win, so he quickly set off searching for the first Mortal beast he could find. Soon he came across arge cave, and he quickly entered it. After about 20 seconds, he came across his first beast. [Azure Snake (Fierce Beast) - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Peak Mortal] "Hiss!" the snake hissed at him, clearly not happy it was being disturbed. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" It only took him three hits to kill the beast. ''1 down,'' he thought. He didn''t know how many beasts he needed to kill to be in the top 100, so he was going to kill as many as he could as quickly as possible. He knew that this magic treasure only had Mortal beasts in it, so there likely wouldn''t be a challenge strong enough to temper him here. He had to make it to the tournament portion of the event, and more specifically, he needed to make it to theter portions of the tournament to go up against the strongest youths of Moonvale Mountain. After collecting the beast inside his spatial ring, he was quick to leave the cave in search of more beasts. *** 11 hours quickly went by, and Ss had managed to collect 12 Mortal beasts, 3 of which he stole from someone else. ''I hope this is enough to be in the top 100,'' he thought. He had wanted to kill much more than this, but after the first two hours of the event, finding beasts became much harder, and while he was more than willing to steal the beast corpses of those weaker than him, he had only managed to run into one person so far. He was currently running through the woods. There were only about 10 minutes left before the end of this event, and he didn''t think he would run into any more beasts or another person, but he wasn''t willing to give up hope. In his mind, the next beast he found might very well be what pushed him into the top 100. He was looking around when he suddenly heard the sound of battle off in the distance. Without a second thought, he nted his feet and exploded toward the sound of battle. It took him one minute running at his full speed to reach the battle, and he was both surprised and happy at what he saw. [Human - Qi Cultivation: Late Mortal - Body Cultivation: Mid Mortal] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Late Mortal - Body Cultivation: Late Mortal] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Late Mortal] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Peak Mortal] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Peak Mortal] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Peak Mortal] There were somehow six humans here, seven if you counted him. And while at first he thought it was just a battle royale of the sixpetitors, he quickly realized that it was actually a 5 versus 1. ''What are the odds I ran into her?'' Ss thought with a smile, not at all unhappy with running into Thea. Not only was she drop-dead gorgeous, but if he could beat her, his Armstrong n wouldn''t have to pay taxes to the Redstone hegemon for the next five years. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 8: -8- Start of the tournament

Chapter 8: -8- Start of the tournament

[Human - Qi Cultivation: Late Mortal - Body Cultivation: Mid Mortal] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Late Mortal - Body Cultivation: Late Mortal] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Late Mortal] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Peak Mortal] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Peak Mortal] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Peak Mortal] Thea was currently desperately fighting, and when she saw Ss run up, she became even more frustrated. Why did her grandfather (she refers to her great-great-grandfather as just grandfather, not a plot hole) have to put a target on her back? This entirepetition was already going to be hard enough to win, especially since she was only a 20-year-old Peak Mortal in Qi and Body Cultivation, and somehow, she had only managed to reach mastery in her sword technique and had yet to do so in her movement technique, so while she was strong enough to defend herself from these five attackers, she wasn''t quick enough to get away. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" She blocked, dodged, and attacked multiple times, even managing to deal lethal injuries to several of her opponents. But, with them all being Fiendgod body refiners, these ''lethal'' injuries could quickly be healed if she didn''t press her advantage further and scare them to the point of knowing they had no chance of winning. Ss had just been watching, thinking, ''Should I attack her with the rest or help get rid of the extras first and have a good battle with her one-on-one?'' After a second of thought, he finally made up his mind. He would first help her get rid of the extrapetition, and then he would fight her solo. He was here for a challenge and tempering, and teaming up on one person with five others wouldn''t be tempering. But fighting two versus five and then one versus one would be. Using his mastery-level footwork, he shed to her side and quickly dodged her attack, as she suspected he was there for her bounty as well. "Not yet," Ss calmly said as he swung his de down on the closest opponent, a tall, well-built man. "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" He first lulled him with a weak attack, then pulled out his Phantom Reave Scythe technique to suddenly and unpredictably attack three times, cutting off both his arms and leaving a long gash on his neck, showing the man he could easily kill him if he wished to. While Ss made sure that man knew he was out of the fight, Thea, using the change in tempo of the fight and her mastery-level sword technique, managed to single out another opponent, cutting off both of his arms. While the man could easily reattach them, she went a step further and destroyed one of his arms, threatening to destroy the next. The man quickly retreated, knowing he couldn''t regrow limbs until he became a Transcendent lifeform. Now, there were only three remaining, and both Ss and Thea made quick work of them. Ss managed to take out two since he was much quicker, while Thea ruthlessly took out thest one by destroying one of his arms as well. She was already beyond furious that they dared to attack her all at once. Did they have no honor? After sending all the opponents packing¡ªtwo of whom would only have one arm until they managed to be Transcendent lifeforms, if they ever did¡ªThea turned her attention to Ss. "What do you want? A prize?" she said coldly. "No, I just wanted to fight you without interruption," Ss said as he readied himself for battle. "Thene," Thea said as she stood her ground. Ss obliged, and soon they were fighting. "Bang!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" While Thea was much more skilled in closebat, Ss was a step faster, leaving all her opportunities as just that¡ªopportunities. She would first knock or parry his scythe away, and then, when she tried to capitalize, he would vanish like a ghost. "Quit running if you want to fight!" she yelled in frustration. She had traded being chased and ganged up on in a relentless assault for being the one chasing her opponent. And the worst thing was, she knew her grandfather was watching. Ss ignored her plea and continued to fight his own battle. He kept trying to beat her in close-rangebat, attempting to temper his way to scythe mastery, and he could feel that the fight was doing the trick. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!" They constantly went back and forth. Sometimes Thea was able tond a hit on him, but to her surprise, she barely left a scratch. "What are you, made out of metal?" she muttered under her breath. This guy''s survivability was top-notch. Not only had he reached mastery in footwork, but he also seemed unable to be injured by her attacks. Ss justughed internally. She was a Peak Mortal lifeform, just like him, so unless she used a ranked sword, which she clearly wasn''t, she had no chance in hell of injuring him in the slightest. He could stand there all day and let her attack, and his body wouldn''t gain as much as a paper cut. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" They continued their onught, but just before Ss could make any more progress, he was suddenly teleported out of the magic treasure. ''Dammit,'' both Ss and Thea thought, seeing that the first event was over. Not only were they both close to reaching mastery in scythe and footwork respectively, but they didn''t even manage to steal the beast corpses of the five men and women they had just sent running. "Alright, everyone,e forward to the judges and let them check your spatial rings for the count. And don''t even think of cheating; each beast was branded with a special mark of aura," the Redstone Patriarch said. One by one, each of the over 1,200 participants walked up and got scored based on how many beasts they had killed or stolen during the event. After about an hour went by, everyone had been graded, and a little over 1,100 participants were told to leave the arena, leaving only the top 100 youths. Luckily, both Ss and Thea were able to make it into the top 100 without the added beast corpses of the five opponents from before. "Congrattions to those of you who made it. Now we will have a single-elimination tournament to see who will be crowned the King or Queen of Moonvale Mountain for the next five years," the Redstone Patriarch announced. *** After taking down all 100 youths'' information, the tournament started. Until they reached the quarter-finals, there would be four battles constantly going on in the arena. After waiting for five battles, Ss finally had his first match. The official of his match stepped forward and announced, "From the Armstrong n''s North Prefecture, Ss Armstrong, 16 years old, Peak Mortal body and qi refinement." This was just another fight, but once the audience heard that a 16-year-old would be fighting, they quickly turned their attention to Ss. Ss just stood there, unfazed by the attention, while his own n, especially those from the North Prefecture, all held their heads high with pride that he had made it this far. "Charles, who is that boy?" the Armstrong n Patriarch, Lord Prefect of the West Prefecture, and the only rank 3 currently in the Armstrong n, asked. "That''s my great-grandson," Charles said with pride. "Really? You''ve done well in raising him," the Armstrong Patriarch, Keaton, said, feeling pride that his n had such a talented member. This battle even gained the attention of the Redstone Patriarch, who, until this point, thought that his own granddaughter, Thea, would be the youngest and most talented youth in thepetition. But now the title of youngest was out of contention; the only question was, who was more talented¡ªThea or this unknown boy from a mid-ranked n? "From the Stormvale n''s Southeast Prefecture, Braiden Stormvale, 29 years old, Peak Mortal body and qi refinement," the official continued to announce. After announcing the names and ns of both youths to show respect and honor toward their respective ns, the official dered the start of the battle. "You know the rules, now begin." Ss just stood there, eyeing down his muchrger opponent. [Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal - Body Cultivation: Peak Mortal] Braiden Stormvale was 6''8 and built like a mountain. He used a long spear and was clearly confident in his win. "Surrender, and I won''t hurt you," Braiden said in a deep voice. Ss just stood there, not wanting to feed into the man''s nonsense. Braiden, seeing Ss wasn''t going to surrender, scoffed and said, "Don''t me me, boy." Then, he charged forward, each of his steps sounding like the beat of a loud drum. As the man neared, Ss stood his ground, but once Braiden was close enough to raise his weapon, Ss quickly moved with an explosive step, dodging to the side and nting the tip of his scythe through the man''s chest. "Shing!" "Cough!" The man coughed up a mouthful of blood, then, with anger written on his face, turned to face Ss. "You bastard!" he yelled as he quickly pushed Ss''s scythe away. Ss looked to the official, thinking it was time to call the fight, but the official just shook his head. "What, you think your little sneak attack is enough to win this fight?! This is nothing but a flesh wound!" Braiden, the mountain of a man, yelled, clearly frustrated that he had lost the first exchange of the battle to a 16-year-old boy. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 9: -9- Please show me something

Chapter 9: -9- Please show me something

Ss knew the wound wasn''t enough to kill the man who had the body of a fiendgod, but that''s why he had done it. It wasn''t like he was allowed to kill the man, but to think that it would take more to win the fight¡ªno wonder people asionally died in thispetition. Ss, with a step, shed forward and met Braiden''s spear. "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" It took Ss three more moves to disarm his opponent, slicing off his dominant hand. "You little...!" Braiden roared, his face flushing with embarrassment. Being bested by a child was humiliating, especially for someone of his stature. "Forfeit," Ss said calmly, his scythe extended, ready to strike again if necessary. "Never," Braiden growled, his pride burning too brightly. He was the greatest warrior from his prefecture. How could he surrender to a little boy? "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Surrender!" Ss''s voice rose, his gaze piercing through Braiden''s, the tip of his scythe grazing the older man''s neck and drawing blood. But before Braiden couldprehend his loss, the official blew a whistle, then stepped in and ended the fight. The crowd went wild at the sight of a 16-year-old easily defeating a muchrger and older opponent. This was a rare sight. ''He''s quite talented, but he''s nothingpared to my granddaughter,'' the Redstone Patriarch thought with a scoff as he turned his attention away from Ss; he was particrly interested in the youths who had achieved Transcendent lifeform status before 30. Charles, Keaton, and the other two Armstrong lord prefects, on the other hand, beamed with pride, each one boasting of their n''s talented descendant. *** Fight after fight went by, and Ss had no problem beating each of his opponents. So far, other than Thea, he hadn''t run into any other youths who had managed toprehend mastery level in any of their techniques. Now, there were only a few battles left, with there being two brackets with each side in the quarterfinals. That meant Ss only had to win three more fights, and he would walk away from the event as the king of the region. But Ss didn''t care as much about winning as he did about reaching mastery in his scytheprehension. So far, he hadn''t had a battle as thrilling as the one with Thea, who had also managed to reach mastery in a technique. Unfortunately, she was on the other side of the bracket, so unless they both made it to the finals, he wouldn''t get to fight her again. The official of this match once again stepped forward and announced, "From the Armstrong n''s North Prefecture, Ss Armstrong, 16 years old, Peak Mortal body and qi refinement." The crowd roared louder than ever. With this being the only battle taking ce in the arena, everyone''s attention was on this fight. "From the Riverstone n''s West Prefecture, Holden Riverstone, 30 years old, Early Transcendent body refinement, and Peak Mortal qi refinement," the crowd once again roared¡ªany match featuring a Transcendent lifeform was always a crowd favorite. "You know the rules. Now begin," the official signaled the start of the fight. Ss had been ready for this fight for a long time. This was his first official fight against a Transcendent lifeform that wasn''t him sparring with his mother or father. ''I wonder if this guy has reached mastery or not?'' Ss thought. There were some people who were gifted with talent inprehension; there were others who were gifted with talent in cultivation; and there were a select few, like Ss and Thea, who were gifted with both. He just didn''t know which his opponent was gifted in. Ss stood his ground and watched as the 6''0" tall man silently began the fight, rushing forward. ''It doesn''t look like he has reached mastery in his footwork,'' Ss thought. "Bang!" ''And it doesn''t look like he''s reached mastery in his weaponprehension either,'' Ss thought with a frown. Seeing the frown on his opponent''s face, Holden thought he had now understood the power gap between them. So, with a smile, he increased his tempo. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" Holden continued to push Ss around the arena. Being a Transcendent lifeform, he was much stronger than a Peak Mortal lifeform like Ss was. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" But no matter how much he attacked, Ss''s defense was imprable. ''What the hell?'' Holden thought after another 30 seconds went by, and he still hadn''t managed to touch the hem of Ss''s robe. ''This just isn''t challenging enough,'' Ss finally determined. He had hoped that even though his opponent was only at the foundation stage in both movement and weaponprehension, the extra strength granted to him by being a Transcendent lifeform would be enough to push him over the edge. He could feel the thin veil that stood between him and the next threshold of weaponprehension; he just needed a tougher grinding stone to break through that veil. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" For the first time in the fight, Ss began his attack, and he immediately pushed back his opponent and had him on his back foot. "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" After 10 seconds went by, he had cut off the left forearm of his opponent and had him all cut up from head to toe. "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" After another 5 seconds went by, the official finally stepped in with the blow of the whistle to stop the fight. After winning the fight, Ss just turned around and went to sit down next to his parents. He ignored the crowd''s cheers, just trying to hold on to that feeling he was so close to but couldn''t quite grasp yet. As he sat down, his big brother Red flew over and perched up on his shoulder. "You did a good job out there, Ss," Red said. Ss just nodded his head, still deep in thought. Both Red and his parents knew that he must be on the cusp of a breakthrough, so they each chose not to bother him. Soon, it was Ss''s turn to fight again in the semifinals... "From the Silverleaf n''s North Prefecture, Oliver Silverleaf, 30 years old, Early Transcendent body and qi refinement," the official announced to the excitement of the crowd. Up in the lord prefect section, someone asked, "Who do you think will win?" There was a slight murmur that went through the various lord prefects and their aides, but soon one voice could be heard above them all: "Well, of course, my grandson Ss will be winning. There''s no one in this tournament that can hold a fire to the boy. He''s reached mastery in his footworkprehension, and he''s a mosquito''s hair away from reaching it in his scytheprehension as well." Charles said with a beaming smile. Soon though, another lord prefect butted in, "I think you''re full of shit, Charles. My son Oliver will surely win. He''s an early Transcendent lifeform in both qi and body cultivation, and he has reached mastery in his movementprehension. Your boy might also be talented in movementprehension, but his weak Mortal body will be his downfall. He''s 10 years too early to win this fight." Soon an argument ensued, and it wasn''t hushed until someone asked, "Redstone Patriarch, what is your opinion on the battle?" This halted the many conversations, and all ears turned to the strongest and most talented cultivator of Moonvale Mountain. The Redstone Patriarch thought about it for a moment, then finally said, "While I believe Ss has talents on par with even my granddaughter Thea unless he can somehowprehend mastery in his scythe techniques, just like my Thea just did with her movement techniques in her battle, I don''t see how he could possibly win this fight." This silenced the arguments, everyone believing in the Redstone Patriarch''s words. The official finally stepped up and looked at both the youths. "You each know the rules, but I''ll repeat them onest time. This part of the tournament is when the highest number of deaths ur. There is to be no intentional killing or maiming in this battle. Is that clear?" Both Ss and Oliver quickly nodded their heads without looking away from each other. "Okay, you may begin," the official said as he backed away. "Please show me something," Ss muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Oliver to hear. "Oh, I''ll show you something," Oliver replied with a smirk. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 10: -10- BANG!!

Chapter 10: -10- BANG!!

"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" Both Ss and Oliver shed forward, putting their mastery-level footwork on disy. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" They met three times, Ss being slightly pushed back thanks to Oliver''s strength as an early Transcendent body cultivator. "Is this enough for you?" Oliver asked with augh as he continued to push Ss around the arena. Previously, when Ss had fought a stronger opponent, he was able to dash away with his superior movement. But with Oliver being at the same level as him, he was only able to stand there and take his stronger attacks. But luckily, it seemed Ss''s scytheprehension was slightly stronger than Oliver''s axeprehension. So, with the help of his defensive [ck Harvest Form], he was more than able to put up an imprable wall that Oliver''s weapon could not pass. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" Ss blocked twice just the same as before, and after lulling his opponent slightly, he used the unpredictability of [Phantom Reave] and attacked, cutting deep into Oliver''s shoulder. "Just a scratch," Oliver said with a smirk. To his Transcendent fiendgod body, the bone-deep cut truly was just a scratch. Given time, even a severed arm could be regrown. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" Ss continued his defense, every now and then deciding to attack. And the more the fight drew on, the better control over his weapon he gained. Ss soon entered an empty mental realm where nothing existed except the next attack. He didn''t have any other thoughts other than the movement of his scythe. "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" And suddenly, as if the dam had just broken, his scytheprehension broke through to mastery level. The grindstone had been strong enough; the veil had been broken. Ss smiled as he started to quickly dominate the fight. Where he was once the one being constantly pushed back by his opponent''s overwhelming strength, he was now the aggressor, pushing the opponent back¡ªnot by his strength, but by his skill. "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" The fight continued for another minute before the official finally decided Oliver wasn''t going to make a breakthrough and was just suffering through Ss''s advance. The crowd went wild as Ss was dered the winner. After a moment of celebration, he went back to his family with a smile creasing his face. "Good job, son," his mother said with a loving smile. "Good job, that''s my boy," his father said, patting him on the back. "Couldn''t have done it better myself," Red flew to his shoulder with augh. "Thanks, guys," Ss said with a smile, appreciating spending time with his family as he prepared to watch thest battle before the finals. *** To no one''s surprise, Thea, who had now, like Ss, reached mastery in both movement and swordprehension, easily beat her opponent, who was a Transcendent lifeform stuck at just foundation level. So now the finals were set: it was Thea versus Ss. 20-year-old versus 16-year-old. Heir to the Redstone n versus the rising star of the Armstrong n. Both youths had reached peak Mortal and were at mastery level in both weapon and movement, so this fight was surely going to be great. The crowd was on their feet and ready for the legendary fight toe. It wasn''t often two young talents managed to make it to the finals. Seeing that it was the final match and his beloved granddaughter Thea was in it, the Redstone patriarch himself decided to officiate the match. After introductions were over, he announced the rules one final time, even giving Ss a death stare when he mentioned the intentional killing and maiming part. Ss now stood 15 meters in front of the stunning Thea, who had nothing but a serious look on her face, as if nothing mattered but the fight, which in this moment was absolutely true. ''I have to win,'' Ss thought. He had now imed what he hade here for¡ªthe jump from foundation to mastery in his scytheprehension¡ªso now it was time to im the secondary prizes: the king of the region, the two prizes that came with it, and the tax break his Armstrong n would receive upon beating the girl in front of him. "Begin!" Without a second thought, Ss was off. "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" Both Ss and Thea shed forward, weapons ready. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" The first collision was a draw, with no clear winner. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" The second one was as well. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" The third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth. The fight continued, but they were each fighting to a standstill. Their defenses were unbreakable¡ªnot a single attack had made it past Ss''s scythe or Thea''s sword. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" ''Dammit,'' Ss thought. He couldn''t believe what was happening. He was a divine beast whose talents reached the heavens¡ªcould he not beat this girl? He, of course, knew she was four years older than him, which with his rate of growth was a lifetime. And there was always his innate ability, the [Grim Reaper''s Eye], that could easily one-shot her. But that wasn''t how he wanted to win, and even if he wanted to, he couldn''t kill his opponent because, for one, the rules didn''t allow it. Two, his morals wouldn''t allow him to kill a random girl¡ªespecially a stunning beauty at that¡ªwho had never done a thing to him. And three, her grandfather was standing right there, and most likely, if he pulled out such a grand and divine ability to one-tap his granddaughter, he would likely kill him where he stood in a fit of rage. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" The fight continued the same as before, and as the fight continued, Ss could feel his scytheprehension rising at an astonishing rate, slowly climbing toward the threshold of cosmic resonance, but of course, that was a long way away, with the gap between mastery and cosmic resonance being a deep chasm. The only problem was Thea was experiencing the same rapid growth. At this rate, the winner of the fight would be determined by whoseprehension ability was better, whoseprehension ability could hold out. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" After their fiftieth collision, Ss backed up and readied himself for the fifty-first, thinking that if he kept up this pace, he would surely outprehend her and win the fight, but that''s when something changed. As if the heavens themselves were gracing Thea with her presence, a deep aura started to emit from her. ''What''s happening?'' Ss thought. ''Could it be?'' He had never personally seen someone rank up from Mortal to Transcendent lifeform, but he had some idea about it from his inherited memories. ''I''ve got to finish the fight now or I''ll never win,'' Ss thought. There was no way, at the rate the fight was going, that he would be able to defeat Thea when she was at early Transcendent in body cultivation and he was at peak Mortal, and he didn''t feel that close to making a breakthrough himself. ''That''s my granddaughter,'' the Redstone patriarch thought with a smile as he watched his most talented descendant and heir make the breakthrough to Transcendent lifeform. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" Ss''s attacks grew even more frantic. Where before he was slowly trying to process hisprehensions, he was now trying to speed run them. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "BANG!!" Then all of a sudden, Thea swiped down and pushed Ss back several feet. ''Dammit!'' Ss thought, knowing she had finally seeded. The fight came to a natural pause as Ss readied himself, and Thea stood there smiling, gettingfortable and used to her new strength. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 11: -11- Celebratory banquet

Chapter 11: -11- Celebratory banquet

Ss just stood there and watched Thea, who was smiling while looking down at her body. ''Damn, she''s fine,'' he couldn''t help but think as he had a moment to appreciate her beauty as she stood there in her sweat-soaked, skin-tight blue robe that clung to her body, showing each and every one of her plentiful curves. Thea soon looked up and softly said, "Do you forfeit?" Ss justughed and shook his head. "Fine, I''ll just make you suffer for a little bit first," she quickly said as her smiling face turned serious. "Whoosh!" she shed forward. "Bang!" "Bang!" "ng!" "ng!" "ng!" she attacked, and while Ss was able to block twice, with her upgraded strength and speed on top of her near-equal weaponprehension, she was easily able to get past his defense andnd three quick but powerful attacks. There was just one problem. "What the hell is your body made of?" she asked in frustration. She had clearlynded three solid attacks, but not only did it not harm him in the slightest, only white scratches could be seen on his skin where her attacksnded. Ss ignored her with augh and continued his own attack. He knew he couldn''t win, but he also knew he couldn''t lose. Since he had reached Cycle 1A of the [Reaper''s Immortal Husk] his body was as durable as a low-tier rank 2 weapon, so unless she could pull out a rank 2 weapon that was higher quality than low-tier which was unlikely in this inheritance realm than she would never be able to harm him. This being the case, he was going to milk this fight for all it was worth and continue to level up his scytheprehension until the fight was forced to be called a draw. "Bang!" "Bang!" "ng!" "ng!" "ng!" "ng!" "Bang!" "ng!" "ng!" "ng!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "ng!" The fight continued for hours, but to the surprise of the audience, the higher-ups of all the ns, and especially the Redstone Patriarch, Ss was unable to be injured at all no matter how many times Thea attacked in anger and frustration. "Bang!" "Bang!" "ng!" "ng!" "ng!" "ng!" "ng!" "ng!" "ng!" "ng!" "ng!" "ng!" "ng!" "ng!" Soon, despite not wanting to, the Redstone Patriarch blew the whistle and stepped forward. "For the first time since the inception of this event, I announce a draw." The crowd instantly went silent in confusion. First, they were confused by Ss''s defense, and now this. "So, I present to you the king and queen of the region for the next five years: Ss Armstrong and Thea Redstone!" The crowd then slowly began to cheer. The Redstone patriarch then looked to Ss and Thea and said, "As you should know, by bing the king and queen of the region, you will be given two prizes: the highest quality ranked weapon and armor we are capable of making. I already know what to get Thea, but what do you want, Ss?" (Weapon ranks: Unranked - Mortal ¡ªRanked - Transcendent Spiritual - Revolving Core Earth - Golden Core Heaven - Sage Immortal - Earth Immortal Pure Yang - True Immortal) [A/n: It could sound as if I''m saying they will be given the highest-ranked weapon possible, which would likely be a rank 3 or 4 weapon, but that''s not it.] Ss thought about it for a short moment, then said, "Just give me a robe simr to this one as my armor and make me a scythe simr to this," he said as he pointed to both his robe and scythe, "and make them the colors of my n primarily ck with ents of red." *** Hourster, inside one of the grand buildings of the Redstone Prefecture, the Redstone n and the Armstrong n held a celebratory feast. There was a long table that was filled with food. The Redstone n was on one side of the table, and the Armstrong n was on the other. On the Redstone side, seated first, was the Redstone Patriarch himself, Oscar Redstone. Beside him sat Thea, with her parents next to her, followed by the rest of her family. On the Armstrong side, Keaton, the Patriarch of the Armstrong n, sat at the head of the table, followed by Ss, his grandfather Charles, and then his father and mother. Red and the rest of his family who attended the event were seated further down. Toward the end of both tables sat the higher-ups of both ns, the lord prefects, their aides, etc. The feast was delicious, and the banquet was fun, but soon it started to be drawn to a close. After all the food was eaten and taken away, Oscar, the Redstone Patriarch, with a serious and contemtive face, looked at Ss, then Thea, and then after a moment, with a smile, he looked over at Charles. "Charles, my old friend, we both have the most talented youths that have been born from our ns in the past several hundred years, if not since their founding, so why don''t we join their hands together in marriage and let them produce each of us several heirs?" This put shocked looks on both Ss''s and Thea''s faces while putting smiles on each of their families'' faces. To them, this was a match made in heaven. Charles, without looking to Ss or his family for their opinions, quickly answered with a smile, "That sounds amazing. I couldn''t think of a better idea myself. When should we n the wedding?" ''A wedding with Thea?'' Ss thought. While he wasn''t against marrying the heavenly beauty, his thoughts immediately went to Lilian, his wife from his first life. ''What would she think?'' he thought, but he soon came to the conclusion that she would want him to be happy. That was all she had ever wanted from him. ''But while she''s stunningly gorgeous, I don''t know her,'' Ss, having already been married once to an absolute beauty, didn''t simply care for looks. He also wanted the girl to have a good personality and get along with him well. He also knew that with his talents, he would eventually have girls lining up to marry him, and good lookers wouldn''t becking. Ss then decided to peek over at Thea to see what she was thinking. As he looked in her direction, Thea, who had done the same to him, quickly looked away with a shy and red face. ''She''s embarrassed?'' Ss thought, somewhat surprised at the stark difference from the battle-crazed warrior from before to the sweet and shy girl now. "What do you think, Ss?" Charles suddenly said with a big pat on his back. Ss looked back up to the surrounding people and then to Charles, his great-grandfather, and then over to Oscar, the Redstone Patriarch. "I, umm..." he quickly started. ''What should I say?'' "I think Thea is a lovely girl. She is extremely talented, and I would be honored to marry such a person, but I think it would be best if we got to know each other first." Ss said the first thing that came to mind, avoiding saying yes or no straight out. This seemed like the perfect middle ground. "Oh yes, you two should spend some time together first. How about you stay here in my Redstone n as an honored guest for a couple of months or years, and you can get to know my precious Thea," Oscar asked with a smile Ss wasn''t aware he had. He also noticed that Thea''s face was now even redder, and she was staring at the ground. Ss thought about it for a moment, then looked over to his great-grandpa and his parents. Then he answered, "I would love to, but I have something else to do first, so it will have to wait untilter if that''s okay?" Upon saying this, he saw Thea breathe a breath of fresh air. "Ahh yes, how could a young and talented youth such as yourself not have things to do? So yes, after you have finished your obligations, pleasee down and spend some time here in my prefecture," Oscar said with a smile and a nod. "Yes, that sounds good," Ss said. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 12: -12- Secret

Chapter 12: -12- Secret

Soon the celebratory banquet ended, and the Armstrong n was on their way back home. After leaving the Redstone n, his parents, curious, came over to Ss on their mounts and asked, "Ss, you told the Redstone patriarch you had something you needed to do. What were you talking about?" They had no clue what he was referring to. "Yea, what are you on about? Could it be just an excuse to get rid of a pretty bride?" Red asked from his shoulder, to which his parents nodded. "No, that''s not it. I have no problem marrying Thea if I end up liking her. It''s just I want to further temper myself first. I want to travel around the wilderness by myself and experience the dangers of cultivation. Only in this way will I continue to progress. Plus, I''m only 16. I''m too young to get married," Ss answered honestly. After hearing his response, both of his parents had hesitant looks on their faces. Finally, his father asked, "Are you sure you want to travel alone in the wilderness? You do know how dangerous it is, right? There are Transcendent lifeforms spread around in various ces. You''re strong, but they could easily take your life." "I''m aware, Father, but you saw how strong I was in the tournament. Thea, a Transcendent lifeform, couldn''t even harm my body," Ss answered. "Yes, about that... How is your body so strong? You train in the Deste Emperor''s Path body refinement technique. It''s not supposed to be that powerful," his mother asked him. Ss just shrugged his shoulders. "I don''t know, maybe my body is just naturally strong." "Well, why don''t you let us think about it for a little while?" his father finally replied. Ss nodded his head. "Thanks for considering it." His parents then took their leave, leaving just Ss and Red alone on his mount. "What about you, big brother Red? Are you going toe with me on my journey?" Ss asked his first beastpanion, Red. "Of course, you''re my little brother. Who else is going to look after you if not me?" Red said as if he would be the one protecting Ss and not the other way around. *** After a couple of days of being back home in the Armstrong n''s north prefecture, Ss was training as usual when, all of a sudden, Red came flying in and said, "Ss, quickly go home. Your parents have made a decision about your journey," Red said in excitement. He had at first been a little scared about the journey, but over the past couple of days, Ss had talked it up so much he was looking forward to it. Plus, Ss had told him that when they left, he would tell him a secret. Ss and Red quickly ran back to their home, where Ss''s mom, dad, and even Red''s dad, Rey, who was Ss''s father Alexander''s beastpanion, were waiting. "Father, Mother, Red said you two had made a decision," Ss quickly said as soon as he walked in the door. Both his parents smiled faintly, and then after looking each other in the eye and a small subtle nod, his father began, "Yes, we''ve reached a decision. As long as you promise to not go too far off and to be extra safe¡ªthat means no challenging peak Transcendent beasts for training¡ªthen we will allow you to go." "Yes!" Ss said in joy. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," he said over and over again. "When can I leave?" Ss asked, ready to leave right now. "Your new ranked-grade scythe and robe will be here within the month, so you can leave after you have them. I know you aren''t a Transcendent lifeform yet, so you can''t use them to their fullest, but they are still better than what you have now," his mother said. Ss nodded his head and thanked them once again. *** Three weekster, his new scythe and robe arrived, and he quickly put on the ck and red-ented robe that fit like a glove. He tried out his new ck and red scythe, testing out its bnce and weight. "Shing! Shing! Bang! Bang!" He tested the scythe against some training equipment. Afterwards, he looked down at his new weapon with a smile and a nod. "It''s a very good weapon," he said, more than happy with it. *** The next morning, both Ss and Red were ready to go. They had long packed their spatial rings with everything they could possibly need and ''mapped'' out their journey. Ss, of course, only showed his parents what they wanted to see. He had internally nned for a much tougher path. But while he was mapping out his journey, he began to truly realize exactly how many beastsy hidden within the tall andrge mountains, as well as the wide and deepkes. This was because the beasts were extremely difficult to deal with. The beast leaders, as well as the local hegemons, such as the Armstrong, Redstone, and other ns of the Moonvale Mountain region, had long since decided on an unspoken agreement. Beasts wouldn''t go wildly ughtering humans on a wide scale, while the ns wouldn''t go all out to ughter the beasts. Both sides would stay their hands, maintaining a bnce of sorts. asionally, some smaller tribes would be destroyed and some beasts would be killed, but it was always within a manageable degree. Neither side wanted to cross the invisible line, knowing that once both sides'' true higher-ups took action, chaos would be all that ensued, and ns as well as entire regions of beasts would be wiped off Moonvale Mountain forever. Ss and Red both woke up bright and early, said goodbye to their parents, and before they could change their minds, they were off. *** After five hours of travel, Red finally said, "Alright, we should be far enough away now, and no one should be secretly following us. What is this secret you''ve been hiding?" Ss just smiled, but after Red''s relentless questions, Ss finally said, "Not yet. We''re not far enough." "Ok, if not the secret, then at least tell me where we''re really going," Red said, a little annoyed. "Fine," Ss muttered. He then stopped and pulled out his map of Moonvale Mountain. He pulled out a pencil and started to draw. "We''re currently here at Sundancer Peak. I told my parents we would be going to Ironw Crags, but in reality, we''re first going to Silverscale Marsh, and then after that, Nightspire Ridge, then Ashthorn Hollow..." Ss began to exin their entire journey from start to finish, with them even going to the very spots that his parents told him to avoid toward the end of their journey. "Why the hell would we go to some of these ces? I mean, Shatterpeak Canyon is home to a peak Transcendent emperor beast," Red said in fright. He was first excited by the new and improved travel route since it would be more exciting, but now he was shivering slightly. "Don''t worry. I should be a Transcendent lifeform by then, so I should easily be able to take him out. And even if I can''t, I have a backup method," Ss said, referring to his [Grim Reaper''s Eye]. Once he was a Transcendent lifeform, he would be able to instantly kill other Transcendent lifeforms. "How are you so confident that you will reach Transcendent lifeform so quick? And what is this backup method?" Red asked, confused. "Don''t worry. It''s all part of my secret that I''ll tell youter," Ss said. Red was then forced to hold in his deepening curiosity because no matter how many times he asked, Ss wouldn''t budge. *** The day and night quickly went by, and it was now early in the morning, with the sun still being a few minutes from popping up. "Morning, Red," Ss said with a yawn. "Eh, let me sleep some more," Red said without opening his eyes. "But don''t you want to hear my secret?" Ss said sarcastically. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 13: -13- Godeater Rat Kai Armstrong

Chapter 13: -13- Godeater Rat Kai Armstrong

"But don''t you want to hear my secret?" Ss said sarcastically. This immediately woke Red up. He shook his head, then hopped up on a nearby rock to get even level with Ss. "What is it?" Red had never been more curious in his life. He had always known everything about Ss¡ªwell, he at least thought he did¡ªbut now, all of a sudden, there was arge secret Ss had been hiding. "Alright, I''ll tell you, but you can''t tell a soul," Ss said. He had thought long and hard about this, but he finally decided if he couldn''t tell those closest to him his secrets, then what would be the point of having them? There was also the fact that Red would always be with him, and Ss was bound to have to use his [Grim Reaper''s Eye] eventually, so better to exin it now to save the poor bird from so much worry and to finally exin why his body was so damn tough. Plus, he just really wanted to tell someone. "I swear it on my soul," Red said, and he meant it. He would rather die than betray his brother. "Alright, well, look at this," Ss said as he opened his [Grim Reaper''s Eye] for the first time. When it wasn''t open, not a soul¡ªnot even the single other Grim Reaper King¡ªcould tell there was an eye there, but now that it was open, it was hard to miss. Red at first thought, ''What could it possibly be?'' Then he watched in surprise as a third eye appeared on Ss''s forehead. He didn''t know what this eye was, but he could sense pure death and destruction from the thing, almost like his soul was going to crumble from a mere gaze. The eye wasrge, about the size of a golf ball, and it was grey with a dark ck pupil. There were also random streaks of ck that spread throughout the eye, originating from the pupil. "What... what the hell is that?" Red said in slight fear, unable to calm himself. Seeing how scared Red was actually made Ss a little excited. ''This thing must be as deadly as my inherited memories and system suggest.'' "It''s my innate talent¡ªthe Grim Reaper''s Eye," Ss exined. "Innate talent? Why would you have an innate talent? You''re a human," Red asked. Only some beasts at the higher ranks would have innate talents, and while some were stronger than others, there was none stronger than the innate talent and divine ability of a Divine Beast. "Remember, you promised to keep this a secret," Ss said, asking for confirmation. Red quickly nodded his head. "Of course, I won''t tell anyone." "Alright, well, to be honest, I''m not really a human. I don''t know why," he lied about this part, not daring to bring up the system to anyone, even his big brother Red, "but even though both my parents are human, I''m actually a Divine Beast..." "Divine... divine... divine beast..." Red started to mutter. He wanted to say Ss was crazy and full of shit, but then again, that eye that was currently staring deep into his soul told another story. "Yes, I''m a Divine Beast. From my inherited memories, my race is called the Grim Reaper King. I''m the second one in existence," Ss further exined. "You''re the second... in existence..." Red couldn''t even properlyprehend how strong a Divine Beast was. His limited inherited memories of amon beast didn''t include such information, but he could somewhat start to tell how strong and talented such a being might be when there were only two to ever be in existence. "Yep," Ss nodded his head. "This is why I''m not worried about ranking up to Transcendent lifeform. It should be really easy for me to rank up. As a Divine Beast, I was supposed to be birthed naturally from the heavens as at least a Transcendent lifeform, if not higher, but somehow I was birthed by two humans, so I''ve been stuck at Mortal," Ss said. "Also, as you can see, my innate talent¡ªthe Grim Reaper''s Eye¡ªis very powerful. It allows me to kill anyone with a single look, as long as they are the same rank as me. So, once I be an early Transcendent lifeform, even peak Transcendent lifeforms will have to walk softly around me," Ss said with augh. "But remember, you can''t tell anybody. If someone powerful were to find out, how quickly do you think they would capture me, either to dissect my corpse or make me their beastpanion by force?" Ss reiterated. There were two types of beastpanions: those like Ss and Red, who were in a bond of equals, and those who were essentially ves who couldn''t go against their master''s will. After a few minutes went by with Red pacing, he finally somewhat calmed down. "I still can''t believe this. You''re actually a Divine Beast," Red said. "Yea, that''s why my body couldn''t be harmed by Thea once she ranked up." Ss exined. He himself couldn''t even quiteprehend how much stronger his fiendgod body waspared to other lifeforms. Not only was his fiendgod body just naturally stronger and more durable, but the divine ability [Reaper''s Immortal Husk] was also truly a top-tier divine ability. Unless one was a Divine Beast that specialized in defense, one could at most tie him in body strength and durability but not beat him. The gap between himself and others would only continue to increase the stronger he got and the longer he cultivated. "So is that it? No more crazy secrets?" Red said. At this point, the sun had alreadye up, which was what Ss had been waiting for. He was finally going to bring his Divine Beastpanion into the world, and he wanted to do it during the day. "Well, there''s one more thing..." Ss said with a pause. "Well, what is it?" Red asked. "You can''t ask how, but I have the ability to birth a second Divine Beast, and I''m about to do just that," Ss said. "Another divine..." Red at this point was almost too shocked and confused to think. Ss then started to interact with the system. [Would you like to create the Godeater Rat now or wait forter?] ''Create now,'' Ss said. [Loading...] [Creating...] [First, answer a couple of questions.] [Name of the beast?] ''Kai Armstrong,'' Ss said. He had long decided on a name. [Gender of the beast?] ''Male.'' He hadn''t thought of this, but he wanted another brother to travel with over a sister. [How should the beast refer to you? Father, brother, son, uncle...?] ''Uhhh,'' Ss began to think. ''He should call me second brother, and my big brother Red should be called first brother.'' He quickly made up his mind. He even added Red in there so that Kai would naturally think of him as a brother as well. [Creating...] [Spawning...] Ss then spawned the second Godeater Rat in existence. There was now a rat sitting on the rock beside Red. It was dark, parts of its fur looked like a shifting shadow, while other parts looked like darkness personified. Kai was currently looking around at its surroundings, and then after determining that it was in a safe ce, it looked over at Red curiously and then over at Ss. "First brother, second brother," Kai said with a nod. "Did he just call me first brother?" Red said, a little confused but also with a hint of pride. "Yeah, I told him to consider you his first brother since you''re the oldest, and I''ll be his second brother," Ss said. "So, you''re his brother, not his father?" Red wanted to rify. "Yeah, I didn''t really create him. I more or less just spawned him in, so I''m going to be his brother," Ss said. "Why are you two talking as if I''m not here?" Kai asked. "Oh, sorry, Kai," Ss quickly answered. "There''s no need to be sorry amongst us brothers. I was just curious if you two knew I was born with the intelligence of a 16-year-old since that is your age. I was even granted ess to some of your memories," Kai began to exin. Ss was surprised by the system''s ability, but then again, if it could make a normal human a Divine Beast and create a second one out of thin air, why couldn''t it share some of his memories? Ss then began to get a better look at Kai and tried to identify him. Instead of the normal information it gave him, he got something more simr to his own status. Name: Kai Armstrong Race: Godeater Rat (Divine Beast) Innate Talent: Soul Devourer Qi Cultivation: Early Transcendent Body Cultivation: Early Transcendent [Path of Shadow: Lesser Dao of Shadow Movement (Touched)] [Path of Darkness: Lesser Dao of Darkness (Touched)] [Path of the w: Lesser Dao of Grasping (Touched)] ''So he''s a Transcendent lifeform from birth,'' Ss thought with a mix of surprise and delight. He had been a little worried that Kai would be born like him as an early Mortal and have to start from scratch, slowly catching up to him, but that didn''t seem to be the case. It now looked like he was the one that would have to do a little chasing. ''He''s also already touched the Dao,'' this surprised him even more. He was still thinking about reaching Cosmic Resonance, and his new little beastpanion wasprehending the Dao since birth. ''This must be the true talent of a Divine Beast,'' he thought, while also thinking it would sure as hell be nice if he was granted this gift by the system. If it could give it to Kai, it could surely give it to him as well. "Alright, let''s go. You two have some training to do¡ªyou''re both so weak," Kai said with augh as he jumped down from the rock and disappeared before their eyes. Secondster, he appeared again 10 meters in front of them. He turned around and waved them on. "Come on, guys." *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 14: -14- Little kitty

Chapter 14: -14- Little kitty

Ss and Red quickly gathered what little they had taken out of their spatial rings at night and started to follow Kai. "Kai, do you know the way?" Ss asked, not sure if Kai was given these memories or not. "Yep, first we''re heading to Silverscale Marsh. Am I right?" Kai asked. "Yea, you''re right," Ss said. He would have to get used to this. Having someone with some of his memories was an odd feeling. "Hey, one of you two wouldn''t happen to have a spatial artifact, would you?" Kai asked. "No, sorry. I didn''t think about that," Ss answered honestly. "Damn, that sucks. I''ll just have to find a cultivator to kill and take theirs," Kai said nonchntly. "Hey, you do know you can''t just kill any random cultivator. That''s not how we are going to act," Ss said, hoping he hadn''t just spawned a crazed beast that cared nothing about humans. "Of course I know that. I''m somewhat based on your personality, after all. But being out here in the wilderness for as long as we are going to be, we''re bound to run into a bad apple or two," Kai exined his reasoning. "Well, I guess you''re not wrong about that," Ss said, happy that Kai seemed to have at least a semnce of human morals. --- After traveling quickly over the rough terrain for 12 hours, they finally made it to Silverscale Marsh. It was a mist-filled marsh where the ground was soft, and one had to watch their step to not sink in suddenly. It got its name from the silverscale serpents that filled its waters. They were small but quick snakes that liked to ambush their prey. (Small is rtive in this world. Large snakes can be hundreds, if not thousands, of meters long.) "Kai, don''t do anything to help me. Remember that I''m here to temper myself," Ss sent to both Kai and Red. Since they were his beastpanions, he could naturallymunicate directly with their souls as long as they weren''t too far apart. Ss even discovered that, with the help of the system, he couldmunicate with Kai regardless of the distance, as well as always locate him. He could tell which direction Kai was in and roughly how far. "You got it, boss. I''ll just stand around anytime something happens," Kai said as he jumped from branch to branch, clearly acting as if he was in a yground, not a deadly marsh. "Don''t just do nothing. Since you''re here, your job is to protect Red," Ss said. While Red was a Late Mortal qi and body cultivator, him being just a regrmon beast ¡ª and a raven at that ¡ª meant that hisbat abilities were next to none. Until he ranked up to a Transcendent lifeform, he would need the protection of his brothers. "Yea, I guess First Brother would need protecting. He''s even weaker than you," Kai said with a smirk and a smallugh. Red just rolled his eyes. There was nothing he could say. Not only was Kai right, but he was a divine beast. It was natural for him to look down on others'' talent and strength. "Actually, Red, you ride on Kai while we''re in the marsh. Kai, will youe down here and make yourself big enough for Red to stand on?" Ss said. "Alright, no problem," Kai said as he hopped down to the ground and suddenly grew to the size of arge dog. Being a Transcendent level fiendgod, he could naturally change his size to a limited degree. As a naturally small rat, he could easily grow to the size of arge car. While a human, upon reaching Transcendent, could grow even bigger, making themselves as tall as a giraffe. But while they did increase in size, their strength didn''t grow with them, so other than small creatures like Kai, most humans and beasts would just fight at their regr size. After Red hopped on Kai''s back, they entered the mist-filled marsh. "Bang!" It wasn''t long before the first silverscale serpent found their next target. The only problem? They didn''t attack therge human Ss ¡ª they attacked therge rat, Kai. But fortunately for Kai, he was both a divine beast and an early maintain body cultivator, so the serpent''s teeth just broke off against his fur. Kai then erged his w, reached out, and grabbed therge snake ¡ª roughly 10 meters in length ¡ª by the skull. "If they attack me, I can kill them, though, right?" Kai asked for confirmation, not wanting to mess up Ss''s training. "Yea, go ahead. It''s a mid Mortal beast anyway. I''m looking for an early Transcendent," Ss said. Kai then used a small hint of his w dao ¡ª the lesser dao of grasping ¡ª and squeezed. "Crunch!" The snake''s skull was immediately squished. ''Damn,'' Ss thought. To be able to just break a mid Mortal body refiner''s skull with just the grasp of his hand... Kai''s w dao was stronger than it sounded. "Ehh, so weak. Everyone''s so weak," Kai muttered as he quickly wiped his paw on the ground. ''I guess he needs to temper himself as well, and we''re just holding him back,'' Ss thought. "Hey, Kai, how about in a couple of days or weeks, you set off on your own adventure? Like you said, we''re too weak to travel with you right now," Ss said. "Nice! That sounds great!" Kai said, starting to get excited. "I''ll travel around with you guys for a little while and make sure you two get in the groove of things, and then, once you''re set, I''ll take off on my own for a while," Kai said with a nod, liking the sound of that. "Alright," Ss said. *** "Bronn, you did well, son," Thorne Ironhide, the leader of this hunting group, said to his son. "Thanks, Father," Bronn replied. "We would be going back to the vige empty-handed this time if it wasn''t for your great shot," Garrick Stonefist said as he patted Bronn on the shoulder. Bronn just smiled. This was only his third time going out hunting with his father''s hunting party, and he had managed to kill the white stag before it could get away. So now everyone in this group, plus their families, would be able to eat for the next day or two. (Remember, the beasts in this world are muchrger.) "I think it''s about time Bronn found himself a woman. As a prize for today''s haul, why don''t we pair him up with my eighth daughter, Brynn?" Rurik Wolfscar said with augh. He had been trying to get someone to marry his eighth daughter for years, but he never had any takers. Thorne frowned at Rurik''s statement, but before he could respond and turn the man down, one of the men in the group yelled. "Attack!" Thorne quickly looked toward the hunter, who was now thrusting forward with his spear. "Dammit! It''s a Transcendent lifeform! Everyone group up!" Thorne yelled in fear as he rushed to his son''s side. He was the highest-ranked warrior in the party, but he was only a Late Mortal in qi cultivation. He stood no chance against the Transcendent ck panther that was currently targeting them. He knew they were bound to lose many men here today. He just hoped his first son wasn''t one of them. --- Ss, Red, and Kai had spent thest week inside the Silverscale Marsh, but no matter where they went or how far they traveled, they just couldn''t seem to find a Transcendent lifeform. They were now a day''s walk outside the marsh, just calmly walking through the woods, when Ss heard a man yell, "Attack!" Ss, hearing the fear in the man''s voice, hurriedly rushed forward to look over the cliff, and down below him, about a mile away, he could see a group of Mortal warriors being attacked by an early Transcendent lifeform. "Kai, quickly go help them," Ss said to Kai. This was exactly what he had been looking for, but he couldn''t, in good conscience, leave those men to die. He knew he wasn''t as fast as the early Transcendent Kai, so he sent him ahead while he and Red continued to rush forward. --- Thorne fought the beast next to his men with all his strength. So far, they were just able to hold, with only two men having been severely injured so far. But he knew that at least a couple more would be severely injured, with some even dying, before they managed to kill the beast. Just when he thought he was about to lose another man, he saw a shadow from the corner of his eye. --- "Bang!" Kai slipped out of the shadow, erged his body to the size of a car, and grabbed the ck panther by the head. "Raaawrr!" "Hissss!" The ck panther roared and then hissed at Kai. "Calm down, little kitty," Kai said as he looked down at therge cat that was 10 meters in length. "Kai quit ying with it and kill it," Ss said as he walked up with Red on his shoulder. "But... don''t you want to fight it?" Kai asked, confused. He had thought he was supposed to capture the beast for his second brother. Ssughed, "It''s true I want to fight a Transcendent lifeform, but I don''t want to fight an already defeated beast." Ss pointed to therge cat that was clearly now shaking in fear. It was at first furious that it had been grabbed, but the more it struggled, and the more Kai acted as if it wasn''t there, the more afraid it was. It was a mighty Fierce Beast and a newly upgraded Transcendent lifeform, but it also knew that there were beasts in the surrounding regions that could kill it with a p, and it looked like he had just run into one of them. Kai looked down at the beast with pity and said, "I''ll tell you what, little kitty, if you submit to one of these men here, I''ll let you live." *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 15: -15- Transcendent beast

Chapter 15: -15- Transcendent beast

Upon hearing this, the men from Ironfang Vige smiled,ughed, and howled with joy. They, a weak and insignificant n whose highest-ranked warrior was a peak Mortal qi refiner, would have a Transcendent lifeform as their vige guardian. The beast quickly hissed again, clearly not willing to submit. Its pride as a Fierce Beast would seemingly not allow it. "Oh, you won''t submit," Kai said as he started to squeeze with his paw, even using some of his w dao to more frighten the beast. The newly minted Transcendent lifeform had nevere across the dao before, but its status as a Fierce beast gave it enough inherited memories to have an idea of what it was, so it quickly began to behave itself. "That''s better," Kai said, loosening his grip. "Now speak," Kaimanded. "I''ll submit, I''ll submit," the beast cried. Kai smiled at this, then looked down at the group of men who, upon meeting his gaze, quickly quit smiling and were a little fearful. "My second brother wanted me to save you, so I saved you. Why aren''t you thanking my second brother?" Kai said in a serious tone. He liked ying with these backwater vigers very much; it was much more fun than walking through the marsh all day. The entire hunting party quickly dropped to their knees, and with a thump, all their heads quickly hit the ground as they bowed toward Ss. "We thank the young master!" "We thank the young master!" they all said. Ss just sighed and looked over at Kai, who was clearly enjoying himself. He could feel through their bond the pure amusement he was getting from this. Not wanting to ruin Kai''s fun, especially since he was the hero of the day, Ss quickly said, "That''s enough, my third brother was the one who saved you, and even captured you a Transcendent lifeform as your new vige''s guardian. Shouldn''t you thank him instead?" Kai''s chest, upon hearing this, swelled up, and he started to look down even more on these lowly humans. "We thank the young masters!" "We thank the young masters!" they all yelled. "Good, very good," Kai said with a nod of his head. "You," he pointed to one of the men, "speak, who is your leader?" The man quickly pointed to Thorne Ironhide, not daring to disobey Kai, "He''s our leader." Kai then turned his gaze to Thorne. He was arge man, about 35 years old, with scars all over his body. He looked like a battle-hardened warrior. "You, quicklye tame this beast. I''m tired of holding it," Kai said. The man quickly ran forward. Then, once he was in front of the beast, he just stood there. He quickly nced at Kai and then at Ss, "I''m sorry, young master, but... but I don''t know how." Kai just began tough. This sent a shiver down the man''s spine. Was he going to die now for wasting this being''s time, or worse, would he kill the beast out of frustration? This beast was going to be his vige''s lifeline. With this beast, they could finally be an official n and start growing their tribe. Ss, seeing the man''s fear, quickly said, "Kai, quit ying with the man." Kai just frowned and looked at Ss for a moment, "Fine," he said. "Little kitty, start the process, and it better not be a bond of equals," he said with a little shake of his paw. "Yes, yes," the ck panther quickly said as he started the process. A minuteter, the man was standing beside the majestic ck panther as he gazed at its beauty. He walked over to the beast and brushed his hand down its side, still somewhat afraid the beast would suddenly attack. "He''s your ve now, so don''t be so scared," Kai said as he shrunk down to his normal size, then jumped onto the back of the beast andid down on his back, propping his feet up on its head and starting to rx. Ss then walked down closer to the group and said, "Cat, speak, where are the other Transcendent lifeforms in the area?" The ck panther, even though it didn''t have to listen to Ss''s orders, only Thorne''s, didn''t dare refuse. It quickly started to list off every beast''sst known location, with even rumors thrown in the mix of where they might head to or could possibly be. "Turn into your human form and mark it down on the map," Ss said as he tossed his map down on a nearby rock. The beast was now in a dilemma. The second brother and the one that seemed to be in charge had told him to transform to human form, but the much scarier third brother was currentlyzing about on his back. Ss, seeing the beast''s conundrum, sent Kai a message, "Quit giving the beast such a hard time." Kai, with a harrumph, jumped down and propped himself up against a tree. The ck panther then transformed into its human form and marked down all the locations it knew of. "Very good," Ss said with a nod as he gave the map a nce over. "Now you," he began to talk to Thorne, "mark down your vige''s location on the map." Thorne quickly obeyed, and Ss then said, "Kai, Red, you two go back with them. I''m going to go hunt a beast or two, then I want to go see what this vige is like." Seeing these poor vigers made him think back to his previous life, and now he wanted to go check out their vige and look back on some of his fond memories. "Alright," Red said. "You got it, boss," Kai said as he hopped back on the of the ck panther. *** Twelve hourster, Ss stood alone in the Silverscale Marsh as he looked around for the Silverscale Serpent that was in control of this area. Based on his n''s reports, as well as the ck panther''s, this beast was suspected to be an early Transcendent lifeform. After a little more walking around, he finally managed to sense some movement on his left. ''Could this be it?'' Ss thought. This wouldn''t be the first time he had this thought, with him already having killed multiple Mortal Silverscale Serpents, but he could always hope. He quickly turned his head as he summoned his scythe. "Bang!" He blocked the snake at thest moment from taking his head off. ''Definitely a Transcendent lifeform,'' Ss thought as he reeled back from the beast''s attack. He then finally got a look at the 20-meter-long beast. [Silverscale Serpent (Beast) - Qi Cultivation: Early Transcendent - Body Cultivation: Early Transcendent] "Hisssssss!" The snake was furious it had missed the kill. How could a mere Mortal lifeform withstand its attack? Ss smiled at the beast, and without any words spoken between them, he began his attack. "Whoosh!" He shed forward, his steps not impeded in the slightest by the marsh. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" Ss attacked four times, three of which were decently blocked, but one managed to cut deep. "Hissss!!" "Human, how dare you enter this ce!" the snake yelled. "Why wouldn''t I dare?" Ss calmly said back. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" Ss continued his attack, but the snake blocked most of his blows with its hardened tail. It too had long since reached mastery level in both movement and weaponprehension. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" Ss at first struggled to keep up with the much faster and more powerful beast, but the more he fought, the stronger he got, and the more heprehended both his own weapon mastery and the snake''s attack style. "Shing!" "Shing!" Ss smiled at the beast, "You''re getting predictable." "Shut up and die!" the snake yelled as it sent another attack. "Whoosh!" Ss quickly dodged to the side. "Shing!" He got another attack in. At this point, he was toying with the beast. He was no longer getting anyprehension from the beast, so it had lost its value. "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" With three quick attacks, he killed it. "Thanks for the fight," he said as he put the beast into his spatial ring. "Hmm?" Ss quickly noticed a silver bracer and bent down to pick it up. It was a spatial treasure. "It looks like I have something to give to Kai." Ss then pulled out his map and looked for a nearby beast. "You it is," he said after making his pick. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 16: -16- Home away from home

Chapter 16: -16- Home away from home

After killing two more early Transcendent beasts over the next day, Ss decided it was time to take a break, so he headed toward Ironfang Vige. Soon, he was at the front gates of the small vige, and it was surprising to him how simr it was to the vige in his previous life. ''It looks just like home,'' Ss thought with a sigh. From the small wooden fences that could at most stop a Mortal warrior for a couple of seconds, to the wooden houses and tents, it looked like home. He couldn''t help but think back to his little vige and all the people in it. How were his parents? His cousins and uncles and aunts? Were his grandparents still alive? And most of all, he thought back to his wife, Lilian. Was she doing okay without him? Had she decided to get remarried, or would she spend her entire life alone? He wasn''t exactly sure which choice he wanted it to be, but he couldn''t help but think... "Halt!" a warrior at the front gate yelled. Ss stopped asmanded. While he was a scion of a major n which was also the prefecture lords of this verynd, he didn''t want to give these vigers a hard time. In a past life, he was these vigers; he was this warrior. There were many times he had to guard the front gate and make sure no random person could walk unannounced into his vige. "Who are you?" the warrior asked. Ss simply said, "My name is Ss." "Ss..." Before the man could finish, a group of men came rushing over, and right behind them, arge beast followed. The warrior quickly knew something was up, so he was on guard. Why had the new vige leader, Thorne Ironhide, and his magical beastpanione rushing to the front gate? But unknown to him, Ss had sent a message to Kai and Red, telling them he was here, and they were both currently sitting on the ck panther. Red was calmly sitting on its back, while Kai was standing on its head, almost as if he was charging into battle on top of his war horse. "Young master!" "Young master!" the group of men quickly all said. The warrior at the front of the gate was now worried and confused. Why was the vige leader bowing to this man? Argemotion was immediately created at the front gate, with both the current vige leader and the past vige leader, as well as the new vige guardian beast, all bowing to a young man at the front gate. A murmur of ''Who''s that?'' ''Who is he?'' and ''Young master?'' could be heard throughout the crowd of people. "Everyone, quickly bow and thank the young master!" Thorne Ironhide, the new vige leader, and Varric Ironfang, the old vige leader, both yelled. Everyone quickly stopped their discussions and, without asking questions, did as they were told, "We thank the young master!" Ss just stood there and slightly shook his head. This isn''t why he had wanted toe to the vige, but Kai likely had these people so tensed up that they must have thought he wanted it. "Please, everyone calm down. That''s not why I''m here. I''m just traveling by on my journey and need a good ce to rest for the night," Ss said. Thorne quickly stepped forward, "Of course, young master is always wee to our vige¡ªno, our tribe. Thanks to the young master''s kindness, we can upgrade from a small vige to arge tribe. If the young master has any request, even if you asked me to take my life right now, all requests will bepleted immediately." Ss just sighed, "No, that won''t be necessary, and please calm down. I just wish to experience your everyday life. Please treat me as a normal passerby." "Why would you want that?" Red asked, confused. "Boss, why would you want to be a normal viger?" Kai asked. While he had gained some of Ss''s memories, the system left out the memories of his previous life, as it considered them meaningless. "I just want to relive some of the good old days," Ss said. Both Red and Kai were confused and asked more questions, but Ss was just silent and walked further into the small vige and looked around. Soon, he found an abandoned tent, so he walked inside and decided he''d spend the night there. *** Hours went by, and soon it was the next day. Ss woke up with the sun and walked out of his tent, ready to see the vige go to work, just like in his past life. ''What should I do?'' Ss thought. He wanted to spend the day as a viger, so he changed his appearance to that of an elderly man and started to casually walk through the vige, not wanting to be bothered or bother anyone else. Soon though, he walked past a small stream that cut through the vige, and a young girl with silvery white hair and a young boy with brown hair, both around his age, quickly caught his attention. The girl, with her silvery white hair, looked very simr to his Lilian, while the boy, with his brown hair and scrawny build, resembled him from his past life. He began to think about whether he would ever be able to find Lilian again in this life. He now knew that the inheritance realm he was in was part of the universe called the Thousand Realm, so he also knew how unlikely it would be to ever find her and his old vige again. He didn''t even know which he was originally from, so how would he be able to find a random tiny vige on one of thousands ofrges? (Thes in this novel will be massive. They will each be muchrger than even the sun. I know this would be like impossible, especially due to the sheer gravity, but it''s fantasy, so...) He then began to watch the two youths as they went about their daily life alongside each other, just like he and Lilian had done for many years. *** Ss spent the next several months in the vige. Sometimes he would walk around as an elderly man and not bother anyone, while other times he would change into a young man where he would run around the vige helping people out like he did in his past life. But every couple of days, he would leave the vige and go challenge an early or mid-Transcendent lifeform, and then after the battle, he would return to his new peaceful little vige where he wouldprehend what he had just learned. *** Today was another day he was leaving the vige. He was going to Vermilion Falls to challenge a suspected mid-Transcendent lifeform. Soon, he was at the location, and the beast was in front of him. [Vermillion Leopard (Fierce Beast) - Qi Cultivation: Late Transcendent - Body Cultivation: Late Transcendent] "Dammit," Ss muttered. This was supposed to be a mid-Transcendent, which would already be a tough fight for him, but now it was a Late Transcendent. He didn''t think he could win. ''Looks like I need to make a jump in myprehension if I want to win,'' Ss thought. He knew he could always just call Kai toe. It wouldn''t take him more than about an hour or two running at full speed. That, or he could just use his innate ability. While it wouldn''t be able to one-shot the beast, it would sure as hell hurt it. But he was on this entire journey to further temper himself, and this was honestly the kind of challenge he needed. "Kai, you don''t have toe yet, but be prepared to leave at a moment''s notice," Ss sent to Kai through the system. While Red wouldn''t be able to sense Ss''s location with his current strength at this distance, Kai, like Ss, could sense him wherever he was, thanks to the system. "You got it, boss," Kai responded. "Okay, bring it on," Ss said to the beast. "You''re quite confident for a Mortal lifeform," the beast said with augh. "Whoosh!" It then took off. "Fuck," Ss said. He instantly knew that it had reached cosmic resonance in movement, so not only was he fighting a Late Transcendent lifeform for the first time, but he was also facing a beast at cosmic resonance for the first time as well. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 17: -17- Grim Reaper’s Eye

Chapter 17: -17- Grim Reaper''s Eye

[A/n: Idk if it was easy to pick up or not, but I''ll quickly exin; "Bang!" essentially means their attacks met like sword vs sword, and "Shing!" means an attacknded and someone took damage :)] [I''ll also add this for now on when I use ¡ª that means Ss was the one who took damage, so "Shing!¡ª" means Ss took damage, and "Shing!" means Ss dished out the damage. Pleasement if this is helpful or not.] "Whoosh!" "Bang!" Ss was instantly pushed back as he blocked with his scythe. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" The agile leopard hit him three more times in quick session, with one of its attacks even reaching his body and drawing blood. ''Dammit, it''s reached cosmic resonance in its w attacks as well,'' Ss thought, starting to feel a shiver of fear. This beast had the ability to kill him. ''I''ve got to be faster,'' he told himself. He was going to give himself one minute for a breakthrough and then call Kai for help. Then he would just have to hold the beast off long enough for him to get here, and if it was absolutely needed, he would just use his innate talent [Grim Reaper''s Eye]. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" ''I''ve got to hit harder.'' "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" The fight continued as the vermilion leopard continued its onught. It couldn''t wait to eat this young and fresh human that had entered its territory. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" After 30 seconds, Ss was able to get in one hit on the beast, but it barely did any damage to its strong fiendgod body. "That tickled," the leopard said with augh. "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" The leopard quickly dashed behind him with a feint. ''I''ve got to move,'' Ss told himself as he pulled deep from within him for some kind of connection. He knew he did not need to be hit by this attack. If he was, he would have to resort to his innate talent, which isn''t what he wanted; that would end the tempering session. The beast would still be tough to kill, but it wouldn''t be as life-threatening as it currently was, and this was the best opportunity for him to make a breakthrough. As he searched deep into himself and the world, his mind began to empty, and soon he felt it: the connection with the world energy, the connection to the cosmos. All he had to do was reach out and touch it. "Whoosh!" Ss took a step, and in a sh, he dodged the leopard''s attack. The leopard raised its eyebrows as it looked down at its ws. Why wasn''t there human blood on them? "Whoosh!" Ss, using his new connection with the universe, quickly created distance from the beast. The beast looked up, surprised. "You''ve reached cosmic resonance in your movement?" Ss simply nodded. "No matter, you''re still too weak," the beast said as it charged forward, but now it didn''t look quite as fast. "Whoosh!" "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" "Bang!" "Shing!" Ss once again managed to get in a hit, only this time his scythe drew blood. ''The world energy is right there. I just have to reach for it,'' he told himself as he began to try to mix his energy with the world and then infuse that into his weapon. "Whoosh!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" "Shiing!" Ss smiled at the now bleeding beast. He was now capable of hurting it. His weaponprehension was making progress at groundbreaking speed. "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shiiing!" ''Almost there,'' Ss thought as his thoughts began to slow and his mind began to clear. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" "Bang!" "Shing!!" He was so close now. It was within reach. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" "Bang!" "Shiing!!" His weapon could now infuse the energy; he just had to learn how to control the release. "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" "Bang!" "Bang!" "SHIIING!!" "Finally!" Ss roared as he took a huge chunk off the leopard''s shoulder. "You bastard!" the leopard yelled as it took a step back. Ss only had one word left for the beast: "Die!!" "Whoosh!" Ss dashed forward. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!¡ª" "Bang!" "Bang!" Ss continued to go back and forth with the beast, each one asionally able to get a good hit in on the other, but thanks to their strong fiendgod bodies, this damage was almost immediately healed. "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" The fight went on and on for hours with neither one of them able to end the fight. The vermilion leopard couldn''t believe it. How could it fight toe to toe with a mere peak Mortal lifeform? It was a high and mighty Late Transcendent lifeform and a Fierce Beast at that. "Die!!" the leopard yelled as its attacks became more crazed and more unpredictable. "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!" "Shing!" At first, this somewhat helped the beast, but Ss quickly got used to this crazed attack style as well. "I''ll kill you!!" the beast yelled. Its attacks continued to get crazier and crazier, and Ss could tell the beast was losing its mind in rage. Some beasts were known to have a high amount of pride, and once it was stepped on, they would slowly lose their minds trying to gain it back. Ss quickly understood that this fight was going nowhere anytime soon, and while he wanted to just get away, the beast wouldn''t let him. It continued to follow him, and the beast, being a higher-level body cultivator, was slightly faster than him, so he couldn''t get away. ''Am I going to have to call Kai to put an end to this beast?'' Ss thought, but soon he decided that he didn''t want to bother Kai with something he could handle himself. He quickly checked his surroundings and made sure no one was nearby, and after determining this was as safe a location as any, he opened his third eye¡ªthe Grim Reaper''s Eye. "What the hell is that!" the leopard yelled in fear. It had never been so scared in its life, not even when it was a small Mortal lifeform. The gaze from that eye looked like it could tear out its very soul. Ss had never used the eye, but from his inherited memories, he knew how to do it very clearly. With his eye open, he could very clearly see the soul of the leopard. It was a smaller copy of the vermilion leopard sitting down in the middle of its head. Ss then used the ability, and the ck veins in his eye started to bulge, and the leopard''s soul began to tear apart. "Ahhhhh!" the leopard yelled as its soul took arge hit. Ss quickly closed his eye in order to not give anyone the chance to see it. "Shing!" "Shing!!" "Shiiing!!!" Ss then took his opportunity to attack the beast and cut deep into its neck. "What did you do to me!" the beast howled in pain, barely able to control its body. "Shing!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!!" The beast wasn''t able to put up a proper defense. "What are you?!" the beast roared. "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!!" "Shing!" Where before they went back and forth, now the fight was being dominated by Ss. "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shiiing!!!!" And finally, with onest swing, the head of the leopard was cut off, falling hard to the ground. "Phew!" "Finally," Ss muttered. This fight hadsted for hours after reaching cosmic resonance, and while he wasn''t tired thanks to the durability and stamina of his fiendgod body, his mind was ready for a break. "The fight''s over. No need to worry," Ss quickly sent Red and Kai. "Nice. How strong was it?" Red asked. "Nice one, boss!" Kai said. After cing the corpse in his spatial ring, Ss set back off toward the vige. *** Hourster, he walked into the vige, and he used his connection to go find Red and Kai. "What''s up, boss," Kai said. "Wee back," Red said. "Thanks," Ss said. "Well, I reached cosmic resonance in my movement and scytheprehension, so Kai, if you want, you can go do your own thing for a while," Ss said after a moment of pause. "Really!" Kai said as he jumped up for the first time all day after justzing around. "Yeah, just head off whenever you want. You''re just as familiar with the surrounding regions as we are, so just be careful and don''t go stirring up trouble," Ss quickly added. "Don''t worry, boss," Kai said as he patted his chest, "I would never," he finished with a smirk. He then hopped down from the table and said, "Well, see ya." Then he phased into the shadows. "Wait!" Ss yelled. "What is it?" Kai asked. "Come back," Ss said with augh, "I''ve got a gift for you." No sooner than the words left his mouth, Kai was back on the table after hopping out of the shadows. "What is it," Kai asked, holding out his little paw. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 18: -18- There all dead

Chapter 18: -18- There all dead

"What is it," Kai asked, holding out his little paw. Ss justughed at the little mouse''s antics, then tossed him a small silver bracer. "I picked that up off a beast I killed a while back, thought you should finally have it for your trip," Ss said. Kai quickly snatched it up and slipped it on his arm, shrinking it down to his size. "Perfect," Kai said as he started to y around with it, putting various things that were sitting on the table in and out of the storage-type magic treasure. After about two minutes, Kai quit ying, then looked up at Ss and said, "Anything else?" Ss just shook his head. And like that, Kai took off again. He clearly couldn''t wait to go off on his own and see what he could find, what beasts he could kill, and what trouble he could cause. "Remember, don''t go showing off that you''re a divine beast, and don''t overuse your innate talent. We have to keep the fact we''re both divine beasts a secret, at least until we''re strong enough to protect ourselves," Ss sent Kai. "Don''t worry ''bout a thing," Kai sent back. *** Several weeks went by after Kai left, but not much had changed. The only thing that was different was that Ss was having an increasingly harder time finding a good fight to help temper himself and further hisprehension. He was currently walking around in Starfire Ascent. He had heard from a nearby beast that there was a new powerful beast in the area. After walking around for hours, he soon decided to take a small rest to just rx. So, he found a log to sit on and began to just enjoy the scenery. As he was looking around, though, he noticed on top of arge cliff there sat a cat-type beast. He quickly identified it. [Spatial Lynx (Emperor Beast) - Qi Cultivation: Early Transcendent - Body Cultivation: Early Transcendent] ''An emperor beast?'' Ss thought in surprise. This was the first one he had ever run across, with them being extremely rare in the Inheritance Realm. The highest-ranked beast one would usually be able to find in the Inheritance Realm was an emperor beast. ''Spatial lynx...'' Ss thought. While this specific beast wasn''t included in his inherited memories, based on the name and what little memories he did have on emperor beasts, it seemed like this beast would be quite talented and likely even had an innate talent. Its innate talent, however, wouldn''t be nearly as good as Ss''s [Grim Reaper''s Eye], with it being a bona fide divine ability. The innate talent of this beast would likely just have to do with an increasedprehension of space. ''It likely can more easily touch the grand dao of space,'' Ss thought. There were three levels to the dao, at least from what Ss knew from his inherited memories: there were the lesser daos, the grand daos, and the heavenly daos. The higher a cultivator reached, the higher they would have toprehend the dao, and the higher the dao, the harder it was toprehend. So the innate talent of the spatial lynx being able to more easily touch a grand dao could be considered a not-too-bad innate talent. The spatial lynx was currently asleep, but after staring at it for more than five seconds, it quickly opened its eyes, looked around for a moment, and then it quickly narrowed in on Ss''s location. Ss immediately smiled once their gazes met, and the lynx then calmly stood up and began to slowly climb its way down the steep cliff, jumping from small rock to small rock. As it made its way down, Ss too made his way closer to it, but before he couldpletely close the distance, a bird flew down andnded on a nearby tree. [Hawk (Beast) - Qi Cultivation: Late Transcendent - Body Cultivation: Late Transcendent ] Upon seeing that it was just a normal beast, he quickly ignored it, not at all interested in fighting amon beast, even if it was a Late Transcendent lifeform. "You have no right to meet the gaze of the new king of this region," the hawk said. Ss just kept walking forward, not bothering with the small bird. The bird, seeing that it was being ignored, flew to the ground 10 meters in front of Ss and transformed into its human form. "A mere Mortal lifeform thinks he can battle our king?" It then took three steps forward and brought down its palm on Ss. Before Ss could meet its palm, the spatial lynx called out, "Stop it. You''re not his match!" The hawk quickly pulled back its hand, took a step back, and turned to look at its king in surprise. "My king, could you...?" "I''m going to fight this human myself," the spatial lynx said, its eyes never leaving Ss. Ss then pulled out his scythe and took one step forward, closing the distance in a sh. "Whoosh!" "Bang!" He used one attack to test the beast. "You''ve reached cosmic resonance in both," the lynx said, just making an observation. "So have you," Ss said back. "Whoosh!" "Bang!" The lynx took a step this time, closing in within a second. "You don''t seem to have made any progress in your grand dao of space," Ss said. He wasn''t sure if the lynx was holding back for his sake, but he didn''t think this was it. "You know what I am?" the spatial lynx said in surprise. "Yes, I do," Ss said. "I''m surprised. I''ve never met someone who could tell what I am," the lynx said. "Have you never met a second emperor beast before?" Ss asked. He was curious if this beast knew where another one was. "Em... emperor beast..." the hawk said in surprise, unable to quite believe its king was a mighty emperor beast. It knew that its king was extremely strong to only be an early Transcendent lifeform, but it just thought it was an extremely talented fierce or maybe even king beast¡ªbut an emperor beast? It had never dreamed of this. "No, I have not," the lynx said, ignoring the hawk. "Enough words. Let''s battle," the lynx said after a moment. "Agreed," Ss answered back. "Whoosh!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!¡ª" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!¡ª" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" They went back and forth, neither one able to get a leg up on the other, but both of them could feel theirprehensions takingrge strides. "Shing!" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!" "Shing!¡ª" *** Ss soon left the beast, neither one able to do anything to the other, but he knew he would be back. *** Months went by, every couple of days Ss going to find the spatial lynx for a spar. He was now 17 years old, and he decided to further increase his height and change his appearance more to that of his past life, getting rid of his youthful look. He now looked just like he did in his past life, only in this life, he wasn''t weak and scrawny. He was well-built with just enough muscle to look strong, but not too much to look beefy. It was the perfect in-between. If his wife Lilian or his parents from his previous life were to see him now, they would surely think they had gone back in time, and instead of their wife/son dying in the war, he became a strong warrior instead. *** Ss was currently fighting the spatial lynx for the countless time, and he was feeling closer and closer to the Transcendent breakthrough he was aiming for. He even thought it was possible it would happen after this battle. For him, as a Grim Reaper King using the Fiendgod Body Refinement Technique from his inherited memories, he had to learn to merge both death and destruction together to make the leap from peak Mortal to early Transcendent . So, this is what he had been pondering on for thest couple of months as he fought the spatial lynx. "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!" "Shing!¡ª" They had both made huge strides in theirprehension, and while they each could easily kill their past selves in a couple of moves, they were still unable to do much to each other. "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!¡ª" Just as Ss and the lynx were getting good and in the groove of battle, Ss suddenly heard Red''s flustered voice in his head. "Ss, Ss, Ss!" Red repeated over and over again. Unlike Ss and Kai, Ss and Red had to be near each other tomunicate spiritually, so Red had been rushing toward Ss as fast as he could while calling out his name to grab his attention. Ss quickly pulled back from the fight, to the confusion of the spatial lynx. It thought he might finally be having a breakthrough, so it decided not to disturb him. At first, it didn''t like this human that much, but the more it battled and the more itprehended thanks to the human, the more it started to see him as something akin to a friend? Maybe? But definitely not an enemy that had to be killed. "Red, I''m here. What is it?" Ss asked in a panic. What could possibly have happened to make his big brother so flustered? "Dead! They''re all dead!" Red yelled. "What? Who''s all dead?!" Ss asked, panicked. Could his Armstrong n have been annihted? Could some enemy n have mounted a sneak attack? What else could it be? This was the only thing he could think of. "Kai, quicklye to me," Ss sent Kai, the strongest of them. If his n was dead, it was possible he was also a target. "I''ming, boss. Hold tight!" Kai quickly sent. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 19: -19- Death and Destruction

Chapter 19: -19- Death and Destruction

"A beast, arge, strong beast, killed them all!" Red said, so flustered and happy to finally meet his brother that he didn''t hear Ss''s question. "What, a beast?" Could a beast have wiped out his n? It was unlikely¡ªthere shouldn''t be a beast strong enough inside the inheritance realm to go unnoticed, enter his Armstrong n, and kill everyone. ''Wait, the vige,'' Ss suddenly thought as he began to rush toward the Ironfang vige that he had called home for close to a year. "Yes, a beast! A peak Transcendent lifeform killed everyone! The entire vige is dead! It''s gone!" Red finally confirmed his fears. ''Dammit!'' Ss thought as he ran toward the vige. While he wasn''t from the vige and didn''t have any family there, he had grown to love that little vige, and he had even started to consider it his vige to fill the hole his previous vige held in his heart. Ss eventually crossed Red''s path, and after about an hour at his top speed, he made it to the vige. "Dammit!" he yelled. The entire vige was gone; what little remained was currently being burned down. "Not a soul survived. I barely managed to escape," Red said. Ss walked forward to where the front gate had previously been, and he was surprised at the gruesome scene. While the beast that attacked had ughtered and eaten all the humans, it didn''t seem to want to do that to the vige guardian, the early Transcendent ck panther. It had hung its corpse up by its tail on a beam it had nted in the ground. Ss could tell the beast had fought hard for its life and the vige, but it was no match for a peak Transcendent lifeform. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Ss yelled. He then started to walk through what was left of the vige. First, he walked to the ce he had lived for the past year, and after that, to the stream... About two hourster, Kai finally rushed into the vige. "First brother, second brother, are you both ok?" he yelled as he entered the vige. "Yes, we''re over here!" Red yelled. Ss was currently sitting on a rock, thinking about the past of both this vige and his previous one. How was his vige doing? Was it still ok? Did the war affect it? Had a beast crossed its path and destroyed it? After another 20 minutes of silence went by, he looked up to Kai, who was standing beside Red on a branch of a tree, and said, "Kai, I want you to go find that beast and bring it to me." Kai quickly nodded his little head, "You got it, boss." Kai then took off, following the scent of the beast. They were both Transcendent lifeforms, so they couldn''t fly yet, and the beast was clearly not a bird type since its trail was there and easy to follow. *** Three hours went by, and while Ss was waiting for Kai''s message of the mission''s sess, he was surprised at first and then slightly saddened to see Kai walk back into the vige with his hands empty and a sad look on his face. "Kai, what happened?" Ss asked. He knew something had to have happened¡ªthere was no way Kai had just decided to give up on the mission for no reason. "I''m sorry, boss," Kai said with his head held low. "I tried, but the beast was too strong... If it was a peak Transcendent beast alone, I could have handled it easily, but it''s also a king beast that''s managed to touch one lesser Dao of the fire type, so I could at most fight it to a standstill," Kai exined. "Damn," Ss said with a sigh. "I''m sorry, boss. If I had cultivated a little more instead of ying around so much, I wouldn''t still be an early Transcendent lifeform, and I would have been able to capture it," Kai said, his head down. "Don''t worry, Kai. It''s not your fault... Besides, I kind of wanted to kill the beast myself, so once I''m strong enough, I''ll do just that," Ss said, making a promise to both himself and the vige. "So what kind of beast was it?" Ss asked. "It was a red scorch crocodile," Kai said. He then shared a prompt. [Scorch Crocodile (King Beast) - Qi Cultivation: Peak Transcendent - Body Cultivation: Peak Transcendent] *** Three weeks quickly went by. Kai had once again split off on his own, this time saying confidently that he wouldn''t y around as much and would actually try to cultivate a little. Red no longer had a vige to stay in, so he followed Ss around and was currently watching Ss battle the lynx while sitting next to the Late Transcendent hawk. Ss still hadn''t managed to reach Transcendent yet, but he knew it was any day now, so he kept battling the spatial lynx. *** Ss was now sitting on a rock overlooking a vastke, thinking about his newprehensions. ''How does this rte to death and destruction?'' Ss pondered. To rank up as a Transcendent lifeform in his body cultivation, he would have to fuse both death and destruction together. This was the path his Grim Reaper King Fiendgod refinement technique took him down. This was the path of the Grim Reaper King. As the darkness deepened, Ss stood up and walked to the edge of theke. He stared into the murky water, seeing only his reflection and the swirling shadows beneath. His thoughts returned to all his training over the past year. His scythe was an instrument of death, its de the creator of destruction. But no matter how hard he thought, merging death and destruction, creating a bnce between them, seemed impossible. The more he thought, the more he realized he hadn''t even begun to grasp the core principles. "The fusion of death and destruction," he muttered. "How do I merge something so profound?" His gaze then shifted toward theke. The reflection of thendscape seemed to shift with the wind, and he watched as dead leaves floated on the surface. They moved in circles, first to the left, then to the right, caught in an endless spiral. As the wind intensified, the leaves were pulled under the water, consumed by the dark depths. Ss''s eyes widened as realization struck him. "The leaves... they spiral in both directions... but they never stop moving, never settle. They are pulled down into the depths, where they disintegrate into nothingness. That is the bnce. The spiral of death and destruction... one feeding into the other." His breathing slowed, and his senses heightened as he attuned himself to the world around him. He could feel the subtle shift in the air, the creeping chill of death in the night wind, and the underlying current of destruction. Slowly, his thoughts, his body, and his spirit began to merge with these elements, drawing him closer to a greater truth. The energy surrounding him thickened, and Ss felt a powerful resonance with the forces of death and destruction. His consciousness expanded, touching upon a primal force that had existed since the birth of the universe. He could see it now¡ªan endless cycle of creation and devastation, of life and death. And within that cycle, the path of the Grim Reaper King was clear. Ss sat down in a lotus position, letting his spirit fully immerse in the dark essence surrounding him. He closed his eyes, focusing on the profound insights that had begun to form. His breathing became shallow, his body still, as he reached out to the eternal forces of death and destruction. Suddenly, from the darkness of the night, shadows began to gather around him. Wisps of ck mist coalesced, forming jagged, ethereal shapes that danced in the air. A faint, eerie glow emanated from Ss''s body as dark energy wrapped around him, forming a barrier of shadow. Two enormous leaves of darkness began to manifest¡ªone leaf forged from the energy of death, the other from the energy of destruction. They swirled around him slowly, one turning left, the other turning right, creating a strange harmony in their opposing forces. The swirling energy drew power from the very air, the earth, and the decay that permeated the forest. The two leaves, ck as night and filled with an aura of finality, continued to turn, fed by the inexhaustible well of destruction and death. At that moment, Ss realized the significance of his breakthrough. He had be a conduit for the forces of the Grim Reaper King, death and destruction. As long as he remained in this state, he could harness the essence of death and destruction without effort. It was the first step toward true mastery. From the shadows of the forest, a pack of Mortal Dire Wolves watched him from a distance, their eyes glowing in the darkness. The leader of the pack, a hulking ck beast with fangs like daggers, growled low in its throat. The scent of death surrounding Ss only fueled their hunger. The wolves began to advance, their bodies low to the ground, ready to pounce on their seemingly defenseless prey. But as the first wolf leaped into the air, aiming for Ss''s throat, the swirling leaves of darkness responded. With a sickening crunch, the wolf was torn apart mid-air, reduced to nothing more than dust. The others hesitated, growling in confusion, but the oue was inevitable. The swirling energy shredded the wolves before they could evene close, leaving only silence in their wake. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 20: -20- Early Transcendent

Chapter 20: -20- Early Transcendent

The spatial lynx watched as the human began to draw more and more energy into its body. ''Dammit, he made a breakthrough before me,'' it thought, slightly disappointed in itself. It then looked to the side and saw two humans who hadn''t been there before, standing a long distance from Ss, just watching him. ''Who are they,'' it thought. *** As Ss sat in the lotus position, attuning himself to the swirling forces of death and destruction, a violent shift began to ur within his body. His mind, body, and spirit were in perfect alignment with the dark energies surrounding him. He could feel the ancient power of the Grim Reaper King technique stirring deep within his core, waiting to be unleashed. The world around him seemed to hold its breath. The wind stopped blowing, the trees stood still, and even the faint sounds of the nocturnal creatures ceased. In that stillness, Ss felt an overwhelming force surge through his veins¡ªdeath and destruction, two primal energies, intertwined yet opposing, now coursing through every fiber of his being. It was time for his mortal body to be reforged. Ss''s skin began to tingle, then burn, as the first wave of destruction struck him from within. His muscles convulsed, and his bones cracked under the pressure, but he remained still, his mind focused on the transformation taking ce. Every cell in his body screamed in agony as it was torn apart, disintegrating into ck, swirling ash. The essence of destruction itself was devouring him from the inside out, reducing his mortal flesh to dust. But as quickly as destruction had consumed him, death arrived to reforge what had been lost. The ck mist of death that surrounded him sank into his body, restoring the cells that had been obliterated. Yet, they were not restored as they once were. Each cell was reborn, imbued with the power of death itself¡ªstronger, more resilient, and pulsing with the dark energy of the Grim Reaper King. Ss''s bones, now reforged from the ashes, took on a dark, almost metallic hue, as if sculpted from the essence of the underworld. His muscles reformed next, each fiber infused with an unnatural strength, coiling like tendrils of shadow beneath his skin. His skin itself was rebornst, pale and cold, yet glowing faintly with a sinister aura, like the fog that rises from the graves at dusk. His very flesh radiated an aura of finality¡ªa touch of death that could extinguish life with the slightest brush. As the energies of death and destruction continued to cycle through him, Ss''s blood, now ck and thick like oil, coursed through his veins. No longer was it the lifeblood of a mere mortal; it had been transformed into something far more potent, carrying with it the power to erode life and dissolve matter. His heart, which had once beat to sustain his body, now pumped with the rhythm of decay, pulsing in harmony with the forces of annihtion and cessation. The transformation continued. From the depths of Ss''s mind, the mark of the Grim Reaper King began to form¡ªa series of intricate, dark patterns that appeared on his back. These tattoos, born from the death and destruction surging within him, glowed faintly, their design shifting like swirling smoke. The tattoos represented the core of his newfound power: the ability tomand death and destruction at will. His senses heightened as his body neared thepletion of its transformation. His eyes, now cold and gleaming like polished obsidian, could see beyond the veil of life, into the realm of the dead. He could sense the thin barrier between life and death, feel the subtle decay in everything around him. With every passing moment, Ss''s new body became more attuned to the forces of the Grim Reaper King. The deathly energies fed into the destruction that flowed through him, and in turn, destruction empowered the aura of death that surrounded him. The two forces were no longer at odds. Instead, they were bound together in a perfect, terrifying bnce¡ªan endless cycle of decay and annihtion, coexisting within him. Suddenly, a crack echoed through the air, and a surge of power erupted from Ss''s body. The energies of death and destruction, which had been swirling around him in the form of ck petals, coalesced onest time before sinking into his skin. His mortal body had beenpletely reforged, transcending its previous limits. Ss was no longer bound by the weakness of flesh; he had be something far more terrifying¡ªan avatar of death and destruction. The pain that had once wracked his body was gone, reced by an overwhelming sense of power and certainty. Ss stood slowly, flexing his hands and feeling the dark energy course through his limbs. His transformation wasplete, his body now the perfect vessel for the Grim Reaper King''s power. A deep, ominous silence hung in the air. The surrounding environment¡ªonce filled with the sounds of life¡ªseemed to have withered, decayed by the mere presence of Ss''s reformed body. The pool of water nearby had turned stagnant, its surface covered in a thinyer of ck scum, and the dead trees surrounding him seemed to lean away, as if recoiling from the sheer force of his presence. His body had been reborn, not as a mortal warrior, but as an embodiment of the Grim Reaper King. Death and destruction now flowed through his very being, ready to be unleashed upon the world. "What is this power?" Ss thought as he clenched his fist. He couldn''t quite believe the power his body now held. His strength had taken a huge leap up, with his bodily strength as an early Transcendent lifeform being equal to that of a Late Transcendent lifeform whose fiendgod body refinement technique was specialized in strength. Ss''s body had now been reforged and was even more powerful than a natural fiendgod that was birthed by the heavens and the earth. He could also now start on cycle 2 of the [Reaper''s Immortal Husk], but unfortunately, there was no duel cycle on cycle 2 the only way to master cycle 2 was through the use of precious natural treasures and essences, so he was unlikely to master cycle 2 and have his body reach the durability of a rank 3 weapon anytime soon as long as he was in this small inheritance realm. Ss then turned his attention to his newprehensions. He had finally managed toprehend the path, the way, the Dao. First, he decided to look at his status. Name: Ss Armstrong Race: Grim Reaper King (Divine Beast) Innate Talent: Grim Reaper''s Eye Qi Cultivation: Peak Mortal Body Cultivation: Early Transcendent [Path of Death: Lesser Dao of Rot (Minor Completion)] [Path of Destruction: Lesser Dao of Crumbling (Minor Completion)] ''While I don''t have a weapon path for now, my other two Daos have finally surpassed Kai,'' Ss thought. Kai still had only barely touched on all three of his Daos, with him not spending enough timeprehending the Dao; hisprehensions hade to a natural halt. Ss then raised his hand, watching as tendrils of ck mist¡ªthe energy of death¡ªsnaked between his fingers. His gaze shifted upward, and with a thought, a wave of destructive energy erupted from his palm, crumbling the earth in front of him into dust. "Wow," Ss muttered. He then reached forward with a thought and picked up a branch that had fallen to the ground. ''I''m already capable of using my divine will,'' Ss thought, a little surprised. Divine will, generally speaking, was something only rank 4 adepts had. ''Now all that''s left is to develop my divine sense,'' Ss thought. The divine sense was something meant for rank 5 sages. *** Moments before, while Ss was undergoing the transformation. "Master, what is that energy?" the peak Transcendent qi cultivator asked. "I''m not sure what technique this Armstrong n youth has managed to find, but it is beyond profound... I believe that is even the manifestation of a Dao higher than a lesser Dao," the master, an early rank 3 disciple, said in slight awe. He had recognized Ss from the battle of the region, and he really wanted to capture him and dig out his secrets. ''If this youth is permitted to grow, he will definitely be the number one person of Moonvale Mountain, even surpassing the Redstone n''s patriarch,'' the master thought. "Quickly prepare yourself to kill him once his transformation stops," the master said. "Why wait until it stops?" the peak Transcendent qi cultivator asked. "Because, like I said before, I believe that is the manifestation of a Dao even higher than a lesser Dao. Even if I were to attack, it would likely result in nothing. Plus, there is a slight chance the boy would be able to harness some of the energy to kill me instantly," the master said. The peak Transcendent qi cultivator then began to pull out several formation gs, as well as calling his beastpanion¡ªarge brown bear. "Come on, Gram, help me kill this youth," the peak Transcendent qi cultivator said. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 21: -21- I’ve got to have it

Chapter 21: -21- I''ve got to have it

After messing around with his divine will for a moment, Ss sensed something to his left. He quickly turned and saw a bear seemingly appear out of nowhere. [Brown Bear (Beast) - Qi Cultivation: Late Transcendent - Body Cultivation: Late Transcendent] Ss could now effortlessly kill this beast with his scythe and a hint of his divine power(divine power is the energy of body cultivation), but he wanted to use his Dao for the first time. He first split his mind, using one to employ the Lesser Dao of Rot and the second to wield the Lesser Dao of Crumbling. Instead of using rotating leaves, he transformed the Dao into four sickles rotating around each other¡ªtwo for death, two for destruction. The bear continued to close the distance, ignoring what Ss was doing and not at all aware of the significance of those sickles made from Ss''s peak Mortal Qi. Soon, the bear closed in enough for Ss to entrap it with the four sickles. He then began to grind down on the bear. As the sickles revolved, the bear, caught between them, felt nothing¡ªnot even pain¡ªbut it knew something was wrong. Before long, its entire body seemed to lose all feeling. Soon after, the bear''s brain rotted and then crumbled to dust, dying painlessly. While the above took time to describe, a battle between experts was incredibly fast. From the moment Ss created the sickles to the moment the bear died, only a heartbeat''s worth of time passed. "Damn," Ss muttered, his heart filled with surprise and delight. He had just killed a Late Transcendent lifeform with next to zero effort. The peak Transcendent Qi cultivator, currently standing outside the formation looking in, was now furious. His beastpanion had been executed instantly. ''Within my Four-Seal Entrapment Formation, even if you are incredibly talented, you will still die a horrible death!'' the young man thought. (Once again, ''young'' is rtive¡ªthe man is in his 40s, which is young by a cultivator''s standard.) "Boom!" Suddenly, lines of red energy began to surround Ss from all sides. "Hmph!" Ss harrumphed. He now knew someone was definitely targeting him and that he was likely trapped inside a formation. ''They must have seen me breaking through and now want my secrets,'' he thought. He instantly created the four sickles again, using very little of his peak Mortal Qi. The sickles began to rotate. The outeryer was made of death sickles, which first started to rot the energy, and whatever energy managed to pass through was crushed and crumbled by the destruction sickles Lesser Dao of Crumbling. No matter how many times the energy crashed against the rotating sickles, no energy was able to break through to Ss. "What? How is this possible?!" the peak Transcendent Qi cultivator was shocked. His formation was extremely strong when used with his peak Transcendent Qi. It was more than strong enough to grind down even a peak Transcendent body cultivator, but now it wasn''t able to get past the youth''s mysterious sickles made of mere peak Mortal Qi. But how could the man know that not only had Ss reached minorpletion in two Daos, but the Lesser Daos he controlled were much stronger than normal Lesser Daos on the path of death and destruction, with hisprehension of the two Daosing directly from his Grim Reaper King Fiendgod body refinement technique as well as from his Grim Reaper King bloodline itself? Ss had initially enjoyed using his new Daos, but he was starting to get tired of this attack. He quickly dashed forward toward where the bear had appeared from, his four sickles continuing to surround him as he ran. "Dammit!" the peak Transcendent Qi cultivator eximed upon seeing this. His formation was an entrapment formation, but if the traps weren''t able to keep the enemies in the center, they could easily escape. "Whoosh!" Ss quickly broke past the formation gs, and with him now being outside the formation, he could clearly see his surroundings again. To his left stood a tall,nky man. [Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Transcendent - Body Cultivation: Early Mortal] (Remember, early Mortal body cultivation means they aren''t body cultivators, strictly Qi cultivators.) "Die!" Ss yelled as he controlled two of his sickles to chase after the man. "I have to run!" the man yelled, scared for his life. He was just a peak Transcendent Qi cultivator¡ªhow could he fight head-on with a body refiner whose transformation had been so profound? Before this, he had first relied on his beastpanion to fight at close range, and then on his formations. But now there was nothing between him and the youth, and fighting a body refiner at close range was suicide for a Qi cultivator. ''An early Transcendent whose battle power is this strong... he''s a monster. But my master will surely want to see him dead,'' the man muttered to himself, thinking his master would surelye to save him soon. "Yes, my master will surely kill you and take your secrets," he said as he continued to flee. "He fucking ran!" Ss said, a little angry. The man had trapped him in a formation and tried to execute him, but now he was just going to run away. He quickly began to chase. His movementprehension, mixed with the strength of his new body, made him extremely quick. The man turned back and noticed Ss giving chase, slowly gaining on him. ''How could an early Transcendent be so fast?'' he thought in fear. He then pulled out a divine movement seal. It was a beige, leaf-like paper seal that looked to be covered in veins of blood, with weird runes drawn on it that rippled with aura. He sent his Qi into the seal, and his body began to speed up. Seconds went by. ''It''s not enough!'' he thought as he pulled out a second movement-type seal. ''It''s still not enough!'' he yelled internally as seconds went by, but Ss was still running on par with him. He quickly pulled out his third andst movement-type seal. After using the third seal, he finally started to increase the distance between the two of them. Now he just had to run for about 10 more seconds, and he would be by his master''s side. Then surely his master would take action and capture or kill the youth. "Damn, he''s getting away," Ss said through gritted teeth. If this had been a random beast that attacked him and then quickly realized his strength and ran, he might have let it off. But this was a human who had seen his power firsthand, and instead of being proud of another human''s strength, had clearly wanted to dig out his secrets for himself. The man had to die. Ss quickly pulled out his [Grim Reaper''s Eye] and saw the man''s soul, then attacked. "Ahhhh! Master, save¡ª" the peak Transcendent Qi cultivator yelled out in pain, but since he was the same rank as Ss and Ss used his innate talent and divine ability, the man stood no chance of getting away. "Master?" Ss thought, slightly panicking. ''Was he just trying to scare me before his death?'' Ss quickly thought. ''No, he had no idea he was going to die instantly. He must surely have his master close by,'' Ss began to panic. While he was much stronger now, he wasn''t sure how strong he truly was, and the man''s master was likely much stronger than him. "Kai, I need you toe now!" he quickly called Kai, who was currently a little less than a hour away from him, but if Ss rushed toward Kai as well, they could meet in half the time. He wasn''t exactly sure, but he felt he could use his innate talent one more time today, so if he used it and Kai used his innate talent twice, just maybe they would be able to weaken the master enough to get away or even kill him. "On my way, boss," Kai quickly sent back. "Red, just stay where you are and he shouldn''t notice you," Ss sent to Red, who was still perched in a tree next to the spatial lynx and the hawk. *** Moments before. The master and Early Rank 3 Disciple watched as his disciple began to attack Ss Armstrong. ''Surely the secrets from this boy will help my Riverstone n,'' he thought. He was an elder and retired lord prefect of the Riverstone n, which was slightly stronger than Ss''s Armstrong n. He continued to watch his disciple, whom he had brought here to temper himself. While he knew his disciple couldn''t handle the youth, it was a good chance to further temper him, so he allowed it. - - - ''It''s time for me to take action,'' he told himself, as his disciple was now 10 seconds away from him, being chased by the Armstrong youth. He then watched as a grey and ck eye appeared on Ss''s forehead, an eye that even managed to make his soul tremble slightly. ''What is that...?'' he thought, at the same time hearing his disciple cry out in pain. "Ahhhh! Master, save¡ª" His disciple then fell to the ground dead, but he didn''t really care about that at the moment. All he wanted to know was what that eye was. It had to be a godly divine ability to be able to kill his disciple, who was several sub-realms above him, instantly. (He''s not referring to the divine ability/innate talent of a divine beast; he''s just referring to man-made divine abilities.) What could he do with this kind of power? Could he dethrone the long-standing hegemon of this region, the Redstone n? ''I''ve got to have it,'' he told himself as he moved. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 22: -22- Wait! Wait! Wait!

Chapter 22: -22- Wait! Wait! Wait!

Ss continued to run full speed toward Kai, but just as he thought he might get away, he sensed movement behind him. He quickly turned his head and saw an old man flying toward him at an extreme speed. [Human - Qi Cultivation: Early Revolving Core - Body Cultivation: Late Transcendent] "Dammit!" he yelled. "Kai, hurry!" he sent. He knew that at the speed the old man was flying, he would close the distance in a few seconds, and Ss was still about 10 minutes away from Kai. Time went by, and soon the old man was flying beside Ss. The old man was confused as to why Ss was running in the direction he was, as his Armstrong n was in the other direction. "Stop!" hemanded. "Why should I stop?!" Ss yelled, not even thinking about stopping for a moment. "Because I am your elder, and I havemanded you to!" the old man said. "You are clearly an elder of the Riverstone n, not my Armstrong n. So whose elder are you? You''re not mine," Ss said. "Hmph! I was going to be kind, but you leave me no choice," the Riverstone elder said as he stretched out his erged hand, attempting to capture Ss. "Bang!" Ss quickly sent out an attack with his scythe. "Hmph!!" the elder harrumphed as he quickly realized the strength of Ss''s body cultivation was even slightly stronger than his own. ''All your secrets will be mine,'' he thought as he pulled out his Spiritual grade(rank 3) sword. "Whoosh!" The elder swung out his attack with his cosmic resonance-levelprehension. "Bang!" This time Ss stopped for a moment and sent out an attack with his scythe that had his destruction path lesser dao of crumbling infused into the strike. ''What the hell?'' the elder said, confused as to what had just happened. He had never fought against someone with a dao before, so he wasn''t sure what the secret strength behind Ss''s attack was. ''It looks like this boy has even more secrets he''s hiding,'' the elder thought. He now believed that Ss''s weapon had to have something special about it. Could he have found a Heaven(rank 5) ranked sword? There were only three known owners of Heaven-ranked treasures in this inheritance realm, and they were each owned by extremelyrge and powerful ns that could easily destroy all of Moonvale Mountain with just one or two of their cultivators. Luckily, they were all extremely far away from Moonvale Mountain, and Moonvale Mountain had nothing of value that they could ever want. The elder quickly sent out several more attacks. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" But no matter what he did or how hard he attacked, he could do nothing to Ss, who continued to run. ''If only the n patriarch would give me more magic treasures,'' the elder thought. Inside this inheritance realm, high-ranked magic treasures were rare, with them only being brought in by those few who stumbled upon thisnd from the outside world. So the only treasures that came in were those few weapons that happened to be on the cultivators who entered. Knowing that he could do nothing to Ss with his strong body and Heaven-ranked weapon, the elder decided toy down a formation. He quickly flew to the left, then wrapped around to where he suspected Ss would run, and began to set up a veryrge formation called the [Bewilderment Mist Formation] that he nned to trap Ss in and slowly wear him down until he was out of divine power. It only took him a few moments to set up the formation, and not even 20 secondster, Ss entered its range. The elder poured his Revolving Core Qi into the formation, activating it. Ss had first been confused when the Riverstone elder suddenly left, but he put it out of his head. The safest thing he could do was meet up with Kai, so he continued to run forward. But suddenly, there was a mist all around him that made him lose his way. ''How the hell do I get out of here?'' he thought. But the longer he thought about it, the more forgetful he became. He could think normally in all things, but the second he thought of escaping, he wouldpletely lose his train of thought and forget where he had been, so he could only endlessly wander around. After calming down, he began to think clearly, ''This has to be a bewilderment formation, but as long as I can sense Kai, I can find my way out.'' He began to follow his connection with Kai, but before he could exit the formation, the Riverstone elder quickly came rushing toward him. The elder was beyond surprised. When Ss first entered the formation, he had acted just as one would expect, but after a few moments, he seemed to figure out something and then made a beeline toward the direction he had been previously running. ''How the hell is he doing that?'' the elder thought as he rushed forward to stop Ss and keep him trapped inside the formation. He thought that as long as he could fight Ss, Ss would be unable to find his way out. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" They continued to battle, but Ss was just able to hang in there. However, the elder''s attacks were starting to leavesting marks. ''What is this boy?'' the elder thought, confused by three things. The first was why Ss was able to consistentlynd attacks. Ss did have a Heaven-ranked weapon, but they should both be at the cosmic resonanceprehension level, and with him being much older he should have progressed farther down cosmic resonance. The second was what was happening to his body. Could a Heaven-ranked weapon leave such serious and profound wounds? Histe Transcendent body was even struggling to heal itself. But the elder could have never thought that Ss, a young man of 17, had alreadyprehended the dao that the elder had been searching for his entire life. And the third thing was why Ss''s body was so strong. He was constantly getting hit by the elder''s Transcendent-ranked sword, but it was as if he was only getting hit by a rank 2 sword. "Boss, I''m here, but what is this mist?" Kai quickly sent to Ss. "Don''t worry about the mist. Juste to my side, and when I tell you to, use your innate talent as many times as you can against the enemy," Ss said. Kai didn''t need to be told twice. He had previously been told not to use his innate talent and divine ability whenever he wanted, but now that Ss was telling him to use it, he knew there had to be a good reason for it. Kai soon made it to Ss''s side and began to attack the elder. "You''ve been fighting against a rank 3 Disciple?" Kai asked, confused, worried, surprised, and happy. He didn''t know why his second brother was fighting someone so strong, he was worried that they wouldn''t be able to make it out of here, he was surprised that Ss had made it this far on his own, and he was happy that his brother was seemingly strong enough to hold his own. "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" The three went back and forth, with Ss and Kai both managing to get hits in asionally. "Do it now!" Ss sent to Kai after he got a good hit in. Ss quickly opened his eye and instantly used his innate talent. His eye bulged, and the elder screamed in pain. At the same time Ss was using his ability, Kai''s eyes darkened, and ghostly tendrils of energy began to swirl around his body. These tendrils were able to directly attack the enemy''s soul, regardless of distance, wrapping around the soul and slowly tearing it apart piece by piece. "Ahhhhhhh!!!!" the elder yelled out in pain as more than half his soul was either destroyed or devoured. "Attack!" Ss sent to Kai, and after Kai sent out his second attack with his divine ability, he dashed forward and dug his ws into the Riverstone elder, using his w path lesser dao of grasping to tear chunks out of the elder, while he used the path of darkness lesser dao of darkness to seep into the elder''s body and slowly destroy it from within. "Ahhhhh!" the elder continued to howl in pain, but that didn''t stop him from defending himself. "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" But while he could defend himself, it wasn''t nearly good enough. Soon, the elder was forced to bring out hisst resort, a defensive talisman. He poured his qi into it, and his body suddenly surged with energy. "Bang!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Bang!" But even with the talisman, Ss and Kai continued their onught, and soon the talisman was running out of energy. ''Dammit!'' the elder yelled. He still couldn''tprehend what had happened. What were these two monsters? Where had they each gained such godly divine abilities in this small inheritance realm? Before long, Ss managed to cut off his head, and as it fell to the ground, Kai dashed forward and grasped his head. "What should we do with him?" Kai asked as he held onto the head. As a Transcendent stage body cultivator, the elder wouldn''t die until his head was destroyed. "Kill him. He knows too many of our secrets," Ss said. The elder had not only seen his breakthrough to Transcendent and knew something about it was special, but he had also seen both of their innate talents. He had to die. "Wait! Wait! Wait! Let''s talk this..." "Crunch!" Kai didn''t have to be told twice. He easily crushed the elder''s head, killing the Riverstone elder once and for all. As Ss instantly sat down in a lotus position, Kai grabbed the elder''s spatial ring and began to go through it. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 23: -23- Early Transcendent in Qi and Body

Chapter 23: -23- Early Transcendent in Qi and Body

Ss sat down in a lotus position next to the elder''s lifeless body, his breath slowing as he closed his eyes and allowed his senses to focus inward. The energy from the fierce battle still coursed through his veins, but now that the immediate danger had passed, it was time to advance. His body had long since broken through to the Transcendent stage, and now his Qi cultivation was finally ready to follow suit. He felt the qi within his dantian, surging and roiling like a storm. For years, he had been at the peak of the Mortal stage, his qi growing denser and more powerful, waiting for the right moment to condense and take him to the next level. After the battle with the elder, he could sense that the moment had finally arrived. His dantian, the core of his qi cultivation, began to tremble, and Ss smiled faintly. "So, it''s time." Ss''s qi, which had always flowed like a strong river, suddenly began to shift. The powerful threads of qi within him started to coil tighter and tighter, condensing inward, as if a great force was pulling them together. The qi spiraled in his dantian, spinning with increasing intensity. His body began to draw in the ambient energy around him, the natural qi of the world rushing toward him like a flood, enveloping him in a faint mist that swirled around his form. The very air around him seemed to hum with energy, vibrating with the raw power of his breakthrough. The transformation began deep within his dantian. The spiraling threads of qipressed further, and under the immense pressure, the first drop of liquid qi began to form, shining brightly in the dark void of his core. This liquid qi was purer, more potent than anything he had experienced before. It pulsed with the energy of death and destruction, ready to transform him from within. As more droplets of liquid qi condensed within his dantian, Ss could feel his entire body responding. His meridians, long tempered and strengthened by his body cultivation, now expanded to amodate this newfound power. The qi flowed through his meridians like a raging torrent, purifying and strengthening them with each pass. His body, already refined to the Transcendent level through the Grim Reaper King Fiendgod Body Refinement method, now weed the transformative energy of qi refinement that he had learned from his inherited memories. The mist around him grew thicker, drawn to him like a moth to a me, and as the qi from the world infused his body, his dantian underwent aplete transformation. The swirling mist in his dantian solidified further, condensing until it formed a small, spinning orb of liquid qi. This was the mark of the Transcendent level in qi cultivation. Suddenly, Ss felt a strange sensation ripple through his body. His meridians, now wide and perfect, pulsed with an eerie, cold energy. He could feel the essence of death that he had long cultivated with his body now merging with his qi. The energy of death and destruction, once only part of his physical body, now permeated his qi cultivation as well. His body was being reforged, not just by the deathly energies of the Grim Reaper King method but now by the power of his qi cultivation. His dantian, surrounded by the qi of destruction, began to resonate with the deathly aura, further refining the liquid qi until it was no longer just pure energy¡ªit was infused with the essence of decay, of destruction itself. His qi now carried the same deadly power as his physical strikes. Any who faced him would not only feel the force of his body''s strength but the cold embrace of death from his very qi. The two powers, body and qi, were no longer separate forces within him¡ªthey were one and the same, intertwined like the threads of a noose. Ss''s breathing deepened as the transformation within his dantianpleted. The liquid qi, dense and potent, flowed smoothly through his newly strengthened meridians, filling every corner of his body with the deadly energy of the Grim Reaper King. His qi cultivation had finally reached the early Transcendent stage. He opened his eyes, and the mist around him dissipated instantly. His eyes, sharp and cold, gleamed with an eerie light as thest traces of the transformation settled into ce. He could feel the immense difference in his power now, his qi cultivation no longer a step behind his body refinement. The two forces were now aligned, both fueled by the same deathly energy. Ss first looked down at the Riverstone elder''s corpse and, with a bit of his qi infused with the Lesser Dao of Rot, he destroyed the elder''s corpse, getting rid of any evidence of his involvement. While the Riverstone n wasn''t much stronger than the Armstrong n, he still didn''t want a problem to be started because of him. Ss then looked down at Kai, who was still messing with the elder''s spatial ring. "Kai, can I see that?" he asked. "Sure," Kai said with a shrug of his shoulders as he tossed the ring over. Ss quickly caught it, and for the first time, he bound the ranked (Rank 2) spatial ring to himself. It wasrge. Muchrger than his unranked spatial ring, and it had several valuable items inside that the Riverstone elder had likely umted over his long life. There were several Dao seals inside, some for movement, others for small bursts of power. There was even one defensive talisman remaining. ''What is this?'' Ss thought as he saw two weaponsying inside the ring. He quickly pulled them out and was now holding two sickles that were each ranked magic treasures. "Hmm..." ''I think I could use these,'' Ss thought. In his inherited memories, he knew that the weapon of the first Grim Reaper King was a scythe, and sickles were in the same family. That''s why previously when he had used his Dao, he had created it in the form of four sickles. "Whoosh!" He then used his newly acquired divine will to control the sickles, guiding them through the air. "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" After messing around with them for a little while, he nodded his head and ced them back inside his new and upgraded spatial ring. He also transferred all his other items from his old spatial ring to the new one. After that, he looked down at the Spiritual grade sword that the elder had used. He bent down and picked it up. ''I have no need for this, but I can give it to the n,'' he thought. While the weapon was higher ranked than his own, his path was that of the scythe, and he had no ns to change. Not only was the scythe the path of the Grim Reaper King, but it was his Armstrong n''s path as well. It seemed to be fate pushing him down the path of the scythe, and he saw no reason to stray off course now. Besides, in his inherited memories, he had just the thing for his scythe and his armor. But first, he went around and picked up all the formation gs that were now out and open for all to see since they were no longer being provided any qi. "Come on, Kai, let''s go let Red know we''re ok," Ss said. Then they made their way back over to Red and soon let him know they had made it. After going through the peak Transcendent qi cultivator''s things that were more or less just lesser versions of his master''s items, Ss sat down and began to start the Fiendgod weapon refinement from his inherited memories. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 24: -24- Fiendgod weapon refinement

Chapter 24: -24- Fiendgod weapon refinement

Ss took a deep breath, feeling the power of his new qi cultivation settle within him. His senses were sharper, his body stronger, and his mind clearer. But this was only the beginning. He hade too far to stop now, and there was one final task toplete¡ªhis scythe and armor. The knowledge from his inherited memories flowed through his mind, ancient techniques passed down from the Grim Reaper King himself. Among those memories was the Fiendgod Weapon Refinement technique¡ªa method used by Fiendgods to forge their weapons and armor with their own blood and divine power, binding them for eternity. It was a process that not only strengthened the weapons but allowed them to grow in power as their master did. Ss stood up and unslung his scythe, the weapon he had carried for a year now but never truly refined. Its dark de gleamed ominously in the fading light, and he could feel the weight of fate behind it. This weapon was more than just a tool¡ªit was a symbol of his path. His armor, the ck and red-ented robe, had protected him in countless battles. Now, it would be reforged to suit his newly ascended power. "Time to begin," Ss muttered as he knelt once more, setting the scythe and armor in front of him. He cut his palm with a sharp stroke, letting his blood drip into the earth. The blood that flowed from him was no ordinary human blood¡ªit was the blood of a Fiendgod Body Refiner, filled with the essence of death and destruction. With his other hand, he formed a series ofplicated hand seals, channeling his divine will into the ritual. The blood spread out in a thin film, and as his will guided it, it began to form aplex rune around the scythe and armor. Ss felt the immense strain on his body, but he weed it¡ªthis was the first step in binding his weapon and armor to his very soul. The ritual was not a mere practice of skill, it was a contract¡ªa pledge between the wielder and his weapon, forged in blood and battle. As the rune took shape, Ss began to chant the ancient words of the Fiendgods, anguage long forgotten by mortals but still living in the memory of the Fiendgods. His voice was low and filled with authority, the words resonating with the very fabric of the world around him. The blood in the rune shimmered, then erupted in a wave of dark energy, surrounding the scythe and armor. The weapons hummed, absorbing the power of Ss''s blood and divine will. Dark tendrils of energy extended from the rune, wrapping around the scythe and armor, and slowly seeping into the metal. The scythe''s de began to pulse with a new, more sinister energy¡ªan aura of death, stronger than ever before. Ss''s divine will now fully controlled the ritual, and with a thought, he activated the most crucial part of the refinement: the absorption of destructive energy. From the very essence of his being, he funneled the energy of destruction he had cultivated, infusing it into the weapons. The scythe responded first, its de glowing with an eerie ck light. Ss watched as the destructive energy melded with the weapon, giving it a sense of life¡ªdark, cold, and unyielding. He could feel its thirst for battle, its readiness to cut down anything in its path. Next was the armor. The ck and red robe began to ripple, absorbing the destructive energy and fortifying itself. The armor, once just a tool for defense, now became a living extension of his will. The dark energy soaked into every piece, strengthening it beyond what it had been before. It would now adapt to his power, growing stronger as he did, and offer protection far greater than it had ever done before. The ritual continued, and the rune around him red brighter. The final stage of the Fiendgod Weapon Refinement had begun. Ss channeled the full might of his blood and qi into the rune, and in response, the scythe and armor seemed to roar with power. They were no longer just items¡ªthey had be part of him. His weapons were infused with his very essence, and they would now evolve with him, growing in strength with every enemy he felled. Sweat dripped from Ss''s brow, but he maintained his focus. The blood rune began to dissipate as the refinement nearedpletion. The final act of binding was at hand. Ss raised his hand, the cut still bleeding, and pressed it against the scythe''s hilt and the front of his armor. The moment his blood touched them, both the weapon and armor pulsed with life, and a surge of energy coursed through him. The connection was sealed. The weapons now belonged to him, in the deepest, most fundamental sense. They would not only grow stronger as he did, but they would be able to grow in size and weight as he wished. Ss stood, his body and mind both exhausted yet exhrated. He picked up the scythe and swung it through the air. The weapon felt different now¡ªlighter, more responsive, as if it was an extension of his own body. The dark energy surrounding it hummed with deadly intent, and Ss knew it would only grow more powerful as he walked further down the path of destruction. He looked at his armor, and he could feel its connection to him. It was a bond stronger than steel or iron¡ªa bond forged in blood and battle. "Wow, what did you just do?" Red asked. As a Mortal lifeform, he was unaware of what had just taken ce. While the Armstrong n had a Fiendgod Weapon Refinement technique themselves, theirs was much worse, and Red didn''t have ess to it since he wasn''t a Transcendent lifeform yet. "Hmph!" Kai harrumphed. "Nothing special, just made his weapons a little stronger. I''d have done the same thing long ago if I had some weapons and armor of my own..." Kai said as he looked up at Ss. Ss could only sigh, "Sorry, Kai. At the time, I wasn''t strong enough to request a weapon and armor for a beastpanion I didn''t even have, but as soon as we go back to the n, I''ll have you made the best set of armor and w weapons I can." "As you should," Kai said with a nod of his little head. "And you too, Red. Once you''re a Transcendent lifeform, I''ll get you some good armor and whatever weapon you want as well," Ss said, looking at Red. "Thanks," Red said. He knew as a mere beastpanion, he would have no right to ask the n to make him a set of weapon and armor, so he was d his little brother hadn''t forgotten about him. "Alright, guys, just give me a minute. I need to go through some of my new inherited memories and see if I got anything useful," Ss said as he sat down in a lotus position. Before he started to look into his new inherited memories, though, he decided to ask the system, "Hey system... will immortal beings be able to tell I''m a divine beast or that I''m different?" He knew that upon his rank up to Transcendent lifeform, his body was much different from before, and he was worried that with one nce, any immortal would be able to tell he was special and would want to capture him to dig out his secrets, much like the Riverstone elder had wanted to do. Ss didn''t get many prompts from the system, so he was honestly surprised when it actually answered. [No, they can tell your body is strong and that you are talented, but they can''t see that you''re a divine beast. Only another Grim Reaper King could tell, and even then, only if they really looked hard. Plus, the Divine Bloodline System has safeguards in ce for these very situations, so do not worry.] Ss nodded his head in relief. This had been something weighing on his mind. After that, he started to look through his inherited memories, which were like foggy memories of a past life that you could hardly remember, and soon he found something new. And it was another divine ability. ''Heavenly transformation?'' Ss thought. He began to go through the divine ability and learned that while this was one of the mostmon divine abilities there was, with almost everyrge power having it, it didn''t mean that the ability wasn''t powerful. [Heavenly Transformation] allowed the user to increase in size, and therger one got, the more their strength would increase in proportion. And this wasn''t like when a Transcendent lifeform arbitrarily decided to increase their size because their strength would not increase at all when doing this. This divine ability actually increased one''s strength therger one got, and therger one got was directly proportional to one''sprehension of the divine ability as well as the quality of one''s divine power. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 25: -25- Scorch Crocodile

Chapter 25: -25- Scorch Crocodile

''Let''s see...'' Ss thought as he now began to look at the actual divine ability. ''10 meters,'' the beginning stage of this ability started out at roughly 10 meters in height, with the user''s strength increasing quite significantly as well... After an hour went by, Ss had finally managed toprehend the divine ability. He then stood up and used it for the first time, activating his divine power. "Whoosh!" Ss instantly grew to 13 meters in height. ''Looks like the quality of my divine power has helped me out a bit,'' Ss thought. He knew hisprehension of the divine ability was shallow at best, so at most he should only be about 9 or 10 meters in height, not 13, but he wasn''t going toin. This only made him stronger. He then summoned his weapon, and thanks to his Fiendgod Weapon Refinement technique he had just used, not only had his robe increased seamlessly with him when his body was erged, but his weapon had now increased in size to amodate his erged body. "Damn, Ss!" Red suddenly said upon seeing him suddenly grow. He had no idea what Ss was doing, but he could tell this wasn''t just Ss using his Transcendent ability to grow in size. He could feel the increased strength of his body radiating off of him. Since the only abilities known by the ns inside the inheritance realm were brought in by those few who happened to enter, very few ns had a divine ability, since most youths wouldn''t be allowed to carry a manual of a divine ability on them when leaving the n or sect grounds. So, the Armstrong n and the other ns of Moonvale Mountain had no divine abilities among them. "Ahh, that''s nothing," Kai said with augh as he first transformed into human form and then erged his body to 15 meters. He had clearly also gained this divine ability from his inherited memories and had spent a little timeprehending the ability, so his divine ability was currently more profound than Ss''s. "Why didn''t you use this during the fight?" Ss asked Kai, who now looked like a simr but slightly shorter version of Ss. If anyone were to see them currently, they would think they were actual brothers rted by blood. This would have been helpful when fighting the Riverstone Elder. "I would have pulled it out if we had truly needed it," Kai said with a grin. "Anyway, now I think it''s time to go find and kill that Scorch Crocodile," Ss said, his anger starting toe back. "Do you know where it is?" he asked, looking at Kai. Kai nodded, "Yeah, I tracked it down after learning this divine ability. I wanted to go teach it a lesson, but then I remembered you said you wanted to kill it yourself, so I decided to leave it for now. But I know its general location from a day ago, so I can quickly find it again." "Good. Lead the way," Ss said with a smile that wasn''t a smile. *** It didn''t take long for Kai to find the scent of the beast, and Ss was furious when the trail actually led them to another destroyed small tribe. It just made his hate for the beast grow even more, and he swore to kill it. After traveling for several more hours, Ss, Kai, and Red soon heard the sounds of battle. "Boom!" "Bang!" "Boom!" "Hahaha! Little girl, what can you do to me?! Watch as I go kill some more of you insignificant humans!!" Ss heard a raspy deep voice yell. "That''s the beast," Kai confirmed. Knowing that the crocodile was close by and acting like it was about to go kill more humans, Ss ran forward as quick as he could to stop the beast. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" Ss soon ran up on the battle that was far off into the distance, but with his enhanced eyesight as a Transcendent lifeform, he could see it clear as day. "Thea?" Ss said. This was thest ce he thought he would run into her. He quickly realized that Thea could do little to the peak Transcendent King Beast, so he continued to run forward and soon entered the battlefield. "Oh ho ho, another delectable human!" the croc said with augh. "Ss?" Ss heard Thea say. "What are you doing here? Did my grandfather tell you where I was?" Thea finally asked. "No," Ss said with a shake of his head. "I''m here for this beast. It ughtered a vige I had been staying in for the past couple of months." Ss said with anger in his voice as he red at the beast, who just stood there in its humanoid form that still held clear signs of being a crocodile. The beast wasrge, standing 10 meters in height. "I see," Thea said. "I''m here for a simr reason. While traveling, I heard that a beast had been going around ughtering viges, so I decided to kill it. But I''ve been battling it for a few minutes now, and it''s way too strong for me. I even almost lost my life, so you definitely shouldn''t think of killing it. You should run," Thea said, thinking that Ss was still a peak Mortal. "Don''t worry about me," Ss said as he walked forward, pulling his scythe out. "Oh yes, yes. Come,e," the croc said with a smallugh, clearly enjoying itself. "I''m going to kill you for what you''ve done," Ss said. "Haha, really? We''ll see who dies in the end," the croc said as it dashed forward toward Ss with a whip in its hand. "Whoosh!" The whip flew through the air, with fire wrapped around it. ''It''s using its Lesser Fire Dao,'' Ss thought. Kai had said the beast had touched a fire Dao, and it seemed he wasn''t wrong. "Watch out!" Thea yelled. She knew the strength of that whip, and while Ss''s body was extremely durable, even more so than her own, she wasn''t sure if he could handle it. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" Ss blocked twice with his scythe and then sent out his two sickles, controlling them with his divine will while infusing them with his newly upgraded early Transcendent Qi,bined with his two Lesser Daos of Rot and Crumbling. "Ahhh!" the croc yelled out in pain. It was surprised by the strength of this human. "How?" Thea muttered as she saw the deep cuts that were both rotting and crumbling away. She had no idea how Ss was so strong already. She recognized his use of the Dao, and while she didn''t know which Lesser Daos they were, she was familiar with the Dao since her grandfather had managed to touch one Lesser Dao of Earth. Ss continued to run forward, and with each step, his height increased until he was now standing at 13 meters. "Bang!" "Shing!!" He brought down his massive scythe in two quick attacks and cut deep into the croc''s body. "What are you?!" the croc yelled. It had never seen an early Transcendent human that was so strong. And why did his strength increase as he grew? He had fought several humans in his long life, but he had never seen one dare to increase their size mid-battle. All that would do was make them a bigger target while their strength would stay the same. "Die!" Ss yelled as he continued his attack with both his scythe and his two sickles that constantly flew through the air. "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" The croc couldn''t do a single thing to stop Ss as its body slowly began to fail it, with deep cuts all over. "You!" the beast yelled as Kai finally showed himself, starting tough and mock the croc. "Not so strong now, are you... Remember this: the one who killed you was my, Kai Armstrong''s, second brother..." Kai said as he continued tough in joy at the beast''s misfortune. In their previous battle, the beast hadughed and mocked Kai for being so weak as a small Transcendent lifeform, so he was now paying the beast back. "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" Ss finally managed to quell his anger and decided to end the fight. "Shing!!!" With one quick stab, one of his sickles pierced straight through the head of the beast. Ss then put away his three weapons and sat down in a lotus position, beginning to go through his new insights from the brief battle. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 26: -26- Getting to know you

Chapter 26: -26- Getting to know you

After two hours went by, Ss finally stood up and smiled, ''With this strength, I would no longer have to fear that Riverstone elder.'' With his new divine ability, as well as his progress in his Dao, he was confident that he could kill that elder from before if they were to fight again, and that was without Kai''s help or the use of his innate talent. While both of his lesser Daos were still at minorpletion, they had made some slight progress, and he had gained better control in their actual use, turning hisprehension and insight into actual battle power. Ss turned and saw Thea watching him from a distance, her eyes filled with curiosity and a bit of awe. After the battle with the Scorch Crocodile, they hadn''t spoken, and now there was a slight tension in the air. Their respective ns wanted them to get married, and now here they were, together. "Ss," she called out as she approached him, since she saw that he was done meditating on the battle. Her voice was steady, but her expression was unreadable. "That was... impressive. You''ve grown a lot stronger than before. Much stronger than me..." Ss just smiled, not quite sure what to say to this beautiful girl his family expected him to marry. But after a moment, he said, "You seem to have gotten stronger as well, but I didn''t expect to see you fighting the Scorch Crocodile." She hesitated for a moment, then answered, "I heard rumors of viges being destroyed and came to help. But I guess I was a bit overconfident. If you hadn''t shown up, I''m not sure what would''ve happened." Ss nodded his head, knowing she was right. If he hadn''te along when he did, Thea would have been in trouble. As a peak Transcendent King Beast that had even touched a lesser Dao of fire, the beast was far too powerful for her currently. After thinking for a little while, Ss finally said, "Would you maybe want to travel together?" He and Thea were supposed to be getting to know each other, and this seemed like as good a time as any. "Really? Are you sure? Wouldn''t I just slow you down?" Thea asked, clearly not against the idea but not wanting to be a burden. She, too, knew what was expected of her, and she wanted to get to know the man she might end up marrying. "Yeah, why not? There aren''t too many beasts around here that are a match for me anymore. I could go looking for one of the rank 3 beasts, but if I start killing them, who knows what kind of trouble I''ll stir up," Ss said with a smallugh. "So what are you going to do?" Thea asked. While she didn''t mind traveling with Ss, she was still out here to temper herself. "I''m just going to spar with Kai, and that should be plenty, but I know a beast that you can spar with. She''s really strong," Ss said. "Who''s Kai?" Thea asked, not sure who he was talking about. "Yours truly," Kai said as he hopped onto Ss''s shoulder. "This is Kai. He''s one of my beastpanions and brothers, and he''s really strong. Strong enough to kill that crocodile if he wanted to," Ss said. Then he pointed over to Red. "And that''s my big brother Red. He is currently weaker than all of us, but he''ll catch up eventually. I''m sure of it." Thea nodded her head, a little surprised that the little mouse was seemingly strong enough to kill the beast that was strong enough to kill her. She then asked, "So what about the beast you want me to spar with?" "Oh, it''s an Emperor Beast I found a couple of months back. I''ve been sparring with it for a while. I just became a Transcendent lifeform, so I won''t be able to spar with it anymore, but it''s also close to a breakthrough in the Dao, so you shoulde spar with it. You will learn a lot," Ss said. "An Emperor Beast... you know where a low-rank Emperor Beast is?" Thea was now even more shocked. Not only did Ss have a little mouse that could kill a peak Transcendent lifeform that had evenprehended the Dao, but he had found a young Emperor Beast that seemed to be friendly enough not to fight to the death. ''Could I tame it?'' she thought, but she quickly shook the thought out of her head. The higher-ranked the beast, the more prideful they were, and the less likely they would be willing to enter a bond of equals with someone else. "Ok... I''ll travel with you," Thea finally said with a nod of her head. "Great. Just give me a minute, and I''ll take you over to the Spatial Lynx," Ss said. He then went and collected the corpse of the Scorch Crocodile and even managed to snag another ranked spatial magic treasure. He nned to save this for Red once he ranked up to a Transcendent lifeform. "Alright, let''s go," Ss said as he headed back toward the Spatial Lynx. *** A few hourster, Ss and Thea reached the familiar territory of the Spatial Lynx. The lynx was loungingzily atop a rocky ledge, its sleek, silver coat shimmering in the sunlight. As it spotted Ss and Thea approaching, its ears twitched, and it gracefully leaped down to greet them. The Spatial Lynx was a little confused at first. Why had the humane back? Hadn''t it made its breakthrough? And who was this new human with him? "Hey, I''ve brought you a new sparring partner," Ss said, clearing up the lynx''s slight confusion. The beast nodded her head. "Ok, bring it on. Let''s see what you got." "Here Ie. Be careful," Thea said as she dashed forward. "Whoosh!" "Bang!" "Bang!" Thea and the Spatial Lynx both fought for about an hour, each making their own progress, but soon the fight drew to a close. "You''re strong," Thea said to the beast. "As are you," the Spatial Lynx said as it started to walk back to its ledge. "Would you be willing to consider being my beastpanion?" Thea suddenly asked. "Ha," the Spatial Lynx let out augh. "If you can bring me out of this ce, I''ll dly be your beastpanion, but otherwise, hmph." Thea nodded her head. She had expected to be turned down, but now she had a small shot. She had always nned, since she was young and first discovered to be talented, to get strong enough to leave this ce. So while the Spatial Lynx was just throwing out an impossible goal, to Thea, this just so happened to be her dream. Thea then walked over to Ss, who had been watching their fight with both Kai and Red from a distance. "You really have gotten stronger since our battle," Ss said. Thea nodded. "My grandfather has been training me, and I''ve also gotten a lot stronger since starting my journey. I''ve fought several strong beasts, but none as strong as this one, if the Scorch Crocodile isn''t included." "Well, you can keeping back to spar with the Spatial Lynx for the next couple of months if you want," Ss said. Thea thought about it and quickly nodded her head. "I''d like that." Ss nodded as well. "Great. Well, I guess we should start getting to know each other, don''t you think?" Thea blushed, knowing what he was referring to, a little unable to believe he was being so direct about it. She then nodded her head. "Yes, I guess we should." "Ok, well, tell me a little about yourself. Who are your parents? Do you have any siblings? What are your goals? What are your dreams?" Ss said. He looked over and saw that she was clearly a little shy, so he said, "I''ll go first, though. My parents are named Alexander and ra Armstrong, and I''m an only child. But while I don''t have any blood-rted siblings, I consider Red here to be my big brother, and Kai here to be my little brother," Ss said, motioning toward his brothers, who held their heads up with pride at being mentioned. "My goals... well, I guess my goal is to get out of this ce. And my dreams... well... I guess I want to get strong enough to be able to take my family out of this ce as well," Ss finished. Thea nodded her head. It turned out his goals and dreams weren''t too much different from her own. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 27: -27- Goodbye for now

Chapter 27: -27- Goodbye for now

Over the next few months, Ss and Thea traveled together, with Thea continuing to spar with the Spatial Lynx regrly. Their bond grew as they shared stories of their pasts, their goals, and the challenges they faced. Ss found himself opening up to Thea more than he had expected, and in turn, she began to trust him more. At the same time, Ss and Kai began to spar regrly, testing each other''s abilities in friendly but fierce battles. Their bond as brothers deepened, each pushing the other to new heights. Kai''s and Ss''s raw power and control over their Daos made their matches thrilling and intense for Red, Thea, and the Spatial Lynx to watch. They learned from each other''s strengths and weaknesses, forging an unspoken trust. Thea, meanwhile, developed a strong respect for Ss, Kai, and Red, and the four of them often discussed strategies, techniques, and the various battles they''d encountered. The camaraderie between them grew, and they began to be inseparable. The Spatial Lynx, while a constant rival, became an unspoken ally of sorts, a source of challenge and growth for Thea. Theirprehension deepened with each encounter, preparing them for the trials ahead. Thea, with the help of both Ss and Kai, who had each now reached minorpletion in their respective Daos¡ªwith Ss reaching it in two lesser Daos and Kai in three¡ªhad made huge progress toward herprehension of the Dao. She had long been taught about the Dao by her grandfather, but even though they were much younger, both Ss and Kai had a much greater grasp of the Dao, thanks to both their limited inherited memories and their lesser Daos that had reached minorpletion, versus her grandfather''s sole lesser Dao of Earth that had only been touched. And the Spatial Lynx didn''t need to be mentioned. Its innate talent allowed it to get in touch with the grand Dao of Space, so it was making progress at lightning speed toward itsprehension of a lesser Dao. It wouldn''t be long before it finally touched one. *** "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!¡ª" Both Thea and the Spatial Lynx were going at it again for what seemed like the thousandth time. Ss, Kai, and Red sat close by, watching the two battle. "They''re close," Kai made an observation. "Yep, it''s just a matter of who gets there first," Ss added. "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" As they said this, Thea suddenly gained an extra step of speed as her body and sword gained a light glow. "Yes! Yes! Yes! I did it!" Thea yelled in joy. She had finally managed to touch the Dao after months of sparring with an equally strong enemy, on top of daily lessons about the Dao from both Ss and Kai. "Dammit!" the Spatial Lynx roared. Once again, it had been beaten by a human in a breakthrough. "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" Thea began to easily dominate the fight, but this turned out to be the exact type of pressure the cat needed. "Whoosh!" "Shing!¡ª" The Spatial Lynx dodged her attack with a short teleport behind her and then mmed its w down on Thea''s back. "Ha ha ha!" The Spatial Lynxughed. It had finally done it. It had finally touched a lesser Dao in the extremely profound,plicated, and hard-to-master space path. "I''ve done it!" the beast yelled as it gave up on the fight and began to teleport all around. Thea, too, gave up on the fight and began to rush back and forth. Ss then stood up with a smile and asked, "What Dao did you touch?" "Ss! I did it, and it''s all thanks to you and Kai!" Thea yelled as she dashed over and gave both him and Kai a huge hug. Ss widened his eyes as she pressed her body against his for the first time. After a moment, Thea let go and answered, "I believe I managed to touch the lesser Dao of sh on the light path." Then, as if to show it off, she infused a hint of Dao into her divine power, causing her body to glow slightly, and then she dashed forward. "I''m much faster now, aren''t I?" she asked with a smug look. "Yes, you are," Ss said as he smiled back, looking at her and then down, winking at Kai, who just grinned back. "What, you two want to race?" Thea saw the challenge on their faces. "Of course," Ss and Kai both answered. "Wait, don''t forget about me," the Spatial Lynx said as it teleported beside them. "And what Dao did you touch?" Thea asked. "Hmph!" the cat harrumphed, "The lesser Dao of Spatial Folding on the space path... read it and weep." The cat said arrogantly, considering its lesser Dao greater than all of theirs, since it was a space path Dao. But little did it know that both Kai and Ss''s lesser Daos were much more profound than its. "Alright, let''s go. First one to make it all the way around theke wins..." Thea said as she took off before the others. The rest of the group, excluding poor ole Red, took off. *** "Ha ha ha! All bow down before me!" Kai said with augh aftering in first ce by quite a margin, if the cheat-like Spatial Lynx wasn''t considered. It had simply teleported 10 times and made it back to the starting point, easily blowing the rest out of the water. "Dammit. How are you two so fast? I have a speed-type Dao while neither of you two do!" Theained. But how could she know that while they were all early Transcendent lifeforms, both Kai and Ss had the strength and speed of a strongte Transcendent body cultivator or even a weaker peak Transcendent body cultivator whose fiendgod technique was subpar? So, even with her speed-type Dao, she was a step slower than Ss, who was two steps slower than Kai, who had the ability to slip into the shadows with his lesser Dao of Shadow Movement. *** After another month went by, with both Thea and the Spatial Lynx solidifying their Daos, it was time for the group to split up, with the Spatial Lynx staying where it was, and Ss, Kai, and Red going back to the Armstrong n and Thea going back to the Redstone n. With all of them making huge leaps in their strength and getting to a natural stopping point in explosive growth, both Thea and Ss thought it was about time for them to go back to their respective ns. Thea had spent a little more than a year on her journey, and Ss had spent nearly two years on his. Ss was now two months away from 18, while Thea was a couple of months away from 22. "Well, I guess I''ll see you again before long," Ss said, knowing that his parents would insist on him not breaking his promise with the Redstone patriarch about going to spend time with Thea after returning from whatever it was he had to do. "Yes, I guess I''ll see youter," Thea said with a smile. She had grown to really like Ss, and while it hadn''t quite reached the point of love, she was more open to marrying him. In this world, people usually got married out of necessity or for the benefit of their n, so love wasn''t something she had ever thought she would get out of a husband. So, the fact that she felt her feelings could possibly turn into love for Ss made her extremely happy. They soon said their goodbyes and finally split off. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 28: -28- In the Redstone clan

Chapter 28: -28- In the Redstone n

Ss, Red, and for the first time, Kai, finally made it back to the Armstrong n. Ss walked through the streets of his homnd, the North Prefecture, with Kai and Red on each side of his shoulder. "Greetings, young master!" "Wee back, young master!" People who crossed his path constantly bowed down to him. Ss had always been the young master of the North Prefecture since he was in the running to be the Lord Prefect, but now, even after giving up his chance to be Lord Prefect, he was even more famous. At 16 years old, he went to the Battle of the Region and became the reigning king. "You sure are popr, boss," Kai said with augh after another group of people stopped and bowed. "Ignore it, don''t let it get to your little head," Ss said to Kai, knowing the little mouse would likely try to take advantage of this in some way. *** Soon, Ss had made it to his home, and with a knock, he opened the front door. "Mother, Father, I''m home!" he said as he entered. "Ss?!" His mother and father immediately stopped what they were doing and ran to the front door to greet their son. "How are you, my baby? Are you okay?" his mother asked, giving him a huge hug. "How were your travels?" his father asked with a pat on his shoulder. "I''m fine, Mom, I promise," Ss assured his mother. "And my travels were great. I learned a lot and made several breakthroughs," he said, looking at his father. He had left as a Peak Mortal lifeform, with mastery in both his movement and weaponprehension, and hade back an Early Transcendent lifeform with minorpletion in two daos on different dao paths. "That''s great, son. Tell us about all of it from start to finish," his father said with a huge smile as he led him to the living room. As Ss sat down, his mother finally asked, pointing to Kai, "I see that Red is okay, but who is this little guy?" "This is Kai. He is a strong beast I found and managed to be friends with, and before I left, he became my beastpanion," Ss lied. "Well, it''s a pleasure to meet you, Kai," his mother said, and his father nodded. Kai then transformed into a human, still looking like a shorter version of Ss. He then reached forward with a smile and shook both their hands. "The pleasure is mine," he said. Ss''s eyes widened a little at this; he didn''t think Kai had it in him to be this courteous. *** A week went by with Ss catching up with his entire family, and as he suspected, after a couple of days, his great-grandfather at first, and then other family memberster, started to insist he go to the Redstone n and start to get to know Thea. He could, of course, tell them that he had already run into Thea and spent thest several months traveling and getting close to her, but he also wanted to go to the Redstone n and spend more time with her. So, a week after he came back from his travels, he set off again toward the Redstone n''s Central Prefecture. *** A couple of dayster, Ss, Red, and Kai were standing inside arge building in the Redstone n''s Central Prefecture, waiting to meet Thea and her great-great-grandfather, the patriarch of the Redstone n. After waiting for a couple of minutes, a door finally opened, and Oscar, followed by Thea, walked out. Both Oscar and Thea had smiles on their faces at the sight of Ss. Oscar was happy Ss had kept his promise, and Thea was happy to see Ss again. "Ss. Wee to my Redstone n," Oscar said as he walked in. "Thank you for having me, Redstone Patriarch," Ss said with a slight bow. "Ahh, please call me Grandpa. You will soon marry Thea and be my grandson anyway," Oscar said with augh, causing Thea to blush. Ss smiled, not quite sure if he was going to be able to call him that, but soon put the thought out of his head. Oscar then smiled even more and said, "Ss, I''d first like to thank you. My Thea told me that if it wasn''t for you, she wouldn''t have touched the dao so early, and while I don''t know how you did it, I do believe it would have been a long time before she was able to touch the dao with my own low insights and ability to teach her." Ss wanted to shrug it off, but he didn''t want to be disrespectful, so he just said, "It was my honor to teach her." Oscar then looked to Ss''s shoulder, "And you must be Kai and Red. She has told me about you two as well, and I''d like to thank both of you for helping out and watching after her for the past several months." "It was nothing," both Kai and Red said at the same time. Oscar then moved on. "You must have just entered the prefecture, so why doesn''t Thea give you a little tour of the ce since you will be calling it home for the next little while?" Oscar said, looking over to Thea. "I''d be fine with that," Ss said. "Well, what about you, Thea?" Oscar said, looking at his granddaughter. Thea nodded, "I''d be okay with that." She was ready to get Ss and her grandfather out of the same room before he could embarrass her any further. "Alright, well, I''ll leave you two to it. I know you''ve already gotten to know each other, so this is nothing more than a formality, but I do hope you two can grow closer," Oscar said as he took his leave. After Oscar left, Thea and Ss just kind of stood there awkwardly. While they had spent months together, this and that werepletely different. Before, they were just traveling together mostly for the sake of convenience, but now they were directly spending time with each other for the sake of their future marriage. After a moment of silence, Thea, with a red face, said, "Well, I guess I''ll show you around." Ss nodded, "Please, lead the way." "Hey, boss, why are you two being so awkward and embarrassed? You spent months together just fine, and it''s not like you''re getting married tomorrow," Kai asked. Ss just sighed and followed Thea. How was he supposed to exin this to the young, inexperienced, yful, and unshy Kai? Soon, Thea was showing Ss around the prefecture, and the longer they spent together, the more they started to revert back to their old andfortable selves. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 29: -29- Two years

Chapter 29: -29- Two years

Two years quickly went by... Ss was now 20 and Thea 24. They had both made progress in their cultivation, with Thea having just stepped into peak Transcendent in both body and qi cultivation and Ss atte Transcendent in both body and qi cultivation. They had also each made progress in their Daos but were still stuck at touched and minorpletion, respectively. As for Kai and Red, Kai was now a peak Transcendent lifeform, and Red had finally made it to Transcendent and was a mid-Transcendent lifeform now capable of human form. When transformed, he looked like a taller and more lengthy version of Ss, only he had dark ck hair with two strips of red mixed within. Over the two years, Ss had also had weapons and armor made for each of them. Kai, of course, wanted ws as weapons, and Red actually decided to go the path of the staff, deciding to only fight in his human form. Both of their armors, on the other hand, would fuse into their bodies while they were in their beast form and then transform into ck and red robes that were simr to Ss''s and matched the Armstrong n when they transformed to human form. They had also each used the Fiendgod Weapon Refinement Technique on both their new weapons and armor, with Kai using his own version from his inherited memories and Ss showing Red how to do it with his technique, since it was much better than his Armstrong n''s technique. It was currently summertime in the inheritance realm, and the sun was shining down on the small ind that Ss, Thea, Red, and Kai had been calling home. Ss was sitting in a lotus position next to a small pond in a courtyard of theirrge estate. He had been sitting there for hours, meditating on the Dao. *** A couple of hours before... "Thea, why don''t you just go get him? We''ve been waiting for hours," Eli Redstone said. He was a 39-year-old peak Transcendent lifeform and was currently very unhappy that his patriarch, Oscar Redstone, had sent him and several of his other junior and senior brothers and sisters toe and pay their respects to this Ss Armstrong. He knew that Ss was talented for his age, being that he was the reigning king of the Battle of the Region, but why did he, a peak Transcendent lifeform, have toe and pay his respects to a child? To him, this was just the patriarch''s way of making him and all the other talented youths of the Redstone n bow their heads to Thea''s future husband. And while he admitted Thea was slightly stronger than him when he was her age, he didn''t think she was all that. She just happened to be in the direct line of the patriarch, and he thought she was only strong because she was heavily doted on. "I''m not going to disturb him while he''s meditating. You are here to pay your respects, so why don''t you all actually show a little bit of respect for Ss," Thea said. She knew that these youths had no respect for her and definitely not for Ss. They were all talented in their own right, and they just considered her lucky enough to be the granddaughter of the patriarch. But little did they know, she was already on the patriarch''s level ofprehension of the Dao, and Ss was far beyond even that. But she didn''t want to tell them that quite yet¡ªshe would leave it for Ss to show them the errors of their arrogant ways. Several more hours went by, with Eli, Marcus, Neya, and the others all constantlyining that if they were here to show their respect for Ss, then the least he could do was show them a little respect in return. But they all shut their mouths real quick when Oscar, their patriarch, walked into the room. With him here, they wouldn''t dare bad-mouth or talk disrespectfully to Thea. "Thea, where''s Ss?" Oscar asked, curious. He too hade here to once again learn a little bit from Ss in the way of the Dao. Hepletely admitted his inferiority in the Dao when it came to Ss; he would even admit he was inferior to the little mouse that was always by his side. "He''s meditating," Thea simply said, not even opening her eyes. She too was calmly meditating, waiting for Ss toe out with his brothers. But luckily for Oscar, he didn''t have to wait long. Twenty minutester, Ss walked out, talking to Red and Kai, who, like always, were on his shoulders. Ss at first was a little confused as to why all these youths were in his and Thea''s estate, but after seeing Oscar, he felt like he had an idea. "Greetings, young master Ss," the youths bowed, showing their proper respects, especially with the patriarch here. Ss just nodded, "Kai, why don''t you show them something." Kai gave off a smirk, then hopped off his shoulder and transformed into his human form. "A mouse?" Eli, the most talented as well as most talkative and arrogant of the youths, said with a scoff. "We came here to pay our respects to you, not this little mouse," Eli said, looking back at his patriarch to see if he had gone too far, but Oscar just stood there with a smile on his face, waiting to see how Kai and Ss would handle this. But Eli took this as a sign that he could keep going. "If you aren''t going to bother to teach us yourself, then I''ll be taking my leave," he said with a harrumph as he and the other youths followed his lead. "Ha ha," Kai began tough as he transformed back into his beast form, "the likes of you don''t deserve to be taught by me." "Oh, so you''re finally going to teach us yourself?" Eli said, looking to Ss for confirmation. Ss shrugged his shoulders. He didn''t care one way or the other, but out of respect for Oscar, he would do him this small favor and teach these arrogant youths. Ss stepped forward, and with a flick of his wrist, he created a small, spherical space in the air, no bigger than a fist. It shimmered with a dark energy, twisting in and out of reality, as if the very air around it were crumbling away. "This is the Lesser Dao of Crumbling. It is the path of destruction, where everything, no matter how strong or resilient, eventually decays and falls apart. Watch carefully." He tossed the small sphere toward a nearby boulder, and as it touched the stone, the rock didn''t explode or shatter like they might have expected. Instead, it began to disintegrate, crumbling into fine dust from the inside out. The process was eerie¡ªsilent and slow, yet inevitable. Within moments, therge stone that had stood proudly in the courtyard was nothing but a pile of dust. The Redstone youths stood frozen, their arrogance reced by awe and a growing sense of fear. What would happen if Ss used that sphere on them? Would they be able to stop it? Eli, still standing closest to Ss, felt his legs tremble, but he fought to maintain hisposure. Ss continued, his voice now quieter, almost intimate. "Destruction is inevitable in all things, and in time, everything will crumble." He raised his other hand, and a deep ck aura began to pool in his palm. "This is the Lesser Dao of Rot, the path of death, where life itself decays and withers away. It''s not as shy as destruction, but it is just as absolute." Ss stepped forward, his hand extended toward a lush tree in the courtyard. The ck aura wrapped around the tree like a fog, seeping into its bark. The tree, once full of life, slowly began to wither. Its leaves turned brown and fell, its trunk sagging under its own weight as rot consumed it from within. In less than a minute, what had once been a symbol of life had rotted away, leaving only a husk behind. "You see," Ss said, turning back to the Redstone youths, "your power, your arrogance, your pride¡ªall of it will crumble and rot in time. There is always something greater, something beyond what you think you know." Ss stepped forward again, and this time, a pale, translucent energy began to coalesce around his hand, forming the faint outline of a de. "This," he said, his voice calm but carrying the weight of certainty, "is the Lesser Dao of Cleaving, the path of the scythe. It is the power of separation, to split apart anything that stands in its path¡ªwhether it be flesh, stone, or even the very fabric of space itself." He swung his hand in a sharp, fluid motion, and a thin arc of energy shot forward, cutting through the air with a soft hum. As it passed, everything in its path¡ªthe trees, the stones, the ground¡ªwas split perfectly in two. The cuts were clean, unnaturally precise, leaving no sign of resistance. Even the air itself seemed to shudder as the scythe''s invisible edge sliced through reality, leaving behind a deep, unnatural stillness in its wake. Ss turned back to the Redstone youths, his eyes cold. "Cleaving is not about force or destruction¡ªit''s about precision. It is the inevitable division of all things, the separation of life from death, and the line between what is and what no longer can be." The courtyard was deathly silent, save for the faint rustle of the wind. None of the Redstone youths dared speak, their earlier bravado havingpletely vanished. Even Eli, who had been so quick to challenge, could not meet Ss''s gaze. The oppressive aura of Ss''s Daos weighed heavily on them all, their minds racing as they tried toprehend the sheer power they had just witnessed. Oscar stepped forward then, his expression solemn but respectful. "Ss," he began, his tone carrying both humility and reverence, "you have shown my n a lesson we will not forget." Ss just nodded, then turned around to leave. "Come on, Kai. Maybe next time." "Hmph!" Kai harrumphed as he leaped onto Ss''s shoulder. Thea looked at her grandfather, then with a small smile, happy that Eli and the other arrogant youths had been taught a lesson, she turned and followed Ss. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 30: -30- Marriage

Chapter 30: -30- Marriage

The next day, Ss was once again sitting in a lotus position meditating on the Dao, with Red on his left and Kai on his right, each in their beast forms. Hours went by, and soon Ss was ready to get up, but first, he checked his status. Name: Ss Armstrong Race: Grim Reaper King (Divine Beast) Innate Talent: Grim Reaper''s Eye Qi Cultivation: Late Transcendent Body Cultivation: Late Transcendent [Path of Death: Lesser Dao of Rot (Minor Completion)] [Path of Destruction: Lesser Dao of Crumbling (Minor Completion)] [Path of the Scythe: Lesser Dao of Cleaving (Touched)] ''Same as always,'' Ss thought with a sigh. While he felt like he made progress every day, other than touching the lesser Dao of Cleaving in the Path of the Scythe several months ago, his Daos hadn''t crossed over to the next threshold. "What''s wrong, boss?" Kai said as he opened his eyes upon hearing Ss''s sigh. "Nothing, I just haven''t made any progress... this realm is too weak," Ss said. "Well then, why don''t we get out of here? Let''s go challenge that pagoda and finally enter the wider world," Kai said with some enthusiasm. Ss just sat there with a nk look on his face, unsure of what to do. "What do you think, Red? Don''t you agree?" Kai looked to Red. "I''ll do whatever it is you two decide," Red said without opening his eyes. He trained more and harder than both Ss and Kai, badly wanting to catch up with his two little brothers who were each much stronger than him. How was he, the big and first brother, supposed to take care of and protect them if he was always the weakest in the group? But he also knew that his dream of protecting them would likely stay a dream. He was amon beast, and they were both divine beasts. How could hepete with that? "Come on, let''s go see Thea," Ss said as he stood up. Both Red and Kai quickly flew and leaped onto his shoulders, and Ss walked out of the courtyard in search of Thea. He soon found her in another courtyard after asking several maids of the estate where she was. He saw her sitting there next to a tree. Her eyes were closed, and her plentiful chest slowly went up with each breath she took. He stood there for about five minutes just admiring her beauty, not wanting to disturb her, but she soon opened her eyes. She smiled when she saw him. They had grown extremely close over the past two years to the point that they each felt love toward each other but had yet to say or express how they felt. "Ss," Thea said as she stood up. "How long have you waited?" she asked. "Not long, I just got here," Ss said, which was both a lie and a truth. He had just gotten there, but at the same time, he had watched her for five minutes. "Thea, you two should get married already so we can get out of this little ce," Kai said with a smirk. "Kai!" Ss yelled as Thea began to blush. "Ignore him..." Ss began, but he was quickly interrupted. "No..." Thea said, her face growing even more red. "He''s right. I think it''s time... My grandfather has been pushing me more each day, and I agree, it''s time we got out of here." Thea''s goal and dream were always to leave this inheritance realm, and she knew Ss felt the same way. Now all that was left was for the two of them to tie the knot, and then they could challenge the battle pagoda and get out of here. "Really... are you sure?" Ss asked. Thea paused in thought for a moment but soon nodded her head. "Yes, I''m positive. Let''s get married," she said, this time with a little confidence. Ss smiled at her confidence and nodded his head. "Ok, let''s do it..." *** The next several days were a blur. They all went by way too quick. Both the Redstone and Armstrong ns considered this the biggest event of thest several hundred years. It was not umon for there to be marriages between ns of the same region, but one with two generational talents such as Ss and Thea was beyond rare. Most of the time, when a talent was born, the n would make sure to keep it in the n. (I hate this, but this is how these types of novels go... but they do have millions of nsmen, so it shouldn''t be too hard to find two people that are very distantly rted... hopefully.) Multiple events took ce, some in the Redstone n, others in the Armstrong n. Both Ss and Thea had each made the trip tens of times over thest couple of days, but soon it was all worth it when the day of the wedding came. After a beautiful and traditional wedding, Ss and Thea were finally man and wife... *** The night was calm, with the faint light of the moon filtering through the high windows of their private chamber. Thea''s hand rested softly in Ss''s as they entered the room, the door closing gently behind them. The hustle and excitement of the wedding day had faded into a peaceful quiet, leaving them alone for the first time as husband and wife. Ss nced at Thea, his heart pounding not from nerves, but from the overwhelming love he felt for her. Her eyes met his, and she smiled¡ªa mixture of excitement and vulnerability flickering across her face. The wedding had been everything they could have hoped for, but this moment felt even more significant, as if the weight of the world had narrowed to just the two of them. Thea took a slow breath, ncing around the room that had been prepared for them. The air felt warm, scented faintly with the sweet fragrance of flowers left behind by the maids earlier. The bed was draped in fine linens, but it was the presence of Ss beside her that made her pulse quicken. "You okay?" Ss asked softly, stepping closer, his thumb brushing against her hand. Thea nodded, though she couldn''t hide the blush creeping up her cheeks. "A little nervous, I think. This is... new." Her voice was soft, but she smiled as she spoke, her gaze locked on his. Ss smiled back, his own nerves soothed by the way she looked at him. "It''s new for both of us," he whispered, his voice gentle. "We don''t have to rush anything." Thea took a step toward him, letting her fingers trail up his arm. The warmth of his skin through his sleeve feltforting, and her touch reassured them both. "I know. But I want this," she said, her voice steady now, filled with sincerity. "I want to be with you." Ss''s breath hitched for a moment, and he gently cupped her face, his fingers tracing her jawline as he gazed into her eyes. "I love you, Thea," he said, the words carrying the full weight of his feelings. He had known it for so long, but speaking it aloud now felt like sealing a promise, something unbreakable between them. Thea''s eyes softened, her heart swelling with emotion. "I love you too," she whispered, leaning into his touch. The world around them seemed to fade as Ss leaned down, capturing her lips in a tender kiss. It was slow, deliberate, as if they were both savoring the moment. There was no rush, no pressure¡ªonly the deep connection they had built over years, now culminating in this one night. Thea''s hands moved to his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her palms. Ss''s hands slid around her waist, pulling her closer, deepening the kiss but still keeping it gentle. There was a shared nervousness between them, but it wasced with excitement, curiosity, and above all, trust. When they finally broke the kiss, their foreheads rested against each other, both of them breathing softly. Ss smiled down at her, his thumb brushing across her cheek. "We''ll take this one step at a time," he said quietly. Thea nodded, her heart feeling full. "Together," she whispered back. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 31: -31- R-18…

Chapter 31: -31- R-18...

Thea''s cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red, but excitement started to outweigh her nerves. Ss noticed the change in her, and with a tender smile, he leaned in, brushing his lips against her forehead before meeting her eyes again. "You''re beautiful," he whispered, his voice filled with both admiration and reassurance. Slowly, their clothes began to fall away, each piece revealing more of their bodies to each other. As they undressed, there was no rush¡ªonly quiet appreciation in the way Ss''s eyes traced Thea''s form, the moonlight casting a soft glow on her bare skin, entuating the rise and fall of her ample breasts. Thea mirrored his gaze, marveling at the way his muscles flexed under his skin, the strength he carried with such ease. When they stood there, fully exposed and vulnerable, they embraced again, feeling the warmth of each other''s bodies. Ss could feel Thea''s heartbeat, steady but quickened, just like his own. Their lips met once more, this time with more intensity, the kiss deepening with a shared longing that had built over time. As their mouths devoured each other, hands explored what remained untouched. "I''ve waited for this," Thea breathed between kisses, her hands sliding down Ss''s back, savoring the feel of his skin beneath her fingers. "So have I," Ss murmured against her lips; with one hand, he slowly cupped her perfect andrge breast, and with the other, he explored the curve of her waist, his touch gentle but filled with intention. They moved toward the bed, bodies entwined, never breaking their connection. Ssid her down gently, his eyes never leaving hers as he hovered above her, the weight of the moment settling over them both. Thea smiled up at him, her hand brushing softly against his cheek. "I''m yours," she whispered, her voice soft yet full of trust. Ss''s heart swelled at her words. He leaned down, kissing her again, slower this time, savoring the taste of her lips. His hands began to explore her body with a gentle touch, tracing the soft curves of her hips before sliding lower. Thea''s breath hitched as his fingers grazed her inner thigh, a soft moan escaping her lips. "Ss..." she whispered, her eyes fluttering shut as he continued his tender exploration. He smiled at her response, his own body responding to the way she trembled beneath his touch. His fingers teased the sensitive skin of her thighs before moving between her legs, each motion careful, respectful. Thea gasped, her back arching slightly off the bed, her body reacting instinctively to the sensation. "Are you okay?" Ss asked quietly, his thumb brushing over her skin. "Yes..." Thea exhaled, her voiceced with both anticipation and desire. "I want you." Encouraged by her words, With a tender stroke, Ss grazed Thea''s inner thigh, causing her to quiver beneath him. He repeated the motion, each pass growing bolder until he reached the apex of her thighs. In that instant, their connection intensified. Ss soon continued his fingers parting her gently, exploring her warmth... Finally, his fingers found the center of her universe - slick, heated folds waiting for his exploration. Thea''s eyes locked onto his, her breathing in short, soft gasps as his touch sent waves of pleasure through her. She clung to his shoulders, her fingers digging in as she arched into him, every nerve alight with sensation. Her reactions only fueled Ss''s desire, but he took his time, letting her body guide him. His thumb found the sensitive nub at her center, pressing lightly, and Thea''s response was immediate¡ªher body tensing, a soft cry escaping her lips as pleasure surged through her. Meanwhile, Ss''s cock throbbed with need, straining against his abdomen. "Oh, Ss..." she breathed, her head falling back against the pillow, eyes half-lidded as her body quivered beneath him. Ss watched her with awe, marveling at the way her body reacted to his touch, the way she seemed to glow with pleasure. He wanted nothing more than to bring her to the peak of ecstasy, to see her lose herselfpletely in the moment. And as he continued, he could feel her reaching that edge, her breathing growing erratic, her grip on him tightening. Thea gasped, her body tensing, then shuddering as her climax washed over her, wave after wave of sensation leaving her trembling and breathless. She let out a soft, broken cry, her eyes fluttering closed as she rode the waves of pleasure. Ss kissed her gently, his lips soft against her skin, letting here down slowly from the high. As Thea caught her breath, she looked up at him, her eyes shining with a mixture of satisfaction and adoration. "That was... incredible," she whispered, still panting slightly. Ss smiled, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face. "You''re incredible," he said softly, his voice full of affection. With a tender kiss, Thea shifted, her hands moving to Ss''s waist, gently guiding him closer. Ss removed thest of his clothing, and as he stood before her, ready and vulnerable, Thea reached out, her hand brushing against his dick. "Come here," she whispered, her voice full of warmth and love inviting him into her embrace. Ss positioned himself between her legs, his body aligning with hers naturally. He paused for a moment, searching her face for any signs of hesitation. But Thea''s eyes were filled with nothing but trust and anticipation. "I''m ready," she whispered, her voice soft but sure. Ss nodded, and with a slow, careful movement, he guided himself to her entrance. Their gazes remained locked as he slowly pushed forward, her body weing him with warmth and tenderness. Thea let out a quiet gasp, her hands gripping his arms as he slid deeper inside, filling herpletely. "Are you okay?" Ss asked, his voice strained with the effort of holding back. "Yes," Thea whispered, her eyes fluttering open to meet his. "I''m perfect." With her reassurance, Ss began to move, each stroke slow and deliberate, their bodies fitting together as if they had always been meant for this. Thea''s soft moans spurred him on, her body responding to every thrust, her hips rising to meet his in perfect harmony. The sounds of their shared passion filled the room, the soft p of skin against skin, the ragged breaths, the whispered names. Ss could feel the tension building in both of them, a powerful surge of pleasure that threatened to overwhelm them both. "I love you," Thea whispered, her voice breaking as she neared the edge again, her body trembling beneath his. "I love you too," Ss replied, his voice low and full of emotion. Their movements became faster, more urgent, as they both chased that final release. Ss''s hands gripped her hips, his body pressing against hers, and with one final thrust, they both fell over the edge, their cries mingling together in the quiet room as their bodies trembled with shared ecstasy. When it was over, theyy together, their bodies entwined, breathing in sync as they came down from the intensity of their lovemaking. Ss gently kissed Thea''s forehead, his fingers tracing soft patterns on her skin. "That was..." Ss began, his voice trailing off as he searched for the right words. "Perfect," Thea finished for him, her voice soft but filled with contentment. Ss smiled, pulling her closer, their bodies still tangled together in the sheets. "Yeah... perfect." They stayed like that, wrapped in each other''s arms, knowing that this moment wasn''t just the culmination of their physical desires but the solidification of a bond that would carry them through whatevery ahead. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 32: -32- Entering the battle pagoda

Chapter 32: -32- Entering the battle pagoda

The next morning, Ss and Thea sleptte into the day, just wanting to stay in bed and hold each other, but soon their goals and dreams forced them up. "Now that we''re married, we can go challenge the Battle Pagoda and hopefully leave this ce," Thea said, longing in her voice. "I have no doubt that we will seed," Ss said. He was a Divine Beast¡ªhow could he not? And while he was slightly worried about Thea, she was quite talented herself, so he had a little confidence and hope that she would make it and be able to enter the wider world with him. "Alright, let''s go," Thea said as she reached forward and grabbed Ss''s hand. After they opened the door, Thea was a little surprised to see both Kai and Red sitting outside their bedroom. While Red was at the end of the hall, as far away from their bedroom as possible, sitting in a lotus position in his human form meditating, Kai was in his beast form, lying on his back not even two feet away from their bedroom door. When Kai heard the door open, he immediately turned his little head and just grinned at Ss and Thea. "How was your first night? Was it special?" Kai asked, saying thest part with both sarcasm and a mocking tone. "Kai, stop it," Ss quickly said, wanting to save Thea from further embarrassment. "Haha," Kai started tough as he fell on his side. "Kai, are you ready? It''s time to challenge the Battle Pagoda," Ss said. "Ready? I was born ready," Kai said as he stood up with confidence. "Well, let''s go say goodbye to everyone, and then we can head out." Their respective families already knew that they were going to try the Battle Pagoda after their marriage, and while they worried and even tried to talk them out of it, there was nothing they could do. Both Thea and Ss were adults and could do what they wanted. And even if they wanted to stop the two, the strongest of them, Oscar, was only at his best on par with Ss and at his worst would lose to him, so there was no stopping them. They were soon surrounded by their families, saying their goodbyes. Thea was saying goodbye to her Redstone n. Ss was saying goodbye to his Armstrong n, and even Red was saying goodbye to his father, Rey. "Are you sure you have to go, baby?" Ss''s mother, ra, asked, clear worry on her face. "Yes, Mom, I have to get out of this ce if I want to stride down the path of an immortal. But don''t worry, I''ll be fine, I promise," Ss said. "But that''s not something you can promise. We don''t even know how deadly the trials are¡ªno one''s evere back to tell us," she argued. "Please, just trust me," Ss said. Soon, he said goodbye to each of his family members, from his mother and father to grandparents and great-grandfather, as well as several other close family members and friends from his childhood. *** Soon, Ss, Thea, Kai, and Red were on their way to the Battle Pagoda. It would take them more than a week traveling there since it was in the center of the Inheritance Realm and their Moonvale Mountain region was toward the edge of the realm... Several days went by, and they were now all standing in front of a massive pagoda that was over 100 meters wide and 1,000 meters tall. "So, who should go first?" Thea asked, a little nervous now that she was here. They knew the rules of the Battle Pagoda. Only one person was allowed to go at once, so one of them would go in, and the rest would have to wait their turn. "I''ll go first," Ss said. "But I want to go first," Kai said, acting as if he were a child. "You''re the strongest of us. We know you will surely pass, so just hold tight. Stay out here and protect Thea," Ss said. Kai was indeed currently stronger than Ss. Ss was only ate Transcendent lifeform, while Kai was at peak. And even though Ss''s Dao was slightly more advanced, they were both still at minorpletion, and Kai had even touched minorpletion in his w Dao, while Ss was still stuck at ''touched'' in his Scythe Dao. "Fine," Kai said as he crossed his little arms, then hopped from Ss''s shoulder to Thea''s. "After I go, let Thea go, and then, Kai, you can go," Ss said. The Battle Pagoda only let one go at a time, but it did allow beastpanions to go with you, so he would take Red with him. He, of course, could take Kai with him as well, but Kai insisted that he beat the Pagoda himself. Ss then let go of Thea''s hand and walked forward. He ced his hand on the pagoda, and after 10 seconds, he was teleported inside. *** Ss was teleported into arge, dark cave. It was over 200 meters tall and 500 meters wide. He was alone now, but he wasn''t worried. He knew that while your beastpanions were allowed to enter with you, they were not allowed to help in any way, so they were always teleported somece else while you challenged the floors. Even though the cave was on the darker side, Ss, being a Transcendent lifeform, could see just fine, and what he saw surprised him a little. There were skeletons all around him¡ªtons of them. Many people had clearly died in this first trial. Ss suddenly sensed movement behind him. Startled, he spun around to see an old, hunchbacked man emerging from the shadows. d in simple robes that seemed to be woven from starlight itself, the man leaned heavily on a wooden staff that was gnarled and twisted like the roots of an ancient tree. His grey hair cascaded down to his waist, and his eyes shone with the wisdom of countless lifetimes. [Treasure Spirit] "Be quiet and listen," the old man said in a rough but solid voice. Ss just nodded his head. He didn''t want to disobey this man, lest he anger him and get kicked out. Ss knew who this old man likely was. He was most likely the treasure spirit of this Immortal Estate that the entire Inheritance Realm and Battle Pagoda were in. He also knew that for a weapon to form a spirit, it had to be at least Immortal grade, so this old man, even though he was just a spirit, could easily kill him if he wished to. "I know that you are from the world inside the Immortal Estate, so you likely know this already, but I will tell you regardless since those are the rules the master of this estate set before his death." "You must be no higher than Peak Transcendent to challenge this pagoda." "There are eight levels to this pagoda... After passing each floor, you can choose to exit if you feel you will not be strong enough to pass the next floor. But if you do decide to exit, know that you will be forever trapped inside the Immortal Estate''s world." "To exit the Immortal Estate, you have to pass the 7th floor. If you choose to exit here, you will not gain anything, but you will have the ability to enter the wider world of the Thousand Realm, and you will be teleported thousands of miles from this Immortal Estate." "However, if you wish to be the owner of this estate and the disciple of Daoist Silent Sage, you must continue on to the 8th floor and pass the final test." "There are currently no inheritors of this estate. There have been two inheritors and disciples before, but they have all since died one way or another..." After that, the old man vanished, and 30 armored men took his ce. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 33: -33- A challenge

Chapter 33: -33- A challenge

Ss nodded his head. This was more or less the same information he had learned from his n that was passed down from his founding ancestor, who entered this ce from the outside world. Several nsmen had also tried their luck in the battle pagoda over the many years, but most never came back and were suspected to have died. He then turned his attention to the 30 armored warriors that, while being golems, looked like actual men. [Golem - Qi Cultivation: Peak Transcendent - Body Cultivation: Peak Transcendent] ''Let''s see how strong you are,'' Ss thought as he pulled out his scythe and attacked one of the golems. He wanted to see how strong each individual golem was. "Bang!" Ss first attacked without his dao and just met the golem head-on to test its strength. ''Damn,'' Ss thought. This golem had the strength of a weak Early Revolving Core. While Ss was easily stronger than it, since with his Late Transcendent body cultivation, he had the strength of a strong Early Revolving Core. Most Transcendent lifeforms would struggle to defeat this golem, and there were 30 of these golems. Ss, now knowing the strength of these golems, quickly began to attack them with his dao, using both his scythe and his two sickles to slowly destroy the golems. "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" He continued his onught against the golems, but they weren''t easy to destroy. They could be ground down to powder, but as long as they had divine power remaining, they could rebuild themselves. Ten minutes went by with Ss grinding down the golems before he was finally teleported to the next floor. He was still in arge cave. The old hunchbacked man appeared before him and asked, "Would you like to continue?" "Yes," Ss said, nodding his head. The old man disappeared, and eight armed warriors teleported in. [Golem - Qi Cultivation: Peak Transcendent - Body Cultivation: Peak Transcendent] ''Dao battle armor?'' Ss thought. Each of the eight warriors wore the same type of armor that had intricate runes drawn on them. Ss knew what dao battle armor was. It allowed every soldier tobine their energy together to attack while also allowing them tobine their efforts together for defense. So while these eight Peak Transcendent golems seemed like less of a challenge than the previous 30, this battle would be much more challenging than the previous, with each of the eight golems being linked together. "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!" Ss slowly began to wear these golems down as well. Even though they were more of a challenge than thest fight, and many cultivators had likely lost their lives to these golems, to Ss this wasn''t a challenge. Ss soon passed this floor as well. On the 3rd floor, he faced a single golem that was a strong Early Revolving Core qi and body cultivator. On the 4th floor, he had to just stand there and defend for one solid hour without being touched a single time. On the 5th floor, his offense was tested. A shimmering barrier from a formation was put before him, and he had to break through it in less than an hour. While this sounded like it wasn''t deadly, the walls on each side of Ss were slowly closing, so if he failed to destroy the formation, his destiny would be to die by being crushed. On the 6th floor, Ss''s defense was once again tested. Only this time, instead of being bombarded by multiple attacks for an hour, his absolute peak defense was tested. All he had to do was withstand one attack from a rank 4 Early Golden Core cultivator. On the 7th floor, he had to break through another formation barrier, only this time he had to do it in one attack. "BANG!!!" After breaking the wall on the 7th floor, the old man teleported in once again. This time, his face had what could be called a slight smile. "Congrattions on passing the 7th floor... would you like to exit here or challenge the 8th floor? "I will add, the 8th floor is beyond difficult. It has only been passed twice in the past millions of years." "Yes, I''ll challenge the 8th floor," Ss said with confidence. If others could pass the floor, he felt that he could as well. Ss was once again teleported into arge cave. This time, a massive 20-meter-tall golem stood in front of him. [Golem - Qi Cultivation: Earth Immortal - Body Cultivation: Earth Immortal] Ss''s eyes widened at this. How was he supposed to defeat this thing? ''How am I supposed to defeat this?'' Ss thought. ''Maybe I''m just supposed to show my courage?'' Ss thought with hope, knowing he stood no chance at defeating this golem. But soon, his questions were answered. "If you can force me to take a step back, you pass; you have one hour," the golem said as it just stood there defenseless, not seeming to even try to put up any type of defense. "I just have to force him to take a step back?" Ss muttered. Ss now stood there, scythe in hand, staring at the towering 20-meter-tall Earth Immortal golem. His heart raced. Even with all his confidence, this was unlike any opponent he had faced before. The golem''s body shimmered with a faint glow of qi and divine power, giving off an aura that felt imprable. He clenched his scythe tightly. The golem''s deep voice once again echoed in the cave. "If you can force me to take a step back, you pass." Ss'' mind raced. A single step back? It sounded simple, but the sheer difference in cultivation made this a near-impossible task. His dao of destruction, dao of death, and dao of the scythe would be put to the ultimate test. No more hesitation. With a flick of his wrist, his two flying sickles shot forward, propelled by his divine will. They zipped through the air, aimed at the golem''s chest. He simultaneously charged forward, his body growing to 18 meters tall using his divine ability [Heavenly Transformation], his scythe gleaming with dark energy from the lesser dao of cleaving. "Crumble!" he roared, invoking his dao of destruction. The sickles hit the golem first, slicing across its body with a sharp "Shing!". Ss followed up with a wide, diagonal sh with his scythe, empowered by the dao of crumbling. A shockwave rippled through the cave, striking the golem with the force of a copsing mountain. "Bang!" The blow hit the golem''s torso, but the towering figure didn''t budge. Dust and debris flew off its body, but the guardian didn''t even flinch. The golem merely stood still, like a mountain unmoved by the wind. "Too weak," it said, its voice like grinding rocks. Ss clicked his tongue, frustration building. He leaped back, dodging a counterattack that the golem hadn''t yet thrown but would inevitably follow. The golem wasn''t in a rush¡ªit had no need to be. Ss only had one hour, but the pressure felt suffocating. The sickles flew back toward Ss, who willed them to attack again. He used his divine will to control their sharp edges, making them slice in unpredictable patterns. One shed at the golem''s knee, the other at its shoulder. Meanwhile, Ss dashed around to its nk, spinning his scythe in a wide arc, focusing all his energy into one concentrated strike using the dao of cleaving. "Cleaving!" he shouted, letting his weapon fly with every ounce of force he could muster. "Shing!" The sickles hit first, biting into the golem''s body, while his scythe followed up, carving into the golem''s side. The impact was enormous, enough to shatter stone, but the golem... remained unmoved. His attacks left faint scratches, but that was it; no blood fell. A heavy fist swung down toward Ss faster than he had anticipated. He barely had time to react, jumping back at thest second. The fist smashed into the ground with a deafening boom, sending stone shards flying through the air. Ss panted, his heart pounding. His attacks weren''t enough. Not yet. He needed more. The golem began to move now, slowly lifting its foot to crush him. The Earth Immortal cultivation was overwhelming¡ªan invisible pressure weighed on Ss'' chest. His time was slipping away. He couldn''t afford to hold back any longer. Ss closed his eyes for a brief moment, reaching deep within himself. He felt the three daos swirling inside him¡ªCrumbling, Rot, Cleaving. They were all part of him. But one of them, Cleaving, was the key. He hadn''t fully grasped its power, not yet, but now there was no choice. His scythe was the embodiment of this dao. If he could elevate it, even just a little... "Boom!" Another strike from the golem missed him by inches, the ground quaking beneath its weight. Ss breathed deeply, visualizing the path of the scythe. Not just its edge, but its purpose: to cleave through anything, no matter the obstacle. He felt a surge within him, a burning sensation in his chest. The dao of cleaving¡ªit was awakening, evolving. Suddenly, the air around him shimmered with power. His scythe began to glow, brighter and sharper than ever before. "Minorpletion..." Ss opened his eyes, and they gleamed with determination. The sickles spun around him in a frenzy, now faster and sharper, their connection to him even stronger. He raised his scythe high, focusing on his newly enhanced dao. The golem stepped forward again, but this time, Ss was ready. With a burst of speed, he shot forward, his entire being centered on one strike. The sickles moved in unison, guided by his will, as they aimed for the golem''s legs. At the same time, Ss leaped into the air, his scythe charged with thebined power of his three daos¡ªCrumbling, Rot, and Cleaving. "Fall!" he roared. In one swift motion, his scythe came down like a crescent moon, glowing with dark energy. The sickles struck the golem''s legs at the exact moment his scythe hit the golem''s chest. "BOOOM!!!" *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 34: -34- You are not truly human

Chapter 34: -34- You are not truly human

"BOOOM!!!" The force of his strike reverberated through the cave, shaking the ground. The Dao of Crumbling and Rot worked in tandem, breaking down the golem''s body while the Dao of Cleaving sliced down at its chest. For a split second, nothing happened. Then, with a groan, the golem shifted. One step back. Ss stood there, breathing heavily, his scythe still glowing. The golem, towering as it was, had been forced back by a single step. "You... pass," the golem rumbled, its voice slow and deep, echoing through the cave. Ss exhaled, a mixture of exhaustion and satisfaction washing over him. He had done it. With his newly empowered Dao of Cleaving, he had achieved the impossible. "Phew!" Ss let out a deep breath. He had been worried for a little bit that he would actually fail this challenge. ''How the hell have two others passed this?'' Ss thought. With all his advantages, he had barely managed to pass. How did the two inheritors before him manage to force that golem to take a step back? ''But then again, they likely came from the outside world and were raised by monstrous ns and sects,'' Ss began to think. While he had his advantages, it didn''t mean that others didn''t have theirs. Ss was then teleported once again, this time into arge hall. As Ss blinked away the disorienting sensation of the teleportation, his surroundings came into sharp focus. He stood at the entrance of a vast, awe-inspiring hall, its grandeur stretching far beyond what seemed possible. The ceiling soared high above, fading into a swirl of clouds and shimmering bands of light that shifted from gold to violet to deep blue. It felt more like gazing into the sky than the roof of any building. Massive white marble pirs nked the hall, perfectly aligned, each one etched with intricate carvings of ancient battles and cryptic runes. The stories told in stone seemed to hum with a forgotten power, as if the figures could step from the marble at any moment. Beneath his feet, the floor gleamed like polished ss, made from dark obsidian that reflected the room as though he were walking on the surface of a stillke. Gold iys traced borate designs, forming constetions and unfamiliar maps, as though charting the paths of realms beyond his imagining. Between the pirs, towering statues loomed¡ªdepictions of warriors, sages, and creatures of myth, all captured in mid-motion, frozen in time but radiating an undeniable sense of presence and authority. Above, silken banners in rich crimson and royal purple drifted slightly, as if moved by an unseen breeze. They were embroidered with silver threads and starlight, illustrating the rise and fall of empires long lost to history. The air itself was fragrant with lotus blossoms, carrying a soft, melodic hum that seemed to resonate deep within him, stirring something ancient in his soul. At the far end of the hall, raised on a tform of gleaming stone, stood a throne unlike any Ss had ever seen. It was a masterpiece of celestial metals, shining with an inner light, and adorned with glowing gemstones. Behind it, a waterfall of light flowed upward, defying gravity as it streamed into the swirling sky above, casting a warm, ethereal glow across the hall. Standing in the midst of this breathtaking hall, Ss felt both insignificant and strangely connected. The old hunchbacked man once again teleported in front of him. "Congrattions on passing the trials and bing an inheritor of this immortal estate, as well as the newest disciple of Daoist Silent Sage." "To im your right as an inheritor, as well as the disciple of Daoist Silent Sage, go kowtow three times in front of the throne." After that, the old man disappeared again. Now that Ss was done taking in the breathtaking scene of therge hall, he had time to notice that all around him there were spatial magic treasures. ''These must be collected from all those who died inside the trial,'' Ss thought as he began to pick them up with his divine will and bind them with his qi. ''Wow,'' Ss thought as he began to go through each of the magic treasures. There were so many different types of magic treasures. There were offensive, defensive, and movement-type magic treasures. While they were all rank 1 and rank 2, the sheer quantity was surprising. There were also Dao seals and talismans, hundreds if not thousands of them. ''And these are all mine?'' Ss thought as he looked around. It didn''t seem like the spirit of this immortal estate cared for these treasures in the slightest, so he picked the biggest spatial magic treasure he could find and began to put everything inside it after transforming it into a ring. He continued to look through the various items, and soon he came across a letter. It was written on ancient paper, which is why it caught his eye. Every other item of this type had long since disintegrated. "Joshua, our n has just learned that Daoist Silent Sage is going to be epting disciples. Although Daoist Silent Sage is only a loose immortal of our n, he has survived for millions of years, and anyone that can survive the countless cmities and tribtions for that long must surely have the strength of a True Immortal. The patriarch believes his power is not any inferior to his own." "You might not know who Daoist Silent Sage is, but he was once a shining star of our Obsidian n as he rushed through the ranks, but sadly, he was overconfident and failed his heavenly tribtion. After that, he fell from grace in our n and was even ostracized by those who used to praise him. After this, he left our n and has nevere back, but now after millions of years, he has sent word across the dynasty that he feels he will not survive his next tribtion." "Daoist Silent Sage has never taken a disciple before, not even when asked to take on a prince from the Supreme Peng Dynasty. Since he has never taken a disciple before, surely what he teaches and gives his disciple will be great." "I''m not sure how many disciples he ns to take, but he has publicly set his immortal estate down on the Isle of Silent Echoes, deep within the Sea of Shadows. It is even rumored that once his disciple is found, he will vanish from the world, taking his secrets and power with him. Our journey to the Sea of Shadows will take many months, and already countless warriors and cultivators have begun their trek." "The choice is yours, but you must act quickly. Hesitation could cost you everything. I have given you the news; the decision is now in your hands." "Signed, Silvan Obsidian." ''So this Daoist Silent Sage failed his heavenly tribtion,'' Ss thought, at first a little disappointed. But then he remembered what the letter said. ''...have the strength of a true immortal. The patriarch believes his power is not any inferior to his own.'' ''With the strength of a true immortal, what he left behind should be pretty good.'' Ss didn''t dy any further. He walked forward and stopped before the throne, and then he got down on his knees and kowtowed three times. "Bang." "Bang." "Bang." His forehead hit the ground three times. He did not want to disrespect his new master in any way. He still didn''t know the temper of histe master, and if he wasn''t careful, the immortal estate''s spirit treasure might have orders to kill anyone disrespectful. "Good! Very good!" the old hunchbacked man said behind Ss this time, with a little joy in his voice. Ss turned around and saw that the old man now had a smile on his face. "Ss Armstrong, I have been waiting for you," the old man said. "You know me?" Ss asked, a little confused. "I am the spirit of this immortal estate. I see all and am aware of all that goes on inside this estate. I''ve long since seen your potential ever since that day you became a Transcendent lifeform. I even know you are not truly human... but that is not my business, so I will not ask," the old man said. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 35: -35- Pride

Chapter 35: -35- Pride

Ss was at first a little worried when the spirit brought up that he wasn''t actually human, but after that, he said that it wasn''t his business, so Ss sighed in relief. "You are now the inheritor and disciple of Daoist Silent Sage..." the old man said with a sigh and a look of longing. This old spirit clearly missed its master. The old man continued, "...With that titlees not only the great power he left behind but also the heavy burden of his regrets and wisdom. His legacy is not just a path to strength, but a cautionary tale¡ªa reminder that the brightest mes burn the quickest if not tempered by patience." "This is when I would normally tell you about this immortal estate, its creator, and what''s expected of you, but I''m aware that you are not alone and that that little mouse will likely be a disciple as well," the old man said, a smile still on his face. "But first, let me give you back your beastpanion." With a sh, Red was teleported next to Ss. "Ss, are you ok?" Red asked. He clearly had been worried. "Yea, I''m fine big brother. Don''t worry, I passed," Ss said, wanting to ease his nerves. Red then flew to Ss''s shoulder and began to look around. "Now that you have your beastpanion, it''s time to watch your wife and your second beastpanion take on the different floors," the old man said. "Now that I''m an inheritor, can you not just let my wife through?" Ss asked. He didn''t see why she would have to challenge the battle pagoda anymore. "No, while you are now an inheritor of this immortal estate and a disciple of Daoist Silent Sage, you only have so much ess to the immortal estate and you cannot do as you please," the old man said. "However, since she''s your wife, if she is strong enough to pass the 7th floor, she will be allowed to enter this ce. She will not be able to take advantage of what''s inside, but she can enter this grand hall." ''Damn,'' Ss thought. He was hoping she might be able to take advantage in some way without passing the 8th floor because he knew she didn''t have the strength to do that. "Kai, you can tell Thea I''m done and she can begin, but tell her not to under any circumstances challenge the 8th floor. She''s not strong enough," Ss sent Kai through the system. "You got it, boss," Kai sent back. *** Thea then challenged the floors one by one and soon she was at the 7th floor. Ss was at first slightly worried that her peak offense wouldn''t be enough to break through the formation barrier, but his worries were soon gone. "Boom!" With one solid attack, Thea broke through the barrier. Not too longter, Thea was teleported into therge hall. Thea and Ss both smiled when they saw each other. This had been their goal, their dream for a long time, and now they had done it. They would finally be able to leave the inheritance realm and enter the wider world. "Congrattions, Thea," Ss said as he walked over to her and gave her a huge hug. "Thank you, and congrattions to you as well," Thea said. "The spirit told me that if it wasn''t for you passing the 8th floor and the fact that I''m your wife, I wouldn''t be allowed to enter this ce and I would have just been tossed out of the immortal estate into the real world." Ss nodded his head, seeing no reason to lie, "While you can enter this hall, you can gain nothing else from this ce." Thea still had a smile on her face. "It''s fine. As long as I can leave this inheritance realm and enter the real world, then I''m ok with not being able to gain anything from here. My freedom is more than enough for me." Ss nodded his head, "I''m d." "Kai, it''s your turn and don''t mess around. Give it your all or don''teining to me if you fail," Ss sent Kai. "Got it," Kai said. *** As expected of Kai, who was more or less the same strength as Ss now that he had raised his lesser Dao of Cleaving to minorpletion, he passed the 8th floor with just a slight struggle. As Kai teleported into the grand hall, he looked around in amazement. "Wow, boss, this ce is awesome," Kai said, amazed. The spirit then walked over to Kai and told him the same thing he had told Ss. "Congrattions on passing the trials and bing an inheritor of this immortal estate as well as the newest disciple of Daoist Silent Sage." "To im your right as an inheritor as well as the disciple of the Daoist Silent Sage, go kowtow three times in front of the throne." Upon hearing this, Kai had a nk look on his little face, "Boss, I don''t want to kowtow even once, but he expects me to do it three times... I''m a divine beast... Hmph!" This slightly pissed Ss off. Why now of all times did Kai have to let his pride as a divine beast get in the way of things? "I don''t fucking care, just do it. Please, for me, just fucking do it. The spirit of this ce is finally starting to like me, don''t ruin it. What if you piss him off and he kicks you out of this ce and doesn''t let you leave this inheritance realm? What will your pride as a divine beast do for you then?" Ss sent back. "Hmph," Kai raised his head, clearly unhappy. "Fine." Kai then walked over to the throne. "If I do it in my human form, I guess it isn''t as bad. Hmph, three times." Unlike Ss, who made sure to bang his head three times, Kai just barely touched the ground, not even hard enough to make a sound. "Hmm..." the old man said with a small frown on his face, "I guess that... will suffice." "Kai, what the fuck..." Ss sent him. "Hmph, I did it, didn''t I? The master of this ce should be happy to have a divine beast like me as a disciple, not the other way around. Hmph hmph," Kai sent back, clearly still frustrated. After that, Ss heard some noise to his left and right, so he quickly looked around. "Treasure Hall" "Battle Hall" "Divine Abilities Hall" "Insights Hall" There were now four halls, two on each side of the main hall. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 36: -36- Daoist Silent Sage

Chapter 36: -36- Daoist Silent Sage

"I will now tell you a little bit about your newte master..." the old man began, ignoring the new halls for now. "His name was Kian Obsidian. He was born to the Obsidian n, which has multiple true immortals at its helm, millions of years ago. He quickly rose through the ranks with his astonishing talent and cultivation speed, but his arrogance was his downfall. He thought that nothing could stop his climb, not even the heavens themselves. But due to his arrogance, he failed his heavenly tribtion, barely able to escape as a loose immortal." "A loose immortal!! I kowtowed not once, not twice, but three fucking times to a loose immortal!" Kai yelled in Ss''s head. He was not pleased. Luckily, though, he knew to keep it all on the inside and didn''t show his displeased look. "Just listen. You''ve seen this ce. Just because the creator was a loose immortal doesn''t mean we can''t gain something good," Ss sent back. Ss knew from the letter he found that Daoist Silent Sage was just a loose immortal, but he also knew that he had the strengthparable to at least a True Immortal, which was telling of his power. To be able to leap not only a rank but a True Immortal rank was nothing to scoff at. "Hmph, fine!" Kai sent back. "Upset with his failure, he went back to his n, his spirit already at rock bottom. But where he used to be the rising young star of his mighty n, he was now ostracized. Unable to take this, he left the n, ready to take his own life." "He stood at the precipice of his own end, where the boundless heavens had denied him, and the n he had glorified turned its back on him. Yet, in that darkest moment, when his heart teetered on the edge of oblivion, the universe itself seemed to whisper to him, revealing the Grand Dao like a light breaking through the night. It was as if the heavens gave him a second chance, not at immortality, but at understanding." "On that day, with his moment of insight, he managed toprehend aplete Grand Dao from touched to perfection in one fell swoop." "Thispletely changed his life, and from that day on, even though his path to immortality had been cut short, he dedicated his life to the Dao." "The man who once walked as a proud conqueror now moved as a silent pilgrim, seeking nothing more than the way, the path, the Dao. No longer did he strive for fame or power. The brilliance of his youth was reced by the quiet humility of a man who knew his greatest enemy had always been his own impatience. Each step on his journey after that was measured, thoughtful, and deliberate, like a river eroding the rock¡ªslow but unstoppable." "This is when he changed his Daoist title to Daoist Silent Sage." "He soonprehended tens of Grand Dao paths, and eventually, he even managed toprehend several Heavenly Daos, bing a legendary Dao Ancestor, which is a title usually reserved only for the likes of rank 9 Ancestral Immortals." "You see, he wasn''t just any loose immortal..." Ss sent Kai. "I guess he''s alright," Kai said, starting to feel a little better. "This is what made him so strong and what allowed him to stay alive for tens of millions of years as a loose immortal. With his strength, he secretly sparred with the likes of rank 8 Celestial Immortals and became friends with Ancestral Immortals. In theter years of his life, he decided to create me as his life''s work. This immortal estate was to teach talented disciples the way forward." "To take the path of cultivation one step at a time and never rush, lest they end up like him." "Daoist Silent Sage surmised that with his talent for cultivation and the Dao, he would have far surpassed his n''s patriarch as a rank 7 True Immortal and be a rank 9 Ancestral Immortal. But talent, he realized, is nothing without time to nurture it. What good is brilliance if it burns out too soon?" "It is this lesson he carved into the foundations of this immortal estate so that those who follow him¡ªlike you, Ss, and Kai¡ªmay learn not to repeat his mistakes. The true path to power is not a race but a journey, one where even a single misstep can end everything." "He also realized that his path was wed. He had forsaken the body cultivation path due to its slow speed and only strode down the path of a Qi cultivator. He decided that the proper path of a cultivator is to stride down both paths equally, with a heavy emphasis on Fiendgod Body cultivation, saying that it was the stronger, safer, and more reliable path¡ªthe path of survival." "Now that you know a little bit more about yourte master, I will tell you about what you can gain from this immortal estate," the old man said as he motioned to the four halls that had just appeared. The group then walked over to the first hall. "This is the treasure hall," the old man said. Inside the treasure hall, Ss could see all kinds of different magic treasures, each emanating a powerful and ancient aura. There were weapons as well as formation gs and other artifacts that could be seen inside. ''Wow,'' Ss thought as he looked at a particrly impressive-looking spear. The auraing off of it was deadly. "The treasures in this hall are all of immense value. Each one was collected by the master of the estate with his disciples in mind, and while you might not be able to find exactly what you want, you can always pick something valuable and sell or trade it for something else you need." "What do we need to do to be able to select one of these treasures?" Ss asked. "There are two ways to have the ability to select a treasure. The first is to progress equally as a Qi and body cultivator. So at every rank, you will be able to select an equivalent treasure as long as you rank up in both Qi and body cultivation. You are currently both a Transcendent lifeform in Qi and body cultivation, so you will be able to select one ranked(rank 2) magic treasure, but we will save that forter. The second way is through the battle hall. There are 10 levels to the battle hall. The first two are equal to Spiritual grade magic treasures, the next two are equal to earth grade magic treasures, and so on." "I''ll also add that the quality of each of these magic treasures is either high or at the peak of their respective ranks, with a select few even being supreme-grade treasures." Ss nodded his head in understanding. "Let''s continue," the old man said as he walked the group to the next hall. "This is the battle hall. I''ve already described to you the battle hall, so I will just add that this hall is the most dangerous ce inside the estate, but it is also filled with opportunity..." The old man then walked them to the other side of the main hall. "This is the divine abilities hall. Here, you are given three different divine abilities at three different levels of your cultivation journey." ''Nice,'' Ss thought with his eyes raised. He looked forward to the types of divine abilities that would be given here. "Upon reaching Revolving Core in both Qi and body cultivation, you will be given the divine ability Heavenly Transformation..." Upon hearing this, both Ss and Kai''s heads dipped down a little. They had already gained this divine ability from their inherited memories. "I know that you two have already managed to gain this divine ability, but there is nothing I can do. These are the rules set by the master of this immortal estate, and his rules are final." "But I will add that this divine ability is an excellent one... while the prerequisites for this divine ability are low, it can be trained to a very high level and can even beparable to some truly formidable divine abilities. It is considered the foundational divine ability of any Fiendgod, which is why your master selected it for you." "With this divine ability, with enough insight and control, one can increase their height to one hundred meters, one thousand meters, ten thousand meters, or even more. From this, one can see how strong and powerful this divine ability can be." "The next divine ability is gained once you be a Sage in both Qi and body cultivation. It is a movement-type divine ability. While the Heavenly Transformation divine ability is the foundational divine ability of any Fiendgod, a good movement-type divine ability is just as essential for survival." "And thest divine ability is gained when one bes a True Immortal and a True God. It is a sealing-type divine ability. The master of this estate was not a man of reckless ughter, so he also didn''t wish to pass on a divine ability that would allow his disciples to kill with abandon. But while this isn''t an attack-type divine ability, it is still a miraculous and strong divine ability that was created by an Ancestral Immortal and friend of thete master." "I will also add that since thete master stressed the importance of equally going down both paths, you must rank up equally in both qi and body to gain the divine abilities." *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 37: -37- Small Child

Chapter 37: -37- Small Child

The spirit then walked them over to thest hall, the Insight Hall. "This is the Insight Hall..." the old man said. Ss began to look inside the hall, and inside was apletely new world. There was arge mountain, a vastke, and a starry night sky. "The Insight Hall was meticulously designed by thete master. When living within the Insight Hall, one can better sense the Dao," the old man exined. "Whenever you have any time to meditate, it should be done inside this hall. With this, you will makerge strides in yourprehension. All you have to do is enter and sit upon the jade bed. When sitting upon the jade bed, one''s mind will clear and be in tune with the various wondrous mysteries of the Dao." The old man then sighed, "Well, I''ve shown you around to the various ces you are currently allowed... Now, all you have to do is be a True Immortal, and your job as a disciple of Daoist Silent Sage will beplete. You will inherit this immortal estate, bing its master." "No problem, just give us a little time," Kai said with confidence. The old man gave Kai an odd look, then added, "I know you two are special in some way, but bing a true immortal is rare beyond rare. In the Supreme Peng Dynasty, which rules this, perhaps a couple of million years will pass without a single True Immortal being born. They are truly beings that transcend the realm and are no longer bound by the restrictions those under them must face. While you are special, do not be arrogant, or you will suffer the same fate as my master." "Now, if you ever have a need for me, just call." The old spirit was about to disappear, but before he could, Ss said, "Wait." "Hmm?" the old man said, confused as to what else they could possibly need. "I''m curious¡ª as inheritors of this estate, are Kai and I allowed to enter and exit the inheritance realm?" Ss asked. He hoped that he could go back and tell his parents that he and Thea had seeded. The old man gave a small smile, "Yes, as the inheritors of this immortal estate, you are allowed to enter and exit as you please, and before you decide to enter the wider world, the two of you will have to decide who will carry this estate on them." "Great..." Ss said. He wanted to go see his parents before he entered the wider world, but before he did that, he wanted to explore more of this ce. "So we get to keep this immortal estate with us?" Ss asked. "To be a true cultivator, one must journey through the world, gaining experiences along the way. while you cannot bind the estate until you are no longer an inheritor but a master, I will still allow you to carry it on your person..." the spirit said. "Thank you," Ss said. He was happy that he would be able to carry the estate with him, which meant that his family would always be safe as long as he stayed out of trouble. ''Once we leave and find a safe ce, I''ll hide this away somece safe.'' Ss thought. "Is that all?" the spirit asked. Ss nodded, "Yes, and thank you once again." "No problem, I''m only doing as my master instructed," the old man said before disappearing. "So, what will you do first?" Thea asked. She was only allowed to remain in the main hall, but she wasn''t going to stop Ss from doing what he wanted to. "I don''t know what to do. I guess I''ll try out this hall," Ss said, looking into the Insight Hall and the jade bed that was sitting inside, next to the mountain andke. "Alright, take your time and don''t worry about me," Thea said, but before he could enter, another person teleported in beside them. [Treasure Spirit] "Hello there," a small child said. The spirit looked to be no older than five years old and wore a jade robe. "Umm... hello," Ss said. "You must be wondering who I am..." the child said. Ss nodded. "Ha, I''m the treasure spirit of the Pure Yang (Rank 7/True Immortal) grade jade bed inside the Insight Hall," the child said with a smile and augh. "Pure Yang?" Kai said, a little shocked. "I guess this ce does have some good stuff inside," Kai sent Ss. "I told you it would..." Ss sent back. "Yes, I''m a True Immortal grade treasure," the child said with a beaming smile, clearly proud of its rank. "I see that you are unsure of what to do, and while the spirit of this ce wasn''t very helpful, I''d be d to be of some service," the child said. "Ok, senior, we will trust in your judgment," Ss said. Why wouldn''t he trust in this Pure Yang treasure spirit who would clearly know much more about this ce than him? The small child was giddy with excitement at being addressed as senior and quickly began, "First, you should go to the Treasure Hall and select your treasure for being a dual Qi and body Transcendent cultivator." "Ok, please lead the way," Ss said. The group was then led over to the Treasure Hall. "You two will have to stay outside," the child said, looking at Thea and Red. They both nodded, and Red flew over to Thea''s shoulder, "No problem, please take your time." Ss, Kai, and the treasure spirit then walked into the hall. As they entered, it instantly felt as though they had entered a different world. Ss and Kai both looked around, feeling odd. "Ha ha," the child began tough. "This is its own dimension," the child began, "Each of these halls is a secondary dimension which thete master created himself. These dimensions are connected with the main hall, thus when we stepped through it, we entered this new dimension." "How does one create a dimension?" Ss asked, a little curious. "Ha, you are far off from needing to know that... The great powers of this realm are able to create an entire dimension within a single grain of sand. Do you think you will be able to do this with your feeble strength anytime soon?" the child asked as he continued to walk forward. Ss knew the spirit was right, so he put the thought out of his mind and began to look at the many treasures that were floating around, each one with its own special aura. "Don''t stare for too long. You will only have the ability to choose a select few, and only then if you meet the master''s criteria. The past two inheritors and disciples also once stood here drooling over the various treasures, but where are they now... They have both long died, and if you aren''t careful, you will follow in their footsteps... Of course, if you were allowed to choose freely from this selection, your chances of survival would likely skyrocket," the child said with augh. "One of the disciples even made it all the way to his heavenly tribtion before he was killed by it, and I have no doubt that if he were able to select even one extra treasure from this ce, you two would not be here right now because he would have be a True Immortal and the master of this immortal estate..." Ss looked up and saw a small sword that floated in the distance, and all around it, the space would slowly be destroyed and then repaired, and then destroyed again. ''Destruction...'' Ss thought. He could tell this had to do with the Dao of Destruction. "Ha, you would love to have that now, wouldn''t you? That there is an immortal grade treasure used by Earth and Loose Immortals, but how many Earth and Loose Immortals will truly be able to acquire such a treasure? How rare are they? Generally speaking, most Earth and Loose Immortals will have to use Heaven-grade magic treasures..." the child continued to ramble on. After the child eventually stopped talking, Ss finally said very respectfully, "Senior!" And without a ripple, the old spirit of the immortal estate teleported into the Treasure Hall. "Would you each like to make your selections for being a Transcendent lifeform in both Qi and body cultivation?" the old man asked, looking at both Ss and Kai. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 38: -38- Two Halls

Chapter 38: -38- Two Halls

"Would you each like to make your selections for bing a Transcendent lifeform in both Qi and body cultivation?" the old man asked. "Yes, please," Ss answered. "Very well," the old man said as he pulled out a normal-looking old book. "This book has recorded within it magic treasures of the ranked grade. You can choose from them..." the old man said as he handed the book to Ss. The book seemed very ordinary; it had a rough brown cover that had seen better days, and the pages had turned yellow with time. He then opened the book, with Kai looking over his shoulder as well. On top of each page was a diagram of a treasure or unique item, and below it was its description. "Wow," Ss thought as he began to flip through the pages. ''These magic treasures here make the treasures used in the inheritance realm look fucking terrible,'' Ss thought. As he continued to flip through the pages, it was top-grade treasure after top-grade treasure, with very few high-grade ones. Ss nodded absentmindedly, his eyes scanning the descriptions beneath each treasure. They boasted abilities he could barely wrap his mind around. Each one of them could drastically change the course of any battle or adventure. ''The only problem is these are all just rank 2 weapons,'' Ss thought. As amazing as all these treasures were, he was soon going to rank up to rank 3 Revolving Core, and then these treasures would need to be reced. While these top-quality ranked-grade treasures would still be useful to him as a rank 3 Disciple, they wouldn''t be as helpful as he''d like. Since he would soon have the opportunity to select the Spiritual-grade treasures, his initial excitement quickly calmed down. "Senior, do you happen to have any spirit stones? Do you think I could just have some spirit stones worth the equivalent of one of these treasures?" Ss asked the old spirit. While Ss had never seen a spirit stone, as they were almost impossible to find in the small inheritance realm, he did have an idea about them from texts he had read from his n of the outside world. The old man nodded his head. "Very smart... with yourprehensions, nothing is stopping you from reaching rank 3 other than time and energy, and with enough spirit stones, you could indeed reach rank 3 quickly." "So I can make this trade?" Ss asked. "Of course... While I won''t be able to give you nearly as much as you could make if you were to sell these in the outside world, I can still give you some spirit stones in exchange for one of these weapons, if that''s what you would like..." the old man said, as he looked at both Ss and Kai, asking if this was their decision. Ss quickly made up his mind and nodded his head. "Yes, Senior, that will be my choice." Kai quickly nodded his little head as well. "Mine too." "Alright, as you wish," the old man said as he began to summon two small piles of bright blue spirit stones. Ss was at first extremely excited, but once he saw the two small piles, his smile quickly disappeared. ''Four,'' Ss thought. A top-quality ranked-grade magic treasure is only worth four spirit stones... "Hahaha," the small child began tough so hard he fell on the floor. "You should have seen your faces... Do you really think these ranked-grade treasures will be worth much? While they are high-quality treasures, especially for Transcendent lifeforms, to the likes of immortals, they are worthless... ha..." the small child continued tough. The old spirit, unamused by the situation, said, "Ss, quickly use these eight spirit stones and reach the peak of Transcendent in your Qi cultivation. Then you and Kai can challenge the first level of the battle hall. Once you defeat this level, which I have slightly more than 50% confidence in you doing, you will be able to select a Spiritual-grade treasure, and with it, you can once again decide if you wish to reach rank 3 now or not." Ss quickly put the irritated thoughts out of his head and said, "Kai, since you''ve reached the peak of Transcendent already, you wouldn''t mind if I used these, would you?" "No, boss, go ahead," Kai quickly said. Ss then sat down in a lotus position and began to use the spirit stones to rank up. He grabbed two, one in each hand, and began to pull the energy inside of them into his body. After going through five spirit stones, he had finally reached the peak of Transcendent in Qi cultivation. "Let me go give these three spirit stones to Red so he can also reach peak Transcendent, and then I will challenge the battle hall," Ss said. While it had taken him five spirit stones to go fromte to peak Transcendent, this was because his Transcendent dantian was far stronger and moreplex than Red''s, who just used one of the Armstrong n''s Qi cultivation techniques. With these three spirit stones, he should just barely be able to go from mid to peak Transcendent. The group then made their way outside to the main hall where Thea and Red were waiting. Both of them were sitting in a lotus position in meditation, but they quickly opened their eyes upon hearing footsteps. "Have you both made your selections?" Thea asked. "I decided to just ask for spirit stones instead of picking a rank 2 weapon, so Red, quickly use these and reach peak Transcendent in your Qi cultivation," Ss said as he tossed Red the three spirit stones. "Thanks, Ss," Red said, without refusing. He knew if Ss had made up his mind to give him these, that his mind was already set. "We''ll be right back," Ss said as the group of four¡ªSs, Kai, the small child, and the old man¡ªwalked into the battle hall. "Be careful," Thea said as she saw Ss enter the battle hall. Once inside, the old spirit said, "Who would like to go first?" "I will," "I..." Ss barely beat Kai to the punch, so the old spirit nodded his head and teleported Ss into the first level. "Your first challenge will be to defeat this peak rank 3 Disciple," the old man said. [Golem - Qi Cultivation: Peak Revolving Core] (A/n: For now on for the sake of simplification when it is a pure qi cultivator and not a body cultivator it will just be shown as this :)] "That''s it?" Ss asked. The old man shook his head slightly before continuing, "Do not underestimate the strength of a rank 3 Disciple. You might think it''s an easy task, but let me exin something to you, Ss, so that you fully understand what you''re about to face." Ss paused, listening carefully. The old man''s voice grew serious. "Once a cultivator reaches the Revolving Core level and establishes their Revolving Core, everything changes. It''s like breaking free from the chains of mortality. A rank 3 Disciple generates elemental power within their body¡ªenergy that flows with every strike, empowering even their most basic attacks. Their punches, their kicks¡ªeverything bes far more devastating than anything a Transcendent can imagine. It''s not just strength; it''s elemental control. They wield the forces of nature." "Even pure Qi cultivator''s bodies are stronger than they would appear. While they naturally can''tpare to the likes of a fiendgod cultivator, the Qi they produce will naturally strengthen their body ever so slightly with each increase in rank to the point that a peak rank 3 Disciple has the bodily strength and durability of a very weak Early Transcendent fiendgod practitioner. "And while this golem is only a qi cultivator, it is far stronger than the average qi cultivator." Ss''s eyes narrowed as the old man continued, "And more importantly, rank 3 Disciples have ess to Spiritual-grade magic treasures, artifacts that channel power beyond a Transcendent''s reach. They can wield treasures that would make even the most seasoned Transcendent quiver. Imagine a sword that could sever the sky, or armor that could resist fire and lightning. Spiritual-grade magic treasures aren''t just tools¡ªthey''re weapons of war, and in the hands of a rank 3 Disciple, they change the gamepletely." Ss nodded, understanding the weight of what the old man was saying. "Let me put it simply," the old man continued, "The gap between a Transcendent lifeform and a rank 3 Disciple is like the difference between a newborn and an adult. A peak Transcendent might be powerful in your eyes, but to a rank 3 Disciple, they are but ants. One flick of their hand, and you could be erased from existence. That''s the scale of power we are talking about." The room seemed to grow colder as the old man''s words sank in. Ss swallowed hard, and for the first time, a hint of doubt shed across his face. "But that''s not all," the old man said, his tone more somber now. "Rank 3 Disciplese in many forms. Some control venomous beasts or wield sorcery that can turn your own mind against you. Others manipte formations that can trap you in endless illusions. You will never truly know what a Zifu Disciple is capable of until you face one. And if you happen to face one who counters your strengths perfectly, no matter how strong you are, you will perish." Ss clenched his fists but remained silent, absorbing every word. "The weak can defeat the strong under the right circumstances. A lower-ranked rank 3 Disciple could kill one at a higher rank if their techniques match up well enough. That''s how dangerous this path is. The Dao of Immortality embraces all aspects of existence. There are too many techniques to count, too many ways to die." The old man sighed, casting a weary nce at Ss. "Even a rank 3 Disciple might fall to someone skilled in poison or soul maniption. There are endless possibilities." Ss''s breath hitched as he felt the weight of the path ahead. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 39: -39- A dead genius is no longer a genius

Chapter 39: -39- A dead genius is no longer a genius

"However," the old man''s voice softened slightly, "while it''s possible for the weak to ovee the strong, it''s rare. It takes a perfect storm of conditions to pull it off. Most rank 3 Disciples will never fall to someone beneath their rank. But the fact that it can happen... that should be enough to remind you never to be overconfident." Ss nodded, feeling both awe and a sliver of fear crawling down his spine. The old man gave a small, knowing smile. "Remember this, Ss. Once you step into the rank 3 Disciple realm, you will be ying a different game. That''s why they say only when you reach Revolving Core will you truly be on the path of an immortal. Never underestimate anyone because even the strongest among us can fall if they aren''t careful." "You, of course, are a genius, but even a genius can fall, and a dead genius is no longer a genius," the old man said. "Just look at your two senior apprentice brothers. They were both talented enough to be inheritors of this estate, but where are they now? They fell to the countless tribtions each cultivator must face..." "I know you have killed an early Revolving Core before and likely have the confidence to kill him now, but don''t forget that those inside this inheritance realm are much weaker than those outside in the wider world, so don''t ever get overconfident. Like ourte master preached, arrogance will quickly lead to your downfall." "Yes, Senior. Thank you for your guidance," Ss said with a small bow. He had been stuck inside this weak inheritance zone for his entire life as a cultivator, and he had let his talent get to his head. Just because he was a divine beast, just because there was no one more talented than him in this small realm, didn''t mean that he couldn''t be defeated, especially by those like this golem who were of a higher rank. "Yes, now go..." the old man said, motioning toward the golem. As Ss walked forward, he took a steady breath, his scythe gleaming in the dim light. The rank 3 golem stood across from him, its expression calm but radiating an aura of overwhelming power. This golem wasn''t a brute like the others; it would rely on its qi cultivation, using magic treasures and techniques to keep him at bay. Ss knew he''d have to close the distance quickly if he wanted to win. The golem raised its hand, and several magic treasures materialized around it, hovering in the air like floating weapons of death. Ss instantly recognized the dangerous aura radiating from them¡ªthese were powerful Spiritual-grade weapons designed to strike from a distance. One was a long, jade-colored spear, the second a spinning disc, and the third a set of flying des that orbited the golem like silent sentinels. Without a word, the golem made its first move. "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" The jade spear shot forward like a bolt of lightning, its tip glowing with a deadly green light. At the same moment, the spinning disc whizzed toward Ss, aiming to slice through him from the side. The flying des hung back, waiting for the right moment to strike. Ss''s body reacted instinctively. "Bang!" He swung his scythe, deflecting the spear just as it was about to pierce his chest. The impact rattled his arms, but he held firm. "Shing!¡ª" The spinning disc, however, was too fast. It shed across his side, drawing blood, but Ss''s fiendgod body quickly healed the damage. "Damn..." Ss said through gritted teeth. He had lost the first exchange. Ignoring the pain, Ss charged forward. He had to close the gap. His body cultivation gave him the edge in closebat, but the golem was quick, already retreating. It flicked its fingers, sending the jade spear hurtling toward Ss again, this time faster and more erratic, like a serpent striking. "Bang!" Ss ducked and rolled to the side, but the flying des shot toward him, forcing him to twist mid-movement. "Shing!¡ª" One de grazed his shoulder, leaving a deep cut. He gritted his teeth, feeling the burn of qi-infused metal biting into his flesh. "Come on!" he growled, pushing through the pain. "Whoosh!" His divine will red, and his four sickles shot forward, aiming for the golem''s chest. Two were infused with the dao of rot, the other two with the dao of crumbling, and all four with the dao of cleaving. They moved in erratic patterns, weaving through the air in an attempt to overwhelm the golem''s defenses. But the golem was prepared. It waved its hand, and the spinning disc reversed course, intercepting the sickles mid-flight. "Bang!" "Bang!" Sparks flew as the sickles shed with the disc, their sharp edges grinding against each other. Ss growled, frustration building. If he couldn''t close in, he was at a severe disadvantage. Its magic treasures were too fast, too precise. But he wasn''t about to back down. He roared, invoking his [Heavenly Transformation], his body growing to 18 meters in height. With his increased size and strength, he closed the distance in three quick steps, swinging his scythe with devastating force. "Bang!" His strike aimed to cleave through the magic treasures and force the golem to fight up close. But the golem wasn''t finished. It stepped back with inhuman speed, forming a seal with its hands. Instantly, a shield of qi burst into existence, blocking Ss''s scythe just as it descended. "Bang!" The force of the impact was tremendous, but the shield held, though small cracks formed across its surface where Ss''s dao of cleaving left its mark. The flying des shot forward again, aiming for Ss''s legs this time, hoping to cripple his movement. Ss leaped back, dodging two of the des, "Shing!¡ª" but the third struck his thigh, causing him to stumble for just a moment. The golem pressed the advantage. "Whoosh!" Its jade spear shot forward again, this time glowing even brighter, having been infused with even more qi and a hint of the golem''s dao. The spinning disc followed close behind, its sharp edges gleaming with deadly intent. "Bang!" "Shing!¡ª" Ss gritted his teeth and swung his scythe, batting away the spear, but the disc caught him in the side again, ripping through flesh and armor. He staggered, blood dripping onto the cold stone floor. He was losing ground. The golem''s relentless pressure was keeping him at a distance, where he was weaker. He couldn''t allow that to continue. With a burst of willpower, Ss activated his dao of crumbling. A faint aura of destruction radiated from his body, and his four sickles began to glow with a dark, decaying energy. He sent them flying again, but this time, instead of aiming directly for the golem, he targeted its magic treasures. "Whoosh!" "Bang!" "Bang!" The sickles struck the jade spear first, shing against it with a sickening crunch. The spear was solid and sharp, but the infused qi and dao in the weapon were quickly overpowered under the influence of Ss''s minorpletion level dao of crumbling. The spinning disc was next¡ªit shed with one of Ss''s sickles, and the decaying energy spread across its surface, dulling its sharp edges. The golem''s eyes flickered with the first signs of surprise. It hadn''t expected Ss''s daos to affect its treasures so quickly. Ss seized the opportunity and charged again, his scythe raised high. The golem waved its hand, summoning the remaining flying des to intercept, but it was toote. Ss was already upon it. "Cleave!" With a roar, Ss brought his scythe down, the de glowing with the power of his lesser dao of cleaving. The golem raised its hands, summoning a qi shield again, but this time, Ss was ready. His scythe cleaved through the shield like it was made of paper, the dao of cleaving amplifying the force of his strike. "Bang!" "Shing!" The de bit into the golem''s shoulder, cutting deep. Blood sprayed across the ground, and the golem staggered back, its calm expression breaking for the first time. Ss, panting heavily, didn''t let up. He pressed the attack, swinging his scythe in wide arcs, forcing the golem to stay on the defensive. His sickles darted in and out, harassing the golem from all angles, their decaying energy weakening the magic treasures still in y. "Shing!" "Bang!" But the golem wasn''t done yet. With a flick of its wrist, it sent thest flying de directly at Ss''s heart, moving faster than before. Ss barely had time to react. He twisted his body, but the de still found its mark, stabbing deep into his side. "Shing!¡ª" "Ugh!" Ss gasped, staggering from the pain. The golem, despite its injuries, summoned the jade spear again. It was once defeated, but it still pulsed with deadly energy. The golem raised it high, aiming for Ss''s head. Ss knew he only had one chance left. With a final surge of will, he activated his dao of cleaving to its fullest extent. His scythe glowed brighter than ever, its de pulsing with destructive energy. He swung it in a wide arc, putting everything he had into the strike. "BOOOM!" The scythe met the jade spear in mid-air. For a moment, time seemed to freeze. Then, with a deafening crack, the spear shattered, its fragments scattering across the chamber. Ss''s scythe continued its arc, carving into the golem''s chest with brutal force. The de cut deep; if the golem was a body refiner, it might survive this strike, but being just a qi refiner, the life quickly left its eyes. Ss stood over the fallen golem. He had won, but just barely. His tough body no longer screamed with pain, but he could tell by the amount of divine power he had left alone that this fight had been much closer than he would have hoped for. The old man''s voice echoed through the chamber, soft but approving. "Well fought, Ss. You''ve earned this victory. But remember... there are far greater challenges ahead." *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 40: -40- Easy peasy

Chapter 40: -40- Easy peasy

"Well fought, Ss. You''ve earned this victory. But remember... there are far greater challenges ahead," the old spirit said. "Thanks, Senior," Ss said as the old man teleported him back to the battle hall. "How''d you do, boss?" Kai quickly asked. "I won, of course... but don''t underestimate your opponent, or you will lose," Ss quickly added, not wanting the little mouse to face defeat due to his arrogance. "Would I ever underestimate an opponent?" Kai said with a scoff. Kai then looked toward the old man and said, "Come on, gramps, teleport me in..." The old man''s face stayed neutral, but Ss doubted the revered treasure spirit of this immortal estate liked being called gramps. But regardless, a momentter, Kai disappeared. "Ha, that little mouse better be careful not to get on the old man''s bad side... while the master''s rules are final, it''s not like he wasn''t given some leeway in what he can do... after the past two inheritors failed, he vowed to be tougher on the next disciple of thete master, wanting to temper him even more, and now this little mouse chooses to push him like so... ha ha..." the small child mumbled under his breath. *** Around 5 minutester, Kai teleported back into the battle hall with a grin on his face. "You pass?" Ss asked. "Of course I passed... easy peasy," Kai said. "Lies," the old man said. "You barely managed to kill him. You have so little divine power left that if you were to fight again, you would definitely lose... and all because you did exactly what your big brother told you not to do... you yed around with the opponent for the first two minutes of the fight, and then once you were tired of ying around, you mocked me and the golem, and then tried to kill it with your strange soul-type innate talent... But unluckily for you, while the golem itself is only a rank 3, the soul controlling it is the soul of a loose immortal that thete master personally enved and turned into a golem, so your ability could do nothing to it," the old man said, clearly not happy with Kai. Kai just stood there and crossed his little arms. "The master''s path is the path of patience and knowing one''s limits, while you continue to try and walk your own path of pride," the old man said with a hint of anger. To him, Kai was supposed to be a disciple of the Silent Sage and follow his teachings, but even now, after learning of his master''s achievements even as a loose immortal, he continued his ways. "Kai, I told you not to just use your innate talent whenever you wanted," Ss said. "I know, boss, but everyone here can be trusted, can they not?" Kai asked as if he was genuinely confused. "They can, but you should still only use it in life-threatening events..." Ss said. "Fine..." Kai replied. "Now that you two have both passed the 1st level of the Battle Hall, you are allowed to select a Spiritual grade treasure... Would you like to make your selection now?" the old man asked. "Yes." "Yep." Ss and Kai both said. "Follow me..." the old man said as he walked out of the hall and into the Treasure Hall. After giving Thea and Red a brief rundown of what had happened, Ss once again entered the Treasure Hall, ready to make his pick. "Here you go," the old man said as he handed Ss a simr book to the previous one. Ss began to flip through the pages one by one. ''What should I choose?'' Ss thought. ''Should I just ask for spirit stones again so I can jump to Rank 3?'' As if reading his mind, the old man said, "While it wouldn''t be a bad idea for you to select more spirit stones, you now aren''t too far off from reaching Rank 3 naturally, as long as you''re willing to wait a little longer... While you will only have at most two more chances to select one of these precious treasures, I don''t think you should waste this chance... Also, toward the end, I think you will find a set of treasures that are very beneficial to you..." Ss nodded his head and continued to flip through the book. There were amazingly powerful formation gs, some even made from the souls of cultivators. There were sword formations made of several top-quality Spiritual grade flying swords. There was even a spear called the Death-Destruction Mixed Element Spear. Ss, who was currently walking down the path of death and destruction, at first thought this was the treasure the old man was talking about. And while it wasn''t his weapon of choice, it was suited toward him. But then he remembered the old man said that there was a ''set'' of treasures that were beneficial for him, so he quickly moved on to the next page. One amazing and profound item after another, and soon he was on thest page. "This must be the one," Ss said with a smile. This indeed suited him very well. "I see you have found your pick..." the old man said with a slight smile. "Yes, I think I have..." Ss said as he read the page once again. The page showed a set of ten sleek, ck sickles, each slightly curved with veins of dark purple and ghostly white running along the de, constantly shimmering as if they were phasing in and out of the physical realm. The handles were etched with runes of death, exuding an eerie glow. Ss felt a cold, yet familiar pull from the treasure, as though it recognized his affinity with death. When wielded, the sickles seemed to leave a faint trail of spectral light in their wake. The description read: The [Ten Scythes of Requiem]. This terrifying and powerful death-element magic treasure consists of ten death-aligned flying sickles. Each one resonates with the cold, eerie energy of death and decay. Individually, these sickles are capable of slicing through the life force of even the strongest beings. Together, when used in unison, they create the [Requiem Harvest Formation], unleashing waves of death energy that consume everything in their path. The more Ss read, the more he felt connected to this treasure. It wasn''t just suited for him¡ªit was made for him. With a smile, he closed the book and looked up at the old man. "I''ll take the Ten Scythes of Requiem," Ss said confidently. The old man nodded, his expression approving, as though Ss had made the right choice. "You have chosen well," the old man said. "Now it''s your turn. What will be your pick?" the old man asked as he turned to Kai, the smile no longer on his face. "Hmm..." Kai began to think. "I think I''ll just go with some spirit stones... Yeah, I''ll pick spirit stones. I know everyone wants to hit Rank 3 before we leave, and I''m ready to go now, so I''ll pick this so we can all rank up faster and get the hell out of this puny and weak realm," Kai said. "Besides, I already have my ws and my armor, so I have no need for anything else..." "Very well..." the old man said as he pulled out a bag of spirit stones. "Here you go," he said as he tossed the bag to Kai. While the bag was small, Kai was forced to increase his size to better catch and hold onto the bag. He quickly opened it, and his eyes widened. "How much is it, Kai?" Ss asked. He had previously only gotten four for the top-quality ranked grade magic treasure, so how much more could it possibly be? "2,500," Kai said, barely a whisper. "Come again?" Ss quickly asked. "There''s 2,500 spirit stones in here..." Kai quickly repeated. "2,500?" Ss was surprised and confused... how could the leap from Rank 2 to 3 be so huge? "You must be surprised..." the small child began, "Not all of these treasures are worth that much, but the most expensive Spiritual grade treasure is a very rare formation that is a simplified version of an immortal rank formation... If you were to sell it in the outside world, you could sell it for a minimum of 2,500 spirit stones and a maximum of likely 3,500 or 4,000... It is on par with a decent earth grade magic treasure, I suppose..." "Thank you, seniors," Ss quickly bowed to the old man and the small child. "Kai, quickly thank them!" Ss sent. "Thank you, seniors," Kai said with a small bow. He too was very happy. With this, all four of them would have no problem reaching Rank 3 in their qi cultivation and would even have some spirit stones left over. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 41: -41- Rank 3 Disciple

Chapter 41: -41- Rank 3 Disciple

"Just doing as the master of the estate suggested..." the old man said. "Ha ha, if you weren''t so disrespectful, little mouse, you would have likely gotten even more... Like I said before, this treasure could easily be sold for up to 4000 spirit stones, but this old spirit can pick and choose how much to give you... ha," the small child said with augh. "Kai!" Ss yelled. Kai now had an ugly look on his face, but he soon put the thought out of his head... What did it matter, 2500, 3000, 4000¡ªit was all the same to him. With this, he could rank up to a rank 3 Disciple and quickly leave this small inheritance realm he was born in. "Now that you have made your selections, would either of you like to challenge the 2nd level of the battle hall? I will add that you each have likely less than a 1% chance to pass at your current level..." the old man said. "1%?" Ss and Kai both said, surprised. While they had struggled to defeat the previous level, less than 1% was very small... "I think I''ll wait for now," Ss said, and Kai nodded. "Very well. Come now, it''s time for you to rank up to rank 3 Disciples," the old man said as he led the group back to the main hall. After entering the main hall, Ss told Thea and Red about his and Kai''s selections and how they could now all rank up to rank 3 Disciples. Kai quickly passed everyone around 100 spirit stones, which should be more than enough for each of them to go from the peak of Transcendent to early Revolving Core, creating their revolving core. But before they could all begin, the old man said in a serious tone, "If you all have any ideas about joining a sect or a school in the near future, you best halt your rank up at early Revolving Core... Upon reaching the middle Revolving Core stage, your foundation will have solidified into a set pattern, and the more powerful sects and schools you wish to join will not be willing to take you as a disciple." "Why is that? I have an excellent Qi refinement technique that can easily push me into the immortal ranks..." Kai said with confusion. "Will the sect you''re trying to join know that? Will they care to hear you out? It''s safer to just wait for now and join the sect officially before ranking up any further... Besides, you do, but what of the others? They are respectively a human and amon beast from weak ns... They have likely each trained up till now in a superficial, inferior technique, and if they go any further, it will destroy their future potential..." the old man exined. "Don''t worry; we will all stop once we reach the peak of early Revolving Core," Ss assured the old spirit. "Good..." the old man nodded his head before disappearing. "Heh, all of you continue now and finally step on the path of an immortal..." the small child said. Ss sat cross-legged, his mind focused and calm as the spirit stones in front of him radiated a gentle blue glow. He could feel the pure energy pulsating within them, almost like a heartbeat. Around him, Thea, Kai, and Red were preparing to begin their own breakthroughs, but Ss was already deep in meditation, channeling his Qi in preparation for his own rank up. His dantian pulsed with power, ready to break through the final barrier that would lead him to the rank of a Revolving Core rank 3 Disciple. Ss, like Kai, had his own Qi refinement technique that could likely lead him as far as anyone could go, but currently, he only knew the path from Mortal to True Immortal, but he had slowly been unlocking more and more knowledge the more he ranked up in his Qi cultivation, so he wasn''t worried he would run into a roadblock anytime soon. He grasped one of the small spirit stones, its energy warm and steady in his hand. With a deep breath, he drew the energy into himself, guiding it carefully through his meridians. The Qi flowed effortlessly, merging with his own, amplifying it to levels he had never experienced before. Ss could feel his body awakening, every fiber of his being bing more attuned to the world around him. "Absorb!" he muttered under his breath, his voice firm with determination. More spirit stones began to crumble into dust as the rich, blue energy surged into his dantian. His meridians felt like rivers filled with roaring torrents of Qi, pushing against the boundaries of his current cultivation level. As more and more energy flowed into him, his dantian began to change. He could feel it¡ªthe core of his being, where all his Qi was gathered, was no longer a formless pool of energy. It was condensing, solidifying into something more tangible, more powerful. "Now!" Ss thought, focusing intently on his dantian. The energy within him began to spiral, forming a vortex at the center of his dantian. The pressure increased, and with a thunderous mental roar, the vortexpressed even further, shaping itself into a small, dense core. This was the critical moment. With a final surge of energy, his dantian contracted, and in a sh of light within his inner world, the revolving core was formed. It spun slowly at first, then faster and faster, like a miniature sun radiating energy outward. Ss could feel the power emanating from it, a boundless reservoir of Qi that would fuel his cultivation from this point onward. The breakthrough wasplete. Ss opened his eyes, his body drenched in sweat, but his spirit was alight with the immense power that now flowed through him. He had done it¡ªhe had reached the rank of an Early Revolving Core rank 3 Disciple. The revolving core within him spun steadily, stabilizing the flow of Qi throughout his body and mind. Everything felt sharper, clearer. The world around him seemed more vibrant, as though he had crossed a threshold into a higher ne of existence. And with his upgrade to early rank 3, both his scythe and robe had been refined as well, upgrading to mid-quality Spiritual-grade treasures along with him. The scythe and the robe had be perfect extensions of his will, each ready to continue to grow stronger as he did. He looked around to see Thea and Red still focused on their own breakthroughs. Ss took a deep breath and smiled. His path was clear now. He had the power he needed to move forward, to leave the confines of this small inheritance realm, and to continue his journey toward the immortal ranks. But the journey ahead was long, and this was just the beginning. For now, though, he allowed himself a moment of satisfaction. He had created his revolving core, and with it, the future seemed boundless. *** Soon, the rest all created their revolving cores as well, each bing a Revolving Core rank 3 Disciple. "Very good..." the small child began, "Now all that''s left is for you to reach rank 3 in your body cultivation as well. With that, you will finally be able to regenerate from a single drop of blood as long as you have divine power left... Once you reach this stage, it will be increasingly hard for other Revolving Core Qi cultivators to kill you... but you must always remember that Qi refiners have their powerful experts as well... As a whole, Fiendgod body refiners are more powerful, but that''s as a whole. On an individual level, there are amazing, glorious, and talented Qi refiners who could easily grind you down till nothing remains..." The small child continued to ramble, but soon he said, "With your current power, you likely have less than a 10% chance to pass the 2nd level of the battle hall, so do you wish to try your chances? Once you rank up to Revolving Core in your body cultivation as well, you will lose one opportunity to challenge the battle hall..." "We will lose an opportunity?" Ss asked, confused. Did they not have unlimited chances... as long as they had the strength to pass the level, he thought they would be able to challenge it. "Yes, you get two chances at Transcendent, two chances at Revolving Core, and etc., but the kicker is once you rank up to the next rank, all your previous chances are gone... If not, what''s to stop you from saving up a few chances here and there, and then once you''re an Earth Immortal, you challenge the battle hall five times and are able to select five immortal-grade magic treasures..." the small child exined. "I see..." Ss said. That made sense. "I think I will follow your advice... You said I have less than a 10% chance, so I will wait until I have at least a 50% chance." Ss was going to take this estate treasure with him anyway, so regardless of when, he could always just enter the estate and challenge the 2nd level before making the leap to rank 3 as a body cultivator. The small child nodded his head. "Very good... Thete master preached how one should know their limits, and it seems you are starting to understand..." The small child then looked over to Kai, "What about you? Will you take on the challenge?" Kai gave off a small scoff but shook his head. "I''ll follow your advice, senior." "Ha, very good, yes, very good... Follow me. If you are both willing to follow this senior''s advice, then follow me..." the small child said with a huge, giddy smile as he led them both toward the insight hall. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 42: -42- Insight Hall

Chapter 42: -42- Insight Hall

They soon entered the Insight Hall, which was its own separate world. "Come,e, sit down here," the small child said as he led them to his body, the jade bed. While at first, it was small enough only for one person, it soon erged to where both Ss and Kai could easily fit with room to spare. Ss and Kai both sat down in a lotus position, Kai even transforming into his human form. To their front right was arge, vast, and towering mountain, and to their front left was a wide, deep, and ancientke. As Ss settled onto the jade bed, he immediately felt a cool, soothing energy rise from beneath him, almost as if the bed was alive and pulsing with power. The sensation spread through his body, calming his mind and quieting his thoughts. His breathing slowed, and a strange rity washed over him. The world around him seemed sharper, more vibrant. The mountain in the distance seemed to pulse with ancient strength, each peak a reflection of untold wisdom, while the deepke shimmered with secrets long forgotten. Ss felt as though his mind was expanding, stretching out to touch the mysteries of the Dao itself. Time seemed to slow, and with every passing moment, the connection deepened. The jade bed cradled him in this otherworldly stillness, guiding him closer toprehension with each breath he took. "Ha, I can tell you are taking a liking to this ce already..." the small child said with augh as he stood from afar and watched. "But this is only one of the great things about this ce..." the small child said, wanting to grab their attention. And it quickly worked. Both Ss and Kai opened their eyes, no longer grasping for what little insights they could find. "What is the second great thing?" Kai quickly asked. "Ha, little mouse, you might not have a second great thing, but Ss just might... Ha ha..." the small child began tough. After a few moments went by, with both Ss and Kai impatiently waiting, the small child finally stopped hisughter and continued, "The old spirit of this estate is the second great thing... He has been alive for an almost iprehensible amount of time, and in this time, he has meditated and gained insights on countless Daos... If you are lucky enough if he is in the right mood, and if he is actually fond of you..." The small child now looked at Kai with a smirk, "He just might teach you a thing or two..." Ss and Kai''s eyes both widened at this. They could possibly get guidance from a treasure spirit of an immortal estate that was owned and created by a Dao Ancestor (remember, Dao Ancestor =prehended a Heavenly Dao to perfection). "Senior?" Ss quickly asked in hopes that the old man would take on his request. And luckily, a momentter, the old man appeared, overlooking theke with his back to Ss and Kai. "Yes?" the old man said. "Senior, would you please give us guidance?" Ss asked as he bowed his head, touching the ground. "Bow!" he sent to Kai. "Hmm... you, Ss, are new, but so far you seem to have been following the path ourte master has set..." the old man said. ''Yes, thank God,'' Ss thought internally but did not show any sign on his face. While he felt bad for Kai, who was it that asked him to act like a spoiled, arrogant, and prideful child? "Dammit, boss..." Kai quickly sent him. "I told you to act better; you should have listened," Ss sent back in a stern tone, not wanting to hear any excuses from his third/little brother. "I promise I''ll act better, Senior!" Kai said as he banged his head on the ground. "Good... we will see if you are worthy of any guidance in the future," the old man said as he turned to face Ss. "I can indeed give you some small guidance, as the young spirit has suggested, but I''m nothingpared to ourte master, so you will have to put up with what little I have to offer..." "Luckily, thete master personally gave me guidance for many years before his death so that I could better help him in guiding future disciples... s as a treasured spirit, there is only so much my feeble mind canprehend... While I have mastered countless Dao paths and touched many grand Daos, that is as far as I can reach..." "Senior, I would be honored for even the slightest guidance on my path," Ss said as he raised his head. The old man nodded, "Very well." He then raised his hand, and suddenly Kai seemed to disappear. He was still physically there, and he could still meditate on the Dao, but he could not hear, see, or gain anything from what the old man was about to show and exin. "Until he has shown improvement in his respect toward thete master and his teachings, he will gain nothing but the bare requirements thete master has set for me..." the old man said. Ss nodded his head, "As he should." He felt bad for Kai, but if he couldn''t follow the rules and show respect for this ce, then he did indeed not deserve all it had to offer. "I''ve seen your paths. You currently stride down the path of destruction, death, and the scythe... I too have gained a small amount of insight into these Daos..." the old man said as he summoned a massive 10 by 10 meter in stone wall. "The Lesser Dao of Crumbling," the old man said as he brought down his hand, and a grey ripple was sent out, crashing onto the wall, eating several meters into it. "The Lesser Dao of Rot," he once again brought down his hand, and this time a ck energy was sent out and began to rot out the stone as if it were mere paper. "The Lesser Dao of Cleaving," the old man sent a massive 5-meter-long crescent de of energy crashing into the wall, where it then cut several meters deep. *** The old man''s presence loomed over the small world as his demonstrations of the Lesser Daos slowly faded from the air. Ss, still absorbing the sight of the crumbling wall, felt a deeper pull within him¡ªan instinct that had grown sharper ever since he started his journey down the path of destruction, death, and the scythe. The sight of the decayed stone gnawed at him, calling to something unspoken inside his mind. "You''ve progressed well in the Lesser Dao of Crumbling," the old man said, his voice measured, as though he were observing Ss with newfound interest. "But you have only scratched the surface." Ss nodded, not fully understanding what the old man was hinting at. He felt that he had long been in tune with the lessor Dao of Crumbling... he had even managed to reach minorpletion in it. But then again now, standing before the stone wall, the pull felt different¡ªstronger, deeper, as if somethingy just beyond his reach. *** The small child, still watching from the corner with his usual yful expression, suddenly tilted his head. His eyes narrowed slightly as he observed Ss more closely. "Hmm, something''s different..." he muttered under his breath. The old man raised a brow but said nothing. Instead, he turned back to Ss. "Focus," hemanded. "Feel the energy of the Crumbling around you. This is more than destruction. It is time, entropy, the slow dissolution of all things. Everything must return to its origin, Ss. Let that truth sink into your being." Ss closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. The jade bed beneath him pulsed gently, grounding him as he began to reach out with his senses. His mind extended into the air, feeling the subtle vibrations of energy. In his imagination, he saw the stone wall not as a solid barrier, but as something fragile¡ªconstantly breaking down at an imperceptible pace. Tiny particles eroded away, bing dust, as if time itself was peeling the world apart. He focused more deeply, and soon, he began to feel it¡ªsmall, invisible strands of energy surrounding everything. They were faint, barely detectable, but they were everywhere. Each strand seemed to represent a point where the natural world began to weaken, where things were already decaying in slow, unrelenting waves. Ss''s heartbeat quickened as he realized he could feel them. He could almost see them. But still, he didn''t know what this meant. "What... is this?" Ss asked, his voice soft, as though speaking would shatter the fragile understanding he was forming. The old man didn''t respond right away. He simply watched, a flicker of something like disbelief crossing his ancient eyes. The small child, who had been silent for some time, blinked in surprise, now sensing something neither of them had expected. "He''s... this close already?" the child whispered, his eyes wide with awe. *** *** [A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes: 1. Mortal 2. Transcendent 3. Revolving Core 4. Golden Core] Chapter 43: -43- Dao Domain

Chapter 43: -43- Dao Domain

"Impossible," the old man muttered, though his tone betrayed intrigue. "He doesn''t even know what''s happening..." The pressure in the air around Ss grew. The strands of energy tightened, and suddenly, he wasn''t just observing them. He was them. His mind, his soul, expanded into the very essence of Crumbling. It wasn''t just the wall that was falling apart¡ªeverything was. The hall, the jade bed, the very air itself¡ªit all seemed to vibrate with the weight of inevitable decay. Ss''s breathing slowed, his chest rising and falling rhythmically. His eyes remained closed, but he was no longer sitting on the jade bed in his mind. He was everywhere at once, immersed in the unseen force of entropy. He didn''tmand it, he simply was it. The energy strands around him swirled faster, crackling with an unseen force. The old man''s eyes widened. "This... this can''t be," he muttered. "He''s... he''s reaching the Dao Domain?" The small child hopped up off the ground, staring at Ss in astonishment. "He doesn''t even know what that is!" the child eximed, his voice filled with disbelief. "How can he...?" Ss, unaware of their conversation, was now fully immersed in the sensation. The energy strands felt like extensions of his own body, pulling at everything around him with an irresistible force. He felt the stone beneath his feet begin to crack and decay, the sound almost imperceptible but undeniable. His heart pulsed in time with the energy¡ªslow, deliberate, like the ticking of a clock counting down the moments until everything returned to dust. And then, suddenly, it all made sense. Ss opened his eyes. The world around him seemed to shimmer as if reality itself was bending under the weight of the energy he now controlled. The floor of the hall beneath him was riddled with cracks, and small sections of stone had already crumbled into dust. The trees, once imposing and solid, seemed to tremble, tiny fractures spreading like spiderwebs. The air was thick with the weight of Crumbling, but it wasn''t chaotic. It was calm. Inevitable. "The... the Dao of Crumbling," Ss whispered to himself, his voice barely audible. The old man stepped forward, his expression unreadable. "You have reached the Dao Domain," he said quietly, still processing what he was witnessing. "This... this is extraordinary." Ss blinked, confused. "Dao Domain? What does that mean?" He knew that he had finally crossed a small threshold in his minorpletion, but he had never heard of a Dao Domain, and he didn''t seem to have any inherited memories about it either. The small child, still staring in disbelief, shook his head. "You''ve done something most people struggle with for decades, even centuries. The Dao Domain... it''s when the Dao itself bes a part of you, and you can summon its power effortlessly, without thought." Ss felt the weight of the words but didn''t fully grasp their significance. He looked down at his hands, still feeling the faint hum of the Crumbling energy around him. The old man let out a low chuckle, though there was admiration in his eyes. "You''ve reached a stage of insight far beyond what we expected. The Dao Domain is something usually attained by those who''ve fully immersed themselves in the Dao... and you''ve done it without even knowing." Ss looked around, seeing the cracks in the walls and the dust at his feet. The energy was still swirling around him, gentle now, but undeniable. "This power," he murmured. "It''s... not just a technique anymore. It''s a part of me." He said as if asking for confirmation. The small child crossed his arms, nodding slowly. "Yeah... you''ve be one with the Dao itself. You can call upon it whenever you wish. But I''ve never personally seen someone reach this level so quickly... especially not without even knowing what they were doing! Ha, you are much better than your two senior apprentice brothers that came before you..." The old man stepped forward, his tone now more serious. "Ss, the Dao Domain is a rare achievement, but it''s only a step on a much longer path. You have touched the essence of the Dao of Crumbling, but mastery of the entire Dao Path still lies far ahead of you. What you''ve gained today is powerful... but it is only the beginning." Ss nodded, stilling to terms with the realization. He could feel the energy humming inside him, like a river of power flowing just beneath the surface, waiting to be tapped into. The Dao of Crumbling was now a part of him¡ªa force that he could summon with a thought. The old man, clearly impressed, gave him a slight nod of approval. "You''ve done well, Ss. In reaching the Dao Domain, you''ve crossed into a realm that few ever reach. But be warned... true mastery of a Dao takes time, patience, and endless dedication. The path ahead is still long. Don''t forget." The small child, still slightly stunned, finally grinned. "Heh, I always knew you were something special, but this? This is beyond what I expected!" Ss took a deep breath, feeling the energy settle within him. *** "Seniors, how does my Daopare to others?" Ss asked, his voice steady butced with curiosity. He could still feel the power thrumming beneath his skin, the weight of the Dao of Crumbling now effortlessly woven into his very being. But the full scope of what he had achieved, where it ced him among other cultivators, was still a mystery to him. The small child crossed his arms, still visibly shocked, while the old man''s face remained unreadable. The silence between them stretched for a moment, thick with unspoken thoughts. Finally, the old man spoke, his tone heavy with measured words. "Ss... your Dao is no longer something that can bepared easily to others. You''ve reached a level that few even dare to dream of. And yet, you don''t fully realize the magnitude of what you''ve just done." The small child let out a shortugh, more out of disbelief than amusement. "Compare? Ha! At this point, most cultivators would fall to their knees if they knew what you''ve aplished. A Dao Domain at your age, and without even understanding what it was? You will have sects lining up to take you in..." He shook his head in amazement. "You''re beyond the realm of simpleparisons." Ss frowned slightly. He had expected praise, perhaps acknowledgment of his rapid growth, but their reactions made it clear he had achieved something far beyond his understanding. "So... where do I stand?" he pressed, needing a clearer answer. The old man sighed, stepping forward. His voice took on the tone of a mentor imparting a grave lesson. "Let me exin this in terms you''ll understand, Ss. Among cultivators, there are stages, as you know. The first level is Foundation¡ªwhere one learns the basic techniques and establishes a connection with their chosen Dao. It is the beginning of the journey, where the Dao is still distant, a force outside of oneself." Ss nodded, recalling his own humble beginnings. "Next is Mastery," the old man continued. "Here, a cultivator''s technique bes fluid, instinctual. They no longer need to think about every action¡ªthe Dao begins to flow through them, though it is still separate. Most cultivators aspire to reach this stage, but only a fraction ever do." His body and weapon had long since moved in harmony with the Dao. The small child cut in with a grin, "Whates next is where things get interesting." The old man nodded, his eyes never leaving Ss''s. "The third level, Cosmic Resonance, is where you begin to truly merge with the Dao. Your actions are no longer just your own¡ªthe universe itself begins to respond to your will. At this stage, the Dao bends the world around you. You experienced this during your earlier meditations, when the power of Crumbling began to manifest without your conscious effort." Ss remembered those moments vividly. "And then," the old man said, his tone deepening, es the True Meaning of the Dao. At this stage, you''re no longer simply practicing techniques or channeling energy. You begin to understand the fundamental truths that govern your Dao. For you, Ss, that truth is the inevitability of decay¡ªthe way all things, no matter how strong, return to dust." Ss felt the weight of those words. The True Meaning of Crumbling had been a revtion to him, a realization that destruction was not always immediate, but inevitable, a slow return to nothingness. "But now," the old man continued, his voice filled with awe, "you have taken the next step, a step that separates true masters from all others. You''ve reached the Dao Domain." Ss met the old man''s gaze, the term still resonating in his mind. "The Dao Domain... I understand that I''ve reached it, but what does it mean for me?" The small child''s grin returned, this time filled with genuine excitement. "It means, Ss, that you don''t just understand the Dao of Crumbling. You are the Dao of Crumbling. You''ve transcended the need to wield it like a tool¡ªnow, with a thought, with a breath, you can summon its power. The world around you bends to your will." The old man nodded in agreement. "Indeed. The Dao Domain is the fifth stage ofprehension. At this level, your connection to the Dao is so profound that you can manifest its power in the world without conscious effort. It bes a domain that surrounds you, affecting everything in your vicinity. The very air around you decays with the weight of Crumbling, as you''ve already seen." Ss nced down at the cracks in the stone floor, at the dust swirling gently in the air around him. The power he nowmanded wasn''t something he summoned; it was simply there, waiting for him to direct it. Chapter 44: -44- Last opportunity

Chapter 44: -44- Last opportunity

"You''ve reached a stage that most Jindan rank 4 Adepts never even dream of," the old man said, his voice tinged with admiration. "To reach the Dao Domain is something even Sages strive for, often unsessfully. And yet, you''ve achieved it without even realizing what you were doing." Ss''s heart beat faster. Since he had the Divine Bloodline System in this life, he had always aimed high, but the old man''s words confirmed that he was now walking a path that few could follow. "So... I''m ahead of most cultivators at my level?" he asked, still processing the gravity of his breakthrough. The small childughed, crossing his arms. "Ahead? You''re leagues beyond them! Most cultivators spend their entire lives just trying to touch the True Meaning of the Dao, let alone a Dao Domain. You''ve surpassed them all, Ss. Heh... you''re practically a monster." The old man stepped closer, his tone soft but serious. "The Dao Domain is a natural extension of who you''ve be. You no longer wield the Dao like a weapon. It is now a part of you¡ªan inseparable piece of your soul." The small child smirked, unable to contain his excitement. "I can''t wait to see what you do next. Reaching the Dao Domain is incredible, but there''s still more toe." Ss raised an eyebrow. "What''s next? A Dao Path?" Ss knew that the Dao Domain wasn''t the end, but he wasn''t sure what came after it. The old man nodded. "Yes. Beyond the Dao Domain lies the final stage¡ªthe Dao Path. At that point, you will have fully mastered an entire Lesser Dao, not just a fragment or aspect of it. For the Dao of Crumbling, this means you will understand every nuance, every facet of decay and destruction, and wield it with absolute precision." Ss let out a slow breath, feeling the weight of the path ahead. He had reached the Dao Domain, but now he understood that it was just another step¡ªan important one, but still only part of the journey. The old man could see the questions forming in Ss''s mind, and with a sigh, he continued. "I suppose it''s time you understood the broader structure of cultivation and the levels of insight thate with it." "Let me exin," the old man said. "The journey of cultivation can be broken into stages, and each level of insight typically aligns with a different stage of cultivation." He began to pace slowly as he spoke. "The first level is Foundation. At this level, most cultivators are in the Mortal stage." "The second level is Mastery. By this stage, most cultivators have progressed to the Transcendent level." "Next is Cosmic Resonance. Those at the Revolving Core stage typically reach this level of insight." The old man''s tone grew more serious as he continued. "Thenes the fourth level, the True Meaning of the Dao. By this stage, most have reached the Revolving Core rank 3 Disciple or even Golden Core rank 4 Adept stage. This is also the stage of both Touching and Minor Completion of a Lesser Dao." "And finally," the old man said, stopping in front of Ss, "there is the Dao Domain. This is the level you''ve just achieved. It''s rare for a cultivator below the Golden Core rank 4 Adept stage to reach this level, and even more umon for anyone not at the Sage level. This is the stage that is usually achieved in theter part of Minor Completion of a Lesser Dao." The small child, still standing off to the side, grinned. "You''ve hit a milestone that most people take centuries to reach, Ss. And beyond that, there''s only the Dao Path. This is the level you must reach to be a True Immortal, and is when you reach Perfection of a Lesser Dao." Ss absorbed the information, his understanding of the journey now much clearer. Each level was usually tied to specific stages of cultivation, and he had reached a realm that ced him far beyond the average cultivator. "You''vee far," the old man concluded, "but the path ahead is still long. The Dao Path is your next goal, and once you master it, only then will you haveplete control over your Dao." Ss took a deep breath, ready for whatever came next. He had reached a new height, one that few would ever experience, but the road ahead was clear. There was still much to learn, much to master. But for the first time, he felt like he truly understood his ce in the vast world of cultivation. "You train in the scythe and have reached the level ofprehending a Dao Domain. Generally speaking, your Domain will just be referred to as a scythe domain." The old man said. "Just based on you having a Dao Domain, there will be countless major ns, sects, and schools who will wish to draw you into their fold. ''Scythe Domain," ss nodded his head. He liked the sound of that. He was a grim reaper king, and a grim reaper king was a user of the scythe. To him, now, knowing what he had just learned, having a scythe domain was a bare minimum requirement. "Since I haveprehended a Dao Domain in the Dao of Crumbling, I''ll call my scythe domain the ''Crumbling Scythe Domain.''" The old man and the small child nodded their heads, "ha... yes very good. Very, very good." the small child said with augh. With a final nod of respect to the old man and the small child, Ss closed his eyes, feeling the hum of the Dao within him, ready for whatevery ahead. ''Now that I''veprehended a Dao Domain in my Lesser Dao of Crumbling I need to do it in my Lesser Dao of Rot and Cleaving as well,'' Ss thought. He knew thatparatively, his Lesser Dao of Cleaving was farther away from reaching the Dao Domain level, so now he had to decide which he wanted to focus on... would he try to reach the Dao Domain level in his Lesser Dao of Rot, or would he try to catch up his Lesser Dao of Cleaving? After thinking it over for a little while, Ss finally made his decision, ''For now I think I''ll try to catch up my Lesser Dao of Cleaving... I think it''s best for all my Daos to be somewhat equal.'' After making this decision, he gave one final look at his status. Name: Ss Armstrong Race: Grim Reaper King (Divine Beast) Innate Talent: Grim Reaper''s Eye Qi Cultivation: Late Transcendent Body Cultivation: Early Revolving Core [Path of Destruction: Lesser Dao of Crumbling (Minor Completion(Dao Domain))] [Path of Death: Lesser Dao of Rot (Minor Completion)] [Path of the Scythe: Lesser Dao of Cleaving (Minor Completion)] After looking at his status, he sighed. ''If only Kai could have gotten some guidance as well...'' He didn''t know if Kai would have had the necessary umtions to have the final insight to push him toprehend a Dao Domain in one of his Lesser Daos, but he surely would have made progress. For now though, Kai would just have to get used to being the weaker of the two... But he quickly put that out of his mind. It was Kai''s own fault and there was nothing he could do to change what had happened, so he opened his eyes and began to focus on the wall in front of him and therge gash that was made by the old man''s Lesser Dao of Cleaving. *** Hours passed, and Ss felt he had made considerable progress in his Lesser Dao of Cleaving. Though he had not yet reached the level of gaining a Dao Domain, he had managed to narrow the gap between it and his Lesser Dao of Rot. He knew that to push further, he needed to venture out into the world, to temper himself through trials and umte real-world experiences. Only by braving dangerous encounters and honing his skills in life-and-death situations could he gain the necessary insights to make further breakthroughs. Ss soon opened his eyes and stood up. "Senior?" he said, hoping to grab the old man''s attention. "Yes?" the old spirit said as he appeared before him. "For now, I''m done with my meditation so you can allow Kai to join us once again if you would like," Ss said. Kai had still been separated from Ss for thest few hours to ensure he gained nothing from the teachings of the old spirit. While he hadn''t given Ss any further exnations or examples, the wall he had sent his three attacks at had stayed for Ss to meditate on. "Very well..." the old man said as he no longer separated Kai from this world and at the same time caused therge wall to disappear. "I''m back?" Kai asked, confused at first. "Yes, it seems your big brother is ready to move on but you can still do as you please..." the small child said. Kai then looked to Ss to see what he had nned. "Seniors, please give me guidance... before you said that I had less than a 10% chance to beat the 2nd level, but now I haveprehended a Dao Domain, so what are my chances now?" Ss asked. "A Dao Domain?" Kai jumped into the conversation. "What''s a Dao Domain?" "There''s no reason for you to know of it for now, so please be silent and go back to your meditation," the old man said. "Boss, what is it?" Kai quickly sent Ss. He had always been the stronger of the two, but now for the first time in his life, he felt like he was getting left behind. "I''ll exin itter, just listen to the old spirit so you don''t aggravate him any more," Ss sent back. "Hmph," Kai quickly harrumphed to Ss but closed his eyes and went back to his meditations as the old man had suggested. He had clearly missed out on something major and he didn''t want it to happen again. "I''d say now with your current insights you have roughly a 50% chance in passing... so would you like to make the challenge? This is yourst opportunity in the Transcendent stage." the old man said. Chapter 45: -45- Tenfold Fifty Sickle Formation

Chapter 45: -45- Tenfold Fifty Sickle Formation

''Roughly a 50% chance...'' Ss began to think. Should he try it, or should he wait? "I can see this is a tough decision for you, so while you are making up your mind, I will go ahead and give this gift to you," the old man said. ''What could it be?'' Ss wondered. The old man then began, "This isn''t something required by thete master, but in congrattions for reaching the Dao Domain at such a young age and low level of cultivation, I have decided to personally create a sickle formation for you... I have long since known of your powerful divine will, and this formation will help you take full advantage of it." "And while this formation isn''t the greatest formation in existence, it should be much better than anything you will be able to find for quite some time..." "Heh, this formation the old man made was simplified from an iparably profound formation, so this sickle formation should easilypare to the likes of Immortal Rank formations... Of course, in your hands, it won''t be as strong as it would be in an actual Immortal''s, but it will still be much more profound than anything you will likely be able to find in whatever sect or school you end up joining..." the small child added. The old man smiled slightly as he handed the small book to Ss. The title on the cover, written in elegant script, read [Tenfold Fifty Sickle Formation]. Ss opened it carefully, his eyes scanning the first few lines. He had seenplex formations before, but this one felt different¡ªits very structure seemed to hum with power and potential, designed specifically for him. "The Tenfold Fifty Sickle Formation..." the old man began. "Though this formation is based on controlling sickles, its true strengthes from your ability to merge your Daos into a deadly force. It can harness the power of all three of your Daos, allowing you to wield them simultaneously within the formation." Ss''s eyes widened as he understood the depth of the formation. It wasn''t just a weapon¡ªit was an extension of his path, of everything he had learned and mastered so far. The old man continued, "This formation is divided into ten levels, each level growing inplexity and power. It begins with fifty sickles, the simplest form of the formation. With each level, you will control fifty additional sickles, culminating at the tenth level with five hundred sickles moving in perfect harmony." Ss ran his fingers over the pages, feeling the power in the diagrams and instructions within the book. "And each level adds more sickles?" he asked, intrigued by how the formation would evolve as he advanced. The old man nodded. "Yes, at the first level, you control fifty sickles. This is the base level of the formation, where you can begin to weave your Dao of Crumbling into each strike, causing everything the sickles touch to decay and fall apart. The beauty of the formation, however, lies in its versatility. At this stage, you can also integrate your Lesser Dao of Rot to further erode the life force of anything caught in its path, or your Lesser Dao of Cleaving for sharp, precision strikes that can tear through the toughest defenses." Ss could already imagine the devastation thisbination of Daos could cause. Each sickle, infused with the destructive essence of his Crumbling, Rot, and Cleaving, would be far more than just a weapon¡ªit would be a force of nature, capable of tearing down anything in its path. The small child grinned from the side, clearly excited. "And the best part? As your divine will and Qi quality strengthen, so does your ability to control more sickles. The second level of the formation will allow you tomand a hundred sickles. The sickles don''t just act individually either¡ªthey move as a single, cohesive unit, like an unstoppable swarm of des." The old man smiled slightly, but his tone grew serious. "At the third level, you will control one hundred fifty sickles. By this point, the formation bes more than just a coordinated attack. The sickles will begin to weave in patterns, creating a vortex of destruction that can surround and trap your enemies. Your Dao of Rot will allow you to weaken them from within, while the Dao of Crumbling breaks down their defenses, and Cleaving delivers the killing blow." Ss''s heart quickened as he imagined the scene¡ªthe sickles flying in unison, each one imbued with the lethal essence of his three Daos. He could already feel the potential forplete domination on the battlefield. The old man continued, "The formation''s true strength, however, lies in its higher levels. By the fifth level, you''ll be able to control two hundred fifty sickles. At this stage, the formation bes aplete force of destruction, capable of dismantling entire armies. The synergy between Crumbling, Rot, and Cleaving will be unparalleled. Crumbling will wear down even the toughest barriers, Rot will drain the vitality of any living being caught within, and Cleaving will slice through whatever remains." The small child nodded, eyes wide with excitement. "And it only gets stronger! The sixth level? Three hundred sickles. By then, it''s not just an attack¡ªit''s a battlefield. The sickles will move like a storm, cutting through everything. And the best part? It''s all powered by your divine will and your Daos. You''re basically a walking disaster waiting to happen." Ss smirked at the thought. This formation was more than he had ever imagined. The power tomand five hundred sickles at once, each one charged with the lethal force of three distinct Daos, was a level of destruction far beyond anything he had previously considered. The old man''s tone deepened as he exined the higher levels. "By the tenth and final level, you will control the full five hundred sickles. At this stage, the formation reaches its ultimate potential. The sickles will not only move with blinding speed and devastating power, but will be able to react to your thoughts almost instantaneously. At this level, the sickles be a near-autonomous force, adapting to the flow of battle as you focus on weaving the effects of your Daos into every strike." Ss''s pulse quickened at the sheer potential of this formation. Five hundred sickles, all acting with precision, flowing through the battlefield like an endless storm. "And this can be done with all three of my Daos?" "Indeed," the old man said, his eyes gleaming with approval. "The formation is designed to harness the power of each of your Lesser Daos. You can decide which Dao to emphasize depending on the situation. Crumbling for when you need to tear down defenses, Rot for draining life and energy, and Cleaving for quick, deadly strikes. The formation will enhance whichever Dao you choose to focus on, giving you unmatched versatility inbat." The small child crossed his arms, nodding. "You''ll be able to switch between Daos on the fly, too. One moment, you can focus on Crumbling to weaken an opponent''s defenses. The next, Rot will eat away at their vitality, and then Cleaving will finish them off. It''s the perfectbination for someone like you." The old man then said, "For you specifically, with your current insights, the best thing you can do is use 50% destruction-aligned sickles and 50% death-aligned sickles... So keep this in mind when you are selecting your sickles... While any type of sickle will work, having bnce will be most effective... I know currently you don''t even have fifty sickles, but you will with time..." "So, have you made up your mind? Will you challenge the second level of the battle hall or not?" the old man asked once again. "While you don''t even have enough sickles to use the first level of the Tenfold Fifty Sickle Formation, you do have your ''Ten Scythes of Requiem'' that canbine and form the ''Requiem Harvest Formation,''" the old man said. ''A 50% chance... If I''m worried about even facing this risk, how could I possibly face the many challenges and tribtions an Immortal must face?'' Ss thought. He then nodded his head, having made up his mind. "Yes, seniors, I''ll challenge the second level of the battle hall." "Good, very good..." the old man said. "While thete master preached patience and knowing one''s limits, the path an Immortal must walk is naturally one of struggle... You must be able to face unbeatable odds and stille out the other side." Chapter 46: -46- Battle halls 2nd level

Chapter 46: -46- Battle halls 2nd level

Ss soon left the Insight Hall with the old man while the small child and Kai stayed inside. As they walked out to the main hall, Thea and Red quickly stood up. "So, how was it?" Thea asked with genuine curiosity. "It was amazing... I''ve already made so much progress..." Ss began, but he quickly stopped himself. He didn''t want to brag too much... Both Thea and Red, of course, didn''t have the opportunity, and he didn''t want to rub it in their face too much. "That''s amazing. I''m so happy for you," Thea said, which made Ss smile. He had been slightly worried she would be a little jealous or maybe feel down, but it looked like the only thing she truly cared about was that he had benefited in some way. "So what are you going to do now?" Red asked. "I''m going to go challenge the 2nd level of the Battle Hall," Ss said, seeing no reason to hide it. "What? Are you sure?" Thea asked. She wasn''t sure since she hadn''t been told, but she figured this challenge would be dangerous, if not deadly. "Don''t worry. This senior told me that I have roughly a 50% chance, so even if I can''t win, I''m more than confident in keeping myself alive long enough to retreat and forfeit the challenge," Ss said, trying to assure both Thea and Red. "Ok, well, stay safe," Thea said as she walked forward and gave Ss a small hug and kiss. She was slightly embarrassed at first, but she soon got over it. This was her husband, what did she have to be embarrassed about? "Alright, I''ll be right back," Ss said as the old man led him to the Battle Hall. Soon, Ss was once again standing before a golem, this one clearly much stronger than thest. [Golem - Qi Cultivation: Peak Revolving Core - Body Cultivation: Peak Revolving Core] ''So this one is a dual Qi and body cultivator...'' Ss thought as he stood in front of the ck-robed golem who wielded a spear. Before Ss could start the fight, the old man quickly said, "Remember, this fight shall be much harder than thest, and this golem is set to kill, so be careful. It would be a shame if an inheritor and disciple of myte master were to die in such a fashion..." Ss nodded his head, "I''ll be careful, Senior." Ss stared at the golem, its ck robes swaying gently, a spear held tightly in its grip. This was no ordinary opponent¡ªits presence exuded both physical dominance and the cold, calcting aura of a qi cultivator. Ss could feel the sharp pressure in the air, as though the entire hall was waiting for the inevitable sh. The golem''s dual cultivation made it a formidable enemy. Ss could sense its overwhelming strength, both in terms of qi mastery and brute physical power. He knew this battle would push him to his limits. Without a word, the golem moved first. Its ck robes billowed, and the spear in its hand shot forward with blinding speed. Ss barely had time to react as the spear whistled through the air, glowing with a sharp edge of qi. "Bang!" Ss deflected the attack with his scythe, sparks flying from the sh. The power behind the strike sent tremors through his arms, and he felt the golem''s raw strength bearing down on him. Before he could retaliate, the golem flicked its wrist, and the spear vanished, reappearing in the air above Ss, descending like a meteor. "Bang!" Ss leaped back, avoiding the devastating blow. The ground cracked where the spear struck, but he couldn''t let up. The golem''s movements were deceptively fast, and it wasn''t just relying on its body. Ss could feel the qi stirring in the air around him. Suddenly, four translucent disks of qi formed around the golem, each disk marked with ancient runes glowing faintly. The disks expanded outward, creating a wide barrier that began to ripple with destructive energy. Ss''s eyes narrowed. The golem had activated a powerful qi formation, and it was clear the disks were meant to suppress and trap him. The barrier shimmered with malevolent energy, and Ss felt the air around him grow heavier. He could already feel the suppression on his body and qi cirction. Before he could n his next move, the golem raised its hand, and several magic treasures appeared in the air¡ªthree shining orbs, each one pulsating with different elements: fire, lightning, and ice. The orbs hovered within the formation, each aimed directly at Ss. Without warning, the fire orb shot forward, unleashing a torrent of me that roared toward Ss. "Boom!" Ss barely managed to twist out of the way, but the heat singed his robes and scorched the ground where he had stood. Before he could recover, the lightning orb struck next, releasing bolts of blue energy that crackled through the air. "Crack!" The bolts hit Ss''s side, sending jolts of pain through his body as they coursed through his qi pathways. He gritted his teeth, the energy momentarily disrupting his control over his flying sickles. "Shing!¡ª" Ss groaned in frustration. The golem wasbining long-range attacks with its formation, limiting his ability to retaliate. But the golem wasn''t done. The ice orb released a freezing mist, and within moments, the air grew cold, frost gathering on the ground beneath Ss''s feet. ''It''s not just a defensive formation¡ªit''s offensive too.'' Ss realized he couldn''t remain passive. He needed to break through the Fourfold Suppression Formation if he had any chance of winning. Summoning his divine will, Ss activated the [Ten Scythes of Requiem]. "Whoosh!" The ten sleek, ck sickles shot into the air. Each sickle shimmered with the power of death, ghostly trails of energy lingering in their wake. "Requiem Harvest Formation!" The sickles formed into a deadly circle around Ss, their spectral energy resonating with his dao of crumbling and rot. Ss sent them crashing into the golem''s Fourfold Suppression Formation, aiming to weaken the barrier. "Shing! Shing!" The sickles shed against the qi disks, their power of death and decay biting into the formation. The disks wavered under the assault, cracks forming along their surface, but the formation held strong. The golem, watching Ss''s attempt to break through, remained calm. It raised its hand again, and this time, a formation appeared beneath Ss''s feet. The ground beneath him lit up with crimson runes, forming a new trap. "The Binding Chains of Tian," the golem intoned. Suddenly, chains of pure qi shot from the ground, wrapping around Ss''s legs and arms, pulling him down. The chains were infused with the golem''s qi, and they tightened with every passing second, restricting Ss''s movements. Ss struggled against the chains, his muscles straining as he tried to break free. The power of the golem''s formation was overwhelming¡ªit was trying to immobilize himpletely. But Ss wasn''t one to give up easily. "Crumble!" he roared, invoking a hint of his Crumbling Sythe Domain. The air around him darkened, and the chains began to wither and decay under the force of his dao. Cracks appeared along the surface of the chains, and within moments, they shattered into dust. Ss didn''t waste a second. With the chains broken, he sent his sickles forward again, this time aiming directly for the golem. "Shing! Shing!" Two of the sickles struck the golem''s shoulder and arm, cutting deep into its flesh. Blood sprayed into the air, and the golem staggered, but it quickly regained itsposure. It swung its spear in a wide arc, forcing Ss to back away as it reasserted control over the battlefield. But just as Ss prepared for another assault, the golem vanished. "What?!" Before Ss could react, the golem reappeared behind him, moving with shocking speed. It had used its body cultivation to close the distance while Ss was focused on the formation. The spear struck forward, aimed for Ss''s back. "Bang!" Ss twisted at thest second, deflecting the blow with his scythe, but the force behind the attack sent him flying backward, crashing into the ground. "Shing!¡ª" He coughed up blood, his vision blurring for a moment. The golem''s strength was monstrous, and its ability to seamlessly switch between qi attacks and physical assaults made it a nightmare to fight. Ss''s fiendgod body worked quickly to heal the damage, but he couldn''t keep taking blows like that. Taking to many big hits would only expend his divine power even faster. The golem advanced, preparing to strike again, but Ss wasn''t about to let it have the upper hand. He extended his divine will,manding his sickles to converge on the golem from all sides. The spectral des whirled through the air, glowing with the power of rot and decay. "Shing! Shing!" The sickles struck the golem''s qi shield, cracks spreading across its surface as the death energy gnawed away at its defenses. The golem let out a low growl, its movements bing more aggressive as it tried to shake off the sickles. Ss pressed his advantage. He channeled more of his power into his Crumbling Sythe Domain, the aura of crumbling intensifying around him. The air became thick with decay, and the ground beneath his feet began to crack and disintegrate. The golem swung its spear again, but this time, Ss was ready. He dodged the strike, closing the distance between them, and brought his scythe down with all his strength. "Cleaving!" The de of the scythe glowed with destructive energy, empowered by Ss''s dao of cleaving. It crashed hard into the golem''s spear. "Bang!" "Shing!" The golem staggered back, blood pouring from its wounds, but it didn''t falter and was quickly using its own divine power to heal itself. Instead, it raised both hands, summoning a new formation. This one was moreplex, with dozens of glowing runes spinning in the air, each one radiating immense power. "The Infinite Abyss Formation," the golem intoned. Chapter 47: -47- Need more power

Chapter 47: -47- Need more power

The formation activated, and the entire hall darkened. Ss felt the air around him grow thick with malevolent qi. From within the formation, a vortex of darkness began to form, pulling everything toward it with terrifying force. Ss gritted his teeth, feeling his body being dragged toward the abyss. He knew if he was pulled in, it would be over. The pull of the [Infinite Abyss Formation] was overwhelming. Ss felt the malevolent qi sucking him toward the vortex, his feet skidding on the ground as the force dragged at his body. The air had grown dense, almost suffocating, and the vortex loomed ahead like a ck hole, threatening to consume everything. "I can''t let this formation swallow me whole," Ss thought, gritting his teeth as he channeled the power of his Crumbling Sythe Domain. The aura of crumbling intensified around him, creating an oppressive field that distorted the ground beneath his feet. With a surge of willpower, he summoned the power of his [Ten Scythes of Requiem], the ck sickles once again glowing with deathly energy. "Requiem Harvest!" The sickles whirled in unison, forming a defensive ring around Ss. As the vortex''s pull grew stronger, Ssmanded the sickles to strike. "Whoosh!" They tore through the air, heading straight for the core of the formation, the death energy slicing through the dark qi that made up the abyss. "Shing! Shing!" The sickles mmed into the vortex, meeting resistance as the malevolent qi pushed back. Ss grunted with the effort, the force of the formation fighting against him. The sickles'' death energy gnawed at the edges of the formation, but it wasn''t enough to bring it down instantly. "I need more power," Ss realized. Without hesitation, he called upon his Crumbling Sythe Domain. The decaying force of his domain spread further, warping the qi of the formation as cracks appeared in the vortex. The pull lessened for a moment, and Ss seized the opportunity. "Now!" With a roar, Ss charged forward, scythe raised. His dao of cleaving surged into the de, empowering it with destructive energy. He swung the weapon in a wide arc, aiming directly for the heart of the vortex. "Boom!" The scythe collided with the vortex, and thebination of Ss''s dao of cleaving and the death energy of the sickles was enough to destabilize the formation. The vortex shuddered, and the malevolent qi rippled as the structure of the [Infinite Abyss Formation] began to unravel. "Shing!" The vortex imploded, releasing a final burst of dark qi that dissipated into the air. Ss stumbled forward, free from the pull of the abyss, but the fight was far from over. The golem was already on him. Before Ss could fully recover, the golem appeared in front of him, spear thrusting toward his chest with brutal force. "Bang!" Ss barely blocked the strike with his scythe, the impact sending shockwaves through his body. The golem pressed its advantage, swinging the spear in a relentless flurry of attacks. Each strike was heavy, a perfectbination of its qi and body cultivation, pushing Ss to his limits. "Shing! Bang! Shing!" The sound of shing weapons filled the hall as Ss fought to keep up. The golem''s strength was immense, and its spear strikes were precise, forcing Ss to defend with everything he had. But Ss was no stranger to closebat. He wove his scythe in tight arcs, parrying the golem''s blows while directing his sickles to attack from different angles. "Shing! Shing!" Two sickles managed to graze the golem''s side, drawing more blood, but the creature didn''t falter. Its body cultivation allowed it to endure, healing itself even as the wounds appeared. The golem swung its spear in a wide arc, aiming to catch Ss off-guard, but Ss ducked low, dodging the strike and retaliating with a powerful upward sh of his scythe. "Cleaving!" "Bang!" The scythe connected with the golem''s spear, shattering the weapon into two pieces. Ss pressed forward, his eyes gleaming with determination. The golem, now weaponless, let out a low growl and dropped the broken spear, raising its fists instead. It charged at Ss with terrifying speed, throwing a punch that crackled with qi. Ss barely managed to block, his arms shaking from the impact. The golem''s body strength was even more dangerous up close, and Ss knew he couldn''t let this turn into a drawn-out brawl. He had to end it fast. "Boom!" The golem swung again, but this time Ss parried the blow and immediately willed five of his sickles to strike from behind. The sickles shot forward, aiming for the golem''s unguarded back. "Shing! Shing!" The sickles cut deep, but the golem ignored the pain. Ss quickly sent the other five crashing into the golem''s chest, forcing it to back away. Taking advantage of the brief opening, Ss activated his dao of crumbling at full force. The air around them grew heavy as the destructive energy of his domain spread outward, warping the very ground beneath the golem''s feet. Cracks appeared on the floor as the decaying force attacked everything in its range. The golem staggered, its movements slowing as the weight of Ss''s dao bore down on it. But the creature wasn''t done yet. With a snarl, the golem mmed its fist into the ground, summoning a familiar set of translucent disks. It was The Fourfold Suppression Formation again! The disks formed around the golem, creating the same wide barrier of energy that had nearly trapped Ss earlier. The air shimmered with destructive qi as the golem attempted to suppress Ss''s movements once again. "Not this time." Ss didn''t waste any time. He knew how to break this formation now. He summoned his sickles and sent them crashing into the disks, the death energy slicing into the formation with deadly precision. "Shing!" "Shing!" The disks wavered under the assault, cracks forming along their surfaces. The golem tried to use the formation to hold Ss back, but the sickles'' death energy was too potent. The barrier began to copse as Ss pressed forward, his scythe glowing with the power of his dao of cleaving. "Bang!" "Shing!" With one final push, Ss shattered the formation, and the disks crumbled into dust. The golem roared in frustration, its body bleeding from multiple wounds, but it refused to go down. It charged at Ss, fists glowing with qi, ready to finish the fight in closebat. Ss met the charge head-on, his scythe shing through the air as he dodged and countered the golem''s attacks. The two shed violently, their movements a blur of speed and power. "Bang! Bang! Shing!" Ss ducked under a heavy punch, his scythe swinging upward and catching the golem in the side. The creature howled in pain, but its body cultivation allowed it to heal rapidly, its wounds closing almost as quickly as they appeared. But Ss wasn''t giving up. He channeled the power of his dao of rot, sending waves of decaying energy into his sickles. The ck des circled the golem, their deathly energy corroding its flesh and slowing its regeneration. "Shing! Shing!" The golem staggered, its movements growing sluggish as the rot took hold. Ss saw his chance and surged forward, his scythe glowing with both his daos of cleaving and crumbling. "Fall!" Ss roared, bringing his scythe down in a devastating blow. "BOOM!" The scythe struck the golem''s chest, cleaving through flesh and bone with brutal force. Blood sprayed into the air as the golem let out a final, guttural roar. Its body trembled, the power of Ss''s daos overwhelming its defenses. The creature copsed to the ground, its body crumbling away as the energy of decay and destruction consumed it. Ss stood over the fallen golem, panting heavily, his scythe dripping with blood. The hall was silent once more, the oppressive weight of the battle lifting as the golem''s body disintegrated into dust. He had won, but just barely. His body ached from the numerous wounds, and his divine power was nearly spent. But he had survived. The old man''s voice echoed in the chamber once again, this time tinged with satisfaction. "Well fought, Ss. You''ve even slightly outperformed what I had guessed." Chapter 48: -48- Spiritlock Barrier Illusion Formation

Chapter 48: -48- Spiritlock Barrier Illusion Formation

"Thank you, Senior. I couldn''t have done it without your guidance," Ss said, and he fully meant it. Without the old man''s guidance, there was no way he would haveprehended a Dao Domain so early, and without it, there wasn''t a shot in hell he could have won that fight. "Minor matter," the old man said with a slight smile. "Nowe, it is time for you to select your second Spiritual-grade treasure, and this time your selections should be a little better." "They will be better this time?" Ss asked. "Of course... if you pass both levels and rank up equally in Qi and body cultivation, you get three chances to select each rank of magic treasure. With each new chance, I give you more and better selections," the old man said with delight. He was clearly very proud of the various assortments of treasures histe master had managed to rue. Ss then followed the old man to the treasure hall as he left the battle hall, though he was met with a small surprise. "Ss! You really did it!" Thea rushed forward, her excitement infectious. Thea wrapped her arms around him, her warmth grounding him after the intensity of the past fight. While Ss was fighting in the battle hall, the small child had wandered out of the Insight Hall out of boredom and began to talk with both Thea and Red. They, of course, asked questions about what Ss was currently going through and the significance it held. They now knew exactly how challenging the battle would be and the value passing the challenge held. Red gave a nod, his respect for Ss evident in his posture. "Of course," Ss said with a grin. "The battle was tough, but I managed." After a brief conversation with Thea and Red, Ss was once again looking over the Spiritual-grade treasures. Ss scanned through the Spiritual-grade treasures, his eyes darting over the various weapons and formations that shimmered with unimaginable power. The old man''s words echoed in his mind¡ªthis time, the selections were even better. Ss couldn''t help but feel a surge of excitement as he saw some of the formations that could change the tide of a battle entirely or top-quality weapons capable of vastly increasing his strength. His gaze settled briefly on a Qi and body refining early rank 4 golem, standing tall and silent, its presence radiating sheer power. For a moment, he considered it. A golem like this could be invaluable for protection or offense in future conflicts. But then, his thoughts shifted back to his strategy¡ªhis ultimate goal was to strengthen his own abilities and secure resources for the future. ''...No sickles?'' Ss thought. He then looked up to the old spirit of the estate. "Senior, is there not another set of sickles I can choose?" The old man could only sigh. "Unfortunately, the Ten Scythes of Requiem were the only Spiritual-grade sickles ourte master left in the estate... If you wish to select sickles, the only thing you can do is select a valuable treasure and either trade it for spirit stones with me or try and sell it once you leave this ce. If this is what you choose, you should select a formation-type magic treasure. They are by far the most valuable." Ss nodded his head. It looked like he wouldn''t be able to find more sickles for his [Tenfold Fifty Sickle Formation], so the only thing he could do was select a valuable treasure to sell in the wider world. The old man then said, "You could also, of course, select one of the few top-quality Spiritual-grade flying sword sets and just transform them into sickles, but I wouldn''t suggest this... While this is possible, it would lower the quality of the set by one or two ranks, so instead of having, say, nine top-quality swords, they would be turned into nine mid-quality sickles... If there were enough for you to use the first level of the Tenfold Fifty Sickles Formation, it might be worth it, but considering thergest set of flying swords you can currently select is only nine, I think it''s best if you pick a formation, then sell it and buy enough sickles to use the formation." Ss agreed with the old spirit, so he continued to turn the pages of the treasure book, eyeing the formation-type treasures. There were plenty of highly valuable formations, but one in particr caught his attention¡ªa grand, intricate formation that gleamed with promise. Its description immediately sparked his interest: [Spiritlock Barrier Illusion Formation] ¨C A versatilerge-scale formation with both offensive and defensive capabilities. It can seal away an area, locking out intruders and trapping them in a powerful elemental barrier, while simultaneously creatingplex illusions that disorient and confuse those within its boundaries. Even rank 4 cultivators can be ensnared if the formation is deployed properly. This formationbines the strength of imprable defense with the subtlety of illusion-based offense, making it a rare and invaluable treasure. This was also a Spiritual-grade formation that was made by simplifying an Immortal-grade formation, just like the one Kai had traded for spirit stones previously, but this one was on a slightly higher tier than that one. This treasure would surely be highly coveted in the wider world. Ss felt the familiar pull of logic and desire. This wasn''t just a weapon to wield¡ªit was a treasure he could sell in the outside world, worth an incredible amount. He knew that with the funds from selling this formation, he could finally acquire enough high-quality sickles toplete his [Tenfold Fifty Sickle Formation], a formation that would elevate his offensive capabilities to an entirely new level. "This is it," Ss muttered, a satisfied smile crossing his face. The old man, sensing his decision, stepped forward. "You''ve chosen wisely. This formation will serve you well, whether you use it or sell it to amass the resources you need." Ss nodded. "I''ll take the Spiritlock Barrier Formation," he said with confidence, already envisioning how it would fuel his ns. With the formation in hand, he walked out of the treasure hall to go speak to Thea and Red... It was almost time to leave and finally enter the wider world. As he stepped into the main hall, Thea and Red were waiting. Their eyes lit up as they saw him. "So?" Thea asked, curious about what Ss had selected. "Now I''ve got this," Ss said as he held up a jade stone in one hand and several formation gs in the other. Red raised an eyebrow. "A formation?" Ss nodded. "The [Spiritlock Barrier Illusion Formation]. It''s a top-tier formation that I can sell for enough spirit stones to hopefullyplete my sickle set for the [Tenfold Fifty Sickle Formation]. Once I sell it, I imagine my power should increase by a decent bit." Thea smiled warmly, cing a hand on his arm. "That sounds perfect. You''ve thought this through." "I have to," Ss said. "We''re about to step into a world farrger and more dangerous than this one. I need every advantage I can get." Red gave a slight nod while crossing his arms. "Sounds like a good n." Red then motioned toward the small child and said, "This senior here exined to us a little about your newprehensions... With your new Dao Domain and sickle formation, there should be few people near our strength who can challenge you." Ss chuckled. "Let''s hope so." After some more small talk, Ss excused himself. There was one more person he needed to talk to. Making his way back to the Insight Hall, Ss found Kai sitting in a lotus position, still meditating. But even without opening his eyes, Kai sensed his approach. "Boss," Kai said, a mixture of eagerness and frustration in his tone. "What''d I miss?" Ss stood in front of him, arms crossed. "Well, I passed and made my selection... but don''t worry about that, you need to focus on your growth..." Ss knew Kai wouldn''t like the fact he was now stronger than him, so he made sure to pick at him to hopefully push him to try harder. "...or else you''ll never catch up with me." Kai opened his eyes, a mixture of stubbornness and genuine regret in them. "I know. I let my arrogance get the better of me. I won''t make that mistake again." Ss nodded. "Good. We''re about to leave this inheritance realm, Kai. The real world is a lot tougher than anything we''ve faced so far. I need you to be focused and disciplined. We can''t afford mistakes." Kai smirked, standing up and stretching. "Don''t worry, boss. Once we''re out there, I''ll be ready. We''ll conquer the world, one step at a time." Ss nodded with a smallugh while thinking, ''If only it was that easy.'' Chapter 49: -49- Nebula

Chapter 49: -49- Neb

Soon, Ss was back in the main hall, ready to quickly go back to the inheritance realm to let his family know that they had made it and would soon be leaving for the outside world. "Senior?" Ss called out, and a momentter, the old spirit was standing next to him. "Senior, I''d like to ask you to allow me to enter the inheritance realm once again so that I can speak to my family. After that, I''ll be ready to enter the outside world," Ss said. The old man nodded his head, but before he could speak, Thea jumped into the conversation, "Ss, don''t forget about the spatial lynx... She said that if I could bring her out of this ce, she would be my beastpanion, so I''d like to see if she still feels that way... An emperor beast as a beastpanion would surely be helpful." Ss nodded, "I''ll go and ask her before Ie back." "Thanks," Thea said. "Alright, is that it?" the old man asked. "Yes, Senior... So how does this work?" Ss asked. The old man then pulled out a small talisman and tossed it over to Ss. "Bind this, and you will be able to enter and exit the inheritance realm at will," the old man said with a smile. Ss then sent his qi into the talisman to bind it, and soon he discovered that he could sense the entire inheritance realm¡ªevery square inch of the ce. He could see his Armstrong n, Thea''s Redstone n, his parents, and everyone else inside the inheritance realm. But that wasn''t the most important part... He could see into the outside world. He could only see so far, but it was there. All he had to do was will it, and he would finally leave this small inheritance realm and enter the real world. "Wow," Ss muttered in astonishment. "But before you go, I want you to have this," the old man said as he handed Ss arge and thick manual. "What is this?" Ss asked. The old man just smiled. Ss looked down at the manual and read the title: ''Heavenly Transformation'' "What... I thought we would only gain this after reaching Revolving Core in both qi and body cultivation?" Ss asked. "Well, you''ve already got the ability, so I see no reason to hold it back from you... And while you''re going to your n, you can leave it there for them to learn and master... It should help protect them while you''re away," the old man said. "Really? I can share this divine ability with others?" Ss asked. He had figured that he and Kai wouldn''t be able to share the three divine abilities with other people. The small child then gave off a smallugh, "Ha! That is the most basic of divine abilities, so of course ourte master wouldn''t mind if you shared it with anyone. But the next two abilities you get? Hmph, don''t expect the same..." Ss nodded his head in understanding, "Thank you, Senior." He quickly thanked the old man. He knew that the old man didn''t have to give him this manual, and he likely only did it because he had a good impression of Ss. So not only did he need to keep up that good impression, but he was genuinely grateful for everything the old spirit had done for him so far. "It was nothing," the old man said. Ss then turned his attention to Thea and Red, "Thea, Red, hurry ande learn this divine ability. Then I''ll take my leave so we can enter the wider world." "Thanks," they both quickly said. *** Several hourster, both Thea and Red had memorized the divine ability, and now Ss was about to leave the pagoda. He sent his mind into the inheritance realm and willed himself to teleport to his Armstrong n. A momentter, he was standing at the front door of his parents'' house. "Knock." "Knock." He quickly knocked twice, then entered. "Mom, Dad, I''m back..." he yelled. *** After a very emotional reunion and several hours of talk where Ss first exined that he, Thea, and the rest had all made it and were perfectly fine, he gave his parents the divine ability manual ''Heavenly Transformation.'' Ss didn''t exin how he got the ability, just saying he acquired it by luck, but he expressed how he wanted this to be given to his Armstrong n and Thea''s Redstone n so that they would be stronger and able to better protect themselves. Charles, upon seeing the divine ability manual, was so happy he even started to tear up. With this divine ability, his n, along with the Redstone n, who were linked by Ss and Thea, would be more than strong enough to protect themselves against even the strongest ns in this inheritance realm. While they couldn''t act as they pleased, they were more than capable of protecting themselves. Soon, though, it was time to go, and after an emotional family hug, Ss was finally headed toward the spatial lynx. *** Ss, now with the talisman, could easily find the spatial lynx and was able to teleport straight to her location. "Hmm?" The spatial lynx raised her head in confusion. How did this human appear right before her? Could he have mastered the art of teleportation? "Hey," Ss said to his old friend. "Can you teleport now?" the beast asked. The beast knew that Ss was talented for a human, but she didn''t think that he coulde close to touching herprehensions when it came to space, so how could he have alreadyprehended a spatial dao? "Nope," Ss said. "Then how?" the beast asked. "I''ll exin thatter, but first, do you remember what you told Thea? You said if she could lead you out of this ce, you would be willing to be her beastpanion..." Ss said. The beast nodded, "Yes, I remember." "Well, do you n to stick to that statement?" Ss said with a smile. The beast scoffed, "What... Do you two n to challenge the battle pagoda? I have no interest in losing my life anytime soon... I might challenge it one day once I''m stronger, but now... I''m not fully confident." "What if I told you we''ve already passed the trials... All you have to do is agree to be Thea''s beastpanion, and I promise I''ll take you out of this realm," Ss said. The beast was stunned and gave Ss a close look. Could he be telling the truth? Not having anything to lose, she said, "Can you prove it?" "So, is that a yes? Will you be Thea''s beastpanion?" Ss asked once again. The beast quickly nodded, "Yes, if you can get me out of this small ce, I''ll agree to be her beastpanion." "Good, then don''t resist." A momentter, Ss teleported himself and the spatial lynx into the main hall of the pagoda. Ss and the spatial lynx now stood in the main hall next to Thea and Red. The spatial lynx quickly put her guard up and began to look around. "Where is this ce?" she asked. "This is the main hall of the pagoda," Ss exined. "While you can''t gain anything from this pagoda, you will be allowed to leave as long as you ept to be either mine or Thea''s beastpanion," Ss said. The beast nodded her head, "Fine." She then looked to Thea, "If you''re still willing." Thea quickly nodded her head. A few momentster, they hadpleted the bond of equals, and Thea and the spatial lynx were officially spiritually connected. "Can you hear me?" Thea sent to the spatial lynx. "Yes, I can," the spatial lynx answered. "Good," Thea said with a beaming smile. "So, what''s your name? Do you have one?" Thea asked. "No, I''ve never been given a human name... I will pick one myself... Hmm... I think my name will be Neb... Yes, Neb," Neb said. Thea smiled, "Well, it''s an honor to have you as my beastpanion, Neb." Neb then transformed into her human form. She was around Thea''s height with long dirty blonde hair, and she wore a white robe. "Here," Thea said as she handed Neb a small bag. "What''s this?" she asked. "This is a couple of spirit stones for you to rank up to Early Revolving Core... But make sure you don''t go past that," Thea said. "Really?" Neb said with widened eyes. She had only been Thea''s beastpanion for a few moments, and she was already being given such a gift. Thea nodded. "Thank you," Neb quickly sat down in a lotus position and started her rank up to a rank 3 Disciple. A little whileter, she had done it, and she was now an Early Revolving Core qi cultivator and ate Transcendent body cultivator. Chapter 50: -50- Entering the major world of the Supreme Peng Dynasty

Chapter 50: -50- Entering the major world of the Supreme Peng Dynasty

Soon, Ss, Thea, Kai, Red, and Neb were all in the main hall, ready to enter the wider world. "Senior," Ss called out. "Yes?" the old spirit said as he appeared before them. "I''d like to thank you once again for all your help... we are now about to leave this ce," Ss said. The old man nodded. "Good. As a cultivator on the path of an immortal, you have to temper yourself... but before you leave, I will give you a small piece of advice..." "What is it, Senior?" Ss asked. "Do not tell anyone that you two are the inheritors of this immortal estate... it''d be best if you all don''t even mention that Ss and Kai are the disciples of Daoist Silent Sage... If you do, there''s no telling who wille for you to try and take your ce. You all will surely die to people much stronger than you who wish to monopolize this ce for their descendants or sect." Ss nodded and looked around at the rest of the group. "I agree. I don''t think we should tell anyone..." "I agree as well," the rest all said. "Good. Now before you go, I have onest gift for you..." the old man said as he handed Ss a small magic treasure. "What is this?" Ss asked. "This is an estate-type magic treasure... it is currently only a spiritual-grade magic treasure since that is all you can bind, but it is extremely expensive. You are absolutely forbidden from selling it... Deep inside the estate, there is a region where this immortal estate is linked with your estate. There areyers uponyers of protective formations guarding this area... If you wish to enter this immortal estate or the inheritance realm, you must first enter this region, and I will allow you to be teleported in." "Wait, so we are going to be able to carry this immortal estate with us?" Ss asked in excitement. The old man nodded. "Of course... While you can''t bind it until you are a True Immortal, I will allow you to carry it around on you..." "Thank you, Senior," Ss said. He had thought he would have to leave the immortal estate where it was and constantly make trips back and forth whenever he needed something, but now it looked like that wasn''t the case. "Senior, onest thing¡ªdo you perhaps know where we currently are?" Ss asked. He knew that they were on the Supreme Peng Dynasty''s major, but that was about the extent of his knowledge. "I''m not exactly sure where you are, but I have a general idea of where the immortal estate was dropped when thest disciple of ourte master was killed... but that was millions of years ago..." "Anything would help," Ss said. The old man nodded. "Well, as you should know, we are currently on the major ruled by the Supreme Peng Dynasty, who founded their empire around five trillion years ago during the Endless War Era. While the Peng n are the true rulers of this world, they didn''t unify this world on their own. They did it with the help of eight ancient ns... As thanks, and to solidify their rule since it is impossible for the Peng n to govern this entire major world on their own, they created eight kingdoms, each ruled by one of the ancient ns... They further split these eight kingdoms into over 100 dukedoms, all ruled by legacy ns, which were the first ns to submit to their rule at the founding of their dynasty. Over the many years of their existence, they have further split these dukedoms into over 1,000 marquisates, each ruled by a powerful n... There are some marquisates that arerge, while others are small, but even the smallest are boundless (each marquisate is muchrger than all of Earth)." "The Peng Dynasty was founded so long ago that by now all the kingdoms, dukedoms, and marquisates have long been established, so I doubt much has changed... As far as I know, we are currently in the Marquisate of Mistfall, which is under the Starforge Dukedom, which is under the Sterde Kingdom..." "While we should currently be in the Marquisate of Mistfall, I''m not exactly sure where we are in it, so once you are on the outside, you will have to figure the rest out yourselves..." "Another piece of advice: do your best not to anger anyone... you never know who belongs to a powerful n or sect and, with just a call, can have you annihted..." the old man said while looking specifically at Kai. "Also, there is one group you should do your best not to anger... the group is known as the Skywing Legion... the Skywing Legion is what the Supreme Peng Dynasty relies on to rule their vast empire... on average, you cannot even enter the Skywing Legion until you have the strength of a rank 4 Adept, and a powerful one at that, so do your best not to anger these cultivators... not only are they all strong, but they have the Peng Dynasty as their backers. Not even the ancient or legacy ns dare trifle with the Skywing Legion... but of course, anyone with enough power can join to be a Skywing Legion guard, so each powerful n will have many members of Skywing Legion guards in their ranks..." "Ok, I''ve given my warnings. Now it''s time for you to set off... once you exit, I will ce this immortal estate inside your own spiritual-grade estate," the old man said. "Thank you again, Senior," Ss said. The old man nodded, and then they were gone. *** Ss and the rest of the group all appeared in the real world for the first time in their lives. They were currently in a forested area about halfway up arge mountain. "Alright, guys, which direction should we fly in?" Ss asked. Now that they were all rank 3 Disciples, they were more than capable of flying. "I don''t know; I guess we should just pick a random direction and go until we find someone," Thea said. Ss nodded in agreement and looked to the south. "How did you all get in here!?" Ss heard a feminine voice behind him yell. "It doesn''t matter! Since they have entered, they will have to die...!" a rough masculine voice yelled. Ss quickly turned around, summoning his scythe as well as his [ten scythes of requiem]. They were now in the real world, which was much more dangerous than the inheritance realm they grew up in. He had to be on guard lest he lose his life. [Cougar (Fierce Beast) - Qi Cultivation: Early Revolving Core - Body Cultivation: Late Transcendent] There was a tall, slender man holding a spear. [Human - Qi Cultivation: Early Revolving Core] And a short and pretty woman holding a whip-type magic treasure that could likely lengthen itself. "Be careful, they''re each at Early Revolving Core, and the male is also a body cultivator," Ss quickly sent to the entire group. While he had his system to easily see the ranks of anyone, the rest did not. "Dibs," Neb quickly called out. "What? You can''t call dibs," Kai sent back in slight anger. "Quit fighting. Thea and Neb, you take this one. We will have your back," Ss quickly arranged the fight. While he was easily the strongest and likely could take them out in a moment or two, he knew that the others needed experience as well. Since he would likely gain nothing from this fight, he decided to allow the others to try it out, and if needed, he would be there to step in. "Got it," Thea quickly sent in acknowledgment. Thea quickly pulled out her sword, and Neb, being a beast, readied her ws. The conversation was instant; not even a second after the male cougar, who was in human form, said they all had to die, Thea had already drawn her weapon and started to position herself in front of the group. "Die!" the male yelled as he charged forward. Chapter 51: -51- Thea and Nebulas battle

Chapter 51: -51- Thea and Nebs battle

Since the cougar was a dual qi and body cultivator, he would obviously take the vanguard while the woman would fight from behind with her magic treasures. "Die!" the male cougar roared as he lunged forward, spear thrusting toward Thea with blinding speed. His eyes gleamed with fierce determination, muscles rippling under his slender frame. Thea met his charge head-on, her sword shing into her hand like a streak of light, her eyes calm but focused. "Bang!" Their weapons shed, sparks flying as the spear met the sword. Thea felt the force of his attack reverberate through her arms, but she held firm, her Peak Transcendent body cultivation granting her the strength to withstand his assault. The cougar snarled, pressing harder, trying to overpower her and keep the others from advancing. Unnoticed by the cougar, Neb vanished from her spot, the air rippling slightly where she had stood. Utilizing her minorpletion in the lesser dao of spatial folding, she reappeared behind the pair, her violet eyes locked onto the unsuspecting woman. "What?!" the woman gasped, whipping around just in time to see Neb''s ws sh toward her. "Shing!" Neb''s ws grazed the woman''s arm, drawing blood and tearing fabric. The woman stumbled back, shock evident on her face. But she quickly recovered, flicking her wrist to send her whip snapping toward Neb. The whip elongated mid-air, glowing with a soft luminescence as it sought to bind Neb''s limbs. "You''re fast," the woman hissed, "but not fast enough!" Neb smirked, her form flickering as she dodged the whip with feline agility. "We''ll see about that." Meanwhile, the cougar realized something was amiss. He caught sight of Neb engaging the woman out of the corner of his eye. "Damn it!" he growled. "Get away from her!" While he was their master''s beastpanion, he knew that his master valued her much more than him. "Ss! Should we step in?" Kai asked, his voiceced with excitement as he watched the battle unfold from the sidelines. "No need," Ss replied calmly, his eyes never leaving the fight. "They''ve got this." Kai nodded but kept his muscles tensed, ready to spring into action if things took a sudden turn. Distracted, his pressure on Thea lessened for a split second. Seizing the opportunity, Thea''s sword glowed with a brilliant light. "sh Step!" she whispered, her figure blurring as she surged forward, bypassing his spear and shing toward his torso. "Shing!" A shallow cut appeared on the cougar''s side, blood seeping through his torn robes. He hissed in pain but quickly retaliated, swinging his spear in a wide arc. "Bang!" Thea parried the strike, but the force pushed her back a few steps. The cougar didn''t relent, his movements a flurry of spear thrusts and sweeps aimed to keep Thea at bay. But Thea''s minorpletion in the lesser dao of sh allowed her to move with incredible speed, her sword a gleaming beacon as she weaved through his attacks. "You''re not getting past me!" the cougar shouted, frustration evident in his voice. "Funny," Thea replied calmly, "I was about to say the same to you." Behind them, the woman deftly manipted her whip, its length snaking around Neb in an attempt to ensnare her. "Hold still, you pesky cat!" she spat. Nebughed, her form blinking in and out as she evaded the whip''s grasp. "Why don''t you make me?" she taunted. With a swift motion, she closed the gap, her ws aiming for the woman''s shoulder. "Shing!" The woman cried out as Neb''s ws dug into her flesh. Desperate, she reached into her robes and pulled out a small formation te inscribed with intricate symbols. She channeled her qi into it. "Serpent Bind Formation, activate!" From the te, two ethereal serpents materialized, their bodiesposed of swirling energy. They lunged at Neb, fangs bared. Neb''s eyes widened. "Persistent, aren''t you?" She leaped back, narrowly avoiding the snapping jaws of one serpent. The other coiled around, cutting off her escape route. The cougar, seeing hispanion in danger, snarled and disengaged from Thea. "I won''t let you harm her!" he roared, dashing toward Neb with renewed vigor. "Not so fast!" Thea called out, pursuing him. She raised her free hand, gathering light at her fingertips. "sh Bind!" Beams of light shot out, aiming to impede the cougar''s movements. He dodged the first few, but one caught his leg. "Bang!" He stumbled as the light constricted around his limb, but with a surge of strength, he shattered the binding. "You''re annoying!" he barked, spinning around to face Thea once more. "That''s the idea," Thea replied with augh. While the fight wasn''t easy, it wasn''t exactly hard either. As the cougar and Thea resumed their duel, Neb focused on the serpents. She could feel the oppressive qi emanating from them. "Looks like ytime is over," she muttered. Summoning her dao of spatial folding, she twisted space around her, causing the serpents'' attacks to miss as they struck empty air where she had been moments before. "Stop dodging!" the woman yelled, frustration clear. She directed the serpents with swift hand movements, trying to corner Neb. Neb''s form flickered as she teleported short distances, each time getting closer to the woman. "Your formation is impressive," she admitted, "but it won''t save you." "Shing!" With a swift sh, Neb''s ws sliced through one of the serpents, causing it to dissipate into wisps of qi. The woman''s eyes widened in disbelief. "How did you--?" "Your constructs can''t withstand my power," Neb exined with augh, her ws glinting with her Lesser Dao of Spatial Folding. "Now, it''s your turn." The woman backed away, panic setting in. Sheshed out with her whip again, but Neb caught it mid-air, the leather wrapping around her arm. "Got you!" the woman eximed triumphantly. Neb chuckled. "No, I''ve got you." She yanked hard on the whip, pulling the woman off bnce and sending her stumbling forward. As a Late Transcendent body refiner, she was much stronger than the woman who was just a pure Qi cultivator. "Shing!" Neb delivered a swift kick to the woman''s abdomen, knocking the wind out of her. The woman copsed to the ground, gasping for breath. Meanwhile, the cougar was growing desperate. He exchanged rapid blows with Thea, but he was slowly being pushed back. Thea''s speed and precision were overwhelming. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" A particrly forceful strike from Thea sent the cougar''s spear flying from his grasp. He stared at his empty hands in shock. "This can''t be happening," he muttered. "It''s over," Thea stated firmly, her sword pointed at his chest. But the cougar wasn''t ready to give up. With a roar, he transformed his arms back into his ws, then channeled his qi into them as he lunged at Thea with raw physical strength. "Bang!" Thea blocked his punch with her sword, but the impact pushed her back slightly. She narrowed her eyes. "Stubborn." She sidestepped his next attack, her movements a blur, and delivered a swift strike to his leg. "Shing!" Blood sprayed into the air. The cougar faltered, dropping to one knee. Blood flowed from multiple wounds now, his regeneration unable to keep up with the damage. He nced over to see the woman struggling against Neb, who stood over her confidently. "Looks like you underestimated us," Thea said softly. The cougar clenched his fists, rage and desperation in his eyes. "You''ll pay for this! Just wait for our master toe, and you will all die! Ha ha ha!" Towards the end, the cougar knew its defeat was imminent, and it started tough madly. The woman, seeing herpanion faltering, let out a desperate scream. She tried to activate her serpentine wraiths again, but Neb was faster. With one final, swift movement, Neb''s ws raked across the woman''s chest, ending the fight. "Shing!" The woman crumpled to the ground, her body limp. She was just a Qi cultivator. Her body couldn''t withstand Neb''s strike. The serpentine wraiths dissipated into the air, their energy fading away as the formation copsed. Thea, panting slightly, stood over the cougar. Her sword was poised for the final strike. The cougar, bleeding and defeated, red up at her, his body too broken to continue. "It''s over," Thea said coldly. With one swift motion, she brought her sword down, ending the fight. The battlefield grew silent, the echoes of battle fading away. Ss, Kai, and Red approached, nodding in approval. He turned to Thea and Neb. "Good work, both of you." Thea sheathed her sword, her breath steadying. Neb licked her paw, her eyes gleaming with a predatory satisfaction. "They weren''t much," Neb said with a shrug, though there was a clear sense of pride in her voice. Thea sheathed her sword, giving a small nod. "They weren''t too much trouble." Neb stretchedzily. "It was a nice warm-up." Kai crossed his arms, smirking slightly. "Guess we didn''t need to step in after all." Red chuckled. "They had it handled." Chapter 52: -52- Senior apprentice-brother

Chapter 52: -52- Senior apprentice-brother

"Come on, we need to get away from here. The cougar mentioned its master, and I''d prefer not to fight for now if we don''t have to," Ss said. "I agree, let''s go," Thea said as she and Neb quickly imed the spoils of the battle. "Hmph, no fun at all," Kai grumbled. The group quickly descended the mountain, but soon they ran into a thick white mist. "What the hell is that? Why can''t I get through?" Kai said as he swiped down with an erged w. "Bang!" "Damn, it must be a formation," Ss said. "Red, you think you can break it?" Ss asked. "I can try, give me a minute," Red said. Since he knew he would likely never be Ss''s or Kai''s match inbat, for the past two years he had spent a lot of his time studying the art of formations. Red quickly began to analyze the formation. He started out by attacking it at various locations, and soon he just stopped and began hypothesizing and thinking about how to break the formation as soon as possible. *** Inside the mountain, several men and women in dark robes stood in a grand hall, their faces illuminated by flickering torchlight. Their expressions were grim, eyes reflecting tension as they discussed their current task. "We''ve captured over a million mortals," a tall woman with sharp features said, her voice low and measured. She was known as Zhaoyin, one of the lead disciples. "Master''s Sin Weapon is nearingpletion, but we still need more... The energy from their suffering is crucial." One of the other disciples, a nervous-looking young man, nced around the room. "But if we continue like this, we''ll draw too much attention. The local ns are already growing suspicious." Zhaoyin waved her hand dismissively. "Master said we are to continue. Until the Sin Weapon isplete, we have no choice. His orders are final." Just as they were about to continue the discussion, a cold, ethereal voice echoed through the chamber, cutting through the tension like a knife. "Zhaoyin, Tulu, Xi, gather the others," the voice said, sharp andmanding. "Two of your fellow disciples, Shen, and my beastpanion, Zan, were just killed inside the formation." (A/n: From here on out I will be using both English and Chinese names. Hopefully it won''t be too confusing, but I imagine most of you have read a Chinese novel or two, so I don''t think it should be a problem, and I will keep the Chinese names the same as usual with the family name first and given name second...) A sudden silence fell over the group. Zhaoyin''s eyes widened. "Shen... dead? And Zan as well?" One of the younger disciples, Xi, stammered, "Shen was one of the stronger among us! She was no pushover. How could someone kill her so easily within the formation?" The tension grew palpable. Shen''s death was no small matter. If someone was powerful enough to defeat her and Zan, it meant the intruders were far more dangerous than they had anticipated. "We didn''t even hear the sounds of battle," Nadia, another disciple, muttered. "If the fight was so quiet, they must have been overwhelmed quickly. Whoever these intruders are, they''re strong." Zhaoyin clenched her fists, her mind racing. "We need to deal with this quickly, but... who should go? We can''t risk losing more disciples." A murmur of nervous agreement spread through the group as they exchanged nces. None of them wanted to be the one to face these intruders, especially after Shen and Zan''s swift demise. The room was filled with hesitation, and the once proud disciples were clearly wary of their new foes. As they continued to argue, the heavy doors to the chamber swung open with a loud creak, and a tall figure strode in. His ck robes billowed around him, and his eyes gleamed with a cold, sinister light. His presence alone sent a chill through the room. Their senior apprentice-brother, Yanchi, had arrived. He was a peak Revolving Core cultivator, both in body and qi, and his reputation as a ruthless and efficient killer was well known among the disciples. His very aura radiated strength and cruelty, and his cold expression did little to hide his irritation. "What is all this bickering about?" Yanchi asked, his voice low butced with authority. The other disciples stiffened as his gaze swept over them. Zhaoyin was the first to speak. "Senior apprentice-brother, Shen and her beastpanion, Zan, were killed inside the formation by intruders." Yanchi''s eyes narrowed, his anger barely concealed. "Killed? How?" "We don''t know," Xi said, his voice shaking slightly. "But the fact that they were both defeated so easily means the intruders are no ordinary foes." Yanchi''s frown deepened as he absorbed the information. "Shen was only at Early Revolving Core but she was no weakling," he muttered, almost to himself. "If these intruders were able to kill her without so much as alerting the rest of us, then they must be formidable indeed." The other disciples watched him, holding their breath. They knew Yanchi''s temper and were more than relieved that he was here to take charge. Yanchi''s expression turned cold as he looked at his fellow disciples. "I''ll deal with them," he said, his voice dripping with malice. "These intruders will regret stepping foot here." Zhaoyin''s face lit up with relief. "Of course, Senior apprentice-brother! With your strength, they won''t stand a chance." The others quickly echoed her sentiments, eager to avoid being sent into battle themselves. "Yes, Senior apprentice-brother, no one can stand against you." Yanchi''s lips twisted into a cruel smile. "ttery won''t help you if you fail Master again. I''ll take care of this." Without another word, Yanchi turned on his heel and left the chamber. The other disciples exchanged relieved nces as he disappeared into the darkness. As Yanchi stepped into the cold night air outside the mountain, his smile faded, reced by a fierce determination. He was not like the others. These intruders would soon learn that crossing paths with him was a fatal mistake. *** "So, Red, any luck?" Ss asked. Red shook his head. "This formation is much moreplicated than the ones I''m used to studying... it was likely put down by a peak rank 3 Disciple skilled in formations or by a rank 4 Adept..." "Damn," Ss said. While he wasn''t that scared of a peak rank 3 Disciple, if they managed to run into a peak rank 4 Adept, they would likely be finished. "Just do your best," Ss told Red. While he wanted him to rush, he knew that what Red would need most was time. "If I had a chance to see the formation gs or formation marks, I would likely quickly be able to understand the secrets of this formation..." Red said. He then began to mumble to himself, "This formation seems to be based on the five elements, with water and wind being the majority..." "Ss hit over there," Red pointed to the left. "Kai, after Ss attacks, you attack there," he then pointed to the right. "Got it," they both said, but before they could attack, they heard someone behind them. "You have no shot in hell at breaking this formation set down by my master, so calmly ept your deaths..." Chapter 53: -53- You really think you can run from me?

Chapter 53: -53- You really think you can run from me?

Yanchi''s sneer deepened as he watched the group struggle against the misty white formation. "You have no shot in hell at breaking this formation set down by my master. Calmly ept your deaths," he dered, his voice dripping with condescension as he drew a spear that gleamed ominously in the dim light. Beside him, he unfurled a small formation g and thrust it into the ground with a confident motion. [Human - Qi Cultivation: Peak Revolving Core - Body Cultivation: Peak Revolving Core] Ss'' brows furrowed, instantly recognizing the formidable challenge thaty before them. Yanchi was no ordinary cultivator. Both his qi and body cultivation were at the peak of Revolving Core, meaning the strength and durability of his body had reached terrifying levels. Even if they managed to cut off his head, his ability to regenerate from a single drop of blood would make him nearly impossible to kill withoutpletely erasing every trace of him. ''This won''t be easy,'' Ss thought grimly. Yanchi smirked and, with a quick flick of his hand, hurled a small, unassuming bottle at the group. It shattered upon hitting the ground in front of them, releasing a thick, dark green cloud of poison that spread rapidly, enveloping everyone in its toxic haze. "Shit!" Kai growled, instinctively leaping back. The poison crept into the air, invading their lungs before anyone could react. Immediately, Thea stumbled, her hand clutching her throat as she gasped, "I... I feel terrible... something''s wrong." Neb''s feline eyes widened in rm as she staggered back. "Damn it, this poison... It''s affecting me, too. I''ll survive, but I won''t be able to fight like this." Red, too, was coughing heavily, his normallyposed demeanor faltering. "This is bad... I can''t... it''s too strong." Ss, realizing the severity of the situation, acted quickly. "Don''t resist," hemanded sharply. Without waiting for them to argue, he activated his estate treasure, drawing Thea, Red, and Neb into the protective space within. Yanchi chuckled, watching the scene unfold. "Revolving Core Qi Refiners copse immediately upon inhaling this poison, but it looks like each of you are fiendgod practitioners. Regardless, they are now out of this fight... I don''t know how you two can easily withstand this poison, but it doesn''t matter... I''ll first kill you two, and then the others will quickly follow you." Ss remainedposed, his eyes flicking to Kai. "You good?" Kai flexed his ws, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "Barely felt it. Let me fight this bastard, Ss. It''s been too long since I had a decent fight," Kai begged, his voice practically vibrating with anticipation. Ss gave him a slow nod. "I''ll let you take the lead, but I''ll be watching. The moment things go south..." Kai scoffed, his grin widening. "Like I''d need help taking down this chump. Watch and learn." Yanchi''s smirk faltered, and a flicker of annoyance crossed his face. "Arrogant brat," he muttered. "You have no idea who you''re dealing with!" Kai, for now, remained in his small-sized form, but his presence loomedrge. Shadows seemed to cling to his fur as his Lesser Dao of Darkness and Lesser Dao of Shadow Movement activated. His eyes gleamed with a predatory hunger as he darted forward, faster than Yanchi expected. "Shing!" Yanchi barely had time to react as Kai''s ws raked across his spear, sending sparks flying. The impact sent shockwaves through the air, but Yanchi held firm, spinning his spear to deflect the attack before countering with a powerful thrust toward Kai''s midsection. "Bang!" Kai swatted the spear aside, grinning. "You''ll have to do better than that," he taunted. Yanchi snarled, his pride wounded. He hadn''t expected such raw power from such a small form. "You beast! I''ll make you regret mocking me!" With a flick of his wrist, Yanchi activated the formation he had prepared. Runes on the ground lit up, and from the earth sprang a dozen ethereal spears, all crackling with deadly qi. The spears surged toward Kai, their points gleaming with lethal energy. "Shing!" "Shing!" Kai dodged with overwhelming speed, his small form weaving through the spears as if he were a shadow himself. His Lesser Dao of Shadow Movement made it seem like he was slipping between dimensions, avoiding the spears with ease. However, Yanchi wasn''t done. With a roar, he charged forward, unleashing a barrage of strikes with his spear in tandem with the ethereal spears from the formation. "Bang!" "Shing!" "Bang!" The sh of weapon against w echoed through the air as the two exchanged blows. Despite Kai''s small size, his ws were fast and brutal, each swipe leaving deep gashes in the earth. His strikes were so precise that Yanchi barely had time to react before another wasing. Kai grinned, flicking his wrist as he sent shadows coiling toward Yanchi, disrupting his formation briefly. "You think this is my full power?" Kai mocked as he effortlessly avoided another spear thrust. "I''m just getting warmed up!" Yanchi''s frustration mounted. No matter how much power he poured into his formation and his attacks, Kai seemed to keep up effortlessly, taunting him with every dodge and counter. "You beast!" Yanchi hissed. "Let''s see how you handle this!" With a snarl, Yanchi erged the spear, gathering more qi into it, then mmed it toward Kai with the weight of a mountain. Kai leaped to the side, but this time, as the spear struck the ground, the force sent tremors rippling through the earth. Kai stumbled slightly, his movements interrupted for just a second. Yanchi grinned savagely at the sight. But Kai was quicker. Without warning, his small form darted in close, and as Yanchi prepared to block, Kai''s paw grew in size--erged just enough to m into Yanchi''s side with thunderous force. "Bang!" With a growl of frustration, Yanchi reached into his robes and produced another small bottle--ast-resort poison given to him by his master. His hand trembled for a moment as he considered the consequences. Even he, a Peak Revolving Core Body Refiner, could barely withstand the effects of this poison. It was meant to be used only in the direst of situations. But he was out of options. "I didn''t want to waste this on a bunch of nobodies, but you leave me no choice!" Yanchi snarled. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he smashed the bottle to the ground. The air around them instantly thickened with a dense, sickly green fog, far more potent than the previous poison. The poison spread like wildfire, seeping into the ground and rising in noxious waves, filling the battlefield with its deadly aura. Even Yanchi stepped back, covering his nose and mouth, trying to avoid the brunt of the poison. "This poison was crafted by my master himself," he spat. "Even a Peak Revolving Core Body Refiner would struggle to survive its touch! Let''s see you handle this!" After fighting Kai, he quickly discovered that Kai was likely not even at early Revolving Core in his body cultivation. This poison should easily deal with both of them. The poison cloud enveloped both Kai and Ss, the air so toxic that the ground itself began to sizzle and corrode. Yanchi grinned in vicious satisfaction as the cloud engulfed his foes. But as the green mist cleared, his smirk quickly faded. Kai stood in his small form,pletely unaffected, with his ws crackling with dark energy. Ss, too, stood unscathed, his eyes glowing with a cold, predatory light. Both of them stared Yanchi down as if the poison hadn''t touched them at all. Yanchi blinked in disbelief. "Impossible..." he muttered. "How are you both still standing?" Kai wiped a stray bit of dust from his shoulder and grinned. "Is this supposed to be a threat? You should know better than to waste our time with weak poisons." Yanchi''s eyes widened in terror. His master''s most potent poison had failed, and now he waspletely out of options. His arrogance turned into desperation as fear began to set in. Kai''s grin only widened. "I''ve had my fun," he said, flexing his ws. "But now, it''s time to end this." Yanchi''s heart raced. Without warning, he turned and bolted, dashing toward the edge of the clearing with the intent of fleeing. "My master will save me! You''ll all regret this!" he shouted as he crushed a jade talisman at his waist meant to alert his master that he was in life-threatening danger, and a momentter, he used a Dao seal meant for defense. But Kai''sughter echoed across the battlefield. "You really think you can run from me?" Chapter 54: -54- Xu Longhai

Chapter 54: -54- Xu Longhai

In a blur of motion, Kai activated his Heavenly Transformation divine ability for the first time. His small form shimmered with dark energy as his body exploded in size, growing to 12 meters tall in the blink of an eye. His ws, now massive and terrifying, crackled with the power of his daos as he easily tore through Yanchi''s barrier. (Currently, in his beast form, Kai can grow to 12 meters... but if he was in his human form, he would be able to grow to 17 meters. Regardless though, his gained strength is the same.) "Shing!" The Dao seal produced shield shattered under the force of Kai''s erged ws. Yanchi''s eyes went wide with terror as he realized he waspletely outmatched. "No! Master, save me!" he screamed, breaking another Dao seal for defense, but it was futile. Kai, now towering over him, raised one massive w and, with a roar of finality, brought it down with all his might. "Shing!" "Bang!" Yanchi''s body was ripped apart, obliterated under the force of Kai''s attack. Hisst-ditch defense crumbled as his body was torn to shreds, leaving nothing but scattered fragments of blood and bone. But Kai wasn''t done. His ws surged with the power of his Dao of Darkness, and the shadows around him began to twist and writhe, consuming Yanchi''s remains. The darkness devoured everything, down to thest drop of blood, leaving no trace of Yanchi behind. The battlefield fell silent, the sickly green poison dissipating into the air as if it had never been there. Kai''s massive form shrank back to its usual size, his expression one of satisfied triumph. Ss walked over, his eyes scanning the area. There wasn''t a single piece of Yanchi left¡ªhis body had beenpletely consumed by Kai''s Dao of Darkness. "You alright?" Ss asked, his tone calm but approving. Kai chuckled smugly, wiping the blood from his ws. "Of course. That was fun. Haven''t had a good fight like that in ages." From somewhere deep within the mountain, a chilling, shrill voice echoed out, filled with rage and grief. "My disciple! My Yanchi! You dare kill my disciple! You will all die!!!" Kai''s ears perked up, his grin widening even further. "Sounds like someone''s angry," he said, amused. Ss, however, narrowed his eyes. "That must be his master," he murmured. "Things are about to get interesting." *** Deep within the mountain, inside that secret chamber, the air was thick with the scent of necrotic energy. Master Xu Longhai''s eyes red with fury as he felt the final shreds of Yanchi''s life force dissipate. His most precious disciple, obliterated, without a trace left behind. His trembling hands clenched the edge of his cauldron, the green mes flickering violently in response to his rage. "How dare they..." he hissed, his voice low and venomous. "How dare they kill my Yanchi...!" The cauldron''s flickering mes reflected in his dark, malevolent eyes, but now, his attention shifted to the massive formation core hovering above the cauldron. This core was no ordinary object¡ªit was the Soulbound Formation Core, forged from the captured souls of millions of mortals, twisted and bound into a single, malevolent entity. The souls writhed within the core, trapped in eternal torment, their suffering fueling the creation of this Sin Weapon. Xu Longhai took a deep breath, trying to quell the storm of fury building inside him. His heart pounded as he reached for a set of talismans ced beside the cauldron. These were no ordinary talismans¡ªthey were ancient, inscribed with runes that glowed faintly under the pulsating green light. He flicked his wrist, and the talismans flew toward a shelf on the side of the room, triggering the release of a set of dark, ominous armor pieces. The armor glistened with a sinister sheen, as though it had been crafted from the darkness itself. Each piece hummed withtent power, waiting to be activated. "Zhaoyin, Tulu, Xi,e forth!" Xu Longhai''s voice reverberated through the mountain, sharp andmanding. "Don the Dao Battle Armors, take your junior apprentice brothers and sisters, and go after these intruders! I don''t care how strong they are. If you cannot kill them, hold them long enough for me to arrive." He moved toward a different corner of the room, where a massive stone figure stood, motionless. The golem, towering over ten feet tall, was an early rank 4 qi cultivator, its body cultivation at the peak of rank 3. Its eyes gleamed faintly, awaiting its master''s orders. Xu Longhai ced his hand on the golem''s chest, infusing it with a surge of his qi, and the creature stirred to life, its stone limbs groaning as it moved. "Go," Xu Longhaimanded, his voice dripping with malice. "Destroy them. Cripple their defenses, and give my disciples time. I''ll be there soon enough to finish them." The golem bowed its head, then lumbered toward the exit of the chamber, each step shaking the ground beneath it. Xu Longhai watched it go, his eyes still zing with hatred. He couldn''t afford to leave just yet¡ªhis Sin Weapon, the Soulbound Formation Core, was almostplete, and rushing the process could be disastrous. But the moment it was ready, he would descend upon those intruders and annihte them. Everyst one. He turned back toward the cauldron, where the formation core continued to swirl with chaotic energy. The countless trapped souls within were still fighting, their agonized wails filling the chamber as they resisted the final stages of refinement. Xu Longhai bit down on his lip, tasting blood as he cursed under his breath. "Yanchi... I swear, your death will not be in vain." He knelt before the cauldron, eyes narrowing as he focused all his energy on rushing the final stages of the weapon''s creation. The sooner it was finished, the sooner he could unleash its full power and personally tear apart the ones who had dared to challenge him. His fingers danced through the air, weavingplex hand seals that sent waves of qi into the cauldron, forcing the remaining souls into submission. The formation core pulsed, its energy growing stronger with each passing moment. The trapped souls within screamed in voiceless agony as they were fused into the weapon, their very essence bing part of the deadly formation. With this Soulbound Formation Core, Xu Longhai could control the battlefield itself, manipting the energies of life and death, trapping his enemies within a never-ending nightmare. "Hurry," he growled to himself. "Just a little longer... Then, I''ll make them regret ever setting foot on this mountain." Xu Longhai''s hands moved with frantic urgency, his fingers blurring through intricate hand seals as sweat poured down his face. The pressure mounted with every passing second, and his heart pounded violently in his chest. The Soulbound Formation Core hovered above the cauldron, swirling with dark energy, but it was not yet at its peak. "Damn it... I shouldn''t have to rush this!" he snarled through gritted teeth, his frustration growing. The energy coursing through the core was vtile, unstable, far from the perfection he had intended. His eyes flickered with a mix of rage and desperation. "I wasn''t ready for this... If only those fools hadn''t forced my hand! I could''vepleted it at full power!" He paused for a moment, considering the consequences. Once the process was rushed, there would be no way to reverse it. The Soulbound Formation Core would never reach its true potential¡ªits strength would be crippled, operating at only half of what it was meant to be. And yet... the thought of Yanchi''s death gnawed at his mind. The rage bubbled up once more. "They think they can kill my most precious disciple and walk away?!" Xu Longhai roared, his voice echoing through the chamber. "For Yanchi, I''ll burn it all if I must!" His fingers moved even faster, pushing the formation core into forcedpletion. The wails of the trapped souls grew louder, piercing the air as their essence was absorbed at a brutal, unnatural speed. The green mes in the cauldron red violently, casting twisted shadows across the walls, as if the room itself was writhing in pain. Xu Longhai''s face twisted in fury. "I''m being forced to halt now... cursed be these intruders!" He knew the cost: his Sin Weapon, which should have granted him the strength of a peak rank 4 Adept, would now only reach half its intended power. At best, it would only make him slightly stronger than he currently was. It wasn''t enough¡ªnot for his ns, not for his ambitions. But he had no choice. The dark energy of the Soulbound Formation Core crackled around him, less intense than it should have been, but still potent enough to make the air hum with malice. His chest heaved as he forced himself to ept the bitter reality. "This won''t be its full power... but it will be enough to ughter them." He clenched his fist tightly, feeling the crackling energy of the weapon thrum through his veins. It wasn''t perfect, but for the sake of avenging Yanchi, it would have to do. "They will all die," he spat, his voice thick with venom. "And for making me do this... I''ll make their deaths agonizing." Chapter 55: -55- Early Golden Core

Chapter 55: -55- Early Golden Core

Back in the grand hall, Zhaoyin, Tulu, and Xi stood anxiously as they received their master''s orders. The dark armor sets hovered before them, and they exchanged uneasy nces. "We are to use the Dao Battle Armors?" Tulu muttered, his voice tinged with fear. "Master only allows these in the direst of situations." "This is clearly such a situation," Zhaoyin replied, her voice steady but cold. "Yanchi is dead. Master is furious. We have no choice." Xi swallowed hard, eyeing the golem that was now lumbering out of the mountain to hunt down the intruders. "That golem alone could defeat anyone below rank 4," he said, his voice shaking slightly. "Why send us too?" "Because these intruders aren''t ordinary," Zhaoyin said, slipping into the armor. "If they were able to kill Shen, Zan, and now Yanchi, we''ll need every bit of strength we can muster." The other two disciples nodded grimly, donning their own armors. As the piecestched into ce, dark energy swirled around them, reinforcing their bodies and amplifying their qi. The battle armor hummed withtent power, designed to enhance their attacks and defense to an extraordinary level. "Let''s go," Zhaoyinmanded, her eyes shing with determination. "Master has given us a task, and we cannot afford to fail." With the golem leading the way, the disciples followed, each of them fully aware that their lives¡ªand their master''s wrath¡ªdepended on their sess. *** "My disciple! My Yanchi! You dare kill my disciple! You will all die!!!" "Sounds like someone''s angry," Kai said, amused. "That must be his master," Ss murmured. "Things are about to get interesting." "So what should we do now?" Kai asked. "Hang on, let me check on Thea, Red, and Neb. Stay here for a moment," Ss said as he entered the estate treasure they were currently in. Once inside, he noticed all three of them were sitting on the ground in lotus positions. "Are you guys ok?" Ss asked. Thea quickly opened her eyes, "Are you ok? Did you win the fight?" "Yes, we''re both fine, but what about you three?" Ss asked. "We should all be fine after we get rid of this poison," Thea said. All three of them were currently using their divine power to destroy the poison inside their bodies. "Ok, if you''re fine, I''ll leave you guys to it and try to get out of here," Ss said, but he knew they weren''t likely to get out of the formation they were currently trapped in without Red''s help. To leave this mountain, they would most likely have to fight Yanchi''s master and either take the formation core from him or force him to let them go. "Be safe," Thea said. Ss nodded, then left the estate treasure and appeared beside Kai once again. "Are they all good?" Kai asked. "Yeah, they should be fine after a little while... Now we need to try to get out of here. Let''s go," Ss said as he picked a seemingly random direction and started to fly off, with Kai following right next to him. After a minute of flying, they crossed the mountain, and when Ss looked down, he was shocked. "What the hell is this?" Ss said in anger as he and Kai saw millions of mortals trapped inside arge fenced-off area. There were millions of them all bunched up in a very small area, and they all looked terrible. They were clearly underfed, and all of them were surrounded by their own filth that had clearly been building up over a long time. Ss and Kai also both immediately noticed in the distance five men and women standing outside the fence, clearly cultivators. [Human - Qi Cultivation: Early Revolving Core] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Early Revolving Core] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Mid Revolving Core - Body Cultivation: Late Transcendent] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Mid Revolving Core] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Mid Revolving Core] The group of five just as quickly noticed Ss and Kai and immediately went on the defensive, all pulling out their various weapons. "You two killed Yanchi!?" one of the men yelled. "Ha, that pathetic peak revolving core... If that''s who you''re talking about, then yes, I did... Why, do you want to follow in his footsteps?" Kai said with augh. "You motherfucker! You''re looking to die!" another man yelled. "Calm down. If Yanchi was killed by them, then we don''t stand a chance... Yanchi could fight us five to a standstill on his worst day, and they killed him quickly," one of the two women said. "Hmph! Just wait... Wash your necks!" the man yelled. "Ha ha... Why, are you going to do something?" Kai yelled back. He really wanted them to attack, but if they refused, he wasn''t scared to charge in himself. But before he could do that, he noticed that all five of them had turned to their left at the same time. Kai quickly followed their gaze and saw four people on their way over. [Human - Qi Cultivation: Mid Revolving Core] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Mid Revolving Core] [Human - Qi Cultivation: Mid Revolving Core] [Golem - Qi Cultivation: Early Golden Core - Body Cultivation: Peak Revolving Core] "Quit ying around and be on your guard," Ss quickly sent to Kai. So far, he had been fine with Kai ying around with these five, but now that there were three more humans and a strong golem on the way, he knew they had to get serious. "Feiyu, Sheng, Jian, Yuelin, Lang,e over here and put these on," one of the human neers said in amanding tone. Ss watched as all five of the people from before quickly got serious and flew over to the new group to take a set of armor each. "Those are probably dao battle armors. Don''t be careless," Ss sent to Kai. "Hmph... Like they stand a chance... Let me take the golem," Kai said as he readied himself. "No, I''ll try out the golem first. It''s an entire rank above us; we have to be careful... The golem I had to fight in the 2nd level of the battle hall was only a peak revolving core in both Qi and body cultivation, and it was a tough fight... If this golem is anything like that, we''re going to be in serious trouble. Can you defend yourself from those eight?" Ss sent back. "Fine," Kai said. He knew he was the weak link in the group, so for now, he decided to follow his big brother''s orders. "Don''t get in over your head; just fight defensively and let me test them out... But at the same time, don''t just turtle up. We have to kill these guys before their master shows up, or we''ll be in real trouble," Ss said as he finally pulled out his scythe as well as his Ten Sickles of Requiem. The group of eight humans was now all donned in their dao battle armors and spreading out, while the early rank 4 golem was flying forward toward Ss and Kai. "Let''s go," Ss said. Ss tightened his grip on his scythe, feeling the hum of energy from his ten sickles aligning into the Requiem Harvest Formation. A chill fell over the battlefield as the spectral sickles began to orbit around him, radiating a raw, destructive force. He charged forward, his presence like an impending storm, while the golem ahead of him responded with a heavy, clumsy motion, lifting its greatsword in a slow, forceful arc. "Shing! Bang!" Ss dodged the swing with ease, his sickles moving in a precise, deadly rhythm as he struck at the golem''s joints, the de finding vulnerable points with surgical uracy. Unlike the golem he''d fought in the battle hall, this one was far less graceful, each movement powerful yet awkward, and Ss quickly saw through its weaknesses. "Too slow," Ss muttered, sidestepping a wide swing of the golem''s sword. He noted that, while sturdy, this golemcked the mastery and quality of treasures he''d encountered before, relying only on raw strength. A thought struck him, and he called out to Kai, "Switch with me! This golem is a good match for you¡ªI''ll take on the others!" Ss knew that they needed to kill all the humans and hopefully take out the golem before their master came. He didn''t know how strong their master was but he would surely be the strongest of the bunch. Kai grinned and broke away from the eight cultivators surrounding him, eager for the challenge. He dove toward the golem, ws outstretched, while Ss turned his gaze to the eight armored cultivators, who now surrounded him in a loose formation. Chapter 56: -56- The Master Arrives

Chapter 56: -56- The Master Arrives

The air warped as Ss activated his Crumbling Scythe Domain, his aura infused with the Lesser Dao of Crumbling, a force of destruction that crackled with violent energy. In a seamless flow, Ss shifted into [Reaper''s Embrace], a scythe style focused on swift, close-quarters strikes that allowed him to weave between his opponents with deadly precision. "Shing!" His scythe collided with the spear of the nearest cultivator, and although the dao battle armor distributed the impact across the eight of them, Ss pressed forward, relentless. He then transitioned smoothly into [ck Harvest Form], using the extended reach of his scythe to create a defensive barrier, deflecting a flurry of coordinated strikes. The cultivators shared their qi, enhancing their strength and speed, but Ss''s movements remained fluid, his scythe a blur. As the cultivators pressed him from all sides, Ss shifted again, this time employing [Wraithde''s Dance], an ethereal style where he moved like a ghost, slipping between his opponents'' attacks. He was everywhere and nowhere, his figure blurring as his scythe found gaps in their armor, slicing through with swift, vicious cuts. "Shing! Shing!" The first cultivator stumbled back, his armor glowing with cracks from Ss''s relentless strikes. Then, using the destructive energy from his Crumbling Dao, Ss shattered the armor''s defenses with an explosive pulse. The cultivator gasped as the cracks spread, weakening the armor, and Ss seized the moment, cleaving through him in one lethal sweep. Another cultivator charged, but Ss met the attack with [Phantom Reave], his scythe dancing unpredictably in and out of range, each movement precise yet erratic, confusing the cultivator''s senses. He feinted to one side, then struck from the other, the de slipping past the defenses and slicing deep into his opponent''s armor. Three of the cultivators exchanged nervous nces, realizing how quickly they were falling. Their panic showed, and two of them broke formation, turning to flee. Ss''s eyes gleamed with cold satisfaction. He surged forward, his scythe spinning in a lethal arc as he caught up to the first fleeing cultivator. With one powerful swing, he cleaved through his neck, sending the body crumpling to the ground as the armor''s protective glow faded. The second fleeing cultivator barely had time to scream as Ss extended a hand, sending his sickles racing after him, each one imbued with the fierce energy of the Crumbling Scythe Domain. The sickles cut through the air, whirling in vicious arcs before striking, slicing through the armor and ending him in an instant. Thest two cultivators watched in sheer terror, their eyes wide as Ss advanced on them. They attempted a desperate attack, lunging at him with synchronized strikes, but Ss''s scythe met their assault head-on, his mastery over the daos of crumbling, rot, and cleaving, beating back their weapons on contact. Each de was defeated the moment it touched the aura of destruction around him, leaving them defenseless with some of their weapons even forming small cracks. Within moments, he had dispatched them, the remains of their armor scattered across the battlefield. With the final cultivator down, Ss turned his gaze toward Kai, who was locked in a fierce struggle against the golem. He folded his arms, watching with a smirk as Kai engaged the creature, eager to see how hispanion would fare in this trial by fire. He stood at the edge of the battlefield, his arms crossed as he observed Kai''s battle against the golem with a faint smirk. The golem was relentless, its massive greatsword slicing through the air in brutal arcs, each swing reverberating with raw power. Kai, nimble as ever, dodged and darted around each heavy strike, his ws asionally extending in an attempt to gouge the golem''s tough exterior. However, each swipe left only shallow marks, barely scratching the surface of the creature''s fortified body. "Come on, you big hunk of metal!" Kai taunted, a spark of frustration leaking into his voice as he dodged another powerful swing. He leaped back, the ground shuddering under the golem''s missed blow. "Is this all you''ve got?" Despite his bravado, Ss could see the subtle signs of Kai''s struggle. The golem, while clumsy, was built with a resilient frame, and Kai''s attacks weren''t making much progress. Ss narrowed his eyes, weighing his options, when a sudden, venomous shout echoed across the battlefield. "You... killed them? All of my disciples?!" A figure emerged from the darkness near the mountain''s edge, his voice thick with rage and disbelief. Ss turned to face the new arrival, his eyes narrowing as he took in the man''s seething expression. The robes of the master red like dark shadows around him, his aura pulsating with an ominous, suffocating energy that made the air grow heavy. There was a fire of fury in his gaze as he looked over the battlefield, noting his fallen disciples, now lifeless on the ground. [Human - Qi Cultivation: Early Golden Core] "Phew." Ss let out a breath. ''This could be better but I honestly expected worse,'' Ss thought as he looked at the Early Golden Core old man. This entire time Ss hadn''t been to worried because he figured the old treasure spirit from the inheritance realm would have a general idea of what was going on around him, and he surely wouldn''t let Ss and Kai leave the inheritance realm if someone who could easily kill them was nearby. "Pathetic!" he spat, fury masking his grief with a sneer of disgust. "Couldn''t even hold off two intruders until my arrival! Worthless... All of them!" Ss could sense the malice radiating from the man, and he knew immediately this was no mere threat. Ss''s thoughts quickly turned to Kai, who was still wrestling with the golem. Without hesitation, Ss raised his hand, summoning his Ten Sickles of Requiem in a flurry around him. Dark energy coiled around each sickle, and with amanding wave, they shot forward, positioning themselves strategically around the golem. "Hold still, Kai," Ssmanded, his voice low but authoritative. Kai, recognizing the serious tone, ducked and leapt back, giving Ss space. The sickles hovered in a circr pattern around the golem, each one thrumming with the energy of Ss''s Crumbling and Cleaving Daos. Ss channeled his qi into the sickles, infusing them with his aura, until they glowed with an intense, pulsing energy. In a swift motion, he activated the formation, sealing the golem in a shimmering, ethereal cage of dark energy. The golem froze, its movements stilled by the binding forces. Ss then rushed forward, scythe in hand. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" After three massive hits, the golem was defenseless. Ss extended a hand, a swirling current of energy connecting his qi to the golem. With a flick of his wrist, the trapped golem vanished, transported into a secure chamber within his estate treasure. He sealed the chamber, ensuring the creature was contained, then focused a steady flow of qi into the golem''s form within the treasure, gradually refining it from afar. It would take time, but he knew with enough time, he wouldpletely refine the golem, and then he would gain a free golden core golem. The master''s eyes widened with fury as he watched his prized golem vanish. "You dare...?" His voice dripped with venom. The very air around him seemed to throb with dark intent as he faced Ss, his gaze promising vengeance. But Ss merely smirked, unfazed by the looming threat. "I''d save that energy if I were you," he said calmly, his own aura ring as he prepared for the battle ahead. "Hmph... a mere boy who doesn''t know the difference between heaven and hell," the old man scoffed. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!