《Shared System》 1. The Sect Master imposing himself on an impressionable youth
"The heaven up above." A dishevel young man entering Dan forming realm stands in defiant of the heaven. Who is he? Shi Xiang, once an unparalleled genius, now just an angry young man in the rain. "I ask of you, if you dare come down, answer me!" A shocking declaration, all cultivators follow the heavenly Dao, who dare to question it? At best nothing happens, at worst the resentment against the Heavenly Dao gathers over time causing one to enter deviation, death at best, entering the devil path at worst. And yet, this young man, this genius demands answer from the heaven. Of why they treated him so. As if answering his demand, at that moment a transparent screen appear in front of him. The words appear at the top "The Heavenly Dao discussion." At that same moment, in a higher continent, a certain sect master has just exited seclusion. In his eyes there are melancholy. "This bottleneck... It seems no matter how much I cultivate it will not breakthrough. Is this the fault that master has said long ago?" The graceful sect master of the Heavenly Sword sect, already reaching the height of the Sky Sea realm, one step beneath ascending. From his youth, he was picked up by the previous sect master of the Heavenly Sword sect. ''Your talents are no good. Your body is no good either. But if you diligently cultivate, you have the quality to reach the Heavenly Dao.'' The sect master laughs. ''However, there is a flaw.'' ''What is that flaw master?'' The sect master only smiles mysteriously. On the road of discovering the Heavenly Dao, there are something one has to discover for themselves. The previous sect master has ascended, leaving the Heavenly Sword sect in the hand of Zheng Jie. Remembering the grace of his master, Zheng Jie starts swaying his sword. Right in the yard of the Heavenly Sword Sect the beautiful swordsmanship of the sect master was displayed. Only two words can describe it. Heavenly Defying. Even other masters on the same realm of the sect master would weep at the beauty and grace of the sect master''s swordsmanship. Smooth like jade, flowing like air. The movement of the blade was "empty". Like the naturalness of space, always being there, the movement of the blade is like space itself. Always being there. The next movement perfectly accentuate the previous. As if it was the perfect movement. Like space. Cutting through space is so meaningless, at the state of a master, even if their skill was not quite there, with their cultivation they can force the matter, going against the law of nature. The Dao of the Heavenly Sword''s sect is different. To not defy the Heavenly Dao but to be one with the Dao. Be one with nature. As the sect master, Zheng Jie has always uphold that principle. Right is right. Wrong is wrong. If one could describe his base, it is straight as a rod, without any deviation, standing between heaven and earth. And yet... "There is a flaw." The sect master of the Heavenly Sword sect stops, his face full of contemplation. He has been stuck at this bottleneck for the last 500 year, just one step from ascending. At that moment, a transparent screen appears in front of Zheng Jie. The sword in his hand has already moved toward the object that appears out of nowhere. Just one movement and the sword would come down, showing the offending object the might of the sect master of the Heavenly Sword sect. "Heavenly Dao discussion?..." Zheng Jie reads, curiosity arose in him. The word is written in another language, however at that moment, it resounds clearly with Zheng Jie. As someone who follows the path of the Heavenly Dao all his life of course it greatly interests Zheng Jie. "Is this the guidance of heaven?" Zheng Jie mutters, his eyes glinting. Did he have a fortuitous encounter after failing to break through the bottleneck for too long? At that moment, strange words suddenly appear on the screen. "System Notice: For the safety and anonymity of the participants, the system has chosen participants from all over the wide world. It''s recommended that you don''t share any of your personal information. The cultivation world is treacherous, devils and saints walk the same path. Happiness turn to tragedy overnight. The only permanence is impermanence." Zheng Jie stares at the screen with a strange expression. What is this "system", and why is it necessary to remain safe and anonymous? And yet some of the words resonate clearly with Zheng Jie, at the same time some of the words clash fiercely. Devils and Saints walk the same path? Absurd! If he encounters devils he will slay all devils in his path. The one who walks the Heavenly Dao don''t follow the same path as the devils. The devils are a cruel and evil existence who has deviated from the one path, the only thing await them is oblivion! "System Notice: Mission: Advice a young man on the path of the Heavenly Dao. Description: Everyone walks the same path under the heaven. The one who walked before guides the younger generation, this is the way of thing. You may even get good Karma in the process, leading to untold benefit in the future." Zheng Jie nods. That is the way of thing, is the heaven telling him to guide the younger generation to breakthrough? Suddenly the final words appear on screen "Reward: The many path of Reincarnation (limited) unlocked." So the reward is not breaking through but "The many Path of Reincarnation"? It seems to be a profound system. But it is not because of the reward that urge Zheng Jie, it is because it is the right thing to do. "The one who walked before guides the younger generation, this is the way of thing" The words resonate with him. The previous sect master took him in. And now he is the sect master instructing countless disciples. This is indeed the way of thing! Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author."How do I instruct this young man?" Zheng Jie mutters. Back at the young man, Shi Xiang. The young genius who has entered Dan forming realm at only 15 years old. And yet because he does not come from a large family, his future is limited. And now, after angering young master Hu De of the Hu family, who dares to touch him anymore? "You..." He stares at the transparent screen in front of him. "System notice: State your sorrow young man, a great master on the path of the Dao unimaginable to you is here to guide you to the proper path! Reward: Receive advice from an unimaginable master on the path of the Dao. Failure: Didn''t receive advice from an unimaginable master on the path of the Dao." "Did the Heaven listen to my challenge and..." Shi Xiang just realizes he has come upon a fortuitous encounter. What is that about not cursing the heaven? He curses the heaven and now a fortuitous encounter come to him! He reads the same notice about safety and anonymity and then receive a notice. "System Notice: Please enter your screen name: ______________" "Screen name?" At that moment in another continent, sect master Zheng Jie mutters. "System Notice: A screen name is a unique identification of you. It is the name other will refer you as. Please remember the advice about anonymity and choose appropriately." The System helpfully explains to both Zheng Jie and Shi Xiang? "Name? In this heaven and earth I have always gone by the name of Zheng Jie. What am I afraid of? This anonymity feature!" And then he enters his name "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie." At that moment, Shi Xiang also enters his screen name "Shi Xiang" The System: "..." After that, words start to appear on both the screen of Zheng Jie and Shi Xiang. "System Notice: You are now in a private conversation with Shi Xiang" "System Notice: You are now in a private conversation Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie" "Sect Master?!" Shi Xiang jumps up in fright. He knows of the cultivator sects, for his master is from a sect himself. However, Shi Xiang was never in a sect, he was a rogue cultivator who did not have a background, who would take him in. He was waiting until reaching the Dan forming realm to prove himself as an unparallel genius and gather the attention of the world, with that entering a sect, but after the matters with Liu Xun and Hu De... "What is this sect? Heavenly Sword Sect, so arrogance and domineering... Why haven''t I heard of this sect before?" Thankfully even though the first two host of the Shared Myriad Paths System was blockheads who didn''t know what anonymity is, the system has enough foresight to prepare for this eventuality. System Notice: For the safety and anonymity of the participants, the system has chosen participants from all over the wide world. And the worlds itself is wide... Infinite. Yet all share the same path of the Dao. "Shi Xiang?" The sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect mutters. "Is this the young man I''m supposed to advice to unlock the Many Paths of Reincarnation system? What is his troubles?" The Sect master wonders. "System Notice: Currently the System can only provide text message. Please type to communicate." "Typing?" Shi Xiang mutters. At that moment, character starts appearing on the screen. Shi Xiang slowly vents his anger at the heaven, of how it treated him on screen. He types a 5000 words message about his relationship with his childhood friend, Liu Xun. When he left home to go on a journey to reach the Dan forming realm, they promise to marry when he come back. And yet, he starts asking the heaven Why was a bad character like Hu De born in such a big family? Why does good thing not happen to good people and bad thing not happen to bad people? He types an emotional message. When he come home, Liu Xun was set to marry Hu De. She refuses to meet him to explain. And when he confronts the Hu family, even though Hu De''s cultivation was not on his level, the family''s servant beat him senseless until Liu Xun intervenes. And yet, when that happened, she did not look at him either. A good fiance never look at another man, let alone, an old boyfriend. He was like trash. She lets him crawl out of the Hu family like a cockroach. And then he was blacklisted from all major sects in the nation of Zhang. Cutting off his future. Even then, they didn''t spare him. Just now when he comes home, his entire house was in flame. He was an orphan, there was nothing of important in his home, but it was the memory of him and Liu Xun. The flame consumes the house just like it consumes their relationship. And if he was home, he would have died with the flame. So he asks the heaven, why does good suffer and evil prosper? Zhen Jie looks at the emotional letter in front of him unfold and nods with detachment. Of course this young boy is in need of advice on the path of cultivation. One major advice. Detachedly the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect starts typing two simple sentences. "The Heavenly Dao is without emotion. To achieve the Dao is to cast out emotion." The words was firm and straight, just like his base, without any hints of allowing conversation. "You are still young, walking the Dao, silly matter like love is no issue. I have walked the path of the Dao. What is this season outside? Cutting through all worldly matter She, coming with the prettiest flower Cannot compare with the truth of the world." At that moment however "System Notice: Penalty! Sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie is muted for 3 days. Note: Please don''t impose your idea on an impressionable youth!" He sits and stares at the System Notice uncomprehendingly. 2. Saving a person from entering the Devil path is more important than a banquet At that moment, while Zheng Jie is contemplating what he did wrong, Shi Xiang is on the floor, gripping his head. The imparted Dao was too profound, too close to the universal truth that his entire being can''t help but resonate with each words. He didn''t notice the words that appear on screen, too busy with comprehending the Dao of the sect master, cultivation rising rapidly. "System Notice: Emergency Mode: You will now be directed to another unimaginable master on the path of the Dao." In the next moment Sect Master Zheng Jie almost vomits out blood. "System Notice: Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu has joined the private conversation." "Devil Path Ancestor...?!" He grits out every words. At that moment, the Black Devil, Yan Yu jumps up in surprise. He was the Black Devil, referred to as the Black Devil for so long that his name has long since been forgotten. The evil cultivators know him as Black Devil, he knows himself as Black Devil, but the truth is that, once upon a time, he was human. On the path of the Dao, the Heavenly Dao is emotionless, yet is also merciless, asking cultivator to follow the only path, else they would be punished. Was it a wonder that there would be those who fall? Of course they would fall, because they are still human. The Heavenly path Dao cultivators know of the Devils as an evil and cruel race, but did they know that behind the Devil, there was once human? In front of the Black Devil, the words appear. "The Heavenly Dao is without emotion. To achieve the Dao is to cast out emotion." His lips curve down. He was just supposed to be killing time while hunting for a certain old devil, how did this happen? This strange artifact that appeared out of nowhere. And then these words. Having his human name brought up after millennia stir up a strange feeling within the Black Devil. It brought back memories, bad memories. And then these words... The words he hated the most. Even if no one tell him to intervene, he will still intervene. How could he not? These hateful Heaven Path cultivator! "Nonsense. To cultivate the Dao is to defy the Heaven. The Heavenly Dao is without feeling, how could it care about individual human life? The Heavenly Dao is merciless, happiness turn into tragedy overnight, how is it Just? The Heavenly Dao is unfeeling. Deny it." Shi Xiang brought his head up to look up at the screen. As if a burden inside him has been dropped, everything stabilized. Even though these men have never met, this is a battle of laws. That is, for the men whose cultivation are so high, one step beneath the heaven, their words turn into laws. The words that Zheng Jie imparted was not just words, they are laws, unmoving, universal laws, indefinitely close to the Heavenly Dao, how could someone with a low cultivation like Shi Xiang denied it? However, that is why the System brought in someone on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. Someone who could deny the Heavenly laws of Zheng Jie, someone who cultivate a different set of laws. Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu. "The Heavenly Dao is merciless. Fight it." Finishing typing the two sentences, the Black Devil feels tired. Two laws to counter Zheng Jie''s two sentences. The Devil path''s cultivator was never supposed to set out laws, it goes against the meaning of their existence. That is, the world is chaotic and unfeeling, the only meaning in life is strength. Just two sentences have caused the Devil Path Ancestor to feel tired. Thankfully, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie has been muted. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Zheng Jie "..." At this moment, the sect master of the Heavenly Sword sect was biting on his lips, enough to draw blood. The words on screen goes against his entire philosophy, deny his heavenly law, attack his Heavenly Dao. How is this a Heavenly Dao Discussion? How could some Devil, so far from the Heavenly Dao be allowed in such a discussion. Quickly, he mutters "Don''t do it young man, don''t be tempted by the Devil path. Wait for me, with my sword laws, I will cut through this Devil." It is said that a master at Sky Sea realm can be compared to the Sky Sea above. That is... it is the sky. So indefinitely close to the Heavenly Dao, their law is close to the universal laws. If one decided that something should be, than it would be. That is why, even continent away, even though Zheng Jie didn''t specifically imparted anything on the being of Shi Xiang, once the words was written, it was written into the Heaven, becoming a law that affect Shi Xiang that dictates his cultivation. And now, with the law of his sword, Zheng Jie brought his sword down on the System interface, trying to cut Yan Yu through the screen. The Heaven and Earth move, immortals outside run away in fright. A horrible law is written down. The System "..." The System was as unfeeling as the Heavenly Dao. Nothing happens. "Master!" The female disciple standing in waiting in the yard yelps in fright. Zheng Jie was unmoving, his mind uncomprehending. "It was wrong?" The disciple didn''t dare to make any unnecessary movement even though she was the only disciple of Zheng Jie. Only two, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword sect can only take in two students, one male and one female, completing Ying and Yang. This female disciple name is Lang Li, and according to the tradition of the Heavenly Sword Sect, the Sect Master took her in without considering her talents. Because of that, she is "famous" for being the talentless disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect''s Sect Master. But no one dare to bully her because she was the disciple of Zheng Jie. Many wants to say it is a waste for Zheng Jie to choose such a talentless girl as the disciple but they don''t dare! She was supposed to have a fellow male disciple but, Zheng Jie in his wisdom decided that Yang nearing Ying will lead to a disaster. And so he decided to help her cultivate some more, let her mature enough before taking in another disciple. "Lang Li." Zheng Jie calls. "Why did you come?" The girl acts timid in front of her master, slowly she brought out a letter. "The Heavenly Emperor invited the Sect Master to his Nine Cloud Palace for the Royal Banquet. It''s related to the matter of our Heavenly Sword Sect''s branch opening in his Nine Cloud Kingdom. If you are busy, I can send the Zhang family''s messenger away." She doesn''t dare to look up at that moment, for the events that just transpire was so frightening. Zheng Jie glances down at the unmoving system and then back at his own disciple. "No. Not going. Saving a person from entering the Devil path is more important than a banquet." At that moment, Lang Li sweats. ''Saving life from entering the Devil path''? Who dare come and show themselves entering the Devil path in front of Zheng Jie? Shi Xiang at that moment however, was not entering the Devil path, unlike the Sect Master''s expectation. 3. Each persons karma "Shi Xiang!" "Shi Xiang!" Two voice could be heard calling out for Shi Xiang, one male, one female. The male''s voice was nothing special, but the other... The elegance can be felt just from hearing, as if a cooling sensation is emitted with the sound. One could even mistaken this with the voice of a fairy, descending from the heaven. This person is Shi Xiang''s master, Shao Jingyi. Her past is mysterious, not related to any of the known sect, yet her cultivation is extremely high. When beating Shi Xiang senseless, even the mighty cultivators from house Hu has reservation about killing the young man for fear of his master. Even if Shi Xiang is a dog, you have to look at who his owner is. It is just that, at that moment Shi Xiang was too stubborn. "Was I too late?" Shao Jingyi mutters. "This debt, I will not forget." She looks at the burnt remain of Shi Xiang''s home with hatred. Even she could not afford to offend the house of Hu due to their backing, but if she... "Master was weak." The voice she used was filled with emotion. It has been 5 years, she remembers instructing the young boy into the path of the Dao clearly. He was just a young boy then, now he is a fine young man, fighting for what is dear to him. If only she could have provided assistance... but the boy did not want to involve his master and take matter into his own hand. "Senior! Here. I found him." The fairy immediately steps toward the direction of the voice. The footwork was so mysterious that it did not resemble any of the Eight Sanctum continent''s martial art. In the Eight Sanctum continent, Martial Dao rules over all. Men are expected to be man, standing strong under the heaven. Each of their martial art technique was extremely violent, emphasizing strength above all. The subtle and quiet footwork of Shao Jingyi was almost unheard of. When she found Shi Xiang, her heart almost jumps with worry. "His cultivation is rapidly dropping?" Dropping. After the conversation with two great masters, how could his cultivation stays normal? Each word was almost equal to a heavenly law, shaking Shi Xiang''s being to the very core. How could it not react? The problem is the conflicting instruction. "The Hu family is too merciless! They beat him so much that his cultivation has dropped. Combined with the shock of seeing his home being burnt down, I''m afraid it will have consequences. His future-" The male approaches Shi Xiang with the intention of helping the injured young man, whose injuries was so bad that three days later it still didn''t heal, but Shao Jingyi raises a hand to stop him. "Don''t disturb him. He is cultivating. I don''t know how this come about, but if we interfere now, I feel the consequences will be far greater." "Cultivating? In the middle of the road?" Indeed now that he looks at Shi Xiang, it looks like he is cultivating, he is sitting on the ground with his center stable and both eyes closed. "It seems he instinctively cultivates to stabilize his realm after the trauma. But the trauma was too deep that even that is not enough, his cultivation will drop. But at least he will keep his cultivation..." Even with her mysterious background, even Shao Jingyi could not see through what is happening and has a misunderstanding. The entirety of the Eight Sanctum continent practice Martial Dao, so how could they understand the Spiritual Dao? Even if they understand the Spiritual Dao, without profound spiritual sense, even masters would be baffle by what is happening. Shao Jingyi has one mistaken assumption, the drop in cultivation will not stop. Effectively, Shi Xiang''s entire cultivation base will be absolve. Of course it will be absolved! How could such normal base stand in the face of the profound Dao of two masters one step beneath the heaven? It''s like a man who has been eating sand and rock his whole life suddenly eating high class cuisine for the first time. He will realize everything that he has eaten before was just shit in front of the real thing and reject it. In this case, Shi Xiang''s entire being is rejecting the cultivation base he has gained over the years. It is the self realizing everything is wrong, that its cultivation base was just waste, polluting his body. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. And for the waste, it has to be rejected by the body. After everything has been ejected out, the body will rebuild itself, to better fit the true path of the Dao. So great was the law of Zheng Jie and the Black Devil that even a one in trillion event, unheard of under the heaven like that can happen. Of course both of them didn''t know that. "The Hu family may come again in pursuit of Shi Xiang." "I would like to see them try. This fairy is here, who dare to harm my disciple? Until he finishes his cultivation, I will be standing here." Three days. After three days, Shi Xiang will finish rebuilding his body. And when that happens, his future will be limitless. "System Notice: Mission: Advice a young man on the path of the Heavenly Dao. (Complete) Description: Overturned the Heaven and Earth to perform a miracle, you have joint force to give a young man a balance education on the path of the Dao!" Sect Master Zheng Jie almost spits out blood. Join force? Who would join force with a devil path cultivator? If anyone read the words, his reputation would be dragged through the dirt, the shame would be so great that even a thousand death would not be enough. And worst of all... Devil Path Ancestor Yan Yu on the screen was taking the opportunity to type down some profound Devil path cultivation techniques. Shi Xiang did not see it because he was deep in cultivation, but Zheng Jie did. And the more he did, the angrier he became. So angry he was that he did not notice the System Notice about the reward. "You despicable Devil. Just wait! Just wait, after three days this sect master will have a word with you." "System Notice: Mission: Advice a young man on the path of the Heavenly Dao. Reward: The many path of Reincarnation (limited) unlocked (Sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie; Shi Xiang) Mini map unlocked (Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu)"
"Saving life from entering the Devil path is more important than a banquet?" A masked figure mutters. "How did he know?" The figure stays silent after that, as if reminiscing. On his hand, he is holding a jade tablet. He is looking at it with fondness, but then, the atmosphere around him turns ugly. "That hateful man! We have to accelerate our plan. He may have known of our presence, but he couldn''t have known about our plan. Else, with Zheng Jie''s temperament he would have personally come and kill us all, that hypocrite." "But how would we do that lord?" Other figures in the shadow ask. "We will continue with the banquet plan... Pressure Lang Li into attending, the sole disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect''s Sect master... If Zheng Jie didn''t come, and Lang Li also didn''t come, wouldn''t it be like slapping the face of the Zhang family? She will come... And when that happen, give the wine meant for Zheng Jie to her!" A shrill laugh can be heard from behind the mask. The stranger is a... female! "That talentless girl will no doubt fall. I refuse to believe that there isn''t a trait of doubt inside those hypocrites'' heart. Practicing celibacy their entire life, detaching themselves from emotion their entire life... That girl will be a good victim. And then we will have a personal love slave with direct access to Zheng Jie." The mad laughter continues. With a wave of her hand, the masked figure dismisses the subordinates present. She continues to hold the jade tablet with care. "This is what you wanted isn''t it... master?" On the tablet, a prophecy was carved a long time ago. "Standing under the heaven, straight and firm. Karma returning, the heavenly saint turn into... The heavenly devil." The female figure starts dancing, holding the jade tablet close to her heart. "His karma will catch up to him... that hypocrite." What she is thinking, perhaps only she knows. 4. Lang Lis diary
Ever since I got accepted by the Heavenly Sword Sect Master, I have been keeping this journal. Thank to the convenient timing of master''s close door training, I have been allowed to rest. I wanted to go and do something. ... I know I have to work hard on my cultivation, but ever since master enter close door cultivation, I have been lonely. The Heavenly Sword Sect is a large sect, but ever since I got taken in to the Sect Master''s personal abode, I have not seen a soul. ... I kept walking in one direction, to see how far I have to go to see another living being. ... Day 30 of traveling, 10,000 km out, not even insects live in this land. Even though the Heaven Qi permitted the air, greatly beneficial to cultivation, not even one cultivator can be seen. ... Master come out of cultivation and come to pick me up. Even though I have been traveling for more than a month, he took me back on his flying sword in a blink of an eye. I did not say anything. ... Perhaps the essence of cultivation is solitude, and that is why the Sect Master''s abode, the person closest to Heaven is like that. Perhaps I''m not suitable for attaining the Heavenly Dao. ... Day 360 after being accepted, master Zheng Jie realizes my trouble. After his inquiry, in which I didn''t dare to hide anything, he says 4 simple words. "Why didn''t you ask?" ... Master has given me a treasure, Heaven and Earth gate. It is a lesser treasure in master''s possession, even so it is something more than I could hope for in my lowly life as a wondering cultivator. I wonder why he has taken me in. But phew, the problem of wanting to go out has been solved. A year is about the average a cultivator has to cultivate in close door anyway, I didn''t know why I was so worry. ... The Heaven and Earth gate allows one to travel anywhere in a 100,000,000 km radius instantly. In my opinion it is greater than any travel treasure. Master is truly the best under the heaven. However, try as I might, even though I told the treasure to take me to the main branch of the Heavenly Sword Sect, the treasure just stay still. ... Finally I saw another cultivator after trying to travel as far out as possible with the Heaven and Earth gate. They bow to me, recognizing me as the main disciple of the Sect Master. Every surrounding habitat outside of the 100,000,000 km radius from the Sect Master''s abode belong to the Heavenly Sword Sect. Though I don''t know why they live that far out, for master it is as easy as taking his sword and flying back and forth. ... There are particularities about this strange arrangement, when I ask the main disciple in charge of the day to day business (my grand disciple!) he deflects the question, dropping his head in shame. The other disciples act fearful while some looks up to me with reverence. I investigated this phenomenon, and exactly on the boundary of the 100,000,000 km radius from the Sect Master''s abode is when the phenomenon is shown most clearly. It is just a few steps, but it is as different as heaven and earth. Even though it is just a few step, on the inside, the Heaven Qi is much clearer, more pronoun and clear. The air is also different, cleaner of purities. That is not to say that the head branch of the Heavenly Sword Sect isn''t Heaven Defying, the land is as expected of a sect with a hundreds thousand years of tradition. However it is still one step down. More importantly, inside the boundary, even insects cease to exist while on the outside life starts thriving again. When I ask the great grand disciples about why they aren''t cultivating on better land, they say they didn''t dare. It is a mystery I can''t solve. ... After sometime familiarizing myself with the Heavenly Sword Sect, the disciples familiarize themselves with my presence. ...It''s worse than the solitude I experience traveling for days without seeing another living creature. It is known that my cultivation is even lower than even the hopeful Outer Disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect. I wouldn''t even be accepted as an Outer Disciple! They wanted to say something, but they don''t dare because of the presence of the Sect Master! ... I have resourced to going back, the experience leave me humble on the greatness of our sect. Even though I thought my cultivation was good for a wandering cultivator, I realize I would just shame my master as I currently. When I come back after months of dealing with the Heavenly Sword Sect matters, master has three words to say "You are uncleaned" Suddenly I realize that it was true. I was uncleaned compared to the air of the Heaven Sword Saint abode. I take great care entering close door cultivation, purging myself of the impurities after experiencing first hand just how dirty myself is compared to the air of the abode. My cultivation didn''t rise at all after all those days! That was also when I realize... The outside is dirtier than even the dirt of the Heaven Sword Saint abode. "On the path of cultivation, one step into Devils, one step into Saints The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Who is Devil, who is Saint? It depends on the perspective of the beholder." During all of this, every time Lang Li travels outside of the absolute radius, countless eyes keep watch of her, especially in this crucial time when a plot is being hatched. However at that moment, Lang Li was given a fright unlike anything before. She jumps at the sight in front of her. "M-master! What are you doing?" While that is happening, Zheng Jie is sharpening his sword in his own yard, detached from the outside matter. "Don''t you know Lang Li? Going into battle (of the tongue), it is important that you sharpen your sword (as well as your tongue), so that you can cut cleanly through the despicable beings who walk the Devil Path (actually only Yan Yu)" Lang Li sweats, ''Master really did find a Devil Path cultivator. And now he is going to clean his sword to cut their head. So cool but at the same time quite scary though.'' "Ahem." She coughs to get the thoughts out of her head. "I''m going to the Royal Banquet now. I would like to ask for your permission." "Okay. Return in two days and I will regale you the tale of how I walk out triumphant from an encounter with a high level Devil path cultivator." Zheng Jie says confidently. At the same time, it is just a battle of the tongue. He truly believes that he can talk this... this Devil Yan Yu into admitting the errors of his way and with enough shame, end himself to do the world the favor. And if the other is not repentant, he will personally seek him out, no matter where he is in the world and slay him. Evil is not permitted to walk unopposed. It is the mission of all cultivators under heaven to destroy evil where they see them. Little did he knows that all of his plan violate almost all of the core rules of the Heavenly Dao discussion system and more than likely, "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie" is going to be banned again. And yet at that moment... In a dimension, locked out from the outside world. "What''s wrong?" The Black Devil''s fellows ask the man who was in an unusual amused mood for the last two days. And yet currently, Yan Yu just involuntarily shiver from an unknown cause. He raises his lips again He seems to have pissed off a Heaven Path Cultivator some place, somewhere. This feeling confirm it. "Nothing, I just have a premonition of being cut by Sword Qi." An amused smile returns on his face. Ever since he was locked into this dimension, the only Heaven Path cultivator he encounters was this certain guy on screen. He knows full well that since "Shi Xiang" isn''t responding, it means he must already be in cultivation right now, and so the techniques written on screen is useless. But it is good for pissing the Heaven Path Cultivator who wrote the two hateful lines at the start though. And for that he feels all better. Even though I can''t rampage around the world, this Ancestor is still pissing of those oh so high and mighty cultivators. This system truly is beneficial, if only for his amusement. "Sword Qi! Did the Old Devil retains his Heaven Qi? But it is impossible! All who falls into the Hell dimension is stripped of all Heaven Qi, no matter how strong they are, and they can never have it back." The fellows who didn''t know what Yan Yu was talking about mutter in shock. What is the Hell dimension? It is the greatest prison for the Devil Path cultivators themselves. It is the greatest secret of the world, no one know how it was formed, but since time memorial, Devil Path cultivator who has achieved certain realm immediately fall down here. All of their connection to the Heaven Dao was stripped, all of their Qi is taken from them. All connections to the normal world is cut. That is how vicious the Hell Dimension are. But Devil Path cultivators aren''t normal either. They are those who disdain the Heaven, with rage, indignity and vicious cunning, over generations they have passed down a special cultivation technique for the one who just recently fallen down. This matter... It was secretly Yan Yu who developed such techniques, he is truly one of the Ancestor for all cultivators on the Devil Path. Currently though, he is just killing time. "No worry, no worry. Old Devil? What is he? I already got him on my sight." Truly, this system is beneficial. In front of him, a screen is shown, it is a map, with 10 green dots and one red dot. After completing the mission from the system, this suddenly fused with his sense. At the start he thought it was an attack, but the system fused seemlessly with his sense. Now, with his high multi-tasking abilities, he can concentrate on both the surrounding and this "mini map". What it is showing him though... The Black Devil in disguise can only laugh. ''Now what enemies can hide from me?'' What is more importantly though, is the fact that after the first mission, another System Notice has appeared privately in front of him. The mini map system is real, and so currently he is caring about this system notice a lot. "Mission: Escape from the Hell Dimension" 5. If you didnt seek death...
Thee days. Ancient Monster Fang Yijun has come out of close door cultivation after breaking through Cloud Forming Realm, gaining the ability to fly and ascend. At first glance she looks like a fairy coming out from a story the like of Shao Jingyi. However, in the case of Shao Jingyi, it was natural born beauty blessed by the heaven and earth, in Fang Yijun case... "Ho ho ho. Let that man regret the day he abandon me for that younger skank." Walking on the path of the Dao, hands in hands. Her husband and partner for the last 300 years have abandoned her for a younger female cultivator. This enrages her beyond belief, almost causing her to go into deviation. The same man who promised to love her in sickness and in health has abandoned her because she has grown old. And yet that unfaithful man was no better, he is also an old man, an old man who courted younger girl. This matter was spread far and wide in the continent, and yet the one who lost the most face was her. The people of the world secretly and openly laughed at the woman whose husband left her because she was too old. Well no more. Fang Yijun is peerless under heaven (in her opinion). Now who dare to laugh at her? Fang Yijun has gained complete mastery over a secret age reversing technique. Now who dare say she is too old? Her obsession with her husband''s betrayal is what brought her to this height. "Ku ku ku. It''s time I pay that man a visit." Yijun flies out of her cave, dazzling the entire continent. Cultivators who have seen her bow down their head. Those who recognized her sweat in fright remembering what they said about her behind her back. In this continent, it is said that cultivators reaching certain height, gaining the ability to fly, can hear for thousand of miles and see for thousand of miles. How is that not scary? Not just that, they can also see the future and the past, being omniscient. This last part however was just a rumor, since time memorial the people who has gained the ability to fly is so rare as to be non-existent. "Ku ku ku" Yijun laughs haughtily, seeing the expression of the young men looking up at her just like a fairy in heaven. "Ho ho ho. I am pretty am I not? Just like a fairy in legend. The Earth Borned Rebirth technique is truly great." She landed in that hateful man''s sect. Well, her former sect. After that split, she has angrily stomped out vowing to never return unless it is for her revenge. And now all the disciples are bowing on the ground, looking at her with a different eyes. The chief disciple in the past, who didn''t even give her face when she left approaches carefully and bow "Immortal. May I ask what businesses do you have with our small sect? Master Cui Huang is already coming here, but if you have any immediate need, just tell me. This lowly one will try to my best to fullfill all your wishes." Greed glints clearly in his eyes. ''Ho? You can''t even hide it from me, do you expect to hide it from an immortal?'' And yet, Yijun just laughs, waving the man away. "You are lucky I''m in a good mood today. Just tell that dog''s son Cui Huang and his whore to come out quickly. Ho ho ho. Immortal huh? Well tell them to come out and bow down to this immortal." The chief disciple pales, just how did his master angered this immortal? No good, no good. It is probably time to change sect. There are no future going forward with a sect that has angered an immortal. Inside the hall, Cui Huang also pales. But it was different from his disciple, the moment he hears her voice, he immediately recognizes who Yijun is. Sleeping in the same bed for more than half a millennia, how could he not? But because of that recognition, currently he is extremely frightened. Fang Yijun has gained enlightenment and regain youth. However at that moment, Yijun was not in fact thinking about how to castrate him. ...Well, maybe a little bit, but at that moment she was extremely delighted about breaking through. And the matter with Cui Huang... Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. She hated him. However, once upon a time ago it could be said that they love each other after all. But well, she just wanted to scare that man one last time. After this, she is probably never going to see him again, truthfully speaking, the moment their love ended, they have started walking two different paths. This is the last time she is going to meet that old man. Moment of reminiscent over, currently she can feel extreme euphoria. Her body feels so light, that it may as well ascend to the sky without her knowledge. So this is ascension. She thinks to herself. "He he he he." Seeing the subservient disciples, she can''t help but laugh. At that moment however, a screen suddenly appear in front of her. "System Notice: Mission: That first step: Temper your expectation, enter this certain conversation and witness Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie and Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu. Reward: Better prepared yourself for the path you have stepped on. Failure:..." "Eh? What is this? Heavenly Dao discussion? Ho ho ho. This immortal has already achieved Ascension, is the Heaven asking me to advise some young disillusioned souls on the path of the Dao. I accept. I accept." She laughs, Cui Huang is taking his time coming out anyway. She knows that man as well as the back of her hand, he has to be scared to death right now. "But what is a Devil Path Ancestor anyway?" Yijun mutters. On the certain continent Yijun inhabits the knowledge of the Heaven Path and the Devil Path has been lost. And so, she didn''t know anything of the higher continents, only that ascending means ascending. And so, losing her base, her first step in the Ninth Cloud continent, the continent above hers would be quite painful without this knowledge with her temperament. But leaving her alone with two extremely dangerous characters was... "I accept!" She reads quickly through the system notice and nods her head. "Anonymity huh? Well it would be bad if this Zheng Jie and this Yan Yu was too awed by my fame that they couldn''t learn my lesson properly. I get it, I get it, I choose this name!" "Fairy Yijun has entered the conversation." It was not her full name, but it also gives hints of who she is. And fairy shows that she was an extremely beautiful person, truthful to her real appearance. ''Ho ho ho, this profound naming sense can only come from a person like me'' She thought to herself On the screen words was rapidly type at the speed of masters. Thankfully the System has limited the two''s word count, seeing as the conversation wouldn''t be understood by their juniors otherwise. Even so, after every five minutes, the two masters would immediately react with lightning speed and reach their words count rebuking each other. Seeing as they are the highest masters under the heaven, one would expect much more elegance coming from both of them, however at that moment, in the screen in front of Yijun, the conversation is like this "Of course your daddy is from me. I''m your grand daddy, here to teach you a lesson." "Only the kind of animals not knowing anything would bring father and mother into this. But you wouldn''t know, seeing as animal is even better." "Wait wait wait wait now!" Yijun starts typing on the screen in front of her to the confusion of the surrounding disciples. With the dignity of a great ascending master, she has this to say "Eh little Zheng, little Yan you are both wrong." At that moment, both Zheng Jie and Yan Yu was staring at the screen "Little Zheng?" "Little Yan?" Thankfully, due to the System''s anonymity, Cloud Forming Realm master Fang Yijun manages to unknowingly escape from two heavenly calamity. For now at least. 6. Teacher and disciples karma
Three days. He has been in cultivation for three days. The end of the three days is when a miracle happens. Shi Xiang is reborn. Taking his first breath in the world, the sound was as gentle as a breeze. A wind starts blowing with Shi Xiang in the center. For Shao Jingyi who has been standing on guard for the last three days, the moment the wind blows, it is as if all her tiredness from the last three days has disappeared. She stares up at the sky with wide eyes upon seeing such a phenomenon. Even the male cultivator with low cultivation who was with her can also feel it. "Why is the Spiritual Qi in the area rising so rapidly?" With his cultivation, he can only tell that the energy surrounding him was spirit Qi. However at that moment seeing such a rare phenomenon, he has already been sitting crossed legs on the ground, trying to absorb as much Qi as possible. Shao Jingyi however, with her mysterious background can immediately recognize something that has never been seen in the Eight Sanctum before. "It''s Heaven Qi...?" Shao Jingyi mutters in shock. For all those years on the Eight Sanctum continent, Shao Jingyi has been considered a great expert. However in the grand scheme of thing she is nothing special, even on the Eight Sanctum continent. Even a great expert cannot stand alone after all, and for Shao Jingyi, whose background was mysterious and currently is without backing, it is like swimming against the stream whenever conflicts arise among the great power. They with their connections going back as far as 4000 years ago will always join force against her to gain the upper hand. The devils you know is better than the unknown after all. It could be said that the great power on the Eight Sanctum continent are afraid of Shao Jingyi. However for all that time, she never even has eyes for the great powers of the Eight Sanctum continent. For her, they are an annoyance, an annoyance that has overtime constantly reminded her of how far she has fallen. Fallen. For you see once upon a time Shao Jingyi has her eyes opened to an even greater world. A world above whose inhabitants are considered immortal in the eyes of the Eight Sanctum continent''s inhabitants. How could some lowly Martial Dao cultivators from Eight Sanctum frighten her when she has seen power greater than the entire Eight Sanctum continent being brought forth by men who was fighting casually. But the past is the past. After descending, Shao Jingyi found that she could not ascend back again. The participle realms are truly low in resources, from cultivation resources to rare treasure to even the ambiance Qi. Playing around once upon a time, Shao Jingyi has descended. However, taking advantages of her vulnerable state, an enemy has attacked her, damaging her cultivation base, making it impossible to cross the continents. That enemy then left her for death without finishing her off, probably waiting to see her suffer after realizing that she can never return home again. The ambiance Qi in the Eight Sanctum continent was terrible, even with profound techniques learned once upon a time, they could do her no good for it was impossible to even activate those techniques with her damaged cultivation base and the weak energy around her could not sustain her either. However, the moment Shi Xiang''s soul and body finish rebuilding according to the Dao of the Sect Mater of the Heavenly Sword Sect and the Devil Path Ancestor, every breath he breathes out was filled with the purest energy of heaven and earth, the Heaven Qi. At this moment, even Shao Jingyi did not know that the source of its all is Shi Xiang who has been reborn thanked to the effort of the Sect Master and the Devil Path Ancestor. She is busy swallowing up Shi Xiang''s entire breath with her techniques that have not been used since very long ago. The poor cultivation resource of the Eight Sanctum continent means they could not be activated, but with Heaven Qi, the mysterious energy that was rarely seen even for Shao Jingyi at her peak of course it would be enough. It could even improves her cultivation to unknown high since she knows the method of cultivation. Shao Jingyi never expects that it was that cute disciple that she has taken in once upon a time out of the kindness of her heart was the one who brought her this unimaginable blessing. Shi Xiang breathes out one breath. Shao Jingyi absorbs all of the Heaven Qi, the ambiance energy in the air rapidly dropped. Shi Xiang breathes out another, the Heaven Qi in the area appears again. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. At this moment still, Shao Jingyi could not understand how this has happened. However she could only greedily absorbs all of it to cure her injuries and purges the impurities that has gathered over time in her travel of the Eight Sanctum continent. Little did she know, this matter is related to a Heaven-shaking secret. The secret behinds the Devil cultivation techniques of the Devil path cultivators stuck in the Hell dimension absent of Qi. The secret behind the absolute zone surrounding the Sword Saint abode where no immortals dare enter. At this moment, if Zheng Jie and Yan Yu has known that both of their understanding of cultivation was the same, Yan Yu would have even more ammunition against the Sect Master while Zheng Jie would be enraged. Finally, Shi Xiang opens his eyes entirely. He can feel the change in his body, even his soul and his mindset has changed. Is it still Shi Xiang or another being with Shi Xiang''s memory? To change your body, soul and even mindset, this will surely be a question for cultivators. However at that moment, for Shi Xiang. "I see..." It is as it is. The movement of fate has already been changed, one could not regret the matters that have already happened and stop moving forward. "Thank to the two seniors..." He mutters, each breath filled with Heaven Qi. However at that moment, he looks up at something above him. "Little Xiang..." "Master!" The time has come. Surrounding Shao Jingyi is a golden aura formed by the Heaven Qi. Every part of her being look the part of a Goddess. Her hair has since fallen down, and yet it does not deter her beauty. In fact, it enhances it. All the impurities, the blemishes that has been accumulated in the lower continent are gone. The moment the Heaven Qi fills the air, Shao Jingyi has immediately thought of her many life saving techniques. Going back home, back to her sect, under the protection of her father. There was only one reason for her to delay her ascension. The karma between people is a strange thing. She took in the orphaned Shi Xiang once upon a time out of the kindness of her heart. Years later, he repays her by multiple folds even though she did not know that it was him. To cultivate the heaven Dao is to sever karma, however how could it be that simple? Karma between people is not that easily cut. Karma between teacher and disciple even more so. "...Little Xiang, I will be going now. Back to my sect," she smiles "you know the one I have been telling you about. The one that I''m sure will accept you due to respecting my face. I''m quite influential you know." For a moment she jokes. Then, she gets serious again "This is not the end. After dealing with matter at home, I will be back to take you with me. At that time, as you master, all your grievances... I will help you handle it." She grits her teeth, worrying about leaving her disciple who has lost all of his cultivation (in her eyes) to the lower world with his enemies about. The male cultivator who helped to look for Shi Xiang looks up in fright at that moment. He was a friend to the Shao Jingyi - Shi Xiang master disciple pair, but never in his wildest dream did he imagine what Shao Jingyi''s background was. At that moment, Shi Xiang was not filled with sorrow because of his master ascending nor was he filled with happiness because she promises to return. Shi Xiang was on the ground, on both knees. Three times he bows down to his master. Looking at this scene, Shao Jingyi smiles, she can feel that at this moment Shi Xiang''s mental state is extremely stable. As he is right now, she believes her disciple could deal with anything before she returns. With a light heart, Shao Jingyi activates her life saving technique, flying away while signalling to her family that she is alive. Immediately, in the sky another bright blue flash appears next to the golden flash, protecting her on the way of her ascension. It was the protective feeling of a father, realizing that his daughter is still alive. Shi Xiang remains stilt on ground, still bowing, still breathing out Heaven Qi. 7. Not of Heaven and Earth
Living a life is easy. Living in love is full of hardship. For the man who called himself saint, he has chosen to not love at all. Inside the sword saint abode, it is cold. The coldness that bites down to the bone. Of course this cold cannot be felt by Lang Li, who went in and out daily for cultivation. Thousand of years ago, inside those hall lie a corpse. After a thousand year, it should have turned into bone by now. But the cold was so great that even the flower petals, delicately dancing in the wind, turns into frost before dissolving into nothing. It was so cold. Nothing can approach. Without remembering, Zheng Jie continues to live his life of cultivation. Perhaps, even for the body underneath the hall, it is a surprise what Zheng Jie is currently doing. He is in a heated conversation. It was just supposed to be a normal conversation, with Zheng Jie bringing sense and logic to the debate. The end goal was to convince this Yan Yu that his life was wrong. However, Yan Yu didn''t engage at all. He only brings insult and other enraging remarks. And he isn''t even here for Zheng Jie to slash down. For all of his life, seeing a Devil, he would cut them down. Never has he strayed from that path. However, right now he is seeing a devil, but how can he cut him down? Applying laws? The previous time he tried it, he was banned from this Heavenly Dao discussion. And judging from the continued conversation, that time, it did not cut Yan Yu. For the first time in his life, the Heavenly Sword Sect Sect master''s sword didn''t reach. At the level of law, there was supposed to be not one thing in this world he couldn''t cut. No matter how far away they are, no matter where they are. But that time, even with law being imbued to the edge of his blade, it was as if Yan Yu didn''t exist anywhere at all. Not in this world. Because Yan Yu is nowhere in this world, his sword didn''t reach. Little did he knows of how right he is. However, even though for the first time in his life, he was stopped, there was no hatred. Momentary anger maybe, but there was no hatred. No obsession carved into his mind. For the cultivator of the Heaven Dao, everything is according to the will of the Heaven Dao. If he faces obstacles on his path of cultivation, than so be it. Nothing ever comes easy, and for the cultivator, they faces many trials and tests. Do they ask why the Heaven test them when it was them who strive for that enlightenment? If Yan Yu persists out of his reach for now, than so be it. If the heaven has plan for Yan Yu, then so be it. If this was supposed to be a trial for Zheng Jie, then so be it. That is why Zheng Jie truly wishes to attain enlightenment, to attain the Heaven Dao. He truly believes that there should be no evil in this world, he does not question why there are evil in the world, only that he would destroy it if he sees it. The Heavenly Saint, they call him. And right now, "Fairy Yijun: What are you? Stupid? There are no such thing as Devil in this world." "Fairy Yijun: You should listen to me because I''m stronger than you! What realm are you at?" He realizes that this "Fairy Yijun" on screen is harmless. She is a wonderful cultivator on the path of cultivation, it is just that she has too many conceits. Zheng Jie has no illusion about the truth of life. Every living human has conceit. Desires, craving, even the "self". Having a self means having conceit, being tangled up in the web of karma. In a world of human and human interaction, how could there not be karma between human? There are even karma between the heaven and earth. However, to walk the rightful path of cultivation, you eventually cast out those conceits. Only by cutting karma do you attain enlightenment. Zheng Jie has no illusion about the truth of cultivators. Not all can walk this path to the very end. Even so, it is fine, it is beautiful that they have strived for the path isn''t it? This Fairy Yijun is a wonderful cultivator. However, that is if she stays that way. She could not be allowed to be lead astray by the sweet whisper of the Devil path cultivators. The only end that await at the end of that path is endless suffering. Those people are especially entangled in a web of karma, a web of bad karma. The more they progress down the path, the worse they get. That is why devil path cultivators should be killed, for the world at large and for themselves. "Fairy Yijun: I''m at Cloud Forming Realm!" The fellow cultivator types again. Zheng Jie smiles, she would be a wonderful outer sect disciple. Zheng Jie humors her "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie: I''m at Sky Sea realm." But then he immediately frowns. "Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu: Darkness devouring the Heaven stage." How could Zheng Jie not realize the meaning behind that stage. Masters at Sky Sea realm are compared to the Sky Sea above, that is the heaven. Then, this Devil cultivation stage, "Darkness devouring the Heaven" seems to be the direct opposite of the Sky Sea realm. Judging by the other party also being able to utilize law at the start to counter Zheng Jie''s own, that means... If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The name has meaning, so this is the Devil cultivation''s answer to the Heaven path''s Sky Sea realm. But that means... The worst scenario has come true, there exist a Devil path cultivator that has progressed that far down the dark path. One again, Zheng Jie quietly utilizes his law. The last time, the Sect Master utilizes the link between the name on the screen to connect to the people on the screen. However, that did not seem to work. And so, this time... At that moment, at the Heavenly Sword Sect''s headquarter. "What is this?" "Is the Sect Master ascending?" The whole sect was in uproar. From the unassailable zone in the middle of their sect, a wave of Heaven Qi spreads out in all directions, engulfing everything within it. Some even tries to run, but their fellow disciples caught them. It was no secret that there are traitors in the sect, this is a good chance to roost them out. That cold wave of Heaven Qi... That is Zheng Jie''s divine sense. For a master at the peak of Sky Sea realm, they expand their soul out. It was the true meaning of becoming one with the heaven and earth, their soul expands out becoming just like the heaven and earth. Sky Sea, one with the heaven. Truly, it was truly one step beneath the Heaven Dao. But stepping into the Sect Master''s divine sense have a different meaning for the disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect. They don''t see themselves as worthy. Also, it was traditions. They were kinda afraid. 700 years ago. "You have a darkness weighing down your heart. It is nothing for now, but in the future, it will affect your cultivation." The chief disciple ended up being forced to cultivate next to the sect master for 10 years without seeing the outside world. 300 years ago, that chief disciple ended up walking down another path outside of cultivation, he was entangled in the web of love. He was unlikely to change his mind, even if the sect master kill him. So one day, he braves the absolute zone of the sect master''s abode. Without even needing to be informed of the matter "The years passing by, the sleeves fading into gray A sense of flower fading, the karma of husband and wife The Heaven Dao is cold, a person waiting is as beautiful as flower Falling into the karma of the world, schemes and plots are as sharp as weapons Life is easy. Love is hard." The moment he steps within those boundary, those was the words he heard. The sect master has known that it was impossible to change his mind. The moment he stepped within those boundary, the sect master had known. Without even seeing his master for one last time, the chief disciple''s cultivation was dissolved, his connection to the Heavenly Sword sect was also dissolved that day. He did not even see the sect master for one last time, the moment he walked down the path of love, their connection was cut. The chief disciple on his part was seemingly happy with the outcome. However, the other disciples was kinda scared. It is said that among the Heavenly Sword Sect, the best outcome when you enter the sect master''s divine sense is 10 years of personal advices. The worst is the dissolution of your entire cultivation base. Despite that, the sect master is the person they respect the most in the world. His ideals are strict, but they idolize them. When they cannot continue to walk the path of cultivation, they know it is their fault and no other. It is because of that clear divide of right and wrong that the Heavenly Sword sect is one of the strongest sect under the heaven. And so, when the heaven qi wave spreads out from the center, they were scared but were also prepared. It was also a good opportunity to roost out traitors. In the Nine Cloud Kingdom, a certain woman stares wide-eyed at the spreading wave. "T-this was not supposed to happen. Is this Zheng Jie''s power?" In a continent below, at that moment Fang Yijun feels a shiver from head to toes. Just where did this cold wave comes from? On the Eight Sanctum continent, in one moment, the barren continent was suddenly filled with Qi. After the celestial phenomenon in the sky due to Shao Jingyi''s ascension, now this strange incident, the whole continent is in uproar. Astronomers and fortune tellers call this a good omen, a bad omen and everything in between. One thing that can be sure is that the continent is never going to be the same again. This phenomenon continue to propagate, the continents below, the stars above. Everyone was given a fright. The next moment, Zheng Jie starts coughing, blood comes out of his eyes. "Not of heaven and earth. Not of heaven and earth." He mutters. Finally he manages to confirm it. 8. If being heartless is what it takes to be an immortal, I dont wish to be an immortal at all. "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie: Despicable devil. You live. For now." "Fairy Yijun: ??? What is this guy suddenly on about?" However, no matter how much Yan Yu prods into the Sect Master, there was only complete silence from Zheng Jie. As someone who was victim of one of the Heaven Path cultivator before, he knows how could it be that easy. The stronger the cultivator, the greater their will. When they have extend their great will on anything, they either achieve it, or fail and leave a mark on their cultivation forever. This Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, there is no way he is any lesser than a Sky River cultivator. And that means his will is tremendous. How could he let evil goes out of his sight? And yet, no matter how much he tries to get a rise out of him, there was only silence. For now, Yan Yu could have tried and prods into this Fairy Yijun on the screen, however after interacting with her, he found it is not worth it. From the start it is clear that she is nothing more than a frog inside a well, it is not worth it. Yan Yu has found her not amusing. Zheng Jie on the other hand... Right now he has one big reason to continue and associate himself with the guy. "System Notice: Mission: Escape from the Hell dimension Hints: Defeat the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie. Hints: Try and survive as long as possible." What does this mean? Yan Yu wants to find out. Being imprisoned within the Hell dimension was the greatest grudge in his entire life. However, now that he thinks about it, he does not remember why the resentment and hatred was engraved within his soul. The cause is forgotten, however something tell him... ''You ...must not forget.'' ''You ...must not forget-'' How could he sit still when this system is telling him his entire life goal is within his grasp? However, how could he fight this Zheng Jie when he is still stuck in the Hell dimension? This is a paradoxical clause. But the System did not give anymore hint, it was as silent as ever.
Through out my entire life I was a painter. When I was young, I saw an exquisite artist performed his art on the street. Not many even gave him a glance, but I was fascinated with the craftsmanship. It was like he puts his entire life upon the painting. Not many appreciate true art. And that is why what I wanted when I grew up was to be a honest artist. However, no matter how many paintings I had drawn, it does not satisfy me. Even though I became a renowned artist, my fame resonate within the entire continent, I could not complete "that" painting. The painting that is the culmination of my entire life. The painting that will satisfy me. And so I left the fame and fortune behind. Instead of the city, it was only mountain and rivers that stretch as far as the eyes can see. The goodwill of people runs out, no matter how famous one is, being too eccentric to not even draw a painting for 30 years is too much. I became poor, no people know about me. Even so, everyday I try to finish my last painting. On the paper, a woman not of this world was gradually formed. It was not based on any woman I have met, not of any beauty. How could human match the standard of beauty that I wanted? It was a beauty that was completely borned from my mind. The shape of her lip... the teary eyes... her jade like skin... No matter how long I try, I could not complete the painting. It took me 20 years to finish the eyes that I was satisfied with. I''m in my 80. The food inside the house has run out. I took the painting into the market, trying to dazzle people with my drawing skill for money. However, not even one person give me a glance. The beauty of my painting did not matter to the people who can only care about what they are going to eat tomorrow. A child runs over and gives the poor old man 5 coins. He does not have more to give, that was his allowance for candies. I remember myself when I was young and realize I have wasted 70 years of my life on an unfinished painting. Today suddenly a young man arrives at my house. Every step of his was filled with grace and elegance. He was like a character straight out of a painting, like the standard of beauty I have strived for my entire life. I asked why the young man has come to my lonely house. He pointed toward the painting, my heart skips a beat. "Is young master interested in this lowly painting? This is just any drawing you can find on the market, and it is not finished yet." However, the young man''s face was stilt as he looks at me. "Of course it is not finished. Creating a life is difficult, even for a cultivator on the highest realm." Cultivators?! Immortal? Shakily, I ask him "What business does immortal have with me?" "Not you, but this painting." He murmurs. A cold chilly wind was blowing at that moment. "It was your obsession that created this soul, this life. From the teardrop eyes, to the shape of her lips. It was your inability to let go that have strayed this soul into the wrong path of Devil cultivation." I did not know what he was saying at that moment, the visage of the young man was too bright for mortal eyes. "Desire, love, obsession, the more you fall, the more miserable you become. Even for this painting, it has good intention for the artist who created it. However, the more you continue on this path, the more miserable you will become, and even moreso for it, the moment you pass from this world, leaving it alone, the more it strays down the path of the Devil, the more miserable it will become in its remembrance and its love, becoming a great evil in the future." If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The immortal raises his sword, I could not move, even as my beloved painting was about to be torn to shred by cold blade. However, at that moment, the immortal stops. "Do you want to finish the painting?" He asks me. With the cheap brush made from duck feathers, and the ink made from soot and glue, not at all suitable for painting, I try one last time. However, even with such instruments, the painting still manage to progress. I have made more progress than I ever could in the last 10 years. Her flowing hair, her red dress... The red that is just like a bride''s wedding dress. I use my blood for the red, and the ink for the black. A red dot in the middle of her forehead... Just like that in no time, the painting was almost finished. Just one final touch... However, I could not finish it. I try to stall for time so that the immortal wouldn''t destroy the painting. However he took my hand, moving it to the paper. "Finish it." I shakily finish the beauty mark. At that moment, the painting was finished. A picture of a beautiful bride on her wedding day. "No matter how good your intentions are, Devil Path cultivator has bad karma. The desire, obsession... It will not just hurt you, but the people around you." The immortal finishes. At that moment, a woman steps out from the painting and bows down to him, her eyes was teary but on her lip, there was a smile. She bows respectfully and turns toward me. In her eyes, there was tears, but she was smiling at me. She was my entire life''s work. She was my dream. A woman in her wedding dress. She brought up her hand, suddenly surrounding us was decoration like a wedding. The immortal was just watching us, unmoving. The children in the neighborhood hearing the commotion, suddenly run around and shout "Old man Chun is getting married." "And the bride is a beauty." "An 80 years old man marrying a beauty!" I shakily bow and let the ceremony proceed. In my eyes, there was tears. At the end of the ceremony, the immortal raises his sword and cut down the bride. On her face, there was only gratefulness as she looks at me. The immortal also turns to look at me at moment. "Have the burden on your heart been lifted?" He was right. I have finished my painting, however immediately after there was only a great sorrow. "The burden on my heart has been lifted, however how could I be happy now." I told him. "It is to be expected." He told me. "Meeting and parting are part of every human''s karma. However, after you finish her painting, she was a complete soul, an actual living breathing being and not just a painting. It was a miracle even I cannot complete, be proud of that. Because you complete her painting, her complete soul could now enter the after life and enter the cycle of reincarnation instead of just dissipating into nothingness." I listen to his heart, and it seems another burden has been lifted. Entering the cycle of reincarnation, could I see her again? However at that moment there was still a lot of sorrow. The immortal looks at me. "You still continue to cling onto karma. But that is fine, that is human''s nature. Live good now." A cold wind blows, and the figure was not there anymore. I laugh, I cry, however, at that moment I feel my burdens have truly been lifted, but it leaves behind a lot of sorrow. I remember the immortal in my memory. If being heartless is what it takes to be an immortal, than perhaps in this life and the next, I don''t wish to be an immortal at all. The phenomenons continue throughout the 3000 worlds, and on that day, a legend was born. It was a legend about a young man who appears with the cold wave, holding a sword to slay all devils. Yan Yu was right about one thing, his karma with the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect is not quite done, however he was also wrong about one thing. Zheng Jie''s great will was not about slaying just Yan Yu, the sect master was a mad man whose Great Will is to destroy all Devils. The thought was that, only after he has become one with the Heaven Dao could it be completed, however at his stage, it was only one step from ascension. Zheng Jie was always going to do this before his final ascension no matter how much it will cost him, however what Yan Yu gave him was an excuse. The moment his Divine Sense cover the heaven and earth, he saw all devil cultivators on heaven and earth, even though that did not include the Devil cultivators trapped within the Hell dimension. How could Zheng Jie left them alone? "Zheng Jie is heartless." The Heavenly Queen who was hosting the Royal Banquet with her husband suddenly says while gritting her teeth, causing the party goers to exclaims in surprise. "There are really no cure for him anymore." She says. "Even going that far." At that moment, there was a knock on the door of the Heavenly Palace. At that moment Yan Yu jumps up in surprise at the flashing red screen that suddenly appears in front of him. "System Notice: Mission: Escape from the Hell dimension Hints: Defeat the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie. Hints: Try and survive as long as possible. Stop the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie." 9. Thats it for now "Eh? They are not talking anymore." Fang Yijun puts down the system interface. It was a good distraction, but now she has to deal with her own problem. Namely, the fact that her former husband and his lover is cowering in the corner of the room. "Kneel." She suddenly says, Cui Huang and his lover immediately obey, kneeling in front of Fang Yijun so that she would spare their life. Yijun regards the pair of lover. If Cui Huang actually wanted to save his life, perhaps he would have sold his lover out already, but now, they are both here kneeling together. It could be said to be some kind of true love. If that is so then... With a wave of her hand, Yijun gently pushes Xing Xiu, her husband''s lover away. "Not you." She says. Cui Huang was sweating bullets on the floor, however he still takes a moment to look back at his lover. Yijun slowly approaches his kneeling form. Her face is facing him, staring him in the eyes. One old, one young, the former husband and wife regard each other. Slowly Yijun kneels down to, facing her husband. "I remember the day of our wedding, we promise to love each other for one hundred years. Well I remember now, it was only one hundred years. A life of a cultivator is different than a normal human, it is already 300 years isn''t it?" Back then they were mortals, having a mortal wedding. However, once they become cultivator, things have changed. Cultivator lives far too long... far too long... Perhaps it is unreasonable to expect someone to love you forever. Perhaps our ancestors was right, human can only love each other for 100 years, all the other talk of love transcending three life time, crossing continents are rubbish. Even now, even if Cui Huang wanted her again, and if he didn''t have that affair with the younger cultivator, she doesn''t think she could love him again. There is now a vast gulf between their stations. She is ascending, he is staying. Even if they say they would love each other forever, it is not like it is possible anymore is it. "Bow." Suddenly she commands. Her husband quickly complies. However what surprise everyone was that Yijun, the supposed immortal in their eyes, who was wronged and seek revenge is also bowing. Suddenly Cui Huang has tears in his eyes, recognizing what is happening. "On our wedding day, we kowtow three time. One to the Heaven and Earth who was witness." Yijun bows again, causing Cui Huang to reluctantly follow suit. "One was to the ancestors because both your parents have already passed and I was born orphaned." Again, she bows for the third time, tears fall down Cui Huang''s aging face. There was also a streak of tear on Yijun''s face, but quickly she swallows it. The taste of her own bitterness and regret, it was not as bitter as she thought. "Then we kowtow to each other to pay our respect." Yijun bows again for the last time. Cui Huang looks at her, face full of regret. Yijun stands up and looks around the familiar place, the same sect that she and Cui Huang has cultivated into a great sect in this continent. "We have since paid each other back everything that was owed. From today forth, Fang Yijun and Cui Huang do not have anything to do with each other anymore." She is ascending, it is better to cut this red string now lest it plagues her heart. From now on, she has nothing to do with this continent anymore. "Wai-" A man''s voice calls out to her. Yijun did not look back. Flying slowly upward, she was like the great cloud in the sky, belonging to the heaven and not the earth anymore, even if she wanted to stay, she couldn''t. A calm green color cloud appears in the sky, signalling master Fang Yijun''s ascension. The matter of the world are so ephemeral... "Yes! I did it! That was such a cool speech that my legends will surely be passed down for generations to come." Yijun excitedly laughs. Though she doesn''t know exactly where she is though... She thought ascension was... ascension, becoming deity. But after flying through an indeterminable distance, seeing the world fading away beneath her feet, she ended up in the middle of nowhere. Surrounding her was white cloud, even with her sense, she couldn''t sense anything. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "Don''t tell me ascending just mean flying with the cloud. Where are the handsome immortals and delicious immortal banquet that extend your age for thousand of years?" Suddenly, out of nowhere, even though her sense didn''t pick up anything, a net come down from above, stopping her in place. Yijun tries to struggle, but the net tighten, making her feel likes all of her strength are gone. From the cloud, scary men in armor come out, as if they were waiting. And contrary to her expectation, they were not handsome either. "Halt! Who dare enter the Nine Cloud Kingdom on the emperor and empress''s joyous day?" ''Eh? Emperor, Empress?'' Is what was going through Yijun''s mind. Are they immortals? "Wait a minute brother Dai Qiu." Suddenly one of the man raises a placating hand speaking out for her. Great! Even in the world of immortal, great beauties are favored. Perhaps this man knows how to treat a flower delicately. However, the next moment, she regrets those words. The man in armor calmly walks over and cup her cheek with one hand. His gaze was filled with lust that almost causes Yijun to hurl with disgust. "It is one of the people from the lower world. Even if they wanted to, they don''t have the ability to even scratch brother Dai Qiu''s toe, let alone disrupt the banquet." The lustful man starts stroking Yijun in her bound state. She tries to fight, but no matter how much she wants to move, her body does not answer. The big man seems annoyed with the lustful man''s antic, but he does not say anything. "How about it beauty? Do you want to come with me, let brother Dong Yu here shows you how I treat a delicate flower. The moment I first laid eyes on you I was already in love. Just who are your parents to make such a beauty?" Yijun grits her teeth. She is already an old woman, how dare this man treats her like this. Perhaps it was better to ascend as an old woman. Suddenly in front of her, the system interface appears. "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie: Fairy Yijun, at Cloud Forming realm, you are about to ascend right?" Another system message suddenly appears at that moment. "System Notice: Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie was given a warning point. Note: Please respect the anonymity of other while using the Heavenly Dao Discussion. Reminder: For the safety and anonymity of the participants...." The familiar message about safety and anonymity appears at that moment. However... Yijun grits her teeth, she is currently occupied right now. The lustful man suddenly picks her up and carries her over his shoulder without any objections from his fellow guards. If this System wants to be useful, it should have chosen a better time. Suddenly, Zheng Jie types again on the screen. "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie: I''m busy with something right now so I can''t give advice, but you should join my Heavenly Sword Sect''s branch within the Nine Cloud Kingdom. I believe you are a wonderful cultivator, to reinforce that foundation, you should join the Heavenly Sword Sect. Especially since you have interacted with that devil Yan Yu and all, it''s time to reinforce your own cultivation and mind through the Heavenly Sword Sect''s empty blade technique to starve off Devil cultivation''s influence. The Heavenly Sword Sect''s branch should be opened in every city within the Nine Cloud continent, you can advance through the branch and enter the main sect. When that happens I may be able to give you pointers. That''s it for now. I have business to take care off. It should be quick." Yijun stares uncomprehendingly at the screen like Zheng Jie is speaking in a completely different languages. Suddenly another System Notice appears. "System Notice: Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie was given a warning point. Note: Please respect the anonymity of other while using the Heavenly Dao Discussion. Reminder: For the safety and anonymity of the participants.... Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie was given a warning point. Note: Please don''t advertise your own sect on the System''s space. System Notice: Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie was banned for three days." 10. That bastard Zheng Jie "System Notice: Celestial Statue was added to the Heavenly Dao Discussion" "Stone Statue: ..." "System Notice: Could you please not change your name without accessing the System interface first?" The small exchange went unnoticed to all the other host of the Heavenly Dao Discussion. ... In her helpless state, Yijun tries to yell out. "Hey I belong to the Heavenly Sword Sect, sect master Zheng Jie himself invited me." Even though she doesn''t know who Zheng Jie is. It was just a dart in the dark, hoping for something to come of this. On his part, her captor pauses on the first part, but then he chuckles on the second. "Zheng Jie, Zheng Jie? Who the hell is Zheng Jie? Little beauty, if you lie, at least learn something before lying. The sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect is Ren Cheng, not this Zheng Jie you spoke off." Dong Yu counts his lucky star, he was actually hesitating at first, but then it turns out the little beauty was just bluffing. All the better, that old bastard Ren is infamously cruel and tyrannical. If he really has touched something that belong to him, even if he has nine lives, it wouldn''t even be enough. Yijun stares back at the scene and the message that bastard Zheng Jie sent to her. Damn, it seems the Heavenly Sword Sect actually exists, but that bastard was lying about being a big shot causing her to make a blunder. She already figures it out, that bastard Zheng Jie who acted all high and mighty must be some disciple in the Heavenly Sword Sect, he talks a big game because no one in the Heavenly Dao Discussion was going to check on him. Fang Yijun swears that if she gets out of this in one piece, she will seek that bastard out and give him a piece of her mind. But currently she still needs to figure out how to escape. She already surmises that the bastard Dong Yu who is currently carrying her is above her in cultivation... It is a strange feeling. Moment ago she was the top of her realm, her name resonates through out the entire continent, and yet the moment she ascended, she was caught by someone stronger than her. This must be what it means to have happiness turns into sadness overnight. However, everyone has to start from somewhere, no one was born already a mighty cultivator. In Yijun''s case, she and her husband was rogue cultivator, abandoning their whole fortune to seek out the way of immortality. It was only until they were 30 was there any result. And even then, stepping into the world of cultivation, they realized they are out of their league. Family with history in cultivation already prepared their children since they were a child for the world of cultivation. Mighty sects have history going back as far as 4000 years ago. What do she and her husband have that they did not? It was thankful that they stick to each other from the start, being a pair of cultivators who look out for each other. Until that husband of her abandon her for a younger woman anyway. What she learned from those day of being rogue cultivator is that there is always someone stronger, more domineering. How could she forget that feeling of weakness? It could be said that being a rogue cultivator was both a curse and blessing for Fang Yijun. A curse for causing her to have a later start than other cultivators. A blessing for toughening her up for the cruel world of cultivation. Even in this situation, she knows one thing. The strong is not always the strong, it is the winner who is the strong. She already surmises her situation, she only need the bastard to lower his guard, then she would escape to look for the Heavenly Sword Sect. Even though Zheng Jie may not be the actual Sect Master, he has guided her to the right place basing on how Dong Yu knows that sect. There was hesitation in the bastard''s step when he heard of that, she is sure of it. So what if that Zheng Jie is not the Sect Master, even if he is a disciple, he could still provide protection for her. ...that is if he is even a disciple. For all she knows, he may just be a sweeper in the sect borrowing the tiger''s courage to declare himself mighty on the Heavenly Dao Discussion. No, no. He has to at least be a disciple. Yijun tries to reassure herself. Looking in the hazy distance, Yijun starts seeing a mountain appearing on the horizon. "Huh, where did that mountain come from?" Dong Yu mutters. Yijun keeps looking at the mountain and at her bound state. Inside the Heaven Net, she could not utilize any of her technique, let alone Dong Yu being stronger than her, even if he is not stronger than her, he could still subdue her in this state alone. However, every cultivator has at least one trick up their sleeve. And currently there is one technique she could use in the right condition. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. "Don''t tell me I stumble upon someone''s formation." Dong Yu mutters, all his senses tense. He definitely remember that that mountain was not there earlier. Something strange like this has to be reported back to the higher up. Taking that opportunity, Yijun says "Brother Dong Yu, seeing the strange occurrence right now, why don''t you put me down and check it out. I''m caught in your almighty net already, no matter how I struggle I can''t get out. You can just put me down and check it out first, I will just be a burden on you if you check it out with me on your arms." Dong Yu chuckles, thinking he has seen through the beauty''s wicked wiles. He continues to hold her on his arm while moving forward. "Even your brother here can''t escape, let alone you. No worry, no worry, this is just some cheap formation, how could I abandon my beauty?" Dong Yu continue to take his step. Suddenly Yijun speaks up again. "Brother Dong Yu, don''t you think it is better to let me down?" Dong Yu pauses, stumble a few steps before looking back at Yijun and smiles. "Of course, how could I abandon you, beauty?" Dong Yu takes another 10 steps to look at the strange mountain that has appeared. Suddenly, he stumbles again before looking down on his arm. "Brother Dong Yu, perhaps I''m too heavy?" Yijun says. "No worry, no worry. How could your dainty little body be heavy? Come on let me carry you on my back." So saying, Dong Yu starts carrying Yijun on his back. Taking another 7 steps, deep inside the mountain, suddenly Dong Yu stops completely. He looks back on the figure on his back, who has a wicked smile of triumph. "What has you done?" He screams, his whole body buckles down. Impossible, let alone the suppression that come from the differences in realm, Fang Yijun was a recently ascended, how could she have any profound technique to escape the heaven net? Even he could not escape the heaven net. However, at this moment, Fang Yijun did not escape from the net. She is still inside the net. However, the effect is still the same. Dong Yu''s body is being crushed down by the weight of the earth. Currently Dong Yu is screaming at a stone statue. A stone statue with an undetermined weight. There was only one technique that Yijun could use at that moment, a technique that she didn''t fully understand. The Earth Reborned technique. If Dong Yu has heard that, he would surely has laughed at her. It was a technique from a lower continent, surely that mean it was not as profound as the techniques that could be found on this continent. However, it was exactly with that technique that Yijun restores her youth and break through to the Cloud Forming Realm, even if it was trash, it was among the upper class trash. More importantly, Yijun has done a lot of research. It was said that the previous master of the Earth Reborned Technique has ascended. Like a junior stepping on the path of the forebear, Yijun has a lot of respect for the previous master of the Earth Reborned Technique. Seeing that there was another world above, she believes that that senior must be a terrifying master on the path of the Dao and wish to seek him out when the time come. And because of that- "How could the technique of my senior be weak!" She yells at Dong Yu. The man currently being crushed by a terrifying weight shifts his balance, he tries to get Yijun off his back, but it was not possible. This mountain was where the Earth element is at its strongest, once upon a time it would have been the ideal place for Yijun to cultivate. But now, she just absorb the earth energy from the earth to increase her weight. At this moment, it was like Dong Yu was carrying the whole mountain. However, no plan survive contact with the enemy. Seeing at the persistence at which Yijun clings to him, Dong Yu turns his fist on himself. With a mighty blow, he punches his own chest, the force passes straight through his body, pushing at Yijun, knocking her off. Even if it was a strange technique, turning into a stone statue as heavy as a mountain, comparing their cultivation, Dong Yu was clearly the superior. Now that he has turned it into a battle that does not favor Yijun, it could only mean deat- The statue, upon touching the earth, starts to be submerged into the earth, leaving the heaven net behind. Yijun runs like hell, trying to find whatever his name is in the Heavenly Sword Sect for protection, silently thanking the random chance that let her utilize her technique. At that moment, there was a System message that she did not notice. It was from Celestial Statue. "Stone Chakravatin: ..." 11. Shi Xiangs contemplation Shi Xiang went about his business at his own pace. After the matter of Shao Jingyi''s ascension and the strange wave of cold Qi permitting the continent, Liu Xun and Hu De''s marriage was postponed for now. The major sects and houses are more busy with cultivation then worrying about marriage at this moment. Who know when an opportunity like this is going to happen again? It seems that some ancient ancestor of the Hu house is also nearing ascension. Normally these matter would sound like firework in his ear, his love, Liu Xun''s marriage was postponed. His master has ascended and after dealing with his her own business, promise to settle his grievance for him. Even the fellow Daoist who was friend with Shao Jingyi on this continent told Shi Xiang to use this opportunity and reconnect with Liu Xun or at least slap the face of house Hu. His master has already ascended, what is he afraid of? He could settle his grievances right now, who dare stop him? And not just that, currently Shi Xiang''s body is strange. He felt like even if the ancestor of house Hu was to come, it was going to be fine. There is a strange limitless energy running through him. It is as easy as breathing because it was his breathing. He doesn''t feel like he needs to take any pill because his breathing was enough. Normally cultivators don''t need to eat much, but they still at least need some sustenance, however for Shi Xiang currently he feels like he doesn''t need to. The only thing he needs is breathing. "Old sages huh?" Legend says that the legendary heaven ascended hermit of old who started cultivation live in a different environment then we did today. They secluded themselves in cave far from human civilization, bathing in cold water under a waterfall, sleeping on the ground in a cold rain. They do not eat food, because the food of human are too dirty for them, the only thing they need are "air". Slowly, their mind become enlightened under such environment, and they ascended, leaving behind a lasting legacy for the continent. However, current sects believe those methods to be impossible, and legend was just legend. Of course, since the cultivation system of the Eight Sanctum continent based itself on the superiority of Martial Dao, how could they accept the enlightenment that only scholar would talk about? It is a different state of mind, knowing everything, the man ascended. Experiencing the pain and joy of the world, man finally hear the words of heaven and ascend. It is a different aspect of cultivation, the cultivation of the Mind, of the Soul. That was what those ancient seniors practice in, sadly those arts have been lost to the Eight Sanctum continent. In Shi Xiang''s case however, the words that he heard was probably better than that of his ancient ancestors. He receives guidance from the sect master just one step beneath the heaven and the devil path ancestor who is also just one step from devouring the heaven after all. From that day, his mindset has changed. He uses to be very upset about the matter of his love life, however after reborning into his own body, his mindset has changed. It feels like a distant fragrant cup of tea, his love story between him and Liu Xun. Bitter enough to remember for a lifetime, but looking back, it was a nice experience. Human life is as small as grass in the wind, love is like the morning dew that drop from a leaf, this small cup of tea was bitter, but it is a learning experience. Human life is short, why don''t we enjoy it when we can, instead we continue to venture deep into the misery of karma? On this part, if Yan Yu was here, he would be coughing out blood. Even though it seems he has won in the first exchange, Shi Xiang is affected a lot by the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect. However... "Fairy Yijun: Help me Zheng Jie you bastard!" Instantly Shi Xiang turns away from the cup of tea he was drinking to look at the system notice with excitement in his eyes. If he was an enlightened such as the Heavenly Saint, he would have never gotten that excited about his karma with another human. There are some karma that he could, with much hardship, cut away from, and yet there are some karma that he treasures, like the connection with the seniors from the Heavenly Dao discussion system. It is not just that they have helped him unimaginably, it is also because he is genuinely happy when talking to another senior using the system. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. On that part, Shi Xiang is not quite Zheng Jie yet. Not quite Zheng Jie, not quite Yan Yu, Shi Xiang has created his own path. It is like the System has said, thanked to Zheng Jie and Yan Yu, Shi Xiang has achieved a balance education. He wonders what the other senior is on about now. For the last few days, he has been kicking back in his home, rebuilding it despite the Hu family influence. He has been drinking tea for the last couple of day, not awaiting for anything to come. So what if the Hu family tries to make troubles with him again? What is to come, is to come. If they seek death, then so be it. However he almost spitted out his tea when he read what senior Fairy Yijun has just written. Senior Zheng Jie? Bastard? Why did this new senior suddenly insult senior Zheng Jie like that? "Shi Xiang: Senior, I believe what grudges you have with Sect Master Zheng Jie is a misunderstanding. He is an upstanding man who is so close to the Dao that I can''t even imagine. Whatever bastardy deed you imagine he did probably did not happen." On this part, perhaps due to Zheng Jie and Yan Yu being the one who set out to recreate Shi Xiang as he is today, Shi Xiang may have an idolization problem for the Sect Master and the Devil Path Ancestor. "Whatever bastardy deed you imagine he did probably did not happen?" Fang Yijun who was hiding under ground using her secret art was already angry... and frightened. But now, reading that message from this person named Shi Xiang causes her to become even angrier. "Fairy Yijun: Sect Master? That damn guy is a fraud! Nobody has heard of him, he left me in a difficult spot like this." In truth, Yijun knows bitterly deep inside that it was not Zheng Jie''s fault, it was her own weakness. But she is still angry nonetheless. A fraud? At that moment Shi Xiang who reads that message also gets heated. How could she insult his idol like that? He was about to type something, but then retreats his hand. "Shi Xiang: I''m sorry to hear that, but I don''t think the Sect Master has been talking for a while now so I don''t think he can hear you. From the last few message, it seems he was busy with something, so I don''t think he could help either." Thinking about it, Shi Xiang found it strange that both the seniors, Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie and Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu has been strangely quiet for a while now. Suddenly at that moment, a System Notice appears on both Shi Xiang and Fang Yijun''s screen. It was a System Mission with the following. "Mission: Witness Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie and Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu fight to improve your own cultivation. Description: Due to their irreconcilable difference, Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie and Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu has decided to settle all their grievances within the system space. History is written only by the winner, however even the loser can learn something from their defeat. With the new PVP system, all participants can finally help each other improve on the path of the Dao. " Shi Xiang almost chokes on his spit the moment he saw the system notice. Yijun on the other hand raises her hand as if cheering Yan Yu on. "Yeah! I want to see that bastard Zheng Jie gets beaten up! Bring it on!" She did not know what she signs herself up for. 12. Chaos in the Royal Court The whole Heavenly Court was quiet when he walks in. More damaged than he ever was, the Heavenly Saint regalness still silent everyone''s question. There was dried blood on his clothes, his own blood, the Heavenly Saint still walks without fear into the Royal Banquet. "Master?!" Lang Li asks in surprise ...This fellow. Just what was he doing?! With that beautiful hand, he sheathes his sword, handing it to the heaven guard, giving the Zhang Emperor some face. Even if they know the Heavenly Saint overshadow the Emperor, especially with the Heavenly Emperor''s strange illness within the recent years, they don''t dare to announce it out loud, after all even Zheng Jie himself gives the Heavenly Emperor some face, who are they, greater then the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect? The old cultivator, whose hair is gray stands up in joy. This fellow, Zheng Jie, even if you invite him, he wouldn''t even come, let alone giving you face in front of every Daoist present. The Heavenly Emperor who was once a cultivator on par with the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect is now only a shadow of his former self. He has aged considerably. And while Zheng Jie advances, he has stagnated. The old Emperor of the Nine Cloud Kingdom was thinking that if that old fellow of his was to come out of that lonely abode of his, he would have told him to his face that it must be because of his over-indulgence and that he should absolve his cultivation and come train in the Sword Saint Abode again, never minding that they are equal. The Heavenly Emperor glances at Zheng Jie''s disciple, a plain girl with no talents to speak of, fitting of someone Zheng Jie would choose. However even if she has no talents, even staying within the divine sense of the Sword Saint should have provided untold benefit, even someone with no talents whatsoever, a mortal, would have made progress by leap and bound by now. And yet even now, she did not improve at all. Some laughs at the talentless disciple of the Heavenly Sword Saint, but the Heavenly Emperor could only laugh at them. Would they laugh at the Heavenly Saint too, who was once exactly the same? This fellow is extremely strange, but the single-mindedness of that method of his can only be admired. ...However, it seems that he did not even tell the poor girl. For a while now, the disciple of the Heavenly Sword Saint did not have the composure of the sole disciple of the Saint at all. She is doubting herself for failing to increase her cultivation for so many years. ...This fellow is indeed strange, sometime the Heavenly Emperor wonders if being too enlightened is a curse. After all, if he was as enlightened as Zheng Jie, he wouldn''t be married to a wonderful woman right now. Thinking about what they are going to do later...The Emperor of the Nine Cloud Kingdom could only lick his lips. "The Heavenly Saint, the Heavenly Saint! Just what fortuitous wind has brought you here today? It seems you have a breakthrough again. Congratulation, Congratulation!" The Heavenly Emperor did not mention the blood on his clothes, since the Heavenly Saint has given him face, it''s time to repay the favor in kind. After all, anyone who pick a fight with Zheng Jie wouldn''t have a happy end anyway. Zheng Jie raises his hand "It''s nothing. Nothing. I just went through with business that I have decided a long time ago. And with that I gain enlightenment." "And what business is that?" Suddenly, the Heavenly Queen utters at that moment, her beautiful voice rings through the entire court, shaking even the most powerful cultivator to their core. A veil draped down on the floor, covering the figure of the Heavenly Queen that can only excite curiosity within any male cultivators in the same room as her. There are 10,000 cultivators within the room, all are considered the most respected masters of the entire cultivation world, all are shaken with curiosity and excitement for the beauty of the Heavenly Queen. From the way she moves, for her trillions of men would fight to the death. For her beautiful ringing voice, 10,000 masters are shaken. She moves one of her finger, 10,000 pair of eyes follow those movement, even the palace guards was enchanted seeing her skin for the first time. It is like a lock whose key was hidden, behind it hides the ultimate taboo. Would it hurts, just for a little bit to break the taboo? It was the thought on the mind of every cultivators within the room. The deadly excitement, even just for one moment would be enough. That moment would be forever recorded within their mind for the rest of eternity. The world cannot understand, the indescribable hunger at that moment. Why does beauty exist within this world? To cause men to fall into sorrow? At that moment, the Heavenly Queen uses her one finger to lift her veil, regarding her husband and the rarely appear in public Heavenly Saint. It was a sight only for the two of them, even master who can see hundreds of million kilometers away could not discern that unforgettable face no matter how hard they try. And they try. At least within acceptable parameters that wouldn''t get them hunted down by the Heavenly Emperor and the Heaven army. The Heavenly Emperor did not feel any jealousy within his heart at that moment however, because after all... This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The other person who saw the Heavenly Queen''s visage is unfazed. The Heavenly Saint stands alone under heaven, like a straight rod, never bending. "The Devil Cultivators within heaven and earth. They are gone." Zheng Jie smiles serenely. Confusion, then murmured whispers. They all know Zheng Jie''s disdain for the Devil art, however how many Devil cultivators are there in this world? Devil cultivators nothing, just how many participle continents are there? Within the Nine Cloud Kingdom, there are nine continents layered upon each other. Below the Nine Cloud Kingdom are the endless participle continents, within moment, countless more continents would appear. That is why the Heavenly Emperor is revered through out the world, he unified the Nine Upper continent, interfering with the lower continents, something that has never been done before. Of course there would be stray cultivator who could not survive within the upper continent and fled to a lower continent being a big fish within a small pond, but an establish power house reaching down to nine continents below is unheard of. He unified all nine continents, forming one singular government. From now on, cultivators wouldn''t wander meanderingly after ascending anymore, they now all one singular familiar structure to familiarize themselves. The Heavenly Saint appreciates the great will of the Heavenly Emperor. From now on, there is system to unify the cultivator from even the lower realm, even providing basic education for them so that they do not make simple pit fall is possible. And that is why the branch sect of the Heavenly Sword Sect was created within the various location in the Nine Cloud Kingdom with the cooperation of the Heavenly Emperor. All to create a future for their junior. On this part, outside of the Heavenly Emperor and the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, nobody understand. However, the issue still remain, there are countless participle continents below the Nine Cloud Kingdom, and on each continents, who know how many Devil Cultivators are born at any given moment? Exterminating the Devil Path is therefor impossible. It is a great task that is almost akin to reaching the Heavenly Dao. However it was the Heavenly Saint who says those words, who dare refutes it? Even still it is impossible. Just how did he- There was a cost. The blood on his robe is the proof. It is Zheng Jie''s own blood. "Enlightenment, isn''t it more a Great Evil? There are countless untold lives who walk the Devil Path, all have their reasons, even those who only start walking down the path. Would you call them unsavable? Trillions upon trillions upon trillions-" "Dear-" The Heavenly Emperor tries to defuse the dangerous situation between his wife and the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect. It could get really out of hand. "Those who stray down too far cannot be saved anymore, those who can be however, I absolve their cultivation." He didn''t refute it! The masters in the room stare nervously at Zheng Jie. Exterminating all Devil Path Cultivator within the Heaven and Earth is one thing, an impossible task akin to reaching the Heavenly Dao, exterminating those who can''t be saved, and absolve the cultivation of those who can be however, that speak of control that is equally more impossible. Just what is this fellow? Zheng Jie has attained enlightenment. His great will within this life is to slay all Devils. In all of Heaven and Earth, the task is completed. However there is a place that is impossibly far out of his reach. Yan Yu. He has determined that the Devil Path Ancestor is not of Heaven and Earth. Does there exist a place where Devil Cultivators roam freely? If such a place exist, with such master on the Devil Path, it must surely be someplace akin to hell. They must not be allowed to exist, all of them. The one who could be saved will have their cultivation absolve, those who could not be will die. That is the Heavenly Saint''s Great Will. No matter how much Karma backlash will be caused, the deed has to be done. Devil Path cultivators are not allowed to exist. The once joyful Royal Banquet was now impossibly cold. Everyone was given a fright. Even the Heavenly Emperor, with all his wisdom could no discern Zheng Jie, just how close is this fellow to the Heavenly Dao? However, reading the situation, he realizes something is wrong. "And why are you here?..." The Heavenly Emperor asks slowly, giving him face at the start... is this fellow going to- "On my quest, short as it is, I have discern that there is a place where Devils are safe. Perhaps the jade wall of the Heavenly Palace is too high that it hides even Devils." "You-" With indignation and rage, the Heavenly Emperor was about to act, however in the next moment, he becomes extremely wary. There is a small almost imperceptible change on the Sword Saint''s face, a strange emotion appears on that ever unchanging face of the Heavenly Saint, of his old companion. Nobody except Zheng Jie notices this but... It was a System Notice "Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu has challenged you to a 1v1 battle. Accept? Yes/No" 13. Hell Suddenly the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie turns toward his only inheriting disciple and hands her his sword. "If I don''t return, starting now you are going to be the new Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect." Zheng Jie was supposed to choose another male disciple first before choosing the next sect master, but this arrangement is fine. Hearing the Sect Master''s serious voice, his sole inheriting disciple could only response- "Eh?!" Zheng Jie prepares himself for a life or death battle. Even though he doesn''t know the other party''s capabilities, he knows that Yan Yu must be strong. Little did he know however, that what he is going to attend is not a life or death battle. It''s a PvP battle. Even so, the words and actions today has caused a lot of misunderstanding within the Nine Cloud Kingdom''s royal court. Suddenly he turns toward his old fellow cultivator. "I''m sorry Zhang, I''m not here to pick a fight, however-" The sect master whispers something that only the Heavenly Emperor could hear. It is not known what he has said, but the color on the face of the Zhang''s patriarch change. "You- That is-" "Anyway, take care of Lang Li for me if I don''t return alright?" Again, the words and actions of the sect master cause a lot of misunderstanding to everyone in the court. "Wai-" The voice that calls out was of the Heavenly Queen, however at that moment, Zheng Jie didn''t even give her the time of day and press "Yes" on the system interface. Again, the sect master completely disappear from view, even the other grand master could not discern the method. They only realize that the Heavenly Saint has disappeared from this world. This action also causes a lot of misunderstanding. "Devil cultivators?" The people in the court murmurs. Lang Li holds the sword she was entrusted with close to her heart. However, she has one question. If her master is going out to fight, why did he leave his weapon behind!
"Slaying this devil, I don''t even need my sword!" Zheng Jie murmurs after stepping out into the PvP world. Even after all his years as the peak master of the world, he has never experienced something like that. In one moment, he lost all his senses, in the next he regains them back and the world come into view. He is sure that it isn''t any transportation technique either, the law of the world seems... different to his sense. It is like being transported to a different world, under a different Heaven. Zheng Jie doesn''t know how he should feel about that, the feeling that there is a higher force being master of his destiny. Suddenly in front of him, the words appear "Welcome to the System Space''s PvP zone. Due to the nature of the combatant, "Hyper-realistic Expert mode" was chosen. The winner will be determined after 300 rounds." "Hyper-realistic Expert mode?" Zheng Jie murmurs. Suddenly he widens his eyes, he did not exit the Heavenly Palace at all. The sight in front of him is the Heavenly Palace itself, the place he just left, except there is no other human. The Sect Master starts doing some divination to realize the nature of this world. In less than a million of a second, he realized the words that was written as clear as day into the laws of this world. "Mirror World" However, if it the same as the real world than- "Die you bastard." Coming out of nowhere, even beyond the sect master''s expectation, a blackened claw deal grievous wound to his body, only now did he feel the horrifying pressure of the Devil Path Ancestor. He did not realize Yan Yu''s presence at all. But now, in his presence, the jade wall of Heavenly Palace blackened before shattering completely. If there was any other cultivators presence, they would have choke on the unnatural miasma in the air, formed by devil cultivator''s specialized technique to cultivate in Hell. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. It is unnatural, because it goes completely against the heavenly law. So what if the heaven has forsaken me? So what if there isn''t any atmospheric Qi for me to cultivate? So what if there aren''t resources left for me? These are the problem Devil Cultivators face daily. And Yan Yu, who couldn''t accept such eventuality has devised something completely different to the heaven Qi for the future generation of devil cultivator to use. So what if the heaven has forsaken me? I will defy the heaven''s law. So what if there isn''t any atmospheric Qi for me to cultivate? I will create my own Qi. So what if there aren''t any resources left for me? Myself is the most profound resources in all of the heaven and earth. As long as "I" have "myself", no matter how much the heaven has forsaken me, I could still stand on my own two feet. This was the method devised by the devil path ancestor of old, in order to counter the complete absent of Qi within the Hell they have found themselves, they have turned their body into something that was- "Abominable!" The sect master grits out his teeth and immediately, Yan Yu retreated. The sense of danger formed by thousands of years of conflict prepared him for this day. In the first place, Zheng Jie was careless. He has expected a fight while Yan Yu has prepared for an execution. In his mind, no Heaven path cultivator can compare to a Devil path cultivator. Born in hardship, disdained by the heaven, shunned to the Hell dimension when the Heaven and Earth could not contain them anymore. That is what the existence of Devil path cultivator truly is. Even compared to a Heaven Path cultivator, their tribulation is worse, even if it is born from their own karma. Everything they achieve in life, they fought for it. When they cultivate they have to hide from heaven path cultivator, when they cultivate in Hell, they have to be wary of other Devil Path cultivator. It is said that because of those reasons, every Devil Path cultivator is good at hiding. It is not that they are coward, it is that they have to live to spite the face of the world who ordain their trial and tribulation. Especially against Heaven Path cultivator whose most famous technique is their divine sense, ancient devil like Yan Yu still remember the horrible battle fought back in the old day when it was not arranged that Devil Cultivators stay in hell while Heaven path cultivators get to reap all the benefit, as if they are blessed by the heaven themselves. Even if it was a long time ago, Yan Yu still remembers that bitterness. And how could he forgets such technique when he has ordained that one day he will escape from that horrible Hell dimension to face the Heaven path cultivator again? It says something about the nature of the Hell dimension''s inhabitants that conflicts are a daily matter. Everyday, you are expected to fight for your life against worse Devil Cultivator who has come to take your body for their cultivation resource. Even before this battle, Yan Yu was thinking about cultivating using the body of another devil in the Hell dimension, Old Devil. Because the nature of the technique devise for the inhabitants of the Hell dimension, their body and soul is the most precious resources, and that is why they are expected to fight to the death everyday. The flame of war and all the blood that was spilled was only for one reason, body cultivation resource. It was a horrible place, it was the true hell to punish the cultivator who stray down the devil path. However, for Yan Yu, it is home. Only in that hellish place could he tempers an army to take back the world the moment he broke out of Hell. Compare that to the Heaven cultivator who was blessed by the Heaven itself, how could they compare? However, the moment Yan Yu finishes that thought, he has been struck down. Even though on the sect master''s hand, there was no sword, at that moment, Yan Yu''s heart was cut and slice open. Even in a grievously wounded state, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect has "killed" the Devil Path Ancestor 14. Zheng Jie is extremely vigorous for unknown reason "Hmm. Child''s play. Wouldn''t my grandfather agree that we should speed this up." The sect master told the cold looking corpse. After a long while, a voice finally speaks up "The enlightened sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect sure hold a grudge." Then come the exchange. The two come at each other hard and fast, with Zheng Jie holding an advantage, even though he was the first to be hit, the sect master manages to even the score by dealing a killing blow on the devil path ancestor. However, even if he says it is a killing blow, would anyone believe him? Yan Yu is still going strong and fast, wheezing out just barely from Zheng Jie attack. From the moment he receives those wounds, Yan Yu has already realized. The Sect Master''s "sword" is not a sword, his attack is not an attack either. However, at this moment, he still cannot figure out just how the sect master is doing this. After three thousand exchanges faster than any peak master who was previously inside the Royal Court could see, their attacks tore apart the whole Heavenly Court. The giant jade wall, 10,000 km high collapse from the intensity of the Qi in the air. Stray objects disappear within their range. Even though Yan Yu could not see how Zheng Jie is doing it, he has started to see the pattern. Zheng Jie is extremely straightforward, and even though he has stopped using a physical weapon, and even though he is already formless, attacks always come from expected places. With his viciousness, the devil ancestor manages to evade and even counter some of the attack, but in the end, it is just too relentless. Even with all of his experiences, he cannot see a way to win as he is. So even though they were "exchanging", Yan Yu was already- "-Wait. Come out Yan Yu. The heaven has blessed me today, you can''t escape!" Even though they were in the middle of fighting, using one of his life saving technique, Yan Yu manages to physically escape in the middle of the fight. And even though the sect master was on high alert, he could not detect the movement of the devil ancestor until the last second. Live for another day, if I could not defeat you, I would just cultivate some more before returning. That was what was on Yan Yu''s mind. In the first place, even though Zheng Jie is winning in the exchange, the one who has an advantage is Yan Yu. Out of the two of them, only one person has been living in a Qi-less dimension for more than ten thousand years, Yan Yu realizes that truly, if he considers age, Zheng Jie would not even be a blink in his eyes. Truly if fate will it, perhaps the techniques the Sect Master is currently using come from Yan Yu somehow, or that the sect master is related to him somehow. Both of them feels it, Zheng Jie and Yan Yu has a very strong karma connecting them. When Zheng Jie refers to Yan Yu''s "grandfather" insult, it refers to that time Yan Yu has randomly insulted the sect master by insinuating that Zheng Jie come from him. However there is a truth in that, nothing is by chance, and when Yan Yu thinks about it, that insult was not by chance either. Something is telling him that Zheng Jie did somehow "come from" Yan Yu. Their karma dictated it so. And both the masters could feel it after the exchange. Their fate is related. ...And that is why the sect master is even more vigorous in trying to root out the devil ancestor. But that is all in the past now, Yan Yu is about to achieve a great result after escaping. Definitely, after this, even if Zheng Jie tries to fight, he wouldn''t be able to. For the last ten thousand years, Yan Yu has been living in the Hell dimension, a harsh place, without any Qi or resource. He has to resort to using his own body as cultivation resource in that harsh place. However, even if he didn''t escape, even if this is just a temporary world, the system created, it is the perfect place for his new physique. The special cultivation technique that he has been practiced take to the normal world like fish to water. It is like for the first time in ten thousand of years, a dried sponge is thrown into the ocean. It drank all of it. And not just that, just taking in Qi like some normal cultivation technique is too normal, how could the special technique to let Devil Cultivator survive hell be that normal? No, in the first place, when that technique was created, a profound law extremely fitting of the devil cultivator''s philosophy was incorporated. The law of Self It was- The devil ancestor fends off an attack in his hiding spot. "He found me? Very well, let see if he could pursue me faster than I could complete my great feat." The devil ancestor slips away from the heavenly saint''s gaze, and no matter how much Zheng Jie''s tries, the mysteriousness of that technique of Yan Yu still befuddle him. Zheng Jie could see all the heaven and earth, however he dare not use that technique right now, and yet his normal range should still cover most of this continent, Yan Yu still escapes. It makes Zheng Jie wonders if other Devil Cultivators could have similar devious technique to survive Zheng Jie''s previous purge. However, it did not continue for long, because immediately after, he found Yan Yu again. The exchange last for moment, all over the continent, no matter how much Yan Yu tries to hide, Zheng Jie would still find him after. The devastation of the grandest continent under the heaven was only alleviate by the fact that it was just a mirror world. Even so, countless profound location, Sect''s ground, strange landscape and cities was destroyed within those moments. Even thousands of years of tradition and reinforcement couldn''t stop the attack of the sect master from destroying even the most famous locations of the cultivation world. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. And not just the sect master attack either. Zheng Jie immediately dodges a mysterious meteoric blade being telekinectically thrown at him from the remain of the Devil Slaying Sect. This sword, it has to be said that it is an extremely mysterious sword, the sole remaining survivor from a bygone era when devil and heaven cultivator wage all out war. It is the heirloom of the entire sect, even Zheng Jie has to show some respect after seeing the weapon. Its power has to be said to be the anathema to a devil cultivator, it has gained its power over time from the blood of the devil cultivator it has slain. And yet, in moment, the devil ancestor was able to corrupt the sword''s devil slaying Qi and use it for his own purpose. "Where is he attacking from? I''m sure he is out of my range, but how could his range be greater than me?" It has to be said that in a battle between Devil cultivator and Heaven path cultivator, the heaven path cultivator would have the advantage in range of detection with their divine sense, and yet- "From this map, it seems Zheng Jie has emerged unscathed from that sword''s attack. Useless thing, wasting my Qi, but still, that is fine, there are many surprises left for the dignified sect master in this continent." Incorporated into Yan Yu''s sense, there was an even better sense, a sense that could even be said to be omniscient in certain aspect, a sense that come from the system itself. The system map. Even hundreds of millions of kilometers away, Yan Yu could still see the red dot and arrange his escape as well as leaving behind trap. The detail is extremely difficult to make out due to the system map being zoomed out at extreme range, but using his superior intuition and judgement, Yan Yu could still predict precisely what happened just from the fluctuation of the red and green dot. The mysterious weapon of the sect master of the Devil Slaying Sect did not even wound the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect. Yet it has managed destroy all the land from the Devil Slaying Sect to the Royal Capital of the Nine Cloud Kingdom itself, if there was anyone living in this world, the damage would have been unthinkable. Even still, Zheng Jie has realized something, the most dangerous aspect of Yan Yu was not just his cunning and power. Even though the heirloom weapon of the Devil Slaying Sect didn''t even faze the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Yan Yu''s surprise attack at the start did. Was a devil''s claw even more dangerous than a sect''s heirloom? Yes, yes it was. More importantly, that strange miasma emitting from Yan Yu''s body... It is extremely strange and corroding. Zheng Jie''s inner core is stable and so is his body, but the effect of that miasma on other is extremely strange. For a moment, the jade wall of the Royal Court shatters into pieces, the matter of the mysterious meteoric blade of the Devil Slaying Sect has to also be related to this strange miasma. It feels as if wherever Yan Yu went, and whatever he touches start to ''feel'' like him. In the first place, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect did not want to cause all that destruction, but his divine sense told him that whatever Yan Yu did, the place was akin to Yan Yu himself. And so he cleanse them completely to avoid further complication. Zheng Jie has never encountered such a powerful Devil Cultivator before, and more probably he never will. Devil Cultivators who reach certain realms was all taken to the Hell dimension, and so of course Zheng Jie would be wholly unprepared. All of that about Yan Yu is extremely dangerous, but no, the matter that is the most dangerous for Zheng Jie right now, what he worries the most about- At this rate, this battle is going to be dragged to the Heavenly Sword Sect''s sect ground. Even if the sect land was located in a far off, almost adjacent continents, by the way Yan Yu has escaped again and again, and the range of the battle keep extending further, this battle will be dragged to the Heavenly Sword Sect, and even the Sword Saint Abode will not be safe. He has determined at the start that this world is a complete copy of the normal world, and because it is a complete copy, it is the most dangerous aspect of this whole "PvP". The thing that is sealed under the Sword Saint Abode could not be allowed to see the light of day. At that moment, in a place far away, Yan Yu was observing Zheng Jie from the system map. He was trying to assert what the sect master was doing, for a single second, the sect master has been motionless. The lone red dot did not move at all for that single second, however in the next moment, Yan Yu''s entire map momentarily flashes red. In retrospect, he should have try to ascertain the meaning behind the entire system map turning red then and there, however he was currently occupied. The Sect Master destroys the first continent of the Nine Cloud Kingdom. At that moment, Devil Path Ancestor Yan Yu lost his first "life". 15. The Heaven above and the Chaos below Law. It''s not just the ultimate expression of a cultivator control over the law of the universe, it is also an expression of their philosophy to the world. At that moment, Fang Yijun and Shi Xiang arrive at the mirror world. Immediately, as if detecting a danger to her life, Yijun looks up at the sky above. Shi Xiang was looking too, but he was still young and haven''t been through as much as Yijun. The sky is still blue as it always was even if a peak continent was destroyed in a blink of an eye. It is still beautiful, however... "Why am I crying?" Before she knows it, two stream of tear cascade down from Yijun''s eyes. Shi Xiang on the other hand, his cultivation was too low to see anything. Most peak expert even in the upper realm weep when they have the good fortune of seeing the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect''s swordsmanship, yet at this moment, Yijun was not looking at the sect master'' swordsmanship... right? The only thing she is looking at is the blue sky up above, and yet... "Why does it feels so empty? Why does the immovable heaven up above feel so empty and desolate?" This feeling, this feeling of impermanence and emptiness, how could Shi Xiang understands? Perhaps through the failure in his love story with his fiancee Liu Xun, he could have started to understand something, but he is still too young. Only someone like Yijun who experienced a millennia long loving relationship could understand. It is a woman intuition. "It''s like I''m looking at that detestable man." No, it''s not quite like her husband, however the feeling is the same. It''s said that a man who has found his true love is the most heartless man to all other woman. Perhaps it could be said that Cui Huang has found his true love with that little lover of his and to her, he is the most heartless man. This feeling is the same. When staring up at the sky, a familiar feeling arise in her. An uncaring gaze, of a man who does not care for love. A heartless man. That feeling only lasted for moment before the crying stop. "You are... senior Fairy Yijun right?" Shi Xiang bows respectfully. Yijun has a good feeling, he is a good kid. "That''s right. That''s I am, you are Shi Xiang right?" Now that she has a good look at him, he is not bad, a bit soft that one can mistake him for a woman but not bad. The fact that he was blushing a little also gets him into her good book. Ha ha ha. Her beauty was great that even innocent young boy could not help but blush. "Now where is that bastard Zheng Jie? He is fighting with Yan Yu right?" Shi Xiang twitches a little but keep his respectable demeanor. "I''m sure senior Zheng Jie and senior Yan Yu''s fight is beyond us. I would not hesitate to say that it may even be beyond our comprehension." A black mass was falling through the sky, however it was too far away for Shi Xiang and Yijun too see. It was the remain of Yan Yu. He was "re-spawned" according to the system. However, to Yan Yu, who was unaware of the fact, death is death. He has died. There was not even remain, the system has to recreate it. Never in three thousands years did he face such a humiliation. In the hell dimension, basing on force, the Black Devil is unrivaled under that red sky. Basing on intelligence, the Black Devil is the most cunning and vicious. Did you badmouth him the other day? Well his ears are the wall, and his eyes are the earth itself, he is going to make you swallow your words the next day. Want to find him? Good luck, he uses thousand of disguise, he may just look like you and me and is walking casually out in the street right now. Over time, the legend of the Black Devil propagate, and Yan Yu forgets even his original name. Being domineering over the Hell dimension, he is the sole ruler... And yet... he is dead. "Was it any different than a frog inside a well? This whole life? Why was I so confident about ruling over the losers?" It could be said that the devil cultivators have lost in the mythical ancient world to cause all of them to fall into Hell like that. Than why is he so happy about ruling over a bunch like that? "Am I not dead?" The black mass mutters. This is the core of Yan Yu, even if he disguises himself to look like a fairly handsome man on a daily basic, it could not be denied that he is already too far gone. Truly befitting of the name "Black Devil". "System Notice: Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu has been re-spawned. 299 lives remaining." "I see... even the loser has something to learn huh?" Even while he was falling, he still mutter. However, even while he mutters, the Devil Path Ancestor is biting as hard as he could on his own lips, drawing blood from that blacken body. "I am falling to a lower continent then. Zheng Jie has destroyed the previous continent." As a former Heaven Path Cultivator, Yan Yu is familiar with the layering nature of the world. Falling down to a lower continent mean losing advantage, even losing portion of your cultivation so as not to destroy the continent. "No, this is fine. In the first place, the cultivation method of the Devil cultivator..." The cultivation method of the Devil Cultivator... even if the lower continent lack Heaven Qi and cultivation resource, is it any different from Hell? No, it is infinitely better, it still has resource, not like the jail that was Hell. Even while saying that, Yan Yu is still biting down on his lips. This rage, this anger, this helplessness. It''s good fuel for a Devil Cultivator. Right now Zheng Jie must have thought that Yan Yu was already dead, this is a good opportunity. His great achievement is about to be completed. This is the greatest danger of letting a Devil Cultivator from the Hell dimension loose in the world, no matter what continent, they will still be dangerous. When Yan Yu landed, he immediately focus on completing his greatest achievement, applying the cultivation of the Hell dimension within the normal world. In minutes, the whole continent where he landed on darken. The law of Self of the Devil Cultivator... In the Hell Dimension, resource was scarce, you have to use everything you have. Even rocks can be eaten. Because of that, a different mindset was developed within the Devil Cultivator. Selfishness, Greed, Lust... in the end it all comes from the self. If the Heaven scorned me, I will defy the heaven. If the Heaven Path cultivator cultivate according to the Heaven, the Devil Path Cultivator cultivate based on their "Self". The selfishness, greed, lust... they indulge on it. Allowing their Self to grow to a greater level. Everything they do is for their "Self", this is their philosophy. It is a self-centered philosophy, but that is the point. That is why every Devil Path Cultivator has personality problem, they don''t try to integrate themselves, into the world, they revel on their own personality, their flaw, their everything. Soon enough, the Self grow to a point where the body just cannot contain it anymore, my "Self" is so great that it encompasses all of Heaven and Earth, that rock over there is my "Self", the tree is my "Self". The ego grows so much that everything can be consumed. It is similar to the law of consumption but it is focused on the "Self", only their darkness itself will consume everything. "Darkness devouring the Heaven." The final state for a Devil Cultivator, everything can be consumed, even the hypothetical heaven ahead. No, they will devour the heaven, that is their law. Everything will be devoured by the Self, the Self is the greatest resource akin the Heavenly Dao of the Heaven Cultivator, a Dao of the Self, as heretical as it is. It is in direct opposition of the Heaven Path cultivator''s philosophy, becoming one with the Heavenly Dao, the Devil Path Cultivator''s final goal is to make everything, even the Heavenly Dao become one with them. In fact, the realm of the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie reflect this opposite. "Sky Sea", becoming one with the Sky Sea above, that is the Heaven, the sect master, expand his sense out, his divine sense that become one with nature and the heaven. Yan Yu on the other hand...consumes The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Without any interference, the entire lower continent was eaten within moment. Everything was condense into Yan Yu''s self. Become one with the self, he was akin to the continent itself. That is why Yan Yu has once said that if he completed his great feat, even if Zheng Jie wanted to fight, he wouldn''t be able to. How could you fight the earth, the trees, the entire continent? The moment Yan Yu breaks out of Hell is the moment he completes his apotheosis, condensing everything into his "Self", devouring the Heaven itself. Even if he still hasn''t escaped Hell yet, even if this is just a mirror dimension, this is the perfect place to ascend. When everything is eaten, Yan Yu would be akin to the Heaven Dao. Without interference from the Sect Master, Yan Yu''s Self permit everything, from the lower continent. The vast sea, the majestic mountain, all was eaten. Everything from the continent, the neighboring continent, the lower continent, the participle world, the air, the water, the Qi, the light, everything become Yan Yu. Shi Xiang and Yijun who was watching without understanding anything yell in alarm. "What is this? The heaven and earth? Are we witnessing the creation of the universe? The primordial time that has been lost to myth and legend" The more knowledgeable Yijun utters. In the beginning, the world emerge from Chaos, creating the Heaven and Earth and all the human between. A black mass, that was the usual description of the Chaos the world emerges from. The Heaven decides that Chaos was unneeded anymore after creating the Heaven and Earth and so banish it away forever. At this moment, the sight in front of their eyes is akin to that primordial scene itself. Yan Yu consumes everything, in moment, the Earth was all consumed, the Black Devil he is. The closest the Devil Cultivators have to someone who could Devour the Heaven and make it him. However at that moment, there was another equally close master who just now witness what the end path of a Devil Path Cultivator is, Zheng Jie looks in alarm at the world beneath him. Everything is Yan Yu. The moment he realizes that is the moment his determination to weed out all devil grow even stronger. In just moment, the Devil Path Ancestor has grown uncontrollable. "C???????????????????????o????????????????????????????m???????????????????????????e???????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????o??????????????????????????????????u??????????????????t???????????????? ???????????????????????????????Z???????????????h???????????????????e????????????????n??????????????????????????????????g??????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????J???????????????????????????????????i???????????????????????????????????????e??????????????????????????????????????!?????????????????????????????????." The Black Mass reaches the Sword Saint Abode where Zheng Jie was staying. At the monstrous stage Yan Yu is at, who could oppose him? Even Zheng Jie didn''t expect such a terrible law, the law of Self of the Devil Cultivator, and Yan Yu, make good of his threat, devouring the heaven. In an ease that even Zheng Jie didn''t have when he destroyed the peak continent of the Nine Cloud Kingdom, the Devil Ancestor destroy the continent where the Heavenly Sword Sect resides, even the Sword Saint Abode. A land mass billions of kilometers wide disappear in second. This is the peak of the Devil Path cultivation world. The ending they all seek, everything becoming them. Yan Yu does not even resemble his former self anymore, but he is aware. With great cruelty, he knows this is the place Zheng Jie was protecting the most, so he takes great care tearing everything apart slowly. Only one object survive and fall outside of the Devil Path Ancestor''s consumption. That which is sealed beneath the cold Sword Saint Abode, a cold corpse constantly emitting coldness. It just falls away silently when the Heavenly Sword Sect is destroyed. "Where is Zheng Jie?" Yan Yu thinks to himself, even when he consumes everything, the Sect Master is no where to be seen. Even when his sense is now even greater than any Divine Sense the Heaven Path Cultivator could have, for the life of him, he could not detect Zheng Jie. Yan Yu looks at his map. The entire map is red. He zooms out. The entire map is red. "Impossible!" He looks at the sky above. "298 lives remain- 297 lives remain- 296 lives remain- 295 lives remain- 294 lives remain- 293 lives remain- 292 lives remain- 291 lives remain- 290 lives remain- 289 lives remain- 288 lives remain- 287 lives remain- 286 lives remain- 285 lives remain- 284 lives remain- 283 lives remain- 282 lives remain- 281 lives remain- 280 lives remain- 279 lives remain- 278 lives remain- 277 lives remain- 276 lives remain- 275 lives remain- 274 lives remain- 273 lives remain- 272 lives remain-" The Heaven comes down upon the black mass. "Impossible! Are we really in the Primordial era? The Sky is falling! It is falling!" Yijun yells in panic. And yet she is not dead, due to them only be observer to the PvP. Shi Xiang who finally realizes what is happening says "So this is the battle between senior Zheng Jie and senior Yan Yu..." He could only stare up in awe. "How could they actually do something like this? They are still human." In fact, at that moment, Zheng Jie was the closest to ascension. Sky Sea... becoming one with the Sky Sea above, that is the Heaven... Even if it is just a hearsay, the Sect Mater took it to heart, and dedicated his swordsmanship to the greatest completion. "So what if you become the heaven above? So what if you are the heaven itself? I will devour all the star, I will devour the sky, I will devour the heaven." The black mass reaches to the heaven above, continuously expanding as it reaches higher and higher. The stars in the sky was devoured as he said, Yan Yu becomes bigger and bigger. Yijun and Shi Xiang was shaking in their boot staring at a phenomenon they don''t understand. However... The hunting party who was with Yan Yu who was in disguise stare at him in surprise when that fellow appears out of nowhere and walk away without even looking in their eyes. On his lips is a stream of blood due to biting down too hard. "It was a lost." Yan Yu didn''t even look at them in the eyes when he walks away. "Huh? Did you lost to the Old Devil? Ha ha ha." The party who did not understand anything mock the Devil Ancestor. "Old Devil?" With a wave of his hand, a scream could be heard in the distance. It was the Old Devil they was hunting. However at that moment, Yan Yu didn''t even care about that and walk away. "Even if I escape, even if I was at my strongest, that fellow on the outside world..." At that moment, in the middle of the turmoil party in the Royal court, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect appears out of nowhere. However, he isn''t as interested in the party as he was previously. Listlessly, he walks away. "Master." Lang Li runs toward him to check if her master is alright. At that moment, perhaps her hug was too overly familiar... "It was a draw." He did not elaborate and continues to walk away. "I''m going back to cultivate." He says without greeting anyone. "If we really fought, then the world..." He mutters to no one in particular. "How could I get stronger?" He stares at the System Interface that he hasn''t touched from the start. It was the first reward the System has given him. He has not touched it until today. It was a button that says "The Many Paths of Reincarnation system" When he went back to the Sword Saint Abode, Zheng Jie presses it. At that moment, the sword saint temporarily disappears from the world. "WAH WAH" "Congratulation! It''s a healthy baby boy." 16. Show but not show Of the nine continents of the Nine Cloud Kingdom, there is a strange sight in the ninth continent, even though it is the lowest of the nine continents, therefor should be the lowest in cultivation. There is a peak expert on the ninth continent, descended from the very Royal Court of the Zhang empire. His cultivation was sealed in the process of descending. Not many know of this, only that he was an expert from a higher continent. No one expect him to be from the very first continent. And currently that person is... "Uncle Lei, I wanted a red horse that can run for thousand of kilometers." He got the red horse for the little lady next to him. "Uncle Lei, I saw the lady of the Hua family yesterday wearing a beautiful red dress, get it for me." Lei Xingyue orders the servants to make red dress for the little lady next to him. "No! I don''t want this dress. I want the Hua family heir''s dress." The little lady throws the dress in the face of the peak expert before running away. "Uncle Lei, I want a playmate." Lei Xingyue orders the servants to gather heirs and heiresses from the highest and most noble families within the ninth continent to play with the little lady. The next day,- "Zhang Yating! What is the meaning of this? Why did you hit the heiress of the Hua family who came to play?" Lei Xingyue was furious. The bruises on the heiress of the Hua family was vicious. If he isn''t going to teach the young lady from when she is young, she is going to grow up to be tyrannical. "They were laughing at me! Uncle Lei, get me new playmates. The red horse is also dead, get me a new one. I don''t want to wear my red dress anymore, get me another equally elegant dress." Suddenly, Lei Xingyue has enough and slap the little lady in front of him. "U-uncle Lei." "You also know that I''m your uncle and not your servant huh? Vicious little thing, did you know the heiress of the Hua family is going to be bedridden for months. Just where did I go wrong." Zhang Yating widens her eyes at his words. "B-but I didn-" "You didn''t? Then who just admitted to hitting the Hua family''s heiress? Servants-" "Yes." The servants of the house come out and looks at Zhang Yating with amusement. Finally the little lady is going to get it. "I forbid anyone from helping Yating for the next three weeks. She is going to stay in her room to reflect on what she has done. Anyone who interfere with my order is going to be punished. Understand?" "Yes." The servants chorus. Let alone disobeying someone as scary as Lei Xingyue, in the first place, none of them like Zhang Yating. That parent-less girl... always acting reckless and high and mighty with the backing of Lei Xingyue. Now, she finally gets what she deserves, now she is finally one of them, not some lady that was born with a golden spoon named Lei Xingyue in her mouth, now she is just some parent-less girl. Seeing the look the servants in the house give her, while sniffling, Zhang Yating runs back to her room. "Wait-" Lei Xingyue tries to stop her, thinking that he was too harsh. But then he stops, in the place of her father, he has to disciplined her so that she won''t grow up abusing her power. "Hmm!" He sits back on his seat, drinking tea. A memory from a long time ago comes back to him "Uncle Lei. When is father visiting?" Lei Xingyue looks toward the fading figure of the little lady, he shakes his head. It''s important to balance his treatment and discipline of her. In the end, Yating has a very pitiful fate. ... It has been a week, Zhang Yating stays obediently in her room. Strangely, she was quiet, too quiet. Peak expert Lei Xingyue himself comes to her room to check up on her, in fact, he was worried. "Yating. Come and eat dinner with me." Suddenly he heard sound of Yating in her room quickly doing something. ''She must be doing her make-up'' He thinks. He was fully expecting the girl to be angry when she sees him, but when she comes out, she was respectful. "Yes, uncle Lei." Instead of the heavy make-up, Yating was plain. Lei Xingyue thinks that she resembles her mother very much, that woman never need make-up or anything to be a beauty. It was a natural kind of charm. Yating was also wearing a plain white dress to accentuate that natural beauty of her. No more obsession with red Yating has. Normally, that girl prefers everything in gaudy red color. Red horse, red dress, red lipstick, red decoration. "Very well." He didn''t comment on the change, though he finds it to his liking. Perhaps this girl has finally grown up. For a week, Zhang Yating stays obediently in her room without any complaint. Even the servants found it strange, they expect she would have grown bored by the third day, however, she stays extremely quiet. Little did they know, she already has a very receptacle listener inside her room. "Princess Yating: I didn''t do it. I only punch her one for insulting my mother and father. But then the next day uncle Lei punishes me for hospitalizing the Hua heiress and beating her until she was bruised and bloodied." "System Notice: Princess Yating was given a warning point. Note: Please respect the anonymity of other while using the Heavenly Dao Discussion. Reminder: For the safety and anonymity of the participants...." "Princess Yating: What is this warning point thing. Is this System Notice trying to bully me to?" "Fairy Yijun: There there. Just don''t use real name and the System Notice will not pop up." At that moment, suddenly a person called Fairy Yijun appeared in the system board and keep Yating''s company. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. From the point the System appears in front of Yating, she started venting her grievances for Fairy Yijun to hear, the other person was quite a good listener and always responds to her. Yating does not feel bored, having someone to talk to is different from her normal state. ...That is why she wanted a playmate, but that idiotic uncle of her brought in that bitch from the Hua family. "Fairy Yijun: Now now. Even though he seems to be an impulsive man hitting you like that, he is still supposed to be the one who hold the patriarch position of the house. He is worried about you." "Princess Yating: Worried about me? Than why did he hit me like that without investigating clearly?" "Fairy Yijun: Think about it from his position, as the patriarch of the house, how could he show his face to other patriarch if it was known that you were an unreasonable person like that? It seems to me from your stories, this Hua heiress has been working hard to destroy your reputation throughout the year. Going as far as pretending to be bedridden, she surely has planned this out. It would be hard from a third person viewpoint to not be biased after all her acting through the year. But you have something that she doesn''t have." "Princess Yating: What is it? What is it?!" "Fairy Yijun: Your uncle is your uncle and not her. She is trying to sway that person to her side, but in the end he is not her actual uncle, he is your. As long as you manage to stay in his good grace, he will be on your side." ... "Princess Yating: How about this, should I wear this Fairy Yijun?" Zhang Yating starts describing the piece of clothing in the chat, it would be better if she could show it to the actual person, but she doesn''t know where this Fairy Yijun is and this dumb system keeps sending notice every time she asks. "Fairy Yijun: No need. As a beautiful girl, I know you won''t need any of those unnecessary thing. Don''t copy that Hua heiress, gaudy colorful clothes is only for lesser women who is not confident in their own natural beauty and need to distract from it using tricks." "Princess Yating: What about make-up?" "Fairy Yijun: Dear, you should put it like this. Lightly and softly with the small brush. Under your eyes, you don''t want to over apply..." As an experienced woman, Yijun starts instructing Yating on how to put on make-up. As someone who has a martial-minded uncle as the only parental figure, and servants that hate her as her instructor, Yating was never given proper lesson like this. The servants would never tell her what she did was wrong, they just follow her instruction and then laugh at her when they thought she was not watching. That is when the "silly princess" moniker was born. But now, with someone who slowly instruct her on everything, Zhang Yating was very excited. "Fairy Yijun: As a girl, when you eat you have to do it like this. Elegant and beautiful, you have to keep the men guessing. Their mind will create their own image of a goddess if you show but not show. Especially if are already beautiful, you don''t need to show your beauty, sometime even hiding it is better at arousing curiosity. Why do you think there many legends of cloaked beauties? They cover themselves in many layer of cloth, but it only arouse even more interest. Only a vulgar woman shows it all, and men may like vulgar women, but it is only for one night, not for their whole life." The more Yating follows Yijun''s instruction, the more she feels excited. She also feels extremely grateful. There was also another feeling within her "Princess Yating: Fairy Yijun, you feel just like my mother! Even though I''m sure you are a youthful beauty, you truly feel like my own mother talking to me. Thank you." At that moment, Fang Yijun almost drops her broom. Princess Yating was exactly on point about a woman who practiced an art that reverse her aging, making her look younger and more beautiful. "Fairy Yijun: Yeah. I already know I''m am a youthful beauty!" "Shi Xiang: Yes, senior Yijun is very beautiful." At that moment, Shi Xiang comes out of nowhere to comment. It looks like he has been busy lately, a week after entering the PvP world. A fire was started within him after seeing Zheng Jie and Yan Yu''s battle. "Princess Yating: Ah! Shi Xiang is here. I wish to see Fairy Yijun too! It''s not fair." At that moment, Fang Yijun was down. Seeing Yijun in real life huh? If Princess Yating saw her as she is right now, surely she will be disappointed. "What are you doing Fang Yijun?! Sweep harder! Just because the higher up pay attention to you does not mean you are anything more than an outer gate disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect you slut." An angry woman in charge of disciplining the outer sect disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect yells at her. Half a month after the PvP battle, Fang Yijun has managed to escape from the pursue of the lustful Dong Yu, she also entered the Heavenly Sword Sect like Zheng Jie''s suggestion. However, she was nothing more than a lowly yard sweeper right now. That is why she thinks to herself "If Princess Yating sees me right now, she will be disappointed." And just like that she went back to sweeping. She has good memories the last few day, talking to the young girl. As a woman in her hundreds, talking to a young girl about matter like that did arouse the long dormant mother instinct within her. However, the cultivator''s life was hard. She didn''t want any children back then because she was afraid it would affect her concentration while cultivating. She didn''t have any children. 17. Pass a certain age, cultivators who havent found a partner start developing strange personality In this world, based on known cultivators, the strongest is undoubtedly the Heavenly Saint, Sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie. The second strongest is the creator of the Nine Cloud Kingdom, the fellow of the Heavenly Saint, the Heavenly Emperor. Lei Xingyue is not the third, or even the fourth. He is the 34th on the list, however even if he is only 34th, who dare to say anything to him? 34th under heaven may not sound anything impressive, but how many is it that he surpasses? However, even such top expert has his own fear and trauma. Namely, his fear of woman. In the past, Lei Xingyue was so traumatized by a beautiful woman that he has sworn off women altogether. He is afraid of beautiful women like he was the Heavenly Saint, however in the Heavenly Saint case, abstination come from his lack of lust, while in Lei Xingyue''s case, it comes from fear. This matter, no one knows. "Uncle Lei, have you ever thought of getting married?" Lei Xingyue almost drops his teacup in surprise, especially when the person who is asking him is related to his whole trauma. Zhang Yating asks "innocently" while the two was eating. It was on the rare occasion that Lei Xingyue lets Zhang Yating out of her room. She was grounded for hospitalizing another family heir. Normally the punishment would be harsher, however like they say, rich people was born with a golden spoon in their mouth, Xingyue could not bear letting his charge who has never experienced hardship suffer so much. It was only enough to discipline her. "No, no I haven''t." Lei Xingyue tries to make light of the conversation, so that his niece would not suspect anything. Not the fact that she is reminding him of a trauma long hidden. "Well you shoul-" "This is none of your business. Did I get too soft with you lately?" Suddenly, he raises his voice. "Yes, uncle Lei." Once again, Yating drops the conversation in that rare soft spoken tone of her. Xingyue wonders if anyone has been teaching her lately, she has become very agreeable these days, though it leads to another worry. Could it be that one of the servant has been approaching Yating to manipulate her? "Did any servant approach you lately Yating?" "No, uncle Lei. Just like you order, I have not talked to any of the servants except for when it''s time to eat." "Good." He will be making investigation later. Lei Xingyue feels bad about isolating his niece in her own home, however Yating''s case is a bit special. When she grows up, she is going to have a lot of power. So much power that it is worrying, even now, he has started to be afraid of bad apple trying to approach Yating and manipulate her for their end. A puppet ruler is the worst thing after all, if that happens, that means Xingyue has betrayed his friend''s trust, and the Zhang family line is lost. He could trust her to make friend under supervision, however he could not trust her to interact with adult on her own. After all, Yating has a very heavy burden to shoulder in the future. The sole heir of the Heavenly Emperor, the future inheritor of the entire Nine Cloud Kingdom, the one who will decide the lives of every single subjects within the Nine Cloud Kingdom. She is the princess, not just any simple child. And yet once upon a time, when she was only 3, Lei Xingyue was forced to escape from the first continent holding her in his arms, telling her that she was just another simple child. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. It''s very depressing that he could not win against a woman, but until the matters of the Heavenly Queen has been solved, he and Yating could never return. But still, he needs to raise her as a princess. Take where they are eating for example, the Unusual Drop restaurant. It is the most famous restaurant within the ninth continent, situated at the center of the continent. Every day, more than 10,000 cultivators and non-cultivators alike frequent this restaurant. Only the richest, most powerful could make a reservation here. Xingyue found it hard to take this place seriously when he has eaten from place that was like heaven and earth compare to this place. However, the Unusual Drop restaurant is still undoubtedly the best within the ninth continent. For the uncle and niece''s simple dinner, this place has been bought out. All reservation was cancelled, even dragons and phoenixes of the capital city dare to say nothing, it was Lei Xingyue after all. Before eating, he also has his men checked out the food first before serving. Lei Xingyue himself is fine, however his niece is a different matter. Zhang Yating wonders why the Hua heiress tries to cling to her uncle''s thigh too much, however it is her that is blind. Living in luxury her entire life, she never wonders the implication of everything. At that moment, Lei Xingyue wonders why she was asking about marriage. Earlier that day. "Fairy Yijun: Does your uncle L** has a lover?" Yijun was wondering if this uncle Lei of Princess Yating has a lover or a wife, the way he raises Yating leaves much to desire. It reeks of men, like a single father taking care of the kids. Thinking back about her previous husband Cui Huang, Yijun has a disdainful look in her eyes, it is not because that he cheated on her that she could not leave the kids in his care either. It is that if they have kids, she could not trust him to take care of them alone. "Princess Yating: Uncle L** says that as a cultivator, matter such as love are as fleeting as the morning dew, it will all go away eventually." By the way, ever since the System has come down on the Anonymity rule, the user of the Heavenly Dao discussion has started to use "*" to hide what they are talking about by the recommendation of the System, it seems strange to look at, but at least they won''t get banned for three days like a certain Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect. Speaking of the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect... "Fairy Yijun: Bullshit, cultivators could choose to perform pair cultivation at anytime. Trust me Yating, pass a certain age, cultivators who haven''t found a partner start developing strange personality! You don''t want your uncle to become like that Zheng Jie or that Yan Yu!" One is always advocating for extreme things like eradication of all emotions, the other is always malicious baiting other people. More importantly, even though she is kinda afraid of them after seeing their might, Yijun has seen Zheng Jie''s soul before. And Zheng Jie''s soul has "heartless man" written all over it, even with her low cultivation, she could sense it while Yan Yu on the other hand is all kind of wrong. "Shi Xiang: Now now..." Shi Xiang tries to come and defend his idols, however he has found that he could not for the like of him out-argue Fairy Yijun. She always talks over him. The "tongue" is an especially fearsome weapon. Currently, Shi Xiang is extremely busy recruiting people. 18. Shi Xiang is busy recruiting Is a formidable senior behind this stand? Perhaps he didn''t want to show his face and it is why this young man is here." Is what was on most people''s mind. But there really was a lot of cultivators, not enough to raise notice, but at least a dozen or so has gathered in inconspicuous place around the calligraphy stand. Two?'' Is what was on everyone''s mind ''Wasn''t it only his master? Who is the other one?'' What you wanted? Isn''t it better to choose both?'' Many thought the same. If it was a writing from a senior, especially someone who is suspected to has ascended, it has to contain some profoundness, so wouldn''t it be better to choose both? At the same time, this may be a test, and being too greedy may anger the senior hidden in the shadow. The other waited to see what the scholarly man choose. The Heavenly Dao is without emotion. To achieve the Dao- 19. Yatings scream echoes through the night Princess Yating: Shi Xiang! I have come to play." "Your handwriting yes?" "Yes" Shi Xiang answers. "I don''t believe it." The man says. Princess Yating: Where are the moving picture?" Shi Xiang: Now now. I''m finishing the cleaning up, don''t you have something better to do?" Fairy Yijun: Huh. This kid has an eye for art, this is more beautiful than some master''s painting I have seen before." Shi Xiang: Princess Yating... How should I say this..." It was something that he has discussed with Fairy Yijun before, it was because the three of them was unnaturally active and so was very close that Shi Xiang starts this conversation. Fairy Yijun: Yating, you spend too much time watching video and chatting." Princess Yating: What else am I supposed to do? I''m grounded." Fairy Yijun: Spend your time kissing up to that uncle of your so that he lets you out early than. This is not acceptable behavior for a girl your age." Shi Xiang: Princess Yating, do you want to see the new feature of the Video Replay system I just stumble upon?" Princess Yating: What is it? What is it?" Princess Yating: This is the first time I have heard your voice. It''s really melodic. It''s nice." Fairy Yijun: Shi Xiang! To your right!" Fairy Yijun: Wait Yating! Turn off the video now!" 20. Lei Xingyues suspicion Riding the cloud, the journey toward heaven is always a struggle. May I face 99 Heavenly Tribulation, may my life be an interesting one. Saying that is easy, however this struggle, it was one Lei Xingyue has never faced anything like it before. In all of his long life, riding the cloud and the wind, facing countless tribulation, beating his chest claiming prominence under the heaven, the ordeal was something he has never faced before. It was a single woman, Xingyue was shaken even as he tried to move to face her. From the start he already suspected that something was wrong. When that child was born- The woman removes the veil covering her face. In all his life, he has never faced a struggle like that one. Even with all of his cultivation, his entire being was shaken. It was only a woman removing her clothes in front of him. She didn''t even remove her clothes, all she did was show her face. And yet... Lei Xingyue was on his knee, his lust running wild. What cultivation? What state of mind? At that moment, it was only a single woman showing a bit of skin. He struggled to move in time, just to kill that woman no matter the consequences. The woman wasn''t even fazed. At the last moment, peak master Lei Xingyue, the fame guard of the Nine Cloud Kingdom realized. The thought of hurting that woman was unthinkable to him at that moment. He was going to kill himself first before harming even a single strand of her hair. Lei Xingyue lost control of his lower body. The heat was unbearable. The woman moved her hand, beckoning him closer. And so, Lei Xingyue ran. In front of something he has never faced before, he ran. Thinking of the child of his friend, he took her with him. The Royal Palace is not a safe place anymore. The Yang energy was running wild within his body. It damages his cultivation. The proceeding descent further destabilized it. However, he manages to escape with little Yating. And yet in his mind, there was only doubts. What did that woman say to him at the last second? What did she say? He can''t remember. Was it?... "Take that child as far away as possible and kill her." Thinking back, Lei Xingyue was extremely frighten. He broke out into cold sweat. His inner energy runs wild. His heartbeat quickens. His imagination... is the image of a woman taking off her veil. His lower body... "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Suddenly, a scream broke out in the middle of the night. "Yating?!" Quickly Lei Xingyue puts on his clothes and rushes toward her room. Quickly he scans her life sign all the way from his room. Within the Lei manor, perhaps nothing could really escape him. Lei Xingyue breathes a sigh of relief when he realizes Yating was fine. He hasn''t failed his friend than. Even still, in an instant, he was in front of her room, knocking on the door. "Yating, what''s wrong?" The guards and maids stationed near Yating didn''t even have enough time to be frightened when they heard their little miss''s cry when they were frightened again when the master of the entire household appear in front of them. If anything happened to the mistress, they won''t survive even with nine lives. "Hick!" A single crying voice worsens that fear. Lei Xingyue on the other hand was composed, there are no one else with her. Yating is safe. Even still, his concern is still palpable. Waiting for his niece to come out from her room, Xingyue stands silently. The silence of the master of the house frightens the servants even more. Many awake from their sleep and rush out to see what happened. And when they see that scene, they were frozen on the spot. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Yating''s head maid was one of those servants. Ma Zhihao was a servant in her 30s who pride herself because of some beauty. Immediately, she tries to move ahead of the other servants and kneels beside Lei Xingyue. "Master Lei, since the miss is not answering, Zhihao fears for her safety. We should have someone b-" "Be silent." With a single command, Ma Zhihao shut her mouth, not daring to utter another word. The uncomfortable silence stretch on for the servants, until Yating comes to open her door. It is clear that she didn''t want Xingyue to see her. "Is there anything wrong?" With a soft voice, Lei Xingyue asks Yating through the gap of the door she has opened. "N-nothing. When I was sleeping when a cockroach appears out of nowhere. I was so scared that I screamed, that''s all." Ma Zhihao opened her mouth to protest. She is the one in charge of cleaning the lady''s room, claiming that it was unclean to the point a cockroach crawls into the lady''s room, wasn''t it blaming her? In the Lei manor, even cockroach dared not enter, let alone entering the lady''s room, Lei Xingyue''s most treasured niece. This lady is acting up again, she has always been so spoiled. "Miss Zhang, how could you say that. I have been a dutiful servant, everyone could see. Let alone a cockroach, I have cleaned the room so thoroughly that-" "Who are you to say that to my niece?" Suddenly Lei Xingyue gazes at her. Let alone gazing, he could kill her with a single breath. Ma Zhihao starts choosing her next word very carefully. "I-" Lei Xingyue''s eyes stare aside as if thinking something. He looks at the guilty eyes of his niece, he looks back at the servant kneeling next to him, he looks ahead as if thinking of something. "Alright. How dare you scared my niece like that , failing in your duty? Drag Ma Zhihao out of here. Give her twenty canes, from today onward, she does not work for the Lei manor anymore." Panicking, Ma Zhihao tries to move her master- "Mercy, mercy-" "Drag her out of here. And for the rest of you, take this as a lesson." Two male servants move to drag the sobbing Ma Zhihao away. Whispering in their ears, Xingyue tells them "You can skip the canes. Dissolves her contract and give her severance pay normally." While sobbing and being dragged away, Ma Zhihao did not know how lucky she was. Lei Xingyue only needs a scapegoat. Xingyue looks back at his niece who has composed herself. "It must have been a frightening cockroach." "Don''t worry uncle Lei! I already chased it away." Lei Xingyue looks at his niece''s face. She is bad at lying. And yet... "Goodnight then." He smiles softly at her. "Goodnight uncle Lei." Yating hurriedly closes her door. Lei Xingyue scans the yard, looking at all the servants. "Tonight''s event is over. Everyone goes back to your room. Take Ma Zhihao as a lesson for you all. If you failed in your duty, you will end up like her." Saying that to scare his servants, Lei Xingyue went back to his room. It was late at night, in the hour of the ox, everyone in the manor has already fallen asleep. Lei Xingyue''s eyes was wide opened. From tomorrow, he will be watching Yating more closely. At that moment, truly, even if a cockroach enters Lei manor, it won''t escape Lei Xingyue''s eyes. 21. Something is wrong here. Somebody should call the authority With a hint of regret, Shi Xiang pushes a button that is only visible to him. After that his hand was free, and with that freedom, his right hand grabs a hidden assailant while his left hand did the same. And then he clasps his hand together, instantly crushing them. Someone sent a hidden weapon at Shi Xiang, however the invisible force surrounding him remains ever elusive to everyone. Even Shi Xiang doesn''t understand how his defense work. The change in his body and spirit was too dramatic of a change to be understood. It could be said that at that moment, Shi Xiang was someone that did not belong in this continent. But he did not ascend either. Perhaps when his master comes back, due to his obligation with her, he will go. However at this moment, Shi Xiang will go nowhere. Despite the advantage to his cultivation for the last several weeks, he did not cultivate either. Going nowhere, cultivating nothing. Perhaps Shi Xiang truly belongs to nowhere. Only prompts from the people from the Heavenly Dao discussion and the system notice keeps him going. At that moment though, despite whatever state Shi Xiang was in, it was not going good for the one who tried to kill him. Shi Xiang doesn''t understand either. "I wonder what came over me." Shi Xiang casually states despite the viciousness he demonstrated. It was a massacre. Despite the supposed differences in realm, to the current Shi Xiang it meant nothing. For the assassins, but it was also bad luck. They could not read him at all. They could not decide whether he was an easy target or not. When multiple master supposedly stronger than Shi Xiang went down brutally without a fight, they started having second thought. But by then it was too late. Shi Xiang leaves exactly a single survivor. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. They come at him with the intention to kill, it''s better to cut off this strand of karma before it complicates any further. "Who?" Shi Xiang stares the last survivor straight in the eyes. The scene of carnage serves as suitable intimidation. To be honest, he doesn''t know what to do if the last guy really doesn''t talk. It was a spur of the moment, the normal Shi Xiang does not have any experience dealing with interrogation whatsoever. His master was an elegant woman, who taught him to cultivate both the mind and the soul while cultivating the body. She also taught him movement techniques, but it has no application to the current situation. Seeing the carnage and the blood of his allies, the last killer turns his head away, ashamed. He did not look at Shi Xiang in the eyes. "At least tell me who sent you. You don''t want all your friends'' sacrifice to be for nothing do you? Tell me who sent them all to their death?" After the silence, Shi Xiang moves his hands in a flurry, aiming for the downed assassin. Stopping at the very last moment, finally the killer speaks. "The H- The Hu family." Shi Xiang''s brows frown at the name. "What-" However at that moment, the assassin bit down on something , quickly his face turns purple, causing Shi Xiang to let go. "Poison!" The last of the assassins dead, Shi Xiang looks down at the carnage he has caused. It was in the middle of the street too. The townfolk has all run inside, hiding in their home in fright. This story was brought into public view, surely soon everyone will know. Shi Xiang however wipes his hand and looks at the scene with a skeptical eye. "There is something wrong here. Somebody should call the authority." Shi Xiang says to nobody in particular. 22. Needless to say Yan Yu was extremely amused and stop his trek for a moment In the world of cultivation, when you face trouble, you always have your clan to fall back on. If you don''t have a clan, you rely on your sect. If you don''t have a clan or sect and get bully, you try and be the fish that swim up the stream against all odd. Most of the fishes die in the process, the one who survive most likely join a sect or another. People with that kind of talents are not left alone. Shi Xiang doesn''t have a clan to or sect to fall back on. His only pillar of support, his master has left and hasn''t returned yet. In another lifetime, perhaps he would be that fish that swim against the stream, however in this life time, without a clan or sect to settle his trouble, he brought the matter to official authority. "Judging by their clothes and emblem, they belong to the black rose bandit gang. Watch carefully." The government coroner, lifts the white cloth to reveal the left shoulder of the the fallen men. "Each and every single one of them has the black rose emblem. This tattoo art is very distinct, there is no mistaking it, the curse-like tattoo engraving belong to the black rose bandit gang. Of course, when we mention the black rose gang, we have to mention their leader." The thin face coroner reveals with a white face. The black rose gang may have been a small problem in the eyes of many clans and sects. Even to the government who has the clans and sects to fall back on doesn''t have anything to fear. Only the most backward part of the continent fear this name. However, after the power struggle, there is a change within the black rose gang itself. A frighteningly powerful woman consolidates her power and built the organization into something to be fear. Not a gang of ruffian and rascal anymore, such organization has gone underground and become a mysterious assassination organization. Their cause is unknown, because despite them being a blink in the eyes of the many clans and sects before, the benefits they reap from terrorizing the backward part of the continent is many time more than what they should be making now as an organization that make very specific assassination attempts on people. It is said that the black rose gang has been subvert by a more powerful organization, becoming the shadow force of the organization. In the middle of all this is that woman. The mysterious black rose that is said to be able to fight against other with a higher realm of cultivation. An exceedingly capable woman, overseeing all of the organization''s operation. Never caught, the whole world of cultivation could only speculate her identity. Because she oversees all of her organization''s operation, this one was no different. Because no one survive, she did not survive either. The corpse of that mysterious and dangerous person is currently in the room, smashed beyond recognition. The coroner was extremely nervous even as he said that, looking at the corpse as if the person is going to come back to life at any moment to kill everyone in the room like a forbidden resurrection act. However, this continent does not have anything like a forbidden resurrection act. Life is a sacred thing in any continent, you only have one. Except when you have two or three lives with your consciousness intact, but those are edge case. After the coroner finally finishes explaining the body characteristic and identification in comparison to what is previously known of the deceased, the seriousness of the situation finally dawn upon the people inside the room. Each every single member was above Dan forming realm, what was considered a considerable achievement to practitioner, enough to become inner disciple of a large sect. With that kind of fighting force, the black rose gang could even be considered equal to a small clan or sect, that is not even counting their leader. After that debacle, due to unknown reasons a significant portion of their fighting force has perished, including their leader. And the way they have been taken out... Everyone glances at Shi Xiang meaningfully. However, at that moment, Shi Xiang truly does not belong to anywhere anymore. He looks at the female corpse. He didn''t even identify her as a woman in the heat of situation, it just happens. That''s all. Perhaps in another lifetime if he has gotten to know her, they may have formed a karma bond and know each other better. He does not hate her, however he has to cut any troublesome lingering link before it becomes even more troublesome in the future. Just like young master Hu De of the Hu family, once upon a time, Shi Xiang used to hate him with all of his being. However he has a change of mind, perhaps they too could have some common ground if they come to know each other. But if Hu De comes at Shi Xiang again, he will cut him down just like this woman here. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. And if Hu De was really the mastermind behind this attempt... After the explanation and the dawning realization, the government officer finally addresses Shi Xiang who has reported the case to the authority. "Is this a threat?" And the name of that government officer was- Hu Wu. Of course, despite it being a region on the outer edge of the Hu family territory, it was still within the Hu family''s influence after all. Shi Xiang stares at Hu Wu. His family name was originally not Hu, however, the first lady of the Hu family become infatuated with the man''s beauty and decide to take him as her husband no matter what. Laughed at as the Hu family''s parasite, Hu Wu is still considered Hu De, Shi Xiang''s love rival, brother-in-law. However due to an altercation with his wife, Hu Wu is staying here for now until she cools her temper. All thing consider, Hu Wu was said to be a good governor to the people. However the day that Shi Xiang was forced to crawl out of the Hu manor, Hu Wu was there, but he didn''t even say a word to the spectacle. It''s clear that despite his reputation, Hu Wu still knows the heaviness of "pride and honor" and will always choose to favor his wife''s family in the end. Shi Xiang looks at Hu Wu. Considering beauty, Shi Xiang is more beautiful than him, just a bit however. Even so, staring at Shi Xiang''s face without being intimidated is a hard task. Still, Shi Xiang chooses to stay neutral. "In this world of cultivation, if you face injustice, you fall back to your sect, if you don''t have a sect, you fall back to your family, if you are not part of a sect or a powerful clan, you are like me. I could only report the situation to the government, hoping that the father and mother of the citizens will look after their own and find the true mastermind behind everything." With a straight face, Shi Xiang told him that. In this situation, normally, the government guards would have beaten him within an inch of his life, letting him crawl out of the front gate. However, no one present is confident in doing that at this moment. "It''s true..." A small whisper could be heard in the room. The government guards look at Shi Xiang with a fearful eye. They could not sense his cultivation being any higher than the foundation formation stage, but with all the corpses here, who has done it? If it is really true that Shi Xiang has an ascended master, wouldn''t they be throwing their life away trying to bully Shi Xiang? The sky outside is clear of any cloud. The people inside fear that lightning would strike at any moment notice in the middle of the day. "Shi Xiang. I heard that lately you have been selling calligraphy right?" Suddenly Hu Wu starts speaking with an affable voice. Shi Xiang looks at him. "Yes. But business hasn''t been good lately." "If everyone''s life is already peaceful, why rock the boat and be the grass in the wind." "Of course, but even if I want to be the calm grass growing on the ground, these dastardly masterminds do not let me be. I hope the great lord would get to the bottom of this to punish the dastardly villain who smear your family''s great name." Walking away from the situation, Shi Xiang leaves a frustrated Hu Wu in the room. Immediately, Hu Wu breaks out his emergency measure and contact his family''s men. Shi Xiang on the other hand... He really didn''t know before hand that Hu Wu was the government officer! Now he invites even more troublesome thing to his immediate future! At that moment, Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu, who is currently trekking on a mountain path made out of corpses happens to check up on the Heavenly Dao Discussion. He happens upon the video of Shi Xiang randomly being assaulted in raw daylight by assassins, and the immediate result. Needless to say Yan Yu was extremely amused and stop his trek for a moment. 23. From the start, you have been played Shi Xiang receives no message even as Yan Yu comes online. Yating has been avoiding the whole discussion for the last few days to gather her thought. He went home alone. His old bamboo home that was rebuilt from the remnant of the old one. In this home remains the memory of his time with Liu Xun, his old childhood sweetheart. Shi Xiang used to love hearing his name called when he returned home, however just like how his home was burnt down and rebuilt, nothing from those time remains. Not even the feeling. Shi Xiang took a bath in the old wooden tub. Normally water is meant to purify the unclean, for cultivator even moreso. There are body cleansing medicinal bath meant to do exactly that. Extracting the impurity from the body of a cultivator to improve their cultivation. Usually after such a bath, the water would become extremely unclean, worst than sewage, even poisonous. However, after Shi Xiang took a bath, the water is clearer than before he took a bath. He leaves the water for later to water his garden. Then he pretends to ignore the men that has been following him ever since he left the government office. These people are from the Hu family. Immediately after he left, Hu Wu has contacted his family men to keep an eye on Shi Xiang, however no one dare to make a move. Among them is one head butler from the Hu family itself. Among the servants, his cultivation was the greatest so he personally takes this task. Even still, he is dissatisfied. "That bastard Shi Xiang, how dare he made a scene to humiliate the Hu family like that? Just because he has a backing now, he dares to show off? If it was before, let see if your grandfather would let you be or not." The head butler''s relationship with the Hu family... he has been working for the family for more than 30 years. He may be a lowly one, but he has been looking over the family for all of those 30 years. Working up slowly from a position of servant to a grander position. And among the descendant of the Hu family, Hu De was his favorite young master. The head butler was the one who burnt Shi Xiang''s house down, on Hu De''s behalf. From his point of view, life like Shi Xiang was lower than dirt. If they dare to become an obstacle to the Hu family, they may as well be grounded into oblivion. That night, Shi Xiang sleeps tight in his home while the head butler of the Hu family considers gathering firewood and oil and burn Shi Xiang''s house down one again with Shi Xiang inside. A distance thunder changes his mind. Shi Xiang ignores all of it to have a good night sleep. In the morning, Shi Xiang poses in front of the mirror alone, and then he threw the old bath water out, using it to water the vegetation. The Hu family men who has been staying awake all night seeing the commotion immediately straighten up at the sight. The moment the water touch the vegetation, the flower and herb seem to come alive. Like a lover caressing each other, the vegetation, gently touches Shi Xiang as he passes. This is clear to everyone except Shi Xiang who ignores it. There is a story called Flower-touched, where a man''s red spider lily come to life and become the man''s lover. Of course for cultivators, they don''t believe it and think it''s the common people''s nonsense. But this scene seem like it comes straight from the book. "This phenomenon... That water has some profoundness to it! Immediately, after he leaves, dig out the root and extract the water. Gather some plant sample too, it may be beneficial to our master''s cultivation." The men from the Hu family was extremely spooked after seeing the phenomenon even as they follow Shi Xiang around. The scene of the flower moving like they were alive scared them into thinking that at any moment the flower would come alive, and it would be just like "Flower-touched" all over again with a red demoness that suck out cultivation and bring disaster. When Shi Xiang crosses a bridge, a lady in red appears and greets him in a friendly manner. This lady is... not the red spider lily in Shi Xiang garden, but the men from the Hu family believes it all the same. And then they run. The lady was there to buy calligraphy. Her name is Kong Lingxin, the heiress of another famous family within the continent, the Kong family. Apparently after hearing of Shi Xiang''s calligraphy fame, she has come to buy something for her father. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. However Shi Xiang stops her. "Beautiful calligraphy only has one owner. If it was the lady who chose it, it would belong to you and not your father." The prestigious lady Kong Lingxin was not angry. "Everything that belong to their children would belong to their parents. That is parental fealty. Something that I buy for my father would be the same as my father who buy it." Shi Xiang does not know how to refuse it. However, he continues "However, such calligraphy may not be what your father wanted. It would be best if he is the one who buy it himself. Whatever you choose, it has to be something you wanted, this is the motto of this shop." Instead of refuting him about inviting someone like her father to a small shop like this, the lady only smiles "Something that I wanted huh?" The lady jade-like hand moves toward the calligraphy. Suddenly their hands touch. "Ah." Shi Xiang withdraw his hand. It was because the result was out of his expectation. The lady from the Kong family chooses both. And the System Notice also counted her as of the buyer at that moment. "I''m sorry." Shi Xiang bows his head. "Nothing. It was nothing." The lady forgives him. After all if they look at the two at that moment, Shi Xiang is nothing more like a big pile of cow dung on the road and the lady, the flower at that moment. Despite his beautiful face, Shi Xiang does not groom himself, or wear good clothes. After the he was reborn, things like beautiful clothes is a foreign concept to Shi Xiang. "It''s empty today isn''t it?" Suddenly the lady says. Shi Xiang as the seller still bows respectfully. "Ah. It was because of me. I have to deal with a bunch of ruffian yesterday, so that may have chased the potential customers away." At that moment, Shi Xiang could feel a strange anger from the lady, however that moment pass. "I already heard the rumor. It was the Hu family wasn''t it? Those loathsome coward only know to rely on force." With a disdain, suddenly the lady says. "I always want to do something about them. But the Kong family and the Hu family is on equal term, and nothing can be done." Saying that, the lady shakes her head. Suddenly she took out one of her handkerchief and hands it to Shi Xiang. "This must be fate. Take this, the next time something happens, you could take this to the Kong manor. With enough evidences, we could bring you justice." Suddenly she notices a third party and her face turns strange. "What is this about justice?" It was the scholarly man from the other day who is looking quite pleased at that moment. Following him is not the two masters from the other day, there are two newcomers. "Hello. I''m bringing two new customers. Give me some face and help them with choosing what is suited for them okay?" The man looks over at lady Kong Lixing with surprise face, but then it turns into intrigue and quickly amusement. He didn''t say anything, and the two newcomers make their purchase. Again, they choose the two teaching from Yan Yu. From the start, excluding the scholarly man, everyone chose the calligraphy that tries to copy Yan Yu. For the normal people, their live are hard. After that, the man and Kong Lixing leaves. "System Notice: Mission: As before, so after. Pass on what you have learned and improve the cultivation level of the people with the right mindset. Write down the teaching of Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie and Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu and sell it to more than 3000 people (0009/3000, incomplete) Reward: Video Replay System" Shi Xiang feels that something is amidst, but he can''t quite place what is wrong. Suddenly, as if choosing the exact moment to interfere, Yan Yu opens a chat window. "Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu: How is it going Shi Xiang?" Exchanging a few small word, Shi Xiang dutifully retold what happened the last few days. Yan Yu sitting on the other side of the screen was extremely amused. However he only types one sentence back. "Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu: Of course something is wrong, from the start, you have been played." After that he sits back to see how things would turn out. 24. Looking back at a continent far above everyone Looking back at a continent far above everyone. "My master." It has been almost a month since Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect Zheng Jie disappeared, to the confusion of everyone. To his sect, to his friend, to his ally, even to his enemies. There has been a few change within the Heavenly Court itself. It''s said that after that banquet, a few masters have mysteriously "disappeared". The one who disappeared all have a decent standing within the cultivation world. After all, the one who is invited to the Royal Banquet could not be normal. And yet, one by one, they disappear. Among them is the Heavenly Saint. According to custom, his sole disciple, Lang Li takes the reign in controlling the sect. Only in a month time, a lot of things have changed. Even though nobody believe that the Heavenly Saint really did go and die, the Heavenly Sword Sect obey Lang Li''s order all the same. Contrary to expectation, Lang Li was extremely controlling. Nobody know where that girl get her confidence and competence from, all the same she is still the Heavenly Saint disciple, she has the right to do that. The first thing she did is to tighten control on the branch sect. Even in the lower continent, orders have been passed down. Back when Zheng Jie was in charge, he was really hand off about Sect matter. With an eye for choosing people, he chose those with good characters and let them take care of matter within the sect. The other branch sect is almost completely foreign to him. He prefers that they deal with their own matter, only reporting back if something has really happened. Lang Li''s policy was the complete opposite. She wants stronger control on the loosely connected sect, even the branch sects from the lower continents. Soon enough, a letter will be sent to all sect masters of the branch sects within the Nine Cloud Kingdom. With this control, what she wants to do with the lower continents is beyond everyone. The change in her demeanor is unclear to everyone except herself. As the disciple of the Heavenly Saint walked down the path of the Sword Saint manor toward Zheng Jie''s living space, she felt the cold. Before that, Lang Li has never felt the cold within this desolate place. However, now she feels the coldness biting down on her being. Without utilizing her cultivation, she may even be harmed, just like the sky, the earth and everything within the radius of the Sword Saint manor. Within the 100,000,000 km radius surrounding the Sword Saint manor, there exist no living being. Not even bugs or vegetation. The air is clean, the Qi is concentrated, it is good for cultivation. However, nothing live within that absolute space. With a coat, Lang Li went to where the cold is concentrated the most. "My master..." Lang Li touches some old canvas within Zheng Jie living space. Removing the binding, there are various paintings within the room. It seems before Lang Li became the disciple of the Heavenly Saint, the Heavenly Saint used to draw. It''s a story from a very, very long time ago. It was all the way back when the Sect master himself was still just a disciple. He has a strange habit of putting everything on painting. Practice, he needs not. His talents seemingly come from nowhere. Among the paintings, perhaps the most central color is red. The Sect Master used to love the color red within his paintings, red, red like blood, red, red like lipstick, red, red like a woman on her wedding day. However, as a practitioner, even back then, the sect master did not draw women. It leads to unwanted desire he said, indeed, when a prodigy painter draw, he puts his entire being upon the canvas. The Sect master only draw landscape, building and other beautiful scenery. There was only one exception to the "do not draw woman" rule. But it was only one time, and the significant was lost to him. However as the years pass, suddenly the Sect Master left the canvas behind. Sealing his drawing pen, the Sect Master does not draw again. Concentrating on his cultivation, he said this Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. "Attachment only lead to more attachment, it is better to let go of the past." The painting immortalize a scene and frozen it in time. Indeed by stopping, the Sect Master has let go of the past. However, that was not what he means by letting go of the past. Indeed the Heavenly Saint does not care about his old paintings any more, however someone has taken liberty with preserving the artwork. How Lang Li knows about these painting is a secret. Well, not so much a secret to herself. It was the same reason her demeanor has changed. Remembering the Royal Banquet within the Heavenly Court almost a month back, the disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect Sect Master has accepted a cup of wine from the Heavenly Queen herself. At that time, immediately Lang Li realized that something was wrong. Her inner desire and yearning was brought to the forefront, and the heat in her body rise significantly. It did nothing. The criteria of choosing inheriting disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect may not consider talent, but it considers character. Even though she was a "talentless" girl, Lang Li''s temperament is the closest to the Sect Master when he was starting out. Because of that, she could not be consumed by her own desire. However, the one who is after her is very powerful, extremely so. She was afraid that even if she runs back to her sect with the Heaven and Earth gate, even the best disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect could not stop the enemies. No, the only one who could bring a stop to this is the Heavenly Sword Sect Sect master. However, when she manages to run back to the Sword Saint manor, Zheng Jie was already gone. There was no one to stop the tragedy that was about to happen. Because Lang Li herself would not give in, the person currently standing inside the Sword Saint manor is not Lang Li. She has been replaced by a completely different person with the same body, same face, same manner, but a completely different mind. And that stranger Lang Li is currently perusing the memento of the Sect Master. Suddenly her eyes widen, fear completely capture her. Strange emotion resurface within Lang Li''s body. It was because the person who is standing behind her is the one she has to fear the most from. Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie. Zheng Jie appears out of nowhere. Her advance mind was thinking a million different thing, all with the conclusion that he would realize what happened to his prized disciple and she would die. However, the Sect Master, looking like he has just been through a desperate life or death fight, did not see through her. He could not see that there is anyone other than his disciple, Lang Li within the room. He could not see through her. "What are you doing here?" Lang Li bows respectfully to her absent master and greet him. "Disciple Lang Li greet master. Your disappearance has caused some small disturbances within the sect. Every day, I have been here, awaiting your return." "I don''t need anyone to await for my return." Instead of being offended by his disciple thinking that he was not strong enough to get out of the situation he found himself in, the Heavenly Saint judges that Lang Li was reasonable and sent her away. "I will explain later, but now you should return to your place and rest. You must have had a hard time with the sect in my absent." So saying, Lang Li walks away. With one quick glance back, Lang Li left the room. She has a lot of questions, some, she could not ask Zheng Jie. Unaware of his disciple thought, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect Zheng Jie immediately turns on the System Interface and look for the Heavenly Dao Discussion. Immediately after his return, to everyone''s confusion, the Sect Master has one thing to say. "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie: Shi Xiang, perhaps you should talk with your fiancee again." Zhang Yating, who has been avoiding the Heavenly Dao Discussion for the last few days only has question marks in her mind when she sees the message. "Huh? Who is this guy?" 25. From a certain point of view System Notice:...!" Stone Chakravartin:...!" System Notice: ...Could you please not change your name without accessing the System interface first?" 26. If you didnt seek death... 2 "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie: Shi Xiang, you definitely must not abandon Liu Xun." That was the first thing that come to Zheng Jie after he comes back. "Wait for me-" That was what he was about to type, but realizing just what he is doing at the last moment, the sect master stops himself in his track. His mind was full of conflicting emotion. Just what is this "Many Paths of Reincarnation" that affect such a master so deeply? This matter, perhaps in this lifetime, Zheng Jie will never tell anyone. For a moment, he felt "love". The Many Paths of Reincarnation was just that, the moment Zheng Jie pressed that button once upon a time, he enters into the many paths of reincarnation. Remembering it, the life that he experience seems so close and yet so distance. The moment the sect master activates the system''s "Many paths of reincarnation", he experienced the life of another person. The up and down of that person''s life was supposed to be nothing in an enlightened saint''s eyes, however how could it be that easy. Only when he left behind everything and starts living earnestly as a normal person, not the disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect''s Sect Master, not someone who was enlightened since when he was young, does everything come into perspective. The turbulent life, it was a short life. Not even stepping past 18 years of age, that was the life that the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect has lived, once he activated the Many paths of Reincarnation system. 18 years are short, not even a blink in a cultivator''s eyes, especially not even in an enlightened saint''s eyes, but only when he is the participant of such a story, was his heart moved. For the first time in 2000 years, Zheng Jie''s heart moves. It was a fabricated life, nothing to him at all, but damn it- He can''t let go. That was what the words "Wait for me-" mean. The moment the heavenly saint realizes the fact is the moment he stops himself. His heart has moved, but there are certain boundary that should not be broken. Especially if the other life was a fabricated one, a long dream, a dream of love. The events in the dream could never have happened based on what Zheng Jie knows and the person in the dream would never recognize him. They were not related in any way, and yet still... His heart moves. It was an unfamiliar feeling. Zheng Jie curses the unresponsive system for blessing him with a curse. For the first time in years, there is a change in his cultivation. However, whether the change is good or bad, Zheng Jie could not decide yet. All he knows is that, there has been a change in him. He curses the system for playing such a trick on him, no matter how much it benefits him. At that moment however, a bolt of lightning appears in the sky and strike down the Sword Saint Abode just as Zheng Jie curses the person behind his predicament. Naturally even a heaven sent calamity could not get through the mysterious aura that has covered the Sword Saint Abode for millenias, however it did get the sword saint to look. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Zheng Jie looks at the thunder and lightning, many thoughts ran through his head, but none of it is correct. The heaven sent a calamity after he curses the person behind his strange fate, however how could the System be the one to send the Lightning when it is as unresponsive as the heaven above? The moment he curse the person behind his terrible fate, the heaven itself sent thunder and lightning down to punish him. Zheng Jie does not understand, but he believes that everything has a cause. Looking at the faraway lightning, only worries fill his heart. "Fairy Yijun: What are you talking about, you bastard Zheng Jie?" At that moment someone completely unrelated interrupt the discussion. ... "Eh? Fairy Yijun. What relationship does she have with this sect master?" Yating who was reading the chat mutters. On the other side of the mansion, her uncle Xingyue was listening. He has been listening for a few days trying to find any strange happening, but there was nothing, except for that girl doing strange thing in her room. But it''s a lady room so he cannot be that discourteous, but now finally something happens. "Fairy Yijun? Sect Master?... So it was really a cultivator who is behind this. Very well, let your father here see which one of you has the gut to touch my little niece." With a fist, Lei Xingyue crushes the tea cup made from mysterious jade next to him into nothingness. "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie..." Yating continues to read the screen. At that moment, Lei Xingue on the other side of the mansion almost spits out blood. "Z-Zheng Jie? That Zheng Jie?" That Heavenly Saint, who is as difficult to meet as climbing toward the heaven? That Zheng Jie who if Lei Xingyue back then has begged for assistance then things may have changed? That Zheng Jie who is friend with the most important person in the whole Nine Cloud Kingdome right now? That Zheng Jie? And more importantly, Lei Xingyue''s niece even reads the man''s title accurately. Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect. There may be many "Heavenly Sword Sect" in the Nine Cloud Kingdom due to them opening branch sects everywhere. There is also many "sect master", but there is only one Zheng Jie who the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, the Zheng Jie who in this heaven and earth has always gone by that name. With a handkerchief, Lei Xingyue tries to wipe his mouth "Where did she heard that name? It is a name I haven''t heard in a long long time..." "Bastard Zheng Jie?..." At that moment Yating continues to mutter in her room, dealing critical damage to her uncle on the other side of the mansion. At that moment, Fang Yijun does not fear death. "Fairy Yijun: Damn you. I have been waiting a long time for this. Do you know what happened to me after listening to your advice? Do you know how horrible your sect is?!" Fairy Yijun does not fear death. 27. Amusing. I accept her There are time when you have to make sacrifice on the path of cultivation. Kowtowing to a stronger cultivator, kowtowing to your senior within a sect, kowtowing to someone with connection. However, sacrifice is meaningless when everyone around you are mad. Listening to Zheng Jie, and respecting his feats, Fang Yijun seeks out his sect, even if it is just branch sect because she believes that one day if she joins that sect, she could be as strong as him too. She was prepared to make sacrifice, even with Zheng Jie not helping her because after the PvP battle, he has been silent. She was expecting to work her way up the sect, without any favor whatsoever. But the moment she entered this sect is when found out just how wrong she was for listening to Zheng Jie. Even if she screams, no one would listen to her, and that bastard Zheng Jie isn''t answering either. There was a time Yan Yu was silent too, and he didn''t offer any advice either. He just relentless mock her. On that day after she escapes from the guards, Dong Yu and Dai Qiu, Yijun runs desperately to the nearest town she could find. It turns out she was out in the edge of continent, the farthest reach of the continent where no one frequent. However it seems in this far out place, the branch sect of the Heavenly Sword Sect chose to take root. The journey toward the heart of the continent outright is a tribulation in its own right. It is a nightmare trek, filled with treacherous beasts and poisonous illusion made by the immortal trees growing around the edge of the continent. Only someone who could pass that treacherous journey from the heart of the continent is worthy of joining the sect is probably the reason. By chance, of all place, Yijun manages to ascend right there. But that fortune of her definitely has to be a misfortune because that sect... that sect... On her escape, Yijun found a small shelter that seems to have other people inside on the side of the road. It''s an abandoned settlement, but due to chance, on that day, there was people there. At first she was glad to have found other people on her treacherous escape. The first person she met was a gentleman, beautiful more than anything she has seen before. Yijun is sure that the guy did something to her. However she chose to play along, pretending to be woo by that visage. She only needs direction toward the Heavenly Sword Sect, and then she can escape into the earth again. "Brother. You have to save me. I just recently ascended but there are two ugly guards who tried to take advantage of me." As expected, the man gently pull her closer while patting her back in a comforting fashion. She immediately knew he was a pervert. That kind of man she has met countless time before in her youth. That is the wisdom of a 500+ year old cultivator who has turned back time for herself to look young again. Sometime she wonders if she shouldn''t have performed the Earth Reborn Technique after all, beauty only bring disaster after all. However, this much, she can cope with. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "There there. With me here, no one would dare to do anything." However, the man was even more bold, continuing to molest her. Immediately she tries to escape the situation. "Ah brother. I''m so thankful ah. However, no worry, I already have a senior up here awaiting for me. You only need to show me to this place and I will be forever thankful. That place is calle-" Suddenly from inside the shelter, there was a crashing sound, and someone crush the door to piece to walk out. Even the pervert seems surprised even though he was with the person inside, as if he didn''t expect that person to show his face. After all, Yijun has to contain her scream. That person was covered in blood. His own blood. "Ah sect master..." The pervert immediately let go and pretend that nothing has happened. The man continues to puke out blood on his shirt while his face can only be described with one word. Menacing. The man doesn''t even seem lucid but he was standing. "What happened here?" With an intimidating voice, the man command Yijun after looking at her. "...I was just going to enter the Heavenly Sword Sect." Everyone present immediately quiet at that moment. Even the pervert was looking at her as if she has just requested a death wish. At that moment, Yijun didn''t know... She didn''t know how horrible the branch sect of the Heavenly Sword Sect is. She didn''t know that the lecherous man and the mad man in front of her was the leadership of the Heavenly Sword Sect. Suddenly, the bloodied man laughs "Amusing. I accept her." ... Apparently the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Ren Cheng was infamous within the continent for being cruel and tyrannical. He seeks out powerful masters and challenge them. If they accept his challenge, he cripple and kill them with his domineering sword technique. If they refuse, he cripple and kill them and destroy their entire sect or clan with them. Apparently the entire continent know just how bloodthirsty the man is. Well, the entire continent, except her. Zheng Jie didn''t know either, he didn''t know about someone continents away, who has a habit of killing or causing bloodshed. There is only word to describe his ambition. Bloodthirst. The man is extremely bloodthirsty. Even his sect disciple, sometime he kills them out right. That was what Yijun heard immediately after coming back with the two men and joining the sect. She immediately tried to contact Zheng Jie after that but- Silence. There was only silence. The Sect Master is a mad man who thirsts for blood and kill without abandon. The second in command is lecherous man who has taken notice of her. Just what did she get herself into? 28. Its that easy "What are you doing bitch? Just because you have beauty, you were instantly accepted by the Sect Master and the Vice Sect Master. However, where is that beauty now? Huh? Without your pretty little face, you are just another face in the crowd, no one will even look at you." After an "accident", Yijun lost her face. It was due to the perverted man''s jealous lover. However, it was predicted by Yan Yu, who mocked her with an infuriating remark. "Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu: Purity? What good is that? Why don''t you get it over with and receive benefits from the guy?" However amongst the mocking, there was genuine advice hidden "Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu: However, if it is important to you, if it is something you think you definitely cannot give up, or that you definitely cannot lose to him, why don''t you cut up that pretty little face of your. He will lose interests hmm, your life will be difficult for a while. But remember that grievances. He doesn''t notice you anymore, but you remember him. You remember everything that he did, and one day perhaps you could be something and solve your grievances. ...Or perhaps not. You are just you after all, someone who can''t recognize the sky and the earth. Ha ha, perhaps this grievances won''t be answered even thousand of years later." That was the way Yan Yu sees it, either kneel and follow someone stronger or accept the humiliation and rise up ever stronger. That is the way things are in hell. There is also a third path, the one who can''t adapt die. That was what happened to countless people, countless cultivators everywhere. The world changes, if you can''t dominate it or adapt to it, you will be expelled from the world. Just like what Yan Yu was doing then. After meeting Zheng Jie, he realizes the world out there is wider than he thought. There are peak masters on the other side who can match him. Even if it will be a costly victory for them, Yan Yu will perish, his hatred against the Heaven will disappear. It could not disappear! That is why for the first time in centuries, The Black Devil, the hidden ruler of Hell makes a serious claim of being the strongest in Hell. Strongest, of course he knows he is already the strongest, and that there wouldn''t even be a cultivator with the ability to contest that claim in Hell. However, there are one with the ability to contest that claim, but that person doesn''t have the ability to speak up. It''s because the one with the claim to the title of the strongest was a dead man. But that is another story, currently Yan Yu is staring at the screen with the urge to type something. However, he stops himself. "All thing in due time." He cannot answer to that other from the side of the Heaven Path Cultivators yet. Yan Yu looks back at the mountain of corpses surrounding him and the System Interface. ...Perhaps he will watch the play unfold some more before resuming. "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie:...ah. That is too bad." Yan Yu was expecting an outburst from Yijun again, especially after she has lost her face, Zheng Jie does not know about such facts and yet make such an insensitive remark. It is not like he could do something either. If Yan Yu was not wrong, the continents are too far away, if Zheng Jie descended he may destroy the continent by being there. If Zheng Jie descended and try to limit his cultivation, he will damage his cultivation. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. It''s doubtful that any masters on such a level would risk that. Especially if Zheng Jie is like Yan Yu, awaiting that day the two will meet again in that distance PvP battlefield... However, Zheng Jie''s typing was faster. "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie: Perhaps it is fate that we can''t cross path. However if such a horrible sect exist, I would want to leave to. I does not mind." Yan Yu stares at the strangely insensitive remark again. Normally isn''t this guy one of the holier than thou type who tries to uphold his image? Just what is he doing? How does he expect Fairy Yijun to change sect without risking her life, especially now that she has lost her face. "This Zheng Jie guy is horrible." Zhang Yating continues to say in another room, continuing to give her uncle heart attack. However, the Heavenly Saint indeed did have a plan. "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie: Just wait for me for a few days, after a few days reorganizing my main sect, I will personally ask another master to take you into his sect, you can ask one thing from him, no matter what, I will do my best to provide it." Everyone was surprise, how could a master on such a level like Zheng Jie comes to such a small continent? It''s unlikely for the continent to contain them as Yijun and Shi Xiang has seen before hand just how powerful a master is. They don''t expect someone like Zheng Jie or Yan Yu descending on their continent, ever. However, there was indeed someone like that. It was someone Zheng Jie met long before, who was plagued with the matter of his daughter in the past. If possible, Zheng Jie would have asked the man to help with the organizing of the Heavenly Sword Sect through out the Nine Cloud Kingdom, however, the man was having his own trouble, so the Heavenly Saint was polite and didn''t intrude. However, it seems from the Royal Banquet, the man''s long lost daughter has returned, filling the man with joy. Zheng Jie does not know what happened, but it seems this is a good time to ask him. Also, it is a good time to ask him to get rid of the disgrace upon his sect''s name that was Ren Cheng and his advisor. Of anyone, those two who give the Heavenly Sword Sect a bad name is not allowed to live. "Fairy Yijun: Huh? Bastard Zheng Jie, what do you mean? One of your friend will descend? How could it be that easy!?" But indeed it was that easy. In this world, there was a strange sect with a paradoxical motto. The great sect founder once said "The more you travel (experience), the harder it is to cultivate. And so, my disciples, we should travel." The Free Travel Sect has experience with descending upon many smaller participle world and walking the world just as a man of that participle world would. Many laughs at them, saying that it does not improve their cultivation, however the Free Travel Sect member ignores all of that ridicule and live their life following their own philosophy. Zheng Jie starts thinking about it, if it is possible, he could ask for the Free Travel Sect to help Shi Xiang and Liu Xun matter too, no matter what favor they want, he is sure as the sect master of the strongest sect under heaven, he could afford it. So saying, he starts making a plan. However, at that moment, someone who is completely unused to the cultivation types "Princess Yating: I have a question. What is descending?" 29. Inner Steel Heart manual "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie: Oh who is this new fellow cultivator?" "Fairy Yijun: Goddamn it Yan Yu, I swear if you don''t show your face right now, I''m never going to leave you alone again." The moment Yating was brought up, Yijun immediately types to distract the sect master. In this world, really only Yan Yu could distract the sect master but he has been quiet since the start. The moment he reads that comment, the Black Devil Yan Yu falls over laughing on the other side of the screen. Sure in every day conversation, she never appreciates him but when it comes to that guy, she comes running to him for help. To answer her resentment, he chooses not to answer. Even though the only thing he is doing now is reading the comments on the Heavenly Dao Discussion, Devil Path Ancestor Yan Yu chooses not to answer. He understands perfectly clear why she comes running to him "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie: Yan Yu! Where is that devil?" Seeing him being addressed directly like that, finally Yan Yu relents "Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu: All thing in due time." And with that there was no other words from him, it seems the sect master also understand. ''No more words, next time me meet, let''s settle it on the battlefield'' After that, there was no more words from the Devil Ancestor "Fairy Yijun: Yan Yu. I hate you." "Princess Yating: What you mean Fairy Yijun? I was just asking what descending mean, the people around all talk about it but they never told me what it means. Even uncle Lei, what does that has to do with Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu." Of course all the people talk. After all her uncle Lei was one of the most prominent cultivator who descended. Everyone knows that he is powerful, but always thought that he was one of those who cannot survive in the higher realm. He forbids everyone from talking about cultivation to Yating, leading to her growing up without any cultivation at all. There was one close call before. Yating didn''t know about it but something something Sect Masters of such and such sect from this continent, infamous for their domineering something something got too big for their britches and thought to challenge Lei Xingyue. Even Lei Xingyue doesn''t know who that guy is, and the only noticeable thing about him is that he was in charge of a branch sect of a big famous sect from above. Honestly Lei Xingyue never even has him in his eyes, no one from this continent could even compare to his previous splendor for that matter. But that person has the gall to call out Lei Xingyue when he was away on business, threaten his servants at home and hold the Lei manor hostage with Zhang Yating inside it. If it wasn''t for the Hua family timely report, thing may have gotten bad. However, Lei Xingyue was noticed on time, got home immediately, and then humiliate that cultivator by beating the shit out of him without moving a single finger. He lets him live out of respect for the big famous sect from the higher continent. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. By the way, the name of that cultivator who was also the sect master of a certain branch sect was R*n Ch*ng However, outside of that one time, Yating was never acquaintance with the immortal world at all. His reasoning was defeatist. He saw no way to beat that woman at all. His friend, Yating''s father was too blinded by that woman. If he went against her, he went against the whole nine continents. Even though he said he would protect her until that woman has been taken care of, Lei Xingyue doesn''t believe that woman is going to lose at all. If Yating was to cultivate, with her genetic being from the Heavenly Emperor himself, she is going to be either dragon or phoenix. But at that point, can Lei Xingyue protects her anymore? If she rises to prominence, the other woman will notice her. When Lei Xingyue chooses to escape to a small continent faraway from the first continent as possible, he has his reasoning. He wanted to protect her. However he never has a dream of defeating that woman and return Yating to her rightful place. He was content with her growing up peacefully in a small continent. It was defeatist but in a way he is still protecting her now. However, despite all of Lei Xingyue scheming, all of that does not matter anymore, because right now, his sweet little niece is about to slam head first into the world of cultivation. It was all thank to the Heavenly Dao Discussion. "Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie: So little Yating, what do want to learn first, the Flawless Beginner Swordsmanship manual or the Inner Steel Heart manual?" Immediately after knowing that Yating was not a cultivator at all, that was the Heavenly Saint first reaction. "System Notice: Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie has received a warning. "Please don''t impose yourself on young impressionable mind too much" " Zheng Jie looks at the system warning and ignore it. In his experience, the system only start banning until after the third strike except or some extraordinary circumstance, and right now it has not banned him yet. Perhaps it is because what he is doing is good to the world at a whole, passing down instruction manual from his master to him. Of course a few thing Zheng Jie always forget is that nobody actually practice the Inner Steel Heart manual anymore. The so call "hardest" inner cultivation manual, also the "worst" cultivation manual everywhere, also the cultivation manual that "actively damage your cultivation", also the cultivation manual that "turn even a genius into a waste". It was the same cultivation manual that he lets his only disciple practice. If he gets a male disciple, he will let him practice that too. And that is also the reason why, his only female disciple, Lang Li has been the laughing stock of the whole cultivation world for the last 10 years without her knowing. In all 10 years, her cultivation didn''t improve even one. That is the kind of cultivation manual he was presenting 30. Shi Xiang is the third victim of the Inner Steel Heart manual "It''s a hard road. But if you work hard, you will build a fortitude of mind unlike no one before you. So go little Yating. Step into the world of cultivation." After that, sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie turns away, looking at the report Lang Li has left for him. He has never even once suspect his disciple of anything, and trust her words on that basis. The moment he reads on the missing masters part, there was a small smile that graces his face. "Finally everything is coming into place. After this, the Nine Cloud Kingdom will be purged of all corrupting influences." He trusts his disciple and did not see through her replacement. He did not see the conspiracy being created in the background behind his back either. However, it is not like the Heavenly Saint does not have his own arrangements. While everyone knows him as straight forward, being oblivious to all the schemes around you only leads to death within the cultivation world. Every day, countless top masters disappear without even a hint of resistance. It was because the force used against them was too great for any single master to fight, however that force was not Zheng Jie. Everything was going into place. At that moment, seeing the expert sending a manual, even Yijun also got a bit greedy. That guy is ungodly strong, just how heaven defying is his cultivation manual going to be? She clicks on the Inner Steel Heart manual and starts studying it. Shi Xiang with his curiosity also clicks on the manual. However he was still in the business of running a calligraphy shop, so he doesn''t have the luxury of cultivating right then. However, he is sure that whatever teaching the great sect master has, it is going to enlightening. Zhang Yating only looks at the instruction with a curious eyes. She still doesn''t know what everyone means, but if she follows this instruction it is going to be clear right? With a strange familiarity upon hearing the name, the Black Devil, whose name is Yan Yu open the manual. ''Before you cultivate the body, you have to cultivate your heart. Sharper than blade, more durable than steel. Never straying, never faltering. Like a blade standing under the heaven. If you fail, fall away forever That is the meaning of cultivation.'' The condition was extremely harsh as is the meaning behind it. You have to follow the one path, without failing or else your cultivation would be harmed. With that kind of harshness, a hardened heart and mind is formed. Completely rigid without changing, a cultivator practicing this manual must not falter or even waver out of the correct path. Even in their every day life, they must live in according to the law of heaven, if they falter, they will fail. In their heart, they still must follow the truest path, and there need to be no hesitation, else they would fail. In cultivation, they must not even have a bit of hesitation, the Inner Steel Heart cultivation is extremely hostile to other method of cultivation. If you cut off in the middle, changing your cultivation method, you will lose more than when you start cultivation. Frankly speaking, it is an inappropriate teaching to pass down to someone who just start cultivation. Actually, it is inappropriate to pass it down at all. It is something that shape the very core of a person''s philosophy. An extremely rigid mindset, only knowing "righteousness". And yet, Yan Yu did not laugh at the sect master passing down such a things to innocent mind who didn''t know better. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. It was because at that moment, he has another thing on his mind. "Inner Steel Heart manual... now where did I hear that name from before?..." He whispers to no one. "...Of course, once upon a time, I was the one who write it and pass it on to my sect... ...The Heavenly Sword Sect... So Zheng Jie really did come from me then." It was a story from a very long time ago when Yan Yu was a different man. Lei Xingyue knocks on his niece''s door, hoping to bring up the matter that he has "accidentally overheard" in a discrete way. However, immediately he barges in after sensing something was wrong. "Yating stops! Who taught you that crummy method?" Back in her own room in the branch sect of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Fairy Yijun was applying a black powder on her face. It was a poison means to exaggerate the scar on her face even worse. It was because of her cultivation method, the Earth Reborn Technique, was an extreme rejuvenating method. Even wear and tear from a life time could be reverse, let alone some scars? It is not known how long until that master that bastard Zheng Jie sent will come, she needs to maintain her "beauty" after all. She needs to maintain it so that pervert does not come after her again. After all that time, the Earth Reborn Technique was truly an amazing cultivation method that has followed her all this time, and even allowed her to ascend. However, is it better than something that bastard Zheng Jie has though? ...She is only going to take a quick look. In her room, alone, Fang Yijun suddenly spits out blood, cursing Zheng Jie''s name to high heaven, while quickly shifting her inner energy to start cultivating with the Earth Reborn Technique to revert the damage. All her method to keep the scars on was for naught as the moment all the earth energy start rushing to her in that panic, all the poison was removed, and the scar starts closing. Though it is unknown where that burst of energy comes from, seeing as the Heavenly Sword Sect was a "sword" sect, they don''t cultivate that kind of Earth energy within their ground. Then and only then, did a System Notice appears: "System Notice: Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie has been banned for three days." Looking at the sudden notice, the sect master actually has a look of surprise on his face. He didn''t even do anything or type anything to the system in the last three hours. If it was for the Inner Steel Heart manual then why didn''t the System bans him then instead of now? Truly, there are still many more secrets to this system. The reason was very simple however. At that moment, there was a conversation that no one in the Heavenly Dao Discussion notice, which lead to the 3 days ban of Zheng Jie. Finally, after closing his shop, Shi Xiang goes home, ignoring the pestering people from the Hu family and the Ling family. After Yan Yu''s enlightenment, he chooses to ignore their needless conflict. However, after Zheng Jie''s urging he may need to venture into that den of viper again. After coming home, opening the manual, Shi Xiang becomes the third victim of the Inner Steel Heart manual, spitting up blood on the spot, yet doesn''t understand why. He correctly deduces that it was because his cultivation was not enough to understand such a profound method and not because the method Zheng Jie passes on to him was actually bad. No not at all. After that, Shi Xiang passes out on the spot, still believing that. However, because his house was supervised by many powerful force, someone saw that and, using the opportunity, strikes 31. Insane World The world out there is crazy, everything is always twisting, changing in a blink of an eye. That was what the head disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Fu Rong has always known. However, reality is always more than what he expected. "Regarding the matter of disappearing masters, they are all dead now. I was behind it all." In an important meeting between Fu Rong, the head disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, in charge of running the day to day sect business, Lang Li, the Sect Master''s sole inheriting disciple and the Sect Master himself, Zheng Jie, those words was dropped. Immediately there was reactions in the audience. Fu Rong stands up, thinking about the chaos that knowledge may cause, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect openly eliminating the competition, it may lead to war. "Why-" At that moment, deep within the fake Lang Li consciousness, something was confirmed. It was expected, after all the list of the masters who went missing was familiar to her. After all they were- "They were Fallen Cultivators who have infiltrated the Nine Cloud Kingdom and took high position within court. They were protected from my eyes by the Jade wall of the Royal Court. However after the event a few month back, I already mark all of them for a list. They have to die." Fallen cultivator. They are those who fall under the influence of Devil Path Cultivators and are controlled by them. There was no prominent Devil Path Cultivator within the last millennia, it was as if all of them disappear after a certain level. Only low level cultivators was found to be completely following the Devil Path, however it is said that if a prominent one was to emerge, they would threaten the entire world of cultivation. And yet these fallen cultivators are all on a level of mastery unimaginable. They are not yet Devil Path cultivator, but it leads one to wonder "Fallen Cultivators!? Who corrupted them?" Fu Rong yells out, but then realizing his station, back down and looks apologetic. At first he suspected his sect master of eliminating the competition, then he yells at him... It''s a good thing that the Sword Saint does not mind that much about such matter. He is more worried about his disciple personal life more. There is even a big slogan in front of the sect Entering the Heavenly Sword Sect, worldly love is left behind. The disciples made it in joke because of the tendency of the Sect Master, but later after seeing it, Zheng Jie took it seriously and command it to be hanged in front of the sect. It made it extremely hard to accept new disciples. The previous head disciple who has his cultivation dissolved and kicked out of the sect even become a famous figure in love stories during that time. He became a stay at home dad who cling on to his powerful wife, though he was more powerful than her before he seeks Zheng Jie''s blessing to the marriage. He never complains but the Heavenly Sword Sect become famous within that time. It is a serious sect. A serious sect full of loveless virgin that is. The other sects never let the day to day disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect live that down. Even during such a serious situation, suddenly such ridiculous thought pop into his mind. It was because they were relevant. The last time the sect master announces himself to the world and release his soul, the sect caught a bunch of traitors within the sect itself. However, all of them was repeating disturbing thing. Mostly the same thing "If being heartless is what it takes to be an immortal, than perhaps in this life and the next, I don''t wish to be an immortal at all." This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. "The Heavenly Saint, Standing under the heaven, straight and firm. Karma returning, the Heavenly Saint turns into the Heavenly Devil" It was disturbingly consistent, leading to Fu Rong deducing that this was an organized effort to undermined the Heavenly Sword Sect. However, no matter how much the disciples try to get the truth out of the traitors, none of them talk, and a few day later all of them die under mysterious circumstances. It seems "love" was one of the vector that Devil attacked them with. However is it even possible for Devil Path Cultivator to cultivate to that level? "I''m not sure..." At that moment, Zheng Jie says "I always thought it was that woman, however when I come within the Royal Court, it was not her. Nevertheless, sooner or later the mastermind has to emerge with all of the cultivators who has fallen under their influence dead." At that moment, within the traitorous Lang Li''s mind, another thing was confirmed. The Heavenly Saint did not see through the Heavenly Queen. Just like he did not see through the fake Lang Li within Lang Li''s body, he did not see through the mastermind of the whole thing after all. It was fate. In this generation, the Heavenly Saint will go down. And after that? ...there is no after. Zheng Jie''s death is enough. "In the coming time, the world will be chaotic, as one of the leading sect, the Heavenly Sword Sect has to uphold the peace and order of the Nine Cloud Kingdom during that time. The Nine Cloud Kingdom is the greatest dream of me and the Heavenly Emperor, as long as the Nine Cloud Kingdom stands, the future of the cultivation world will stand." Hearing those words, Fu Rong has become enlightened, touched by how far ahead his sect master has already planned for the world, the man determined to work twice at hard. No three times. "Yes Sect Master!" Lang Li who was standing on the side was looking snidely. If only it will be that easy. At that moment, the Heavenly Saint was also standing on the side thinking ''If only it was that easy finding who is killing the masters. Whoever that Devil is, they are about to be in for a bad time.'' "Anyway, I will be await for next week, seeking the audience of the Free Travel Sect''s sect master. You two will be in charge before I come back. Lang Li is still holding the sect master''s sword, Fu Rong, you have to listen to her until I come back." "Huh?" Head disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Fu Rong was surprised again by those words. Just like that? He just come back, now he is going out to play again? Lang Li on the other hand was wracking her brain for answer. ''Free Travel sect? What does that small sect has to do with this? Is this Zheng Jie throwing distraction around? Could it be that there is something profound hidden within the Free Travel sect? Could it be that there is profound master hidden with in the Free Travel sect? Could that master be the one who went around assassinating all the fallen cultivators? No. Impossible, there exist no man within that sect that is that capable. Killing that many masters without even resistance. Could be nothing? Something from other realm? But what could the lower realm offer to someone like Zheng Jie?'' No matter how much she thinks, the false Lang Li could not come to an answer. It was not actually relate to the final confrontation between two sides anyway. Zheng Jie having personal business was the last thing she thought but dismiss it out of hand, thinking that it was too impossible. The man never leaves his home after all, how could he has any personal business especially with his personality. The fake Lang Li keeps thinking without an answer. 32. The further destruction of the Heavenly Sword Sect The further destruction of the Heavenly Sword Sect With Zheng Jie gone for one week, Lang Lie went ahead with her plan of purging the resistance out of the Heavenly Sword Sect. Starting with Fu Rong, the head disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, in charge of day to day business. However when it was his time to die, surrounded on all side, Fu Rong disappears. The remnant of Lang Li''s force start a sect wide search in panic, afraid that Fu Rong would call the wrath of Zheng Jie on their head. Within one million miles, every entrance has been sealed by the Heavenly Sword Sect. Of course it is suspicious, but the fake Lang Li''s rationale was "Put out the fire in front of you first." If Fu Rong actually escapes it will be an even bigger disaster than some suspicion. Thus start the slow descent of the Heavenly Sword Sect, in control of Lang Li.
On the outskirt of the Heavenly Sword Sect, there was many small town and villages that have coexisted with the Sect for years. They didn''t get the memo to move out, so every men and women was forcibly kicked out, with none of their belongings. Every house was ransacked in search of Fu Rong. The village and the people''s way of life are destroyed. All the buildings are abandoned. Except for one that is. It is an old pub within the sect''s ground, run by the sect itself to make money. Of course because it serves cultivators, the pub has to serve wine strong enough to make even cultivators drunk. It was so strong that it may as well be a poison. A poisonous wine pub. The owner is always drunk even though he is a disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect who is expected to uphold sect image. The alcohol is free because the owner is always drunk. There is a limitless gourd within the sect that pour wine. The pub owner put that gourd to his mouth and then he falls asleep. That far away, he could only be an outcast disciple of the sect, so drunk and out of it that he never heard the news. The news that "Have you seen the traitor Fu Rong?" The sect disciple interrogate the pub owner who was so drunk that he forgot to bathe for a few weeks. It is unbecoming of a cultivator, let alone the cultivator of the Heavenly Sword Sect, but the man is too far from the sect that he doesn''t care. "Urgh? What are you... you saying? What Fu Rong? What about that old man?" The owner is under the spell of the wine, so far gone that he is not all there anymore, drool come out of his mouth as he listens to the interrogators. "What old man? Sect Master order. Fu Rong has betrayed the sect. Every disciples are ordered to bring him back, dead or alive." The pub owner falls on the floor after hearing the news. "Is that right?" Suddenly he says. Seeing the disgraceful man, the disciples in charge of interrogation kick him over, the gourd falls over the floor, wine is everywhere. The smell of alcohol was extremely strong. That is the kind of alcohol that could bewitch a cultivator. The owner quickly grabs his gourd and brings it to his mouth to drink. He looks around in a daze, surveying the men surrounding him. "Hey?" Suddenly the man calls one of the disciple who was sitting in the pub. "What do you want you disgraceful man?" "We are a sword sect right?" "Yeah?" Even the disciple was baffled enough by the non-sequitur question that he didn''t beat the man for his breath. "Than where is that woman''s sword?" The owner points to a skimpily dressed woman among the disciples. In the first place, she holds no sword. Secondly, she really doesn''t look like she belongs to the Heavenly Sword Sect at all. What happened to "Entering the Heavenly Sword Sect, worldly love is left behind."? That is the biggest slogan in the sect, the first thing everyone saw when they walked into the sect. ...those clothes, they don''t fit the sect at all. Suddenly the disciple slaps the disgraceful pub owner. "How dare you talk that way to master Fan Ai? Because of our sect''s lack of man power, master Fan Ai from the court itself has come to lead her assistance in eliminating the traitor Fu Rong." Falling all over the ground, the pub owner looks up at the disciple with a glare. "Is that so?" But is there anything he could do? He was a small pub owner, an outcast of the Heavenly Sword Sect not even worth a glance from someone from the the Court itself. Master Fan Ai didn''t even glance at the pub owner, his cultivation was only at Gathering Stars level, not even reaching Constellation. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. It has to be said that Constellation is the threshold stage, frankly speaking at Constellation stage, no fluke could happen, even if there is one million Gather Stars cultivators who join force to fight a single Constellation Stage cultivator, there will be one million corpses, and none of them are the Constellation cultivators. The last few final stage of the world cultivation system is compared to the Stellar phenomenon above. Gathering Stars, Constellation, Star Rivers, and finally the Sky Sea that encompasses all. A Gathering Stars cultivator was never in the mind of a Constellation cultivator at all. ... The sky outside was raining. Any of the cultivators there could dispel the rain, but they ignore it. Under the rain, walk Fu Rong, former head disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect. The rain was like rubbing salt on wounds, even now he could not even protect his own body from the rain. On his body there are many nasty wounds, caused by his own sect. He doesn''t understand why suddenly trusted friends turn on him like that, even if it is order from Lang Li with the sect master''s sword, they have to at least question the order right? But all of them turn on him, like in a trance, they cut and lash without abandon, seeking his head. He escape, but the the cuts on his body was the least of his worries. Fu Rong''s entire body was shook, his inner organ was damaged, his defense was break through by strange arts from a group of women. It was extremely strange, he could tell that none of the women''s foundation was stable, but they were all at a high level of cultivation. Even though supposedly their inner energy and cultivation was higher than him, he is confident that he could have cut all of their heads ignoring the cultivation differences. His foundation was solid as a block of steel, their was flawed and full of cracks. But he could not get close. The sect disciple defend the women recklessly, and the women all have extremely strange art that attack from afar. A spell that was like an invisible hand grabbing his entire body, even his inner organs and gripping it. The invisible force could also push him away if he got too close. There was five Star Rivers cultivators present that day and countless other Constellation cultivators, Fu Rong was a late stage Constellation cultivator. All of the Star Rivers cultivators died that day, Fu Rong took their heads before escaping. Not without damage to himself. The rain just keep on pouring down, like the Heaven itself has given up on the Heavenly Sword Sect. In Fu Rong''s mind, there is only one question. "Why? Just what did we do to deserve this?". Their sect master was only gone for one day and this happen. At this moment, surely countless other notable disciples are fighting for their lives, and not all of them could be as ferocious as Fu Rong. That is why Fu Rong chooses to take the head of the five strongest cultivators on the scene that day to his detriment. He could have escaped without those grievous injuries, but he saw the writing on the all. This is a purge. There has to be other fellow disciples fighting, and so Fu Rong chose to sacrifice so that the other disciples don''t have to fight those monsters. It is because he was the head disciple. He tried escaping. But on his way, there was a pub. The traitors already map out all of Fu Rong''s possible escape route. When Fu Rong saw the disciples walking out of the pub with one of the strange women at Constellation stage, Fu Rong draw his sword. It was fate. In his injured stage, he would die. But at least he will try to take as many of the enemies with him as possible. "It''s raining outside huh?" A voice disrupts the confrontation. The rain keeps pouring down, creating puddle on the ground. It covers the entire ground, no place is safe from the rain, except inside. "The ground is now forbidden." Suddenly the disciples from the Heavenly Sword Sect starts dropping on the floor, all of them gripping their heart. Even the woman with the staggeringly high cultivation has a look of uncertainty. A feeling is reaching inside her. "The water is poison." The rain water that is. Falling on the ground is a death sentence, standing in the rain is also a death sentence. "You are-" Master Fan Ai has a look of surprise. How could a man with such a low cultivation- The shabby looking pub owner walks out in the rain. "The Poison Sword of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Shao Li!" Fu Rong finishes Fan Ai''s words for her, because at that moment, Fan Ai could not talk. "It''s me. The outcast who you ordered to look after this shabby pub." Shao Li turns toward his tough senior who previously punished him for his shady way. The rain keeps pouring down. 33. The further destruction of the Heavenly Sword Sect - 2 There was once a great man. A master among master, a genius whose fame spread far and wide within the continent. He rises through the world like a meteor, cutting everything in his path to reach his goal. However he rises too fast, went too far, even cultivators from higher continent start to fear him. On the day of the ascension, he was going to be something great, he was going to ascend. Before he even takes his first step onto the eighth continent, his future was cut short. Supposedly ally from another continent, the Heavenly Sword Sect''s branch sects on the various continents was supposed to help each other. It was supposed to make the journey of cultivation easier, so that no cultivators will be lost. If one ascend from this continent, their sect member will accept them into open arm and continue their cultivation, the channel of communication is wide opened. However because the channel of communication is opened, the cultivators from the higher continent know of the man. Even though they are from the same sect, even though the sect is supposed to uphold justice and honor, the man was just too much of an anomaly. The nail that sticks up get hammered down. Before that man could even take a step to the wider world of cultivation, he was struck down by "seniors". In an extremely critical state during ascension, they struck him down, ruining his cultivation, causing it to deviate. He could never ascend, so thoroughly did they ruin his cultivation that that happen. Even if he struggle to claim back his previous spot, that was his limit, his hard limit. He could never move on. He could never threaten his seniors'' position within the sect again. His inner Qi deviate, like the sea in a storm, extremely violent, thoroughly damaging his body. It was violent, so violent that he could not feel anything but bloodlust. He despises his "seniors", he despises cultivator who comes from a higher realm. Most of all, he despises himself for being too weak. In a novel, he could have broken beyond his limit and beat their scheme. However this is the cultivation world, everything is merciless. From that day, the only thing he knows was violence. Violence, violence, violence. Could it even be called the Violence Dao when everything about violence go against the Heaven Dao? From that day, the man walk down another path. The man becomes cruel and tyrannical. He kills. Kill. And kill. And yet no matter how far he deviates, he did not transform into something like the devil of legend. Just why? If he has fallen this far, his life couldn''t even be continued without violence, why didn''t he just fall into devilhood altogether? The man always question himself that. ... It was a long reminiscence of the past. A man wakes up in his bed and decides that he is feeling good today. He has been bedridden ever since he challenges a super powerful guy in the center of the continent. The guy was also someone who has descended too... but ke ke ke the guy kicked his ass without even moving a finger, causing him to bleed from every orifices. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. But he is not dead yet. And if you fail, try try again. "Maybe I will challenge that guy again one day." That was what the man who was completely humiliated says to himself. He does not care about his own life anymore. What he seeks is a higher form of thrill. Only with violence does he feels alive. Blood are dropping, hearts are beating, violence are being committed. It feels like the old day, when he was still himself, a genius. Only with violence does he feels violence, becomes one with the violence and commit violence. The world itself is violent, Everyday violence are committed. It is a fact of life. Couldn''t it be said then, violence is the truth of life? You fight when you was born. Your entire life is a fight with the unfairness of the world. Just like your father before you, he was fighting for his life before you was being born, just like his father before him. What the man seeks then, is a higher form of violence. What he seeks was to become one with violence. His opponents are strong? It doesn''t matter. Even if he dies, it doesn''t matter. Violence is violence. And someday the man simply feels good and left violence aside. The man walks out of his bed and stares down the frightened retainers surprising them to near death. Then the man walks away seeking another amusing thing. "Where is that girl I accepted the other day?" It was because he is feeling good that day. ... The sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect within the Ninth continent of the Nine Cloud Kingdom is uncontrollable. He is a useful weapon sure, however he could not be controlled, only pointed at what need to be killed. That was why when the false Lang Li''s plan to consolidate power within the Heavenly Sword Sect, uniting all branch sect under one ruler, he was not the one approached. The one who was approached was of course the true master of that branch, the vice master of the branch sect, Yuan Wuying. Of course he has a healthy appreciation of the fairer sex, and when he was approached by such beauty, how could he says no? On the day Lang Li decides the purge, all the traitors within the sect was signaled. The grand plan is finally being unveil, and for Yuan Wuying, he was granted a cup of wine. Let that violence idiot drink this, and Yuan Wuying will have a violent puppet under his control. That was what was promised to him. It does not matter happen next because after that he has uncontested control over the branch sect of the Heavenly Sword Sect within the Ninth continent. After that... all the beauties he that could have... All the succulent female disciple... With Ren Cheng as his puppet, how dare they oppose him? Thinking about it, Yuan Wuying could not help but lick his lips. Even far away, the branch sect of the Heavenly Sword Sect does not escape the slow ruin. 34. Yijun inadvertently saves the branch sect of the Heavenly Sword Sect Yijun who was knocked unconscious by the feedback from Zheng Jie''s Inner Steel Heart manual suddenly woke up. However in front of her is the person she doesn''t want to meet the most right now. Her "senior" within the sect, in charge of the new disciple. The woman was a beautiful woman once, but because of her beauty, she was defiled by the vice sect master. After that day, she hated every beautiful female disciple under her, she hated the vice sect master too, but what could she do? She is a lone woman, insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Ever since Fang Yijun got accepted by being a girl, the woman''s temper has changed for the worse, especially since she was admitted by both the sect master and the vice sect master. Sweeping is the least of Yijun''s problem, the woman humiliates Yijun with various tasks like cleaning the toilet, washing dishes, etc, just to show that Yijun is not accepted here. It was only thank to Yijun''s scar that the woman finally relented. But now... all the scars from the vice sect master''s jealous lovers are gone. "You-" Suddenly, that angry woman says. But instead of anger, what comes next was understanding. "It was fake?...Ha ha ha. To think someone under me was smarter than me. Faking her scar so that that hateful man does not come for her." Suddenly, the woman turns away. "I will pretend that I did not see anything. Put that back on." Yijun wanted to question her own luck, but luckily today the great she devil has let her go! However, that luck did not last. "Put what back?" The cultivation of the person saying those words was so great that even Yijun with her earth sense and her "senior" within the sect did not detect his coming at all. They did not detect that he was suddenly standing behind Yijun''s "senior" either. But the most important part is that, this surprise has a quality of its own, if it was anyone else, they would just be surprise, not absolutely frightened, fearful for their life, but currently they are actually that frightened. It was because the person standing next to them was the infamous sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect''s branch sect, Ren Cheng. This is the second time Yijun was frightened to half death by that man. The first time was when he suddenly appeared, cover in blood, and now, appearing suddenly without notice in this place of all place, overhearing the discussion about his second in command of all thing. It was a great surprise. "Ha. Yes. That face, that expression, I knew I made the right choice letting you enter the sect after that little stunt. I know you would not fail to amuse me." Ren Cheng was a sickly looking old man, but he was powerful. His choice in clothing is green, but soon enough they will be cover in red. Everything about his appearance is a deception. At first glance, people always thought Ren Cheng to be a tricky person to fight, underestimating his sheer brutality. However, when he fights, the man always goes with the hard form of the sword, there are no tricks, no reasons, only brutal strength and agility. That was at the start of his career, at current time however, Ren Cheng has added a bit of variety to his repertoire of skill, adding a few more layers of deception to his sword. And yet all of those deception are predictable. All of them are covered with a great killing intent. Ren Cheng always looks to kill his opponent when he fights, and in every stroke, his sword reflects that. It is a blood covered sword, filled with killing intent. Every stroke is a killing stroke. No matter what deception he has, Ren Cheng would always look to kill his opponent, that is a fact. It is predictable in that way, but even if it is predictable, not many really survive. Ren Cheng was a genius. A person fear by other sword users of the Heavenly Sword Sect from the higher continent. After his accident, his skill only gets deadlier, not less. Outside of a certain someone who completely outclass him, this continent is too small for someone like Ren Cheng. And that scary looking old man is standing here, scaring Yijun and her female senior. At that moment, there was many thing in the mind of the female senior. Throwing Yijun out to the wolf was considered, but it was discarded because she really didn''t know what the sect master is doing here today. Glancing at Yijun again, the senior decides to cover for her, the sect master seems to like the girl. Yijun on the other hand did not think at all. She was like a deer in front of a drooling, starving wolf. She is fearful to make a single move. "Ah sect master. It was a miracle, sister Yijun while cultivating suddenly achieves a small success and cure all of her injuries." She makes a lie on the premise that Yijun was lying about the scars and that they were disguises. However, she was completely spot on. The Earth Reborn Technique is an extreme rejuvenating technique coming from an unknown source. Yijun does not know it yet, but the extreme rejuvenation has many more use than she even knows what to do with. It is because the Earth Reborn Technique (with some modification) is the only absolute technique in the world right now. Becoming like the heaven and striking down like the heaven itself has fallen may seem absolute but it is not quite there yet. The law of "I" turning everything into "I" consuming all of existence is close to being absolute but it is not quite there yet. Both of those great achievements are near absolution, but both of them have a flaw. How could they be absolute when the other exist? The "I" is an all-consuming force while the heaven blade is an all-powerful sword capable of cutting everything. But like in the case of Zheng Jie vs Yan Yu, the absoluteness of the art was put to the test, and it was not that absolute after all. The heaven blade could not cut through the all-consuming "I" immediately just as the "I" could not consume the blade. The blade needs to strike down countless time just to finally cut through the body of Yan Yu. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Both of them have failing in asserting themselves as absolute while affecting an external factor. The blade strikes something on the outside. The "I" consume something else. However what would happen if they face something stronger than them? It may not seem possible when reaching that state, but there would always be someone stronger as Zheng Jie and Yan Yu experience. Therefore, their art would fail them when meeting someone stronger, invalidating their claim to absolution. The Earth Reborn Technique (with modifications) on the other hand was a true absolute. It does not contest with something stronger than it out there, the only thing it affects are the body. The Earth Reborn Technique true form is an absolute rejuvenation from anything, even if they were crippled, even if they only have a single breath left before dying, even if they fail in their cultivation method and face internal damage. Everything is meaningless in the face of absolute rejuvenation. On that thought, on the surface, it seems the Earth Reborn Technique only rejuvenates Fang Yijun, giving back her youth, but how could an absolute technique be that simple? In this world, just as countless lives that have come before as will the countless lives that come after, Birth, Old age, Sickness and Death is an unavoidable truth. Only by cultivation could one escape the truth of life, but on that path of cultivation, most will die and fall into the four sufferings again. If something happy happen, it is better that nothing has happened at all in the first place. Being birth is entering the world of interconnecting fate, experiencing sorrow, joy, sadness. Coming into the world itself will bring sorrow as that is the fact of life. When life grows older, the hardship of life start taking its toll on the body. Even a great domineering general is reduced to nothing more but a sad old man on his death bed In sickness, you suffer. But not only you suffer as the people surrounding you will suffer too, your friend, your family, the people who care about you. Being birth and growing old too, was also like that. When you are born, you come into this life. Your are alive now. With your life, some may be happy, some will be sad. But that is just the fact of life, this is the world of interconnecting fate, everyone''s life has an effect on each other. Isn''t it then, if something happy happen, it is better that nothing has happened at all in the first place? And yet we still come to the world anyway. It is a fact that cannot be avoided. A wise man once said, accepting that to live is to suffer is the first step to lessening the pain. No matter what, Birth, Old Age, Sickness and Death are still a fact of lie that cannot be avoided. The Earth Reborn Technique (with modifications) is an absolute technique, with the first act, Yijun has entirely erased the concept of Old Age, what other cultivators have to strive to achieve. The next step is then to erase Birth, Sickness and Death from the person too, but it is not like Yijun has figured out yet. Meanwhile, Ren Cheng has a look of not-understanding. "What injuries?" Suddenly he prods Yijun''s senior with the handle of his sword, causing the woman to fear for her life "Don''t tell me you treat someone I personally accept so badly that she horribly wound herself in the first month?" There was an edge underlining his voice, but all the people on the scene know Ren Cheng is always looking for an excuse to shed blood. Ren Cheng knows it, Yijun''s senior knows it, Yijun knows it. "No no sect master-" "It is that Yuan Wuying bastard!" Suddenly, Yijun who has had enough yells out at the sight of her senior shaking in her boot. Yijun senior looks at her with a fearful gaze. That was what she was afraid of the most, tarnishing Yuan Wuying''s reputation, the vice sect master of the sect, they are either going to die by Yuan Wuying''s hand or Ren Cheng''s hand. "Is that so?" Ren Cheng continues with a curious look. But Yijun continues "You are crazy. That bastard is a rapey bastard. All the sisters here in the outer sects live in fear of that guy! I have to let some crazy chick cut me up so that guy does not lust after me anymore." "Huh?" Ren Cheng has a look of confusion on his face. The boat has already set, seeing the situation, Yijun''s senior follows suit too, going through with it, whether Ren Cheng is going to kill her or not. She starts recounting the sins that Yuan Wuying has done on the sisters of the sect. While this is happening, the old looking Ren Cheng continues to have a look of interest. After they finish recounting their tales, Yuan Wuying appears at that moment. "Huh? Sect Master, what are you doing here?" Yuan Wuying who has been looking for Ren Cheng was surprised to see the man in the women quarter, he was also surprise to see that the little beauty has healed up... but that is all for the future. "I have found an exquisite wine that-" Suddenly acting dramatic, Ren Cheng, the blood thirsty bastard draws his sword and points it at his vice sect master "Yuan Wuying you bastard, you have dishonored the sect''s name." Without even investigating whether it was true or not, he just pulls out his blade like that. "Wh-" In the next moment, Yuan Wuying suddenly has double vision. It was because currently, his body is now in two places, cut in half. Ren Cheng is always looking for a reason for bloodshed, Yuan Wuying knows that, Yijun''s senior knows that, Yijun knows that, even Ren Cheng knows that. But knowing did not prepare Yuan Wuying for what happened. His final thought at that moment was... "A mad dog really could not be trusted. You don''t know when it is going to bit you..." Yijun inadvertently saves the branch sect of the Heavenly Sword Sect without knowing that the sect was in danger in the first place. 35. That path is going to be lonely When Shi Xiang experiences his rebirth thank to the teaching of the Heavenly Sword Sect Sect Master and the Devil Path Ancestor, it is not just his body and physique that was changed. Something more fundamental was changed. His way of thinking, his thoughts, his personality. He is Shi Xiang in that he has experienced all that Shi Xiang has experienced and that he has the memories of Shi Xiang. But Shi Xiang has fundamentally changed from his ordeal. That was why when the sect master "enlightened" Shi Xiang, the sect master was banned. The ban was not undeserving, not undeserving at all. However, that experience also causes some strange changes in Shi Xiang''s body. People cultivates to attain purity. Shi Xiang''s body itself purifies the very water that he bathes in to the point that it causes the flowers in his garden to achieve unnatural vitality. The air he breathes out are purified by his breath, the existence that was Shi Xiang was extremely strange. Perhaps in this entire world, there is only one person that attain enlightenment from both a peak Heaven Path cultivator and a Devil Ancestor. No one, not even the System can see where Shi Xiang may go next. However, that also means the path that he walks is a lonely one, unexplored by anybody. It is akin to walking on the edge of a blade, the Heaven Path cultivators who do not know him will shun him if they know what half of his being comes from. The Devil cultivation is an unthinkable path for him ever since he knows someone like Zheng Jie. Shi Xiang could only walks his own path. Not accepting the heaven, not denying the heaven either. He is just simply a transcendental being that exists beyond that boundary. The only one who could walk that path is Shi Xiang, he is the gamble the system has made in the face of the reality of the world. However, that path is going to be lonely, extremely lonely. The only one who could walk that path is Shi Xiang. Like the son of heaven itself, being blessed, at the very last moment when his assailant was considered taking his life, Shi Xiang wakes up. Calmly, without a sound, he rises from his positions. Usually, all the first time practitioners of the Inner Steel Heart technique are going to face a horrible surprise before giving up on the technique immediately. It actually damages their cultivation. However, after his rebirth, Shi Xiang has become increasingly strange that concept like feedback damage does not exist. The concept of inner energy probably doesn''t exist either. Shi Xiang practices his own Dao. He is an experiment that no one knows what would happen. "Ah. I forgot how to breathe for a moment." Shi Xiang says. The existence of Shi Xiang is incredibly strange, it is so strange that it does not fit any system at all. It was a kind of mixture. Currently despite appearing weak and vulnerable, with a low cultivation, Shi Xiang is unconsciously utilizing a technique that comes straight from the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sect himself. Even the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect did not know that Shi Xiang copies it himself, but it is expected that while Zheng Jie comes from Yan Yu, Shi Xiang himself comes from Zheng Jie and Yan Yu after all. Shi Xiang takes after them after all. While appearing weak with almost no inner energy at all like a starting practicioner, in fact, if a higher level master witness it, it would be like Shi Xiang is leaking energy out of his inner self. An even higher master would realize that Shi Xiang is in fact not leaking any energy at all, but they will not know just what is happening. Someone one step below the heaven like Zheng Jie or Yan Yu will realize that somehow, Shi Xiang has copied a peak master like Zheng Jie without Zheng Jie even demonstrating that technique at all. Even moreso, it is not like that technique could be demonstrated. It is something innate to every Heaven Path cultivator on a certain level. One could say that it may even be end of the Heaven path level. The cultivator becomes infinitely wise, his eyes regard all of heaven and earth, his ears listen to all the woes and happiness of the people of the world. While it is not exactly that, it is infinitely close to that. The Sect Master''s divine sense allows him to scan all of heaven and earth and wipe out all undesirables. The important thing is that it is an extremely high level technique automatically gained after you reach the Sky Sea stage, being compared to the heaven above, knowing everything. Shi Xiang on the other hand isn''t even on the level of the much weaker Fang Yijun, let alone someone being compared favorably to the like of Zheng Jie. In fact, his cultivation was not even on that level, to the eyes of everyone, it was stuck at a low Foundation Formation stage level. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Shi Xiang has the Divine Sense nonetheless. With every breath, he expands his soul to the world. The air was filled with what some would call Heaven Qi. It is an extremely beneficial energy, capable of healing and boosting the cultivation of everyone below Sky Sea level. Even at Sky Sea level, this energy was rarely seen. Even the elusive master of Shi Xiang, Shao Jingyi has rarely seen this kind of energy. However, to the Heavenly Sword Sect, it was as easy as entering the Sword Saint manor inside their sect ground, as easy as entering the Sword Saint manor could be. At the very end of the road, shaking the foundation of the heaven itself, a master beyond the keen of everyone else breathes out Heaven Qi. Towering everyone, the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect breathes out Heaven Qi, nearing the end of his journey. Heaven Qi, the Qi coming from the heaven itself. In this case it comes from a human, infinitely close to the heaven that he may as well be the heaven itself. It is shaking the foundation of the Heaven, a resource that could be described as heaven sent is a common commodity that is as common as breathing out air. Of course, the previous generation of the Heavenly Sword Sect also achieves this level, and that is why the Heavenly Sword Sect is the best under the heaven, with disciples so strong, they tower even other sect''s sect masters. However, the point is that, currently Shi Xiang is breathing out that rare commodity, his soul purifying the energy of the continent itself, elevating it to a new level. The people of the continent of course didn''t know about the profoundness of what is being done. Shi Xiang on the other hand stays as he is. His breathing itself is compared to the number one master of the world itself, and yet his cultivation stay the same. Shi Xiang does not benefit from the Heaven Qi at all despite it benefiting the people around him. For him it was as simple as the act of breathing. When he says "I almost forget how to breathe for a moment" it was, for a moment, unconsciously he stops purifying the air inside his lungs and stops creating that mysterious energy. And yet his cultivation remains the same. Shi Xiang is extremely strange. Perhaps, he, only he cultivates a different Dao from everybody else. He starts with a technique coming from the strongest master under the heaven that was as easy as breathing to him despite his low cultivation. He stays at the weakest continent, a participle continent below the Nine Cloud Kingdom. All this time, while unconsciously performing such heaven defying feat, Shi Xiang did not ascend. All of it is contradictory, however Shi Xiang himself is a contradictory existence. "ARG-" Suddenly, a scream. There was a scream in Shi Xiang''s house at night. "I wonder what comes over me." A head was knocked flying straight out of the torso, instantly killing the assailant. If Yating was here watching this, she would be even more traumatized. Shi Xiang brutally murders another cultivator without a second thought. And of course the violence tendency comes from the other side of the coin that is Shi Xiang, it comes from the Devil Path Ancestor Yan Yu. Shi Xiang just kills people that threaten him without knowing despite his cultivation supposedly being weaker than them. Shi Xiang walks a different path then any other. Perhaps at this moment, there was no one from this continent that could threaten Shi Xiang. At that moment, a man in the shadow was looking at Shi Xiang unimpressed. "Hmm." With a dismissing voice the man continues to watch Shi Xiang''s act of violence. Someone that could threaten Shi Xiang within that continent appears.
Every Free Travel sect''s disciples present was on the ground, kneeling and giving greeting to a big figure that has come to visit them. The disciples was showing respect to the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect who has come to visit them. Normally showing weakness like this is absolutely forbidden in the world of cultivation, especially showing weakness to the sect master of another sect. It was like admitting that their sect is nothing compared to the other. But in this case, it is absolutely necessary. The other party deserves that level of respect, and... "We deeply apologize for inconveniencing your excellency who has traveled all the way here to greet our master, but..." The lead disciple of the Free Travel sect glances up at the unchanging visage of the Heavenly Saint. What is going to come next is going to be very disrespectful. "Our master is currently away, taking care of business." The Heavenly Saint who has gone out of his way to greet someone from another weaker sect was stood up for the first time in his life. 36. And with that sight, Yan Yu has a genuine smile When he was another man, Shi Xiang loves a woman. However that woman only brought him misfortune and misery. When he was enlightened, he cut himself completely from the woman who cut herself from his life. And yet when one of his greatest benefactor asks him to make amend with that woman, Shi Xiang does not know what to do. He does not know why the sect master asks that of him either, the only thing he knows is that the man could do no wrong. In his mind, master Zheng Jie and master Yan Yu are already his masters. The masters of this life that is. Right now, that woman continues to cause him grief. The horrified man that just got his throat ripped out by Shi Xiang was the head butler from the Hu family. Shi Xiang does not know why he is here, he does not know why the man attacked him either. He just kills. There was a moment of clarity on the other''s face before it turns horrified. Another life lost due to the scheming of this cruel world. If only there was a way to escape this vicious cycle, but if he wants to live, Shi Xiang has to fight, and he has to kill. That is the nature of the world. If only there was a better way. During the midst of this bloodied fight, with one bloodied arm, Shi Xiang taps the system interface. The one whose opinions he care about are on the system interface right now. "Senior Yan Yu, at night I was attacked by man from the Hu family again." "What? Did you at least kill them?" "Yes senior." "Good. Leaving any alive would just make your future harder. Any karma has to be cut right from its root." There was many times where Yan Yu left a victim alive. A child of one of the cultivator perhaps. However, this is the world of cultivation, karma are always vicious. That child would come back years later, and the karma that Yan Yu sowed that day always come back to bite his ass. Of course with his talents, power and knowledge, with such fledglings, he always exterminates the threats. However that lead to a dilemma. If you kill a man and left his family alive, that man''s family would come back and seek revenge. If you kill them too, the revenge seekers'' dearest would be looking for revenge. The effect propagate until suddenly you are against the world. The answer is then to leave no trace of karma left. Of course, another cultivator from a certain different faction may disagree. Their answer is to not commit any killing in the first place, leaving no karma. Of course both answers have the same result, there are no karma left. Shi Xiang just nods as the perfect sponge of knowledge that he is, absorbing Yan Yu''s knowledge. "First check their body to see if there is any strange sight, judging by this situation, something is amidst." Shi Xiang did as he was told, and with supernaturally keen insight, manage to discover a non-noticeable needle jam up each and every single of their spine, in the neck area. They were non-noticeable for anyone not name Shi Xiang that is. Without even trying, he immediately found them, a needle thinner than a strand of spider silk. With the hair on their back, it is almost impossible to find. With the thinnest of the needle, one could not feel it, let alone trying to find it. "There really was something there." Shi Xiang says, picking up the impossible needle. It was not by luck that he happens to find them. At this point, his insight, his intuition are raised immensely. There was many particularities about Shi Xiang''s body, but this is not one of the more important change. "If there is something there, turn on your ''livestream'' for me to see" This ''livestream'' feature, even though he didn''t say it out of pride, it was immensely satisfying for someone like Yan Yu. Imprisoned for thousand of years, never once did he see the sunlight outside. He wants to rush Shi Xiang to complete the mission to see if anything more profound appears, however the incident with Yating happens and Yan Yu was cut off since. However, that was not the only reason Yan Yu is interested in the sight of outside. With the sight of the outside, he could start to scope the place out, find the place with important dragon veins and so on. Even if he is imprisoned, if possible, Yan Yu could still affect the world in a way. With his vast knowledge of formation, Yan Yu could borrow someone hand to create a high level formation even if Yan Yu is not there. Thing could be interesting. Now if only he could borrow Shi Xiang''s hands without the system getting on his case, but one small step at a time. Now though, he has a small mystery to solve. Currently, Yan Yu is trekking on a bony road. It was made from blackened cultivators'' bone. From the mountain of flesh full of treachery to a road made of blackened bone, Yan Yu really needs to do something to relax during this difficult trek. It has been months but the end is still nowhere in sight. Luckily, with the Heavenly Dao Discussion, he has something to distract. And not just to distract him from the boredom of course, it was distract him from the immensely disturb feeling looking at his minimap system. On the map, everything surrounding Yan Yu is green. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. It was not like the all consuming red of Zheng Jie, it is green. Green are loyal subordinate. Red are disloyal subordinate or enemies. And now, during this dangerous journey, the most dangerous of all in the Hell dimension, the map is showing that all around him is green. It is not like the all consuming red of Zheng Jie, covering everything either. It is just a big dot, that is all, roughly ten billion miles in diameter. An empty desert in the middle of the Hell dimension where nothing grow. And yet all of it is green, just like that of Zheng Jie. However, in Zheng Jie case, he was cultivating the heaven path method, and with the vast resource outside, he manages to reach that state. This is not outside, just who made it this far under Yan Yu''s nose? And it was green. The whole desert is alive. Yan Yu pretends that nothing has happened while keeping his composure, the next few days are going to be rough. However, green or red, it does not matter. In the end, no matter what that thing is, as long as it dies under Yan Yu''s hand, Yan Yu''s cultivation will evolve further. In Hell, it is eat or be eaten, you devour other to use them as your resource. In his heart, there was always schemes. With reluctance remembering Princess Yating, Shi Xiang turns on the ''livestream'' feature. On the other side of the screen, Yan Yu was thinking ''Ah, here it comes'' This feeling, this sight, this sound. It is definitely the feeling of the outside world. It is the yearning of a prisoner to be free. The Video Replay System is not normal. It captures an extremely accurate vision of the world. It is not the normal sight mortals see, it is a world that even cultivators can be surprised by. The sound that Yan Yu could hear was thousand of miles away. The details he sees was amazing to his eyes. Seeing further, he could feel the heartbeat of a bird in the sky. It was a sight for sore eyes. In the Hell dimension, except for vicious inedible beasts, there was no animals. The plants are poisonous. A young devil path cultivator would starve to death first before even meeting someone stronger. It was extremely harsh. The other side is a different world. It was a sight for sore eyes. And with that sight, Yan Yu has a genuine smile rarely seen on the face of the Black Devil. In hell, everyone knows of the Black Devil, no one knows of Yan Yu. Whenever the Black Devil smiles, it is impossible to discern what is going on in that head. And whenever he smiles, something horrible is going to happen to his enemies. This sight, even if the denizen of hells would pay for it 100 life time later, they would still pay. The sight of the Black Devil smiling genuinely. What Yan Yu was smiling at was extremely simple, it was nostalgic. "Ah, it seems even when I''m gone, the world did not change that much." It was a simple device, a small white needle, smaller than a spider''s strand of silk, place directly into the spine. It was an extremely rudimental hidden weapon with the capability of controlling another action or causes them to go berserk. It was an extremely low level weapon, only used by the clandestine scoundrels. At higher cultivation, most cultivators could simply push it out, put it would still be costly. But what made Yan Yu smiles was the fact that the method didn''t change even after all that time. It was nostalgic. Even Yan Yu did something like that before. Thousands of years later, people are still doing it. An extremely simple yet effective thing. "It''s a hidden weapon. Most likely the fools didn''t even know when they die. After that, the strings emit a poison that makes them extremely susceptible to command. First of all, you have to get out of there. Whatever third party out there trying to manipulate both parties, they should probably send the Hu family there next." It was an extremely simple tactic, set up the scene, cause both parties to come into conflict, and then escalates it further. With Shi Xiang''s position, both parties will come to harm, then only the fisherman who threw out the bait will benefit. "Also, Shi Xiang, on your left, around 300 meter away, 50 centimeter from the ground, next to the lily, do you think you could throw the needles there?" "Yeah...?" "Throw them as hard as you can." In the distance, a certain old man observing the scene has a rude awakening. He may have been a master not found in this world, but there was greater expert at play in the whole scenario. And thank to Yan Yu''s instruction, the hidden weapon went for the most fatal spot, the old man''s weakness was discern at a glance. "What was that for senior?" Shi Xiang asks over the livestream. Slowly, taking every moment, Yan Yu types out. "You should run. Now." In the distance, an old man whose life was momentarily threatened start becoming extremely angry. However, he knows that if he did anything, his daughter will be extremely angry at him! So he starts to give chase while the other party has an extremely powerful expert giving instruction on how to make a fool out of this mysterious old man. With the Heavenly Dao Discussion, Yan Yu never runs out of amusement. 37. He was the deep-rooted cause behind of this happening The thing that Yan Yu wanted the most in this world was more. More sights, more sounds, more fragrance, more taste, more knowledge. What he wanted was more out of this world, once upon a time, he mistakenly thought that those desire comes from a righteous cause, a desire to become a single paragon, a superior existence from which all cultivators strive to become. Once upon a time he strives to uphold that idea, a paragon that all strive to become. However, the cause was in the end, to have more. Becoming a paragon may have been the mean, but it is not the goal. The goal is to have more. At some point, ''Yan Yu'' probably recognized that. But he has played a role for too long, that it was hard to let go. Furthermore, the very idea was sacrilege. A single existence being which all cultivators strive for, isn''t that ''Heaven''? It was the idea of heaven. Perhaps once upon a time, Yan Yu strives for it. But he strives for more. The very idea was absurd, someone becoming like the heaven but it was due to a baser instinct, wanting to see more, hear more, smell more, taste more, know more. And then Yan Yu was struck down. Being stuck in a dimension with nothing more is perhaps the worst punishment someone like him could have. That why, facing with the thought of being able to interact with the world, Yan Yu- Looking that the other person is not around, Yan Yu takes the opportunity to act. In fact, there was time he has made an act like this before, but it was always foil, either by the system or that guy. Zheng Jie, the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect. Strictly speaking, that guy should be Yan Yu''s great grand disciple. After a bout of nostalgia, Yan Yu finally remember just where he heard that name before. The Heavenly Sword Sect. In a more simple time, it was THE Heaven Sect. No more bells and whistles. The name was increasingly simple yet arrogant. The Heaven Sect. One path toward the Heaven. No other sect could compete. No other sect could contend with the name. One path toward the heaven. An extremely domineering name that was accurate for Yan Yu''s ambition. During that time, at the end, when the sect fell, there was many splinter factions created by the junior disciples in the aftermath. The Heavenly Sword Sect was one of those name That guy who created the sect aside, strictly speaking Zheng Jie did indeed come from Yan Yu. Strictly speaking, Zheng Jie is Yan Yu''s great grand junior. Than why is that guy getting in the way of everything Yan Yu tried to do? That time, after enlightening Shi Xiang That time after that fairy person enter the Heavenly Dao Discussion. That time, after that princess girl asks what cultivation is. All of it was great opportunity. All of it was great chance to act, chance to delude the mind of the young generation that is. All of that time, Yan Yu tries to pass on his technique to the world, to the promising new generation. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Every time that happened, that great grand junior interfered. This has happened before, this will all happen again. The first time with Shi Xiang was just a fluke, Shi Xiang was just enlightened with the philosophy of the Devil Path, he never learns any proper technique yet. But as say, it was just a fluke, after that, try as he might, Yan Yu could not pass any techniques or make attempt at influencing the outside world at all. The other guy was just too vigilant. It may seem to be a lot of nonsensical argument every time Yan Yu and Zheng Jie appears at the same time, but it was in fact, deliberate on Zheng Jie part. Both master has a 5 minutes cool down for posting, as in, after posting for 5 minutes, they have to stop. It was a System imposed rule due to the two''s typing speed being so great that no junior could actually understand what was happening. However, even then, it may not be enough. This simple typing trick, Yan Yu has mastered a long time ago, in 5 minutes time, he could have typed enough letters to cover twenty continents'' worth of books. That is over three hundred billions books if his estimate is right. The problem is that the same could be apply to that guy. Every time the page turn into nonsense, in fact, a great battle of words and typing speed happened on that very pages. Every time Yan Yu even tried anything, that guy shadow hided it with his seemingly useless argument to make sure that no one see it. And because he only acts after Yan Yu acts, usually, he always has the last word. He even timed it so that no matter what Yan Yu does, the manual he passed down is not coherent. He was supposed to be the great grand junior damn it. During that guy''s long absence after their PvP battle, Yan Yu could have a lot of opportunity. However, at that time, the Black Devil was also having a serious funk over losing. How could he have lost? And so the nonsense about the manual was left aside for more important task. Like getting stronger, but now... Shi Xiang has always been the closest to Yan Yu in the Heavenly Dao Discussion and that guy has just been banned... It was the perfect opportunity. Seeing that Shi Xiang is also being pursued by a superior enemy, someone probably from several continents away no less, this is the perfect time for a sudden power boost. Yan Yu starts typing to the attentive Shi Xiang who is still on the run. The Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie who still have a one day ban left, who is always vigilant immediately reacts after seeing dangerous materials. "I need to see your master now!" The disciples who was serving Zheng Jie within the Free Travel sects immediately kowtow and starts trying to explain. What was going in their mind was ''We really don''t know where our master is! It was lucky that the Heavenly Saint was patient enough to wait for two days, but just what triggered this god?'' What brought misfortune to the Free Travel sect and triggered Zheng Jie was of course the Free Travel sect''s sect master himself. He was the deep-rooted cause behind all of this happening. 38. Somehow, it fits Once upon a time, people used to fight to the death for this manual. However, currently Shi Xiang found it familiar. It was a physical art. To a cultivator, the martial skill that they used are not that important, what is important is their cultivation and strength. However, in his continent, there was exactly one notable martial skill that cultivators are interested in, or at least, they don''t look down on it. Originating from the South of the continent, the martial art Kik-ite was taught to the soldiers. In his youth, it was the things Shi Xiang relies on the most. It has shaped his development even now. The fighting forms are diverse, however generally there are two schools of thought. The martial art was taught to soldiers with intents to teach them how to kill and disarm. The first school of thoughts focus more on the physical strength aspect of a confrontation. Tackle, straight and deflection are used interchangeably. The idea is to disarm someone and then grab them closer for a physical confrontation. Knowledge of how to disarm is important, but not as important as the knowledge of close quarter brawl. The head, the legs and the arms are dangerous weapon. A user of Sik-ite always has a low stance, ready for a kick, it is unknown when the explosion is going to happen, but kicks are an important aspect of Kik-ite. A kick to the jaws or the livers are dangerous enough to kill for a normal person. Straight is also an option for a martial artist. The idea is well and good, however, to achieve maximum effectiveness, the soldier might as well be unarmored. The art focus on the flexibility of the body and readiness to unleash kick, punch and headbutt at anytime. The best fighters are unarmored or at least only use a light kind of armor. The idea is that it is not used on the battlefield, but is used when ambushed. The legend says that there was once a general sleeping in his tent. He has removed all his armor, his enemies, knowing this, chose to move in the middle of the night to assassinate the general. The general, discovering ambush in the middle of the night, using Kik-ite, he was able to kill all of his enemies. It was an art for soldiers who was disarmed. However, this has merits to many cultivator. While for a normal person, fighting in armor while using Kik-ite was cumbersome, with a cultivator''s strength, it may as well be non-existent. More importantly, the focus on the physical aspect of Kik-ite rang true for many cultivators. To many cultivators, their bodies are their strongest asset, what are armor, what are weapon? They might as well be non-existent in the face of a well-cultivated body. A fist hit harder than any weapon in this world could, the skin protect better than even a master blacksmith armor. In a martial focus society like the Ninth Sanctum, many cultivators originate from a soldier house, allowing them to cultivate and make their family proud. They have at least a passing familiarity with Kik-ite, and many poorer cultivators with not much resources to buy more powerful manual have used Kik-ite as their physical art to great result. The idea is to pit your body against the opponent, no tricks, everything relies on strength and awareness. It just works. Shi Xiang was poor once, and Kik-ite being a widespread art has influenced how he developed his fighting form. It was a very hard form, with claw hand and gouging attack. His master, Shao Jingyi has tried to soften it to work with her flavor of cultivation, but old habits are hard to shake off. Shi Xiang follows the second school of thought with Kik-ite, the idea that in a world of cultivation, you are always going to be fighting someone stronger. It was this second idea that made Kik-ite famous. It was very simple, it was the idea that- A normal human could kill a cultivator. This may seem hard to believe but it is true. On a wintery night, as cold as any other, a certain master from a young house has defiled the daughter of an old general. He was not a master by any mean, but he was a cultivator. At the same time, he was above the foundation forming state, so he is not that half mortal, half cultivator state, he is a cultivator, through and through. Even if he played around, he is stronger than anyone in the general''s service at that moment, pissing off him just mean bad thing for the general''s house. But after his daughter was defiled in his own house, and came crying to him, the general ordered all his men to put out all the light and close off all the gate. In the darkness of that cold night, what happened was unknown but the next morning, the cultivator was dead. It was said that in the death of night, the general used Kik-ite and ambush the cultivator. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Now, whether the story is embellished or not, the fact remains that it has become very popular with the people world wide... ...who promptly get killed by cultivators who think that they are getting too big for their bridge, however the idea has merit. If the first school of thought was for fighting ambush, the second school was for ambushing. Its extremely low stance was not for an explosive powerful kick, it is to keep balance, as the user are going to fight from a very low place. In that position, the fatal points are the groin, the throat and the eyes. The fingers and the wrists of a Kik-ite user are extremely flexible, yet hard. The idea was that, if you could not win in a physical confrontation, deflect. The hand has to be that flexible to deflect the powerful blow of a cultivator, it has to be that hard to deliver a deadly blow. The tip of the finger of a Kik-ite user was as hard as steel, and they are used to deliver debilitating attack. The idea was that an attack to the fatal point of a human are impossible to get through or would not matter for a cultivator. The finger would be used to deliver attack to vein and other soft part of a body. If train enough, it could rupture an important artery during what other call "a woman dance". The practitioner of the second school of thoughts are not looked well upon by the general cultivation world. It is only popular with the mortals. It was because there was no pride at all in their skill. It was like the dancing of a woman, yet extremely deadly. Small blows delivered to the blood vessels, the joints, and other fatal spots accumulate, finally killing a cultivator by waiting until their defense has dropped enough to hit their center, just above the groin, dissipating their strength and killing them. For a long time, it was the only physical art Shi Xiang practices until he met his teacher, Shao Jingyi who forced him to remaster his footwork. But old habits die hard, and his style still utilize many of the points of Kik-ite. And yet, right now, the emergency manual that Yan Yu has sent him... "Shi Xiang: Senior, why is this manual so familiar?" "Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu: It is your fighting style is it not?" However, even Yan Yu did not expect to find such a promising youth. After seeing a few of Shi Xiang''s livestream, he has determined that the boy fight like him. And so the manual that he sent was what he has gathered from the video combined with his own thought "Devil Path Ancestor, Yan Yu: It is not like that guy could send you any physical manual, he uses sword, you can only come to me about this part." However, Shi Xiang has a strange look at the manual that was sent to him. Artificially, it looks the same, but the theme of Kik-ite has changed dramatically. The second school of thought was "to fight against a superior opponent". What Yan Yu sent was "To rip apart the heaven and earth". To describe how it works is difficult, it looks the same but the meaning is different. The focus on claw and fingers are still there, but it is all different. If a Kik-ite user used his finger to claw at another person throat, their intention was to disable the airflow and perhaps actually rip it out. What Yan Yu want was, with the claw, tear apart the mountain ahead with strength and cruelty. It was extremely exaggerated and require a lot of strength even if it looks the same. Kik-ite was extremely subtle with their power usage, every blow was just to weaken before delivering a coup-de-tat. If Shi Xiang fights like Yan Yu wants, those debilitating blow to the blood vessels won''t just be debilitating anymore, they will actually tore a chunk out of the other. The subtleness, it is not there. The second school of Kik-ite was turned from an extremely defensive and evasive art to something extremely domineering by Yan Yu. However, now that Shi Xiang thinks about it,... ...it fits him. Ever since he was changed by the two great masters, the only things he was doing was killing violently. His strength and body has changed, perhaps it was time that he changes his physical art too. Instead of weakening someone before dealing a killing blow, this will literally tear them limbs from limbs. It was like how just recently, Shi Xiang just accidentally tore someone limbs from limbs just by fighting. Instead of a debilitating blow to the throat to cut the air flow, it will literally rip them apart, it could even rip mountains apart. It was just like how Shi Xiang rip someone apart recently. Now that he thinks about it, somehow, this domineering art fits the new him that has changed. 39. Steel Heart Manuals Secret Art: Do the Deads "In this world, life are meaningless. Struggling for half a life time For fame and wealth Looking back, half a life of fighting and lost. In this world, life are meaningless. Drowning in pain, the only escape is the Dao. The truest law of the world is the Dao" It was the opening verse to the Steel Heart Manual, even at the opening, there was already problems. To submit one self to the Steel Heart Manual mantra is to submit one self to the mercy of an uncaring world, to accept that there was nothing you could do. For a prideful lots such as cultivators, how could they accept it? How could they accept that all of their fighting was meaningless? To give up wealth, to give up fame, it is easier to be said than done. That was only the artificial layer. The deeper meaning is even harder for the cultivators. Fighting is meaningless, fame is meaningless, wealth is meaningless, that was the first layer of the verse, how what they all lead to was the conclusion that "lives are meaningless" and that all should be cultivating. While it makes sense that the Dao is the most important thing, however being important to the point that "lives are meaningless" is a bit extreme. It was not that everyone else'' lives are meaningless, it is that "life" in general is meaningless. And because of that, life or death held no meaning. What the manual encourage is self sacrifice for the art, even if you give up your life, you have to follow the Dao. You have to live according to its laws. Life itself has no meaning, only by cultivating does meaning form. It also encourage humility in the practitioner. There will always be something you cannot forsee. You won''t live forever. What will you be doing in your life than? The answer is to follow the Dao. It is that harshness that cause no one to practice the Steel Heart Manual. However those characteristics was also what are required from the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect. The leader of the cultivation world has to know when to sacrifice himself for the sake of the world, has to follow the laws without deviation, has to know that life and death is a common matter so as not to put much importance on it. The Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect is a person like that. The man, Zheng Jie was also like that. When his stomach was on fire, worriedly waiting for the sect master of the Free Travel sect to come back and stop some horrible things to happen to a young man far away. Suddenly The Heaven Saint saw a ghost. With a stroke of his sword, the world moves. The law that was written was that those who has departed should not be in this world. All their grievances and worldly business should be let go off now. It was something that come naturally to him. Ghost is an unnatural existence that was not life but "death". When you crossover to that other side without returning to nothing, you start living an opposite existence, because death is the opposite of life. It could be said that ghosts are the opposite of life, the antithesis of all that living. Just being in the general proximity of the ghost is harmful to the living. Cultivator too, have their cultivation harmed by that kind of dirty existence. However, for cultivators, they have the power to hurt ghost. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. It was because ghosts was also cultivating too. They use their characteristic ghost Qi. The purplish Qi could not be mistaken for anything else. It is the resentment and lingering attachment written to the world. But this ghost does not seem to have ghost Qi. It was a strange matter, enough that the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect stay his hand to allow the ghost to explain itself. Having a ghost in the Free Travel sect is an inauspicious sign for the Free Travel sect, if it is not taken care of, bad thing may happen to the sect in the future. They say that to send off a guest, you have to send them off right back to the place they want to go. Now that he is a guest in the Free Travel sect, he shall help them with their endeavor. Just as now that he has crossed path with the ghost, he shall move to help it as best as he can. That is what an upstanding cultivator under the heaven should do, always strive to balance the world and right injustices. However, there was something strange about this ghost. There was no ghost Qi. There was no attachment to the world, than why is it here. Perhaps it is because when it was alive, the ghost practice an extremely rigid Dao. It is aware of the laws of the heaven and earth. It is aware of its mortality, and held no meaning in life and death. If it is so, the ghost is a rare specimen that should be admired. Something that understand the law of the heaven and earth even among the living cultivators are rare, and here a ghost understand it. Perhaps it was a ghost of one of the previous senior of the Free Travel sect, though in the last 300 years, there has not been good news from this sect, perhaps the ancestors are getting angsty. However, moment later, the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zheng Jie realizes something. For a while, something so familiar has been on the edge of his sense. Something that was so familiar that he forgets to even put his guard up or detect. It has been following him. Something that understands the law of heaven and earth from a young age, the perfect candidate for the next sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect. And she was not alone, for a while, she has been sheltering other people. Other ghosts. It was Lang Li and the other recently dead disciples. "Master-" Before she opens her mouth, he has already moved his sword to cut Zheng Jie closes his eyes for a moment "Sect master-" "Sect ma-" "Se-" "S-" He only spares one. His sole disciple, as a ghost. As a disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, you have to understand the law of the living and the dead 40. Master, tell me, have you ever been an unfaithful person? Someone just keeps remembering someone "Did it hurt?" The Heavenly Saint did not even hesitate in giving the ghost of his disciple his energy, even if that means it may harm his cultivation. Normally, giving his inner energy to people are fine, however, it is giving his energy to ghosts and stray souls that hurt his cultivation. A disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect should have known better but the person in front of him is his own disciple. A disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect should have known better, but the bond between students and masters precede that. A master sacrifices a lot for their students. It is just how it go. Moreover, Lang Li wasn''t even that bad. She did not violate the law of the Heaven and Earth somehow. The world did not reject her. She did not turn into a miserable state as a ghost. She did not emit any negative energy. It is because she knows full well when to play them and when to fold them. Folding here speaks of her life. It is cruel, but it is just the way it is. Lang Li is well aware that she is dead, she does not have regrets, and so she did not suffer the horrible fate such as the other ghosts. The reason Zheng Jie acted like that with the ghosts of his other disciples was simple. It is more merciful to them that way. "I''m sorry." The ghost of Lang Lie says "I couldn''t protect the sect. I couldn''t do anything. I couldn''t help when they were killed. I couldn''t have the heart to let them suffer as they did." Originally, practicing the Inner Steel Heart manual, Lang Li should not have any problems staying as she is, a perfect soul under the heaven for a few months at least before passing away peacefully. It is one of the perks of practicing the Inner Steel Heart manual. Your cultivation may be terrible but your state of mind has transcended most of the world if you finished the method. A practitioner of the Inner Steel Heart manual will always pass away peacefully no matter how terrible they died. It is because they understand the nature of the world, and the nature of life and death. Life and death do not cause them great fear or pain anymore, they will always pass away peacefully. Originally, Lang Li would have been fine delivering her message to the sect master one last time. However, what happened was- Her own sympathy hurt her. Even if she says she was merciful to her fellow sect disciples, was it true? It only causes them to suffer more. A ghost was an existence completely opposite of the way they cultivate. A ghost would always suffer, seeking life. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. If a ghost was extreme Ying, life would be Yang. Ying would always seek Yang, even if it harms them. There are many case where the ghost of a relative or family come back to protect their love one, only to hurt them more just by being in their presence. A ghost is extremely harmful. And here she was, a ghost herself, even if she was one of the "acceptable" one in Zheng Jie''s eyes, protecting other ghosts with what power she manages to retain with the Inner Steel Heart manual. The Inner Steel Heart manual gave her a tough will, but sometime an impossibility is an impossibility. Not just that, she protects hundreds of them after their death. And they die violent death. It just adds to the pain and suffering. Though he does not know what she has been doing until now, it is extremely dangerous. Stabilizing her soul, Zheng Jie slowly moves from his position, he didn''t even ask about the sect. It seems a calamity has befallen the Heavenly Sword Sect. It is time to go home. However with that many talented disciples just who has that capability? "Lang Li..." Suddenly he turns toward his disciples who has passed away. "Master-" She tries to say something, however at that moment, he stops her "Don''t." He told her. Don''t tell me what happened. "As the inheriting disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, you have to sacrifice a lot. I''m sorry. I could only lessen your pain. But it''s okay, you could go now." "But master-" "You are not trying to warn me are you?" Zheng Jie told her with a sad face. At that moment, Lang Li understood. The state that the Inner Steel Heart manual grant Lang Li was a state that is "free of regrets" without caring about life or death. If Lang Li was to tell her master her worries and try to warn him, wouldn''t it be admitting that in her death, she has regret for her master? Furthermore, her master was a powerful person. He is telling her that no matter what treacheries are in store for him, he could take care of it. She shouldn''t hurt herself anymore. Living and following the Dao. It is a tough path, even in death. "But master-" "You could go away peacefully now." Zheng Jie continues. "Master-" "As my disciple, you have always made me proud. Standing proud under the heaven, you have never disappointed me even once. It''s okay Lang Li." "Master!" Suddenly Lang Li finally has enough and gains a backbone to talk back. "I''m not dead yet." With her master''s visible confusion, Lang Li continues. "Master, tell me, have you ever been an unfaithful person?" The questions just add more the confusion 41. Once upon a time, there was a sect This story happened 5000 years ago. While Yan Yu was still a cultivator, he strived to be the paragon so that all other could look up to. The world could only look up, no one could look down. For that purpose, the people itself has to be improved. The paragon has to strive to make the world a better place. He could not tolerate any aspect of ugliness in the world. 5000 years ago, there was no Hell dimension. Powerful Demonic cultivator roamed the world. But even with all those horrible things around, it was alright because there was the paragon around. It has to be said that the Yan Yu now is only a pale reflection of his former self, however his former self has many lackings that cannot be compensated no matter how much power he has. One of the thing he lacks was the understanding of the nature of man, human and desire. Now that he is trapped in the Hell dimension where emotion run rampant, Yan Yu finally understands now. Sometime, his thoughts wonder, wonder back to the event that started his downfall. A paragon has to uphold the rule, no matter who it is, no matter how small it is. No matter if it was a small participle world without much cultivation. The entire world falls into one fold. The chaotic ten thousand worlds was all made to obey the rule. The Heaven sect has managed to do something no other sect could have done, they united the world under one paradigm. The branch sect of the Heaven sect is everywhere in the lower world. The purpose is to teach the correct way of cultivating and upholding the law of the world, eradicating demons. No more do cultivators stray away from the correct path, not knowing what to do. It is to provide a support base for them after they ascend. Perhaps it was a fool thoughts. The world was born in chaos, trying to enforce order on such a scale is only bound for failure. When the Heaven sect falls, the entire world fall into disarray, all the support base was cut, all the communications between world stopped. Could anyone imagine what would happen to the weaker participle worlds at that time? No one. Everything just spiral down, especially after Yan Yu, as the paragon fell. Perhaps things are just going in a circle. If this Yan Yu was living during the time of the Heaven sect, he would try to destroy the sect too. It is living but not living, those sanctimonious self-righteous cultivators, every generations, there are a bunch of them. And while the meaning of standing straight as a sword under the heaven means standing tall, there is another meaning. Being straight as a sword is impossible, and a sword could not stand under the heaven alone. It has to bend, grow root, straying a little from the path to make a base before reaching upward. A rod that stand straight under the heaven is also a rod that would fall with a straight gust of wind. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The meaning is that, when a paragon falls, they fall hard. If this Yan Yu was a demon under the reign of the Heaven sect, he would try to destroy the order too, just because it is too suffocating for him. And that act of sabotage would cause the paragon to fall, creating another Yan Yu. It is a vicious cycle, the relation between the demon path cultivators and the heaven path cultivators. However, now that Yan Yu remembers, it was something grand that did him in. It started as something smaller. As the paragon, Yan Yu descended on the mortal participle world below to take care of some unproperness he detected after scanning the world with his Divine Sense. To a paragon, that is as easy as breathing, seeing everything, hearing everything, looking at the entire world as a whole, expanding your soul to cover the entire countless worlds. That was what Yan Yu was like as his height, but it is not like he still has his Divine Sense after falling into Hell. However back then, just like a good boy, the paragon keeps getting into other business, no matter how small it is. A business in the participle world was supposed to be below him, but it is not. Yan Yu descended, and took care of the business, eradicating improperness. When he came back to the world of the immortal suddenly, a fortune teller appear in front of him. How could a fortune teller in the world of the immortal be normal. They are someone who could actually read the fate of the universe and foretell what was to come. However, how could someone like that tell Yan Yu anything, he who already had the whole in the palm of his hand. And yet when he met him, there was a tear in the aged fortune teller''s eyes. Slowly, with emotions, the greatest fortune teller of the time told Yan Yu "It is all coming to an end. This glorious era is ending. Your actions have inadvertently lead to the creation of the Heavenly Demon." His actions in a small participle world lead to the creation of the Heavenly Demon? Even if he was the paragon who listens to everyone and consider everything properly, that was too improbable to believe. And with that skeptism, Yan Yu dismissed the future telling as nothing more than a dream. However, later actions would prove the old man''s words correct. The golden age of cultivation come to and end and the Heaven sect destroyed. And to think it all started with a woman in red... Karma would always return, and so if you live, you have to take care to remove all of your karma. That was what Yan Yu has determined after once upon a time. 42. In my life, there has only been the Dao "Master, we should go now. The Sect needs you." At that moment, Lang Li calls on her master, who was strangely unmoving. He has been unmoving ever since he heard her. His eyes was looking faraway as if it was seeing something only he could, a reminiscence that only he knows. What Lang Li told her master was- "That hateful unfaithful man. That heartless man. It was him who forgot his promise. It was him who left. Leaving me behind." The voice of that woman keeps repeating in the dark. In the present, Zheng Jie was strangely unmoving. Slowly he turns toward his disciple, without even any bit of hesitation, he opens his mouth. "No, I have never done anything like that." He repeats "In my life, there has only been the Dao. I have never known of worldly matters like that." Lang Li looks back at her master. Suddenly she remembers the matter with the former chief disciple. It was known that love was forbidden within the Heavenly Sword Sect, even from back then. But why is he mentioning it now, when there are more important matter to attend to? With a finger, he causes the ghost of his inheriting disciple to sit down. Slowly he passes more of his inner energy toward her. If her body is still alive, there is still a chance. Perhaps he hasn''t failed his master and sect yet. However, that action causes Lang Li to ask so many questions. The Heavenly Sword Sect is being destroyed right now, why is it then that the sect master himself is so carefree? The wheel of destiny spins, and it was the Heavenly Sword Sect turn, but the Heavenly Saint is not actually that enlightened to let his own sect perish because it was the Heaven''s will right? Lang Li thinks he is not somebody like that. The proof was right here, he is sitting right here, caring for his disciple. At first she was so scared that her master is going to follow through with his principles and send her off too. But he actually stops. However, why is he sitting here? After a while, her master''s eyes start to become distant again. Time keeps passing while the disciples of the Free Travel sect panic at the strange act of the Heavenly Saint within their sect ground. This man is a righteous person, he is not actually going to destroy the sect right? And what is with the strange energy they are feeling? Is something unfathomable happening right now? Should they take note? The current of energy was stable, and it keeps moving, never faltering. It actually materializes the ghost in front of Zheng Jie into a physical form, causing all the disciples of the Free Travel sect to be on alert after a beautiful woman suddenly appear. However, they could not see the ghost in the girl, only the girl in the girl. It was testament to the unfathomable abilities of the Heavenly Sword Sect''s Sect Master that the rules of the Heaven and Earth was turned upside down. He always has the ability to do that, but as a righteous man, Zheng Jie would never do that. And yet right now, in front of the Free Travel sect''s disciple, something that overturns the Heaven and Earth itself is happening in front of them. They only see a living girl, without any cultivation abilities at all in front of them instead of a ghost. Even if they were all juniors in the eyes of the Heavenly Saint, they were all powerful cultivators. How could they not recognize the differences between a ghost and a living person. And yet right now, all they could see was a living breathing person instead of a ghost. It is as if the rule of the Heaven has been overturned for the short moment. However, it could have gone further, Zheng Jie stops just at the last moment. This is it for now. He is never going to overturn the law of the Heaven. That is Zheng Jie''s flaws, clear to all his peers, especially the like of Yan Yu and other. Currently there was one other peer. After hearing Lang Li talk, Zheng Jie immediately knows just who exactly she is talking about. Just by that vague details, he knew. It was an extremely dangerous person that threatens the Heavenly Sword Sect right now. And yet, currently the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect is unmoving. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Lang Li could see that her master''s eyes are distant. It has been distant for a while now, remembering something that only he could remember. "Umm master-" "Sit down Lang Li, you should not move with your conditions." His eyes was distant again after glancing at his disciple. "Master." "Yes?" "Why are you not returning to the sect right now?" The Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect looks straight at her. His voice was normal. "I don''t need to. It is a shame what happened to the disciples, however, we could rebuild the sect later on, this was a powerful enemy after all, it was expected. However, it all has passed. You should not linger too much on the past, lest it affects your cultivation." His voice was cold Lang Li looks at her master, uncomprehending "Master, what are-" He could not be this heartless could he? Suddenly a voice keeps repeating in her mind. "Zheng Jie is an unfaithful man. He would leave you without even caring Zheng Jie is a heartless man. He does not care for anything except for his Heaven. He would not care about you. He would not care about me." Suddenly Lang Li has a headache, as the voice keeps getting louder and louder. "No!" She said. This has happened before. She would not fall for that again. Slowly, she calms herself, and asks herself, she knows her master well, now why would her master says that. " I don''t need to. It is a shame what happened to the disciples, however, we could rebuild the sect later on, this was a powerful enemy after all, it was expected. However, it all has passed. You should not linger too much on the past, lest it affects your cultivation." It is not that he is uncaring of his disciples, it is that he didn''t want her to dwell on the past tragedy too much, going against her Dao. Wait a moment, at that moment, Lang Li suddenly realizes Past. "It all has passed" It has already been taken care of. That was what Lang Li realizes. However, her master is sitting here, he did not know about that matter right until Lang Li told him. He did not know about the enemy at all, and they were a powerful enemies, that may require the power of the Heavenly Saint himself to suppress. The enemies have multiple Star River cultivators and countless Constellation cultivators after all, how could they be common? Not to mention, their true master has not even shown her face yet, and that person''s cultivation may be unknowable. Furthermore, with their strange tricks, they were able to take control of multiple powerful Heavenly Sword Sect disciple, weakening the defense while bolstering their force. The Heavenly Saint didn''t even move, how could the matter has already been taken care of? Lang Li glances at her master suspiciously. This old master of her, he is too much of a monster, and there was many times that she couldn''t even comprehend what he was doing, but is he really so enlighten that it was comparable to being omniscient? Is he actually capable of quelling the chaos in the Heavenly Sword Sect by staring into the distance? This matter, Lang Li knows not, however, this matter has already been done before, when Zheng Jie wipes out all Demonic Cultivators from the face of the cultivation world. It was on a much greater scale, but Lang Li knows not of it. This matter, it should be trivial to the Heavenly Saint. That is, if he could extend his Divine Sense to sense them. However, he couldn''t, they have eluded his Divine Sense from the start. Even now, he still couldn''t sense them, effectively, he was blind and deaf when it comes to them. This matter, he could already infer from the current situation. More importantly, from the start, the Heavenly Saint really was looking into the distance reminiscing instead of actually doing anything. However, he was adamant that the matter has "already passed". Just how could a calamity that require the Heavenly Saint himself to quell has already been quelled without the Heavenly Saint not even moving one inch from his spot or even lifting a finger? At that moment, the false Lang Li within the Heavenly Sword Sect''s sealed ground finds out the answer. 43. Students In this life, there was four kind of students The first one always considers gain and loss. How do I rise above the other? How do I become the tallest tree in the forest? It was the tallest tree that took in the largest amount of light, leaving nothing to the one beneath it. Everyone was just fertilizer. This one is tricky. He never has a good heart, even if he does, it only serves to hinder him. The entirety of his life will be a fierce competition. This person must not be allowed to have a great power. Even if he succeed, it will be a harsh journey. The second is someone similar with a more suitable mindset for cultivation. He will usually be born into a small household. He will usually not be comparable to other cultivators in advantages, in cultivation base. Everything that he has, he is always one step behind. From that small person mindset, a great determination is born. How do I rise above the other? How do I negate my disadvantage and turn it to advantage? How do I become the tree that rise even in harsh circumstances? This person has a suitable mindset for cultivation. Cultivation is a harsh journey, comparable to overturning the heaven. How could someone normal who has never suffered understand that kind of pain. However, careful consideration must be made. Even though the cultivation base is not a problem, a careful cultivation of the mind is needed to steer him from the first mindset The third is someone without any motivation whatsoever. He does indeed struggle to improve, however it is only a half-hearted measure. In his heart, there was not a bit of competitiveness. He only cultivates because ''he should cultivate''. He exists in the world because exists. This tree exists because it exists. It does not live. In the case it becomes a great tree whose canopy covers the forest, it is a stroke of fate through no action of it alone. One should take in this kind of student because he is easy to train, however, it is unlikely for him to achieve any kind of greatness. The fourth is a tree. He is the tree that embodies everything that means to be a tree. He is the truest tree to have ever lived. This person''s future is unpredictable. He exists to cultivate. However, unlike the third student, he does not take any half-hearted measure. He does not causes strife, he does not compete. However he does not compete not because he only exists, he does not compete because he does not care to compete. In the metaphor about a tree, he only care about being a tree, grows, absorb nutrient, grows, repeat. He does not care about the grander tree blocking the sunlight, nor does he cares about how the other trees think about him. At first glance, this person has the mindset fitting to be a cultivator and indeed, if he succeeds, the entire world will know of him, someone who has no worldly bond. However, if he does not care about the scheme of other or any other thing, what will happen to him? Even the straightest tree will find it hard to see that its roots have completely been taken over a by a bigger tree. He is not against the world, but the world is against him. That is just how the world work. Of these four, if you could choose two, who would you pick? The previous master of the Heavenly Sword Sect personally pick the third and fourth. If one does not have any motivation, it is fine, that means she won''t be a threat to the world of cultivation after he passed. If one does not care about worldly matter and the scheme of the people, it is fine. He will be instructed to learn the Steel Heart Manual, going on his way to become the future sect leader of the Heavenly Sword Sect, under the protection of his master. However, the previous sect master has a miscalculation. When the third met the fourth there was a change in her. People changes. The wise previous sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect did read the future, but he did not read the ancient past. The most beautiful love story lied in the past. He discovered that the red string of fate lingering from the past did not disappear. To correct his mistake, he took them both out one day and exposed the matter to the chagrin of the female disciple It is said that men, especially cultivator men does not understand a woman''s heart. "You may have been husband and wife in the past, however it is all in the past. To live, love and die. You were both very blessed to be able to walk the same path. But the laws of the heaven have no place for desire. The cycle of reincarnation should wash away any regret or yearning. From now on you are both a new person. However, this too is fate. With this string of fate, I hope you work together to expand the sect in the future. One Yin. One Yang. You walk proudly." Like two parallel line, fated to walk together but never to meet was the finality of the master''s instruction. What can be done, the matters were exposed publicly. It was a big shame and embarrassment, to the female disciple, especially to the person in front of her. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. However, like a tree, he accepts the words. In the first place, he never owed her anything. However, in the female disciple there was change. Realizing her past through her master words, knowing that they were fated for eachother but was never to be created an obsession in her. The obsession started from that day and while the man didn''t change, the woman changed. *** One thousand years later. "Oh I''m so angry. I''m so angry." A woman could be seen pacing back and forth in a place where air turns into ice due to the sheer coldness. The purest part of the Heavenly Sword Sect, the inner sanctum of the Sword Saint abode. It was in this cold place that the woman walks. The cold was cold. It was extremely overbearing, hammering down at every moment of existence. Even a cultivator has to be careful walking in these hall. The inner sanctum of the Heavenly Sword Sect, even if a cultivator was lucky enough to get over the gate keeper, the Sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect himself, they may find themselves frozen to death. That is to say, even if there was a hypothetical cultivator stronger than the main inheriting disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, the strongest in the entire cultivation world, they may not walk out alive from this inner sanctum. It was cold. Cold. Cold and Cold like the heart of the men here. It seems that when one reach a certain level of enlightenment, one becomes extremely cold. Colder than anything that exist. A cold that defies everything. It was the cold of ''not-existing''. The cold of an ascended person However, there was one exception. This is the inner sanctum of the Heavenly Sword Sect, created by the previous masters of the Heavenly Sword Sect. It would not harm the next generation of the Heavenly Sword Sect. The person here may be walking in the skin of an inheriting disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, yet she is chilled to her very soul. Still she marches on. "Day after day, he only cares about Dao. What about me?" The woman mutters. Still, she paces back and forth in that cold room. "Everyday he only cares about the Dao. What is the Dao? Why is it so great?" In the distance, there was the sound of thunder, but the woman ignores it. "Tell me master." Suddenly she mutters. "Who hurted me?" The words that come out of her mouth could probably only be understood by the person who was involved with the matter. "The Dao. You tried to achieve it. Your master before you tried to achieve it. The people praises that every generation of the Heavenly Sword Sect, there is at least one ascended master. However master..." The woman stops her pacing. "Why did you lie?" In front of the woman is a corpse. "Tell me master..." The woman moves closer to the lifelike corpse sitting on the floor, as if he was still alive. "The Dao DOES NOT exist. In front of me is the conclusive proof of that." In front of her was a corpse. The corpse of the previous master of the Heavenly Sword Sect. One thousand years ago, it was recorded that he has ''ascended'' And yet right here, his corpse is kept. "You struggle so hard and yet in the end you still die. Why do you lead him down the same path?" In fact, to prove that the Dao does not exist, the person who killed the previous sect master of the Heavenly Sword sect was... Her. And yet in Death he still haunts her. She has seen that he has died, so why did that guy... Why did that guy believe that the master has ascended. It was that thought that leads him astray. In the final days of her master, she was supposed to correct his way of thinking, and yet, after her master has died, it only reconfirm the resolution in his eyes. However, what he said that day has stuck with her forever. "Master has ascended." Ascended. Ascended. He saw with his own eyes that even such a man die. So why does he believe in that fairy tale. There exist no ascendancy when we have achieved this level. A master at this level could live forever, so why don''t we use the rest of that time to love each other forever? However, his answer to that was a resolute no and a sword to her heart. Even she did not know how she lived through that. Like a ghost, she has lived for a thousand years. Looking at old scenery, same people, an indescribable feeling arise inside her. "Come back to me Zheng Jie. Come back to me. The Dao does not exist." However in that moment of reminiscence, she was disrupted in her most vulnerable state. Slowly, she turns to look at the intruder "What are you doing here?"
[/hr] 44. The impetousness of youth
"AHHHHHHHHHHH" In the distance, a woman dissolves into foam. Her body rotted with a terrible smell, visually, her body starts to break down A distance away, two men were discussing the Dao, two disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect. While the sect was in great peril, one of the disciple was calm after learning the fate of the sect "The world is extremely unfair to Shao Li because they are jealous." "No Shao Li, the rest of the sect doesn''t like you because of your methods" "If there are myriads of way to achieve heaven, the poison sword is also someone who walks the path of heaven, why can''t any body understand? In the end, all of our goal is the same, you have your understanding of the Sword, I have my understanding of the Poison Sword. With your understanding of the Sword, limitless force come from only the Sword, allowing you to tear the heaven and earth apart, with great understanding, you don''t need great treasure or medicine, the most trust worthy treasure you have is your sword. With the greatest understanding of the Sword, everything you have is the sword, a blade of grass is as deadly as a blade of steel, No Sword turns into Sword. A Sword Daoist is never unarmed if they achieve understanding. While that man is tough on me, I have always admired the sect master. He is someone who has achieved the greatest understanding, true Sword does not hold any form or essence. It''s calm and silent. A true master doesn''t have a sword. I always admired the sect master, however, I realized very soon that I could not achieve the same achievement he has at the sword. The Heaven is generous, there are many paths to arrive at the same conclusion. The sword alone seems not to be the path for me, however, I soon arrived at another path. Then I walked down that path until the end." From hearing this, there was apprehension on the face of the head disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Fu Rong. He does not have understanding of this troublesome junior disciple of his. Shao Li was blessed with understanding, however, his way of thoughts always seem so skewered. Was he perhaps not wrong after all? "Ah. Did you perhaps achieve true understanding with the Poison Dao?" Fu Rong asks politely. True Understanding refers to the utmost greatest understanding of a Dao the practitioner is practicing. It is said that at that level of understanding, a Daoist never runs out of resource. Even Nothingness can just be an extension of their Dao. There was nothing that can stop them from exercising their Dao. Someone who arrives at True Understanding will never be useless. They have seen the truth of the Dao and understand the laws of the Universe. They can start to create their own laws or use the laws of their Dao as they wish. When Shao Li spoke of the man he admired, the Heavenly Sword Sect''s Sect Master has achieved the greatest understanding of the Sword and transcend nothingness. Everything was his blade, even emptiness was his blade. The sect master understands Sword so much that he recognizes the quality of Sword within everything, even in empty air. Only a practicioner''s own Dao could perhaps stop the Sect Master appropriating everything as Sword, however at that point, they will have to contend with someone as knowledgeable as the sect master. Rare fews will walk away unscathed. Shao Li wanted to achieve that great understanding, however he soon realized that the sword Dao was not for him. Perhaps it was ordained, perhaps it was his nature, Shao Li walks the path of the Poison Dao. If he was such an amazing person who achieves the greatest understanding of his own Dao, he is someone to be respected. Fu Rong does not have any suspicion about Shao Li''s cultivation level. Understanding is different from cultivation level. It is said that someone who achieves a great cultivation level does not necessarily have a great understanding of their Dao, and it will be the final hinder to them. On the other hand, someone who has achieved the greatest understanding has probably known how to perfectly achieve the highest cultivation level even if they have to start over. Shao Li was silent. "Not quite. The sect master experienced many hardship. From when he was a child, he has to cultivate the Steel Heart Manual to completion. Our sect tradition was that no help was supposed to be given to the inheriting disciple, so he has to fight his way up, only through that many hardship can understanding be achieved. I am still quite green." Shao Li spent his time mostly as an outcast of the sect, living in poor condition, receiving insults, while fasting and depriving himself of resources until his cultivated body starts to ruin itself. There was many poison that Shao Li takes, and when his body conditions was poor, the poisons run wild, wrecking his body. However, a poison cultivator''s body is special, it holds many mystery the world may not know. That is why a poison cultivator may not appear to be a powerful cultivator, however in truth, they are extremely formidable. Tales of poisoned slaves are still in the mind of the people about the Poison Dao capabilities. Once upon a time, there was a prominent Poison Dao user who captured people indiscriminately, cultivators and non-cultivators alike. His exact actions was unknown, but he cultivated the body of his victims and used the poison to control their mind. Even non-cultivators become an extremely dangerous force. ...it was said that he and his entire force was destroyed over night by an extreme Yang cultivator however. So while the Poison Dao was in the mind of the people, it is still known that extreme force can overcome even the greatest trickery. Stolen novel; please report. Once upon a time, the genius Shao Li was about to achieve a great achievement. However at the most critical point, Shao Li was given a version of the future. He saw the entire heaven and earth on the inside of his wine gout, slowly being dissolved into poison. The essence of all thing was Poison. Shao Li saw the power to move entire universes on a whim, dissolving if he so wishes and creating if he so wishes. Everything was poison. Shao Li saw himself arriving at the greatest understanding, gaining a power worthy of the station. And it terrifies him. "I am still green." Shao Li sips his wine (poison) that only he could drink. A true master won''t turn back on such opportunities. However, there was still hesitation within Shao Li. He is not worthy yet even if he could take that step. At this moment, seeing the greatness of his junior disciple, Fu Rong has a sudden epiphany. "Shao Li! With your great understanding, you will surely be able to break out of the formation surrounding the Heavenly Sword Sect. If we can get to the Sect Master in time, the Heavenly Sword Sect will surely be saved." However, Shao Li just shakes his head "No. I will make a distraction for you, you go." Fu Rong looks at Shao Li as if he has grown a second head. "But even with your great understanding, there are so many masters out there, even some from our side, if you fight, it is going to be certain death." Shao Li''s insistence seems extremely arrogance "You go senior brother. As a great man of the Heavenly Sword Sect, how could I let these matters go? These people attack us without even asking just who exactly are in the Heavenly Sword Sect. They dared to defy our tradition, they have surely ruined our reputation, they took our future sect master from us and seduced away our fellow disciple. How could I let them go unpunished? No, you go and inform the sect master. When he comes back I will inform him of my revenge upon them. I will not let these people who ruined our thousand years reputation go unscathed." "Are you crazy Shao Li? The mastermind hasn''t even shown up yet. You will die." "Go brother." Shao Li''s position was extremely domineering. Could he achieve something? Even Fu Rong does not know at that moment. However, seeing his junior disciple''s just mind, how can Fu Rong denies him. "I will join you." Suddenly Fu Rong says.
""Those idiots"" At that moment, both Zheng Jie who was watching the scene from faraway without being able to see the perpetrator and another voice at the scene start speaking at one. ""What are they thinking? Do they think they are some kind of big heroes?"" Both persons continue At that moment, immediately after the fake Lang Li says, "What are you doing here?" Shao Li walks into the room. Fu Rong was in another place being a distraction, however, this was the inner most sanctum of the Heavenly Sword Sect, it means that "So you have killed all of my guards?" The domineering Shao Li was contemplating the cold, however, his voice did not waver "It was nothing much. When you first went against the Heavenly Sword Sect, you should have known the consequences." In truth, Shao Li was not capable of defeating any of the bodyguards even in one on one circumstances. There was a different of two realms between them, and the mastermind possessing Lang Li is even greater. However, before any of the bodyguards was alerted, they were already dead. Mysterious poison manifesting from nothingness assaulted their bodies at once, turning them into purple before rotting them away. Even with the different in realm, ten masters died instantly without even knowing why is it that they died. Shao Li has achieved extreme greatness. "Before you die, I just want to ask you one question. Just who are you?" The Poison Sword, Shao Li asks with extreme graveness. He knows the inheriting disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Lang Li. And now, he has to kill her to protect the sect. If the Sect Master punishes him, he will take responsibilities, however, this is what he has to do. "Shao Li, the Poison Sword of the Heavenly Sword Sect. My name... You are not even worthy to know." Before Shao Li could react, in front of his eyes was a labyrinth. A door in front of him closes, the shadow of a woman flashes by quickly. His gaze was drawn to that figure. He reaches out with his hand trying to touch her, forgetting for a moment why he was there, he follows the woman through the door, into the red-hued labyrinth. In the real world, not even a moment has passed. Vaguely, Shao Li could hear a voice that he doesn''t understand "A poison practitioner with great understanding but little mental fortitude." Watching the scene unfold, there was three persons. The mastermind, Zheng Jie who is currently staying at the Free Travel sect and one more person. All three recognizes the potential of Shao Li, however he was just too impetuous and reckless "Ah damn. That boy has potential, at this rate, that guy is definitely going to force him to practice the Steel Heart Manual after this." At that moment, inside the Free Travel sect, a voice mutters "That''s it. Shao Li is definitely going to practice the Steel Heart Manual after this even if I have to force him" That was what the Heavenly Sword Sect''s Sect Master, Zheng Jie said