《Dead Man Cultivation (A LitRPG cultivation Adventure)》 Chapter 1: Death is only the beginning "My children are suffering; hate is festering in their souls. They look the same, struggle through the same worldly matters throughout their lives, and yet they kill each other over borders, over religions, over as little as a few coins. I see that wars have become unforgiving. War prisoners are only more mouths to feed, and armies wipe out entire villages from the face of the earth. Women, children, and the elderly are all brutally murdered, and sometimes that¡¯s not the only fate they have to face before death. The soldiers, who have been away from their families for years on end, have raped and killed many women, while the commanders look with pride at the carnage their armies had wrought. Entire bloodlines are cut short and face their end in these wars. Rulers are stealing from their subjects. They¡¯re filling their bellies with the hard work of their people, living extravagantly, while the poor barely eat bread to stave off hunger, weighed down by taxes that make them slaves to their fates. Parents give their children away to whoever can feed them, or leave them on the steps of temples, for the monks to take them in. That doesn¡¯t always happen, even their charity is conditional, and they only give it when they¡¯re short on servants for the temple. Servants who will take care of their livestock or their farms that feed them to obesity, while the masses starve. Need a prayer? Pay. Need a blessing? Pay. Need medicine? Pay¡­ Other children are working from a very young age. Their families push them out into the world, to feed themselves with what little their labor will get them. Abused, in a work environment unfit for frail little kids. The horrors that exist in the world are many. The Immortals ignore the public and focus only on their reach for immortality and their desire to defy the heavens. If not for accidents that occur every few years, people would think they were myths. Many already believe they¡¯re a myth, until their fights with each other finally spill into the mundane world, and their vast power shocks people. Locked away in their sects atop mountains, not deigning to lower themselves to the level of mortals, even forgetting their own families. Many human lives are lost before they¡¯ve enjoyed a full life. It breaks my heart. How did it all come to this? How can I stop what I now see as inevitable?" Thus spoke the goddess Karma. In a place unreachable for humans, not even by most of the ascending cultivators as rare as they are, there she floats, overlooking our world; she has been there at the start, she will be there at the end of it all, and she bears witness to how it all went horribly wrong. ***** It was a chilly night. A young man was walking, dressed in two robes above his work clothes, trying to block the cold from nestling further into his bones, but it''s unfortunately no help at all. He was climbing the slope of the mountain next to his small village. The villagers claimed that the mountain was protecting their village, but the young man couldn¡¯t think similarly, since the cold was trying to kill him. Covered was the Earth all around him with snow, stripped were all the trees as far as the eye could see -which wasn¡¯t much because of the falling snow all around- of all their leaves, and he was desperately clutching the robes to his body, trying hard not to let the shivering control him, so that it wouldn¡¯t feel even worse. A while ago, a doctor had been at his house to look over his sick mother, who''d said her condition had worsened. She needed Vitality Grass, which grew halfway up the mountain. The doctor had run out, and it''s the only way to save her. They couldn¡¯t wait till morning, and even then, they weren''t sure if a peddler or a merchant¡¯s caravan would pass by the village. The young man had no other choice. His mother had carried him all her life. His father had left them when he was young, and she¡¯d taken care of him ever since, washing clothes for the rich to pay for their needs. When he became able, she took care of all the house chores while he struggled to work as a water carrier, and tried to study at night to become a scholar. He couldn¡¯t bear losing her. He¡¯d have no one else in his life. His name was Seph. He was 18 years of age, 5 feet 8 inches tall, his skin was the color of sand, and he kept his black hair short because of his occupation; unlike all aspiring scholars, his eyes were black, it''s easy to tell he was very intelligent by looking at them. After all, no one wanted to drink water that had dangling hair in it. He had a powerful upper body from carrying water all day. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Some would call it a good foundation for a martial artist, but that was never what he had aspired to be, so far, he had done everything he had set out to do in life, even though what he had done wasn¡¯t much, but it all hung in the balance now. His task was dangerous, but he was determined to give it his all. ***** Seph¡¯s thoughts raced as he struggled upward. He knew he had to find the herb and get back to his mother, Mother... I am coming for you... I swear... I¡¯ll save you... Somehow he reached halfway up the mountain, but the snow was falling even more intensely. He couldn¡¯t see the herb anywhere around him. His body was almost freezing to death already. Seph couldn¡¯t press on further, so he started looking for a shelter. He strained his eyes to look around, only to find this dark tree. A majestic tree, bigger than any he had seen coming up this mountain, wasn''t covered with snow at all. It also had a big cavity in its center, enough to shelter a grown man. Its wood looked very sturdy. It had a faint, dark glow surrounding it. By this point, Seph¡¯s brain froze, and he couldn¡¯t do much thinking. He completely disregarded the mysterious glow coming off the tree. He had to take cover in the man-shaped cavity and try to get warmer. The blizzard would pass, and the visibility would become better, so he could continue his search for the herb and then make his way down. Seph stood inside the cavity with his back to the tree, both his arms hugging his body while he rubbed himself to get warmer. He became conscious of his hunger when he saw a black fruit of some kind dangling from the tree. He kept eyeing the fruit, trying to figure out its name, but it didn¡¯t look like any fruit he had seen before. He kept bouncing the idea around in his head while waiting to get warmer. Should he eat that fruit or not? He hasn''t eaten many fruits in his life, which made his stomach growl more. It didn¡¯t help that he hadn¡¯t had dinner tonight, either. After a while, Seph felt warmer and walked closer to the fruit. Upon closer inspection, it looked like it was a black peach hanging from the tree. Drool began dripping down the side of his mouth. He tried to think logically and not eat that weird peach. He had never seen or heard of a black peach before. What if it was dangerous? What if it was poisonous? Long story short, his stomach won the conversation. He reached out for the black peach and plucked it from the tree, bringing it closer to his mouth. When he heard a shouting voice, ¡°It¡¯s one of them," and another followed, ¡°Get him fast." At that moment a stone the size of a watermelon shot towards Seph and hit him square in the chest. He flew back with force, hitting the cavity inside the tree and slumped to the ground while thinking, "Mother, no; I was so close; I wanted to save you." His body went limp, with the black peach on his chest, where he was checking the damage caused by the stone, which had caved his chest in. ***** Seph woke up a little while later, gasping for air, his eyes wide open in horror, still feeling pain from his caved-in chest, but nothing was the same anymore. He woke up to loud shouting, sounds of explosions, and strange, colorful lights flying all around. He rubbed his eyes, trying to concentrate, but it wasn¡¯t helping. He couldn¡¯t see that well. The young man looked at his hands after rubbing his eyes. His hands were blue! He thought, "Why are my hands blue? Am I that cold?" He touched his face to check his temperature, only to realize he was cold! He was so cold! He was still sprawled on the ground, his back supported by the cavity of the tree; the rock that had caved in his chest was beside him on the clearing, and the black peach was inside the cavity of his caved-in chest. Seph stopped focusing on himself and watched what was happening on the slope in front of and above him, yes, above him, as there were people floating in the air. Stray fireballs and iceballs flew from the left side, also what looked like windblades, big round rocks hurled at extreme speeds! He thought, no way, no freaking way. Immortals are fighting in front of my eyes. Why did I have to get caught up in this? If one of them hits me, I''m done for ¨C how am I even alive after the one that hit me! He looked to his right to see who was the target of these attacks and saw people. It¡¯s very generous to call them people, as they all looked like they just crawled right out of a grave after spending a good chunk of time down there! And their looks varied. They mostly wore uniform robes, there were three types of uniforms: long, flowing robes with different colors. Some of them looked siphoned of all skin colors, and they had pale blue skin, some pale white, and some even had grey skin. Seph thought, "Wait a minute! No, please no!" He looked back at his hands, which were still blue, and he lifted his sleeves; his arm was blue, he took a peek at his horrendously damaged chest; it was also blue, with a dark shade of red, which was a welcome diversity at that point. He started panicking internally, as he didn¡¯t want to grab the attention of the warring beasts in front of him. Did I become like them? No, it couldn¡¯t be. I must be extremely cold, that¡¯s all! The Immortals'' battle raged on in front of him, the blue people were attacking with black fires, green lumps of something that sizzled the ground wherever it fell, some had protruding bones covering different parts of their bodies, some slashed flying waves in the air with different swords. Balls of light flew from the side of the immortals, and balls of shadow flew from the opposite direction! It was madness! But the battle was waning. The Immortals were retreating even though he couldn¡¯t see any real casualties among their numbers, and only the pale blue people remained. ***** One of the pale men, tall with white hair slicked back and cold blue, piercing eyes that looked much smaller than normal eyes. He was tall at about 5 feet 11 inches tall, he had a slim but strong body; and looked to be around 40 years old, came floating over to Seph after the battle had ended. Before today, he never saw a person float in the air like that, and even though he had seen too many do it in this battle, they were far away enough that he could feign it was an illusion, but now he could see it clear as day, also this one¡¯s skin turned out not to be pale blue, it was more like grayish black. He wore a long black coat with a high collar and had his arms crossed over his chest. ¡°Another poor soul with a purpose who died before his time. I''m afraid we were late to save you.¡± The man said with pity. Seph looked around at first to make sure he was the target of the talking man. He gulped and answered, ¡°What do you mean by dying? I am still alive! And what do you mean you were late to save me?!¡± Seph was staring at him wide-eyed in complete horror. ¡°Yes, my child, you died; it seems the immortals were out here looking for us when they saw you and thought you were a yin disciple, and they resolved to cut your unholy life short, that¡¯s the danger we face whenever we venture outside our caves after all.¡± The man said, feeling sorry for the situation his kin have to face every time they come face to face with cultivators. Seph said frantically, ¡°You must be mistaking me for someone else, good sir; I am not a yin disciple, I don¡¯t even know what that means, I swear, plus I am still alive, I am just pale from the cold!¡± Seph was half relieved, thinking they just got the wrong guy and would leave him alone. The man said with finality, ¡°Son, you''re a Yin disciple now, no doubt about it. You must have had a strong desire when you died. That brought you back as one of us.¡± "But I..." Seph never finished his sentence as his eyes scanned over the Yin Disciples in front of him, who looked like walking corpses; it suddenly occurred to him that the blow to his chest must have been severe enough to halt his heart, his injury hadn¡¯t even healed yet. Chapter 2: The Yin Immortals {The world needed the Yin Immortals. They''ve been the only thing keeping some resemblance of balance in it since their creation. By consuming the yin energy to power their cultivation, they are balancing the good natural energy of the world with the yin energy produced from people¡¯s negative emotions. Sadness, jealousy, fear, anger, frustration, envy, depression, guilt, grief, and despair... They''re natural emotions, that the natural Yin energy produced by the world can balance easily, but now more than ever, they''ve become unnatural. All the injustices happening daily make these emotions overpower the natural energy of the world. And I¡­ I feel helpless to stop it. The Yin Energy is tainting everything and making it much worse. If humans do not make a radical change soon, they will lose everything.} ***** Seph had recited his tale to the elder of the Yin disciples, and told him about the fruit he had obtained; and showed it to him, and how he''d got hit by a big rock to the chest, and lost consciousness later. ¡°We don¡¯t have a lot of time to explain this new life to you, son, but you''ve become a yin immortal. Some call us undead, or unliving, but it doesn¡¯t matter to us in the least. We cultivate using yin energy, the accumulation of years of injustices, prejudices, and horrors among humans. And use them to cultivate our bodies, become stronger, to fight for our very existence. We have as much right to be here as any person on this earth. There are myriad ways to become like us. Usually we are born from having a great injustice done to us or our desire for revenge right before our death. And in your case, your desire to save your mother, as for the fruit you found, it¡¯s a Yin Fruit. It can enhance certain aspects of your new body, but I advise against eating it now.¡± Seph looked wide-eyed at him in complete horror; he looked at his blue hands, and then back at his face again, and thought, he isn¡¯t joking with me, all humans want to be immortals, but no one wants whatever this unholy existence is! ¡°How do I go back?" he blurted, looking between him and the disciples. Some were looking at Seph with pity, others with ridicule, the stronger ones with indifference! The man coldly looked at Seph, ¡°There is no going back now, boy. You either move forward with your cultivation or you die; you are better off joining our Yin Sect. We''ve got you covered against immortals and mortals alike. You cannot look at your reflection in a mirror right now, but you look like a corpse as much as any of the other disciples behind me. Mortals will attack you on sight!¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Seph looked at the disciples behind him, taking in their macabre appearance. ¡°But my mother, she needs a vitality grass or I¡¯ll lose her forever,¡± he was on the verge of crying, but no tears were coming out. ¡°You are in luck, young one, I am the elder of the Yin disciples sect. We''re here to send these new disciples inside the tree behind your back. It''s your fate to join them for a chance to get Scorn¡¯s legacy. Once you''re inside, time will flow differently. It¡¯s your only way to become strong to either continue your trek across the mountain to attain the grass for your mother and pass whatever violence the mortals will meet you with, or you can get lucky and find the grass inside. It¡¯s not that rare after all. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. Whatever you find in there is yours. All that the sect requires is the Annals of Scorn. We need his wisdom to give us purpose. This is one of the many places that potentially hold his wisdom, but the only way to get inside is if you are a brand new Yin immortal who made no progress in cultivation and has no skills, or any special gear to give you an advantage. What do you say? Do you accept my generous offer? The next words coming out of your mouth better be yes or no. I have no more time to waste on you.¡± Seph gulped nothing at all, for his mouth was parched. Looking wide-eyed at the yin disciples ahead, who still had the same expressions from before, the wind blowing their robes, and their hair - those of them who still had hair, anyway - the scene looked very bleak, very macabre! Seph answered, ¡°Yes, I accept your generous offer, Lord Elder sir!¡± Many of the disciples chuckled at Seph¡¯s awkwardness at not knowing how to address the powerful man in front of him. ¡°Good choice, son, our lives may be hard, but by all the power we can amass, we can push through it, and we''re no pushovers. We can¡¯t teach you anymore about your new situation. I bet you feel your senses have become dull, and you have become weaker than even your mortal self, but all that will change once you get to cultivating. You will be good in our hands. That¡¯s, of course, if you survive the coming trial.¡± ¡°Wait a minute, what do you mean if I survive?! I could die in there? Again? I don¡¯t want to die twice on the same day! And what happens if I die this time? I cease to exist? My mother dies without me saving her?¡± Seph bombarded him with these questions back to back, panicking. He knew his journey would be dangerous, but this was even wilder than his wildest dreams. He never dreamed of wild dreams beyond becoming a scholar. He was a water carrier. The Elder leaned towards him, put his hand on his shoulder, and looked deep into his soul, if he still had any anyway! and said. ¡°Listen, youngster, trust me when I tell you. This opportunity is the best thing that''s happened in your new life. We don¡¯t know what is beyond this portal, but whatever is in there will set you up with an amazing start on your path of cultivation. Many of you can come out alive and well with substantial rewards for cultivators at your levels. Many of you might not come out, but it¡¯s the law of the immortal way now. Want to survive? Fight. Want to save your mother? Fight. Want to be strong? Fight. Want to be rich? Fight. Want to be immortal? Fight. Fight till your last breath, fight with all your being, fight because fighting is all we will do from now on. And by Scorn I swear, WE WILL DEFY THE HEAVENS.¡± The disciples behind him exploded in war cries and cheers, and it dawned on Seph that, even though they were regarded as unholy creations, they weren''t afraid of the immortals; they didn''t feel scared at all! He steeled his resolve and put on his most serious face. It¡¯s all or nothing. The climb of this mountain was a death sentence anyway in these conditions, and he made it. Not really, but at least he was still here. He could still save her, who is dear to his heart. He looked at the Elder and said, ¡°I am ready, let¡¯s do this." Chapter 3: Forest Labyrinth {Welcome disciples, I am Scorn, never known was I, by any other name. This is a trial of my design, so that you can prove yourselves to receive my legacy. You will compete against each other in some rooms. Collaborate to face challenges in other rooms, and you''ll also get the chance to show your individual abilities as well. Not everyone who joined this trial will get out alive, but those who do will do so much stronger. I designed this trial to challenge you as much as to reward you, be alert constantly. The entire labyrinth is hostile, and it wants to get rid of you. Don¡¯t let it. You will learn my story as you go, as that¡¯s the entire purpose I made this legacy, to ensure that I reach my goals, even from beyond the void. But above all, as newbies, you''ll learn more about yourself. You''ll learn about your strengths and limitations. Time runs differently inside this labyrinth. One year here equals one hour in the real world, and you''ll get only one year. If you don¡¯t make it to the last room before the year is over, the labyrinth will kick you out. But don¡¯t worry, you will live. You will live to regret not reaching the grand prize! The grand prize is a Body Dismantling Cultivation Manual. This manual will cover all the levels of the first cultivation stage. Perfect cultivation, the best gains, and the easiest way to the top. It¡¯s very rare to achieve perfect cultivation at any stage. This will let you and your sect after you, have a significant head start. Let the trials begin, and may the best man win!} ***** Seph gulped once he heard the name of that manual, Body Dismantling. He felt that his body was failing him already. Everything was much weaker than before. All his senses, all his muscles, and there was even more dismantling to follow? He looked behind and thought, "Yeah; the portal is gone. I guess I''m stuck here, no turning back." Regardless, this was what he heard after he entered the portal inside the black tree. He was the first to enter. There were over 100 Yin disciples entering this place. All newbies, devoid of any power or any skill to their name, except for what they knew from their past lives. There were a few martial artists in the group, or at least that¡¯s what he heard whispered. Which made this all worse, since they''ll compete against each other. He was never in a fight, except that one time a husband beat his ass after he saw his wife wearing inappropriate attire when he was delivering water to their house. It was a one-way beating, honestly; he doesn¡¯t like to think back on it. He was chosen to enter the tree portal first, even though he was the newest among the group. But the Elder said it was his fate since he had been at the tree before them. That probably wasn¡¯t the best thing that could have happened to him, since he saw all the newbies looking at him hatefully. Once the elder said that, he recited some incantation on the tree, and the cavity shifted, revealing an even blacker portal that looked like a void in space and time. He was already hating the color black. How did his life ever come to this? When he entered the portal, he lost all sensation, even though he knew he was still walking forward, but it''s like all his senses stopped working. He could see nothing at all, hear nothing, or smell anything, and didn¡¯t even feel any wind or the ground beneath his feet while he walked. He only knew that he was willing himself forward. The first thing he saw was a door, a brown door, with vines climbing over it; it looked old and unused since nature had overtaken it, as well as the entire room, which was made of white stone, and also had vines climbing all over it. The voice of Scorn came out of nowhere, disembodied. It felt weird to hear an introduction like that from Scorn. The man was a big deal, after all. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. He was alone, so either the others would take their time before they''d spawn in the same room, or they were already in different rooms around this place. He had a feeling, though, after hearing this introduction, that he didn¡¯t luck out by being the first man here or anything. He would see his peers, eventually. He looked around after the introduction had finished, and the room was empty. He guessed that there was nothing here to do, so he braced himself and opened the door to the first room in the trial. ***** After he opened the first door, he found himself in what looked like a garden. There wasn¡¯t a white stone floor under his feet this time, but soil. Adorned was the wall with vines, like the last one, and there were three herb plots in the middle, with enough room to walk between the entire garden. He recognized one bed was Vitality Grass. He was ecstatic, even though he couldn¡¯t get it to his mother now. Each herb plot had eight herbs, and there were three different herbs in the room, one for each plot. He noticed a wooden bucket in the clear path and resolved to put the herbs he would gather inside it for now. Reaching his hand down to pick his first Vitality Grass, a small creature that looked like a mythical fairy flew towards his face from between the herbs. It had what looked like a skirt made of a colorful flower and a naked upper body. It was very tiny, but it was terrifying! It was screaming while flying towards him, a look of absolute hate on its little face. Its little teeth were very sharp, its hair looked like a flower sepal of some kind, a little green thing that covered its head, and it had a little wand that was flashing white as it waved it towards him. He panicked immediately, but his reaction surprised even himself. When he lunged forward and bit the little fairy in half, his teeth cut clean through its tiny body. He panicked again, spitting out the upper half of its body that was inside his mouth. At this moment, he realized that it tastes good! He steeled his heart and swallowed what little blood was still inside his mouth, and he felt like he''d got very little energy from it. He couldn¡¯t explain it. Now that he thought about it, nobody ever told him how yin cultivation worked, not even the other newbies, to make sure that nobody had cultivated before entering this place. Did I turn into a carnivore killer when I died and became a yin immortal? He thought. He tried not to do it; he tried not to eat the rest of the little fairy, but unconsciously his hand reached out towards it, picked its upper half again and put it in his mouth. He gulped it down in panic, then he noticed. He gained a little more energy this time, but he was constantly gaining energy little by little now. He couldn¡¯t stop a terrifying thought that was inside his mind. It¡¯s delicious! He let go of his inhibitions, picked up its lower half and put it in his mouth. This time he chewed, he took his sweet time, and he felt great. He''s getting way more energy. He was feeling satisfied, as if he was eating mundane food, and his act didn¡¯t feel unnatural at all! He swallowed the little fairy after thoroughly eating it, and he got back to his original task of picking the herbs. He picked all the vitality grass. Then, moved to the second bed, which had grass that looked like it was going to catch on fire. It was even hot to the touch. This must be Fire Grass. I am not sure what it¡¯s used for, but I will collect it as well. He started picking, and when he reached out for the final one, he noticed another of the little fairies hiding in there as well. It¡¯s fearful of me. I can see it, since this one isn¡¯t trying to attack me. The issue is, I don¡¯t think I satiated my hunger by eating that last one. He thought to himself. He then lunged for it with his hand. It screamed and flew away; the wand in its little arms lit up, and he sprinted after it until a ball of light hit him straight in the face. He felt his forehead burning, but it didn¡¯t feel like a severe injury at all. He stopped for a second, pondering his next move, but the screams he heard didn¡¯t give him a chance to do that. Two more screams came from the second herb plot, with two more lighting wands flying towards him; they were pretty low, and he was standing; he did the first thing that came to his mind, and he threw himself at them in a weird angle, to fall on them with his entire back. True enough, he landed on both of them, and even though his back hurt from the landing, they got it much worse, even if they were still alive. He clutched both groggy fairies in his hands and bit both their tiny heads off. The last fairy saw all this and was flying away frightened, but there was no other way out of this room but through the single, closed door. He threw one of the two fairies in his mouth, started chewing, and ran after the last one, feeling energized by the energy entering his body. He caught it and bit its head off. He sat on the ground, panting, thinking about what he had done; he didn''t feel any remorse at all. He closed his eyes and started breathing in and out. Calm washed over him after the intense fight. Even if it was easy, it''s still intense. He felt the pain disappear from his back and forehead, and then he felt extreme pain when the right half of his chest cage popped back into its original place, and it healed; the process was very painful, but an extreme sense of relief came over him right after, when he did this, the energy inside his body was gone, as if it had been consumed to heal him. He wasted no more time at this point and ate the last two fairies. He meditated again right after, and the rest of his chest popped back into place, fully healed. He was back to his former self, as back as he could be anyway, since he still looked like a walking corpse. He opened his eyes, trying to make sense of what he knew so far, eating other creatures energized him, and chewing them gave him instant energy, but if he swallowed them whole, the energy trickled in for a while at much slower amounts, as if he was digesting food. This energy doesn¡¯t leave his body. He can sense it to an extent, and with meditation, he could heal himself by consuming this energy. Was this what cultivation was like for the Yin immortals? He had no clue, but he will need to make more tests in the future as he continues along. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. His ruthlessness in the fight worried him. He never had that in him before becoming a yin cultivator. He was doing the unthinkable by eating those fairies, but when the danger bells blared in his head, he lost it, and it''s what his instincts entailed on him to do. That sense of losing himself in the act, then that exhilarating, refreshing feeling after eating the fairies. They were all alien to him, and mysterious, and he wondered what was really happening to him. He headed for the last herb plot and looked at it warily. Wondering if there were more of those fairies inside, he thought to himself, it¡¯s great that monsters can get scared that way. It would have been annoying to continue running after that last fairy. The herbs in the last plot looked weak, just straight strings of grass sticking out of the ground; he knelt and tried to pluck them out, only to be met with force he wasn¡¯t expecting from the frail grass, he grabbed it with both hands and pulled, only for a bulb root to come out of the ground, the root looked like it¡¯s made of soil; he didn¡¯t know what this was, so he put it in the bucket, and continued towards the closed door in front of him. Chapter 4: Enter The Monkey King Herbs are important in the cultivation world, some of which are consumed to heal or cure various other effects. While others are mixed with others for alchemy. The more you gather, the more skilled you become at gathering, so that you can gather high-rarity herbs. There are also special sickles that crafters make to help you with your herb gathering. Remember, the road of cultivation takes years upon years. It¡¯s not an easy road. It¡¯s imperative to build a firm foundation on each cultivation stage by making pills with your alchemy craft. You can always seek out alchemists like me to meet your needs. But only you will live for thousands of years if you succeed on your path of cultivation. Better use your time to hone different crafting skills to be the master of your destiny. The Forager''s Guide to Sustainability By Zhi Zixin ***** Seph was worried that he would end up never reaching certain rooms, and he''d lose what little knowledge Scorn is giving him during the trial. He was clueless, after all. Most probably, his peers had some lessons on common immortal''s knowledge in the sect before they came here. Being an immortal sounded more and more like it was going to be a chore already. Seph thought, what else will he do with all his time in this world, anyway? He got into the next room, only to find it empty. In front of the door, though, there was a napping brown monkey. He was lying on the ground with his legs crossed. Only his head was a little higher, supported by the door behind him. He looked at peace, like a person who had eaten a delightful meal and was enjoying the aftermath. Seph raised his eyebrows at this scene and started moving inside. The monkey suddenly opened his eyes, sensing the movement, only to meet Seph''s eyes! He jumped up and grabbed a small wooden staff that was beside him. The staff was so plain, its color was a mix of red and brown. The monkey stood on guard like he didn¡¯t want Seph to go through the door. Seph thought, "This monkey is so small, why does it look like he¡¯s getting ready to fight me?" Seph took one more step towards the door, but the monkey didn¡¯t like this very much. He sprinted on all fours with the small staff still in hand, and when he reached Seph, he hit him on his left knee with the staff. Seph¡¯s leg jerked up from the pain, hitting the small monkey by mistake. ¡°Aww, come on, why did you hit me?!¡± The monkey glared at him and made some angry noises. Then went in for the attack again. One second it was under Seph¡¯s legs. The second he jumped onto his knees, he spun around to the back of his knees. Then he jumped to his hip, spinning to the front, and with two fast moves, it was on his shoulder, hitting him on the head with the staff. Seph was hurt and tried to grab the monkey, but got his hand bitten instead, while the monkey moved quickly to his right shoulder and hit him on the head again. ¡°Ouch, come on, stop it, you little fucking demon!¡± He grabbed at the monkey with his other hand, but it only caught empty air as the monkey was now on top of his head, and smacked him on the middle of his face; Seph grabbed at his face after he got hit and caught the staff, he held onto it, then jerked forward, launching the monkey straight at the door. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The Monkey hit his back hard on the door, and he didn¡¯t have his staff with him anymore. He looked like he was about to cry, but after a little whine, he opted to go back on the attack to retrieve his lost staff. When the monkey was under Seph¡¯s legs again, Seph got a demonic idea. He threw the staff towards the door. The monkey¡¯s eyes went wide, following the staff in mid-air, and made a sudden turn to go after it. Seph didn¡¯t give him a chance to go far before he kicked his behind, launching him towards the closed door, which the monkey hit face-first. The monkey was dizzy now, and instead of going back on the attack, he sat on the ground holding his face with both hands, and he started crying! "No, no, no, don¡¯t cry like that. You attacked me first!¡± Seph voiced his objection. The little monkey kept on crying, anyway. Seph felt so guilty over hitting it hard that he didn¡¯t know what he was supposed to do in the room here. Was he supposed to kill the monkey? Was he supposed to bypass it and go through the door? Suddenly, a spark lit up his brain. He could give the monkey a Vitality Grass to heal, and then hopefully he would let him go through the door. He walked towards the crying monkey, who seemed like he had given up all fight, and still clutched his face, crying, and reached out to him with a vitality grass. The monkey looked up at him with tearful eyes and back at the grass. Seph nodded, smiling; he wasn¡¯t sure his smile looked any good now with how macabre his transformation must have been. The monkey took the grass, then ate it, after a minute he was healed and making happy barks. The monkey looked at Seph, grinning and showing all its white teeth, then with purpose grabbed his staff again; Seph took a step back, afraid the monkey was going to attack him again, but he climbed super-fast to his left shoulder, and pointed his staff forward like he was asking his human slave to go through the door with him on his shoulder! Seph didn¡¯t know what to think about this? But it looked like he had a monkey companion now! He steeled his resolve, picked up the bucket of herbs that he would keep leaving at the door of each new room, and moved on forward through the door. ***** ¡°You could have beaten the last room in one of many ways, you could have killed the monkey, or left him crying and passed through the door, you could have tried to slip by him in the fight, you managed to find the most rewarding way, befriending the monkey! This shows that you are full of compassion and kindness, some might call that a weakness in a yin cultivator, but you¡¯ve got to balance your actions, or else you might get unlucky and get karmic retribution dealt to you, it¡¯s real even if random so be careful. Animal Companions are very common in the cultivation world, They can gain levels the same as you and everyone else in the world. They can cultivate the same as you only different of course since your animal companion isn¡¯t yin-oriented, but they have something more prominent with them than with humans. Bloodlines, certain humans have special bloodlines, but animal companions always have a bloodline. The only problem is the differing levels of purity and different levels of uniqueness, which can all be refined with certain materials that are usually very rare to get. A bond with an animal companion is as strong a bond as any other in the cultivation world; sworn older brother, adoptive mother or father, adoptive daughter or son, even Master and Disciple bonds. But, it¡¯s much riskier because animal companions start weaker than human immortals, so be careful and care for your companion, until he is much stronger and can be of real help in your fights. Now the next room is special. You will spawn in a stasis field, and after thirty seconds, when everyone is oriented, you will all get a chance to fight each other for the prize of that room. May the best man win!¡± True to Scorn''s words, Seph found himself inside a stasis field. A few seconds passed before three more newbies spawned in the room with him. They wore different clothing, as they all had different backgrounds. Seph was scrutinizing them, looking at what each of them had gotten in the past rooms. The guy right in front of him had a leather chest armor above his ordinary, dirty white clothing, which made his entire attire look mismatched. The guy to his left, as he was in the far right corner of the room, held a sword in his hand, and nothing else. He also had dirty white clothing. The guy in front of him had a sack strapped to his waist. He wore only blue pants, and his upper body was naked. The guy had six-pack abs, which made Seph guess he might be one of the rumored martial artists in the trials. They spent the entire 30 seconds eyeing each other up, which gave them all the idea that they''d all got the same warning before entering this room. Then the stasis fields dissipated, and the guy in front of Seph ran straight at him; Seph tried to meet him with a fist to the face, but the guy caught his hand, Seph then tried to hit him with his other hand, but it also got caught in the air, Seph finding himself in a bad position again just lost it, and lunged with his mouth wide open at the guy¡¯s neck, he hit home and held on for dear life; the guy started elbowing him in the back, but the monkey, seeing his friend in a dangerous position, intervened and jumped at the guy¡¯s face, hitting him with the staff repeatedly. The guy was bleeding profusely now from his neck; he tried to attack the monkey to no success, so he landed one last elbow to Seph¡¯s back before losing consciousness. Seph looked over to the other side. The martial artist was fighting the guy with the sword, while being wary of him, since he''d already had a slash at the side of his stomach. Seph didn¡¯t know which of them would win, so he flipped over the unconscious man and started untying his leather chest armor so he could wear it instead. The monkey made excited barks, and Seph couldn¡¯t help but smile at his new buddy ¡°Don¡¯t worry, buddy, we''ve got this; I feel weird calling you buddy, we will have to choose a name for you after we are done with this!¡± The monkey, with a wide white-toothed grin, nodded at him happily. ¡°Can you tie up this leather armor for me?¡± Seph asked, not exactly sure how well the monkey understood his language; surprisingly, the monkey jumped onto his back and started tying the bands together like a pro! Seph thanked him again and headed for the middle of the room. In the middle was a pedestal with a blue stone on top of it. He looked at it with greed, but couldn¡¯t linger. He had to watch the fight between the other two guys to determine his next move. Chapter 5: The Eye of the Appraiser Once the stasis fields dissipated, the guy in front of me rushed towards me! His sword held high, he attacked with an overhead arc, directed at my head; I dodged with ease. I''m a martial artist, and now I am a yin immortal as well, but I need to survive these trials to stay immortal. The guy in front of me doesn¡¯t look that good with a sword, and I am that good with my eight limbs. May the best man win, but I know that man is me. My opponent composed himself and lunged with his sword to stab me again. I dodged and kicked his right shoulder, which made him take a few steps back. The last hit didn¡¯t do any damage to his courage, it seems, and he pressed his advantage of owning a weapon again. With a horizontal slash directed at my midsection, I saw what he was doing and kicked the cross guard of his sword. Which disoriented him briefly, but I followed with a kick to his face, which made him fall back altogether. I looked to my side. The other yin immortal with the monkey was biting the neck of his opponent, while the monkey distracted him. I''ll have to be careful with that one. We''re gonna have to fight. Suddenly I feel a cold liquid running down my side, and I see my opponent''s sword sticking out of my stomach! Fuck, never take your eyes off your opponent. Luckily, I learned that with yin cultivation you can heal any wound. I need to get through these two while I''m wounded now, because of my overconfidence in winning this fight. I took the sword out from my side and jumped back, holding my side in pain. My opponent rose from his lying position on the floor. He lunged at me, a big smirk filling his face, and attacked with an overhead arc again. I sidestep away from the attack, and I kicked the sword away from his hand. The guy panicked and ran after it. But I jumped on his back instead and put him in a chokehold; a quick struggle ensued, and I snapped his neck. One more to go¡­ ***** Seph saw the other two guys locked in combat and got an idea. He needed the heart of the guy who had lost consciousness from blood loss after fighting with him. So he went back, sat on the ground next to him, bit him in the chest and pulled at it. A short while later, a now mangled-chest corpse lay in front of him. He reached within the chest and pulled the heart out. Looking at the heart as if it were the most coveted treasure in the world, he started eating it. It''s the most delicious thing he had ever eaten in his entire life. With renewed vigor, stemming from the energy circulating in his body from the juicy meal. He approached his opponents again at a breakneck pace, only to find them locked in a heated battle on the ground, the sword away from them. He reached out for the sword, held it up in front of his face, turning it side to side with a satisfied nod, as if he even knew what he was doing. By the time the two disciples had gotten entangled on the ground and finished fighting, the winner was the martial arts guy. Done with his fight, the martial arts guy stood up and approached Seph with caution; he bowed down, hands clasped in respect, before attacking with a leg kick, which Seph couldn¡¯t dodge in time and it hit home, pushing him back; the monkey screeched behind Seph, but Seph couldn¡¯t look back at him at that moment. Seph raised his new sword high, ran fast towards his opponent, and went down with an overhead arc towards his shoulder. Surprised by his speed, the martial artist dodged at the last second to the right. Seph thanked his stars that no one else who spawned with him in this room seemed to know that eating people increased their energy, speed, and their strength. Or maybe the martial artist didn¡¯t have time to extract his opponent¡¯s heart. Thinking fast, he attacked his opponent with a horizontal arc, which his opponent couldn¡¯t dodge fast enough, and the sword cut a quarter of the way into his side; the martial artist screamed from the pain, but knew that his very existence depended on this, so he held the sword with both hands and pulled it away from Seph¡¯s arms. Seeing that his new toy got taken from him, he sprinted towards the martial artist, and tackled him to the ground, making his opponent wince in pain; at this point, Seph smiled at him diabolically, while straddling his chest, and lunged at his neck, biting until blood covered the ground, and the writhing body underneath him stopped moving. Seph raised his head, blood running down his mouth, looked up, and gave his angriest war cry ever. Something was changing within him. He knew it was happening, but he wasn¡¯t against that change at all. It exhilarated him. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ***** Seph was deep in thought over what had transpired; he was becoming more wild, even though he didn¡¯t see anything bad from his opponents so far, they were fighting for their very survival like him. His teeth felt sharper somehow, and his mind went blank when he snapped at his opponent¡¯s neck, and by the time he was aware again, the guy had been long dead, and Seph had been drinking his blood nonstop! Seph got up and went to the prize pedestal. The stasis field around the prize had dissipated now, and an alluring blue stone was sitting on top of it. Upon closer inspection, the stone had an eye carved into it; its color was an azure blue, clear, with no blemishes. Reaching out, Seph holds the stone in his hand. Seph thought, "This must be the most expensive item I''ve ever held in my life." ¡°Congratulations, Yin Disciple, in your hand is a skill stone. Skill stones are very rare in the world. However, you can find them in a myriad of places. Once you go out of here and explore the world, and get taught all the basics by your sect, you will start figuring out where to find skill stones, where to find martial art manuals, where to find special magical gear, and so on. To learn a skill stone, you have to hold it near the body part carved into it, and push your yin energy into it, keep at it till the stone dissolves in your hands, only then will you be able to use the skill, by circulating your yin energy to the body part that now has the skill. The skill you got is the Eye of the Appraiser. It¡¯s, as the title says, a skill used in appraising any item you will ever see. You can¡¯t use it on living beings. The more you use the skill the more proficient it becomes, the more levels it gains, and the more features you unlock for the skill. Skills have as few as five levels, or as high as twelve levels; Eye of the Appraiser is an Epic skill, which means it has 10 levels of progression, each level will need certain requirements met so you can progress through it. Only you can decide what a skill¡¯s purpose is, and how you can make use of it. It can let you retire and take a less risky job appraising items somewhere, and it can make you the best opportunist cultivator there is as you can use it to know obscure treasures, or find hidden rooms during your adventures and so on. You can also use it to become the best trader alive, and so much more. Nothing is as simple as it seems. Life is not one visible track through a mountain. There are myriad paths and myriad ways to live it.¡± Seph lay with his back on the ground, looking up at the sky; each room didn¡¯t have a roof, only the walls and the sky, but it felt like it wasn''t the real sky of the real world; something felt off about it. Seph was thinking about the words of Scorn. He tilted his head down to look at the azure blue stone in his hand; it hadn¡¯t been a long time, but from where he was yesterday as a water carrier, to holding a skill stone of epic quality in his hand, to be on the verge of getting better at this, means the next rooms will be much easier for him; he was finally making real progress. He brought the stone up to his eye and started absorbing the skill. As the process was taking a long time, he looked inward and started messing around with the energy inside his body from the last heart he had eaten; he tried to circulate the energy around his body while being successful in his attempt; it was a slow motion, making very slow progress, he kept at it for three days as he continued to push energy from his hand to the skill stone, three days while he realized exactly how dead he is, he didn¡¯t need to eat for the entirety of the three days; he didn¡¯t need to go to the lavatory. He could not breathe if he wanted to, but he breathed anyway because it helped circulate the energy around his body faster. Meanwhile, the monkey was biding his time, messing around by himself, eating the vines on the walls for sustenance. Once the three days were over, the skill stone dissipated from his hand, and he felt it imprinted on his left eye. He pushed energy into his eye to use the skill. After using the Eye of the Appraiser, he noticed that everything was colored a light, transparent blue. He looked over at the sword that was a little distance away from him.
Appraising...
Name: Iron Sword
Type: Sword
Quality: Basic
Durability: 75%
Magical Ability: None
¡°Okay, that¡¯s a pretty excellent skill,¡± said Seph, rising from his lying position on the ground now. He walked over to the sword and picked it up. Then he looked down at his chest armor.
Appraising...
Name: Leather chest armor
Type: Torso gear
Quality: Basic
Durability: 95%
Magical ability: None
¡°Fuck, why is every piece of equipment that I have of basic quality, it seems the rarest thing any of us could have found, was the skill stone that I used, now that I think about it, I never knew what that root I found was,¡± Seph headed to his original spot where he left the bucket full of herbs, and picked the root, checking it with his skill.
Appraising...
Name: Earth Root.
Type: Basic alchemy material.
Location: Found in deep caves, in underground places rich in Yin energy.
One of the basic herbs used by cultivators, rare for mortals to find, but very common for immortals.
¡°Okay, that¡¯s pretty handy. I wonder if that location description will work for rare herbs too."
Appraising...
Name: Fire Grass.
Type: Basic Alchemy material.
Location: Found in the driest of places, where the heat is unbearable for mortals, and around volcanoes.
Even though it¡¯s basic, it¡¯s much harder for mortals to find this grass than many other popular herbs that mortals can get lucky finding in the world, because of where they naturally grow.
¡°I don¡¯t know, Sun. Can I call you Sun? Like Sun Wukong of legend, the Monkey King, I always liked to climb trees to see the various wandering actors that would come to our village, and put on a play for the people, about different legends, that way I didn¡¯t have to pay money I didn¡¯t own!¡± The monkey didn¡¯t object to the name, and made happy screams, putting on his patent wide-toothed grin and nodding in confirmation. ¡°Awesome, I guess we''ve finally settled on a name for you. This is a broken skill! And all this is in level one of the skill! Imagine what it could do at level 10!" Chapter 6: One Thousand Arms of the Undead Buddha Seph remembered that the skill will require certain targets to be met to level up, and he focused inward again. On his left eye, the information screen showed up in his brain, the same way that the skill identifies items.
Quest
Eye of the Appraise level 2: Identify 25 unique items.
Progress: 4/25
¡°Oh, that¡¯s easy! Wait, is it? It feels reachable, but we''re stuck in this maze without many items to identify. I guess it¡¯s worth it to identify all the items in this room!¡±
Appraising...
Name: Vitality Grass.
Type: Basic Alchemy material.
Location: Found in most places rich with Yin Energy, especially on different levels during a mountain climb, is the most common.
It¡¯s fortunate that the most used basic herb is also the most present in the world. While also being the most popular among mortals, with how it can help cure many diseases, energize old people. It also heals minor injuries at a much faster pace.
Seph read this last description, only to find his monkey glaring at him angrily. His arms crossed on his little chest, and one leg tapped the ground! ¡°Are you getting restless? I am very sorry; I know I am taking too much time to try out this new skill. We''ll be done soon, okay?¡± The monkey, with a harrumph, stopped the little angry act and held up his wooden staff for Seph to identify! ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a good idea! I almost forgot about your staff!¡±
Appraising...
Name: Wooden Oak Staff.
Type: Staff.
Quality: Basic.
Durability: 90%.
Magical ability: None.
¡°Looks like you and I need better weapons!¡± Seph looked at the monkey apologetically. He hasn''t been sure yet how rare things were now that he''s an immortal. The monkey stepped towards him and patted him on the back! ¡°You are a very smart little guy, aren¡¯t you? I am really lucky to have you as a friend here. We need to get you something tasty to eat soon. You must be tired of eating those vines.¡± The monkey barked happily and approvingly at that. "Now, why don¡¯t we go check what our last opponent had on him, if anything?¡± Seph moved towards the now-dead martial artist and reached out to the sack he had on his waist. He untied it and tried to reach inside with his hand, but some kind of force blocked him! ¡°Hmm, weird! This sack is something special that I have no idea about. I should check it out first with the eye.¡±
Appraising...
Name: Spatial Sack.
Type: Magical Storage.
Quality: Rare.
Magical Ability: After infusing it with your unique energy once, it will be accessible to store various items. It can hold up to 100 unique items, stacks of 100 of each item. With limited space, some items count for more if they are spacious.
¡°Woah! We made a fortune, Sun! I won¡¯t have to drag that stupid bucket around anymore. I had never seen a main character in any play that did that, anyway. Now I can be as fancy as the best of them. Also, I would have chosen something else entirely to look like a refined immortal. Shit! Look at me being snobbish and picky 10 seconds after owning a spatial sack! This won''t end well if I don¡¯t become a little humble in the future." The monkey kept following the conversation while turning his head from left to right, before breaking down in laughter. There was something unusual about this monkey, for sure. They''re smart creatures, but not that smart! Seph infused the sack with his energy, and a picture appeared in his brain of the space inside. There was an old book lying there. He took it out of the sack and checked it with his eye.
Appraising...
Name: One Thousand Arms of the Undead Buddha I
Type: Martial Arts Manual.
Quality: Legendary/Mysterious.
A one-of-a-kind Yin martial art style, it can only be passed along after its current owner dies. It¡¯s one of the most coveted martial arts in the world, but only one person throughout history could complete it. All nine parts have always been present in the world, but sometimes they have already been learned by martial artists, and can only become available again if said martial artist dies.
¡°Wow! This manual sounds too good to be true! I feel that there is a catch here. This doesn¡¯t feel right. Should we''ve gotten something like this, this early? Or is the trial ending soon? I need to open this manual and see what''s there to learn!¡± Seph stopped briefly, and then said. ¡°Sun, can you practice cultivation? Try meditating and see if it¡¯s working for you. Using this manual may take a while." The monkey just nodded and sat in a lotus position, like he was adept at doing so. Seph followed suit and opened his manual. All the pages were empty, except for the first page only, which had one line visible. Shattered into a thousand pieces, his arms are overreaching. Give thanks to Buddha 1,000 times while reciting this mantra for 10 days. Seph thought it over in his mind for a second, then started by raising both arms high above his head, placing the palms together, fingertips pointing upwards, then bringing them slowly in front of his chest, bowing towards the palms, ¡°Shattered to a thousand pieces, his arms are overreaching.¡± Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. There was something perverse about this mantra, Seph felt that, but he couldn¡¯t figure out what it was. He then recited the mantra, and repeated the motion, over and over for the rest of the day, never sitting down, only resting after finishing the mantra, before repeating the cycle the next day. This went on for ten days. Seph felt something changing in his hands, but he wasn¡¯t sure what it was. He decided to inspect the progress of the eye of the appraiser.
Quest
Eye of the Appraise level 2: Identify 25 unique items.
Progress: 8/25
¡°It¡¯s a long way from being done, but we''re not about to give up now, I''m feeling very good about my chances to finish this; the new martial arts manual is exhausting, it takes so long to finish just one task." Seph called his monkey companion over, and they headed towards the door. ***** ¡°That last manual you found wasn¡¯t even part of my trials. I am not sure how it works. Maybe it manifests in a place with the most Yin cultivators after its former owner dies. I missed it because the martial artist didn¡¯t bother to use or read it. After all, I left behind only a sliver of my soul, not enough to keep watch over whatever mysterious items you all find. I¡¯m envious of you. This Manual is a mystery item, that¡¯s why your eye didn¡¯t give you much info about it, and it being legendary could only mean, you will use it forever, the one thousand arms of the undead Buddha, a name that gives you chills¡­ But the potential is unprecedented, I doubt any other item in these trials is as good. Maybe my life¡¯s story, which is a little arrogant of me I know, but the only way to get them is from the trials. You can¡¯t find it anywhere else! Next up is the fourth room, a little mining detour, but prepare yourself mentally anyway, because every fifth room is a great trial and a substantial reward. You became the dark horse of this race, and my soul sliver is going to give you much more attention from now on. You are what the sect needs.¡± Seph heard this last message from Scorn before everything became visible again after the darkness of each pitch-black tunnel between the rooms, and he found himself in a cave. He looked around, with Sun on his shoulder, and he saw multiple veins of ore, visible from the surrounding walls. This was going to be a good exercise for his arms. Seph noticed a pickaxe leaning on a wall; his mind made up, he went to pick it up and start mining. One hour later, he got done with the iron ore, having gotten ten chunks of iron ore; next up was the copper vein that he started working on immediately, It''s taken considerable effort to get each nugget out, he had to avoid flying little rocks from hitting his face over and over, he thought ¡°am I doing it wrong, or is it supposed to be this hard?¡± Dust continued to gather around him as well, making it much harder to breathe, but then he realized he didn¡¯t need to breathe, anyway. One more hour later, he got done with the copper ore again, gaining 10 pieces of ore, and he moved on to a silver ore vein next to it. The room felt like a chill reward rather than a challenge; he wished there were instructions to make him a better miner or something. Regardless, he moved on to the next vein which was silver that also gave him ten more ore, and the last vein after that was gold Real fucking gold! I am rich! I can give one of these to my mom. She will live a great life without having to work after that! Seph thought to himself, going into a frenzy to get the gold as fast as he could. He again got 10 pieces. These veins sure felt unnatural, being equal to each other like that. He turned to look behind him only to find Sun doing something to the wall behind him, there was a protruding stone of sorts, that Sun tried over and over to remove from its impeded place in the stone wall, with a shake in the entire cave, the wall that Sun was messing with started moving, after the initial falling dust, sand, and debris, it became clear that what came out of the wall was an Earth Golem; it was 8 inches taller than Seph and it looked pissed! Seph took out the sword from his Spatial Sack and tried hitting the Golem with it, ending up chipping only a small piece of it with his attack, realizing that the slashing weapon wouldn¡¯t work on the Golem; he threw it away, raised his palms like he was some kind of Kung Fu master, he repeated in his brain ¡°Shattered to a thousand pieces, His arms are overreaching!¡± And attacked the Golem with an open palm attack, to its stomach; he wasn¡¯t as close as he thought, his attack didn¡¯t reach the golem, but what happened next freaked him out: a ghostly palm reverberated from his own palm, and he continued to hit the golem in its stead! ¡°Wait, is that what all those prayers did? Give me phantom palms? This is creepy, did I even see this for real?" Seph wondered. But Sun answered him by freaking out and screeching while jumping up and down, holding his head at one point, and pointing where the ghostly palm had been, proving he saw it too! Where the palm landed, chips of stone fell from the golem, and cracks appeared all over the affected area. Seph composed himself and was about to launch another attack, but the golem attacked him first, by removing a rock from the cave wall and launching it at his face. Oh no, I won''t die this way again! Seph thought, and jumped away to the side, before composing himself again and launching seven palm attacks back to back at the midsection of the golem, each one he tried to infuse with as much power as possible, launching them out with as much force as he could, at the same time remaining a safe distance away from the golem, ghostly palms continued the missing distance that his palms didn¡¯t reach, and slammed the golem over and over, chipping stones from its midsection, sending them flying, forming a deep recess in its midsection, a much deeper cracked area. Once the last palm attack had reached the golem, it fell completely apart, its midsection unable to carry its heavy upper body anymore. Sun was the first to celebrate, screaming while holding his little arms up, and Seph followed, ¡°Wooohooo, we''re strong, Sun! We''ve beaten a freaking Golem!¡± They moved their victory dance on top of the stones from the falling golem, Seph¡¯s dancing legs making the rocks fall over to the side, till it was revealed that there was a blue gemstone buried under the rocks. Seph used the eye on it.
Appraising...
Name: Sapphire.
Type: Gemstone.
Quality: Rare.
Location: Rarely found in deep caves, a common loot from killing Earth Golems.
A rare gemstone, very popular among mortals, it''s used for crafting, accessories, and has various other uses.
¡°I never even saw a real gem in my life before now. Even the richest men in my village don¡¯t own something like this, and the women of the richest men at most have gold accessories. I am starting to feel that this is too easy. Or the cultivation road is so long and costly that even a sapphire isn¡¯t much?¡± Seph thought to himself, then decided to use the eye on the pickaxe too.
Appraising...
Name: Iron Pickaxe.
Type: Mining Tool.
Quality: Basic.
Durability: 60%
¡°Okay looks like this pickaxe won¡¯t last us very long; we will need a new one in the future if we want to mine more, maybe I should not be a fighting immortal, and work as a miner now that I can¡¯t get sick from the mine¡¯s dust." Sun laughed at him, making Seph laugh as well. They both knew that Seph wouldn¡¯t take an easy path at all, especially with the powerful martial art he had gained. At this point, Seph noticed that his spatial sack had been glowing. He inspected it only to find that the source was the One Thousand Arms of the undead Buddha manual. He checked it out and found a new mantra inside. Shattered into a thousand pieces, his arms are overbearing. Perform 10,000 palm strikes while reciting the mantra each day for ten consecutive days. "Good grief, ten thousand? This is going to take a long time. Also, what triggered the manual to show me this new mantra, anyway? Was it the fight with the golem? This manual, being a mystery item, will keep me in the dark for a while, till I can upgrade my eye of the appraiser skill, Sun. you should try to cultivate again. We''re going to be here for a while." Sun nodded in acknowledgment, and Seph started training; he tried to do the same as he did against the Golem, with powerful palm strikes, that had purpose and strength, not rushing, making each palm strike take its full path from close to his chest to its intended target, before retracting and launching the other palm, and so on. Chapter 7: Gourds of Death ¡°Congratulations cultivators, on making it this far. This is the first big prize room in the trials. The challenge here is tough. One of you may win, none of you may win. It doesn¡¯t matter. I didn¡¯t design these challenges to give the prize to one lucky winner, but to give it to one deserving winner. If none of you is deserving, then others will come after you and attempt the same trials. In the next room, you will find plenty of hanging gourds. Only one of them is the real prize for this challenge. May the best man win.¡± After the dark tunnel, Seph heard another message from Scorn, before he appeared in a room that looked like a garden of sorts. Greenery was all around, and the room was decorated by hanging beige, black, yellow, and green gourds. He looked across the vast garden to see another Yin immortal on the far side. Wherever he looked, various immortals stood at different starting points. He started counting them, and they were nine, ten, including himself. He couldn¡¯t count the hanging gourds, not from his position. There were too many of them, and he didn¡¯t have a line of sight towards all of them. From the far side of the room, one of the Yin disciples moved forward and stood under a gourd, looking at it; only for the gourd to explode and shower him with fire. With his clothes caught on fire, the guy screamed and ran maniacally in no direction. He ran under another gourd, and it exploded, launching throwing stars, which a quarter of them stuck into his burning skin. He fell in pain and started crawling further, only to have a third gourd explode on top of him, dousing him with acid. His body couldn¡¯t take anymore. Lying there, he convulsed on the ground for a few seconds before he remained still forever. The remaining nine disciples gulped, looking wide-eyed at the entire scene, staring warily at the gourds that were close to them. At that moment, another disciple who had a spear stepped forward and attacked the gourds with his spear. The first gourd doused the area under it with fire again. He retracted his spear quickly, so his weapon was safe. He smirked, thinking he''d got this. He attacked another one and throwing stars exploded from within; he dodged a bunch of them at the last second. Thinking there was a pattern, he thought the next one must be the acid gourd; he attacked the third gourd, and instead of acid, a snake fell down from the gourd, he attacked it with his spear. It dodged him quickly; he attacked it again and again, several times in succession, but to no avail! The snake edged closer to him after each dodge, and finally bit him in the leg. Spitting all its venom inside his flesh, the man shrieked in pain, and with a north-to-south stab. He killed the snake with his spear, but after all its venom had entered his body. He could feel the venom searing his veins from inside his body. He looked around warily, deciding what to do next; he decided to attack the next gourd instead. Trying to find something for the poison, which was making his flesh decompose at an alarming rate, it must be necrotic poison, he thought. Acid fell down from the first gourd, and he attacked the next one, which exploded with throwing stars again, that he couldn¡¯t dodge because of his injured leg. With five throwing stars embedded in his abdomen, chest, and forehead, he fell down into a pool of his own blood. ***** There was a kind of stalemate, after two disciples had died, and even those who had methods to get through the gourds were apprehensive to try them. Still, one moved forward and got a piece of iron ore out of the spatial sack he had. He threw it with all the power he had at one gourd, but missed. The iron ingot eventually hit a gourd closer to another disciple and, out of it, dropped a goblin. A short, thin goblin, holding a dagger in its hand, went to attack the disciple closer to it, but a gourd exploded on top of it, dousing it with fire, and the disciple hit it with a head kick, sending it tumbling backward. When another gourd exploded, dousing it with acid, the goblin¡¯s screams died down after that. ¡°Fucking Asshole!¡± ¡°Sorry!¡± said the disciple who threw the iron rock, before he took out another one, trying to hit the gourd closest to him again; this time he succeeded to his dismay, a fast-spreading cloud of acidic poison spread out from the exploding gourd, and reached him quickly; it started eating through his body, and he saw its effects, as a terrified look spread across his face. Angrily, he took out chunk after chunk of iron, throwing them with all the power he had, trying to aim closer to the other disciples to put them in trouble too, realizing he was dying soon; it made him spiteful, he didn¡¯t want to die now, and he decided he wouldn''t die alone. One stone hit far from any of the disciples, and another acidic poison cloud spread, reaching nobody. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The second ore hit an acid gourd far from the other disciples as well. The third hit a gourd that had a snake inside it. This snake moved fast with the purpose of attacking the closest disciple to it, which was Seph, who launched three palm attacks towards it. The ghastly hands overreaching hit the snake, and it exploded in a shower of gore. The fourth rock hit another disciple in the face, and he''d fallen unconscious. The fifth chunk hit closer to the ingot-throwing disciple, and a shower of throwing stars launched out, decorating his body with bloody spikes, and he fell dead from his wounds. Seph had seen enough. He wanted to wait and see if more surprises were waiting in the gourds, but with the disciples going mad with spite and attacking each other, he won¡¯t play the waiting game anymore. He launched a palm attack at the closest gourd, a ghastly hand reaching out to hit it. The gourd exploded, triggering the next gourd as well, which doused the area beneath it with fire. Seph used his eye on the third gourd over, waiting for the fire to die down.
Appraising...
Name: Hollowed Gourd.
Type: Miscellaneous item.
Usage: Carries water or wine.
He checked the Eye of the Appraiser skill requirement and found that the gourd didn¡¯t count towards the goal, and he figured that mundane items wouldn¡¯t count towards the goal.
Quest
Eye of the Appraise level 2: Identify 25 unique items.
Progress: 10/25
The fire settled down a little, the other disciples keeping a close eye on him, impressed by his weird skill. They hadn¡¯t started clearing a path for themselves yet. Seph launched another palm attack, and another goblin dropped from the gourd, running at him, jumping over the fire, and trying to reach him. He calmly breathed and launched another palm attack. The ghastly palm reached out, and for the first time, he noticed a shock wave of sorts reverberated from the attack, flattening the face of the goblin, killing it instantly. ¡°Shattered into a thousand pieces. His arms are overbearing." Now he understood what the last training session had done for his palm strike. Was this martial art overpowered? He''s super early and already had advantages over the other disciples. Putting the thought aside for later, he headed forward and launched a fourth palm attack on the next gourd. Seeing the explosion of throwing stars, he dropped to the ground, covering his head with his hands; luckily, two throwing stars only got impeded in his leather chest armor from the back, he asked Sun to take them out for him, which the monkey did gladly, and he moved back to try launching the stars himself. After throwing the first star, the gourd didn¡¯t explode as usual; he attacked with the last throwing star, and the gourd cracked. A stream of little blue stones fell steadily from it to the ground. He headed over and used the eye on them.
Appraising...
Name: Spirit Stone (S)
Type: Currency
The used currency between immortals can be used to gain Yin Energy and also in various alchemical processes.
Seph became wide-eyed; these stones are so expensive. He heard tales but never saw one before. He moved under the falling stream of Spirit stones and collected them in his spatial sack. The total number was one hundred. After the other participants saw what he had found, they became brave again and tried to find such a treasure for themselves. Except for one bow user who wanted to take what was Seph¡¯s for himself, he unleashed an arrow at a gourd in Seph¡¯s direction, one after another, fire, acid, throwing stars, and a goblin, which found himself dead immediately with an arrow to the head. The final gourd dropped another 100 spirit stones to the ground, but getting this sum alone wouldn''t please him. He wanted to cull the competition; he wanted Seph dead. He aimed the next arrow to hit Seph in the heart. Seph countered with a ghostly palm strike that was timed just right to smash the arrow before it could reach him. I can¡¯t ignore this guy who is hunting for my head. I have to stop him before going for the grand prize. Seph thought and ran towards the bow user, he stopped two arrows in their tracks and was close to the bow user now, but the bow user knew his specialty well, so he ran away, aiming his arrows at gourds to make way, but in the third gourd there were throwing stars. He jumped back to avoid them, only to find his back hitting Seph¡¯s chest; looking behind him in panic, he held Seph¡¯s hands fast to prevent him from using palm strikes, to which Seph gave him a diabolic smile then lunged for his neck, blood came trickling down all over Seph¡¯s mouth and neck, while the bow user was screaming. He let go of Seph¡¯s hands, and took out an arrow, and stabbed Seph three times in the back to no avail. His body slumped down in a pool of his blood. Seph removed his opponent¡¯s heart and ate it to heal himself immediately. Seph went back after putting the bow and arrows inside his spatial sack, took the spirit stones, and started clearing the rest of the path to the center. He didn¡¯t trigger any new gourd traps. Seph had discouraged the other cultivators after killing the bow user, and after another one of them died because of the traps. At the center of the room, standing on a platform, was a different gourd, bigger with a pointy top, completely black. With some foreign letters painted vertically on its front side. Seph used the eye on the gourd.
Appraising...
Name: The Gourd of Phantom Death.
Type: Gourd Weapon.
Quality: Rare (Growth)
Magical Ability: Stores Death to Unleash Mayhem and Misery.
A little confused by the description of the magical ability. Seph infused the gourd with his energy, and the gourd floated to his back, thus ending the challenge. A trapdoor was under the gourd, leading underground. A little hesitant but adamant to move forward nonetheless, Seph gave one last look around the room, seeing the other challengers leaving through their doors. He descended through the trapdoor. Chapter 8: Amoria Yin Cultivation started with me, Scorn. In the biggest massacre of history, the army of the Solea Empire slaughtered an entire city. A peaceful city, a city for art, commerce, love, music, and poetry. All the world knew that the city didn¡¯t have an army. It didn¡¯t even have a ruler, only a council that worked for free to watch over the duties of the city. The city had a wall solely to protect it from the sand around it and predators of the desert. A city shining in gold from miles away, its towers shining with the rays of the sun, reflecting off its beautiful glass windows and its unique bell tower. Its purpose was to be a haven for artists around the world. A hometown for traders, some of whom never even left the city to get richer from visiting other places. A place where love knew no boundaries, rich and poor frowned upon marriages. The couples started over in the city with only their love as an incentive to survive and make it together. Prosecuted same-sex marriages or relationships that were hunted in most cities around the world weren¡¯t in Amoria, the city of love. They were completely safe, and they thrived, while accepted and loved by the community. The City¡¯s Art Museum was the talk of the world, an attraction for kings and queens from around the world. Its Opera house was the stuff of legend, music that will forever haunt our dreams, possible only because of Amoria. The School of Philosophy, where all thinkers gather. Teaching and being taught, arguing matters of creation, origin, time, reality, purpose of Life, Life After Death, Beauty, Love, Religion, God, Forgiveness, Ethics, and Politics. No matter how important the topic was or how trivial. It was being discussed seriously and not taken at face value, no matter who wrote the thesis. The University of Alchemists, where all alchemists and other experimentalists gather. The constant givers of practical knowledge, like-minded people sharing their knowledge in the same place. They''ve divided the work to study as many fields as possible. And the best thing about Amoria was that there was no monopoly on what they had achieved. The world always gained from the work being done in that peaceful city, with all its peaceful productions. And finally, The Hole, where all things ended, where I began. It was the sports center of the city, a vast hole in the middle of the city. With large walls and tiers of seats surrounding the central playing field. It extended to the top, reaching the land level on which the rest of the city was built. The city was older than the Solea Empire, as were most things. But once the empire had risen, there was no way to stop that beast. After many big kingdoms had lost to the empire. The rest of the world banded together to stop them. That¡¯s how the Alliance was born, and they''ve beaten the Empire in a huge war, much to the dismay of The City of Amoria. For the Solea empire to secure war funds and press its attack on the alliance, they''ve turned to the richest, most peaceful city. It was the easiest target, as well as the only target. It was like everyone except the Solea Empire forgot that this city could turn the war in either party¡¯s favor. The Alliance didn¡¯t think of protecting the city, and the Solea Empire wasn''t above razing and pillaging peaceful cities. Lost was Amoria because of this war, and humanity lost its most advanced arts, music, literature, and, most importantly, it''s last haven for peace and love. Lost it in a way that discouraged any similar gathering from ever happening again. Just because you want peace doesn¡¯t mean that the world will give it to you. The Massacre of Amoria, they called it, most thinking it¡¯s a tale. How can such a city exist and live for that long? It has become a myth, a city detached from history. The Solea Empire rewrote the history of the world after winning the great war. But Amoria existed, the massacre had happened, and the Solea armies invaded the city, killing, pillaging, setting everything on fire, raping, and kidnapping. And after everything was said and done, they rounded up all the bodies around the hole; where they were all searched for their valuables, then they dumped them into the hole. My mother was among the victims. She was pregnant with me, the love child of a couple most loving. Became the hate child of Amoria personified, the hate child of the world incarnate. Isn¡¯t that what they call poetic justice? I was still in her womb, an unborn child sentenced to death before being alive. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Minutes away from losing my motherly source of sustenance. Thrown were her body into the hole as if it was nothing, on top of multitudes of other bodies. From the weight of the corpses on top of her, the pressure pushed me out of her womb. A terrified baby, alone and crying, death reeked everywhere around me. Blood cascading over the mountain of bodies, a most macabre scene, with a background of a city set on fire, a peal of laughter is heard far away, the laughter of the soldiers who''ve answered the orders gladly and committed all these atrocities. Once out of my mother¡¯s womb, I fell, my first and last fall in life, and I got stuck in a gap between the bodies that got blocked seconds after I fell into it. A newborn in need of nourishment, love, and care, that can¡¯t even breathe anymore. The only air around is the filthy stench of dead bodies, among a trickling waterfall of blood. ***** This time, Seph didn¡¯t hear Scorn¡¯s voice. He saw what the baby saw; he saw what the mother of the baby saw! He saw the beauty of Amoria, the terrifying armies of the Solea Empire, and the mayhem in the downfall of Amoria. Most of all, he saw the baby. He tried to reach out to save him, to keep him from harm, to dig him out from where he''d gotten trapped. But he was just a witness to a most depressing scene, after witnessing a most exhilarating greatness, peace, and love. After the scenes ended, he was dropping into a natural cave. Light was coming in from somewhere, and all rocky brown walls surrounded him. ¡°Okay, Sun, a new challenge. Be careful and let¡¯s do this.¡± Sun was on Seph¡¯s shoulder, so he patted Seph on the head and pointed forward. Seph moved forward and right around the corner, they found themselves face to face with a feral wolf. The wolf, startled by them at first, started growling, drool dripping down from its open mouth, showing scary, sharp fangs. It went in for the attack. Seph met the wolf with his palm strike. The wolf dodged the first one, but it couldn¡¯t dodge the second in time, and got its face smashed in by the power overbearing. Seph looked around carefully for any threats, then got an idea to experiment with the Gourd of Phantom Death, Stores Death to Unleash Mayhem. So what if he put the wolf inside? Even if he''d have to cut it. Seph started messing around with the Gourd and found that its pointy top was removable. He went to the wolf¡¯s body, dragged it to the Gourd, and lifted it to the mouth of the Gourd, when a most uncanny thing happened! The gourd siphoned all the flesh and fur of the wolf inside it. It was like a vortex of flesh being sucked into the gourd. The top of the gourd flew and closed it tight right after it inhaled that wolf¡¯s body. Sun Wukong was freaking out again, screaming and holding his head, and pointing his little index finger at the gourd, his eyes wide open. Seph was in as much amazement, but not fear. He had a resolve in his heart that The Gourd was his weapon, and Sun was his friend. Neither of them was going to harm him. Touching the gourd, his hand infused with his energy again. It flew to his back. Looking at the bones the gourd left behind, he found a bone that was glowing with a faint ghostly blue light. Seph used the eye on it.
Appraising...
Name: Phantom Bone (Wolf)
Type: Enchanted Bone.
Quality: Rare.
Magical Ability: Summons a Phantom wolf when thrown at an enemy.
¡°Amazing! With this, we could attack from range, or chase a running enemy instead of running after them!¡± Seph mused, Sun nodding to him as usual, but Seph was also wondering how to use his Gourd of Phantom Death. He infused the gourd with his energy again. Thinking of taking something out of the gourd to throw at his enemies, a lump of black goo flew out to his open hand, which he clutched and threw at the bones. They started getting black dots on them in a short time, and then started decomposing at an alarming rate in front of his eyes. Wow, this is an amazing attack. The only issue is that the process takes a tad too long. I can only use this as an opening attack at the start of fights and hope that my opponents don¡¯t have an answer to it. Having checked out his new weapon. He figured out a little more about this new wondrous world he was now part of. Seph continued moving forward through the cave until he came to another turn. After crossing it, he saw three wolves. The wolves noticed him immediately and started circling him. Seph threw a lump from the gourd at the wolf in front of him, while moving back to create some distance. The right wolf lunged for his leg, but Seph met it with a palm strike that killed it. The wolf on the left side, though, got to him fast while he was busy, and bit his left leg. Seph screamed in pain, before focusing and landing a palm strike to the back of this wolf, too, crushing its spine. With an injury once again, Seph dug out the heart of the wolf. He made a mess to reach where its heart was, as he didn¡¯t know wolf anatomy, and ate it and healed immediately. He stored these wolves as well after extracting their hearts in The Gourd of Phantom Death, which he will always do from now on, and got only two new Phantom Bones, as the wolf that decomposed didn¡¯t get siphoned into the gourd. Seph started trying to be smarter and was sneaking around the cave now to at least be able to attack the wolves before they got to him. Deeper into the cave, Seph found two different paths, one leading to an area that looked to be the source of light, which he thought might be the way out. The other led to the largest room in the cave. After pondering a little, Seph headed to the big room instead, after all, he had finished the last challenge early, so he wouldn''t have to fight any of the remaining four competitors, especially after getting the grand prize, but now he had all the time in the world to explore this cave and find out if there is a treasure he can use in this place. Sneaking into the big room, they found one enormous wolf inside, and five normal wolves, all lying down, totally relaxed. It was a good thing that the distances in this cave were vast, or they would have heard the fighting with the previous four wolves. Seph summoned two lumps of whatever ungodly substance was in his gourd and threw both of them at two of the relaxing wolves. They whined in pain, and all the wolves became alert to his presence. The big wolf howled, followed by the other wolves; it felt that his howl gave them a boost somehow, because they all became angrier and came running at him faster than the wolves he killed. For the first time since entering this cave, Sun jumped off Seph¡¯s shoulder, so that he could take on a wolf by himself. Chapter 9: Moon Stone Seph faced off against the two wolves, who got to him the fastest. One of them was too excited and lunged for Seph¡¯s stomach. Seph wouldn¡¯t dodge in time. So he made a fast decision to try something that he had been thinking about. He infused energy into his Gourd, willing it to move to his front. The wolf slammed into it, face first and whined in pain. Seph followed by a palm strike that killed it. Cutting the wolf¡¯s whines short. While busy with this wolf, the other one had sneaked up on Seph and jumped for his neck to end him. Seph moved a couple of inches at the last second, making the wolf bite him on the shoulder instead. Screaming in pain, he tried to palm strike it with the other hand in its stomach. It got the wolf off his shoulder, even though the attack was weaker because it came from an awkward position. He followed with a proper palm strike, killing it. As for Sun, he was facing the third wolf, circling it, putting his small staff in front of it. The Wolf seemed confused by the staff, and tried to bite it. Each time, Sun retracted the staff and hit it in the face instead, and repeated the same pose. The wolf then tried to avoid it to bite Sun. But he would dodge fast and hit it in the face again. They kept dancing around like this while the boss was about to face off against Seph. Who was looking over at the two wolves, which he hit with the lumps of death at the beginning. Seph found a scene most horrifying. The wolves¡¯ hair had fallen off their bodies. Dotted were their skin all over in black, and they just sat there in their last breath, whining from whatever horrors these lumps did to their bodies. Having watched most of his pack die at the hands of Seph, the boss closed in at an alarming speed to face off against him. Seph noticed the big difference between them, as at five feet tall, this wolf was twice as tall and massive compared to the other wolves. Its color was gray with white streaks, and it had a white crescent moon on its forehead. Seph didn¡¯t think he could win this fight if he got his shoulder bitten clean off by this wolf. So he threw two of the Phantom Wolf bones, and once they touched the ground. Two see-through Phantom wolves the color of ghostly blue ran towards the boss from two sides. They confused the boss, who retreated a few steps, but that didn¡¯t dissuade them from trying to reach him. The boss tried to bite one of them, but his teeth just passed through it like it wasn¡¯t even there. The two wolves attacked him from both flanks, biting into his sides, disappearing right after. Their power was used after only one attack. Seph was making mental notes of his new skill the entire time. The boss howled from the pain, but it was still functional and moved towards Seph, who already had gotten two lumps out from his Gourd, and threw them both at it. The boss, maddened by the attacks, ran fast towards Seph and tried to bite his upper body clean off. Seph dodged at the last second, his body off balance, but still landed a palm strike to the neck of the boss while falling. Something cracked inside the boss¡¯s neck, but he could still move, so he went after Seph again. Seph was no match for this boss¡¯s physical abilities at all, so he pulled off a new trick, willing his gourd to his front side, before hurling it at the wolf. The boss stopped to expect the gourd, but Seph was running behind it, once the boss shoved it away with a head-butt. Seph was in his face, attacking him with four palm strikes back to back that crunched something inside his head. The wolf slumped to the ground immediately, ending the fight. Sun was dodging and hitting his wolf all this time, and after the boss went down, the final wolf turned tail and ran away, leaving a screaming Sun, dancing in victory behind. Afterward, Seph siphoned most of the wolves with the Gourd of Phantom Death, after extracting their hearts. He got an idea to cut out the fur of the boss, since it looked good and was tough, so he skinned him removing the parts that were already darkening, and used his eye skill on the skin.
Appraising...
Name: King Moon Wolf Skin.
Type: Crafting Material.
Rarity: Rare.
Durability: 80%
Location: You can find Moon Wolves mainly in caves. They venture out on full moon nights. Follow the howls.
¡°Well, this is a great Fur. I can probably get someone to craft some good armor from this.¡± This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Seph siphoned the Moon Wolf King and then tried to siphon the two wolves that died from decomposing, but the Gourd didn¡¯t accept them the same as the other decomposed one. Seph realized the Gourd wouldn¡¯t accept decomposed opponents. Finally, with the way clear, Seph entered the big gray cave, to find it empty but for a stone, held on top of a natural stone protrusion, coming out of the ground. The stone looked like a gem of sorts, a full round stone that gave off a faint glow like the blue of the moonlight. Seph used the eye on it before picking it up.
Appraising...
Name: Moon Stone.
Type: Crafting Material/Evolution Material.
Rarity: Rare.
Believed to be a piece of the moon, coveted and stored by moon wolves, who get hunted just for this valuable stone.
Seph lifted the stone, looking at it in wonderment. His irises growing wider, like he was in a trance. Only to be brought out of his reverie by Sun, who was voicing his interest in the stone. Seph nodded in acknowledgment and gave it to him. Sun took the stone, put it down in the middle of the cave, and sat on top of it to meditate. Not wanting to interrupt him, Seph started training while reciting his mantras. No new mantras showed in his manual yet, but the more he trained the mantras, the more ideas he got to use his palm strikes in a fight while pondering his style. ***** The training went on for five days, where Seph was meditating to move his energy through his body at a faster rate, and training his martial arts trying to imagine himself in different situations so he could use his palm strikes more effectively in a fight. All the while Sun was just sitting there atop the moonstone, meditating, visible moonlight glowing-energy flowing around him. At the end of the five days Sun¡¯s body became bigger, he became 2 feet tall, also his body filled out more than before, about 20% bigger than his old size. ¡°Look at you Monkey Man! You are way bigger now. That will surely make the size difference issue you had while fighting that wolf become less of a problem now!¡± Sun, having not lost his patented white-toothed grin, had it plastered all over his face, nodding his head, while rubbing the back of it with one hand in shyness, as usual. ¡°But your staff is still so short! We need to get you a longer staff, probably might even find a staff that can adjust its size to you one day. Will you get any bigger? Do you know?!¡± Sun put one arm across his chest, with the other arm on top of it, rubbing his chin while thinking, tabbing the ground with one foot, then gave up after exactly five seconds and shrugged both his shoulders. ¡°Well, Sun, whatever help you will ever need, whatever equipment you will ever need. I will always be there for you. I will always buy them for you, till you are as strong as me, or even stronger. You are the only friend I have in this world now. After what happened, I bet I¡¯ll have no chance of making friends now, as I hoped I would when I climbed out of poverty and became a scholar.¡± They shared a hug for the first time, and then Sun jumped on Seph¡¯s back and patted him on the back, and pointed forward with a strict face as usual, like he was ordering Seph to move forward, which earned him a chuckle from Seph. They got out of the big gray room in the cave that made them feel like they were in another cave, and went back to the rest of the cave that had all the brown walls, and went towards the exit. Luckily, there were no more wolves in their way at this time, and they got out into the next challenge room of the labyrinth. ***** The tunnel this time was a glaring white light that forced both Seph and Sun to close their eyes. After opening them, they found themselves in a sizable garden filled with trees of fruit. Sun went bananas! And jumped from Seph¡¯s shoulder to the nearest tree, plucking an apple and biting into it. Seph¡¯s smile widened so much at seeing Sun so excited by all the food. ¡°You did well so far, Seph.¡± The disembodied voice of Scorn said in Seph¡¯s ears. ¡°Thanks, it was rough, but with the healing powers of being a yin cultivator, I beat all those tough fights even though I had no experience.¡± ¡°I am proud of you. I think your chances in this challenge increased significantly by finding the Gourd of Phantom Death because now you have a ranged attack, but your healing powers are not really what they seem. While we Yin cultivators restore our health by consuming people we kill, we don¡¯t do it as fast as you.¡± ¡°Then what could be the source of my fast healing power?¡± ¡°It could be a bloodline, but to make sure you would need a decent level revealer to reveal your skills and bloodline, or a status skill to know your powers, in this case, you wouldn¡¯t even need it to be high level.¡± Seph pondered Scorn¡¯s words while looking at a happy Sun eating a peach with an absolute look of ecstasy on his face. He smiled happily and made a mental note to always have fruit for Sun when he spends his money. ¡°I saw part of your memories. I felt so helpless seeing what happened to you¡­¡± ¡°This trial is as much to teach you of our goals and dreams as Yin cultivators, as it is to strengthen you, Everyone who was a part of this massacre that I could reach paid, and everyone I couldn¡¯t reach in my lifetime, one day one of you, will take up my cause, and try to make it a reality.¡± ¡°It will be hard to make your fight our fight. Most will do it out of greed. If there is not a sufficient cause, they will do it because they want more of your legacy.¡± ¡°I understand, but this is much larger and more significant than you can comprehend. Once you grasp the overall situation and understand the purpose behind my cause, you will realize its fairness. You will understand it might be the only way to fix the flawed system that humans¡¯ greed has created, which is causing suffering for everyone.¡± Seph nodded in acknowledgment and said, ¡°I guess you can¡¯t tell me how many rooms are in this place?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s all part of the challenge, the mind factor of how long this will take, your resiliency to finish all these challenges, your prowess, and finesse to finish these fights, your wisdom to know when to rest and when to train. Your intelligence to outsmart your opponents or the challenges, just keep at it, and it will be done.¡± ¡°Thanks. Your words are helpful enough that I feel as if you have answered my question.¡± ¡°I will talk to you soon.¡± At that, Seph nodded, and Scorn¡¯s voice was gone. Seph got up and started collecting fruits and putting them in his spatial sack, not asking Sun for help to let him enjoy his long-awaited meal for a while. After getting done with the first tree, Sun started helping him and they got done faster and went through the door to the next challenge. Chapter 10: The Chase After the dark tunnel, Seph found himself in a place that looked like a long pathway in the middle of a forest. The end wasn¡¯t visible, and only one other Yin cultivator was in the area with him. ¡°Greetings challengers, In this room, your challenge is a chase. Brother Lao Wencheng arrived here first, so he will be the Hunted. Brother Seph will be the hunter. Both roles have advantages. The hunted will have the first chance to reach the door of the next room, after claiming the prize box on the podium in front of you. While the hunter will not have to watch their back from attacks. Be careful though, there are traps all around the place. May the best man win.¡± Lao was a tall guy, with fair skin, and long black hair, wore a long green robe and white pants that was perfect for running. As soon as Scorn¡¯s voice disappeared, Lao ran towards the box, carried it, and started running. A force wall spawned after he ran and it disappeared five seconds later, allowing Seph to run after Lao. 30 seconds later, Sun was screaming and pointing at the ground. Seph noticed a wire, and he jumped over it. This must be one of the traps, he thought. Lao was running, and avoiding traps too, like he had a special skill to find them out. Seph conjured a lump from his gourd -which made him run slower- and threw it towards Lao, but it never reached him. Lao took out some throwing stars from a similar spatial sack to Seph¡¯s and threw them back at him. Seph moved the gourd to his front to block all the stars that were going to hit him. After all, the Gourd proved resilient after the fight with the King Moon Wolf. Seph could hear Lao cursing under his panting breath from running. It seemed he lost his concentration for a second, and triggered a trap. ¡°Fuck!¡± Lao screamed, as six tree logs started swinging from side to side in front of him. "At least I won¡¯t be the only one who will suffer from this trap," he thought to himself, and started timing his movement to avoid the swinging tree logs. Seph reached them after a few seconds and started doing the same. Sun just jumped off of his shoulder onto a log, and like a pro, jumped from one to another while they were swinging. Right after Seph got out of the tree logs trap, Lao threw a white parcel at him, which turned out to be a smoke bomb. Seph couldn¡¯t see anything. He thought, should he stop or not? But ended up running anyway. ¡°Sun, try to keep an ear out for any traps we trigger.¡± Seph took out a phantom wolf bone and threw it. The phantom wolf knew what to do, and it ran after Lao, until it bit his leg. The bite wasn¡¯t too bad, but it hindered his progress, as he was now running while limping. Blood cascading from his bitten leg, making it sticky and uncomfortable while running. After two seconds of running, Seph stepped on a patch of ground that turned out to be a trap hole. It opened up, making him fall suddenly. Sun jumped off his shoulder to the ground. Seph sensed where Sun had jumped and tried to hold on to the ground on that side. He barely managed to, and heard a crack from his shoulder. He started circulating his energy to that part, trying to heal it, all the while circulating the energy in his entire arm to pull himself up. Seph got out of the hole panting, not sure what kind of horror was inside the trap hole, Sun patted his back again in consolation, he wasn¡¯t sure it was helping but said ¡°Thanks Sun, phew that was a close one, we need to be more careful.¡± At this moment he got a smart idea. What if I used my palm strikes, with this power overbearing? They can probably push the smoke out of my way! Seph took his stance and threw a palm strike in the path forward, and it removed the air from his way. He started power walking forward, while using the palm strikes, till he got out of the smoke-screened area. He looked ahead and found Lao had gotten a little further ahead, but the end was still nowhere in sight, so the chase continued. While running, Sun suddenly started screaming and pointing to the side of the road. It looked like it was a camouflaged opening in the road, but where does it lead? Seph trusted his guts, and went through the side opening, still running among trees from both sides, but the way was clear in front of him, it suddenly took a sharp turn, and he found that a little ahead, the road was rising in a sharp upward incline; he continued running till he reached the incline and found that it was going to drop him into the original road of the chase again. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. He looked ahead and didn¡¯t find Lao, Looked to the left, and found Lao running while limping. Sun waited for him, and once he was within reach, he jumped on top of him, luckily not missing him. They both fell entangled, Lao bewildered by what just happened. Seph didn¡¯t give him a chance to think, took the box out of his hand by force, and stood up, kicking him in the stomach once he was standing. And started running the rest of the way. Lao composed himself 5 seconds later and started running after him. He pulled five daggers and threw them at Seph, but Seph had his back safe already with the Gourd. What daggers reached him hit the gourd and fell. The gourd¡¯s tougher material allowed it to resist the daggers. Seph wasn¡¯t even sure what kind of material it was. Seph found another trap in the way, another wire. He triggered it, then jumped back, thinking maybe it was another trap that could prove a tougher challenge for Lao than him. It turned out to be another swinging trap, this time made of 7 axes that were lit on fire, that started swinging back and forth. Seph smiled and started avoiding the traps one by one till he was out of harm¡¯s way. Sun wasn¡¯t happy about this last trap though, as he almost caught on fire twice, while Seph was dodging, because he wasn¡¯t super careful of the mass of Sun above his shoulder, like he did his own body. Lao followed them and also dodged the trap, but it took him ten more seconds because he had to do it more carefully. Both Seph and Lao didn¡¯t even know what was in the box, but they wanted to win it badly. Neither of them pulled any punches, and they pulled all the stops to win. Lao took out a magic sword from his spatial sack. It was the most valuable weapon that he could use in a situation like this, and he unleashed it on Seph. Sun started screaming, pointing to their back, and Seph saw the sword coming at him fast. He tried to dodge to the side, but to no avail. It was homing in on him. He launched a palm strike towards it, and it hit home, but the sword was still fast. It slashed him on the side when he dodged at the last second. Black blood started dribbling out of his side. He winced in pain and launched another palm strike towards it, and noticed cracks appearing on the sword. At this point he thought it would be safe to block the sword with his Gourd, and the sword did indeed run out of energy after slamming into the Gourd. Lao was so close to him now that Seph just let out a war cry that exuded pain, hate, and anger. He summoned a lump from his gourd and launched it at Lao. It hit Lao¡¯s uninjured leg, and the creeping decomposing started already, albeit at a slower rate, perhaps because he was undead already, Seph thought to himself. Seph continued running, but Lao didn¡¯t follow. He sat down on the ground and started using different herbs to heal his decomposing leg, which began causing him so much pain. The end was still not in sight, but something else was! An obstacle course appeared on the road in front of Seph. Obstacles that would require him to jump over them, and ones that require him to slide under them, there were ones further away that looked way too high. He was wondering how they were supporting them to have them at that height. The first one required him to slide. Seph tried to do as he saw the fair acrobats that came to his village to perform small shows, but his head hit the obstacle hard after his entire body was under the obstacle. Seph lay there thinking How did my life ever come to be like this, the most physical thing I ever did was carry water and walk under it like an elder tortoise, and now I am fighting monsters and running and sliding, and avoiding traps, my life used to be so much simpler, maybe rich people in my village had it this hard too to become rich? He pondered that last thought a second and then said out loud, ¡°Naah!¡± He crawled on his back, using his arms and feet, till he got out from under the obstacle, and continued running. Next was one that required jumping, and he attempted to jump on top of it, but he stumbled and almost fell, hitting his knee. It was like an enormous cube of stone that reached the ground, so it wasn¡¯t an immediate danger to his life. Once he was on top of it, he saw what he didn¡¯t expect. The rest of the road wasn¡¯t even there! The rest of the obstacles were stones floating in the air by some uncanny force, and the rest of the road was just not there, a deep black pit in its stead! He let out a loud sigh and started jumping from one obstacle to the other, ascending three cubes, and then it looked like an easier descent down if he didn¡¯t make any mistakes, four cubes down later, he saw the rest of the road, but no obstacles to reach it. Instead, there was a wire attached to a pylon on his cube that reached another pylon on the ground. He thought for a few seconds, made his mind, and grabbed his spatial sack, holding it over the wire from both sides and sliding down to the rest of the road. ¡°Woohooo!¡± screamed Seph while on the way, till he dropped to the ground, not the most graceful landing, but a successful one regardless. Seph stood up, dusting himself off, and then he noticed what was in front of him. There was another pit, but this one required him to cross a long, thin log instead. The ultimate dexterity challenge it seems, I will still win this. I didn¡¯t go against Lao all this time, just to lose to inanimate objects. Seph headed towards the log and started crossing it. It scared him at the beginning before he realized that he just needed to be braver, and his legs would stop shaking like a leaf in the wind. Twenty steps later, he was over that chasm too, and he could finally see the finish line. He ran the rest of the way, thinking, you never know, maybe Lao is still after me. He eventually reached the end. He high-fived Sun, who was screaming most of this obstacle course challenge, and they both crossed the door to the next room. Chapter 11: Wax Men After the dark tunnel, Seph found himself in a vast room that was fairly empty but for a sizable space in the middle, filled with objects. He opened the box from the last trial to see what was inside. Inside was a pair of footwear, that were green with tree leaves details on them. They looked kind of sturdy, and he used the eye on them.
Appraising¡­
Name: Footwear of the Trap Master
Type: Footwear
Quality: Rare
Durability: 100%
Magical Ability: Reduce the damage from traps by 50%. Increase your speed by 20%.
¡°Wow, these are nice shoes. I haven''t seen any like them before. They look great! This will be the most stylish thing I ever wear, don¡¯t you agree, Sun?¡± Sun nodded his head, barking excitedly for his human! Seph sat on the ground, removed his old shoes, which were quite a mess with many holes in them by now. He threw each one away and wore his new footwear of the trap master. Done with the last challenge officially now, he focused on the room he was inside, readied himself mentally for a fight, and started heading to the center area. Once he was closer, he noticed that there were statues in the middle of the room. He couldn¡¯t tell where they ended or what was behind them. They were all looking to the left side, whichever side you looked at them from, upon becoming closer to them. Made of wax were the statues he noticed; They looked like soldiers, their chest armor made of animal hides. They all had the same simple helmets made of animal hides that couldn¡¯t possibly protect them from the steels of war, and they were all barefoot. Quite puzzled about what he should do with these statues, Seph started circling the sizable group of statues to the left. He passed two sides of what could be a square that they formed on the ground, and nothing different was to be noticed. Still, all unmoving statues that all looked to the same area, he thought of attacking one to see what was behind it, but opted not to do that. You never know, maybe all of them will become alive and attack me together, he thought. He didn¡¯t like his chances if that fight were to break out. Seph continued moving to the right of the opposite side he saw at first, the statues still looking to the left. Somewhere in the middle of that side, he found a statue looking straight at him! To his surprise, the statue¡¯s face didn¡¯t look human at all. It had the face of a demon, bulging eyes, thick eyebrows, a big almost animalistic nose, and tusks coming out of his mouth, pointing upward! This is bad, this is so bad. I really hope I don¡¯t have to fight them. Their faces alone are so scary. Seph stood in front of it for five seconds and then touched it, but nothing happened. After molesting the statue for three minutes, he continued circling the square and checked if there was anything else to be seen, but all was the same, only that statue was different. So Seph went back to it and steeled his resolve. He attacked it with an overbearing palm strike. After doing just that, the statue shattered to pieces and revealed an opening behind it, allowing Seph to enter an enclosed area behind all the statues. He wondered what would have happened if he attacked the wrong one, and shuddered at the possibilities. In the enclosed space, which was still pretty big, most of the room was empty. Except for another big room in the middle, and in its four corners, four gigantic stone statues were in a sitting position. Each one carried a unique weapon. They had the same demonic face as the statues outside, but each one had better gear carved in stone, better helmets that can protect from the steel of war. Armor that was made of steel with simple decorations on them, by the looks of it, as all the gear was carved into the stone as well, with what looked like a feather on top, and heavy steel footwear. They had a weapon in one hand, while the other extended forward. Each statue had the index finger pointed in a different direction. Seph closed in on one statue, the one carrying a big Mace, and he noticed a key at the end of its extended finger. He didn¡¯t think about it and extended his hand instinctively to take the key. Once he took the key, the statue stirred. Seph freaked out and jumped back. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. It stood from its sitting position, and attacked with the Mace, an overhead arc attack intended to smash Seph to the ground. Seph jumped back once more, and after he steeled his resolve that he was now in a fight, he extended his palms and launched a palm strike at the statue¡¯s leg, which was towering over him by over five feet. The strike chipped some small stones from the statue¡¯s hip, and cracks began appearing. Enraged, the statue attacked Seph again in a wide arc coming from Seph¡¯s left side, which Seph dodged again. other than being big, the statue was pretty slow, with such an enormous weapon. Seph launched another attack on the same leg as before. More chipped stones flew out, and deeper cracks appeared. Seph thought it would need one more strike to fall. The statue jerked his weapon back from where his last strike landed, and Seph wasn¡¯t ready to dodge it, so he attacked the weapon with a palm strike that pushed him back, making him fall, and threw Sun away from his shoulder. Seph couldn¡¯t pay attention to the screech of Sun, he knew the monkey was safer away from the fight and that¡¯s what mattered, From his position on the ground, standing on a single knee, Seph launched another Palm strike on the same spot, the hip of the statue got smashed completely by this strike but it didn¡¯t fall. Enraged by the destruction that Seph had caused, the statue attacked with a wide arc from the left side again. Seph rolled backward out of harm¡¯s way, and the statue fell on its right side, which had no leg to support its weight. Seph got up, moved closer but more carefully to the statue, and looked at it. ¡°You look really pathetic right now, not the big scary statue anymore, are you?¡± The statue was lifting its hand to attack Seph again, but Seph didn¡¯t give it a chance and launched multiple palm strikes to its head, and the statue never launched another attack from its prone position again. Seph collapsed on the ground, panting. His fighting style was poor at best. All his movements are through sheer power, just power dodging all the time, no finesse. That¡¯s why after each fight he is panting like this because he was using his life force in the fight, not his energy. Sun trotted over to Seph, and they both sat there for a few minutes and then Seph talked, ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened! I didn¡¯t think there were going to be fights in this room. Everything looked tame so far.¡± Sun moved to stand in front of Seph and pointed at himself! ¡°I don¡¯t understand. You mean you want to try taking the key this time?¡± Sun nodded his head fast with wide eyes, as if he couldn¡¯t believe Seph understood him! ¡°I don¡¯t mind, just be careful if the statue moves you jump on my shoulder or away from the fight.¡± Sun nodded again and held one palm out towards Seph, and pointed at it! Seph extended his palm and before he could ask what Sun meant, Sun stepped on his palm, putting one hand around Seph¡¯s shoulder, and pointed towards the statue. ¡°Okay, I don¡¯t know where you are going with this!¡± They moved towards the statue, and once there, Seph noticed this one carrying a long spear. Sun extended his palm again toward the statue, and Seph understood him, so he extended the palm, carrying Sun closer. The statue had its index finger pointing up, and the key held by its ring on the bottom of the finger. Sun held the key carefully, and moved the ring up through the finger, without touching the finger again, till he got the key out. Seph was watching wide-eyed, anticipating the statue to stir, but it didn¡¯t! Sun ran back to the top of Seph¡¯s shoulder and screamed in victory! ¡°Hell yeah! You did it, buddy! Let¡¯s do the next one!¡± They went to the next statue which held a sword and shield, his index finger pointing to the right, and they did the same thing again, then moved to the last statue which held a long Katana, with the index finger pointing to the left and did the same thing again. Once they had all four keys, Seph moved to the room in the middle and inserted the four keys in its sole door. Once inside this room, Seph found it was empty! He moved around inside, went to the walls, tapped on them. Maybe something sounded different. Nothing did. He stomped the ground with one foot, but nothing felt different, so he just kept walking around the room, and Sun went down and walked in a different direction. Seph stepped on a pressure plate suddenly once he felt it. He looked around wide-eyed, fearing that he stepped on a trap, but nothing happened. A minute later Sun stepped on a similar plate, so Seph went back to stand on his and nothing happened. ¡°Hmm, what could this room be about? It must be a puzzle too¡­ Maybe there are more pressure plates around?¡± Not wanting to forget the pressure plates he found already, Seph went outside, and carried the foot of the statue he had destroyed, circling his energy through his hands to carry such weight, and he put it inside the room on top of the pressure plate, he told Sun to stay on his pressure plate, then continued moving around. Again, he found a third pressure plate, and went outside to carry half the head of the statue, which was much lighter, and put it on the third pressure plate. Moving around a little more, he finally stepped on the fourth pressure plate, and a door in the ground slid open, revealing a staircase heading down to the next room. Inside the last room, there were three chests. One was gold with intricate decorations, another was a silver chest that was less decorated, and the third was a wooden plain chest. Okay, this is a tough choice, if this gold chest is made of gold and I can carry it outside that should be a big prize by itself regardless of what it carries inside, but on the other hand, maybe this is a test to check if I am greedy, and I am supposed to choose the wooden chest! What if I can take all of them? Looking over at Sun, Seph could swear he saw stars sparkling in the monkey¡¯s eyes while he looked at the gold chest! ¡°Decisions, decisions. This is tougher than the puzzles and the fight with the huge stone soldier.¡± Sun started screaming at Seph and pointing at the gold chest. Seph pointed at the wooden chest instead, and Sun blew a raspberry in derision, showing that he didn¡¯t like that choice. Seph laughed so hard till he snorted at Sun¡¯s shenanigans and went for the golden chest and opened it. Inside was a pair of earrings! Seph palmed, he didn¡¯t have his ears pierced for earrings! The earrings had a pointy hook that was supposed to go into the earlobe, connected to two coiling pieces of gold on top of each other that the earlobe would fit inside, and in the middle of the coils, there was a black pearl. Seph used the eye on them.
Appraising¡­
Name: Pearl Earrings Of Defense
Type: Ear accessory
Quality: Uncommon
Magical Ability: Blocks a single attack.
Limit: One use per day.
¡°Not bad! Blocking an attack must be valuable in these fights! I must not get lazy, though, depending too much on this defensive charge.¡± Once Seph took the earrings out, the three chests sank to the ground. ¡°Nooooo the gold chest!¡± Seph screamed, while Sun came running while screeching and kept hitting the ground where the chests sank with his fist. He looked at Seph with big teary eyes, ¡°I am sorry buddy, I couldn¡¯t stop it, but don¡¯t worry about that! We still have all your fruits. Let¡¯s move forward out of this challenge room, though. I desperately need a change of scenery.¡± Chapter 12: Gabalawi Walking through the desert with a heavy heart, the sand is everywhere as far as the eye can see. The eternal tormentor is high in the sky, lashing everything under his ever-watchful eye with heat strokes. Each while a small dust devil starts and ends as fast, the youth back in my tribe called them Devil Farts! You contemplate your entire life traveling such distance, no real landmarks in your way. Orphaned I was, at a very young age. I had no backing in life, which you would think shouldn¡¯t have been too much of a problem for someone with my physique. But it was especially because of my physique! They called me the giant; called me a mountain; they called me many names that were intended to be derogatory. There are no bad words. We humans can make the most magnificent word feel like an insult when said in a certain way. I was young then. Wise men in the tribe always spoke of our mountain as the protector of our tribe. One of its reasons for existence, it blocked the wind from lashing us all day. It helped way-mark our tribe for passing convoys to not miss us. Mountains are such magnificent edifices of nature, and still the youth in our tribe made it a derogatory word to hurt and annoy me all the time. I never hit them, even though they hurt me physically many, many times. I never felt like I wanted to physically hurt anybody. I worked some odds and ends around the village, minor tasks here and there that guaranteed me food and survival. Most of the youth were sons of people I owed my work to. There was no escaping it, but the older I got, the more audacious their insults or physical transgressions became. I was getting sick and tired of living in my tribe, never able to make anything of my life, never amounting to anything. It was the night of the wedding of one of the tribe¡¯s youth who was about my age. He never missed an opportunity to bully me, and he wouldn¡¯t miss it on his wedding night. I was helping make up the gathering place for the wedding, carrying heavy stuff, bringing drinks and food. Everyone was happy, everyone was drinking and eating, laughing and joking around. At one point, the groom called me over and said, ¡°How are you doing, you freak?¡± My eyes widened. I didn¡¯t expect better from him, but at least on his wedding night he should have tried to not antagonize me. ¡°See all those people gathering for my wedding? See the genuine happiness on their faces for me? You will be forever alone, you dumb human mountain.¡± If I answer with words as harsh, most of the tribe won¡¯t be giving me any new jobs. And while I can answer with violence for this demeaning treatment, I don¡¯t feel like doing that. My heart is so heavy though, from all the abuse I had to endure, sometimes it feels like they do this to me just because I never push back. Because they know each time I push back, it gets me into more trouble. Sadistic assholes who revel in my misery. I gave him a strict, challenging stare instead of answering. ¡°Oh, showing some spunk finally. Our fake gentle giant is showing his true side, is that it? Lucky for you, this is my wedding night. I will deal with you later.¡± I turn my back to him and start walking away. ¡°Hey you big sack of rocks, take this.¡± He threw a gold coin at my feet. I looked at it, and back at him, and walked away. ¡°The Hell! You dare refuse my kindness, you piece of shit!¡± The groom is running after me. I am still walking away. He gets ahead of me, and jumps and slaps me in the face so hard. I barely felt anything, but he hurt my pride or what¡¯s left of it anyway, so I shoved him out of my way and continued walking. ¡°You better keep walking, walk away and never come back! Father, the charity case you all burden our lives with ruined my mood on my wedding night. Do fucking something about it!¡± ¡°GABALAWI THE NEXT TIME YOU COME TO US, YOU BETTER BE WALKING ON YOUR HANDS AND KNEES, AND I WILL THINK OF FORGIVING YOU, HOW DARE YOU RUIN SUCH AN AUSPICIOUS NIGHT, Keep walk¡­..¡± I couldn¡¯t hear his obnoxious shouting anymore. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. I was picking up speed as I moved further. The entire tribe heard him. I am wondering why I kept staying there for this long. I should have left with a convoy long ago, but the only thing stopping me was perhaps if anywhere else differed from my tribe? Would other people treat me with kindness? That remained to be seen, but with a mountain of a lifetime of unjustness on top of my shoulders, I left, never looking back. There must be a life for me out there. ***** After a day heading away from my tribe, when I doubted everything, thirsty, hungry, tired, and exhausted, thinking my end will surely be in this desert. I finally met a caravan. I gave them the only coins I had in exchange for food and water. I asked them for directions, out of the desert, to one of those, talked about cities that I heard a lot about, but never seen, and they described the way for me. They were kind to me, respectful while speaking with me. I never knew what those feelings felt like, not sure if I am exaggerating when I say that for the first time I felt human¡­ ***** The days and nights faded together, I wasn¡¯t sure how much time had passed, the way out of the desert would take months on foot, and luckily enough for me, I found a few tribes in the way, where I offered them my services for food and water for the way, which they gladly accepted, and generously rewarded my efforts. I don¡¯t understand anymore. All that was normal in my past life turned out to be abnormal. I thought I was a freak, that my physique warranted the abuse I got. Did my tribe just get caught up in all this ugliness and never stopped to ponder why they started doing it in the first place, or what¡¯s the effect all the abuse and bullying were taking on me, a fellow human, who isn¡¯t much different from them? I kept thinking of the past some days, and other days I tried to throw it behind me, and act like it never happened. My confidence was on the rise, my self-esteem was through the sky compared to what it had been most of my life. A life that was doomed to loneliness and misery if I stuck around in that place, which never accepted me. I felt much better. The lashes of the eternal tormentor were nothing to me, I handled the heat just fine, the length of the way out of our desert was nothing to me, I had a goal, and I was going to achieve it. ****** After three months on the way I finally saw a change of scenery, over there on the horizon there wasn¡¯t sand anymore, there was trees and greenery and a shade of blue cutting through the land, I wondered what it was, it all looked like a mirage of the desert, but a passing caravan told me the desert was nearly at an end, so I knew it must have been what the world looked like out of the desert in what we called the wetlands! A few miles and I was there, walking on solid land instead of sand. The long blue shade I saw from far away was a river! I ran towards it and kneeled down, and gulped down water like it was going to run out! After getting full to the point of sloshing and filling my water skin bags, I looked around. No one was around as far as the eye can see. I found a spot in the river that wasn¡¯t deep. I could stand on it and only be knee deep in the water. I took off all my clothes and started washing. It felt like I was washing away years of being ashamed of my body. Humiliation and abuse melting and exuding from my pores through the river. This benevolent body of water that will forever keep giving to this land, a land that was alive just because of it, and it asked for nothing in return. Years of oppressive thoughts, trickling out of my mind each time I submerged my head into the water. I didn¡¯t think I would love having this abundance of water so much. Halfway through washing myself, I felt happy. For the first time, I felt happy. I was laughing, throwing water in the air with my hands, then I started crying. They were happy tears; I felt like I finally made it, like I was stuck in a nightmare and made it out. For the first time, I looked forward to what life will bring me next. I was ready, ready to live to the fullest. ***** After walking for days, I found a small village; which I entered and asked around for work; I didn¡¯t have to ask for long. Everyone was welcoming me. They saw me as an opportunity to do hard work and carry things they can¡¯t. They were all so kind to me. After working for many people in the village for half a year, the village elder asked me over to his place, where I found him sitting with many artisans of the village that I helped many times in the past months. They welcomed me, and the elder spoke. ¡°Gabalawi, we welcome you among us. Since you arrived to this village, you have been helpful. You accepted whatever we gave you, and you were never greedy. We loved you as one of our own, and we want you to know that we consider you one of our own.¡± ¡°Thanks Elder. Your words warm my heart. I am happy among all of you. You welcomed me with open arms, and I am really grateful for the opportunity to be among such kind people who treated me with nothing but respect.¡± Everyone around was smiling warmly at me, wide expectant smiles like they were hiding something good from me. ¡°You are a good man Gabalawi, a gentleman, and because of all your help, Me and the other villagers, would like to offer you a small house in the village, that will be your own from now on, We are greedy and we want you to be one of us forever and stay in this village, who knows we might even marry you to one of our daughters.¡± I couldn¡¯t believe my ears, a house of my own, One of their own! Marry one of their daughters!!! I never even dared have such a dream, and yet it¡¯s now my reality. I couldn¡¯t stop the tears flowing down my face. I didn¡¯t know what I was saying, choking out words of gratitude between the happy tears, while many people were patting me on the back and hugging me. None of them know my story, but they accepted me among them, and never suspected me of anything. We all headed over to my new house, and I found that they even had furnished it with what they could buy or spare. And I couldn¡¯t say anything. I had stopped crying on the way here, but now I am crying again. I finally choked out, ¡°Thanks everyone, thanks. You don¡¯t know how much this means to me, how deep your kindness has touched my heart. Thank you.¡± Everyone just patted me on the back, or hugged me, or shook my hand. And they excused themselves to allow me to enjoy my new home. Half an hour later, the wife of the elder came to my house with a big tray of food, which she gave to me at my door, the tray contained the best meal that I ever ate in this world, I never could afford such food, none of the villagers could, but they must have wanted to make this day as special as they could for me. Chapter 13: Gabalawi Part 2 As the days passed, I continued working for the villagers; I started being able to save coins, or grains, in my house. This way, I could eventually do even more for myself. I might even dare to marry one of their daughters and start my very own family. Some people can go through life without starting a family because they have one, but I have been an orphan for as long as I could remember. Making a family is the only possible way for me to have people that belong to me. I¡¯ll belong to them as well, to have a companion throughout the rest of my days. I was sitting on a stone bench in front of my small house, when I saw the elder coming my way. I raised my hand to greet him; he raised his back and came and sat next to me. ¡°How are you doing today, Gabalawi?¡± ¡°I am doing well, elder. Thank you so much for asking. Is everything okay? Is everyone okay?¡± ¡°Yes, yes Gabalawi, don¡¯t you worry, everything is fine. I never asked you, by the way. What does your name mean?¡± ¡°My name means mountaineer, he who lives in mountains.¡± ¡°That¡¯s such a nice name, a powerful name as well!¡± ¡°Thank you, Elder.¡± ¡°So I came to talk to you about your future. There is a girl in the village. She is like you are, an orphan. Her uncle has been taking care of her all her life. Him and I spoke about you, and we think that it¡¯s a good idea to wed you to her. You are both good young people, and you will be a great help to each other in your lives.¡± ¡°I.. I don¡¯t know what to say, Elder. This is a surprise for me. I have been dreaming of one day being worthy to wed one of your own. Couldn¡¯t even imagine you would be the one to set me up. I imagined I would have had to beg for the opportunity.¡± ¡°No, no Gabalawi, no such a thing. You are one of our own. You have been, for the last couple of years since you came here. We just waited for the right opportunity, with the right girl, and now it is here finally, so what do you say? Should I say congratulations?¡± ¡°Yes Elder, of course I accept. I am honored by this offer. I am honored to call myself one of this village¡¯s sons.¡± ¡°Good, good, then congratulations Gabalawi. We will speak further later on when we will hold the wedding. Right now I have to tell the bride¡¯s uncle, so that we can set you both up to know one another. This will be an auspicious occasion. Oh, to be young again. Anyway, I have got to go now.¡± ¡°Take care of yourself, Elder. I will be ready for the meeting. Thank you again for setting this up.¡± ***** A few months passed, and it was finally time for the wedding. The village was bustling with activity, everyone was getting ready, everyone was taking part in making the wedding as special as possible. My bride is beautiful. We both clicked immediately and have been talking every day since our first meeting. She would come talk to me while I was working around the village. Sometimes she cooked and brought me dinner while working and we ate together. She was a dream in human form, and she was mine, and I was hers. A few hours before the wedding, we heard trumpets at the entrance of the village, followed by a herald¡¯s voice. I found everyone leaving what they were doing and heading towards the sound. Some were whispering ¡°the lord¡¯s herald¡±, while some looked scared. Others looked excited with anticipation. During my stay in the village, I never heard the herald. The tax collector came, but never a herald before. We all headed to the village entrance, and found the herald, accompanied by a trumpet player, and five soldiers behind them. All the villagers looked worried after they saw the soldiers. I had no clue what this was about, but the villagers seemed to know something. Only problem is, there wasn¡¯t time to ask anyone. We all paid attention to what the herald was saying. ¡°By Orders of The Lord of these lands, Lord Zing Zuo, may he live long and prosper. This is an announcement for compulsory conscription. One Able male per house of this village is required to present themselves right now to the accompanying officer. We need new soldiers, and no house can stay behind. Those are the orders of his lordship. I advise everyone to cooperate.¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The whispers of the people started rising in volume, till the officer stepped up and raised his voice ¡°Everyone, we don¡¯t want to use violence here today, every house should present their male candidate now, or they will have major pains while we make the trip back to the army¡¯s barracks. We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way, your choice.¡± Every house started conversing and choosing their male candidates, they started stepping forward, even some elderly did because they had no sons, I didn¡¯t know about these rules, so I just stood there, the officer looking at me intently, and I am dumbly looking back. ¡°You, You Big Oaf! come over here, why are you standing there like an idiot? Which house are you from?¡± I was about to speak when the elder intervened, ¡°Sir, this one isn¡¯t from our village, and his wedding is today. If you can exclude him from the conscription, that would be a great favor to all of our village.¡± ¡°How long did this one live here?¡± ¡°For about two and half years, sir, he came from the desert.¡± ¡°Does he have a house in this village?¡± ¡°Umm, yes sir, yes he does.¡± ¡°He lives by the lord¡¯s grace, under his protection, and at his service, that makes him obligated to join the army, same as everyone else.¡± ¡°But Sir¡­¡± the words caught in the elder¡¯s throat, when the officer stared him down. The elder held his head down in defeat, and the officer continued to shout his orders to exclude old men not able to fight. Everyone was fearful of their weapons. This village wasn¡¯t a fighting village. We didn¡¯t know how to fight. I stepped up and joined the conscripted males of the village. They consoled me in low voices. I couldn¡¯t respond. I felt like all my dreams came crashing down around me in a short time. No one could see this coming, especially me. I stood there in complete disbelief, completely lost, and I heard cries from afar, women''s cries, my beloved¡¯s cry, and other women sharing in her sadness. It hurt me, but I couldn¡¯t console her. I couldn¡¯t be there for her, like I imagined I¡¯ll always be. They led us away from the village, towards the big town where the barracks and the lord¡¯s palace were located. I didn¡¯t utter a word the entire way. All I could think about was how I was even going to fight when I never harmed a person in my life? How? ***** We went into a training period in the barracks; it wasn¡¯t too bad; we didn¡¯t have to harm anyone, and me and the other villagers were really cooperative, so we looked out for each other. I opened up to them about not wanting to take part in violence; they kept reminding me of the rules of the army, and how the penalty for disobeying orders during the time of war is death. But I really couldn¡¯t imagine myself hurting another human. I don¡¯t see the logic behind it. Why harm someone who looks the same as you, who has hopes and dreams as you, who bleeds like you, who feels like you? Can you even imagine hurting someone and seeing them in pain and fighting your instinct to want to help them? The training period was over, and they ordered us to move to another place where we will take part in a skirmish against another army. We were really resilient by this point. The long distances and the physical effort didn¡¯t exhaust us anymore. Three days of marching later, we came face to face with the enemy¡¯s army. Our officer put me in the forefront of our army because he feared I might run away, so that all those behind me would push me forward and force me to fight. And when he gave the order to battle finally, I didn¡¯t move. I froze, not out of fear, but out of hatred for fighting. ¡°SOLDIER, WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE? I SAID ATTACK!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t. So sorry. I don¡¯t want to fight. I don¡¯t want to take part in killing another human being.¡± ¡°SOLDIER PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, IF YOU DON¡¯T START MOVING IN THE NEXT MINUTE YOUR LIFE IS FORFEIT.¡± I gave him a pleading look. I looked over at the other army, most of which was composed of terrified farmers like our army, and I couldn¡¯t do it. Couldn¡¯t even move forward. The Officer smiled derisively and jumped in the air, with his sword pulled out, and slashed my throat open with one strike. I couldn¡¯t believe what had just happened. I held my throat with my hands, and fell to the ground, gurgling my blood, unable to breathe, unable to voice my disbelief. The Officer started ordering everyone else to attack on the threat of death. The Army moved forward and clashed with the enemy, leaving me there in the mud, in a pool of my blood. That was the last thing I remembered before everything turned black. ***** I woke up later, a walking corpse drenched in dry blood. I didn¡¯t understand what was happening. The battlefield looked empty. I felt like some sort of faraway sound was calling me towards it, so I started following. Nights followed the days. I kept on walking, avoiding human gathering at all cost. If they had an issue dealing with me before, it was going to be worse because of how I looked now. After what felt like a month, I reached this cave entrance, nothing was visible on the inside, I hesitated a little, and then entered, I kept on walking, not knowing exactly what was inside the cave, and what was the source of the call. Finally, I was in front of an ornate, immense door that blocked the rest of the way into the cave; I knocked on it, and someone who looked as much of a corpse as me opened the door, they pointed for me to enter with their head, not saying anything. I complied and went inside, and I saw a series of entrances to many graves ahead of me, and a great yard, that had this huge bell, the bell was black and cracked, from the cracks there was blood dripping onto the ground, the bell had this strange aura about it; it was faint; it was glowing black, and it was what had been calling for me all this time. The man who opened the door behind me had closed it, and came to me saying ¡°Oh The Bell of the Great Tower of Amoria. Yes, that¡¯s what called you to this place. We ring it weekly. It has the uncanny power to reach yin cultivators wherever they are in the world. Welcome to your new home. You arrived at a great time, because a great opportunity is close to hand. I would call this a good omen and thank my stars if I were you!¡± His words were alien to my ears, but I understood that I had become something else since I woke up in my own dried blood. This was my fate now, and through the last month, emotions of hate that I never knew before were amassing in my heart. Someone was going to pay for all of this, by this I swear. Chapter 14: 16 Man Tournament ¡°Welcome everyone, to the tournament room. There have been more of you who made it to this stage of the trials than expected, and that¡¯s why I enforced this room, a 16 man tournament. Only one of you can win, only one of you can take the ultimate prize. My soul sliver may stop the fights, to preserve the life of a yin cultivator who has great potential. I don¡¯t want these trials to be a bane to our sect, rather than helping it. Each of you can take one ball from the stone bowl in the middle. Inside there are blue and red numbered balls. You will fight the person who matches your number with the opposite color. May the best man win.¡± Another dark tunnel was done. Uttered was another message from the disembodied voice of Scorn. After becoming an undead cultivator, something switched in my mind. I can¡¯t be a pacifist anymore. The people who did this to me are going to pay. That''s why I have made it this far, gaining great powers; able now to unleash destruction and violence I never thought was in me. I will win these trials. Nobody can stop Gabalawi now, nobody. Everyone headed to the middle of the room, each taking out a numbered ball. Gabalawi got a red one with number one on it. He lifted it up for everyone to see, and they saw the man was huge after all! The owner of the blue number one ball gulped, looking at Gabalawi. ¡°Shall we?¡± Gabalawi said that strictly to his opponent, and they both headed to the stone arena in the middle of the room to fight. Gabalawi was wearing a pair of great light brown gloves, matched with a pair of light brown boots. His robes were the green robes of outer sect disciples since he had already made it to the sect. They didn¡¯t match his weapons, but this was an issue that he can fix another day. Right now, it was time to fight. His opponent was a 5 foot 5 inches guy, with short black spiky hair. He had a red ring on each finger and wore a red robe. ¡°My name is Rong Sha. May the best man win this fight,¡± the short man said and bowed, while Gabalawi¡¯s size shocked him at first. He didn¡¯t look scared now that the fight was about to begin. ¡°My Name is Gabalawi. Let the fight begin.¡± The short man acted first, and the red gemmed ring on his finger glowed, a fireball unleashed from his hand towards Gabalawi. Gabalawi raised both hands, close together as a shield in front of the fireball, which dissipated after hitting them, leaving no scratch on him. Which surprised the short man, because his rings allowed him to fire these fireballs, while his robe made any fire magic even stronger. Gabalawi¡¯s ability to block his enhanced fireballs easily surprised him, but all was not lost, he thought. He had more tricks up his sleeves. He unleashed four fireballs, two from each hand, back-to-back, and Gabalawi just looked at them with impunity, and started punching each fireball with his gloved hands, each one dissipating after exploding in contact. He followed the four punch sequence, with a stomp to the ground with one foot, which unleashed an earth shattering reverberation in the ground headed for Rong Sha, who jumped back three times in a row escaping the attack. He thought, desperate times call for desperate measures, and took out two magic swords from his spatial sack, launching them at Gabalawi. The swords zipped fast through the air, headed for his opponent. Gabalawi caught the first sword with his left hand, and squeezed. Rong could hear the sword cracking! And then he punched the second sword with his other fist, which launched it back towards its owner, who wasn¡¯t ready for its speed or such a reckless move in the first place, Scorn¡¯s soul sliver just appeared and stopped the sword in its tracks, declaring Gabalawi the winner, because the sword was going to hit Rong fatally. Rong bowed down deeply to Gabalawi, who bowed to him in return. ***** Seph watched the fight between Rong and Gabalawi and gulped down heavily, Gabalawi was scary, even Seph had to weaken the sword with two hits before he trusted to block the attack with his gourd, but Gabalawi just blocked them with impunity he doesn¡¯t care for their power at all, he prayed he wouldn¡¯t face that guy in his bracket! Something else major had happened though, everyone in the arena finally saw what Scorn looked like, he was 6 foot 4 inches, even though the soul sliver looked to be ghostly blue, Seph guessed he might have been pale in reality, he was a tower of a human being, had quite the wide shoulders and chest, and a strong lower body as well, he also wore a dark-colored robe, with some insignia on the back. The appearance of their benefactor amazed everyone. Finally, they all heard his voice, but none of them had seen him so far. Seph had pulled number 7 in the bowl, and was waiting for his match to see who his opponent was. Suddenly he saw a little girl skipping towards the arena, she had pink hair that was made into a twin ponytails, and had the palest white skin of any yin cultivator Seph had seen so far, she didn¡¯t have any weapon in her hands, Seph raised an eyebrow at that, and looked around to check if anyone else saw the same thing as him. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Everyone was looking at the little girl, who was skipping to the stage. She was even giggling cheerfully, which puzzled everyone even more! At this time, a very handsome guy who wore a white robe headed to the arena as well. His skin looked almost like a living human. He made his hair in a semi-bun with long hair flowing on his shoulders. He walked towards the arena with sure footsteps. He must be really sure of his skills! Seph thought. Once the girl and the guy were on the platform, they both held opposing balls with number 2 on them. ¡°Will we really have to fight, mister?¡± the little girl asked him. ¡°You can give up now and we won¡¯t have to!¡± ¡°Aww, I just didn¡¯t want to beat you up so bad!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what your story is or how you made it here, but I¡¯ll give you this one chance to relinquish the fight. I won¡¯t be able to pull back against you, little girl.¡± The girl giggled for quite a bit before saying, ¡°Oh, please don¡¯t pull back against me. Fight as strong as you can, old man. My name is Divinity, by the way, thank you for fighting against me.¡± The girl giggled, then gave him her best mischievous cat smile. Everyone thought she must be onto something to be that confident against such a bigger opponent! Shocked was the handsome guy after she called him an old man. I am not that old; He thought! But it only helped to make him a little pissed off at the girl. ¡°My name is Qui Ma, Good luck you little brat, you will need it.¡± He readied himself to attack. He flicked the wide sleeve of his robe dramatically, spinning it around his hand, before pointing his finger at the girl and launching a full finger made of light out towards the girl at an amazing speed. The girl smiled at that, and she summoned her weapon out of her spatial sack, which was a huge hammer that was as big as the girl at 4 foot and 8 inches! She swung the hammer in an overhead blow, and smashed the light finger headed her way. Her blow was so strong that she made a small crater in the ground when her hammer continued its path downwards. ¡°Oopsie, it seems like I overdid it!¡± she giggled cheerfully after saying that. Taken aback was her opponent, as was everyone present, her power was terrifying, everyone thought Gabalawi was the most terrifying opponent they saw, but now they weren¡¯t so sure anymore, they prayed she wouldn¡¯t win because that would set a trend, that power beats finesse and skill! Qui got over his surprise, and launched three finger attacks at her, which was the maximum he was capable of for now. She just smirked at that, and began swinging her big hammer around, her little body spinning with it. In no time at all, they both picked up great speed, making her and her hammer a blur at this point! She was inching closer to her opponent while spinning, his three attacks dissipated against her hammer whirlwind, the guy froze not knowing what to do, till she hit him once, a brilliant light shone from a necklace he wore, that seemed to have negated her attack, and Scorn¡¯s soul appeared again stopping the fight and declaring her a winner. She just jumped in place screaming ¡°Yay!¡± and kept on jumping and laughing, happily flailing her arms in the air, returning to the persona of a little kid again! Everyone¡¯s mouths were on the floor at this point. They all prayed that this kid didn¡¯t end up fighting them in the next round! Next up to the stage was a bleak-looking guy, dressed all in black, that had two vultures on his shoulders. He looked emaciated and depressed, his black hair all messed up. The vultures, though, looked cautiously around them. They were constantly alert. A familiar face headed to the stage in Lao Wencheng, who seemed to have survived the challenge when he ran into Seph, and had cured his leg too, by the look of things! After reaching the stage, both of them held up their number 3 balls for everyone to see. ¡°Thank you for the fight, good sir. My name is Lao Wencheng. May the best man win,¡± Lao said, bowing down deeply. The vulture owner looked at him dismissively. Or maybe he wasn¡¯t feeling like talking to him. It was a mystery. He just gave a signal to his vultures to attack the other man, and they flew from his shoulder, one heading to the right, while the other went to the left side, intending to flank Lao. Lao took out a 4 foot Sumpit. He must have gotten it recently, because he didn¡¯t use it in the chase against Seph, and he blew two steel arrows in fast succession against the two vultures. Both vultures dropped from the sky after getting hit. The depressed-looking guy went insane! ¡°YOU HURT MY FRIENDS! HOW DARE YOU!! I¡¯LL TAKE YOUR LIFE FOR THIS, I¡¯LL FUCKING KILL YOUUUUU!¡± After screaming his last threat, the guy exploded into a storm of black bugs, thousands of flying and crawling bugs all headed for the same target! Lao Wencheng thought, Not again¡­ this one is even more of a monster than the guy from the chase. He thought fast, and got a smoke bomb out of his spatial sack, threw it in front of him, trying to conceal himself in the smoke cloud, but to no avail, the bugs knew exactly where he was, there was nowhere to run! Scorn felt that the fight was already over and stepped in to end it, declaring Black Crow the winner! Black Crow materialized again out of his congealing bugs, everyone wondering how advanced that his skill was and how he got it. Did time flow differently for each contestant and some of these disciples had spent more time honing their skills than others, perhaps? Scorn dropped two health concoctions in two bottles in front of Black Crow, who calmed down once he got them, and headed towards his vultures fast to heal both of them. Seph was thinking, there is no way he can beat those monsters. They were just way too powerful. Hopefully in the next round they take each other out, or hurt one another so that he can get an easier fight against one of them. The tournament has just begun; we saw only three fights, and it¡¯s already wilder than my wildest imaginations, but I need to win this. I can¡¯t lose now whatever the prize is. Seph thought and steeled his resolve to give it his all to win this tournament. Chapter 15: Catch a Moonkey If you can! The tournament was still ongoing, three fights were down, five more fights to go to end the first phase. A bald man walked towards the stage. He was wearing a brown robe, and he had a long staff in his hand. He had a very nondescript face. Once Sun saw him, he went crazy again, screeching and pointing at his staff. The man stopped in his tracks and looked over at Sun, and after noticing his little staff, he smiled and bowed down to the monkey. Sun¡¯s eyes went wide, then he hurried to bow down to the man as well. Seph just looked at their exchange with apparent amusement on his face. Looks like there is a brotherhood in choice of arms as well! Another bald man walked to the stage, empty-handed. He didn¡¯t carry any weapons. He wore a gray robe, and his face was the same as last guy, nondescript! Both men stood on the stage and held up number 4 balls for everyone to see. After bowing down, the man with no weapons took out a pair of nunchucks from his side, which were semi-concealed by the robe he wore, and tucked in his belt. ''Thank the goddess for not making my opponent one of these monsters.'' ''Thank Goddess for not making my opponent one of these monsters.'' Both men had the same thought the same second, as they both realized the other was probably just a martial artist, with no super items or skills, like some appeared to be so far. ¡°My name is brother Huang. Fight hard, good sir!¡± The nunchaku fighter said. ¡°My name is brother Liu. Good luck in the fight.¡± The staff user said, bowing down deeply, with his hands clasped in front of him. The fight started when both of them ran towards one another. Brother Liu attempted a jab with his staff to his opponent¡¯s stomach. Brother Huang caught the staff with the chain of his nunchaku and swerved it away from his body, going in for an attack of his own with the left nunchaku attempting to hit the face of brother Liu. Brother Liu dodged by lunging forward, pushing the butt of his staff up to block the attack, and its front side, which was held by the nunchaku to the ground, putting them at a stalemate. They both disentangled their weapons, jumping back three steps before going in for the attack again. Brother Huang kept playing with his weapon, making it dance around his arms and stomach and under his armpit, even around his neck! Over and over. Then he went in for the attack, trying to feint to land an unexpected strike. Brother Liu just kept jumping back, repeatedly avoiding the attacks, before lunging with his own attack, a low sweep to Brother Huang¡¯s legs, which he jumped over easily, and tried to land a strike of his own which brother Liu ducked under with no effort. They jumped back to reset their stances again, and came at each other running, brother Liu stopped first and attacked with an overheard swing, brother Huang blocked it by the chain of one of his nunchucks while he attempted to land his own hit with the other nunchaku to the Liu¡¯s head, at that moment brother Liu activated a special ability of his staff, making it extended towards the head of his opponent. Both hits landed, knocking both guys out on their back to the ground. The arena was filled with silence after this unusual result, nobody who won this way! Are they both eliminated? Who is the lucky person who won¡¯t face anyone in the next round? While everyone was thinking these thoughts, Sun was creeping towards the arena, trying to be sneaky, but everyone noticed him and raised their eyebrows, trying to figure out what the monkey wanted. He stepped into the arena, and went for the staff and just before he could touch it, Scorn appeared again! ¡°Well, well, aren¡¯t you a sneaky one?¡± ¡°Eek!¡± Sun screamed and jumped back, looking scared of Scorn! ¡°What did you intend to do with this staff?¡± Sun lowered his head to the ground and covered it with both palms, like he was trying to make himself disappear. ¡°Hey, I see you and I am talking to you. Answer me!¡± Scorn said with a visible smile on his face. Seph saw this interaction, embarrassed and amused, also glad because he didn¡¯t think Scorn could smile in the first place. Sun removed his hands from his head slowly, looked around, saw that everyone was still there, he pointed sheepishly at his small staff, making a gesture to signify that it¡¯s smaller than himself, and then pointed at the other staff, followed by a grasping gesture towards himself! ¡°I see, I see, so you wanted this staff for yourself, because yours is smaller than you, I have to say, that staff lying on the ground is actually perfect for you, it can extend and retract, You can make it any length that you want.¡± Sun¡¯s eyes went wide, and he started nodding happily and frantically in approval, thinking that Scorn was allowing him to take the staff. Stolen story; please report. ¡°Well, I am not against it, but this staff has an owner, even though he and his opponent lost the tournament and they are both knocked out now.¡± Sun pouted his lips in sadness, seeing his dream fly away from him after hearing scorn¡¯s words. ¡°I have a proposition for you though. I will give you a challenge, you against these guys for 30 minutes. If they can catch you during that time, they both get a small prize and get out of here, If they can¡¯t you can take the staff for yourself!¡± Sun didn¡¯t take any time to think at all, and crossed his arms on his chest, and nodded stoically, signifying that he accepted the challenge. ¡°Very well, we will take a small intermission to allow these guys to recover, and then the challenge will begin.¡± ***** Everyone seemed more relaxed, looking at the new minor challenge that Scorn had enforced for a change. It wasn¡¯t a challenge to the death. Just two men, one monkey. Who is faster? Who will get the prize? Without harm happening to either party. The two men, as expected, banded together against Sun. They started the challenge by circling him, inching closer towards him little by little. He was expecting their first move stoically, and suddenly brother Huang lunged at him. He escaped from between his legs, making the guy stumble, almost hitting his teammate on the other side. Brother Liu just shoved his teammate aside and ran after the monkey. The monkey ran away from him. Sun was nimble, but brother Liu had longer strides and got closer to him. Sun again surprised him by jumping suddenly backwards between his legs, escaping him as well. After that, the monkey started making some distance between himself and the two guys, to make them work for it again, and laughed at them, mocking them from afar. He had better stamina than the men who were carrying much bigger muscle mass, and he intended to use it to his advantage. Brother Liu got back to him again, and this time tried to confuse the monkey with his staff, blocking one way of escape menacingly with it, while he tried to pincer him with his teammate. Sun didn¡¯t think a mere staff would hinder him, so he tried to jump over the staff. Brother Liu jerked the staff higher, and it blocked the Sun¡¯s jump. Sun held onto the staff like a tree branch and spun around it before jumping away, before brother Liu could do anything to the monkey holding his staff. The guys were frustrated and didn¡¯t know what to do. Brother Huang took off his robe, thinking he might use it as a net to trap the monkey. He held it spread widely like a fisher¡¯s net, and approached Sun, and jumped at him, falling to the ground. He thought there was no way the monkey dodged. He clung to the robe and looked under it. No monkey. Sun was at the other end of the arena, sticking his tongue out at them, then turning and spanking his own butt, trying to enrage his foes. This chase went on for fifteen minutes, before the guys gave up all will to fight. They were exhausted and knew there was no way they could recover to get to the monkey now. Scorn appeared when they appeared to have given up and declared Sun the winner, and with a signal from his fingers, the staff came floating over towards Sun, from its former owner¡¯s hand. Sun held the staff, dancing happily, hugging it, then dancing and waving it around. Seph watched him happily, then went over to him and pet him on the head. Sun infused the staff with his energy, and could now control its length, making it suitable for him. Seph used the eye on the staff to check its name.
Appraising¡­
Name: Jack of All Staves
Type: Staff
Quality: Rare
Durability: 95%
Magical Ability: Extends and shrinks according to the user¡¯s desire, up to 10 feet tall or down to 2 feet tall.
¡°Wow, that staff is great for you Sun, you can definitely use that innovatively during a fight causing problems for anyone!¡± Sun gave him his patented white-toothed grin, nodding his head, still happy with his new weapon. Seph checked on his Eye of the Appraiser quest next.
Quest
Eye of the Appraise level 2: Identify 25 unique items.
Progress : 18/25
I need seven more items. Wouldn¡¯t it be great if I got closer to those guys? Maybe I can walk closer to each one and check their items without them noticing! Seph sneaked over toward Rong Sha to check his items, hoping that he wouldn¡¯t get discovered. Once he was closer, he used the eye on Rong Sha¡¯s ring, while he was sitting down, sulking, while covering his face with his palms.
Appraising¡­
Name: Ring of Fireball
Type: Magic Ring
Quality: Fine
Magical Ability: Launch a fireball magic attack.
Limit: 3 fireballs per minute.
Even if he could launch 10 fireballs per minute, Gabalawi is a beast. No way he would have won, regardless.
Appraising¡­
Name: Robe of The Fire Master
Type: Robe
Quality: Rare
Durability: 95%
Magical Ability: Increases power of Fire Magic, from skills or items, by 50%.
Huh, still no hope. I really need to come up with a strategy on how to beat these monsters! The next fight was up. A super pretty woman that looked to be in her forties headed to the arena, wearing a flowery kimono walking barefoot on the ground. She had a red flower on the right side of her hair, and a tiara of violet flowers on top a little towards the back. She was walking with a captivating gait that made all the young men stare at her, not even aware of their stare. She was beauty and seduction personified, albeit slightly pale from her deathly disposition that contradicted her flowery one. She casually held a folding fan with flower decorations. Once she reached the arena, she started fanning herself while looking at everyone who was staring dumbly at her, throwing smiles at the guys that flustered them, but after knowing she was aware of their presence, they tried to look away for a while before staring at her again. Smack! Seph woke from his reverie after Sun smacked him in the face. He was staring at the flowery woman as well; he looked down at Sun, who had descended from his shoulder. Sun was giving him a mad glare, to which Seph didn¡¯t know how to react. He went down on one knee and patted the monkey on the head. The monkey was satisfied with that, and they both turned their heads once they noticed a black shade headed to the arena¡­ Chapter 16: Opposites Hair was moving towards the arena. Surprised were Sun and Seph! But then they noticed a pair of little feet under the hair. They were standing on the right side of the vast room, and the woman with the excessive hair was on their left. Her hair went down her back to just above her heels, and in the front there was a long bang covering half her face that went down to her hip. She almost felt like she was floating off the ground, because not much appeared of her. She wore a white plain dress, an extremely clean dress compared to most contestants except the flowery woman. Unlike the flowery woman, the men appeared to be fearful of her, even though she was of decent beauty, but her style, how she carried herself, her excessively long hair, made them wary of her, and she didn¡¯t give two fucks about that or them. Once on the stage, both women held up number 5 balls to show everyone. The black-haired girl just raised it up and turned it around without looking at the contestants. While the flowery woman was showing it to them while watching them and distributing free smiles, everyone was grinning like an idiot, except Seph, who was worried about getting smacked again by Sun, who was now standing on his shoulder. ¡°Hello darling, my name is Dahlia. I want you to fight hard now, you hear? It won¡¯t look good if I beat a younger girl that doesn¡¯t fight back with all her power.¡± The flower woman said to her opponent. ¡°Tsk, old woman, do you really think you stand a chance? Maybe if this was a beauty contest you would have a chance, but not in a fight to the death. I will kill you. My name is Esme, make certain to remember this name. When I leave your stiff body sprawled on the ground, it¡¯s the last thing you will remember. Your pretty flowers won¡¯t save you.¡± The younger girl lashed back at her aggressively, but in an almost whispery tone that made the onlookers unable to hear what she said. ¡°Oh, did I touch a naked nerve? Very sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to antagonize you. I like to kill my opponents softly.¡± Dahlia said in a sultry tone. Esme became really agitated. Maybe that was her true personality and attacked her instantly. While everyone was wary of her before, now they were fearful of her, because her hair came alive and extended across the arena, seeking to catch Dahlia. Dahlia sprinkled some flowers from a pouch on her belt, and she fanned them with her fan. The flowers became erect and sharp and flew towards the oncoming hair, which they cut clear through. Esme screamed and came running towards Dahlia. Once she was at a closer distance, she waved with her hand to the pieces of her hair that were cut; they rose from the ground, and started circling around an invisible center, till they became a black horrifying whirlwind. Dahlia got more flower petals from her pouch and waved above them in a circular motion with her fan, till they became a whirlwind of flowers as well, that was heading to clash with the hair whirlwind, and once the two forces clashed they both lost their force, having depleted their power crashing into one another. Esme was panting while Dahlia had sweat drops on her forehead, but she still had her confident smile on her face. They looked at each other with anticipation when Dahlia said, ¡°Pretty good for such a young girl. I am so proud of you, darling.¡± Esme screamed at her, ¡°DO NOT PATRONIZE ME!¡± and launched her hair back at Dahlia. Dahlia sprinkled a little more flowers, but this time on top of her head, and she fanned herself. The flowers started circling around her, not one petal touched her. Dahlia started running after summoning her defensive flower wall, and she twirled around the hair once it was about to hit her, dodging it, the hair didn¡¯t give up and attacked her from the back, but she headed for her target already, headed for Esme! Once she closed in on Esme, she unfolded her fan, and attacked the girl with it, and while that surprised Esme, she could get her defense up in time, when more hair gathered in front of the attack, and stopped it in its tracks. Dahlia knew at this point they were equal and had to resort to desperate measures. What she was going to do was ruthless, but she won¡¯t lose this fight even if she was going to kill again in this trial. It wasn¡¯t her first time. Dahlia got out a prize. She got in a past trial, a green flask that was filled with some liquid. She looked at it with trepidation and threw it at Esme while she was jumping backwards. Esme noticed the flask very late and attempted to catch it with her hair, but it slipped at the last second and dropped on the ground. Fire-Breathing bottle, Fire spread at an alarming rate, catching Esme who was more vulnerable because of all her hair, that immediately caught on fire. Scorn appeared immediately, and with a wave of his hand, the fire died. Esme was a little hurt, but nothing major. The fire didn¡¯t get the chance to really do its work. Esme stood there, smoke coming out of her hair and clothes, her long white dress had a shade of black on it now, and it looked ugly. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Esme was silent for a while, looking at herself in disbelief, before she nodded slightly to herself, and walked off the stage. Dahlia didn¡¯t look cheerful at all as well. She hated using such a deadly weapon against her opponent, who was vulnerable to it, but this was the game they were playing¡­ The entire room was deadly silent. Usually someone celebrated and someone sulked. Usually, the loser would thank their opponent, ending it on apparently better terms, but not this time. Still, the tournament had to go on. Number 6 was up. An androgynous looking individual began walking towards the arena. They had high cheekbones and a strong jawline, and no facial hair at all. Their body was strong but thin, with lean, corded muscles underneath their skin. Their eyebrows were graceful. Their eyes were green. They looked at the distance with a dreamy look on their face. They had a really calm disposition, and their hair was long and braided, with beads decorating its entire length. Their robes made them even more confusing. It was a long kimono that had different shades of pink all over a white base. The contestants didn¡¯t have to be confused for long though, because another contestant walked in. An old woman, with quite a few wrinkles on her face, her lips were a bright red color, and her eyes were closed in a semi smiling eye. They weren¡¯t really sure if she was seeing anything with her eyes closed like that. The woman had her hair done in a bun, and was walking while holding a walking stick with both hands in front of her. She wore an old, very light green kimono, with a pair of wooden shoes that kept clogging as she moved forward. Standing in the arena facing each other, both contestants held up their number 6 balls for everyone to see. The androgynous contestant talked with an equally androgynous voice. ¡°Our name is Huan Chun. We are sorry to fight you Grandma, please do your best in this fight.¡± Sun started screaming at the androgynous contestant. He understood what they said, and was confused, because he was waiting for them to reveal a male or female gender, which didn¡¯t happen! ¡°Calm down, Sun, Gender doesn¡¯t really matter. What matters is us as humans, and how we carry ourselves in this life.¡± Sun nodded his head in understanding after pondering Seph¡¯s words a little. Seph followed, ¡°Maybe I am not the best guy to talk about understanding and acceptance between humans, though. I ate quite a few people since we entered this place!¡± Sun laughed at Seph till he almost dropped from his shoulders. While this sequence went between Sun and Seph, the older woman had answered. ¡°You¡¯re so kind, Huan Chun, my dear. My name is Glenda. You need to fight hard as well. Don¡¯t make this old woman win so easily now!¡± The fight started when the old woman took an ornate hairpin out of her hair, and she pricked herself with it in the back of her hand. Blood trickled out, but then it started coming out at a terrifying speed, forming a ball in front of the old woman that kept on getting bigger and bigger. Huan Chun clasped their hands in front of them and recited a mantra. When a most uncanny thing happened, they became two people, a male and a female, that formed when Huan¡¯s body split into two! After the two bodies split fully, they appeared at the same stance, hands clasped in front of them, and they both took out two daggers each, and started running toward Glenda. The Male twin had yellow eyes, while the female twin had blue eyes. The air around the male version of Huan had the air distorting around him. While the female version of Huan was running gracefully, with a visible shadow of herself running behind her, which was uncanny because the arena didn¡¯t have an actual sun or an artificial one either. The daggers of male Huan started overheating, becoming bright red. Once he was closer to Glenda, he attacked her with one of them; she created a shield out of the ball of blood in front of her; the dagger made the blood sizzle around it, but it lost its heat fast. Female Huan stopped a little distance away from Glenda, but her shadow didn¡¯t! Her shadow continued running towards Glenda, materializing out of the ground behind her, and attempted to hit her with a shadowy pair of daggers. Again, Glenda made two daggers out of blood and blocked the two daggers attacking her back. Glenda then made a third dagger from the ball of blood and pointed with her hand toward female Huan. The dagger flew towards her, but before it hit her, the shadowy version of female Huan appeared in her place, and she came up behind Glenda, attacking her again with her daggers. Glenda didn¡¯t have physical capabilities, it seemed, but her mastery of blood manipulation was something to behold. Male Huan was still overheating his daggers, and attacking with them simultaneously over and over, making the blood sizzle and evaporate little by little. The ball of blood in front of Glenda was becoming smaller. Her constant attacks were not doing her any good. She had one last trick up her sleeves, though. Raising her hand to the sky, the smaller ball of blood ascended, and once it was at a suitable distance above her, she hit the ground with her walking cane, and the ball exploded. Sharp shrapnel of blood flew everywhere. They halted when they came close to Glenda, but they didn¡¯t when they went for the twins. The twins saw that and clasped their hands in front of their chests again, and they became one. The process made them invulnerable to all forms of attack for a few seconds. Once they were safe, they went back on the attack again, this time as one, and they ended the fight with their dagger on Glenda¡¯s throat, but they didn¡¯t cut her. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a dear? Thank you for sparing this old woman. I admit my defeat.¡± Glenda said sagely, while smiling warmly at Huan. Huan bowed to her. ¡°Thanks for the fight, Mrs. Glenda. You gave us a tough fight we weren¡¯t expecting.¡± Scorn was watching all the fights, and Seph noticed him. He felt that Scorn had a proud smile on his face. Maybe he was proud that most of the new generation that are getting substantial advantages from his trials, are all capable of showing compassion to one another. Yin Immortals had the toughest time in the past against the Yang immortals, because they were all individuals who couldn¡¯t come together to fight the bigger threat to their sects, but this generation showed a lot of hope. Good things were going to come. Maybe his dream was going to become a reality after decades since its inception¡­ Chapter 17: Kafka I was homeless most of my life. Even as a child, when I needed a home, I didn¡¯t have one. To be that young and lose everything that meant something to you is the toughest test anyone can go through. I lost my entire family to a house fire when I was seven years old; my mother, father, and siblings¡ªall in the same night, all the same gruesome way. People said they died from suffocation first, that they hadn''t been hurt when the fire finally caught them. It wasn¡¯t a comforting thought. I lost my entire family, and it changed my life forever; I wouldn''t have been here if I still had them. You might ask yourself, how did I survive? I was playing at a friend¡¯s house, and the night came. Our village is humble. We all know each other by name, fathers¡¯ and mothers¡¯ names, and even grandparents¡¯ names. There was nothing hidden. All the villagers knew everything that happened in every house. We slept in front of their house. His mom provided us with a rug to sleep out on. It was a very warm night, and those were the best nights to sleep out and look at the stars. The village was friendly. They cared. They cared for one another. But they left me alone with nothing; when the fire took my family and my house. The elder of the village took me in, waiting for someone else to take this responsibility, but no one did. He was a good man, or he didn¡¯t have a choice as the village elder. But his wife didn¡¯t want me there. After a few weeks of abuse, I left. I had to. We only tolerate so much abuse when it¡¯s from our family, because there are bonds and some good to balance the bad, and my family wasn¡¯t even abusive like that woman. I went and lived under the bridge of the village, where stray cats gathered. I lived by their side; they didn¡¯t mind me. We didn¡¯t have a source of food, but what people threw out, the cats could eat that. I lived on what the villagers in the market threw away at the end of each market day. I shared my food with the cats, and they started getting used to me, sleeping beside me or on top of me for warmth. The villagers would walk on top of the bridge and try to look away after noticing me. They don¡¯t want to have feelings of guilt for allowing this homelessness of a child to happen. As time went on, I stopped feeling sad. I was feeling better with my cat friends. They didn¡¯t let me go anywhere without one of them accompanying me. The younger generation of the village, who didn¡¯t know my story, became fascinated by me. They called me the cat boy. Sometimes when a troublesome kid riled them up, though, they lost their fascination and became petty demons, throwing rocks at me, and calling me a crazy boy! I wore rags, but I didn''t have anything better to wear. I lived that way until I was 16 years old, when a calamity befell the entire region, and a drought occurred. People started storing what they had, and eating it, waiting for the drought to be over, but it remained for a long time. While they had stores of grain in every house, my cats and I didn¡¯t. They stopped throwing away the spoiled vegetables. People started eating the spoiled vegetables. I lost my only source of food. No one knew when the drought was going to end. I started losing weight, as water alone won¡¯t keep me alive. I couldn¡¯t go knocking on the doors of the villagers who have lived as if I hadn¡¯t existed since I lost my family. I started becoming emaciated, and I was sleeping more because I had no energy, and one night I died quietly in my sleep. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I woke up later, not knowing how many days had passed. How did I know I''d died? You ask? My face was half eaten when I woke up, as well as many bits and pieces of many parts of my body. My cats needed to eat, and I was the easiest food they could find. Once I woke up, they started getting close to me again, licking my palms, rubbing against me. I felt as though I was one with them now; I could order them to do my bidding. My name is Kafka, and this was my story. But I hear a sound ringing far away, a sound that''s calling to me, a sound that I must follow. I have to say goodbye to you now. Thanks for being my cat¡¯s food! Kafka walked away, leaving a corpse behind him that was eaten thoroughly by an abundance of cats. ***** It was finally Seph¡¯s turn. He headed towards the arena confidently, with Sun on his back. Yes, there were monster cultivators among the contestants, but he had a legendary martial art to back him up. That was only going to get better as time went on. Once in the arena, Seph noticed an old man with a turban heading towards the arena. He looked to be somewhere north of forty, with dark skin, black mustache, and a petite goatee beard. He had some pimples on his face, and his hair wasn¡¯t visible under the turban he wore. The man had a calm gait and carried a large covered jar on his back. The similarity wasn''t lost on Seph, and it wasn''t lost on everyone who was watching. One person carried a jar, the other carried a gourd. Was this fate?! Once on the stage, the man put the jar down in front of him and removed its lid. ¡°My name is Al-H¡¯awi, I would advise you to keep your monkey away from this fight. With the way I fight, his life is in jeopardy.¡± Seph didn¡¯t know how to respond to that. The life of Sun was important to him, but he didn¡¯t want to look threatened. Sun didn¡¯t let him think, though. As he started shouting at their opponent in Monkeyese. He pointed forward for Seph, signifying he wasn¡¯t abandoning this fight! ¡°Well, Sun answered you himself. My name is Seph; fight well, old man. I won¡¯t hesitate to kill you if I get a single opportunity. You don¡¯t threaten my friend¡¯s life and get away with it.¡± Seph finished saying that, and started walking confidently towards his opponent; his palms extended by his side, twitchy, ready to attack at a second''s notice. The old man sat on the ground and took out a flute that he started playing with. Something appeared to be coming out of the jar in response to the flute¡¯s music. A king cobra came out of the jar. It kept rising little by little. Seph guessed it must be standing at four feet tall right now, but it kept rising even more! H¡¯awi had changed the tone of his playing to a more aggressive tune, and the cobra jumped out of the jar and slithered fast towards Seph. Seph launched two palm strikes toward the oncoming snake. When he saw it dodged the first, he followed by a third one as well. The cobra dodged the second palm strike as well, but when it attempted to dodge the third, Sun had sailed through the air and hit it hard on top of its head with his new staff. The attack staggered the snake, and Seph wouldn¡¯t let such an opportunity pass him by, and he launched a 4th palm strike that flattened the snake to the ground. Sun and Seph were panting because of the excitement, thinking the threat was gone, but it wasn¡¯t! The dead cobra shed its skin, and out came a ghostly, incorporeal smaller version of it. Al-H¡¯awi changed his tone again, to a more mysterious calmer melody, that the new cobra seemed to answer to. Seph tried to hit it with palm strikes again, but it kept dodging. Sun attempted to hit it again, but he passed right through its invisible body. The snake jumped at Seph. He didn¡¯t know what to do but tried blocking with his Gourd, hoping against hope that it would work. Luckily for him, it did. He tried to make some distance between himself and the phantom snake. When he thought... Phantom snake. What if one of my phantom wolves can deal with this problem for me? Seph took out a phantom wolf bone and threw it towards the snake. The wolf immediately materialized and swallowed the snake in one bite! It also seemed the phantom snake replenished his powers somehow, and he went towards the closest enemy target, which was Al-H¡¯awi, and it bit him in the shoulder while he was sitting down. Seph started running towards the sitting man, but the man had more tricks, it seemed, as he steeled himself despite the pain and his bleeding shoulder, and continued playing on the flute. A faster tune it was this time, and many smaller snakes started coming out, must have been ten of them at least. Each one was about 19 inches, and they moved fast, spreading around, trying to approach Seph from many directions. Sun descended from Seph¡¯s shoulder, and stood back to back with him, trying to protect his back from the encirclement that was taking place right now. Seph made his gourd move beside him, and started launching palm strikes, but not before he got a lump of his ungodly substance out of the gourd, and threw it at Al-H¡¯awi, not missing him. He started blocking with the gourd, while Sun made the staff smaller and kept swatting away snake after snake once they got closer. After a while, they were done with all the smaller snakes. Looking at Al-H¡¯awi, they noticed he was already becoming in an awful shape because of the lump. Scorn appeared again, before Seph could go over and end the fight. He declared Seph the winner, and gave Al-H¡¯awi a cure, continuing the trend of no deaths in this tournament so far, despite the initial promise of there going to be death. Chapter 18: Claws {I was there when Scorn was born, as I was there when the universe was born. I bore witness to the massacre; I tried to reach out to save him, but I couldn¡¯t. The evils of humanity, with the massacre of Amoria as the last straw, tainted my holy energy. I tried to pass my retribution on the horrors I saw perpetrated in front of me, but I was, for the first time, helpless. Each time I tried, something I didn¡¯t intend to do happened! That¡¯s how the scars of reality came to be, rifts in space and time where monsters from parallel universes passed into my universe. They wreaked havoc, misery, and destruction upon everything they saw. They can be closed by cultivators if they would fight the monsters, and attack the scars with enough power to force them closed. But the cultivators didn¡¯t care about the people, the scars started becoming localized areas of desolation around the world. Humans, as usual, persevered and survived by avoiding the affected areas, hoping that they don¡¯t wake up tomorrow and find another scar of reality in their own backyard, butchering their entire village or city. And the scars weren¡¯t even the only horrible thing that came to be from my tainted energy. The energy that would have been tainted even more, if it hadn¡¯t been for the existence of the Yin cultivators. Who started balancing out the incoming energy to use it for their own cultivation. Disappointed Am I, in myself. Disappointed Am I in the cultivators who have the power to stop these horrors and they won¡¯t. And I am grateful for the abominations, who are the Yin cultivators, for without them, the world would have already expired, despite my best intentions. I am Karma; I am the goddess of this Earth, and my existence has become suffering from my impotency to change anything, as was the purpose of my being.} ***** Finally, the last fight was up. Most of the losers were sulking, except Brother Liu and Brother Huang, who were sitting together drinking green tea from an unknown source. They were speaking about their journey so far cheerfully, without a care in the world. The winners, on the flip side, were paying attention to the fights, analyzing each one, preparing mentally to be ready to face anyone in the next round. A wild man of about 30 years old started walking to the stage. His robes were hugging his body tightly, showing tight muscles underneath. He carried the most muscles out of all contestants, and Gabalawi was no slouch in that regard. His body was like an apex predator, made to hunt and devour his prey. He was bald except for a ponytail sprouting from the top of his head and going all the way to his neck. He had an extremely big mustache on his face that made him look even more threatening. His facial features were strict, with wild eyes, and big yellow teeth, with a prominent nose to match them. He reached the stage and waited for his opponent. He didn¡¯t have to wait long, because a teenager of almost 16 years old started walking to the stage. Dark hair. He was five foot five; he had one really sad eye. Half his face was bare-boned. It just wasn¡¯t there. His bones were visible to everyone. He wore a black shirt and black pants that looked neat and clean. An abundance of cats that were looking at everyone around them followed him, taking notice of everyone, some running and jumping playfully landing on their back, some kept straying and licking their paws and cleaning their fur. They all arrived at the arena, and both contestants calmly raised their number 8 opposing balls, twirled them around for everyone to see, despite being unnecessary now as they were the only two left. ¡°Yo, Boy. They call me Feral Xu. You made a mistake by stepping in here; you should have acted like you didn¡¯t have the balls, and stayed behind forfeiting the fight, but I guess you have some balls, eh?¡± Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Your voice is so loud, old man. Can¡¯t you fight more quietly? You are going to give me and my cats a headache.¡± ¡°You dare talk that way to your superior? I should bash your head in, kid, and FEED IT TO YOUR FUCKING CATS!¡± ¡°Again with the loud voice, you won¡¯t do shit old man, and the only way you won¡¯t become cat food is if Scorn saves you like he did all those others, so why don¡¯t you fucking shut up and fight!¡± The young male, by the name of Kafka, signaled his cats to attack, and they started running towards the older man! Feral Xu took out a couple of claws that he attached to his hands and started running towards the cats. Sometimes he would even run on all fours! Once both parties reached each other, the cats started jumping for Xu¡¯s vitals. He thought his neck would be the most vulnerable part if their bites were deadly enough, so he did his all to protect that part. He struck one cat that went for his neck with his claws. The cat didn¡¯t bleed or get torn apart; It turned to a little incorporeal kitten instead, that yawned cutely and floated back towards Kafka, finding a place on his shirt where it got imprinted on it and went to sleep! Other cats bit Xu in his legs, stomach, and hand, but he just shrugged them all off. Their bites were tough, but his skin was tougher, and he had only little bleeding dots where they bit him. A couple of red cats went behind Xu and jumped on his back, clutching at him with their claws. They yawned lazily before they exploded onto his back. Again they turned into little incorporeal red kittens that floated back towards Kafka and found an empty spot on his clothes to sleep on, but those were red imprints instead. Feral Xu dropped to the ground face first from the explosion, and two bigger brown cats that were much slower than the others ran heavily towards his prone body, jumped on his back, and went to town clawing and scratching him. Sensing his life was in danger, Feral Xu let out a primal roar that pushed all the cats from his body and rose to his feet. He didn¡¯t look sane anymore. He looked utterly mad, like he lost his mind! Eyes whited out, he was frothing at the mouth, teeth bare in a wild snarl, drool dropping. His body was more tense than ever. It was like he activated a berserk mode of sorts, and he pounded the ground on all fours again, heading towards Kafka. His claws struck many cats on his way, finishing them immediately as they turned incorporeal and went to sleep on Kafka¡¯s clothes again. Kafka, sensing the danger, turned into a red cat that meowed at Xu who just reached it and exploded in his face! Kafka appeared a little further away instead of the red cat. He pointed to a couple of orange cats that ran fast towards Feral Xu, while all the other cats followed them. Once the orange cats reached him, they caught into him, paralyzing him, not able to move anymore. The following cats grasped the chance to finish Feral Xu off, but Scorn appeared again and stopped the fight. He also fed Feral Xu something that cured his berserker state. Kafka, seemingly indifferent to his win, went down on one knee and petted many cats, while smiling happily at them with his half face. They lived for each other, and they were better for it. Everyone was watching the fight, seeing these absolute monsters going at it. Skill won over raw strength this time. Sun was very interested in the cats and kept leaning his head left and right while watching them. The exploding ones scared him, so he was wary of getting close to them, but he wanted to! Scorn told everyone that they had one full day to recover before starting the next round of fights. Which was a welcome respite for all the fighters. Dahlia went over to speak with her former opponent Esme, who seemed to be annoyed with her attempts to talk with her at first, but after a while, reluctantly started whispering to her. They hadn¡¯t much in common; they were poles apart, but the older woman could definitely help her if they ever became friends. Gabalawi had Brother Liu, Brother Huang, and Lao Wencheng gathering around with him, talking to him in fascination. They all became big fans of his after seeing him fight. Black Crow was sitting alone, caressing the back feathers of his companion vultures, his eyes set only on them, not interested to see anyone else. While Divinity went over to where Kafka was, seemingly not scared of the kid with the half eaten face at all, she was very cheerful talking with him, praising his cats, and then crouched on the ground to pet them, while some of them licked her other hand! After seeing this, Sun got encouraged and jumped off Seph¡¯s shoulders and ran over to where Kafka stood. He got closer to the cats and started petting them as well with Divinity, who was smiling at Sun happily with her eyes closed. The cats purred at his touch and he cooed contently along with them. Glenda was with her former opponent, Huan Chun. She was speaking to them calmly with a grandmotherly disposition about her, and they spoke kindly back to her. She overflowed with parental love and she sensed Huang had a tough life, and got close to them trying to help them in her own way. Rong Sha and Qui Ma were both sulking, sitting alone, while Al-H¡¯awi and Feral Xu were alone healing their wounds. Seph was alone, but he was watching all this take place, the same as Scorn. Instead of making enemies, this tournament made many very respectful peers, it seemed, and who knows? They might even become friends in the future. Scorn was mind boggled by this breed of cultivators. How can they still talk to each other after all the insults and trash talk said before the fights? After all the threats? Considering all the physical harm and mortal danger they faced during those fights? His dream could really become a reality. He knew he was selfish, thinking only of his dream, but it had to be achieved. He won¡¯t allow the world to go on the same way it had been. The suffering has to end, and if the good guys won¡¯t do it, the bad guys are going to be up for the challenge, and get the job done. Chapter 19: Lucky Seven The day off was over. The contestants felt refreshed, Scorn informed the contestants to choose their numbers from the bowl again. Huan Chun headed towards the bowl. They stuck their hand in and pulled their number. It was number seven! Huan looked at the ball with a puzzled look on their face, because this round could only have three fights, when Scorn intervened, declaring Huan to be the lucky contestant who would move immediately to the top 4 round, without a fight. Since, the fight between Brothers Liu and Huang offset the correct order of the tournament. Everyone looked at Huan with envy. Some were mumbling under their breath. Seph resolved himself to thinking that this is for the best, since he will get more training in fighting one more tough opponent before the top four. He was still feeling envious though, since this could mean that Huan will be fresher next round, and they could have dodged one of the toughest opponents in this tournament! Divinity, Gabalawi, Dahlia, Kafka, Black Crow all headed towards the bowl and picked their numbers. Gabalawi and Kafka started heading to the arena together at the same time. Kafka tried to look unconcerned that he was fighting the tough Gabalawi. While the latter felt confident that he would win this fight after the adoration that the others showered him with after the last fight. Both were outstanding fighters in their own right, but only one could win, only one could reach the top four, and get one step closer towards true power. Seph thought that whatever happens was going to be good for him, because that¡¯s one less tough opponent to fight. He only thought of a strategy to fight Black Crow and maybe Dahlia, but not the rest of them. Once in the arena, Gabalawi and Kafka raised their number ones. While in most fights, the stoic Gabalawi only responded when people talked to him, the melancholic Kafka didn¡¯t feel the desire to talk with anyone. So they didn¡¯t exchange words. Gabalawi nodded to him with his head, Kafka did the same, and the fight officially started. Kafka ordered his cats to attack, and an abundance of cats started running towards the same target, all running towards Gabalawi. The giant man was confident in his power, and didn¡¯t attack them from afar, which proved to be a huge mistake. The cats reached him, and he started punching one after the other, turning them into incorporeal cat souls that floated back to their owner, taking their place on his clothes. But it turned out to be subterfuge, as three red cats closed in on him, and exploded near him. Gabalawi staggered back, his clothes blackened by the explosion. He had to shake off the shock before knowing that he would be in more trouble if he let the cats get their way with him. He roared loudly and jumped to stomp on the ground with both feet. Two huge reverberations started heading towards the cats, and most of them couldn¡¯t dodge even after jumping to avoid the attack. Kafka¡¯s countenance finally changed, as losing so many of them alarmed him. He wasn¡¯t good in close physical fights, and the few cats left with him won¡¯t be able to handle Gabalawi¡¯s punches, let alone his localized miniature earthquakes! Gabalawi took a deep breath, still affected by the explosion, and then started running toward Kafka, punch after punch, cat soul after another went back to their owner, yawning cutely before taking their place on his clothes, and becoming still imprints of themselves. Once the giant reached Kafka, he loaded up a right punch and launched it towards his opponent¡¯s chest. When something unexpected happened, the white souls of cats emerged from his clothes and congealed around his fist to stop the attack. But Gabalawi won¡¯t be denied, and he launched a left punch on Kafka that got stopped by Scorn, declaring him the winner of the fight. Gabalawi bowed down deeply to Kafka, with the latter doing the same, and they both stepped off into the arena. The first of the top four is determined. I really have no strategy to fight Gabalawi. Something¡¯s gotta give. Hopefully, I learn a new trick during the next fight, or maybe spamming him with lumps of death might give me a fighting chance against him. Seph was thinking deeply to himself, recognizing the threat that is Gabalawi. He needed to win this tournament, no matter what. There was a 15 minute rest between fights, and Seph used his to intercept Gabalawi, who was heading back to where he usually stood. Seph used the eye on both his gloves and boots.
Appraising¡­
Name: Gloves of Titan A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Type: Gloves
Quality: Super Rare (Growth/Set)
Durability: 95%
Your Fate is to be above humans from now on, for you have become one with Titan.
Magical Ability: Increase strength by 100%. Blocks 75% of physical damage If used to intercept attacks.
Drawback: These gloves can¡¯t be taken off once worn.
Appraising¡­
Name: Boots of Titan
Type: Boots
Quality: Super Rare (Growth/Set)
Durability: 95%
Your Fate is to walk the earth without mortals. They hear your footsteps from afar, for you now walk with Titan.
Magical Ability: Reduce Speed by 20%. Increase Knock down resistance by 100%.
Special skill: Stomping Earthquake.
Drawback: These boots can¡¯t be taken off once worn.
So that¡¯s why he didn¡¯t get knocked down by the three exploding cats! Also, the information about him being able to negate the attacks only if he would intercept them with his gloves. I can definitely use this in my favor! Seph hadn¡¯t much time, though, as he was part of the next fight. He started heading for the arena and noticed that Divinity was heading to the arena with him! Crushed were Sun¡¯s spirits by this revelation. He was just playing with the little girl and the kittens yesterday, and now he had to fight her along with his master! Seph noticed a low whine coming out of his companion, and guessed the reason he might be sad, since he couldn¡¯t even withhold the moan that escaped his mouth. Seph carried him and put him down and patted him on the head, before saying, ¡°You can sit this one out, buddy, if it¡¯s just me and her. I got this, but if you see any fresh surprises in the fight, you can join, okay?¡± Sun nodded to him, sad tears welling up in his eyes. He got another pat on the head before his master left him and continued his way to the arena. Once in the arena, Seph and Divinity showed their numbers to everyone. ¡°Fight hard Divinity, I won¡¯t be able to take it easy on you after I already saw your overwhelming strength!¡± Divinity answered with a loud laugh before saying, ¡°Good, or else you will lose the fight before you can even feel you are in one. Don¡¯t worry though, I will take care of Sun for you if you kick the bucket. Let¡¯s go!¡± He was amused by her good attempts at getting under her opponent¡¯s skin. She wasn¡¯t what she was selling; she carried herself with a different personality than who she really was under all that. He started running towards Divinity, who was running towards him as well. Once they closed in on each other, Seph launched his palm attacks. She struck each one with her hammer. She then attempted to land her own strike on him. He dodged to the side and hit the hammer with two overbearing palm strikes in a row that made the little girl lose her balance and get pulled by her own hammer to the side. She was wide open for him to land an attack on her body, but she saw it coming, and used the momentum of her hammer being pushed away from her body to start her whirlwind attack! Seph¡¯s eyes went wide seeing that, but he got a new idea on how to bypass her attack. He jumped in the air and directed his palm strikes to the ground. One after another, his palm strikes pushed him in the air towards the eye of the whirlwind that his opponent had created! And once he was right on top of her, he unleashed many palm strikes in a row. The hammer whirlwind blocked them, but it was losing momentum and Divinity became exposed to his attacks. He landed another palm strike on her, when a hair band she wore shone brilliantly, blocking the attack. Seph then stood in front of her, his palm extended towards her face, but he didn¡¯t strike. Divinity looked sad for a second realizing she had lost the fight, but then she hid her true feelings again and started giggling cheerfully, while telling Seph he did a great job! Seph thanked her for the fight and asked if she was doing well. Sun came at them running and jumped on his master¡¯s shoulders, and patted him on the back for winning, while grinning happily! Seph used the opportunity to use the eye on her hammer.
Appraising¡­
Name: Hammer of the Warrior Princess
Type: Hammer
Quality: Super Rare
Durability: 85%
Restriction: Can only be used by females.
Magical Ability: Increases your strength by 500%. Blocks 75% of physical damage If used to intercept attacks.
Special skill: Hammer Whirlwind.
He nodded to himself, but then realized that Divinity was looking at him seriously, like she noticed he just used some kind of skill! But she abandoned her serious look and went back to her cheerful manner again in an instant. Seph then checked on his Eye of the Appraiser quest, since he could appraise a few items since the last time he did so.
Quest
Eye of the Appraise level 2: Identify 25 unique items.
Progress: 23/25
Just two more items! It¡¯s so close! I wonder what new ability this skill will get after I finally finish the quest! I also need to think about who else in the arena I can use it on to finish the quest. Maybe in the next break time I can finally finish this quest! I am so excited to see what the next quest will be as well! The final two who hadn¡¯t fought yet were Dahlia and Black Crow. Dahlia felt overcome with fear. Seph realized that when he looked over at her. She didn¡¯t look all that well, and he thought, What¡¯s wrong with her? Chapter 20: Entomophobia Since I was a child, I hated bugs! Those little horrific Icky Yucky Crawly insects. I hate, hate, hate them! Flowers and plants always attracted me, and it broke my heart each time I saw one of them with parts of its petals eaten or blackened by the bugs. I hated them more. But more than hating them, I was fearful of them; They overwhelmed me with fear. Sometimes I couldn¡¯t get out of the house for fear of encountering those insects. Sometimes, even thinking about them made my entire body crawl and I had to have my maid shower me to make that despicable feeling go away. As I grew older, I tried to defeat this fear, to act normally outside, to forget they even existed, but this fear would come crashing down on me again like a karmic retribution when a bug touched me, or when I saw an overwhelming number of bugs. I was okay, the entire labyrinthine trials I was fine, till I wasn¡¯t when I saw Black Crow¡¯s ultimate move. I tried to act as if nothing happened, and again I succeeded to a great extent, but I can¡¯t fake it anymore. The only people left without a fight are me and him! I am supposed to fight him, And I can¡¯t even move from my place! Can my flowers defend me against him? Can the rest of the Fire-breathing bottles stop his swarm assault? My mind is numb from fear. Can I just quit? Should I quit? And what happens to all the things I achieved during this trial? Nobody would look at me with respect, or adoration again, If I expose this weakness about me. I never felt that it was safe to show others my vulnerabilities. You¡¯d think people wouldn¡¯t use your weakness against you, but they do, they exploit it to the extreme¡­ I never felt like I lost a part of me for showing a weakness that people used against me, but I kept losing hope in others more and more each time they did. I always thought that by doing that, they are losing parts of their being. They are debasing themselves by doing that to you. But nobody cares. I learned that mostly our society is all about keeping appearances, and that¡¯s why I started carrying myself this way. The playful woman, who melts your heart with a smile, who is friends with all the other women, while she knows fully well that most of the noble women she deals with harbor her only envy and jealousy. They talked behind my back. I knew because they came to me and talked about other women behind their back, or told me what other women said about me in order to expose them because they weren¡¯t on good terms. Since I died, it has become even harder for me to trust people again, but I still keep up the persona I know very well, fearing that If I drop it, I won¡¯t be able to cope anymore with this new life. My death was tragic and brutal. I was a married woman; I was of a noble family, and married into a noble family, but my husband, like all rich men in our time, had a mistress. It wasn¡¯t uncommon for men in high places to keep a mistress in our society. He didn¡¯t even hide it, not for long anyway, and once it came to light, they became more audacious, building a residence for his mistress on the edge of our large villa, about 15 minutes walk from the main house, he would visit her daily. I didn¡¯t like it, but I already knew it happened to most women that I deal with daily, so we just hid our contempt and took care of the main house, supervising the maids, or taking care of the kids. I had two little beautiful children, a boy and a girl, 8 and 5 years old, respectively. We had a teacher for each child, a famous scholar for the boy, and a younger student for the girl. We also had the head-maid of the house teach her womanly duties and etiquette. She was also taught the same as me, the same set of morals. Like me, they taught her to be subservient to men. I didn¡¯t like that very much. I didn¡¯t want her to have the same life as me. But it was the time we lived in. Filling her head with different ideas was just going to make her miserable in the future. I didn¡¯t want that for my little girl, but if she ever had different ideas, I would try to support her as best I can. Sometimes I wonder, did I do right by accepting the mistress, or rather, did I have a choice? I accepted her like all the other noble women did, but she didn¡¯t accept me. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The mistress gained enough power in my household, and she orchestrated my demise. She gave the maids poison she had got, and ordered them to put it in our food, on a day where she had my husband over for dinner. It was a really stupid move. That evil bitch thought she would get away with that. Even if my husband didn¡¯t punish her, my family won¡¯t sit still after I get murdered. If it was only me, I probably wouldn¡¯t have minded, but my children ate from that food, their bodies were weaker than mine, and I had to watch them die in front of my eyes, unable to save them, the doctors didn¡¯t know which poison it was, so they could not save us in time. I died, and they kept my body in my bedroom till it was time for the procession, but I woke up. I knew I was dead when I woke up. I also knew that the bitch won¡¯t get away with what she made me and my babies go through. I went to my babies and kissed them both goodbye on their foreheads. I held back the tears. It wasn¡¯t the right time to cry. I sneaked out into the quiet of the night and went over to her residence. Her maids looked at me like they saw a ghost, but then they thought the news they got about my death was not true. I ordered the maid to let me in, and she did. Once inside, I ordered us to be left alone, and we were. My husband¡¯s mistress looked at me wide-eyed. Her mind was working at over-speed, trying to form a sentence to say to me, doubting herself, doubting the news she heard. I got close to her and choked her to death. When she tried to scream, I took a scarf that was on the bed and shoved it inside her mouth. In a few minutes, the deed was done. I got out, the maid still looking at me with disbelief in her eyes. She got in and I heard the screams as I walked away. A voice from far away was calling me. I had nothing here anymore, and I answered the calling. Remembering all this lit a fire inside me, I won¡¯t give up without a fight again, never again for the rest of my life¡­ ***** Black Crow headed to the arena and stood there by himself. Dahlia hadn¡¯t moved. Frozen in her place, lost in her thoughts. Scorn bore witness, and he said nothing. He didn¡¯t rush her. After a while, it was like she woke up from the dead; she moved with purpose towards the arena. Her gait almost seemed to be that of someone pissed off. Seph thought she was scared at first, but she puzzled him now by that weird extreme change that happened to her! They had a fight in their hands, though, another fight between two strong Yin cultivators. Who was going to win this one? Was Black Crow able to use the same ultimate attack he ended his first fight with? They were going to get an answer for all the questions right now. Both contestants didn¡¯t share any words. Dahlia was looking at her opponent like he murdered someone who was dear to her heart. It was like she had an entirely different persona hidden away that they knew nothing about! But then again, they knew very little about each other! They were opponents for now, not friends. Dahlia took out a fist of flower petals and threw them in the air. She spun around herself violently and fanned them with her fan. A flowery whirlwind of considerable speed formed and headed fast towards Black Crow. He signaled for his vultures to fly away to avoid the whirlwind, but stood there by himself, seemingly with no defense against the coming attack! Once the attack hit him, he exploded into bugs again. The bugs spread fast, like they were climbing the whirlwind. They ate through the whirlwind like it was nothing! That surprised Dahlia. She took out the last two Fire-breathing bottles she had and threw them at the bugs. Fire spread wildly, eating through the bugs like they were a field of hay bales, but they weren¡¯t enough. The bugs spread away from the fire. More than half of them were still present, and they all headed towards Dahlia! Dahlia took out more flower petals and fanned them. She did so till seemingly she ran out; the bugs eating through each whirlwind with uncanny speed and precision. Once the bugs closed in on her, she crouched on the ground, covering her head with her arms. Tears dropped from her eyes, but she wasn¡¯t weeping. Scorn appeared and stopped the fight before any harm befell her, but she remained in her shell-shocked position. She remained in the same position while Black Crow lackadaisically left the arena. She remained for over five minutes, while Esme, of all people, was fidgeting in her place, moving a step forward, then retracting it. Finally, the quiet girl made up her mind. She went over to Dahlia; she fidgeted for a few seconds while standing next to her, then she crouched down, and hugged the older woman. She started saying comforting words in her ears, that reached out to Dahlia, and got her out of her shell-shocked state. With teary eyes, the woman looked up at Esme, who was beside her trying to force a smile. She wasn¡¯t the smiling type. Dahlia nodded towards the younger woman gratefully and smiled back at her, wiping away the tears from her eyes. Esme stood up, and extended her palm to the still crouching Dahlia, who took her hand and stood up. The two women walked off the arena while holding hands. Dahlia had passed the tough time she had today, with the help of the same girl she shocked yesterday with the fire. Sun had gone down from Seph¡¯s shoulder, standing beside him. He was weeping seeing all this happen, wiping the tears over and over with Seph¡¯s robe! Once the two women stood together, he had happy tears in his eyes, and Seph did, too. He crouched down to pet the head of his monkey friend. Scorn appeared once again, and informed everyone that they have another day to rest, before the semi-finals. Everybody went around and mingled together again, some talking about the fights. Some who struck friendships, like Dahlia and Esme, were talking about their lives. Sun went over to Kafka who was sitting down, and patted him on the back kindly, since he lost, before going back to play with the cats again. The tournament was about to be over. Seph made it to the final four. Can he win it all? Can he beat whichever opponent he will get the next fight out of Gabalawi, Black Crow, Huan Chun? That remains to be seen¡­ Chapter 21: The finals Scorn appeared the next day, and informed the semi-finalists that they will hold the last two rounds back to back, there won¡¯t be a day in-between. This was the last challenge in the tournament, to see who has more stamina to end two fights in a row. Who can try their best to not get injured or depleted while fighting their first fight to win the second one? First fight was Seph against Huan Chun, they both headed towards the arena. ¡°No element of surprise to serve us in this fight, master Seph. We both know each other¡¯s skill. It¡¯s just a skill for skill fight. Best individual wins!¡± ¡°Huan Chun, forgive me for being a little paranoid, but I¡¯ll still be ready for any surprises. You never know, Personally I have improved considerably during this tournament. Good luck, give it your all.¡± The contestants exchanged brief words before the fight, as usual. They knew too little about one another, so there wasn¡¯t much to talk about. Only the highly inflammable contestants seemed to make the exchange go longer so far, as they were highly irritable, and very easy to piss off, and more likely to take things personally. Huan Chun whispered their mantra with their palms clasped in front of their body again, and they became two. The newly split male and female started running towards Seph. Sun didn¡¯t get off Seph¡¯s shoulders, but took his stance on top. They were fighting two tall opponents. Taking the lower ground would have made Sun easy pickings in this fight. Male Huan reached Seph. Their daggers were smoldering. Seph blocked the attacks with his gourd, over and over. Each time he wanted to attempt a palm strike, he would move the guard out of the way and launch one, but Male Huan was so fast, he dodged each one of his strikes. Meanwhile, female Huan did the same as Glenda¡¯s fight. She stood afar and attacked with her shadow. Controlling the shadow seemed to affect her mobility, she couldn¡¯t concentrate on her own body and the shadow¡¯s body at the same time. Which wasn¡¯t a huge weakness, because of her male counterpart, making sure their opponent was occupied. Seph took out a lump from his gourd and threw it at Female Huan. She exchanged places with her shadow counterpart, but Seph had prepared a surprise for her. He had another lump ready at hand. Once the exchange was done, he slapped his palm with the lamp into the exposed area between her chest and her neck. Her eyes became wide, and she looked over at her male twin. After seeing the moment of hesitation in male Huan¡¯s eyes, Seph attacked him with a palm strike to the stomach, followed by a palm strike to his twin¡¯s stomach. Their extreme care for each other is their weakness, and since I¡¯ve got female Huan dealing with the lump of death, this fight is about to be over, they can¡¯t escape their fate anymore, and their fate is death, unless Scorn saves them. The twin went back on the attack. Seph kept blocking with the gourd, Sun doing his best to block the shadow counterpart of the female Huan attacking their back. She was slowing down at an alarming speed, and once the entire naked area of her chest blackened, she looked over at her twin. He nodded at her. He knew they were in a critical position and needed to end their split phase now. They jumped back several steps, before clasping their hands in front of their chest, and they became one again, completely healed! Seph knew something like this was going to happen, but he wasn¡¯t worried. If he can take two of them, he sure as hell will crush the one! Seph ran fast towards them, and overwhelmed them with palm strikes, blocking with the gourd, and Sun was doing his part too, by attempting several strikes at their head. Even if most attacks didn¡¯t land, the attacks that did land were slowing down their opponent, and the fight ended, when Seph timed Huan dodging a staff strike to the head, by lowering it, when Seph landed a palm strike uppercut to their chin, that made them sail through the air several feet backwards. Seph had knocked out Huan. He bowed down to them before heading out of the arena. His strategies that he kept coming up with in-between the fights were really paying off the time he spent over-thinking them. He came in here not knowing much of any fighting martial art, but his dedication to training, and to his mantras, add to that his contemplation of how to use palm strikes, from many positions. All proved to be integral to his growth and strength in this tournament. A legendary martial arts style doesn¡¯t hurt either¡­ Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Sun was proudly standing tall on Seph¡¯s shoulders, when they were leaving the arena, he knew he was getting better, and proving to be a great help in their combined fights, the strength factor was a gap he filled a little after the moonstone, and his new staff fixed his issue with reach, the short staff was making the entire advantage of using a long staff weapon non-existent. Next up were Gabalawi and Black Crow, who both headed towards the arena. Gabalawi looked confident, while Black Crow just looked lazy and bored out of his mind like usual. Once in the arena, Gabalawi nodded to his opponent, who didn¡¯t return the nod, and the fight started regardless, as Gabalawi started running towards his opponent. Again the vultures flew away, Black Crow really cared for them, and didn¡¯t want to put them in harm¡¯s way, especially against the tough opponents in this tournament, even Lao Wencheng could harm them, so he won¡¯t bet them against the monsters that reached the quarterfinals, let alone the semi-finals! Once Gabalawi was close enough, Black Crow exploded into a storm of bugs once again, crawlies and flyers, a huge number of them that looked threatening to everyone, especially that they didn¡¯t know what the bugs can actually do yet, as Scorn saved all contestants before any harm befell them. Gabalawi sent two punches towards the flying bugs, which reduced their number by about 10%. Then he jumped and stomped the ground, killing 50% of the crawling bugs, as his earthquake attack was really significant and overreaching. The swarm of flies got to him before he could punch them again, and once they landed on his skin and covered his body inside his robe, Scorn appeared and stopped the fight! Gabalawi was furious! ¡°Why the fuck did you stop the fight? I didn¡¯t give up. They hadn¡¯t even harmed me at all yet. I could have beaten him!¡± ¡°These insects are poisonous, and not only that they eat human meat at an alarming speed. One minute and you would not have been able to continue, you would have lost considerable health, and there was no way to take them off you once they reached you. I know your skill-set. I kept watch through all the ten rooms each of you have beaten so far, and I know all your capabilities, all your strengths, and all your weaknesses. The fight was over, Gabalawi, and I won¡¯t risk a great potential disciple after all the prizes you got from my legacy labyrinthine.¡± Gabalawi looked at him in disbelief. Not really buying it was over, but it was done. There was no going back now. He lost his chance to win the tournament¡­ ***** Seph was sitting on the far side, doing something to his Gourd. No one was paying attention to what he was doing, but he was really concentrating on his work. Once Black Crow¡¯s fight was over, he didn¡¯t leave the arena. He had congealed from his bugs again, his vultures returned to him, and he took out pieces of unknown meat and was feeding them. There was a 15-minute period between the fights, so Seph had time to finish whatever he was doing. People started looking towards him to see what he was doing, but he was giving them his back, with the gourd in front of him, so they didn¡¯t know what he was up to. Some even thought that he was scared or thinking of a way out, because his lumps won¡¯t save him from the insects storm. His gourd defense won¡¯t keep them at bay, and his palm strikes were pretty equal to Gabalawi¡¯s punches. All onlookers thought they knew the result. They knew Black Crow was going to win. Once Seph was done with what he was doing, he went over to the arena. He didn¡¯t allow Sun to take part in this fight, which made people believe he knew that the fight was unwinnable! Sun sat on the side of the arena, and when he looked beside him, he saw the vultures of Black Crow giving him the stink eye. He grimaced and waved his little hand at them, and they didn¡¯t change their expression at all. ¡°May the best man win, Black Crow. Both of us are the finalists, but only one of us leaves here as the winner. Good luck!¡± Black Crow gave Seph a lazy furrowed eyebrow look, like he didn¡¯t believe in his confidence, and exploded into a storm of insects, all headed towards Seph. To everyone¡¯s surprise, Seph sat down on the ground in a sitting cross-legged position! Some of the wilder contestants started snickering, thinking he wasn¡¯t even going to try landing a strike to save his life. The gourd was in front of Seph, and once the bugs were close enough, he ordered the gourd to circle him! It kept picking up speed, that by the time the bugs got to him, the speed was fast enough that the gourd could make a full circle around him in two seconds! The bugs started getting stuck in the gourd and dying. Before they could change their strategy, fifty percent of them had already expired! The bugs halted in the surrounding air and ground, then the flying ones tried to avoid the circling gourd by attacking from the top side. Seph seemed ready for that too and landed a few palm strikes that halted their progress once again. What little bugs could get to him, he fought by circling his energy to their area of effect, that they became irrelevant and of little effect. The bugs retreated as they had lost most of their numbers, and all the bugs on the gourd had decomposed completely! Black Crow congealed from his bugs and just walked off the arena lackadaisically. Scorn declared Seph the winner! ¡°It was a brilliant move to cover your gourd with the lumps of pestilence the way you did! Other than being a deadly, mysterious substance. It¡¯s also sticky that no bugs can escape once caught by it. You deserve to be the winner, because you kept improving your technique since you arrived in the tournament. Your fighting prowess were pretty mediocre before this tournament, but you rose to the challenge! Some people crumble under pressure, and some people shine when the lights are brightest. You are definitely one of the latter!¡± ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s what they are called, lumps of pestilence? Thank you, but I still feel it was the luck of the draw. If I had to fight Gabalawi, he would have taken me out. I had a strategy for most opponents, but not for him. My lumps won¡¯t stop him for long before he would have crushed my head!¡± ¡°Perhaps, but we will never know. Luck is a significant part of being a cultivator, as well as the wisdom to know which fights you can take, and which fights you must avoid at all costs. Many aspiring cultivators got their journeys cut short just for crossing paths with advanced cultivators, who they pissed off and got their lives snuffed out. The Labyrinthine isn¡¯t only a great opportunity for the valuable Items present, but also because it¡¯s a protected environment to some extent, you are contending with people similar to your strength, you don¡¯t have to worry about keeping your head low around advanced cultivators.¡± ¡°Yeah! Now you are scaring me. Looks like I need to invest into a fast escape skill. Or maybe a silver tongue skill! Do you have any lying around here?¡± ¡°Maybe, but now that you are the tournament winner, I have to present you with the prize.¡± Chapter 22: Eye of the veteran Scorn informed Seph that he would perform an impartment on him, to give him the prize skill of the tournament. The Eye of the Veteran, it was a skill to identify information about your opponents mid battle, or outside of battle. It¡¯s very helpful to avoid getting into fights with powerful individuals! Not only that, the Eye of the Veteran was also a status screen skill, it would save a cultivator from needing a revealer to know his strengths, or bloodline, or his mastery over certain weapons. It also allowed cultivators autonomy over their class choices, without any more need to use arcana halls to choose new classes. Those halls were rare after all. Each sect has only one hall, and big metropolises usually have one as well in certain army barracks. He imprinted this skill into Seph¡¯s right eye, thus making him unfit to gain any more sight skills, but he thought he wouldn¡¯t need any new ones, anyway. He already covered appraising items and identifying opponents as well. It didn¡¯t take long at all. Seph opened his eye after feeling a searing pain in his eye that almost made him scream, but he grunted loudly instead to save face, since the other cultivators were still around. Once he opened his eye, he circled his energy towards it, and used the skill. His eye lit up briefly in red and turned to its original color again. ¡°Now try to use it while focusing inward.¡± Scorn told him, and Seph did just that, only to see a red status screen appear in his brain, same as the skill Eye of the Appraiser, but red color.
Name: Seph ???
Class: Water Carrier lvl 8 (New class available)
Cultivation stage: Body Dismantling (I)
Lifespan: 18/30 years
Strength: 18
Dexterity: 6
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 4
Constitution: 13
Perception: 15
Luck: 10
Bloodline: Heart Devourer (expand)
Martial Art: One Thousand Arms of the Undead Buddha (Expand)
Masteries: (Expand)
Artisan Jobs: (Expand)
First thing Seph noticed was his name followed by question marks. He didn¡¯t know who his father was, and it seemed the skill was based on his knowledge, no magic mumbo jumbo to figure out the name of his father. Or maybe I am the son of a virgin maiden? Seph thought for a second, then said out loud, ¡°Naah!¡± Next thing Seph noticed was his class and the level of his class. People in his world gained classes based on their jobs. If they wanted to switch jobs and get more suitable gains for the new job, they would need to pay a hefty sum to someone who runs an arcana hall. He didn¡¯t need to worry about that anymore, as he now had his very own skill to do just that. Imagine how much money I could have made if I can help people choose their class as well; too bad this skill is for my usage only! Seph focused next on the available classes.
Available classes
Cannibal: lvl 1 (Uncommon) (3-4)
Scholar: lvl 3 (Uncommon) (3-4)
Undead Buddhist: lvl 3 (Rare) (5-6)
Gourd Master: lvl 3 (Uncommon) (3-4)
Palm Martial Artist: lvl 3 (Uncommon) (3-4)
Seph palmed at seeing the Cannibal class and thought this must have been because of the guys he bit to death at the start of this labyrinthine, and the few human hearts he had eaten. Scholar level three made him nostalgic about his old life. It made him feel like his aspiration to be a scholar was always going to work out. The only issue is, he met a premature death, and became this¡­ He wasn¡¯t sure he was happy with becoming an undead cultivator yet. He was more powerful, but he never wanted this life of power and danger. Still, he was good at it. Maybe he should just continue grinding and becoming better. Undead Buddhist was the most attractive class to him, but also the most risky. He didn¡¯t know if he would ever find the rest of the one thousand arms of the undead buddha martial art style. He also didn¡¯t know if just having one part of the manual was enough. While he found this manual easily, it was going to be extremely difficult to find another one! Even the level ups of the martial art, he got two levels, and never got instruction on how to get the third level since then! But it also had the most potential, a legendary martial art. How can he disregard such a tremendous opportunity? Gourd Master and Palm Master seemed to only be classes that come from weapon masteries. He used both his palm and his gourd as weapons, and that¡¯s why he was fit to get either class and become even better using either weapon. But Palm Master is a martial art class. It probably has no magical properties like his One Thousand Arms of the Undead Buddha style. He determined he wanted to be an undead Buddhist, and who knows, maybe there were class upgrades for it as well, if he could find more manuals and trained further in this art. He resolved to pick the Undead Buddhist class.
You are now an Undead Buddhist
Attribute points gained If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
+3 strength
+3 Intelligence
+3 wisdom
+6 free attribute points
He thought that means the class gives me five attribute points at each level, one point in strength, intelligence, and wisdom, and two free points to allocate as I please! I¡¯ll save them for later though, when I figure out what I need to work on. I don¡¯t know what cultivators use intelligence and wisdom for, but strength and dexterity were self-explanatory. Still, I¡¯ll probably learn more when I am in the sect proper. His cultivation stage seemed to be at the very first level, he knew how to circle his energy around his body, but he didn¡¯t know which part to circle the energy in, or what was the target of the meditation to advance to the next level! The lifespan freaked him out. It seemed when he became an undead cultivator, as in when he died¡­ His life span shortened by at least a half of the original number. People in his age didn¡¯t live for long, because of the myriad illnesses and the rarity of talented doctors and medicine. There was always the vitality grass, but there was only so much the grass could do to help a terminally ill person. But they were called immortals! That hopefully meant when he could cultivate, his lifespan will rise with each new stage! I am stronger now, nobody can kill me. I just need to get that manual, and even if I don¡¯t get it, the sect will teach me what they know. Even if not a perfect cultivation, it¡¯s still the best I can get if I don¡¯t win. He glossed over the attributes next. Some of them were self-explanatory, some weren¡¯t, but he guessed he would eventually know. His mindset was that they were inconsequential for his fighting style now, or with the opponents he faced so far. The bloodline¡¯s name was ominous, but he had a good idea of what it might do for him already.
Heart Devourer
First, you vanquish their souls. Then, it¡¯s the manic pursuit for your prize. At last, let the feast begin.
Purity: Common Blood.
Rarity: Super Rare.
Consuming hearts increases your regeneration by 100%
¡°Heart Devourer! Super rare¡­¡± Seph whispered absentmindedly, only for Scorn to intervene in his musings by saying, ¡°The lowest rarity of a bloodline is rare, super rare is the next rarity, yours is a good bloodline, there are better ones, there are worse.¡± ¡°What rarities are better than super rare, by the way? I never asked.¡± ¡°There is Unique, Epic, Legendary, and Mythical, in this order, Mythical are usually one of a kind in the entire world, Legendary also shares in that advantage sometimes, but there are some legendary items or skills that aren¡¯t one of a kind, what level of purity is your bloodline?¡± ¡°It says it¡¯s common.¡± ¡°Ah, the lowest purity, you will need very expensive items that are usually not even sold to increase it, but the gains all of you got so far in my labyrinthine, are significant enough, to make your adventuring lives much easier in the outside world, just don¡¯t expect to find items as rare this easily.¡± Seph contemplated his words for a second, and concluded that the trials so far have truly been easy, especially the ones where he had to fight other new yin cultivators such as himself. He expanded the martial art screen next.
One Thousand Arms of the Undead Buddha
We perceive the world¡¯s lamentations, but we lend them no ear. We see the world¡¯s suffering, but we will increase it a thousandfold. Shattered to a thousand pieces, the world shall be unborn by his will.
Level: 2/9 (I)
1: Arms overreaching
2: Arms overbearing (Beat an opponent that weighs 10 times the same as you: Completed)
Wow, everything about this martial art is so ominous. It¡¯s like a perversion of everything holy about the bodhisattva. Also, if each manual is 9 levels, and there are 9 manuals, that means there are 81 levels in total to this martial art style. I wonder what¡¯s stopping the third mantra from appearing, though. The writing after arms overbearing means I needed to reach an achievement, so beating that golem revealed the new mantra. What do I need to do next to reveal the next one? Lost deeply in his thoughts was Seph. And the contestants hadn¡¯t left the arena yet, as they couldn¡¯t find the door to leave. Seph lastly expanded the masteries and artisans next.
Masteries
Palm Mastery: level 3
Gourd Mastery: level 3
Death Element: level 2
Artisan Jobs
Herbology: Level 1
Mining: Level 1
There must be a passive leveling up for every weapon I use, Death element sounds like magic, must be the lumps of pestilence, and the gathering of the herbs, and the mining, made me become level 1 artisan, but that probably happens just by doing the act, not by being good at it, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be doing a lot of gathering or mining in the future though. ¡°Scorn, you never told me, what rarity is Eye of the Veteran, by the way?!¡± ¡°It¡¯s the same as the Eye of the Appraiser, Epic rarity, so it has 10 progression levels.¡± ¡°What if you have unique skills or super rare skills?¡± ¡°They have 7 levels and 5 levels respectively, but it¡¯s not as you imagine at all, the lower rarity doesn¡¯t make a skill automatically bad, it just means that it¡¯s progress will halt earlier than your skill, but it could have all the same features your skill will get as it levels up, yours even come with a downside, that it¡¯s harder to finish quests a super rare appraising skill would probably need to identify 15 items for the first level, while yours need 25, a mythical appraising skill, would probably ask you to identify 10 legendary items, or 3 mythical items, which is prohibitively much harder to achieve, but when you reach those higher unattainable levels for everyone else, you get something no one can even dream of being able to do.¡± ¡°That seems like it¡¯s impossible to achieve for a newbie like me, but maybe they are for established cultivators only, who probably have items like that lying around their immortal caves or whatever, anyway I¡¯ll check what the eye of the veteran quest requires of me.¡±
Quest
Eye of the Veteran lvl 2: Identify 15 unique cultivators
Progress: 0/15
Seph¡¯s eyes went wide upon seeing that, then he shouted! ¡°Hey Scorn, can I identify the contestants before they leave the room?¡± ¡°Why else do you think I kept them around for this long after the contest was over? The first level isn¡¯t substantial, anyway. That¡¯s why I thought it would be a good idea to get it out of the way early!¡± Seph used the eye on Kafka and this is what he saw;
Name: Kafka
Class: Cat Spiritualist.
That¡¯s all the info it will give me?! That¡¯s super annoying, epic skill, my ass! He then checked Divinity, Gabalawi, and Al-H¡¯awi.
Name: Divinity
Class: Hammer Warrioress.
Name: Gabalawi
Class: Titan Trainee.
Name: Al-H¡¯awi
Class: Snake Charmer.
Those were all interesting and unique it seemed, noticing that Gabalawi¡¯s class tied to his items as well, he then used it on Qui Ma, Brother Liu, and Brother Huang, and they all had a martial artist class tying to their weapons, of finger, staff, Nunchucks, while Lao Wencheng was a rogue class, Oh! He did seem to specialize in throwing weapons so far. Seph was thinking. Rong Sha was a fire elementalist, even though his fire skills came from his rings and robes. Esme and Glenda were both manipulators of hair and blood, respectively. Feral Xu was a berserker, as expected. Huang Chun were a Neutralist, even though the skills of their counterparts were advanced enough to warrant different classes for each. Finally, Dahlia was a flower mistress, and Black Crow¡­ Black Crow was an insect horror. The skill was really limited; it didn¡¯t even show Seph the rarity of his class, but he finished the quest for now. He used it one more time on Black Crow.
Name: Black Crow
Class: Insect horror. (Super Rare)
Cultivation stage: Body Dismantling (III)
Seph¡¯s eyes went wide at the new information revealed by his upgraded Eye of the Veteran skill! Well now, I have a way to check if my opponent is way stronger than me, so that I can avoid fighting them! Also, it seems Black Crow had already started his cultivation. Maybe that was a factor in why he was so strong. This was the first step on the way to possible greatness for Seph, he was taking it one step at a time, but Scorn was thinking of pushing him further, possibly even trying to do such a thing outside of the Sect, but how was he going to do that? Was still a work in progress. Chapter 23: Alchemy Seph had finally said goodbye to some contestants. Some of them were leaving the labyrinth, and some resolved to continue moving forward for more gains. The next trial for him was an empty, dusty old room, full of bookshelves that weren¡¯t dusted in ages. In the middle of the room, there was a big green furnace. Seph walked around the room, and found nothing at all, then he headed for a bookshelf, and picked up a book, when he heard. ¡°HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!¡± ¡°EEEK!¡± Sun screamed after hearing the voice, while the aspiring cultivator looked around, and saw no source for the human voice he had heard! He tried to check the book again. ¡°Wait a minute, damn it, where the hell are my spectacles?¡± Sun looked around wide-eyed, while clutching tightly to Seph¡¯s shoulders. Seph was alert now and kept looking around. The voice sounded weird, kind of dignified, but a little shrill and definitely threatening. ¡°Aha, here you are. I found you!¡± The voice said before a ghost of a human appeared, floating right in front of Seph, while putting on his spectacles. He had no feet and wore a robe, and his hair was tall but messy, like a bomb just exploded in his hair. Sun screamed again, pointing at the ghost, then pointing at his feet, while shaking Seph by the shoulder! ¡°Chill Sun, don¡¯t be afraid,¡± he calmed Sun, then asked the ghost, ¡°Who are you?!¡± ¡°No, the question is, who are you? What are you doing at my alchemist workshop?¡± ¡°Umm, I am in a trial. Are you part of the trial? Are you supposed to test me? Or are you already testing me?¡± ¡°A trial! I don¡¯t know what you are talking about. You disturbed my sleep when I felt you had touched my book. I don¡¯t like people touching my books!¡± ¡°Wait, do ghosts sleep? I didn¡¯t know you could do that!¡± ¡°Ghosts? What do you mean by ghosts? There is a ghost here?!¡± The ghost asked before floating with an uncanny speed to hide behind Seph and Sun. He looked over his shoulders frantically, worried that a ghost was going to come out. He was terrified of ghosts! ¡°Ummm, I meant you. You are a ghost, you have no feet. Are you not aware that you are a ghost?¡± Seph asked him hesitantly. The ghost looked at his non-existent feet slowly and then screamed! ¡°AAAH, my feet, where the hell did they go?¡­. Oh, I am a ghost! How long have I been like this? I don¡¯t remember at all. It has been a long time since I was in my workshop. Working and reading infinitely, but I always lose track of time here.¡± Seph looked deep in thought. He didn¡¯t know if the ghost was messing with him, or if he was truly in distress over discovering his current state of being. Seph decided it was best to say nothing for now. ¡°My work, my books, everything lost. How can I create new pills now when I am like this? How can I advance as a Master Alchemist? I was level 50, and now I lost it all, my life¡¯s work¡­¡± The ghost held his face in his hands, weeping loudly with an ugly voice. Seph looked around awkwardly, still not sure what he should do. Should he wait till the ghost finished crying? Or should he check around the library more, maybe he finds something that will make him pass the trial? ¡°What¡¯s your name, good sir?¡± The ghost cut off his ugly crying and looked with eyes that had no tears in them at Seph. Then said, ¡°My name is Master Zhi Zixin, Master Alchemist to his highness, the emperor, surely you must have heard of me! Right?!¡± The ghost had risen a few inches higher and was looking down at Seph, with proud eyes that were sure the young man must have heard of his name. ¡°Umm, no, not really. I am new to this cultivation thing, so I really am clueless. When I used to be a mortal, we didn¡¯t really know much about cultivators, most of the time. We didn¡¯t even believe they existed, even when a rumor spread that someone was a failed cultivator that was kicked by his sect. We disregarded the rumor, and said he must be just a little higher level than everyone else, which is the reason people think he might be a cultivator, since the difference between a low stage cultivator and a higher level warrior isn¡¯t really significant enough to put them above mortals.¡± ¡°You jest, you must know me! The great sage alchemist? He who produced a perfect cultivation pill for each of the first four levels of cultivation yearly, that the emperor bequeathed on his most loyal of subjects? The alchemist that cured lepers, restored hearing and eyesight to many, many people. I even brought a few people from the dead for fuck¡¯s sake!¡± He then whispered under his breath, ¡°I mean people who could afford my services, of course, but the young man doesn¡¯t need to know that.¡± ¡°I am sorry Master Zhi. I never heard of you, sadly, but like I said, I am from a backwater village. We are ignorant of the vast world. By the way, do you know anything about this trial? Are you supposed to give me something, perhaps? Or maybe you are supposed to teach me alchemy?¡± ¡°Teach you alchemy!¡± The ghost gasped dramatically. ¡°No no no. To become my apprentice kid, it¡¯s not that easy. You need to prove yourself worthy, and need to ingratiate yourself to me. Kowtow in front of me 100 times, adulate me, only then I might consider making you my apprentice¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Damn it, this old man is going to prove tricky to deal with, but he is probably the challenge I am confronted with now. I need to convince him to teach me alchemy. Also I haven¡¯t been in this trial for long, so I have time to learn alchemy from this great alchemist before leaving this place. ¡°Great Master, accept this humble disciple whose only wish is to be of service to such a great sage such as you. I bow down to you, legendary alchemist. I am humbled to be in your presence, and I lay down my life at your... ummm, feet!¡± Seph bowed down to the ground and started kowtowing for a hundred times, in total subservience to the ghost. His eyes never rose to look at the alchemist until he finally finished, then he sat on the ground, lowering his head, and talked again to the alchemist. ¡°Please great master, by your grace, I wish to be your humble pupil. If you would just let me, I¡¯ll dedicate myself to the craft, and even though unworthy am I of such a great teacher, I¡¯ll strive to be the best I can to deserve such a blessing as your legendary teachings.¡± ¡°Hmm, you seem to know your place, and your desire to learn from me seems to be genuine, but you know, you need to prove that you were predestined to be an alchemist. Produce to me three different herbs and I might consider you to be my disciple.¡± Seph got the herbs he had with him in his spatial sack: vitality grass, fire grass, and earth root. ¡°Damn it, I gave him a simple task. I won¡¯t be able to get rid of this kid. I need to get back to sleeping!¡± The ghost said under his breath, then he spoke to Seph, ¡°Very well, very well indeed! But you see, my services don¡¯t come for free. You want me to teach you, you will need to pay my tuition.¡± ¡°How much is the tuition so that you can teach me?¡± ¡°Umm, 5 gold nuggets, I understand you are a starting cultivator, and you don¡¯t have that kind of wealth, but don¡¯t be sad, surely you can get a much less experienced and renowned teacher than me, and they will put you on the path to be an alchemist, but of way more humble talent, it¡¯s¡­¡± The words caught on his throat when Seph produced the five gold nuggets the ghost asked for! ¡°Ahahaha, welcome dear disciple! You are now the proud student of the best alchemist in all the land. From the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were worthy, and destined to be a great alchemist, just like your teacher! Me!¡± The ghost said cheerfully, while not even looking at Seph, but at the gold instead. He checked it with a magnifying glass that he got out from some unknown place, then tried to bite it with his teeth to know if it¡¯s real! But his entire mouth passed through the gold that Seph was still holding. Sun screamed at him angrily because he saw through him, but the ghost didn¡¯t heed his screeching voice at all. Preoccupied as he was by the gold nuggets. ¡°So, when will we start the lessons? I am ready right now.¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have herbs that are ready around here right now, because I prefer my ingredients fresh, I have 4 different gardens that have ingredients for four different pills, and don¡¯t worry they are all pills for a yin cultivator, isn¡¯t that what you are?¡± ¡°Oh yes, of course, the deadest cultivator in town right here, so where are these gardens?¡± ¡°Just head to the right wall of the room, and I¡¯ll open the portal for you, but be careful. This is not a gathering trip. Also take this sickle, and this net. They will help you gather herbs without wasting too much of their potential, and the net will help you catch bugs which are needed for alchemy, too. Be warned, though, the bugs are poisonous.¡± Seph used the eye of the appraiser on the new items.
Appraising¡­
Name: Simple Sickle.
Type: Tool.
Quality: Uncommon
Durability: 100%
Usage: Gather uncommon herbs. Any higher rarity herb, risks spoilage while gathering with this sickle.
Appraising¡­
Name: Simple Bug-catching net.
Type: Tool.
Quality: Uncommon
Durability: 100%
Usage: Gather uncommon bugs. Higher rarities of bugs risk damaging the net.
Seph¡¯s eye glowed with a blue light, and then dimmed. He knew the skill leveled up. Finally he used it on his Gourd next.
Appraising¡­
Name: The Gourd of Phantom Death.
Type: Gourd Weapon.
Quality: Rare (Growth)
Power Level: Death Dismantling.
Durability: 80%
Magical Ability: Stores Death to Unleash Mayhem and Misery.
¡°Oh, Power level! So that must be the growth potential for the weapons. They become more powerful to affect cultivators in later stages, maybe even gain new skills? But there is still the death element in my masteries that could be what makes me able to create or get new skills. I feel there is untapped potential in my gourd, but I can¡¯t think of how to unlock it yet. Learning the new skills to move the gourd creatively in a fight, or to figure out new strikes to land with my palm, was much easier, but then again, they have a higher mastery level.¡± Seph then continued by saying, ¡°Still though, now I am not worried about having a lower rarity weapon than someone like Gabalawi, or Divinity. Their power levels must be death dismantling too. Still though, this was underwhelming, after identifying all these items, but being in these trials made the quest much harder than it probably is in reality.¡± Seph tried to check the new quest for the eye of the appraiser.
Quest Eye of the Appraise level 3
*Sell Items worth 10000 spirit stones. *Find 10 secret places.
Progress: 0/10000 Progress: 1/10
¡°Damn it, two objectives at the same time? That¡¯s so annoying, also why does the secret places quest count one already? Could it be that it counted retrospectively?!¡± Seph also checked his status screen, only to find out that his perception rose from 15 to 25, he gave it some thought, and guessed that it could be both Eye skills reaching level 2 gave him 5 points each, which means just getting the skills must be why he had high perception to begin with. Seph kept thinking for a few more seconds, before he said, ¡°whatever, let¡¯s go to the first garden for now Sun, we got some herbs to gather and bugs to catch, but be alert, you never know what danger this trial might entail!¡± Chapter 24: The Tormented The tormented started appearing around the world a short time after the catastrophe of the scars of fate. They showed up especially around the scars themselves, possessing monstrosities and wild animals alike, making them twice as strong and twice as horrifying. Nothing is more scary than seeing human parts in a monster. Some get a couple of legs, or a couple of arms. Some get the human eyes, which look bizarre and scary on the monster. Or even a nose or teeth. Regardless, the effect more than making them horrifying to look at is the fact that they become twice as strong as usual, and they already start out pretty strong. A lot of humble theories risen on the subject, but I got the only theory that matters, I was taking part in an expedition to clear a scar of fate that showed up next to the empire, when I noticed that the tormented are in fact human souls, tormented human souls that never left the earth to pass into the ether. The scars allow them to have enough presence that they can possess these poor wild animals, turning them feral. Their resentment towards humans, because of what happened to them in their lives, makes them want to kill any human they see, doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s a man, woman, or child, they will attempt to end them, regardless. Holy magic works wonders on them, but in a world where nothing holy survives because of how corrupt everything has become, there are hardly any cultivators or even priests of the church who are good at that kind of magic anymore. And if there are, they don¡¯t want to put their lives in danger of joining expeditions to clear those scars of fate. If it wasn¡¯t for the empire, no one would attempt to clear the scars of fate. Also, those rumors that it¡¯s because of the empire, because of the massacre of Amoria, that the scars of fate appeared. I say that¡¯s hogwash, not true at all. The empire is the best thing that happened in this world. The current emperor inundates us all with his kindness, and he leads us all with his wisdom. I am not his alchemist advisor because of the money. That couldn¡¯t be further from the truth. I see the goodness of the empire, and I¡¯ll live to help further its cause. The enemies of the empire made those rumors trying to harm its reputation, but they won¡¯t get anywhere. The empire will live long and prosper, long live the emperor. Scars of fate and other catastrophes. By Zhi Zixin. ***** Seph and Sun passed through a portal on the right wall that teleported them to a garden full of trees and herbs, and buzzing life all around them. The greenery was a welcome change of scenery, and Sun was looking around, trying to see if there were any fruits around! There were many plots of herbs, and in the middle of each four plots, there stood a scarecrow. While there were bugs around, there didn¡¯t seem to be any birds present at all. Regardless, they walked right in, Seph ready to use his eye of the appraiser to figure out what¡¯s actually valuable around here. He used the eye on one tree.
Appraising¡­
Name: Striking Willow Bark.
Type: Ingredients.
Quality: Plain.
An alchemical ingredient that¡¯s highly sought after, used to make some powders to bolster physique for a short time, popular among martial artists to use before tournaments, only an experienced alchemist can identify it, due to how similar it looks to the mundane willow bark.
Location: Found in some forests that are rich in energy. Be careful of animals that feed on this bark. They cultivate after eating it, and will be hostile.
¡°Nice! Looks like we found our first ingredient Sun, I wonder what else around here could be an ingredient. Let me check that scarecrow.¡± Seph used the eye of the appraiser on the scarecrow, only for the scarecrow to sprout a pair of human eyes that were red and bulging. With no eyelids, they looked really scary. Seph got freaked the fuck out, and jumped back, and used the eye of the veteran fast on it.
Name: Tormented Scarecrow
Class: Scythe monster.
Cultivation stage: Body Dismantling (III)
Seph¡¯s eyes went wide at the new information. It was a monster! Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Issue wasn¡¯t even that, Seph was thinking, because there were 4 scarecrows around the field! The scarecrow didn¡¯t give him much time to think. As it started moving through the field, its wooden post was splitting the ground at an uncanny speed, making the earth in its way split into two small ridges around its path. It then raised one wooden arm that had a scythe at its end and launched a strike towards Seph. The young cultivator raised his palm and launched a strike of his own towards the scythe, which made the scarecrow spin around, but it tried to strike him with its other scythe arm instead. He again hit it with another overbearing palm strike, and followed right after with another one to the wooden post, which split it in half. The scarecrow fell to the ground pathetically, still looking at Seph with wild eyes! He scoffed at it, knowing that the fight was over. He walked towards it slowly, when the scarecrow did something he didn¡¯t expect! It crawled towards him, dragging its body fast on the ground, using the scythes awkwardly to dig into the ground and crawl! Seph freaked out again and slammed the scarecrow on its head with his gourd with a north to south stomp. He then removed the gourd, and struck it with one final palm strike to the head, which ended it. The entire fight froze Sun, who had his eyes wide open in horror. That monster looked horrifying as fuck, and the martial artist monkey wasn¡¯t ready for it! After catching his breath and composing himself, Seph made a plan to attack the scarecrows with his lumps of pestilence first. They work on anything organic. They even dissolved the fuck out of those bones. So he threw one at another scarecrow, and ran towards the furthest part of the field he could run to, while the scarecrow was coming after him. By the time the scarecrow made it to him, it had sustained damage, and lost a quarter of its speed. A similar fight to the first happened, and Seph ended this scarecrow as well. The next two were tricky, because they were closer to each other, Seph threw the first lump, and both of the scarecrows rose from their slumber, and came towards Seph, he threw another lump at the second scarecrow, and readied himself for the fight. Once they reached him, he started doing his best to block their scythes. Each time he was unable to block one of them, Sun would block the other with his staff, which proved resilient against the bladed weapons. Seph used an opening made by Sun, blocking a scythe strike by landing a palm strike to the scarecrow¡¯s head, that made the eyes explode in gore, and launched the head of the scarecrow to the furthest point of the field on the other side. The other scarecrow used the opportunity that it was spinning because of a palm strike to its scythe, and started a dangerous whirlwind with the two weapons. Seph and Sun ducked under it, and landed another Palm strike to the wooden post, and rolled backwards out of harm¡¯s way. The fight was over; the cultivators sat on the ground catching their breath, both their eyes were wide open, it was a new thing to Seph to fight such a scary monster, so far he could blame everything on the feral beasts, except the one time with the fairies, but this was different, this was a real freakish monster that attempted to end his life! Seph didn¡¯t know what to think. What kind of monster is that? Why did it have human eyes? Nothing makes sense. Inanimate objects shouldn¡¯t move that way! After resting, the young man got up and checked the scarecrow¡¯s body with the eye of the appraiser. The eye highlighted a certain lump of straws in the middle of the scarecrow¡¯s body, before giving this info.
Appraising¡­
Name: Sinister Straw.
Type: Ingredients.
Quality: Uncommon.
An alchemical ingredient used in making pills for Yin Cultivators, found on scarecrows that are possessed by the tormented, really dangerous material that has the potential to allow the tormented to possess again.
Location: Found in places where tragedy and misery had the last laugh¡­
¡°Okay, this is becoming way too scary for my liking Sun, what is happening? The location was really ominous and in a dark, bloody color. Who are those tormented? And how come it seems they can possess anything? Also, I am not really excited to eat a pill made of this thing. Zhi Zixin owes me a lot of answers. Actually, never mind, he doesn¡¯t owe me. The man is a megalomaniac, but I¡¯ll use my position as his disciple, to get this info out of him.¡± Seph went over to each scarecrow and took out the sinister straws from each of them and put them in his spatial sack. After that, he went over to the two trees that had striking willow bark, and worked with his sickle to extract 4 pieces of bark from each tree. He then used the eye on the herb plots around him.
Appraising¡­
Name: Bullwhip Grass.
Type: Ingredients.
Quality: Plain.
This herb is used in myriad alchemical formulas, but it¡¯s also consumed to energize humans and animals alike, used widely by doctors to treat physical lethargy.
Location: Grows wild in forests, naturally abundant, might be the second most present grass in the world after vitality grass.
Seph picked up eight of this herb, cleaning out an entire herb plot. He looked around and found that the second plot was the same herb. He ignored it and went for the third plot instead. He used the eye on the visible herbs, but nothing showed up. He pondered if he should extract the herbs anyway or not, and thought that he wouldn¡¯t lose much time if he took out one of them. The young man extracted the herb, and encountered a force similar to the earth root he got earlier in the trials. After some pulling, he got out a brown root that had a fuzzy texture, like it was covered in fur. To examine it, he used his eye.
Appraising¡­
Name: Bear Cub Root.
Type: Ingredients.
Quality: Uncommon.
A root used in alchemy to make strength based pills. Martial artists pay good coins for this root, as it helps them grow their muscles faster with less effort.
Location: It¡¯s rarely found in forests rich in yang energy, and for some uncanny reason, bears are usually not far away from the vicinity of this herb!
¡°Good thing I took out this herb, eh, Sun? Anyway, I will pick up this entire plot and we will return to the workshop. I¡¯ll leave one plot behind each. We can return to them later if we need them. My gut feeling tells me we won¡¯t be able to make many pills because we don¡¯t have enough sinister materials.¡± With that Seph got to work, and Sun was playing with his staff, testing old moves, trying new moves, while his master got done with his task. Chapter 25: Control the heat Seph and his monkey friend returned to the alchemist¡¯s workshop, where Zhi welcomed them. The young man showed him the herbs they got along with the sinister straws. ¡°Well, that¡¯s just a great haul. We have all the ingredients to make a deadly might pill for you that will raise your strength, but the quality won¡¯t always be the best. It depends on how well you understand my instructions. Luckily for you, I am the best alchemy teacher around.¡± Zhi then said under his breath, ¡°Hmm, come to think of it, if we really are inside a trial. That means I am the only alchemist around! But the young man doesn¡¯t need to know that.¡± ¡°Did you say something else, teacher?¡± Seph wondered, as he heard him muttering to himself. ¡°Oh, no, don¡¯t worry. I was just speaking to myself, anyway let¡¯s move on to the practical lessons. Follow me to the alchemy part of the workshop.¡± The ghost floated to the other room, which had a big green furnace in the middle of it that went up to Seph¡¯s knees, and had intricate decorations on it. He stopped next to the furnace, pointing at it proudly. Seph and Sun followed him, looking around. Seph looked extremely interested in the furnace in the middle of the room. He had never seen its like before. ¡°I present to you my super rare quality furnace. Me and this furnace saw many outstanding achievements in our journey together. We were the talk of the empire, and now you get to make your pills using this, which will increase the quality of your pill significantly. Just look at its brilliant red color. This was my pride and joy in life.¡± Seph seemed hesitant for a second before saying, ¡°Umm, that furnace is green, not red, Master Zhi, are you okay?!¡± Zhi became wide-eyed for a second. He looked at the furnace. It was still red, but thinking of what Seph just said, the image in front of him distorted, and the once red furnace became a green furnace! In front of his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and looked at it again. It was still the same color ¡ª green! ¡°I¡­It was¡­I don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening to me¡­Since you woke me up from my fantasy to this reality. That I am now a ghost, I have been noticing the surrounding things changing to the worse. It¡¯s like I am in a waking nightmare. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s real anymore. I don¡¯t know if you are even real.¡± Zhi looked downcast, beaten, and lost. Seph felt a curse was at play, to live like this, for sins Zhi had to pay for. Even thinking of that, though, Seph had nothing to offer the tormented ghost. He didn¡¯t know how to help him, because even Seph recently thought that he was possibly dreaming, that he could be in a nightmare, but he wasn¡¯t. This was his new reality, and as he came to accept that, and live with that, Zhi needed to accept his reality, too. Sun, though, didn¡¯t have that issue at all. He leaned forward, trying to pat the ghost on the back to comfort him, only to fall right through the incorporeal ghost to the ground face first. This broke Zhi out of his self pity though, as he asked the monkey, ¡°Are you okay?¡± The monkey just got up and gave him a thumbs up with a wide-toothed grin. ¡°Oh! Good, okay. Where were we? Yes, teaching you alchemy. First, I need you to sit down and meditate your energy around your body. I want to make sure you have enough energy to sustain feeding this furnace for the next 5 hours to make your first pill.¡± ¡°Just sit down and circulate my energy, nothing else?¡± ¡°Yeah, nothing at all. I can see the energy within you since I laid eyes on you, but it¡¯s very faint. I believe if you move it around, I¡¯ll get a better feel for it. Usually my students are with me for a long time before we mess around with pills. So I know exactly how much energy they have. Luckily for us, this new ghost ability that I got will enable us to skip the long time to become familiar with how advanced a cultivator you are.¡± ¡°Good, I will start then!¡± Seph sat on the ground, in a lotus position, closed his eyes, and started meditating, feeling the energy circulate around his body, the current was steady, and moving at a decent speed, thanks to the days upon days of meditation and training that Seph spent between the rooms. Unbeknownst to Seph, Zhi¡¯s eyes went wide like a couple of ceramic plates! Wow, this kid has so much energy circulating his body, and he is only death dismantling (I)! Why didn¡¯t he try to cultivate to reach higher levels? I will ask him for sure, but his energy is enough to cultivate a few stages and make a bunch of pills while we are in this workshop together! ¡°Enough, good job Seph. I can tell that you have sufficient energy to make the pills, so let¡¯s move to the real pill making alchemy part of the lesson. Tell me, young man, how do you think pills are made?¡± ¡°Hmm, I assume we should add the herbs to that furnace and push our energy through our palms into the furnace or something?¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s exactly it, but it¡¯s not that simple. First, you need to know which herbs to add first. Some herbs need a longer time in the furnace than others. Some herbs need to be mixed first before you add the rest of the ingredients, and that¡¯s why alchemy formulas matter. It¡¯s not just you find four herbs and add them, and pray to Buddha something usable comes out of it!¡± Seph felt his body shudder upon the mention of Buddha¡¯s name! He didn¡¯t know what that was about, but he didn¡¯t want to show it to the alchemist, so he put it to the back of his mind for now. The alchemist continued when he noticed Seph¡¯s lack of comment, ¡°Also that¡¯s not the only thing, you need to control the heat, between different levels of intensity, during different stages of the pill making, the pill we will make first takes 5 hours to make, you will need to listen to my instructions throughout the entire process!¡± ¡°Understood, teacher, I am in your care. Let¡¯s start the process!¡± ¡°Good, good, I like your enthusiasm. Okay, the first thing you need to learn is how to control your energy to open up the furnace while maintaining certain heat with the other hand. You will not stop pushing for five hours, so try it out, try to remove the lid of the furnace with your energy!¡± The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Seph used the eye first at the furnace!
Appraising¡­
Name: Alchemy Furnace.
Type: Tool.
Quality: Uncommon. (Soulbound)
Durability: 100%
Usage: Important for every aspiring cultivator, only you will live long enough to see the end of your journey. Being able to make your own pills guarantees a steady growth on the way to transcendence.
Soulbound! That¡¯s a new term I hadn¡¯t seen before. Does it have anything to do with Zhi Zixin being a ghost? Not sure if I should ask him now, any question or realization regarding his state of being seemed to shake him to the core. He then pushed his energy into the furnace and moved the lid easily, since he was already adept at moving his gourd weapon, which was much heavier than the lid. ¡°Excellent, remember you will need to do this while pushing heat and adding ingredients, now for this pill, you need to put the tougher materials together to mix for the first three hours, so add striking willow bark, and bear cub root inside first, then start pushing your energy into the furnace.¡± Seph did just that. After the lid was closed again, he let out a steady current of his energy towards the furnace. ¡°Okay, good, but not exactly what we need yet. Close your eyes, picture the sun, picture heat, picture fire, and imagine that your energy is turning to a similar source of heat. You will begin feeling your hand getting warmer when you are on the right track, so stay at it. Your only mission is visualization right now.¡± Seph imagined the sun and its warm rays of light. He imagined the light getting warmer and warmer; he remembered the days where he worked under the sun, carrying water all day to houses that don¡¯t fill their own water. The heat lashing the back of his head, his bamboo hat not doing much to protect him from the sun, especially when he was leaning forward, exerting effort to climb an incline. He felt his whole body become warmer, but concentrated more to push that warmth to the palms of his hand, and the warmth started leaving his body gradually towards his palms, and they started becoming warmer, pushing the heat out, saved him from exposing his hand to more heat than it could handle. ¡°Excellent! You are doing it, my pupil, you are pushing heat into the furnace. Now I want you to make that heat stronger, because of the tougher ingredients we are working with.¡± Seph imagined fire next. He imagined sitting around a campfire in the middle of the village during their small gatherings, the youth courageously jumping over the fire pit in the middle, the fire rising sometimes and lashing their bare feet with its heat; he grasped that feeling then used it to increase the heat he was pushing towards the furnace. ¡°Good, good, very close, we just need one level higher of heat right now, believe it or not, there are actually even more levels of heat, but you won¡¯t need them in this stage of cultivation, and you probably won¡¯t be able to reach them now either.¡± The young cultivator resolved to remember that one time, the village kids fooled him into catching a lump of coal out of the campfire with his bare hand. In a dare! They had claimed they all had done it already, and if he wanted them to accept him, he should do it too! He wanted so badly to be accepted by the other teens of the village, so he caught the lump with his bare hand, and it burned him immediately. One kid had water ready to throw at his hands after he got burned, but it still kept him out of his profession for two weeks. His mother scolded him at first harshly for putting himself in danger, but then she took care of him for the entire two weeks, changing bandages on the burn daily. Seph grasped that level of heat, and the heat he was pushing out of his palms intensified. ¡°That¡¯s it, now the patience game. You keep at it for three hours, before we add another ingredient.¡± Seph kept his concentration to keep the heat at the same level for 3 hours, and it went very well with no notes from his teacher. After the time passed, his teacher said, ¡°Now it¡¯s the taint time. Usually, in normal alchemy, we put a pure energy ingredient at this stage. But for Yin Cultivators, we put a tainted material for this phase. In this formula, it¡¯s the sinister straw. Open the lid and add it to the mix, and reduce the heat to the second degree. You will keep this for 1 more hour before adding the last ingredient.¡± The young man did just that. Once the straw was inside, the energy inside the furnace seemed more wild, which gave him a guess why he now needed to reduce the heat, to not clash with the energy, but tame it instead, which he did. He kept at it for one more hour. Sometimes the energy became crazy and tried to push the lid open. His teacher instructed him to control the lid and keep it closed, which he did. At the end of that hour, the energy seemed to become tamer, and it was now time for the last ingredient. ¡°Okay, now add the bullwhip grass, and reduce the heat to the first degree. In the last half an hour, you are doing well so far. I expect a pill of good quality to come out of your hard work.¡± Seph added the bullwhip grass and kept the heat at the same level. Nothing crazy happened in the first half hour. When he finally reduced the heat, he could feel the herbs being liquified in the furnace this entire time. He could feel impurities being removed by the heat he was using. The bullwhip grass had the least impurities or maybe needed the least time to remove the impurities, he wasn¡¯t sure. At the last phase, when he reduced the heat, he could feel the liquid inside congealing, to form the coveted deadly might pill, which after just 30 minutes, he moved out of the furnace using his energy to look at it.
Appraising¡­
Name: Top Grade Deadly Might Pill.
Type: Pill.
Quality: Uncommon.
Effect: Consume to get +4 strength.
¡°Marvelous, just marvelous. You did a great job, Seph, but this took time and effort. Do you think you can continue making the rest of the pills now?¡± ¡°Yes teacher, I don¡¯t feel tired at all. I am excited by the gains I¡¯ll get from these pills.¡± ¡°Amazing, then let¡¯s move on to the next pill. I¡¯ll walk you through this one as well.¡± Seph repeated the process again with the instructions of his teacher and got a peak grade pill this time. His eyes were wide open in disbelief. His teacher was very excited, like he didn¡¯t perform alchemy for a long time, and was glad someone else was doing it in his stead. The pill would give him +5 strength. After that Seph did another pill by himself with no instructions and got another top grade pill. He moved immediately to making the last pill, but discovered his own limitations. His energy was not depleted, but he had exhausted his body and energy paths by this point. He pushed himself to finish making the pill, with less heat than usual, and he got a low grade pill that would give him +1 strength only. Seph took a break after that to sleep, after apologizing to his teacher for the low grade pill. The teacher was dismissive saying that it¡¯s okay and now they know he can maximally make pills for 15 hours straight. The young man was going to take the 3 high purity pills in the morning before venturing into another garden to get newer herbs. Chapter 26: Cultivation Seph popped the three strength pills he had after waking up, pushing his strength from 21 to 34. He felt like he was twice as strong, even though thinking about it, he realized it¡¯s more like one and a half. But that feeling of strength coursing through his muscles was exhilarating and empowering. He felt like he could do anything he put his mind to. His teacher let him get it done without intervention, allowing him to embrace the feeling of his new strength, before he approached him again with the question he''d had in mind since he saw Seph meditating. ¡°Tell me, Seph, why haven¡¯t you started cultivating yet? When I saw you meditating yesterday, I couldn¡¯t help but notice you had enough Yin Energy to cultivate a few levels, but you''ve made zero progress so far. Why is that?¡± Seph explained his predicament by saying, ¡°Well, to get into this trial, a yin cultivator needed to have made no progress in cultivation. To guarantee that will remain to be the case for the largest number of cultivators they can gather, the yin cultivators'' sect opted not to teach anyone anything. I saw before coming to this alchemy trial another cultivator who had progressed to Body Dismantling (III). Also, this trial¡¯s prize is a body dismantling cultivation manual that guarantees perfect cultivation. I''d love to have perfect cultivation if I can finish this challenge.¡± ¡°I see, I see, you know nothing at all¡­ Well, let me tell you this. There are some cultivation levels that you can do easily, because they are not as risky or complicated as certain levels which you would do better to use the perfect manual for. Tell me this, Seph, what do you think is the target of body dismantling cultivation?¡± Zhi understood him but asked a question to make his pupil think without someone putting thoughts in his head about what body dismantling might be about. ¡°I really don¡¯t know. The name is ominous, though. Our bodies became weaker after turning, but through bolstering them with the yin energy, we could take a hit, move faster, lift bigger weights, do feats that even our mortal bodies couldn¡¯t do. I hope the target isn¡¯t to become a ghost like you,¡± Seph said tentatively. Zhi said in a wounded voice, ¡°Damned brat, that hurt! Anyway, body dismantling isn¡¯t only dismantling; it¡¯s also rebuilding the body. Basically, you dismantle the old body, and make a replica out of the yin energy you are cultivating, thus letting go of your falling apart body, and making a new one that will last you more years, until you bypass the original age you would have lived as a mortal. The potential is limitless. You must have noticed that your lifespan shortened considerably, right?¡± ¡°Yes, I am down to 30 years maximum now, to die within 12 years. I¡¯ll probably have 11 only left if I spend the entire year I¡¯m allowed to have in this trial. The cultivation sounds good, but also challenging. How can I start?¡± Seph said eagerly. ¡°Well, your energy has more potential for destruction than for building, so the dismantling part is easy. The reconstruction part is what¡¯s going to be tricky. Basically, you need to know what you''re building. The easiest level of this cultivation is skin cultivation. You have to dismantle your skin bit by bit and rebuild it before you move to the next step. It would probably take you 20 days to get this done, as it¡¯s your first time, but the progress will be much faster for the next levels.¡± Zhi told him, while assuming his best mentor''s voice. "So, just work on my meditation, and visualize that I am dismantling my skin, and then try to rebuild it from the example piece I dismantled?¡± Seph asked. ¡°Yes, pretty much. I will give you pointers if needed, but it¡¯s better to focus fully on this and keep it simple.¡± Zhi advised him. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll start then, Sun. You can also start meditating while I do this,¡± Seph told Sun while petting his head. The young man sat down on the ground. After a long conversation with his ghost teacher, he sat in the lotus position, rested each arm on one of his legs, and started meditating. At first, he got a feel for his energy and started circling it throughout his whole body. Its speed was consistent now, pretty fast compared to when he started trying this. He pondered the idea that all this time he had been bolstering the strength of his body with the energy, which was the only use his mind could think of starting out. Now, though, his teacher told him he could construct and deconstruct his body using the energy. He was fearful of that, but he was gonna brave this, as he had braved every single trial in this labyrinth so far. He started concentrating on moving his energy throughout his skin only. It was a slow progress, very slow, but what was important for him was doing it right, rather than doing it fast. Once the flow started going, and he could feel only the energy coursing through his skin, he concentrated on a patch of skin on his arm, and started visualizing his energy as a force of destruction, rather than a force of support as he used it in the past. It hurt, it hurt like hell, but he didn¡¯t stop. He was in this for the long haul; the ghost said it was easy, and he trusted him. He trusted him too fast, but he trusted him regardless. After a while, he could feel that patch of his arm was empty of skin. He had done it, but it wasn¡¯t over yet. Now comes the construction part. He needed to recreate what he had destroyed out of pure yin energy. The young man was thinking of his energy as a force of creation instead of a force of destruction. He could feel that little by little, it worked. He didn¡¯t know how much time had passed, but it didn¡¯t matter. His body got exhausted and needed sleep after making the pills because he had used way too much energy, but this wasn¡¯t using that much energy. This was a slow consumption of energy over a longer time, even if constant, it was manageable for him. Stolen story; please report. After finishing that patch and moving to the next one, Seph couldn¡¯t help but ponder how varied the uses for Yin energy were so far; he couldn¡¯t help but think that we truly needed the balance of both Yin and Yang in our lives, both energies were as important, and both energies could create lives. With the capacity to destroy, came the capacity to create, came the capacity to bolster its creation. That was what he discovered in the Yin energy, that was what he now came to appreciate. The young cultivator felt very grateful for that energy coursing through his body in abundance, and for the first time since he turned. He didn¡¯t feel like he was an abomination; he knew his fate was to be a yin immortal. Knowing he had the capacity for good and bad, like every single other being on earth, and he knew he deserved to be here, like everyone else. Seph didn¡¯t know how much time had passed, but he''d finished his task. He had dismantled and rebuilt the entire skin mass surrounding his body. His head was bald now, after dismantling the skin on his head, but that was okay. He felt better; he felt much better after all this time. His body didn¡¯t feel like it was falling apart anymore. Part of it felt stronger than the original, but his skin changed to a black color! Seph had a confused look on his face. Has he done something wrong? The blackness of his skin didn¡¯t even look like the different tone of black skin of other humans, but something much darker. It also felt rougher to the touch! Zhi said in a celebratory tone, ¡°Very well done, Seph, you did it; you passed into body dismantling (II) you did everything right, and I didn¡¯t need to intrude into your meditation; it took you 15 days, but that¡¯s okay, still impressive progress for a first-timer." Seph was happy about his achievement and after what his teacher said, he wasn¡¯t so worried after all, "Thanks, teacher, why does my skin look like that, though? Black Crow didn¡¯t have skin that looked pitch black like that!¡± ¡°Oh, we''ve called that faux skin. Have you ever seen other yin cultivators before?¡± Zhi probed to learn what his pupil knew. ¡°Yes, before we''ve entered this trial, there were tens of them!¡± Zhi described what faux skin meant, ¡°Well then, you must have seen the different skin tones they had, pale white, pale blue, gray skin, and so on? This is because of the faux skin, while it does really look as black as this. It¡¯s really easy to change its color, to the aesthetic you desire. Most Yin cultivators choose to adopt a variation of color like what they think a living dead person would look like, while cultivators of color usually choose a variation of black to stay true to their original skin color.¡± ¡°Oh, interesting! Back to meditation then. I¡¯ll change mine to pale white for now," Seph told him excitedly. Seph got back to meditating and visualized the color he needed his new skin to be, and he felt it change really fast, so it didn¡¯t take long to do this as he expected. ¡°What else does this faux skin do, other than making me a human chameleon?¡± Seph asked. Sun laughed at that joke along with the ghost. ¡°Well, other than that, it makes your skin more resilient to cuts, so bladed weapons, needles, arrows, you name it, you''re now more resilient than ever to slashing and piercing attacks, but to gain resilience against blunt force attacks, you need to cultivate your bones and your muscles.¡± His teacher informed him. Seph said while nodding, ¡°Well, that sounds good. I feel way better, way more alive than I did for the entire trial." Zhi nodded understandingly, ¡°You had also lost part of your sensitivity when you became a yin cultivator, but now not only did you get it back, it¡¯s two times better than that of a normal human; what you can do with that information in a fight is up to you, but it¡¯s nothing to scoff at either!¡± ¡°You will hear no complaints from me! What am I to do next? Should I cultivate my bones or my muscles next?¡± Seph asked him. ¡°I¡¯d say give it a rest for now, at least a day off. You could even do the next garden.¡± Seph nodded before checking his status screen, and found out that his perception had become 25 instead of 20, and his constitution had become 18 instead of 13! Which meant he got five points in each attribute thanks to his first cultivation level! He also found that he gained five more years to his life span.
Name: Seph ???
Class: Undead Buddhist lvl 3
Cultivation Stage: Body Dismantling stage (II)
Lifespan: 18/35 years
Strength: 34
Dexterity: 6
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 7
Constitution: 18
Perception: 25
Luck: 10
+6 free attribute points
Surprised, Seph said, ¡°Wow! I didn¡¯t expect instantaneous gains like this from cultivating." Zhi said jokingly, ¡°Then you are a fool, Seph; hmm, what¡¯s your second name?¡± before he asked in wonder. ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know my father¡¯s name!¡± Seph said nonchalantly. Zhi started describing all that¡¯s good about body dismantling cultivation. ¡°Well, regardless, you are still a fool, Seph. Each level of cultivation will increase your attributes and will give your body new characteristics that will help you in a myriad of ways. You need to keep at it. The real challenge that all cultivators face in the first place is to gain the energy, but you have loads of that. You didn¡¯t mind getting your hands bloody for that energy, and you didn¡¯t cower in the face of danger. You keep that drive, and reaching the Death Establishment stage will be very easy. Luckily for you, you don¡¯t have to deal with the pill popping based progression of Qi cultivators, and you don¡¯t have to worry about the demonic cores cultivation they could use instead, which will taint their energy. You are untaintable, although some would argue that you are already tainted!¡± Seph listened to him carefully before saying, ¡°Ha! Master Zhi, I don¡¯t feel tainted anymore, and I''ve started getting this feeling while cultivating. I don¡¯t feel that the Yin energy was a curse anymore. After gaining a vast appreciation for it since I became a cultivator. I used to hate my new state of being, but not anymore. I''m grateful for this energy, for keeping me alive, for giving me a chance to save my mother." ¡°Your mother, hmm, it¡¯s never bad to have a cause that pushes you forward, that you would do anything for. What do you say then, Seph, ready for the next part of my garden?¡± asked Zhi, even though he knew his pupil¡¯s answer already, seeing him so energetic. Seph answered enthusiastically, ¡°As ready as I could ever be, Master Zhi, I¡¯ll see you after getting this done. We''ve got some pills to make." ¡°I love your confidence. You are like a new person after cultivating. Good luck, Seph!¡± Chapter 27: Deadly Cunning Seph made it to the second garden. There were no trees around, and the ground looked like something had dug some tunnels under it, but none of the tunnels had an opening. He could see near him some grasshoppers jumping around, some kind of flowers, and some mushrooms in shaded areas. After moving a little into the area, he started seeing pairs of human hands coming out of the ground. The hands looked to be of a dead person, not bony, but desiccated! Seph used the eye of the appraiser on the hands only for nothing to come up, so he used the eye of the veteran next, and sure enough, monster details showed.
Name: Tormented Claw Hedgehog
Class: Needle monster.
Cultivation stage: Body Dismantling (III)
Unlike what happened with the tormented scarecrows, the hedgehogs did not attack him. Seph was trying to think: how would a pair of human hands stick out from a hedgehog? He took out a lump of pestilence and threw it at the hedgehog''s hands, which he had just identified. The lump started doing its work, but the hedgehog finally made its move. It got out from under the ground and started running after Seph with its little feet. The hedgehog looked like a normal one, except that the needles on its back were far longer than a normal one, and menacingly sharp; the human hands were sticking right out of its back with sharp, long nails that looked dirty, coming out of the desiccated fingers. Sun climbed down from Seph¡¯s shoulders and took a fighting stance against the oncoming hedgehog. Once it was near him, he landed an overhead strike on its back. The hedgehog squealed in pain but didn¡¯t stop. It continued running towards him. Once it was close enough, it let out a bunch of its needles, flying everywhere. The monster wasn¡¯t good at aiming, or so it seemed, since the needles were not all directed at the monkey, but all around it. Before the needles could reach Sun, Seph had his gourd in front of the monkey, protecting him from the attack. The hedgehog continued getting closer to them, and once it determined it was close enough, it launched another attack, with the nails of its two hands. The hedgehog launched them at Seph, with a horrifying scream that came from the hedgehog, a human¡¯s horrifying scream! Like it was in pain from forcefully removing its nails. Hedgehogs shouldn¡¯t be able to scream like a human. What¡¯s happening? What had happened surprised Seph. The scream put some fear in his heart. He wondered if it was some skill the hedgehog used to put the fear of the goddess in him! Seph brought the gourd back to his front side to save him from the attack, and then pushed it forward with the hedgehog so close now, he made the gourd pummel the hedgehog flat to the ground, killing it immediately. He used the eye of the appraiser on the hedgehog again. Nothing worthwhile showed up, but while the eye was still active, he noticed another item on the ground.
Appraising¡­
Name: Sinister Nails.
Type: Ingredients.
Quality: Uncommon.
An alchemical ingredient used in making pills for Yin Cultivators. Extracted from a myriad of monsters that are possessed by the tormented. It¡¯s a really dangerous material that has the potential to allow the tormented to possess again.
Location: Found in places where tragedy and misery had the last laugh¡­
¡°Yuck! I got to swallow pills that have dead human nails in them now? This is fucking disgusting. Which fucking sick bastard came up with the idea of putting nails during pill making was a good idea, anyway?!¡± Sun was laughing his ass off, finding levity in his master¡¯s misery, but then the little monkey remembered something! The monkey had been holding a book, folded over the base of his staff, this entire time. He let go of his death grip on the book and handed it to Seph. ¡°What¡¯s this book? Where did you get it from?!¡± Sun thought for a second, before replying, by acting like he was an arrogant human, making his shoulders wider, and putting his little hands on his sides, and raising his head as if he was looking at Seph from the tip of his nose. He then acted as himself, sneaking around while they were making the pills, and stealing this book, and placing it around the base of his staff to hide it, since usually he held that part with one hand. ¡°Oh, you mischievous little monkey, you stole his book! Good thing he didn¡¯t catch you or both of us would be in trouble. Let¡¯s see what this book is about!¡± Scars of Fate and other catastrophes By Zhi Zixin That was the title on the cover page. The book had threads sewn into it to keep it together, and the title and author''s name were written vertically on the cover. Also, the cover and pages were yellow, but otherwise the book was in good condition, good enough to read anyway. Seph got lost in the book, browsing through it for a while, seeing the different titles for different chapters, only for Sun¡¯s scream to snap him out of his reverie. Seph looked up from browsing the book, only to find that the hands sticking out of the ground were much closer to them now. The hedgehogs carrying them were still underground. Fucking stupid! I shouldn¡¯t have let my guard down. It looks like that these hellish creatures can move underground without making a sound. ¡°Good job catching them before they caught us unawares, Sun. Let¡¯s get to work.¡± Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Sun nodded with a serious look on his face. Seph could count nine pairs of hands. He started running towards one of them. Before he could reach it, it emerged from underground and launched its needles. The young cultivator put his gourd in front of him to defend, but some needles shallowly penetrated his leg. His new skin had served him well already, a short time after he had cultivated it. He groaned in pain and sent a palm strike towards that hedgehog. The strike broke all its fingers, making the hedgehog scream in pain again with a human voice. Seph didn¡¯t wait to think further on why the screams of the animal were that of a human, and struck it with another overreaching palm strike, killing it immediately. Meanwhile, Sun was attempting another overhead strike on another hedgehog, only for the hands to catch into his staff! A tug of war broke out between Sun and the hands on the hedgehog¡¯s back. None of them were winning this war when Sun seemed to remember his staff¡¯s feature, and made it reduce its length, thus escaping from the death clutches of this hedgehog. He then made it extend again, hitting the hedgehog right in the face, before jabbing it repeatedly and aggressively, leaving the hedgehog dead with its face a bloody mess. In that time, Seph had taken care of three more hedgehogs, leaving them with only four more. The four hedgehogs screamed together; a scream that induced absolute horror. Sun¡¯s eyes went wide when he heard it, and he started running away from the fight. Seph looked alarmed as well. He looked at the running monkey, then at the hedgehogs, and thought, "I''m scared; I''ve never felt so scared in my life. What just happened? They must be using a skill, but I can¡¯t convince my mind that it¡¯s just a skill, I need to run; I need to escape from them." He started running away too. He kept running for a while. But even though he was still afraid, because of the fear skills the hedgehogs used, he pushed it down and ran back to attack the hedgehogs again. They caught him before he was ready and launched many needles and nails into him. His chest armor caught some of them, and many struck him in the legs again. But, he refused to be denied. He pushed down the pain and attacked the hedgehogs with a fury of palm strikes, ending them all in short order. Seph crashed to the ground, exhausted after the mentally tiring fight. He was panting, but he had solace in that the fight was now over. He kept repeating the fight in his head, screams that could put fear in the opponent¡¯s heart. This skill could be very useful for him, if he''d got it one day. The needles the hedgehogs used were also a ranged weapon that was more effective than his lumps of pestilence. This thought gave him an idea that he might apply to his lumps of pestilence, to create a new, more effective area of effect weapon. He sat there and started plucking the needles out of his legs and a few that had gotten into his arms. He looked at the hedgehogs and remembered that it had been a while since he could fight a fleshy opponent that he could feed to his gourd. The young cultivator got up and started taking one hedgehog after another, and feeding them to the gourd. Eight hedgehogs later, he had eight little bones from the hedgehogs. He used the eye of the appraiser on them.
Appraising¡­
Name: Phantom Bone (Hedgehog)
Type: Enchanted Bone.
Quality: Rare.
Magical Ability: Summons a Phantom Hedgehog when thrown at an enemy.
Seph ignored the hedgehog that had decomposed because of the lump of pestilence and ate the meat of the last hedgehog to heal his wounds. Next, he started collecting the nails that were thrown at him. After putting them in his spatial sack, he could sense that there were forty. He had tried plucking nails from the dead hedgehogs that couldn''t throw them at him, but they didn¡¯t register as sinister nails. He then used the eye of the appraiser on the grasshoppers that were jumping around.
Appraising¡­
Name: Skittish Grasshopper.
Type: Bug.
Quality: plain.
Hard to catch, with a stinging bite. These bugs are used to make some medicines for mortals. Also, they are used to make pills for cultivators.
Location: Mainly in forests, in short undergrowth, one can also cultivate them by feeding normal grasshoppers cultivator herbs rich in energy.
The grasshoppers looked like normal ones, except that they were white, not the usual green Seph saw while playing around as a kid. He took out his net and started trying to catch them. He barely caught one after an hour of exhausting himself. Sun was laughing at him again for his shortcomings. He was truly brutal when he wanted to laugh and have fun. ¡°You try then. Show me if you can catch these little devils!¡± Sun took the net, and within 30 minutes he had caught more grasshoppers. He strutted over to where Seph was sitting down, looking at him in disbelief, and instead of extending the net, he extended the back of his hand to Seph, wanting him to kiss it in subservience. Seph smacked the hand away playfully while saying, ¡°You arrogant little demon, one day I¡¯ll gain a lot of dexterity and I¡¯ll show you what¡¯s what!¡± Sun kept laughing at him, falling to his back, and rolling from one side to the other. The young cultivator had a big smile on his face. He was glad that he and Sun had this much fun. Even when they know their life is in danger in these trials, and anything could happen at any moment. Seph then turned his attention to the flowers. They were white flowers, with a touch of blue on their edges, and when Seph moved one of them, it gave a melodic chime that was pleasant to the ear. Sun¡¯s eyes went wide, and he ran towards the flowers, and plucked one for himself, and kept moving it around to hear its sound. He was holding it like a lover, pleased with its sound. His master gave him a sympathetic look. The little monkey knew how to appreciate the better things in life. He then continued collecting the flowers and got seven, and used the eye of the appraiser on them as well.
Appraising¡­
Name: Windchime Flower.
Type: Ingredients.
Quality: Uncommon.
An alluring and rare flower, known for its melodic chimes when hit by the wind, thus its unique name. Very popular among rich students, because of its mind-boosting abilities.
Location: Makes up for being easily identifiable because of its beautiful melodies, by growing only very high on mountains rich in Qi energy.
At last, Seph headed for the mushrooms. They were purple mushrooms, with the cap having a globular shape, like a human brain. It also had grooves and ridges exactly like a brain as well. Seph used the eye on it to check its name.
Appraising¡­
Name: Mind-Sharpening Mushroom.
Type: Ingredients.
Quality: Uncommon.
A unique-looking mushroom that resembles a human brain, used in making intelligence-boosting pills for cultivators, it¡¯s highly sought after. It probably has uses for mortals as well, but with its high price, mortals can¡¯t get their hands on it.
Location: Grows in dark places under tree stumps, deep in forests, where Qi energy is at its highest concentration, with dangerous cultivating animals lurking around. Which makes getting this mushroom a very dangerous endeavor.
Looks like this one is valuable, which reminds me of that annoying new quest for the Eye of the Appraiser. I¡¯ll need to collect some items to sell and get that many spirit stones in the future. The young cultivator collected the mushrooms, there were only six of them, and then he went back to the workshop with his monkey. Chapter 28: Scorn Scorn, or as I like to call him, that royal pain in the ass! I don¡¯t know which calamity threw that horror on us. Oh, yes, it¡¯s rumored that he is the only survivor of the massacre of Amoria, but why is he attacking the empire, cutting trade routes, and attacking outposts of the empire? Amoria was a valid target in this war, and the empire hadn¡¯t done something new to wars. Everyone does the same brutal acts in every war, and they still do! Why should this war be so different? If the empire didn¡¯t use Amoria in its favor, others would have beaten it to the punch. His actions are without excuse, and he should stop already. He¡¯s also attacking our allies! It has become a danger to any small town or nation to ally themselves with the empire now, thus cutting a lot of gold that came to the empire with zero effort. The weaker nations paid us gold yearly as gifts to ensure that they remain in the good graces of the Solea Empire. Everything was working to our benefit after we had won the war! Until it wasn¡¯t anymore. Until Scorn! One of the most dangerous rogue cultivators in the world today, and it¡¯s us who are his sole target. At first, the emperor didn¡¯t pay any attention to reports of Scorn¡¯s doings, but now Scorn has become undeniable. He¡¯s become worthy of our collective attention. When we had received the first reports of him cutting trade routes and stealing the caravans, we¡¯d compensated the traders and sent a battalion to cut him down. Only one man returned. Scorn had spared him. The man, who had returned with only one message. (I am coming for you. You will not escape Amoria¡¯s Scorn.) The emperor and all his advisors, including me as the advisor in alchemical matters, were alarmed after receiving this message. That soldier was never the same again. He was a shaken mess. His soldier¡¯s life was cut short. Reports came from the barracks that the soldier was screaming in his sleep about the horrors he¡¯d seen when they had gotten attacked. The very blood in the veins of his comrades turned against them. Some of them got filled with holes drilled from the inside by their own blood. Others exploded in a rain of gore, and if you, my dear reader, think this is bad enough, wait until you hear what happened to the decomposing soldiers! Some soldiers were attacked with something that caused them to decompose immediately. The surviving soldier would wake up in a cold sweat, touching his face and the skin of his body frantically, fearing that it would have fallen off like what he saw Scorn do to his comrades. Usually, we would have made the soldier carrying the message tell us everything that happened in the skirmish, but he delivered the message and passed out! Next, we did the only sensible move in that case. We sent a group of cultivators after him, four of whom were in the Qi condensation stage, and one in the foundation establishment stage. The foundation establishment cultivator was the only one to come back, a horrified mess like the surviving soldier. But his message was different.. After being granted permission, he entered the imperial court. He stood there in front of the imperial curtain, scratching his whole body. His behavior alarmed the guards, so they made a wall between the emperor and the cultivator. Hell, even I felt alarmed; I prepared to cast an explosive concoction that I shouldn¡¯t bring with me to the imperial court, but I like to be ready, plus my devotion to the emperor is second to none; I would give my life to the emperor, so nobody should have any fear that I ever harm his highness. Back to the cultivator, after scratching himself all over, and looking like a lunatic, the cultivator exploded in a swarm of insects; the insects were about to attack the emperor, but I¡¯ve saved the day. My concoction made quick work of the swarm, lighting them up in flames. But it almost felt like it was all for nothing, because the events shook his highness. He started getting nightmares; he¡¯d become untrusting of strangers. He shut himself in, never again speaking to any newcomers. The military general took over the responsibility of dealing with Scorn from that point forward, and he was the only one permitted to provide reports of the ¡°progress¡± of the many campaigns aimed at eliminating Scorn to his highness. He called them progress, but I call them shortcomings. Scorn is obviously a cultivator, and he¡¯s a powerful one at that. He isn¡¯t alone, though. He must have had help to thwart all campaigns sent against him. We¡¯ve got to collect more information about the man to have a chance of beating him. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Our great nation is in jeopardy, and I feel helpless to do anything about it. But I promise you, this isn¡¯t the end; that vandal will not take us over, and I won¡¯t stand idle to see our nation undone by him. I¡¯ll take matters into my own hands, and get ready and join a campaign to take that man down, mark my words. His end will be at my hands. Some of you might wonder who is the bigger danger to the empire, Scorn or the scars of fate? The scars of fate are a global phenomenon that the entire world has to deal with. But Scorn, Scorn is a catastrophe that the empire and the empire only have to deal with, as he targets only us or our allies. A catastrophe that will get crushed by the empire, mark my words. Scars of fate and other catastrophes. By Zhi Zixin. ***** Before returning to the workshop, Seph continued browsing the book written by his teacher, and a chapter title stopped him: "Scorn." He couldn¡¯t dismiss it, and ended up reading that chapter before returning to his master. The pieces were falling into place. Everything that had happened or was already happening was making more sense now. Zhi Zixin was a subject of the Solea Empire, but more than that, he was one of the emperor¡¯s advisors. Scorn went after the empire after he grew older, and was a menace to their interests, taking them down a notch with each operation he did to vandalize their trade routes, or their allies, or their campaigns to take him down. Scorn came out on top every time! Was Scorn also the reason Zhi Zixin was now a soulbound to the shabby alchemy furnace in the workshop? Did Zhi go through with his plan to join one campaign and take matters into his own hands to end Scorn? A lot of questions. The ghost probably wouldn¡¯t be any help in answering them, since it seemed like he had lost his memory at some point. He stepped into the portal deep in thought, and came out the other side inside his master¡¯s workshop, only to hear his master¡¯s boisterous and shrill voice, ¡°Welcome back, my pupil. Are you ready to make a new pill?¡± ¡°Ready and reporting for duty, Master Zhi. We will make only three pills, and tomorrow we''ll continue making the rest.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t rush, my smart but hasty pupil. Strength pills are one of the hardest to make. They need maximum heat in many steps, but some other pills don¡¯t need that much heat. Show me what ingredients you''ve found this time.¡± Seph took out the mind-sharpening mushrooms and windchime flowers. Sun had the skittish grasshoppers in his hand inside the net. ¡°Something isn''t right here. Why are there only three ingredients? Also, why did you keep the grasshoppers alive?!¡± Seph scratched the back of his head, embarrassed, before saying, ¡°I can¡¯t store living beings inside the sack, so we''ve thought instead of killing them with a rock or something, that we can bring them back while inside the net instead!¡± Zhi looked at him wide-eyed in disbelief before saying with a sense of hopelessness, ¡°A rock! Boy, you didn¡¯t tell me you were that green!¡± The ghost paused for a second before continuing, "Never mind you did tell me you were this green...¡± He sighed. ¡°Anyway, you can use your energy in reverse to suck the life out of the grasshoppers. It wouldn¡¯t work on large targets, like humans or big animals, even a rabbit¡ªit wouldn¡¯t work on it¡ªbut it will work on insects, so instead of projecting your energy outward, you try to suck the energy from outside instead, and that will keep the ingredient intact; go on, try it out.¡± The ghost finally finished by ordering Seph to try out what he taught him. Seph tentatively took out a grasshopper and imagined sucking its energy, instead of projecting his energy, and it worked from the first try! ¡°Very good, very good, you seem to have a talent for cultivation, too bad you died and had to become a Yin cultivator; you might have had a great future as a Qi cultivator instead, regardless, you are still missing one ingredient!¡± Seph made a disgusted face, before saying, ¡°Don¡¯t you have a fourth ingredient we can use instead? I don¡¯t want to use this last one we''ve got!¡± The ghost looked at him incredulously. ¡°Why, boy? Show it to me. We don¡¯t have time for this, remember?¡± Seph tentatively, with a visibly shaking hand, got out the sinister nails from his spatial sack and held them out to his mentor. ¡°Are you a fool, boy? You''re making all this fuss for some nails? What would you have done if we were making a pill from a Cyclops'' eye, or the feces of a sinister mountain goat?" Seph almost puked hearing that. Then he remembered that his stomach is always empty, in part because he never eats, and in part because of his uncanny digestion speed. ¡°You must be jesting, right?¡± ¡°No, why would I jest with you? We''ve wasted enough time now. Let¡¯s make the pills. They won¡¯t make themselves. In the beginning, you need one of each ingredient, but five nails for each pill.¡± ¡°Okay, mentor, which one will we start with? And which pill are we making?¡± ¡°As for the pill, we''re making deadly cunning pills, self-explanatory. You will gain intelligence from this pill. As for what you start with, it will be the grasshopper and the mushroom.¡± Seph nodded in affirmation, but then stopped for a second. This was his opportunity to find out something he had always wanted to learn about. ¡°Ummm, Master, I was wondering, what exactly do we as cultivators use intelligence for?¡± The ghost facepalmed and looked at Seph from between his fingers, then closed his eyes again. He thought, I''ve got no clue how this kid is still alive. He doesn¡¯t know much! But his talent for cultivation is undeniable, and probably his fight prowess as well. The kid has got the talent, and seems to have got the drive to work hard as well. It will be hard for cultivators near his stage to stop him, as long as he keeps working hard. ¡°Well, I''m not sure why I was surprised that you didn¡¯t know. I need to lower my expectations of you. Anyway, intelligence raises the power of your magical attacks. It also raises the power of soul attacks.¡± "Oh... OH! Wait, can I use an attack in front of you, and you tell me if it¡¯s magic or soul?¡± ¡°Sure, why not? Knock yourself out.¡± Seph stood straight, and made an arc with his hands to the top of his head, then brought his palms together in front of his chest, and whispered his mantra. Shattered into a thousand pieces. His arms are overreaching. He attempted a palm strike, and the ghostly hand continued the rest of the way that his hand couldn¡¯t reach, and then reverberated with power at the end, which was the overbearing part of the strike. Zhi Zixin was wide-eyed in astonishment. "Who the hell are you, kid?" Chapter 29: Thinking of Heaven ¡°What do you mean, who the hell am I?¡± Seph asked his teacher with a confused look on his face. Still, wide-eyed, the ghost answered, ¡°Soul attacks are very rare in the cultivation world, and they certainly don¡¯t come this early to green horns like you! Also, that mantra was really ominous. That¡¯s not how you show respect to the Lord of the World, Avalokitesvara, but the opposite. How did you come to possess this martial art?¡± ¡°In another room in the trial, I killed one of the Yin cultivators, and inside his spatial sack was this martial art. I have been practicing it ever since. My appraiser skill informed me that only one person throughout history completed this martial art. I only have one part of nine, but it¡¯s really powerful.¡± ¡°That¡¯s super interesting. I have no recollection of this martial art from when I was alive.¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about that, even lord Scorn had no clue about it, it certainly wasn¡¯t a part of his trials!¡± The ghost looked like someone poured a bucket of ice cold water on top of his head. ¡°Did you say Scorn? The Scorn? Is he here?¡± The ghost kept looking around frantically, fearing that Scorn was close by. ¡°Yes, he actually made this entire labyrinth. Why, do you know him?¡± Seph feigned ignorance in order to learn what the ghost remembered from his history with Scorn. ¡°Know him? Young man, he is the last thing that I can remember. My last memory is of me joining a campaign to take out Scorn. I was sure I could beat him with alchemy, and I don¡¯t remember if we beat him or not. I have no memories after embarking on the campaign.¡± Seph was listening carefully, with one hand over his mouth, to hide any reaction he might get from the ghost¡¯s tale. He looked deep in thought, and rightly so. There was something mysterious about all of this. Is Scorn¡¯s legacy really his story? That seemed highly unlikely. And if his story wasn¡¯t really the legacy, then what was the real purpose of this entire labyrinth? Also, where does Zhi Zixin fit into all of this? ¡°Seph¡­ SEPH, are you still with me?¡± the ghost shouted after he found the cultivator zoned out. ¡°Oh, yes teacher sorry, it¡¯s just I had so many talks with Scorn so far. This is the 11th trial in his labyrinth, and he never mentioned your name.¡± Seph answered after getting pulled out from his reverie. ¡°I don¡¯t have a memory of meeting him, but there is something very wrong here. How do I, as the empire¡¯s alchemy advisor, know so much about Yin cultivators'' pills?¡± The teacher asked thoughtfully. ¡°That never crossed my mind! So you don¡¯t know how you came to possess this knowledge, either?¡± Seph asked him hesitantly, hoping to find out more. ¡°No, I don¡¯t. My mind is empty in that regard. Anyway, why don¡¯t we make the pills now? And we can further discuss these matters later, after I think them over for a while,¡± Zhi suggested, and Seph took the opportunity by saying, ¡°Sure thing, teacher!¡± Seph headed for the furnace, and put his palm on it, and started projecting his energy to move the heavy lid aside. Then he added the first ingredients, the skittish grasshopper, and the mind sharpening mushroom. ¡°Good, now for the start, you need the heat of the second degree you are capable of,¡± Zhi said in his strict guiding tone of voice, as all his instructions have to be followed to a tee. Seph closed his eyes and started projecting the heat. His mind imagined fire¡­ candle fire¡­ the fire lit inside their humble house¡­ dancing around on top of the candle, illuminating his mother¡¯s sleeping body. His emotions became turbulent. He knew he would get out to find her still alive, so that he could give her the vitality grass and some of the gold he had found. He knew that only one hour would pass outside of the labyrinth. But that¡¯s one hour for her, not for him. Seph had been here for two months. He missed her so much; he was fearful of what might have happened to her in his absence. Mother, you might not feel the time that passed for me, but, I promise that no one and nothing will beat me in these trials, I¡¯ll win, and I¡¯ll come and save you, my new looks will give me trouble if someone sees me, but even if there is a thousand of them, I know I am going to save you. ¡°Seph¡­ Seph, control your heat, youngster. You are projecting too much!¡± Zhi ordered him frantically. Seph snapped back from his reverie, over his sick mother, and said, ¡°I am sorry teacher, it¡¯s just that my mother is really sick, and my entire purpose is to be strong enough to get out and save her.¡± This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Seph toned down his heat projection to middle stage, while the teacher sighed and said, ¡°That¡¯s peak pill potential gone right there, might even have lost top grade potential too, we will see. So what is this you are telling me about your mother? What ails her?¡± The young cultivator concentrated further on the heat and said, ¡°Her body is very weak. She might die in a day if I don¡¯t get the vitality grass for her! Fortunately, time is compressed inside the labyrinth. Only one hour will pass in the outside world after I spend a year here.¡± Zhi had a surprised look on his face again. ¡°Wow, only extremely powerful cultivators can use time dilation, and Scorn could make this? Maybe it was a fool¡¯s errand to go after him myself, after all.¡± The alchemist sighed deeply before he continued, ¡°About your mother... Don¡¯t worry. We can make a concoction or a pill, or something that will heal her. We will just finish making your pills, and see what we can use from the left-overs. I know many more recipes for humans than I do for Yin cultivators after all.¡± Seph became teary-eyed after he heard they can even make something better for his mother when they get out and started thanking his teacher profusely. To which Zhi shushed him by saying, ¡°No need to thank me, young one, just doing what¡¯s right by my pupil. I am really invested in your progress right now, so keep at it. Only good things will come out of your dedication when you are with me!¡± Two hours later, the first phase was done, and Zhi told his pupil to put five sinister nails in the furnace and reduce the heat to the first degree. Seph could feel the energies become turbulent. A fight was going on between the energies inside the furnace and the heat he was projecting. But it wasn¡¯t very wild, since the energies inside the furnace didn¡¯t give a strong pushback, because of the heat reduction. He kept at it for one more hour, then the last ingredient was the windchime flower. His teacher informed him to keep the heat at the first degree. The windchime flower¡¯s liquefaction was so gentle. It felt like the liquid produced by heating this herb was enveloping the other liquids inside gently, and he finished one hour later. When he felt the mix inside the furnace congealing to make the pill. Moment of truth, Seph was thinking, he knew he fucked up bad making this pill. He checked it out with the eye of the appraiser.
Appraising¡­
Name: Mid Grade Deadly Cunning Pill.
Type: Pill.
Quality: Uncommon.
Effect: Consume to get +3 intelligence.
¡°Mid grade pill.¡± Seph muttered. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, youngster, we will make more. You can make three more, because this pill has gentle ingredients that don¡¯t require max heat at any stage.¡± Zhi said in a consoling tone. ¡°Understood, Master. Let¡¯s make the second one right away,¡± Seph said with an energetic voice, completely ready for the arduous alchemy process to come. Seph started making pill after pill. He finished making all three pills he could make, since the sinister nails ran out first. He got two top grade pills, and one peak grade. He turned to his teacher and asked him, ¡°But master, you never told me, how many of these pills can I take? The power progression seems too much, if all cultivators can just use these pills endlessly!¡± ¡°You can take 5 pills of each kind per cultivation stage. You took pills that were designed for the death dismantling stage. Some perfectionists hold out to get peak pills in all available categories, but the ones who can achieve that are usually the rich cultivators that come from an established family of cultivators. While the ones who are not so rich, they rarely make it, because their lifespans run out before they have gotten the materials, or made the peak pills in time.¡± ¡°Interesting! What other pills are available for Yin cultivators?¡± ¡°Well, there is a lot. The cultivation world is just littered with pills everywhere. There are pills that give you enough Yin energy to cultivate to higher stages, there is a pill for life span, there is a pill for each of the attributes, and more, much more.¡± ¡°Great, I can¡¯t wait to learn which pill we get to make next. I¡¯ll use these pills now before resting for today, and then I¡¯ll do the next cultivation level tomorrow!¡± Seph swallowed the pills and checked his status screen.
Name: Seph ???
Class: Undead Buddhist lvl 3
Cultivation Stage: Body Dismantling stage (II)
Lifespan: 18/35 years
Strength: 34
Dexterity: 6
Intelligence: 26
Wisdom: 7
Constitution: 18
Perception: 25
Luck: 10
He saw the extra 16 intelligence points. Then he thought to check on his Artisan jobs screen as well.
Artisan Jobs
Herbology: Level 1
Mining: Level 1
Alchemy: Level 2
Seph was really pleased seeing that his alchemy skill reached lvl 2 already. He hadn¡¯t looked at his artisan jobs since the first time. After that, he had nothing else in mind, so he went to sleep, with Sun sleeping right beside him. Chapter 30: Goodbye bone ache ¡°Next simple part to cultivate is actually your bones. They are pretty straightforward. We know how many bones there are in the human body; we know their shapes, we know where each of them is! But just in case, check out this book¡ªit¡¯s got a picture of a skeleton on page 7¡ªthen you¡¯ll cultivate the same way you did with your skin.¡± Zhi told Seph, while pointing at one book in his vast library, and accurately enough, inside the book was a drawn picture of a skeleton, with names of bones next to each bone in the body. The total was 206 bones; the pages had detailed pictures of each part, showing the smaller bones. It took Seph several hours to feel confident enough to cultivate. Meanwhile, Sun was already cultivating, but to no avail. The monkey could circulate the Qi around his body; he could bolster his body using it, but he made zero advances in his cultivation. And after watching what his master did last time, when he passed the first level of cultivation, it bummed the monkey out. Of course, he was happy for his master, but he wanted to advance as well, to be of help to him. He hated being weak, and cultivation was the way to go outside of earthly and heavenly treasures. But what can he do? He was just a monkey. True, he understood what humans said to some extent, but he couldn¡¯t speak like them. He couldn¡¯t tell them of his predicament with cultivation. Which made learning to cultivate that much harder. All these turbulent thoughts were in his mind while he was cultivating, but what was he supposed to do? The thought of being stuck in his cultivation haunted him, but there was hope he knew his master would one day help him somehow get ahead in his cultivation. He didn¡¯t know how, but he knew it would happen. Meanwhile, Seph didn¡¯t know of the thoughts ailing his dear friend. Yes, the monkey was his friend. Not his servant or his follower; he appreciated having him by his side. He had never been this lonely in his life. This labyrinth was the loneliest he had ever been. He couldn¡¯t help but feel that he would have been driven to madness if he didn¡¯t have anyone to talk to all this time. Sun was there for him. He understood him; he was a little brutal, always laughing at his shortcomings, but it was fun that way, it was a genuine friendship. Seph¡¯s biggest dream was to one day enable the monkey to talk. He didn¡¯t know what kind of treasure would make that happen, but if the Sun Wukong of legend could speak, he knew the possibility was open for his monkey friend as well. Sun wasn¡¯t all he had now, though. He had a strong feeling that Zhi Zixin was bound to that furnace, and if the furnace is his prize from this trial, then Zhi will go with him on his journey. He will continue to be his teacher, guiding him to be a renowned alchemist, or maybe just guiding him to be a great alchemist, since he couldn¡¯t imagine himself making pills for other cultivators, to make a living. He found it easy to circulate the energy around his body while having these thoughts, but it¡¯s time to concentrate on the task at hand. Dismantling the bones, and remaking them, his body was going to be created entirely from yin energy bit by bit. He wouldn¡¯t finish until he had gotten that cultivation manual, but that was the ultimate result. And Seph was a believer. He believed he was going to succeed, no matter what happens to him. He started the dismantling process, and it was again painful, but he was there inside his meditation. His face would wince in pain, but he kept at it; nothing was surprising this time, and the pain was a little more bearable. He attributed this to his gains in constitution, and couldn¡¯t help but think of making constitution boosting pills, but he immediately let go of the thought. Right now wasn¡¯t the time to think of any gains, so he got his mind back on track to cultivating. A long time had passed. Seph knew it was long, but he didn¡¯t know how long exactly. He opened his eyes slowly to find Sun right in his face, looking at him worriedly. ¡°Hello, buddy. Why are you looking so glum?¡± Seph said wearily and slowly, and Zhi intervened to explain the issue. ¡°He got worried after 15 days had passed. He thought something had happened to you, but I assured him that nothing was amiss. This phase took a longer time. He stopped cultivating ever since and kept looking over you. He even started eating way less from how much he was worried about you.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m so sorry for worrying you, my friend. You should have a feast of fruits now, before we¡¯ve gone to deal with the last garden.¡± Seph said, but the monkey, who had been sad, changed, and started making excited screeches and pointing back towards a library shelf; the young cultivator kept following where he pointed, but couldn¡¯t tell what he meant, but he didn¡¯t have to wonder for long, because the ghost alchemist intervened again. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°About that, while you were out, Sun kept messing around with my books. Please tell him to not do this again. He kept pulling books from shelves. I kept scolding him, but he gave me no ear. I couldn¡¯t stop him because of my incorporeal body. At that point, I started threatening him with many threats. He wasn¡¯t afraid of me at all, but I was afraid for my book¡¯s sake, so you will understand what I did next. I started pleading with him, and he still didn¡¯t give me no ear. You have a very naughty monkey. You should punish him for what he did to my poor library. Anyway, after messing around for a long time, he found a secret portal behind that shelf. After taking one of its books out. We don¡¯t know where it will take you. Even I had no clue about it.¡± The scientist sighed, his predicament weighing heavy on him, of all these surprises that kept cropping up and then continued, ¡°Regardless, it¡¯s up to you if you want to venture that way. The rest of the portals I had knowledge about, but I have no clue what¡¯s behind this one.¡± Seph patted Sun on the head before saying, ¡°Good job, buddy, great job, actually. Not that you messed around with Zhi¡¯s books. Bad, bad monkey! But this might even count for my hidden places¡¯ quest from the eye of the appraiser quest. Anyway, why do I feel so weak? My body feels like it¡¯s devoid of energy. I think I am even dizzy. What¡¯s happening?¡± The scientist answered him, ¡°That might be because it¡¯s taken you so long to get this cultivation level done. You¡¯ve been cultivating for thirty days, Seph. I doubt you have any more energy to make more pills, let alone cultivate another level.¡± ¡°THIRTY DAYS!¡± Seph shouted from the surprise. This meant he had been in this trial for three months now. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m afraid. You need to replenish your energy before you continue.¡± The alchemist said, with a hint of worry in his voice. Seph looked inside his spatial sack, and got out a wolf¡¯s heart from among the few he had stashed in there, and sat down to eat it. Meanwhile, the ghost was looking at him with disgust, seeing his pupil eat a raw heart like that. Seph finished this heart in short order, but he was still feeling weak, so he took out one more wolf¡¯s heart. After finishing his meal, the first one in ages, he got up from the ground, projected energy to his gourd, which floated up to his back. He then checked his status screen to check his new gains.
Name: Seph ???
Class: Undead Buddhist lvl 3
Cultivation Stage: Body Dismantling stage (III)
Lifespan: 18/40 years
Strength: 39
Dexterity: 6
Intelligence: 26
Wisdom: 7
Constitution: 23
Perception: 25
Luck: 10
+6 free attributes
He discovered he had gained 5 points in his constitution, and 5 points in his strength. Also, five more years were added to his lifespan. The new gains pleased him, but he warily looked at his wisdom and dexterity, both of which were his lowest attributes, followed by his luck. ¡°Hey teacher, a question if you may, I have 10 points of luck, but I have gained no points of luck since I got this skill; also, I am asking because I can¡¯t imagine cultivating my body will make me luckier!¡± The alchemist shouted dramatically while pointing at him, ¡°YOU have 10 points of luck? How come, rarely does anybody have luck to begin with! It¡¯s one of the trickiest attributes in the cultivation world, because, as you said, you can¡¯t gain it from cultivating your body. It¡¯s rumored that you gain more luck in special encounters, or by finding extremely high-rarity loot, and only the first person who finds this loot gains the attribute points, but it¡¯s also rumored that just finding the loot doesn¡¯t automatically give luck, but the first one to identify the item, and make use of the opportunity.¡± Zhi had finished telling his theories on luck in the cultivation world. Seph had his hand under his chin, and was thinking deeply, then said, ¡°Hmm, would a legendary, mysterious martial art manual count as a lucky find, a fortuitous encounter?¡± ¡°YOUR MARTIAL ART MANUAL IS LEGENDARY/MYSTERY?!!!¡± the ghost said with his highest voice ever since meeting Seph. ¡°Teacher, you almost deafened me, for fuck¡¯s sake, chill!¡± Seph said while covering both his ears with his palms. ¡°Chill? What do you mean, chill, kid? You don¡¯t even know how good you¡¯ve got it, how by the heavens and earth, did you get ten points only of luck because of that martial art? It should have been significantly more than that!¡± Zhi asked him in wonder. Seph went again to think for a few seconds before saying, ¡°Maybe because it¡¯s only one part of many? I don¡¯t know. I come from humble beginnings, teacher. Please be easy on me.¡± Zhi looked like an idea sparked in his head, ¡°AHA, yes, it must be because it¡¯s only part of many, but there must be many parts in this case. Regardless, that¡¯s a huge find, kid. Make certain to use that to the best of your ability.¡± Seph bowed to his teacher in gratitude for his many lessons and said, ¡°Thank you, teacher, anyway, now that I¡¯ve learned one more thing about my attributes, and now that I¡¯ve said goodbye to bone ache forever, it¡¯s time to check out this secret portal Sun has found.¡± The alchemist stopped him by saying, ¡°I repeat the warning again, Seph. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s in that secret portal, so be very careful, and get back here safe; not like I need you or anything, but it would look bad in my record if I lost a pupil.¡± Seph chuckled before saying, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, teacher, we¡¯ve got this.¡± He then gave a thumbs-up to the monkey to check his readiness. The monkey gave him a thumbs-up back with a serious look on his face. ¡°Great, it looks like Sun is ready, and I am ready. We¡¯ll see you when we get back, teacher.¡± Seph told his teacher and started heading for the secret portal. Chapter 31: The Graveyard Part 1 Seph and Sun found themselves in a graveyard after going through the portal. Tombstones were in front of them in two lines, with a pathway in the middle; each side had six tombstones, and each row had two tombstones next to each other. On the far side was a much bigger tombstone that looked ominous, surrounded by a halo of black light. The entire place was lit by the moon in the sky. This was one of the rare times the trial seemed to teleport them to a place that looked so much like the outside world. In the middle of the tombstone columns on each side, there was some kind of herb. There were three of them on each side. In the far corners of the graveyard, there were four trees. Sun gulped his saliva, looking around wide-eyed. This must be one of the scariest places the little monkey had ever been to. Regardless, Seph was confident in his power at this stage, and he wasn¡¯t worried at all, so he checked his Eye of the Appraiser quest, like he intended, before coming in here.
Quest Eye of the Appraise Level 3
*Sell Items worth 10000 spirit stones. *Find 10 secret places.
Progress: 0/10,000 Progress: 2/10
And as he expected back at the workshop, the graveyard counted towards his secret places. He questioned what else could have counted as the first secret place? Was it the puzzle room in the trials? Was it the shortcut in the chase trial track? Well, it didn¡¯t matter. What matters is that they counted towards his quest. And he also recognized that Sun was the one who found two of the last three possibilities he could think of. Which makes Sun the one with a good eye for secrets right now. But this was bound to change, though. Once he finished this quest and got the reward, the reward must be something to do with finding secret places or stashes. A substantial reward to look forward to. The young cultivator looked back on what¡¯s in front of him, the graveyard. This place looked really ominous, one of his favorite horror tales, which he and the other kids in the village used to tell, was horror tales, and they usually included the village¡¯s graveyard, which was on the far west side of the village. Like the setting sun, our lives will one day set as well. Seph steeled his resolve for what¡¯s coming. He was about to live, probably a more horrifying version of all the horror tales they''ve ever told about the village¡¯s graveyard. The young cultivator walked towards the herbs, and once he was close enough, he used the eye of the appraiser on one of them.
Appraising¡­
Name: Death Eater Grass.
Type: Ingredients.
Quality: Uncommon.
A unique herb that is rich in Yin energy, used to replenish the Yin energy of a Yin cultivator. A better use for cultivators would be to always make pills instead, for much stronger effects.
Location: Grows in graveyards next to tombstones, where Yin energy is at its highest concentration.
¡°Looks like we''ve found our ingredient Sun, this herb might help me replenish my energy, to break into the fourth level of body dismantling, but still let¡¯s be careful. I doubt this will be a walk in the park.¡± True to his words, bony hands started coming out of the ground in front of each tombstone. Speak of ill tides and they will always find you. Seph jumped backwards to make a space between himself and the skeleton warriors coming from underground. And used the eye of the veteran on the closest skeleton warrior.
Name: Skeleton Warrior.
Class: Skeletal Monster.
Level: 4
There were six warriors, four archers, and two magicians, or so it seemed, since they carried staves. Was this the burial place for a small army? Seph took his fighting stance, ready to either rush into this army or get rushed by them. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. He began the battle with his usual move, when he took out a lump of pestilence and hurled it at the far archer. The lump hit the archer on the chest, but it didn''t do anything. The archer cackled at his opponent, and took the lump, and hurled it at the monkey instead. Seph had to intervene quickly and jumped to receive the lump on his own body instead, since Sun was still up on his shoulder. Seph had figured out that the lumps have no effect on him, since he is the one who throws them. Seeing that his decomposing weapon would not help him in this fight, Seph ran towards the first warrior skeleton, while Sun jumped onto the skeleton¡¯s head and continued jumping from one head to another until he reached the archer who hurled the lump of pestilence at him. The monkey attacked him with his staff, jamming it inside his eye socket, and then extended the staff, an attack he thought to use while his master was deep in meditation. True enough, the attack had the desired outcome. When it broke the head away from the rest of the body until it reached the ground, it even broke through the back of its skull. Sun made happy screeches in celebration, but once he saw the other archers pulling back the strings of their bows, he knew it wasn¡¯t the time for celebration. With the staff extended to 6 feet tall, he attacked with it in an arc to hit the three final archers with it. But while his attack was successful in taking out the rest of the archers, he didn¡¯t think of them releasing the arrows after their skeletons went limp. The entire fighting sequence took a few seconds. To avoid the arrows, the monkey jammed his staff into the ground and extended it to its maximum 10 feet tall, which shot him backwards in between a warrior''s skeleton legs, thus avoiding the arrows. Meanwhile, Seph was busy fighting the warriors in the forefront. He attacked the first warrior with a palm strike to the head, while controlling his floating gourd to hit another warrior in the head. Both attacks were successful, and the warriors fell limp on the ground. Seph noticed, though, that his palm strike didn¡¯t stop where it usually stopped, but it went further, and it also appeared to be stronger. Since the skull flew backwards and hit another warrior, smashing both their skulls together, and finishing this warrior off as well. The young cultivator scanned the graveyard to determine the next course of action. He found out that Sun took out all the archers single-handedly. Which left three warriors and two magicians. Seph was confident they would have won this fight now. Ready to finish the fight, Seph ran towards the next warrior, but one magician was reciting a curse all this time, and he finally finished it. Seph found himself unable to move or speak. All he could move were his eyes, and he looked around in panic, wanting to warn his monkey companion, but he couldn¡¯t. Sun looked back at his master, and found him frozen in place, with his eyes moving around frantically, as if he were in distress. The monkey scanned the battlefield and found the one magician still chanting his curse to keep Seph in place. Sun added two and two together and ran towards the magician. Luckily for him, the other magician was busy reciting another spell. With the way clear, Sun jammed the magician skeleton in the vertebrae of his neck, and, extending the staff to make his attack more powerful, the head got separated from the rest of the body, thus ending the curse he had placed on Seph. Seph, now free from the hold, attacked the closest warrior, which was about to hit him, with a palm strike to the neck, which broke it and made the skeleton warrior go limp. At that moment, though, the other magician finished his spell, and the main graveyard split open, and from inside rose a human female corpse, with flesh covering her bones unlike all those skeletons. The corpse wore a tattered magician¡¯s black robe on its slim body and had white shaggy hair. She was 6 feet 8 inches tall, her skin was a pale grey color, her eyes were rotten with worms coming out of them. Seph used the eye of the veteran on her.
Name: Atelia Meji.
Class: Necromancer.
Cultivation stage: Body Dismantling (IV)
Once she rose to a full standing position from inside the grave, she chanted a spell quickly, and the four archers that had been destroyed by Sun earlier fused back together, and they were ¡°alive¡± again. Seph screamed inside his mind, "A necromancer! Shit, shit, shit, This is so bad - we could lose everything at this pace." Seph remembered the tales they''d told as children of necromancers, all folk tales, fictional tales; he never dreamed of meeting one in real life! He snapped himself out of his reverie and rushed to finish the last two skeletons, and made quick work of them. Meanwhile, Sun was mad that the archers he had destroyed came back to life. He went in again for the attack on one of them, but it looked like the skeleton had learned new tricks! The skeleton dropped its bow and caught the staff with both of its hands. Sun freaked out when his staff got caught like that. He extended it, but the skeleton wasn¡¯t holding its end side and wasn¡¯t standing in front of it either, so the staff extended into the nothingness behind the skeleton. And as if that wasn¡¯t bad enough, the skeleton started pulling the staff and Sun with it, towards itself, while its archer brethren in arms were pulling the strings of their arrows backward, while aiming at the monkey. Sun was fearful, and didn¡¯t know what to do. He didn¡¯t want to let go of his precious staff, either. The archers let go of their arrows, and before they hit Sun, his master¡¯s gourd was right in front of his body, protecting him. Seph was running towards the archers without his gourd, giving Sun a respite, while he took care of the archers this time. Palm strikes continued one after another. He killed all four archers, and the last magician as well. He looked over at Sun. What had happened shook him, and he was incapable of fighting now. He let the monkey have his well-deserved rest for now. He had done so much in this fight than any other fight they were in before. Seph squared off against the necromancer, with her worm-infested eyes and her yellowed teeth. She gave him a creepy smile before she raised her arms, and the bones of most of the dead skeletons made a whirlwind headed for Seph. The whirlwind was heading for her as well. It almost looked like a suicidal attack. Seph ran towards her and once he was close enough, he attacked with a palm strike, but she blocked it with a shield that formed in front of her at an alarming speed. The attack smashed the shield, and she cackled at Seph. ¡°You fucking horrifying abomination. This fight ends now.¡± Seph screamed at her as he was still running towards her. Once he was within arm¡¯s reach of her, he jumped towards her and caught her skull, snapping it to the side, with his newfound strength. Her face was facing the back now, where Seph had ended. She gave him a creepy yellowed-toothed smile again. Seph screamed inside his brain, Fuck! He jerked her head to the left, reaching her front side again. She cackled at him again. Her bones were very weak now, so Seph did the last thing he could do and snapped her head upwards, which removed her skull from the rest of her body. Her entire body went limp, and the bone whirlwind that was about to hit them lost its momentum too, and bones rained down on the graveyard. Seph sat on the ground, catching his breath, and Sun came over and sat next to him. This fight was horrifying for both of them. But they did well, and came out on top as usual, even though they had a few close calls this time. Chapter 32: The Graveyard part 2 Day one of the expedition: For the past few months, after the many failed campaigns that went after Scorn, I¡¯ve been presenting request after another to his Highness the Emperor, over and over, so that he may let me take part in the next expedition to take out that catastrophe the goddess is testing our mettle with. As an advisor to the Emperor, I cannot leave and go anywhere else unless I have an imperial decree. It¡¯s the same in times of war for me as for everyone else of importance. As for the villagers, they live and die in the same land anyway, so they are free to come and go if they want after stating their purpose to the border¡¯s guards, but it¡¯s very rare that they leave their land for any purpose, and it¡¯s rarer that the guards allow them to, anyway. The Emperor kept delaying me, telling me the army would take care of it, over and over, until finally, he reluctantly allowed me to fight the enemy of the empire. His Highness had a lot of options, of course. But I had to see Scorn with my own eyes and bring him to heel. We gathered in the assembly hall, two battalions of soldiers, with one captain leading each of them. We also had a colonel from the army who ranked above all of us as the acting leader of the campaign. I didn¡¯t mind letting him lead, even though I can do that myself. We had a group of mercenaries as well, various men, adept at various weapons. The Emperor had resorted to hiring those men because dealing with Scorn had taken considerable time, effort, resources, and human lives, and yet we had nothing to show for it. And finally, we had her¡­. I had heard murmurs of her all day, the necromancer¡­. This woman, who looked to be in her late thirties, stood there, wearing a black robe. Her hair was very tall and pitch black, like a starless night; her features were beautiful, she had scary yellow eyes, her body was neither small nor large, and she held a book in her hand the whole time. She never stashed it or left it anywhere. She was of average height, and her skin was pale, extremely pale. The woman sent shivers running down my spine. Her name was Atelia Meji. Necromancy, that forbidden art of black magic, I can¡¯t believe his majesty paid for her to accompany us to this campaign. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I wholeheartedly resign myself to his majesty¡¯s will, but what will the people say if they hear of this? I can¡¯t even imagine. Everyone kept avoiding her throughout the entire campaign, and good for them; she put the fear of the goddess in their hearts, and they did well to avoid her. I couldn¡¯t though, because the woman would leave everything and everyone and come speak with me. Was she trying to befriend me? I don¡¯t know. But what I know for sure is that she was interested in my craft. She even bought many potions and fire-breathing bottles, among other alchemical weapons, from me. And she paid in gold upfront. I had to send my right-hand apprentice back to get everything she''d bought out of the workshop in the capital. I was curious, so I asked her to show me her powers, and she did. It was more horrifying than anything we''ve heard about necromancers like her. She extended her palm out towards a nondescript piece of the desert and recited something from her book. After she finished half her spell or rather "curse", we heard the loudest ungodly lion roar we''ve ever heard. At first, it was in anger, but then it became a roar of utter pain. And from that spot, a skeletal desert lion rose, came pounding towards us, and rubbed its head on Atelia¡¯s thigh, like a freaking cat. I will write the entirety of our expedition in this book, since it¡¯s about catastrophes and there is no bigger catastrophe than scorn. But if you would have my opinion and I know you would, how couldn¡¯t you? I am so great. Necromancers are also a catastrophe. They are a catastrophe that nobody gives enough recognition to, because they''re so rare. But once you see something dead come to life in that unholy manner, you''ll understand, nobody should go through what that poor lion went through. Scars of fate and other catastrophes. By Zhi Zixin. **** Seph checked a screen that wanted his attention in the middle of the battle.
Undead Buddhist level up
Attribute points gained
+1 strength
+1 Intelligence
+1 wisdom
+2 free attribute points
He checked his status screen to see his new gains.
Name: Seph ???
Class: Undead Buddhist lvl 4
Cultivation Stage: Body Dismantling stage (III)
Lifespan: 18/40 years
Strength: 40
Dexterity: 6
Intelligence: 27
Wisdom: 8 Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
Constitution: 23
Perception: 25
Luck: 10
+8 free attributes.
Seph¡¯s performance in this fight disappointed him, and he was pondering adding points in dexterity, but he got an idea. I never tried to add points to the luck attribute before. I¡¯ll try it; it might work. He gave the mental command to add points to his luck, but it didn¡¯t work. His luck stayed the same, and his free attribute points stayed the same. ¡°Ah, I guess it was too much to hope for it to work; I wonder how the luck attribute works though, does it increase the chance of finding better rarity items, or put me in easier fights so that I survive, or even make me survive lethal hits? It could be anything. The idea of luck is that it could affect anything in our lives.¡± Seph paused, Sun was looking at him expectantly, and then he continued, ¡°Ah, whatever, I guess I¡¯ll add my points in dexterity. I don¡¯t want to put you in danger again, Sun. If the stat makes me faster, or more flexible, or gives me faster reaction time, it would be better. Regardless, it¡¯s my lowest stat, and it''s probably very important in a fight.¡± Seph added the eight free points to dexterity, pushing it all the way to 14 points. Next order of business for Seph was to collect the death eater grass, which luckily didn¡¯t get trampled during the fight. He collected six of them. After stashing them inside his spatial sack, which was filling up nicely, he would need a new one soon. He used the eye of the appraiser on the trees.
Appraising¡­
Name: Yin-infused ebony bark.
Type: Ingredients.
Quality: Uncommon.
A unique tree bark that is rich in yin energy. Boil it in water, and the resulting drink is used to replenish the energy of yin cultivators. A better use would be to always make pills instead, for much stronger effects.
Location: Found on ebony trees that have been infused by yin energy. Very tough to extract; prepare to lose a few valuable items to extract this valuable bark.
¡°Looks like this tree bark will be hard to extract, buddy. I have only one iron sword in my spatial sack that could be helpful to me with the task.¡± Seph took out the sword from his spatial sack when he remembered, ¡°Oh! There are 6 swords here after we killed those skeleton warriors.¡± Seph used the eye on them. And all the Iron swords had no special traits like the one he had, and he also collected the four bows and quivers of the archers, and two staves that were carried by the skeletal magicians. Seph used the swords to extract ebony bark from the trees, only to find, to his dismay, that each bark extracted broke one of his swords. He collected seven barks and broke all the swords he had. After finishing this task, he looked around to find Sun, only to find the little monkey messing around with a new book! He rushed to his side and asked, ¡°What are you doing Sun? Did you steal another book from Master Zhi?¡± The monkey shook his head no and held the book up for Seph to check it out. There was black smoke coming out of the book. It was meager, but undeniable to the onlooker who saw it from close proximity. Seph held the book carefully, it was a black book with red lettering, in the same unknown language that was on his gourd, since they shared one letter, he opened the book, only to find it empty; none of the pages had any writing. He gave up and checked it with the eye of the appraiser.
Appraising¡­
Name: The Cursed Book of the Magi.
Type: Book Weapon.
Quality: Rare (Growth)
Power level: Death Dismantling.
Durability: 100% (Cursed)
Magical Ability: Sell your soul, and you¡¯ll gain power, unimaginable to a mortal, a power to contend with the immortals themselves.
Seph felt chills run up and down his spine, a cursed weapon. He didn¡¯t know what that meant, but he knew to fear it. He stashed it quickly inside his spatial sack, since he knew that nothing inside the sack could harm him. He thought, ¡°This must be the weapon of Atelia Meji, it¡¯s good we''ve got rid of her; if we hadn''t, the goddess only knows what she could have done with a cursed weapon like this. She sold her soul, and could still resurrect from the dead.¡± Seph went over to her to check if she had anything else, and found a ring on her finger. He slipped the ring out and checked it with the eye of the appraiser.
Appraising¡­
Name: Ring Of Defense.
Type: Ring accessory.
Quality: Uncommon.
Magical Ability: Blocks a single attack.
Limit: One use per day.
¡°Oh, another one of those defensive treasures, amazing. I¡¯ll use this one as well. Now I have two charges to block deadly strikes with daily.¡± Seph said, when he noticed the hole that Atelia came out of, he went and peeked inside, only to see it crawling with centipedes. He gulped heavily and found no choice but to check them with the eye of the appraiser.
Appraising¡­
Name: Carrion Yin-Centipedes.
Type: Ingredients.
Quality: Uncommon.
Normal centipedes that ate too many yin-infused dead individuals and ended up yin-cultivated, also used to make yin-cultivation pills.
Location: Found inside the graves of yin cultivators, also found in mass graves of people who died in a great tragedy.
Seph made a disgusted face. He didn¡¯t want to have these centipedes inside his pill, but that¡¯s what it means to be a cultivator. He had to make the sacrifice. He took out one centipede after another, and sucked their energy out of them, killing them immediately before putting them inside his spatial sack. He got six centipedes; they were way bigger than normal centipedes. Seph knew there must be a fourth ingredient here, if they went by the trend that they get four ingredients to make a single pill in each section of this trial, and true enough, when he looked behind him, while standing in front of the biggest tombstone of Atelia Meji, he found that each gravestone had a black glowing mushroom behind it.
Appraising¡­
Name: Death-attuned Mushroom.
Type: Ingredients.
Quality: Uncommon.
A unique mushroom that is rich in yin energy, rumored to be a good ingredient for making food that would energize yin cultivators. A better use would be to always make pills instead, for much stronger effects.
Location: Found in graveyards that are rich with yin energy. The glow can¡¯t be mistaken for anything else.
Seph found six of those mushrooms as well and stashed them inside his spatial sack. With the four ingredients in his sack now, he had a last order of business. He thought that his gourd¡¯s powers looked so much like those of a necromancer. What if he could make those skeleton warriors part of his army? He went over to the place where the whirlwind of skeletons dropped all the bones and opened the lid of his gourd. The gourd sucked them all in, and spat out magical bones to be used like the other bones he owned. He tried to use the gourd on Atelia Meji, but it didn¡¯t work on her; it looked like the curse protected her somehow. Happy with the outcome of this secret room, he left to make the new pills. Chapter 33: Dao seed Seph was projecting heat into the furnace after his mentor told him to add the Carrion Yin-centipedes and Yin-infused bark inside the furnace first. His mentor had told him they had all the ingredients to make a yin cultivation pill, which would replenish his energy to some extent, so that he can cultivate again after running out of energy after getting to Body Dismantling (III). It was the perfect pill for the current stage he was at, while the limit to taking the attribute-raising pills was five of each, and the limit for the yin cultivation pills was ten. Sun was busy doing his own cultivation. Seph had his eyes open. He could see that the monkey was in distress, but he didn¡¯t know what was wrong with him. He hoped everything was okay and resolved to check on him later. The young cultivator was projecting maximum heat, and he was pondering the heat. How it¡¯s important to make these body-enhancing pills, and pills that can get humans to the same level as the goddess or at least close enough. Cultivation wouldn¡¯t be there without using pills. People wouldn¡¯t be able to transcend to the same level as the goddess or the heaven¡¯s host without alchemy. Given he was a mortal three months ago, it¡¯s astounding he could project such high levels of heat. He wanted to be the best alchemist there is, in his era, and the only way to do it was by mastering the heat he was projecting. He thought no house can survive the winter without fire, and no gathering would remain warm without it either. Fire helped people survive and tame the wilderness to their will, and it also brought people together. Fire was also the heart of the blacksmith¡¯s job, pondering that he could almost hear their village¡¯s blacksmith hammering away on hot pieces of iron, shaping them to his needs. He had no issue maintaining the level of heat he was projecting while he pondered. Heat, fire, alchemy, blacksmithing, they were all on his mind. He pondered the heat within himself that made it possible for him to even project this heat, and searched for its source from within his body. Finally, he found it in his stomach, the center of his body. He didn¡¯t know what made this energy come from there, but he knew it made him more familiar with fire, and more able to harness it and use it for his benefit. At that moment, something he didn¡¯t understand happened. It was like he got transported to another place entirely in the sky, where he saw a great orange furnace, as big as an entire planet; he knew because he saw other planets beside it, some bigger and some smaller. He didn¡¯t know how big it was compared to their own planet, especially since he had never seen it in full size before. In the background, there was a great black sky littered with stars. One of these stars was very close. It was the sun of that system, but he could feel the furnace was projecting more heat than that star. The furnace had been working by itself. Without the intervention of a human, or a god, he could feel it had been working for a long, long time. Making a pill. What was this pill for? Who ordered this pill to be made? Or who was making it? He didn¡¯t know the answer to any of those questions. He was looking from very far away, but he could feel the immense heat of this furnace, and he could feel the amazing powers of the pill it¡¯s making. If he could just have a taste of that pill, it would set him for life. It would make him more powerful than anyone on Earth. But he couldn¡¯t touch it or taste it. It was forever out of his reach. Seph didn¡¯t know what was happening. He couldn¡¯t even feel his own body. It was like he was a floating spirit, transported through space and time. He knew this was an opportunity, so he focused on the heat that was making this cosmic furnace work. It was pure; it was so pure that he felt if he could project something that had a taste of this, he would be the greatest alchemist in history. He tried to mimic that heat; he tried to project it by himself, and he could feel himself succeeding to a very miniscule extent. He could feel something forming inside his stomach, a small seed, a small piece of pure fire. It wasn¡¯t as pure as the heat that operated the great furnace, but it was more than anything he could project so far. The seed of fire floated there. At first, it fought with the energies inside his body, but then it settled down. Did it tame the energies of his body? Did the energies of his body tame it? He didn¡¯t know, but he knew he had gained a significant advantage that would help him in his cultivation. ¡°By the emperor¡¯s holy beard! You just made a dao advancement, didn¡¯t you?¡± Zhi said in absolute amazement. Seph was coming down from his all-time high, and answered his mentor quietly, as he was groggy from the trip. ¡°It seems so master, I didn¡¯t know what it was, but you said it¡¯s a Dao advancement, then it must be that.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Great tides, my pupil. Which Dao did you gain an insight into?¡± Seph hesitated, but said, ¡°I think it¡¯s a seed of fire or something. I¡¯m not sure.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you have that skill that shows you your own prowess? Check out what Dao seed you got, and what effect it gave you,¡± Zhi said excitedly. Seph checked his status screen and found a new part about Dao insights. He expanded it.
Dao Insights
Seed of Fire/Early Stage: Increase the chance of high and peak crafts by 5% while decreasing the chance of mid and low crafts by 5%.
¡°Oh, so it¡¯s a seed of fire. It seems I¡¯ve got an insight into crafting!¡± ¡°Splendid, that means now you are a much better alchemist, heavens! Much better at any craft you decide to try your hand on.¡± Zhi was showing genuine glee about the success of his pupil. ¡°Yes, teacher, now I need to finish this pill,¡± Seph said, focusing back on his task, but he found a pill had already congealed inside his furnace. ¡°Master, it looks like a pill has already congealed inside the furnace,¡± Seph asked in wonder. ¡°Oh, then it must have gotten spoiled; your energy went wild when you were having the Dao vision. It went wild in a good way, though; you projected very pure energy, but regardless, it spoiled the pill, you probably made a lesser one.¡± Seph took out the pill from the furnace and examined it with his eye.
Appraising¡­
Name: Lesser Yin Cultivation Pill.
Type: Pill.
Quality: Basic.
Effect: Consume to get 10% yin energy.
¡°True, teacher, it¡¯s indeed a lesser pill. I thought the entire process would get spoiled.¡± Zhi said in his teaching voice, which sounded a little arrogant, ¡°Lesser pills are how we find every single alchemical formula, basically what an alchemist does is, mix two herbs together; if the outcome isn¡¯t a pill, they move on to mix two different herbs, but if the outcome is a lesser pill, then now you know that to make a complete pill, you need those two herbs with two more, repeating this process over and over while wasteful, helps an alchemist eventually know what a complete pill formula needs, and can finally start making it and selling it to make up for all the losses.¡± The alchemist was explaining all this excitedly, probably reliving his days as a new alchemist while telling his pupil the process, then he continued, ¡°A new alchemist would usually start with a formula they¡¯ve learned from somewhere, but after that, they use the royalties earned from selling their single formula to expand their repertoire, it¡¯s the most satisfying process ever, to a real alchemist at least, because lousy ones get disheartened and never end up working long enough to gain more formulae and making their dream as an alchemist come true.¡± ¡°Fascinating teacher. Maybe I have a future in this alchemy thing, if adventuring doesn¡¯t pan out.¡± Seph joked, but with a hint of truth in his words. ¡°Your future is your own to plan and map out. I¡¯m just here as an advisor for the time being. I imagine you won¡¯t stay in this room forever,¡± Zhi said with a hint of sadness in his voice. ¡°No, I must move on after the last garden, but I¡¯ll try to take you with me, teacher. There must be a way.¡± Seph already knew his teacher was bound to the furnace, but his teacher didn¡¯t know that. ¡°REALLY!¡± Zhi shouted in excitement, but then got control of his emotions. ¡°I mean, really? Having to teach you and not read would be inconvenient, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll mind it too much. Some company wouldn¡¯t be too bad.¡± Zhi tried his best to feign annoyance, but he was failing miserably. ¡°We will see, teacher, we will see. Now let¡¯s return to making that pill.¡± Seph put the Yin-infused ebony bark with the carrion yin-centipedes, and projected the heat into the furnace again, maximum heat, as his teacher had told him to do the first time. The mix was tough, but he kept projecting that heat, making it softer, and removing impurities a little at a time. One hour later, he could feel that the mix had lost most of the impurities that the two ingredients had. He then added the third ingredient to the death-attuned mushrooms and projected mid-level heat for another hour. The impurities kept getting cleansed bit by bit, and by the end of the hour, the mix was ready for the last ingredient, the death eater grass; he kept the heat at mid-level, as per and another hour later, the mix had finally congealed into the pill he¡¯s been working on for four hours to get. He checked the pill with the eye of the appraiser.
Appraising¡­
Name: High Grade Yin Cultivation Pill.
Type: Pill.
Quality: Uncommon.
Effect: Consume to get 50% to 70% yin energy.
After that, Seph continued making pills, and he got another high-grade pill, followed by a peak-grade pill, then a mid-grade pill, and finally he was tired again and got a low-grade pill, because he wasn¡¯t paying enough attention. ¡°Now, with these pills, you can reach Body Dismantling (IV). I recommend you take the two high-grade pills to gain enough energy to get to the next level, but do it after you have had some rest. It wouldn¡¯t do you good to cultivate right now.¡± ¡°Thanks, teacher, I will. I need to check on Sun first.¡± Seph headed over to where Sun was cultivating. The look of distress was still on his face. ¡°Buddy, are you alright?¡± Seph asked with a concerned tone. The monkey jumped, scared of his master¡¯s voice, which he didn¡¯t expect while cultivating. After seeing who was talking to him, he relaxed a little and then looked at the ground, sadness filling his face. ¡°What¡¯s up, buddy? What¡¯s wrong? Try to tell me, I¡¯ll do all I can to help you.¡± The monkey shook his head, looking at the ground, sadness overcoming his entire being, then he looked at his master, and put on a fake, wide-toothed grin, shaking his head that nothing was wrong. ¡°Come on, you can tell me anything. We¡¯re friends, right?¡± Seph was worried sick about his companion. He didn¡¯t know what to do. He had no clue what the problem was. Seph definitely didn¡¯t know that the issue had to do with his cultivation. Sun got a hold of his emotions, not feeling that his master could help him with his cultivation, since they cultivated different paths. He shook off the negative feelings, and jumped onto his master¡¯s shoulder, and patted him on the head, and then pointed towards the makeshift bed they were sleeping on, so that they could go to sleep. Seph didn¡¯t want to push the issue right now, and he smiled at his friend; and they both went to sleep. Chapter 34: Muscle Cultivation ¡°The next easy step is cultivating the muscle, and that¡¯s the last step I can guide you through; again using pictures in the same book. After that, it would be better for you to wait for the perfect body dismantling manual.¡± Zhi was floating in the air, no feet under him, speaking to Seph, who was on the ground in a lotus position, trying to enter his meditative state. Zhi continued by saying, ¡°But you will already have gotten great gains from the first 3 levels. That will give you a bigger chance of beating this legacy trial and reaching the finish line.¡± Seph inhaled deeply, and exhaled, inhaled and exhaled, concentrated on his energy, circulating it around his body. He could feel the flow, he could feel himself becoming the flow. This was his new life, becoming familiar with this energy, becoming one with it. He knew how profound it was. He knew its power of creation, as he knew its power of destruction. His next target was his muscles. He never thought of them. They were a means to an end. He didn¡¯t build them to carry water. They grew because he carried water. He never flexed them, never thought they were anything special. His relationship with his peers wasn¡¯t one based on strength, it was based on deceit. They were deceitful; he was gullible. Did they know the difference between them in strength? Did it affect how they choose to deal with him, avoiding physical prowess and focusing on deceit? I don¡¯t think it¡¯s good to think about them now. He always wanted to be one of them, wanted to fit in. But, you can¡¯t make a relationship with people who are always free, while you are always working, it wouldn¡¯t work. Different interests and all that. It obviously affected him, his lack of friends. Will he become friends with some of the yin cultivators he saw in the tournament? He wished, he always wished for friendships, but you don¡¯t always get what you wish for. A friendship not based on honesty is like a leaf in the wind, very fragile, and easily carried away on the wind, never to be seen again. It will crumble sooner rather than later. Seph never explored what he could do with his muscles and what he couldn¡¯t do. He never pondered what they allowed him to do, that he couldn¡¯t do before he had them. The only useful thing other than making work easier to help put food on the table with his dear mother was how his muscles enabled him to help her with any task she gave him, and help her carry anything around the house. Not that they had that many things. Regardless, having the ability to do anything she required was great. But now¡­ Now he had to dismantle those same muscles that were of help to him throughout his life. And then create a facsimile of them, new muscles made of yin energy, made of magic. Yin energy wasn¡¯t magic, but that¡¯s the only way he could think of this process. This wasn¡¯t his real body, this was a body he created with the energy; a body that won¡¯t decompose because he had died. Its expiration date was running out, each time he reached a new level of cultivation he gained more years in his life span. But these years weren¡¯t guaranteed. It was a time where his body would expire, but he could very well die long before that. It wasn¡¯t like the eye of the veteran was privy to the plans of the heavens and knew that he would now die at 40 years of age. Seph focused on circling his energy throughout his wiry muscles and started dismantling them. He went through this process not feeling time, dismantling them one by one, and recreating each before he got to the next. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ***** There was a humble single-storey house made of mud brick. It had plain brown walls, with a plain wooden door, and a single window which you can jump through into the house easily from the street. In front of the house stood a young man; that young man was Seph and that house was his house. He saw it clear as day, but somehow everything felt hazy like he was in a dream. He didn¡¯t know how he got here, and he couldn¡¯t remember the last thing he was doing either. All he knew was that his mother was sick inside the house, and she needed the vitality grass. He took the grass out of his spatial sack and opened the door excitedly, glad that he would finally save his sick mother. He went into the house, called for the doctor, and the doctor came out. With his white robe, he had a small beard, and shaved head except for a ponytail from the top going down the back of his head. ¡°Doctor, I got the vitality grass that mother needs. Please take it and make whatever that will heal her.¡± Seph spoke fast and with lots of hope, because he was excited. He didn¡¯t notice that the doctor looked downcast, but now he noticed. ¡°I am sorry Seph, your mother has passed away. Her body couldn¡¯t handle how late you were, and I couldn¡¯t save her¡­¡± The doctor said with sorrow filling his voice, but also with a hint of accusation that Seph couldn¡¯t help but feel. The earth spun with Seph, and he dropped on the ground on his backside, and his eyes started watering. He tucked his legs toward his chest, and buried his head between them, and let the tears flow. He couldn¡¯t believe that after everything he did, he couldn¡¯t save his mother. He was thinking, what went wrong? Did they cheat him? Was Scorn lying? Did the trial take more than one hour in the real world? At that moment, he gained some clarity. ¡°The trial.¡± He thought, ¡°I was inside of a trial, to become powerful, to save my mother. How did I come to be here?" Everything was hazy, his mind most of all, he didn¡¯t know how the trial ended, but he soon let go of the thought, he was about to get up to check on his mother, he couldn¡¯t believe that he had lost her, and he wanted to see her with his own eyes. He raised his head, only to see his line of sight blocked by a tall man, he looked up towards the man¡¯s face, but as his eyes traveled the man¡¯s body, he saw everything as a darker shade, and he couldn¡¯t even tell what the man was wearing. And when his eyes finally reached the face of the man, he couldn¡¯t make up what he looked like. ¡°What a disappointment you turned out to be, Seph. I can¡¯t believe a son of mine would fail so much that he lets his mother die like that¡­¡± The man paused, letting the words sink in Seph¡¯s mind, before continuing, ¡°I thought I left a man behind me in the house. I thought you would grow up and take responsibility. I thought I would return and find everything better than I left it, and your mother waiting for me, her husband to be back. AND I COME BACK TO THIS? YOU ARE A FUCKING FAILURE SEPH, YOU LET YOUR MOTHER DOWN, YOU LET ME DOWN.¡± The man finished his speech by shouting at Seph. The young cultivator didn¡¯t know what to do. He couldn¡¯t believe his father was in front of him. He couldn¡¯t believe that his father was back. Why is he back? Why now, of all times, is it not enough that I lost my mother? Now I have my father hatefully shouting at me. Why can¡¯t I make up what he looks like? Why is everything so hazy? Seph couldn¡¯t take it, though. This was too much for him, and he exploded, ¡°Where were you? Where have you been all these years? Leaving us poor, leaving us wanting, leaving a woman to raise her son by herself, making me work as young as I was? How could you live your life knowing you left your wife and son behind? What could have taken you away from us? ANSWER ME.¡± Seph was fuming, but his father didn¡¯t speak, and since he couldn¡¯t see his features, he didn¡¯t know what the man¡¯s expression was after what he said. Seph couldn¡¯t take this much longer, though, and he got up and ran towards his mother¡¯s bed. Her room was dark. He couldn¡¯t make out if her body was on the bed or not, but he saw a shade standing there next to the bed. He squinted, trying to see, and he could make out the shade of a woman, as tall as his mother, with her back turned towards him. ¡°Mom? Is that you?¡± Seph said while reaching out to touch her shoulder and turn her towards him, but before he could touch her, she turned towards him. Even though everything was dark, he saw her. He saw she was pale; she was dead, and she was standing there in front of him. She was a yin returnee now. ¡°You let me down Seph, you let me die, and all for what? To chase childish dreams of power and fame and wealth? Look what I have become. Did you really think yin cultivators were good? Now your mother is a yin returnee, and soon I¡¯ll be a yin cultivator too. Do you accept me Seph? Do you accept your mother to be a yin cultivator, too?¡± She spoke in her voice that he remembered, but she wasn''t as kind as he was used to. Her voice was accusing him; she was blaming him; she was challenging him, egging him on. Seph couldn¡¯t believe anything that was happening anymore, and he said, ¡°NO, you are not real. None of you are real, none of this is real. My mother didn¡¯t die. I will not accept this, I will not accept this fate for her, and I will not allow you to make a mockery of her, while I stand here.¡± Seph took his fighting stance, and launched a palm strike towards his mother¡¯s chest, and that¡¯s when his entire world collapsed, that hazy world that felt like a dream, broke down around him, his mother faded, the walls of his house faded into nothingness¡­ Chapter 35: On cultivation and mystic realms Seph woke up from his meditation with a start, and found himself sitting in front of his monkey companion, Zhi was floating there looking at him. Seph had been in meditation for three weeks. It seemed like the nightmare he had showed on his face in reality while meditating, because the monkey and his teacher were worried about him. At least, that¡¯s what he thought it was before talking to his teacher. ¡°Seph, what happened to you? You looked distressed near the end.¡± ¡°I had a terrible nightmare after I broke through!¡± The ghost facepalmed, ¡°Oh dear pupil, I am so sorry. That was probably the test between early level and midlevel of the first cultivation stage. I didn¡¯t know Yin Cultivators had to go through that like immortal cultivators or I would have warned you.¡± Zhi said regretfully. ¡°It¡¯s okay, teacher. It went well in the end. Since I am here, I probably progressed. I am not sure how real that dream world felt. It would have made a difference to know that it was a test. Everything was so vivid, everything I saw and heard hit close to home.¡± Seph felt like he was still out of it somehow. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the entire idea of these tests, to put you up against your fears, and see if you can overcome them. Not a lot of cultivators tell of what exactly happens to them in these kinds of trials. But for some it¡¯s mental, for some it¡¯s physical fights, and it¡¯s not known if the trial comes from within you, or from without. A fail-safe put there by the goddess to stop people from reaching for immortality. I think it¡¯s the latter.¡± Seph looked relieved after what his teacher said, ¡°Well, at least I know what I saw wasn¡¯t a vision of real things that are happening. Even though I faced this vision, I would rather not face it in real life.¡± Zhi looked scared. ¡°Oh boy, you didn¡¯t just say that. If you don¡¯t, let go of those fears. They will keep haunting you more. The target of these trials isn¡¯t just to put you off your cultivation path, but to make you face your fears and beat them. If you don¡¯t beat them permanently, they will just grow stronger, and they will multiply.¡± Seph gulped before saying, ¡°Your words make sense, teacher. I am not sure I can beat these worries. My entire life has been straightforward so far. But since I lost my life, and became a yin cultivator, worries started trickling in. Fears¡­. To be fair, I was already afraid for my mother when I climbed that mountain in those conditions, but the fears are multiplying now. I didn¡¯t have that in me before. I am not sure I am up for the challenge of beating those mental fears, but what I think I can do is.¡± Seph paused for a second, an almost imperceptible change in his posture happened, and said, ¡°To always beat the odds, and beat those fears, maybe I can¡¯t completely remove them from my life, but I can rise above them, I can learn to live with them, I can learn to not let them affect me and destroy me, in ways, even my worst enemies can¡¯t.¡± Zhi was silent for a while before saying, ¡°Seph, mental struggles are a part of life. Maybe the bigger part of life for some who are struggling to find purpose through it all, but you have that purpose, and you have a progression path. With the pressures of life, come the mental struggles; those fears you are talking about, as long as you are alive, you are winning against them. So keep living, Seph.¡± ¡°Well, considering my state, I¡¯ll keep living as best as I can, since I am technically dead.¡± Seph spoke in dry humor, before he checked his status screen, to check his gains.
Name: Seph ???
Class: Undead Buddhist lvl 4
Cultivation Stage: Body Dismantling stage (IV)
Lifespan: 18/45 years
Strength: 45
Dexterity: 19 The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Intelligence: 27
Wisdom: 8
Constitution: 23
Perception: 25
Luck: 10
¡°Oh, nice, I just checked my stats, and I finally got points for dexterity! But what really confuses me is if my fighting style is based on intelligence, what the hell am I gonna do with all my strength points? I just got more!¡± Seph stopped till Sun stopped laughing at his misery again before he continued, ¡°Maybe I can learn a new martial art when I get out of here, that requires close combat, for when I deplete my energy in any of these dangerous fights! Regardless, though, five points in dexterity and strength are good gains. Can¡¯t forget the five extra years in my life span too. I am slowly but surely closing in on my original life span, if it really got cut in half.¡± ¡°Any gains are good gains Seph, right now you are getting them from cultivating and the pills we have been making, but later you could get them from mystic realms, or fortuitous encounters, and so many other venues.¡± Zhi informed him. Seph raised his eyebrow and said, ¡°Mystic realm, aren¡¯t we inside a mystic realm already?¡± Zhi started speaking in his teaching voice again, ¡°I don¡¯t think so, and for many reasons. This is a time compressed zone, made by the forefather of yin cultivation, as you informed me. It¡¯s not a piece of land taken out of time and space randomly to show up here. It¡¯s a calculated design, meant to train new yin cultivators, and pass a legacy on to them, so it really is a legacy trial, not a mystic realm.¡± Seph and Sun were following his words while posting their heads on their fists, and having a deep thoughtful look on their faces, those two were becoming more alike than they realized, ¡°Oh, Oh! Your words make a world of sense teacher, I get it now, so even your gardens are not mystic realms?¡± Seph questioned. ¡°No, not really. All the ingredients you found so far are pretty common, not really something for the powers that be, to bother cutting a mystic realm, especially to transport through space and time.¡± Seph was about to let it go, but then he had another question, ¡°Who are the powers that be, that cut out mystic realms like that?¡± Zhi answered, getting more excited as he continued explaining, ¡°It¡¯s not really known, is it the goddess? Is it someone else in heaven¡¯s host? Is it the hell¡¯s host? Or maybe it¡¯s a long-lost forefather who is looking out for you? Or want to pass on his legacy. Nobody knows, but everybody appreciates the appearance of these mystical realms regardless, and their rare herbs and items. If you ever get any of these, just inform me, I know all the pills you can make from a fire lingzi or a water lingzi, or thunderstruck wood, or a sun ginseng! Or¡­¡± Seph cut him off, ¡°Relax teacher, relax, those are all pipe dreams. We don¡¯t have a single one of these ingredients, but I get what you mean. The cultivation world is sure more exciting than my boring mortal life.¡± Zhi composed himself before saying, ¡°It is more exciting than any mortal life, and the longer you go down the cultivation path, the more exciting it gets. It¡¯s also a very dangerous road, so be very careful Seph, it¡¯s imperative to know which fights to fight today, and which fights to leave for another day, that¡¯s what¡¯s going to keep you alive, long enough for a chance at transcendence, even though, I don¡¯t think I have heard of any Yin cultivator who transcended before.¡± Sun had his eyes wide-open like his master. ¡°Not a single one? Surely there is something wrong with that statistic. I feel that according to the tales, my cultivation progress has been much easier than the immortal path so far.¡± ¡°It might have been so far, but maybe there are hurdles that are much harder in this path than the immortal path, and to get info on that will probably be hard. Because most times, a hurdle in the path of cultivation means certain doom. Always take calculated risks, Seph, not only with your fights, but with your long ongoing struggle against the heavens. Remember, the heavens don¡¯t want you or anyone else to transcend, be it the immortal path, or the yin cultivation path, or the demonic path. The heavens don¡¯t want to give any mortals the advantages you get by being one of the immortal heaven host, the heavens didn¡¯t mean for mortals to be immortals, with every step you take in your cultivation, you are going against the will of the heavens, always remember that.¡± Zhi finished warning Seph, hearing him you could really feel that he cared, while it¡¯s not apparent why he cares so much for Seph already, even though it was a battle to take the youngster as his disciple, he cared about the young cultivator. ¡°Hearing you say that teacher makes me fearful of cultivation. Is it really smart to go against heavens like that?¡± Seph asked worriedly. ¡°You would be a fool not to be fearful of the heavens Seph, but know this, I don¡¯t think you have a choice, while the cultivators of the immortal path have the choice to stop whenever, even though tasting the gains of cultivation corrupts their hearts, and they continue blinded by greed, they can¡¯t help it.¡± Zhi paused for a second before continuing, ¡°Yin cultivators don¡¯t have a choice but to continue cultivating because of what you have become. You have not only gained the wrath of heaven. But gained the fear and hate of the mortals and immortals alike. You can only continue in your path forward, but know that your hard work will pan out in the end. Eventually, very few people will fuck with you, and when they do, you fuck with them, too. You put a stop to them. You make them regret taking you as their enemy.¡± Seph paused for a second before saying, ¡°Yes teacher, I understand what you are saying. I will allow nobody to mess with me.¡± Chapter 36: Revenge of the fairies Only when everyone contributes wood will the fire burn brightly. A Chinese proverb. ¡°I smell filthy Death Qi. An intruder is among us, my darlings. Find him.¡± Seph heard the fairy queen say. He assumed she was the fairy queen because she was 100 times bigger than the rest of the fairies he saw before him. He had entered the last garden in the alchemy trial. There were big red trees all around. Something had scorched the ground in many places. To his annoyance, it was another boss fight; a fairy queen, with about 100 fairies surrounding her. There were the old ones he saw in the first room, and there was a male counterpart that had little melee weapons. He didn¡¯t know what kind of danger they posed with their little weapons. At best, they would prick him. The fairies answered the order of their queen and flew in every direction, trying to find him. He had ducked under a rock once he entered, when he saw their vast numbers. He threw out five hedgehog bones away from his hiding spot, wanting to thin out their numbers before he fought them. The bony hedgehogs tried to scream, but discovered they couldn¡¯t with their new skeletal bodies, and they launched their nails at the fairies. The hedgehogs seemed to focus their attacks on certain enemies while the rest of the nails shot, randomly targeting no one in particular. A male fairy got killed immediately with the nail going through his body, and hitting a female fairy behind him, killing her as well. Seven more fairies died from the barrage of twenty-five nails flying everywhere. And three were severely injured. The rest of the nails missed by different degrees. A few fairies carried away the three that were injured to a haven. The fairies launched their own attack next, and each three fairies ganged up on a hedgehog. The male fairies¡¯ weapons were causing some kind of burning on the hedgehogs that kept eating at their bones. And the female fairies¡¯ bright lights made them spread further on the hedgehogs¡¯ bodies. The hedgehogs had nothing else to attack with, as their quills were part of their hair that they lost when they became skeletons. But they had one last move, and each chomped a fairy, dying by burning along with the fairies they had trapped in their mouths. Seeing that the hedgehogs died already after taking out twelve fairies, and not wanting to enter the fight yet, as he was wary of the fire attacks, Seph launched four skeletal warrior bones into the fray. The skeletal warriors attacked with new bone swords they didn¡¯t have when they were ¡°alive¡±. The fairies flew around the sword slashes and dodged them, but three weren¡¯t that lucky. They went back on the attack, thinking they were safe already, but the warriors made backward slashes from where their swords ended up, changing the course slightly. This caught the fairies off guard, and eight died in the attack. A group of male fairies snuck behind the skeletal warriors, and each flew into the chests of the warriors, and they set them on fire from the inside. All the other fairies flew back, giving the skeletal warriors a wide berth, while the male fairies inside the skeletal warriors continued setting them on fire, in what seemed to be a suicidal attack. The skeletal warriors, to save themselves, started stabbing their own bodies, and their bodies collapsed in a heap of bone and fires on the ground, and the male fairies died in the fire with them. Seph noticed he had taken out about a third of the fairy army, but he still wasn¡¯t confident or willing to put himself or his companion in danger, not when he was so close to finishing the trials. He thought the hedgehogs were way too weak to continue with him in the future fights anyway, so he threw the rest of the bones in the middle of the army. Three skeletal hedgehogs got out, and they tried to scream again. It was like d¨¦j¨¤ vu, and again they launched their nails at the army. Seph tipped the odds in his favor by throwing the bones each time in the middle of the busiest spot where the fairies gathered. The hedgehogs killed six of the fairies with the initial attack, and died again the same way the initial hedgehogs died, after taking out three more with them. Seph thought to try out the mage skeleton, which probably wasn¡¯t such a smart idea in hindsight, since he only had two of them. Once the mage was out, the fairy queen screamed, ¡°This must be their infernal leader! Kill him, my darlings, KILL HIM.¡± Seph thought it really weird that she stood silent so far after watching a third of her army die, but maybe it¡¯s because she can breed them fast enough to replenish her population again. The skeleton mage looked around him in alarm, with his empty eye sockets, and started chanting a spell. The fairies attacked him with their fire, but weirdly enough, they didn¡¯t do any damage, the mage took two minutes to finish chanting, and when he was about done, the queen billowed out with a shrill scream, ¡°NO, RUN, RUN MY BABIES.¡± But it was too late. The mage had cast a firestorm spell on himself that killed him along with every single fairy in the vicinity, except the queen, who was watching from afar. The fairies flew around screaming, while burning, falling out of the air after their wings got consumed by the fire. Some were flying over to their queen, while crying, but their tears were made of their own melted skin. The queen was furious to see everyone she ever cared about die. Tears fell down her face, melted mascara running down with them, which made her even more horrifying. Seph used the eye of the veteran on her.
Name: Deadly Queen of the Fire Fairies
Class: Fairy Queen
Cultivation stage: Body Dismantling (III) A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The young cultivator didn¡¯t even get a time to analyze the words he saw, because he realized that suddenly, the fairy queen was looking straight at him. Oh shit! She must feel magic somehow. That¡¯s probably how she knew how big an attack the mage used, and now she felt me using a magical skill on her. Get your shit together Seph, and fight. Seph thought these words to himself, psyching himself up for the fight. He got out from behind the stone, but was already holding two lumps of pestilence that he threw at the queen back to back. Both lumps hit her, and she screamed at him. The fairy queen was about as big as Seph, but in different proportions. Her body was really slim like the small fairies, but her hips were really wide, and her chest was huge and naked. Seph thought most of her weight was probably in those two areas. She also had big wings on her back, but they couldn¡¯t lift her to fly. So, she was just sitting where she had been all this time, chanting a spell to attack with. Her nakedness surprised Seph, even though her body was ugly compared to that of a human, or at least that¡¯s what he imagined would be the case. He had his eyes wide open. Even though he saw the little fairies¡¯ naked upper bodies before, he never saw a naked chest like that in real life, let alone a pair as big as that. Each one was bigger than his own head. Seph was shocked by the scene. He didn¡¯t even know what his mind was thinking, but he had a buddy who would save him from the allure of seeing his first naked breasts. Sun jumped in the air and hit him flat on his face with the staff. Seph got a comically red staff imprint on his face. ¡°Aww, why did you do that?¡± Seph asked him. Sun just stood there, tapping his foot on the ground in annoyance. ¡°Oh damn it, okay fair enough, you are right, I was out of it for a few seconds there.¡± Sun just gave him a thumbs up in solidarity. Before they both felt a gust of hot air coming their way, a huge fire storm was quickly headed their way. Seph knew immediately that the only way was to dodge. While Sun had already jumped to a nearby tree, swinging from its branches to another tree, and had gotten away fast. Seph was mesmerized by how fast Sun had abandoned his ass, and how fast the monkey was. That brief delay made it impossible for him to dodge the firestorm, and he found himself smack-dab in the middle of it. The defensive charge of his earring got consumed immediately. He didn¡¯t know if it would save him the entire period of the skill, so he ran straight towards the queen, through the storm. Surprisingly, for Seph, the charge lasted him till he was out of the firestorm. He needed to figure out the limitations of his defensive accessories because it was literally the first time he ever depleted one of them. The queen was surprised when she saw him come out of the firestorm right in front of her. Her vast body gave a slight spasm, like she was trying to get away, but she was immobile. The lumps of pestilence were eating away at her, but very slowly, she was immune to the decay to some extent. Even though she looked tired from the last spell, she started chanting another one. Seph walked towards her slowly, an evil grin on his face. Once he was in front of her, he jumped on one of her hips, and lifted his arm up with his gourd following suit, then he brought it down on her head, a sickening scrunch was heard, and he repeated the process until her head was paste on the stone her body was leaning on. Her wings went limp, but they were still shining with light. Seph thought her wings must be special, so he looked in his spatial sack for a sword to cut the wings with, but there was none left. He took an arrow out instead and carved the wings out of her back slowly, and stashed them in his spatial sack for later. After Sun returned to his shoulders, they could both hear the whimpering of fairies coming from somewhere. Seph headed towards a hollowed out upright tree trunk, and inside was a bunch of injured fairies, looking around at the lack of ingredients in this part of the garden, he decided the fairies might be ingredients, and caught each and everyone of them, sucked the life out of them, and put ten fairies in his spatial sack. He started looking around after that for ingredients, and found that on most of the red trees, a single leaf on each tree was on fire, it didn¡¯t look like it was being consumed by the fire, but the fire was instead part of the leaf. He used the eye of the appraiser on one of them.
Appraising¡­
Name: Fire Leaf
Type: Ingredients
Quality: Uncommon
A unique leaf that is rich in fire Qi. It¡¯s orange with distinct lines that look like there is fire coursing through its veins. Used in various alchemical formulas.
Location: Found in forests rich in Fire Qi, with distinct scorched patches in the ground, that show the effect the Fire Qi has on its surroundings. But that¡¯s the only hint, as the trees that grow in these forests coexist well with the Qi, and cultivate using it.
He cut out each leaf and put them in his spatial sack. They were hot, but surprisingly not to the point of injuring him or making his hand catch on fire. He collected twenty fire leaves. Seph felt stumped after finding the fire leaves, and stood there thinking where could be the other ingredients, when Sun pulled at his collar and pointed up, then he pointed with two fingers at his own eyes signifying seeing something, and pointed up the trees again. ¡°Well, if you are trying to say an ingredient is up there, and since you are so fast you left me to die in a firestorm, you little shit¡­¡± Sun cut what Seph was saying by laughing, of course he didn¡¯t mean to abandon his master, but he thought it would be better to run on his own, freeing his master from worrying about him. Seph smiled, watching the monkey laugh, then continued, ¡°Why don¡¯t you go up there by yourself and extract whatever it is we need, so we can leave?¡± Sun nodded his head seriously at him, like he was a soldier who just got an order from his superior, and climbed on top of the trees fast, and came back with a couple of fire stones, before going back up the trees fast. Seph used the eye of the appraiser on the stones.
Appraising¡­
Name: Fire Stone
Type: Ingredients
Quality: Uncommon
A unique red stone that is rich in fire Qi, with swirling fire inside it. It¡¯s very dangerous. If thrown, it will explode on impact with a solid object. Used in various alchemical formulas.
Location: Fire creatures can use their combined energy to make these stones. They use them to cultivate even further, for a much longer time, which is positive energy than what it took to make these stones.
¡°Wow, really interesting. There is a fire Qi theme going on here. We will probably make something that has to do with fire this time, maybe a weapon? Or fire resistant pills? I would rather if it was a weapon, honestly.¡± Sun kept coming down with two stones each time until they had 30 stones. That was the most of any ingredient that they got so far. Seph walked around the area until he found a storage area filled with bottles that were filled with some white liquid. He used the eye on them.
Appraising¡­
Name: Fairy Fire Queen Nectar
Type: Ingredients
Quality: Uncommon
A highly flammable liquid, handle it with caution. This is the urine of the fairy fire queen. It¡¯s very popular among the fairy population. They take baths using this liquid where they soak themselves in to cultivate. Extremely thought-after ingredient for many flame-based weapons, to the point that some merchants deal with the fairies to buy the leftovers of this liquid that they can spare. It¡¯s a much better solution for them than sending adventurers to kill their nests, and then wait for them to appear elsewhere. What they trade with the fairies is a tightly kept trade secret.
Location: You know from where¡­
Seph just stood there wide-eyed, not believing what he just read. He looked at the bottles with disgust and trepidation, because if one falls, he loses all this stash of bottles. He started stashing them one after the other until he had fifty bottles in his spatial sack. ¡°Hmm, we might make some cash selling what we don¡¯t use of these bottles, but I am not taking a bath with them.¡± Sun looked at him quizzically. ¡°Trust me, you don¡¯t want to know, anyway let¡¯s get out of here. I am sick of this trial already and ready to move forward to win this whole thing.¡± Chapter 37: Volatile Seph returned to the library/workshop to find a downcast Zhi floating by himself. He guessed it must be because he thought he would remain alone in this room after Seph had left, but Seph was pretty confident that his theory about the cauldron was true, and Zhi will get to leave the room with him. Sun signaled Seph to be silent, and he went towards the library and took out a book. At that moment, Zhi became alarmed and looked around him, only to find that his pupil and his demonic monkey were back. ¡°Hey, put that book back right now. Stop messing with my books. Seph, take control of that bloody monkey!¡± Sun and Seph started laughing, and they both went toward the Master alchemist after putting the book back in its place. ¡°So, the last trial is done. You are all done with this place after I teach you the last formula.¡± Zhi said, while unable to hide his melancholy. ¡°That¡¯s right, in the last garden we found a lot of fire based items. One of them is so disgusting.¡± ¡°Well, don¡¯t keep me in suspense. What did you find?¡± Zhi asked, regaining his lively, excited voice that he gets each time he speaks about books or alchemy. Seph took out the new ingredients for him, and Zhi said, ¡°Let me guess, among these ingredients you consider the Fairy Fire Queen Nectar the most disgusting. Am I right?¡± Seph said in exclamation, ¡°But Of course!¡± ¡°Fucking Yin cultivators, the fire fairies must be just a snack for you.¡± ¡°Oh, I ate some of them when I started this trial.¡± Zhi face palmed and said, ¡°For fuck¡¯s sake, you all are hopeless, I swear.¡± While Seph just stood there not even realizing what he did wrong with a dumb look on his face. ¡°Well, anyway, it¡¯s time for the final formulas.¡± ¡°You mean formula? As in a single one?¡± Seph asked. ¡°No, formulas. What you got back from that garden has many uses. We will start with the first one of them, the fire-breathing bottles.¡± ¡°Oh, very nice. I was hoping for a fire weapon. Let¡¯s get down to business.¡± ¡°Well, this formula is easy, but dangerous, you will need to make it either after you leave this room, or if you really want to be prepared for whatever comes next, then you will need to go back to last garden, assemble the weapon there, and then come back for the last formula. I can¡¯t risk you assembling this weapon in my precious library. An important rule around here is no fire allowed, and I won¡¯t be able to join you either way, so you need to listen to me carefully.¡± Seph thought for a second, and then said, ¡°That¡¯s fine. We will go back to that fire forest and assemble the weapon there.¡± ¡°Good then. To make fire-breathing bottles, the essential ingredient you need is the fairy fire queen nectar. It is the catalyst for all the other ingredients.¡± Zhi paused before continuing, ¡°Only problem with dealing with the nectar is that it¡¯s extremely volatile, so you need an inhibitor, and what¡¯s better to use as an inhibitor than the creatures that use the nectar for their cultivation?¡± Seph focused intently on what his teacher said, thinking that it all makes sense, and that there are laws to this alchemy. Zhi continued after he paused, to see the understanding look on his pupil¡¯s face, ¡°After the color of the fire fairies change, they become pale after being left for a while inside the nectar, only when they are dead of course, cultivation is a real personal thing for all creatures, and it¡¯s rare to find out the habits of another creature¡¯s cultivation. As I was saying, after their color changes the nectar is safe, and then you just need to close the bottle with a firestone, which works as the activator for the weapon after being thrown, it¡¯s 90% guaranteed to explode in a whirlwind of fire each time. Did you get all that?¡± ¡°Yes teacher, I understand. What happens if I mess up?¡± Seph fearfully asked. ¡°You will end up caught in a whirlwind of fire yourself, so be very careful dealing with this mix.¡± Seph gulped hard, then said, ¡°Yes teacher, I will be very careful.¡± **** Seph and Sun walked back through the portal to the fire forest and found a clear spot to assemble the weapon. Meticulously Seph uncorked the bottle, then took out one of the fire fairies, and folded the wings on its back neatly to dip it into the liquid, he tried to put it in carefully, but ended up dropping it in the liquid, which splashed out on his hand, but luckily didn¡¯t explode. Still, the liquid was like acid on his skin. He left the bottle on the ground and ran away, screaming from the pain. He couldn¡¯t risk knocking the bottle over while he was panicking like that. He took out one of two remaining wolf hearts and pressed it on the wound first, trying to rub off the acid on it, not even sure if that would work, before eating the heart to heal his wound. After the pain subsided, he got up and went back to the bottle, to find that the fairy had indeed changed color. He then took out a firestone and corked the bottle with it instead. It had the perfect shape to plug the bottle¡¯s opening. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. And per the final tip from his teacher, he inspected the bottle with the eye of the appraiser, to see if it worked.
Appraising¡­
Name: Fire-breathing bottle
Type: Throwing weapon
Quality: Uncommon
A very simple but very dangerous throwing weapon; handle with care, or your story will end in a blaze of flames.
¡°Another ominous message by the system. It sure loves scaring the shit out of me with those messages.¡± Seph paused for a second before continuing, ¡°Okay, I need a countermeasure for if things go south, I can¡¯t depend on my last accessory charge, and since there is no water around these parts, I should just collect some sand to have beside me.¡± He paused and directed his talking to Sun and said, ¡°Also, Sun, you need to remain at a safe distance. There is no use in both of us getting hurt.¡± Sun acknowledged his words before both of them started collecting a small hill of sand, then Sun climbed on a tree to keep watch over his master. Seph got to making the bottles, one after the other, and stashed them in his spatial sack, until the last bottle while he was plugging it with the stone, the stone fill inside the bottle, he threw the bottle on the sand hill, and ran away as fast as he could. Ten seconds later he heard the explosion, and could feel the heat behind him, so he jumped forward, but luckily for him, he was far enough to avoid getting scorched. Sun came down fast to check on him, and Seph said, ¡°Damn, this was close, these bottles are crazy. No wonder Esme was scared as fuck from them.¡± Sun was petting him on the back, consoling him. ¡°Anyway, we are done making these bottles. Hopefully, for the last time, let¡¯s get out.¡± **** ¡°I see you are back. Did everything go according to plan for you?¡± Zhi said after perking up on seeing the return of his pupil. ¡°A couple of minor accidents, but everything turned out fine, anyway. I hate to be a greedy student, but I need to move forward, so now, what¡¯s the final formula?¡± ¡°I guess our time is up then. The great Zhi Zixin will return to his lonely, ghastly existence again¡­¡± Zhi stopped talking for a few seconds with a sad but proud look on his face, before saying, ¡°The last formula has to do with your seed of fire, you have 3 ingredients that can influence a dao fruit to give you an insight into the dao of fire, thus advancing your seed, but only issue is, you don¡¯t have any dao fruits, and they are extremely rare, so keep the rest of the ingredients with you until you find dao fruits, or maybe use them in another formula later on, that you might learn without your great teacher.¡± Zhi forced a smile, looking haughty as ever, before saying, ¡°Now shoo. Let me get back to my reading, and good luck in your journey.¡± Seph just stood there, with a warm smile on his face, then he exchanged a look with Sun, who nodded his head to him, and he spoke to his teacher, ¡°Well teacher, there was something I was hiding from you, fearing it might not be the case, but I think you are coming with me. Even though we went through all the gardens, the trial isn¡¯t over yet, and I think it¡¯s because I need to take the alchemy cauldron with me. But the alchemy cauldron is soulbound, and I think it¡¯s your soul that¡¯s bound to it, meaning, we will be inseparable from now on until the day I die, if my theory is correct.¡± Zhi¡¯s eyes became as wide as saucers, before he blurted out fast, ¡°It is the case, soulbound items are items that have a soul bound into them, and it¡¯s sadly a punishment that the powerhouses of the world used to punish their bitter enemies. I thought about this for a while and I guess Scorn got me in the end. I guess this is my punishment,¡± the alchemist finished with a sad, defeated voice. ¡°I am so sorry for your situation master, you shot your shot with Scorn, you came out short, the only way now is to make the best of your situation, until maybe we figure out a way to release your soul from this cauldron, if that¡¯s your wish?¡± Seph¡¯s suggestion shocked Zhi. He didn¡¯t know if it was possible to unbind a soul, but if it was, this kid with goodness in his heart, is the only one who could help him out of his current condition. ¡°If I was alive, I wouldn¡¯t hold my breath for that to happen. But, until then, as long as you remain a bright pupil, I¡¯ll continue teaching you what I know about alchemy. But I have a few conditions.¡± Here we go again, more greedy demands from the eccentric master. Seph chuckled after what he thought and then said, ¡°Yes master, anything you demand will be done, within reason, of course?¡± ¡°Good, I expect nothing less for my great and priceless knowledge. The first condition is, once you¡¯re an established cultivator, and you have your own base of operations, I demand a bigger library, with more books than the one I have here.¡± he paused, and Seph nodded signaling his approval before the master continued, ¡°Second condition is, on matters of alchemy, you never listen to anyone but me, and if needed you will request my permission first before seeking help from someone else.¡± Monopoly of information, to make sure I always need him, typical dictator strategy. ¡°Third and last condition, you hire a servant to polish my cauldron daily, and since that¡¯s something that will happen in the far future, the monkey can handle that task from now on.¡± Sun started screaming and shouting at him in Monkeyese, and Zhi was taken aback a little in fear, but in his defense he didn¡¯t run away, like the time he ran away at the mention of Scorn. Seph calmed down the monkey by saying, ¡°It¡¯s okay Sun, our friend here isn¡¯t corporeal, it¡¯s only fair we take care of him, me and you will take rounds polishing his cauldron, that way the entire job doesn¡¯t fall only on you.¡± Sun calmed down a little, but he still glared at Zhi, warning him of any further requests heading his way. ¡°I agree with all your conditions, teacher. May I always be blessed with your teachings. I think after I take the cauldron and put it in my spatial sack, you won¡¯t be able to get out anymore. Is there anything else I should know or do before we leave this area?¡± ¡°Yes, the most important thing is my library. We will have to take it with us.¡± ¡°What do you mean, take it with us? I don¡¯t have enough room in my spatial sack for all these books!¡± Zhi floated fast towards a shelf and pointed at it, saying, ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem, don''t worry, I have a location spatial ring hidden on this. Shelf, it will enable you to store the entire room. The gardens aren¡¯t coming with us, though.¡± Seph went and looked on the shelf to find a beautiful ring with a blue gem. He felt so envious of his teacher for owning such a fancy ring; he thought it must be so expensive. ¡°Very impressive ring, teacher. You must have been living the life. I will take the cauldron now to end this trial.¡± Seph moved towards the Cauldron and put it in his spatial sack. And true enough, Zhi Zixin disappeared. After that, he wore the location spatial ring and touched one bookshelf. The entire place got sucked into the ring as well. He found himself standing in a place that can only be called the nowhere, but the portal that had appeared once he stashed the cauldron was still there, so he took Sun on his shoulders and they both entered this portal to the next of the last challenges in the trial. Chapter 38: Beast of the labyrinth Part 1 He enters a labyrinth, he multiplies by a thousand the dangers already inherent in the very act of living, not the least of which is the fact that no one with eyes will see how and where he gets lost and lonely and is torn limb from limb by some cave-Minotaur of conscience. -Friedrich Nietzsche Seph materialized inside a great maze. Three walls surrounded him in three directions, with only one way to go. The place stank of manure, and he could hear the rumbling of the breathing of some beast coming from somewhere. ¡°Okay, this is bad. Judging by the stink of this shit, there is a big ass monster lurking around here, and I don¡¯t see well to begin with.¡± Seph whispered to his monkey friend, while trying to squint his eyes and see if there was any danger in the immediate vicinity. Suddenly he heard a loud bang, and a female voice screaming loudly, followed by another loud bang on the wall, and then the heavy running of enormous feet on the ground, undoubtedly the feet of the monster, he thought. But that female voice could only mean that he wasn¡¯t the only one facing this challenge. Who could it be, though? He took out a fire leaf and found that it glowed slightly in the dark, making him see better. He had various ways now to create fire if he wanted, but none of them were quiet, and he didn¡¯t want to face whatever that was on his own. He started moving slowly forward, while hearing the loud foot stomps of the beast coming from somewhere to his right. Sun, meanwhile, sat on his shoulder, holding his own nose closed to block the smell. After moving forward for a while, Seph could feel that not only was there the former female who screamed with him in this challenge, it seemed like there were more. He could hear the occasional loud step or a grunt or various small voices, but there were many people in this challenge for sure. The sounds created by the gigantic beast quietened as well. It didn¡¯t catch whoever it was running after. After a while, Seph bumped into something huge. He looked above him in trepidation, only to find the equally alarmed face of Gabalawi looking down on him. Seph composed himself faster and said, ¡°Shhhh, we think there is a gigantic monster somewhere around here. It¡¯s great to see you again, Gabalawi. We gotta move this way and attempt to rescue whoever it was the girl who screamed, though.¡± ¡°There are more of us here? I thought I heard some noises, but I didn¡¯t guess it was other cultivators, I also didn¡¯t hear any girls scream, good to see you again Seph and Sun.¡± Gabalawi said his tension visibly dissipated a little after finding strong company he can depend on. Seph felt more confident to face anything with Gabalawi by his side, and so they both started heading to the right where Seph had heard the scream. But someone else had gotten there before both of them. **** Esme materialized in the labyrinth after her last challenge. She was back to her melancholic self, after losing the company of Dahlia, who seemed to want to be her friend. That feeling was new to her: friendship, such an alien word on her tongue, a word she never thought she would get to experience. But then they got back to the challenge, and she lost the only person who seemed interested in her. She heard tales about people becoming friends after fighting, but people becoming friends after nearly killing each other is a new tale. She felt she could have died from that fire-breathing bottle that Dahlia threw at her, but Dahlia showed genuine remorse after that, and spent considerable effort to talk with her. She hasn¡¯t seen her since then though, and she doesn¡¯t know if she will survive this Labyrinth, or if Dahlia will survive. She might end up alone again after these trials, or dead. Dead sounds much better, though. She was so lost in her thoughts she didn¡¯t realize her surroundings, or the stench of manure around her, but she finally did when she felt a hot powerful breath coming down on her. She looked up alarmed only to find a humongous metallic Minotaur bearing down on her. She froze in fear, but the Minotaur didn¡¯t give her fear anytime to sink in and attacked her with a huge hammer. She used her new defensive skill of hardening her hair to protect her, and it did, but she got launched back into a wall anyway, which made her scream in pain. She got over her pain, and got up, because the Minotaur was rushing towards her. It swung the hammer again, but she thought fast and held the top of the labyrinth wall with her hair and pulled herself to the next hallway. After the loud bang of the hammer that was targeting her hit the wall, the Minotaur ran towards her, because it knew the labyrinth like the back of its hooves. Esme whined in pain for a few seconds in the next hall, before composing herself and climbing the wall to another hallway. That way, the Minotaur didn¡¯t know where she was anymore. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. She didn¡¯t have it in her to beat this beast by herself. Her hair can¡¯t possibly pierce its metallic structure, and she hadn¡¯t anything else to fight with. She was safe for now, but for how long? **** Dahlia had been searching the halls of the labyrinth for a while, while fanning herself with her foldable fan. She was the only challenger who didn¡¯t have the displeasure of smelling the manure all around. Not only was her fan capable of providing her with scented air. Since she became a cultivator and since she specialized in flowers, her own body gained a certain flowery scent that would make all women envious of her, and would make all men desire her. But she wasn¡¯t thinking of men, not lately. Something about Esme attracted her, her vulnerability maybe? Her solitude? Is she attracted to be the only person allowed in her fortress of solitude? That¡¯s not saying Esme isn¡¯t pretty, she is gorgeous, but rarely would anybody get to notice that. From her hair to her preference of being alone. It was very hard for anyone to approach her. But Dahlia approached her. They became so close in that fight, so transparent, they could really see each other, and through seeing one another, they bonded and became closer. It¡¯s a friendship now, but Dahlia would be lying to herself if she didn¡¯t say she wanted more. Lonely life isn¡¯t kind to her. Her own children surrounded her in the past, also her maids, and occasionally her cheating husband. And even if Esme was used to loneliness before cultivation, the change from normal human to Yin cultivator is radical. You need someone with you through that journey if you are to survive, if you have any hope of not giving up to the darker side of your new reality that keeps tugging you towards evil. She hadn¡¯t seen Esme since the tournament, and she was on her wits¡¯ end with worry about her new friend. She wanted to take her and get the hell out of there; not caring about the blasted big prize anymore, she just wanted to be with her friend forever from now on, get stronger together. Oh, how she would love to call her lover instead of friend, but it would have to wait. She just got her foot into the shell that Esme had surrounding her, she would have to wait to get to that point, for now she just hoped that Esme was okay. Suddenly, she heard the loud scream of a voice she knew so well. It¡¯s Esme! She became fearful for her friend¡¯s life suddenly and ran towards the voice. She didn¡¯t know what she would have to face, but she knew she would face anything to save her friend. After running for a while towards where the scream came from, she came face to face with the angry Minotaur beast. She was taken aback by its sheer size, but acted fast and made a whirlwind of flowers circle around its face, it was obvious the flowers were not harming its metallic hide, but they were doing a good job of distracting the angry Minotaur, since it stopped advancing and kept trying to shoo away the flower petals. Each once in a while it would lash out at Dahlia with a hammer strike, but Dahlia used a new skill she got that made her sprint away faster with the ground under where she started and where she ended turning into a flower bed. She didn¡¯t know how she would beat this, especially with Esme not helping her. The poor girl must have been scared out of her wits and hiding somewhere and didn¡¯t realize that her friend came to her rescue. **** Seph and Gabalawi could hear sounds of fighting from afar, the occasional bang from the gigantic monster, and the sound of a fast moving wind. Seph thought it must be someone else other than the first person the monster attacked. Both guys sped forward towards the sounds, with trepidation in their hearts as they saw many barebone skeletons in their way. They kept thinking, what could strip the bones of flesh this clean like that? Eventually, they reached the familiar beautiful figure of Dahlia, and found that the air smelt better here. Gabalawi screamed, ¡°DAHLIA!¡± Before he stomped the ground with his foot and the speeding fissure in the ground headed straight for the beast, Dahlia was in the way, but she sensed it and jumped before it hit her. The beast was about to land a hit on her in midair, but the localized earthquake made it unstable, and made it hit itself with the hammer instead. This stopped it in its tracks for a few seconds for the group to compose themselves. Weird black lumps fell from the beast¡¯s face where the hammer hit it, and the face seemed slightly smaller than before. Gabalawi¡¯s shout earlier helped Esme as well to know that her friend was fighting, and that someone came to her help, so she got out of her hiding and headed towards the voices. ¡°You have the best defensive capabilities out of us. I suggest you tank it while we attack it or distract it with you.¡± Seph told Gabalawi, who just nodded back stoically and headed to the front of the formation. ¡°I can distract it with my flower whirlwinds.¡± Dahlia told Seph. ¡°That¡¯s okay, then the only damage dealers on this thing will be me and Gabalawi, I¡¯ll try to circle around it and hit it from behind, were you the one who screamed earlier, or is there a fourth member in our team?¡± ¡°Esme is here. I was close enough to recognize her scream. I sure hope she is okay. In the meantime, we have to take care of this behemoth before we look for her.¡± Dahlia answered him with a worrisome look on her face. ¡°I agree, don¡¯t worry. I faced many bosses before getting to this point, and I bet Gabalawi did the same.¡± Seph used the Eye of the Veteran on the monster before getting into the fight.
Name: Metallic Beast of the Labyrinth
Class: Minotaur
Cultivation stage: Body Dismantling (V)
Only one stage above us, not too bad¡­Wait a minute, what is this tingling sensation I am getting from the Eye of the Veteran? Seph looked inward towards his skill, and a screen popped up.
Quest
Eye of the Veteran lvl 3: Identify 10 unique bosses.
Progress: 4/10
Shit! I had totally forgotten to check on this quest. Very interesting though, 10 bosses and again it¡¯s counting in retrospect, so I got 4 already, 6 more to go. This shouldn¡¯t be a tough quest to finish, either. After these thoughts, Seph focused on the fight, as the Minotaur had already restored his equilibrium and was about to attack again. Chapter 39: Beast of the labyrinth Part 2 Trust not the horse, O Trojans. Be it what it may, I fear the Greeks when they offer gifts. -Virgil Gabalawi took his defensive stance in front of the Minotaur while Seph circled around to its back, thinking of targeting the legs from behind. Flowers were circling The Minotaur¡¯s face, even though they had a sharpness to them, they couldn¡¯t pierce its metallic hide. The Minotaur ignored the whirlwind of flowers, and attacked with all its might. The huge hammer swung down, targeting Gabalawi. Gabalawi wasn¡¯t sure to avoid or attempt to block, but he resolved to trust his strength and launched a double fist strike towards the oncoming hammer. To his and everyone¡¯s surprise, his strike was strong enough to repel the hammer that it hit the face of the Minotaur for the second time in this fight. A big lump of black substance dropped from the stricken beast''s face, but instead of the face becoming slightly smaller this time, the body became smaller instead and the face regained its original form quickly. There was something about this beast they couldn¡¯t put their finger on, something inexplicable. What were the lumps that kept dropping each time they hurt the beast? That wasn¡¯t the only effect of the strike though, for the monster tumbled backwards and dropped on its back on the ground. Seph narrowly escaped getting crushed by it, but right after he avoided that gnarly fate, he started launching palm strikes toward the huge Minotaur. With each strike landing, smaller lumps dropped from the monster. Seph thought that must be the difference between his strength and Gabalawi¡¯s strength. But while Gabalawi had the advantage of sheer power that seemed to only be getting stronger, Seph had the advantage of being able to land multiple strikes in fast succession. The beast seemed to have dropped 5% of its weight mid-fight. The black lumps started evaporating, unleashing a foul stench, but Dahlia made a new whirlwind that drove the smell away from their immediate vicinity. The Minotaur lashed out with its backhand, hitting Seph, who flew back, hitting the wall behind him, but it didn¡¯t hurt badly. The beast rose to its feet again and tried to stomp Gabalawi instead. It wasn¡¯t very smart really, because its foot was more vulnerable to his attack than its hammer. The beast fell down again, and Seph ganged on it with his palm strikes once more, but to everyone¡¯s surprise Esme showed up, and she started attacking with her hair as well. At first she thought she couldn''t pierce its metallic structure, but it turned out she could since it was only a metallic hide. She just had to focus her hits on the same area, not allowing it to heal fast enough. The monster attempted to backhand Seph again, and he succeeded, which made Seph feel stupid. It had reduced in size 10% more and it was looking less and less scary. It looked at Esme with glaring angry eyes before it tried to get back up, which gave Esme an idea. Gabalawi had the idea not to let it even get back up, so he stomped the ground with his feet after giving his party a warning. The Minotaur couldn¡¯t hold his ground against the localized earthquake, and fell on its behind. Gabalawi ran straight towards the monster and struck it twice with his fists on its stomach, making it lose its composure even more and fall on its back. Looking up at the ceiling, it suddenly saw a mass of hair right in front of its eyes. Earlier, Esme got the idea of blinding the beast, and she did just that when she launched her hair spikes down on the fallen beast. Surprisingly, it didn¡¯t even seem to hurt more than it usually did, and what¡¯s even more surprising was the fact that even blind the Minotaur hit Esme away, but she protected herself by blocking the hit with the hardened hair. The team breathed a sigh of relief that they have to fight a blinded beast now, that had already lost 25% of its mass. Seph was the most relieved out of all of them. He was landing palm strikes with not a care in the world, not worried at all that the beast could hit him now. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. But the beast did and launched him back again. He felt something crack in his back this time. He was hurting, so he took out his last wolf''s heart and ate it. Not only did the monster attack Seph, but he also launched his hammer at Gabalawi, knowing exactly where he was. Gabalawi screamed, ¡°He is not blind! Take care, everyone, he can still see somehow.¡± He dodged the hammer strike this time because the monster caught him off guard. The team looked stumped and just stared at the monster¡¯s eyes healing in front of them. But this time, they noticed some things moving on the Minotaur¡¯s face, heading for its wounded eyes. Seph used the Eye of the Veteran on them.
Name: Metallic Slime
Class: Slime
Cultivation stage: Body Dismantling (I)
¡°Wait! What the actual fuck! There are slimes moving on that beast and healing it! Where the hell did they come from?¡± Seph screamed the new information to his team. The beast didn¡¯t give Seph a chance to think and attacked him with the hammer, but he dodged. ¡°Focus on the fight now. We will figure out the rest later.¡± Gabalawi screamed back, trying to keep everyone alive as the team¡¯s tank he felt it was his responsibility to keep everyone alive. The monster was as tall as the wall now, at the beginning of the fight he towered over the wall with 6.5 feet. But it all meant that he was easier to manage at this point. The Minotaur attacked Gabalawi again with his hammer, and again he blocked it, launching it back, only this time the monster was much shorter than the beginning of the fight, and instead of hitting him in the face, the hammer just flew away from the beast¡¯s hands. It fell back again, and the team ganged up on it. When it tried to strike Seph this time, he struck the hand away with a palm attack, and because the beast was smaller, it worked. The beast tried to grab Gabalawi instead and with it now being 65% of its original size, Gabalawi just overpowered it and forced its palm open. At this moment, the monster did something none of them could expect. It split in half, all while morphing into a new shape, and from each half came forth a metallic warhorse, each one 2.5 meters tall. They both stood on their hind feet and neighed loudly before breaking into a fast gallop. Seph used the Eye of the Veteran on the new creatures.
Name: Metallic Warhorse
Class: Horse
Cultivation stage: Body Dismantling (III)
How could this be happening? First a Minotaur, and then I see slime healing it. Now two warhorses? Seph thought to himself, completely not focusing on the fight. ¡°Wake up, you idiot.¡± He heard Esme scream at him. He woke from his absent-mindedness to notice her barely steering one of the war horses that was about to run him over. ¡°I am taking care of this one. It can¡¯t harm me with no hands. Help the others fast!¡± Seph looked to the side to see the other horse run into Gabalawi head first, and it was head wrestling with him, pushing him towards the wall. Seph ran toward him while thinking, These things must be made from the metal slimes somehow, if I were to fight a monstrous warhorse I would target its feet they are vulnerable, but if I am fighting a warhorse made of hundreds of metal slimes, then the smartest choice would be to target where it has the most meat. Seph arrived behind the horse and landed two palm strikes in fast succession on its hindquarters. A big lump of what Seph assumed was dead slimes fell down, but the horse kicked him with its hind legs, sending him flying backwards. Gabalawi used the opportunity that it was not on all four and wrestled its head to the ground, and landed two fists to its face, completely smashing it. This sequence reduced its size by 10%. The horse rose to its feet, with a mangled neck and no face, and attempted to run away. Gabalawi grabbed its tail fast to prevent it from doing that, when the damnest thing happened. The horse discarded its tail somehow with part of its hindquarters and ran away. Gabalawi looked with disbelief at the chunk of metallic meat in his hand, when it split into ten metal slimes that seemed to be disoriented. He stomped all of them until there was nothing left. ¡°They are made of these slimy things?¡± Gabalawi spoke out loud to himself. ¡°Yes, they are called metallic slimes. I guessed this already, but we were in the middle of fighting this warhorse, so I couldn¡¯t tell you fast enough.¡± Seph said from behind him. ¡°What do we do now? One ran away, and the other had Esme on his back.¡± Gabalawi asked quizzically. ¡°We should go after the one that ran away from us. I am confident that Esme can handle hers. She seems like someone who knows how to pick her fights since she avoided the Minotaur when she was by herself.¡± ¡°I agree, let¡¯s go, I hope it doesn¡¯t get faraway, I am already tired from this fight.¡± Gabalawi said with a weary look on his face. ¡°What about me? I feel so useless in this fight, I hate it.¡± Dahlia spoke suddenly. They looked at her and found her standing there with an angry face, with her hands crossed under her ample bosom. ¡°Oh Dahlia, I am very sorry we are just too caught up in the fight, I suggest you go after Esme, if you find her in trouble distract the monster enough so that you can get back to us.¡± Seph answered her in a soft tone trying to soothe her anger. ¡°Humph, okay, you both better not be thinking I am an easy opponent you hear?¡± she warned while glaring at them. ¡°I¡¯d rather have you as a friend, Dahlia.¡± Seph said while chuckling nervously. That caught her off guard, and she spun around and started running towards her friend. ¡°Hunted, we are no more. Let the hunt begin. The hunter now becomes prey.¡± Seph threatened, and they both went down the hallway the warhorse ran towards. Chapter 40: Beast of the labyrinth Part 3 Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in! -William Golding In another part of the maze, Esme had two hair locks stabbed in the warhorse¡¯s side to anchor her in place. While her other two hair locks, which were her maximum fighting capabilities at this moment, kept stabbing the face of the horse. Black lumps of dead metal slime kept falling in their wake, and a path of stench led to wherever they would go, which should help Dahlia find her friend later. The warhorse tried to get Esme off of its back with all its power, so it kept scraping against each side of the wall, but Esme would lift her leg and hang onto the horse from the safe side each time. She was the natural enemy of this warhorse, there was no saving its hide from her. Once 40% of its size had been reduced, the warhorse split again into a different animal. This time it was wild-boars. It split into 5 of them, each one weighing 100 kilograms, each one 75 centimeters tall. They looked non-threatening compared to the beasts the team faced so far, but easier said than done. This fight was too much for Esme by herself. She didn¡¯t know that, though. First thing she did was to strike the closest wild boar with all her hair hooks. This attack proved fatal for the already too small hive of metal slime. Half of them survived, but they couldn¡¯t keep the shape of a wild boar, or the shape of anything else, for that matter. The metal slimes divided and started wiggling in place, disoriented, after losing their collectiveness that makes them more dangerous. Another wild boar charged Esme from her back, and launched her forward. The hit was so painful, especially because she is a frail girl. She screamed in pain, and because of the tight quarters, the scream echoed back to Dahlia, who ran even faster toward Esme. Esme thought, I can¡¯t win this fight. I should retreat for now, but not too far away, since they aren¡¯t the tall behemoth that the Minotaur was. I can just lurk on top of the wall and wait for my opportunity. Maybe someone will come to help me out of this dilemma. She latched onto the wall with her hair hooks and perched on top of the wall. The boars screamed, grunted, and growled at her up there, but they didn¡¯t move faraway from under where she was perched. After a while, she could hear the running footsteps of someone coming. By how light they sounded, she expected it would be Seph or Dahlia. Dahlia was her friend, but she hoped those two knuckleheads didn¡¯t send Dahlia over. She wasn¡¯t as strong. If it was up to her, she would have sent Seph for help, since Gabalawi seemed capable of taking one of these beasts on his own. Two of the remaining wild boars ran toward the oncoming footsteps, and she thought that if Dahlia was the one coming, she would be in trouble, so she had to attack. Luckily, two wild boars were manageable for her, and she jumped hooks first towards the closest wild boar, which didn¡¯t have any chance to do anything before it disintegrated into the smaller seemingly harmless metal slimes. The other wild boar tried to charge her, but she did an agile backflip posting on her hair hooks, and landed behind the wild boar, and the rest was history. After disposing of her two enemies, she ran towards the oncoming footsteps that she heard earlier, only to find Dahlia running towards her away from the wild boars coming after her, she must have used her movement skill to get past them, and was now running away from them. Once Dahlia saw her friend coming towards her, she conjured up a flower whirlwind on one boar, which halted its progression, and Esme latched all her hooks into the other wild boar, ending its existence immediately. From all the excitement and adrenaline rushing through her body, Esme didn¡¯t notice, when she practically ran towards the last boar, with all four hair hooks instead of using her legs or hands! One hook stabbing into the ground after another. The scene was horrifying, but Dahlia was in love. She loved that her crush was stronger, was getting more acclimated to the world of cultivation, maybe even faster than her. Esme finished the last boar, and the two girls got an alarm sound in their brain and a mental screen, the kind Seph uses all the time, that told them how many metal slimes were remaining in the trial. Immediately the number started going down 1 by 1, and the women started doing their job as well to finish the remaining metal slimes. **** Gabalawi¡¯s and Seph fights were much easier. Once they caught up to the runaway warhorse, they found it had recovered its head, but the horse was 15% smaller than when they fought it. Seph launched a palm strike towards the horse¡¯s back leg. In order to stop it from running away, the leg broke, and the rest of it disintegrated into multiple wiggling metal slimes. This gave the chance for Gabalawi to catch up, and he wrestled the horse to the ground again, and punched its head clean off. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Seph was working on the horse from behind landing his own strikes, and as the horse got up groggily on its feet, Gabalawi landed a few punches as well, they had beaten the horse thoroughly and it had reached the point of having to morph again. Once the five wild metallic boars split up, Seph and Gabalawi didn¡¯t give them any time. They scoffed at their size and weakness, as each of them had taken on much tougher opponents coming up to this point. Gabalawi would take one boar and punch it into disintegration, while Seph would take another and land palm strike after palm strike until it was no more. The fight was over before it even began. It wasn¡¯t even a fight; it was a massacre, a much more powerful opponent bullying a much weaker one. And once they got the alarm and the count for how many metal slimes were left, they started smashing those as well. Once the fight was over, they both saw a light come from somewhere, it was static in a certain area, so they thought it must be the portal out, and both of them started walking through the maze, trying to figure out the right way. Meanwhile, in another part of the maze, Esme held Dahlia close to her side, before using her hair to climb on top of the wall. They saw from their vantage point the right way and started moving towards it. With this advantage, they arrived first, and found four pedestals with a prize on top of each one. Esme got attracted to a bottle that seemed to contain oil for her hair. She thought it must be useful for her cultivation. Dahlia found a flower kimono among the items. Since her current kimono was mundane, and had no magical properties. She thought, ''After this dangerous fight, there is no way the prize is a fashion item,'' so she took the kimono. To Esme¡¯s ultimate surprise, Dahlia took off her old kimono right there in the open. She was wearing only a sexy koshimaki. Despite wearing a sarashi breast binding, her breasts were still huge. She didn¡¯t wear it to bind them and cover them completely or futilely attempt to flatten them, but to constrict their natural movement to allow her easier time during action sequences. Esme¡¯s cheeks became a deep shade of red, and her head felt like it was steaming. She couldn¡¯t stop looking for two minutes straight. Dahlia was amused by her effect on Esme, so she feigned stumbling with the kimono, trying to find its front from its back. Once the twenty-year-old took control of her faculties and looked away, Dahlia started putting the kimono on properly. The men arrived while Dahlia was tying her kimono while her back was to them, so they saw nothing, but they noticed how flustered Esme was and how red her cheeks were. They innerly wondered what happened, but not for long as they saw the prize pedestals. Gabalawi ran immediately towards a helmet that looked to be the same design as the rest of his titan gear. That left only one prize for Seph, who couldn¡¯t help but wonder if maybe he lost a wonderful prize that he could have taken. On top of the pedestal was a very weird, big circular metallic contraption, with many arrows in the middle. Seeing the words ''north, south, east, west'' made him realize that it¡¯s some kind of compass, but it was much more complicated, with one arrow only dedicated to pointing direction, but there were four more arrows on the contraption. All of them looked to have no particular direction, so they kept on moving wherever. Seph wondered if maybe the cause behind that is that they are inside a legacy trial. He used the Eye of the Appraiser on the compass.
Appraising¡­
Name: Feng Shui compass
Type: Compass
Quality: Super Rare
Want, Need, Desire
Magical Ability: Karmic connection to the owner.
Okay! That doesn¡¯t really tell me much about anything. Seph was thinking to himself, before he noticed the group had converged around him. ¡°Great job in the fight, Seph. I am not sure if you have grown stronger, but you are definitely more accustomed to fighting now.¡± Gabalawi said with a hard face as usual, he really carried himself like he had a stone wall between him and other people, maybe afraid of getting hurt like he was his entire life in the tribe. ¡°Thanks Gabalawi, you have grown as much, or even more. Having you with us in this fight guaranteed that we lost nobody. I hope we collaborate again in the future outside of these trials.¡± Seph said while smiling. ¡°I hope that too!¡± Esme said loudly suddenly, before she realized everyone was looking at her now, and she became shy again, and hid her face with her hair, peaking shyly from behind it. ¡°Esme is right, I am sorry I wasn¡¯t much help in this fight, but I¡¯ll work to improve more, and next time you guys will count on me, guaranteed!¡± Dahlia said with a glint of challenge in her eyes, before she continued, ¡°But I don¡¯t think I can continue with these trials anymore, this fight was too dangerous, I am gonna leave the trials, no need to go after the grand prize, what I got is already plenty enough, and once outside, I¡¯ll work vigorously on cultivating to hone my skills, and figure out how to get new ones.¡± ¡°Me too, I don¡¯t want to continue anymore, good luck to you guys, I can¡¯t imagine after your impeccable performance that you would give up, but I have to leave, I would also love it if I don¡¯t lose touch with Dahlia anymore, me and her are friends now.¡± Esme told them while looking at Dahlia with puppy eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t want to lose touch with you anymore as well darling, together nobody will beat us outside.¡± Dahlia said while smiling sweetly to her friend. ¡°Don¡¯t sell yourself short, Esme, you did great. I can¡¯t imagine facing the Minotaur by myself either, and you took care of one warhorse by yourself.¡± Seph said encouragingly to Esme before he continued, ¡°And you Dahlia, you were a great help, the way you distracted the Minotaur, and the way you drove away the foul stench with your aromatic winds helped us in the fight. We can¡¯t imagine what would have happened if these foul smells had another effect that would harm us. I wish you both the greatest of luck in the future, but yeah, I am not leaving the trial. I am continuing.¡± At this moment Sun screeched approving his master¡¯s decision from his shoulder, he didn¡¯t take part in this fight as it was too dangerous so he spent most of the fight watching from the top of a wall, trying to find the moment where maybe he could join in and fight as well, but there was no such a moment the entire fight. The four yin cultivators said their goodbyes and continued through the portal. **** ¡°Congratulations on making it this far. This is the last challenge in the trial, and this is the last chance to leave early. If you wish to leave early, decide now.¡± Seph heard the detached voice of Scorn. He voiced he wanted to continue, but he had to wait for one minute before the voice continued speaking. ¡°Next are three trials back to back. First is a heart test. Second is a mind test. Third is a soul test. The tests are a mystery even to me, as they are very complicated, and we used high-level specialists to make them. Good luck in the last trial. We only need one person to win. A few of you made it this far. May the best man win.¡± Chapter 41: Heart Listen to your heart. It knows all things. - Paulo Coelho Seph found himself atop a mountain, with foggy memories. He didn¡¯t know how he got there, but instinctively he knew he needed to get to the base of the mountain. Seph found a pouch on his belt, reaching inside with his hand. He found there were herbs inside. He didn¡¯t know what they were for, but his mind told him he needed to deliver them at the bottom of the mountain. Not knowing what else there was to do, he headed down the mountain. Some places were challenging to get through, but that didn¡¯t dissuade him from continuing down his path. At one point he reached a plateau, and there was a very rich merchant standing there looking around, all haughty, and cool, like he hadn¡¯t a worry in the world. ¡°Stranger, am I glad to see you? I have been stuck on this mountain for a while now. There is a monastery on top of the mountain with a pathway to a hidden city that is filled with riches nobody can imagine. I need help to get there with my chest of precious wares, and I¡¯ll pay you one thousand gold coins now, and another thousand gold coins when we reach our destination.¡± The rich merchant said and then unfastened a heavy pouch from his belt and shook it in front of Seph. Seph stopped for a second, feeling very confused. Why was that merchant trusting him so easily? Even if he had a way to guarantee that no one but himself could make use of his valuable chest, 1000 gold coins were still a vast wealth. That could make you a target by any evil doer. ¡°Hello good sir, I just came down the mountain top, and I didn¡¯t see any monastery. Are you sure of your information?¡± Seph replied. ¡°Of course, my friend, the top is a sizable area, and the monastery is well hidden out of sight, but I know the way.¡± Seph eyed his gold pouch, and thought, That¡¯s a lot of money, but I feel I need to get to the base of the mountain. My heart tells me it¡¯s paramount I get there. I am really poor, but maybe my goal is more important than the gold this man offers me. I can¡¯t tell what my goal really is, but can gold replace family? Can gold replace friends? Can gold replace our loved ones? This merchant is getting impatient and is looking around for another one to help him. I need to decide now. ¡°I am sorry good sir, I appreciate your trust and the opportunity you put in front of me, but I really need to get to the base of this mountain for something of great importance,¡± Seph said with a sorry look on his face. ¡°What could be more important than riches and gold, my friend, or seeing that which is legendary, like this amazing city I am telling you about?¡± The merchant said with a mischievous smile on his face. ¡°Many things to recount in the short time I have left before I have to continue on my way. I wish you the greatest of success in your journey, and thank you for the offer.¡± ¡°Well then, good luck on your journey, my friend. May Karma watch over you.¡± Seph continued down his path, his mind second guessing his decision of leaving this wealth behind, but his resolve was firm. He had no regrets. After making it down another quarter of the way, there was another plateau, this time with an old cultivator standing there, who seemed to have been looking at where Seph was coming from, even before he became visible. Seph looked at the cultivator with trepidation. He knew that the person standing there was much more powerful than him. Probably could snuff his life out with a snap of his fingers. He was wary of him, but he knew there was nothing he could do if this old cultivator had ill will towards him. Seph thought to make nice with him, and humble himself, maybe he could mellow any ill intentions that way, so he said, ¡°Greetings old master, my name is Seph, a newbie cultivator, how may this humble servant serve you this day?¡± He bowed deeply while saying that. The old master looked satisfied with the greeting and said, ¡°Greetings, Young Seph. Where might you be headed right now?¡± ¡°I am headed down this mountain, master. There is something important that I have to do.¡± ¡°I see. What if I told you I had an opportunity for you, and that you can¡¯t go down this mountain? If you take my offer, that is.¡± The old master said with a glint in his eyes. ¡°I am afraid I can¡¯t Master. I feel like I really have to get to the base of this mountain. Something strong is pulling me down that path.¡± The old Master gave Seph a threatening look before saying, ¡°Come on now, son, you didn¡¯t even hear my offer. You see, I have been looking for a new disciple to pass on my legacy to, and I strongly feel that you will make a great disciple to honor my name long after my passing. We are talking power beyond what you can even imagine.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Seph was about to open his mouth when the old master suddenly snapped his fingers, and a tree beside them crumbled into nothing in the blink of an eye. Seph gulped heavily, even though his mouth was dry from fear. He thought, Is this not why I became a cultivator? To achieve power beyond my imagination? Now that I think about it, I don¡¯t remember how I became a cultivator. Despite that, this offer is too good to turn down. If only I knew what I would lose if I didn¡¯t make it to the bottom of this mountain, which my entire being was pushing me towards. Also, I have to consider the scary power this old master is displaying. Will he take no for an answer? Or will he decide that me turning him down is too rude, and snuff my life out where I stand like that poor tree? Oh shit, I need to decide faster now. That monster is eyeing me with impatience already. Seph said tentatively, ¡°If you have been looking for a disciple for a long time, then surely you could wait for me to get down this mountain, finish my task and then come back to you?¡± The old master snorted before saying, ¡°I am looking for a bright disciple Seph, not a bloody moron. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Masters like me are rare, disciples like you are a dozen for a gold coin. Last chance now. The next words coming out of your mouth better be yes or no. I have no more time to waste on you.¡± Seph felt weird, like he had heard those same words before. ¡°I am afraid I can¡¯t accept your generous offer, master. Please forgive me, but I have somewhere I really need to be.¡± The old master looked at Seph with disgust, before he rubbed a ring he was wearing. A flying gourd came out of it right under his feet, and he flew away out of sight in an instant. I am just glad I didn¡¯t get killed. Whatever is waiting for me at the bottom of this mountain better be worth it. It really feels like these people are conspiring to make me not reach the base of this mountain. Seph continued his way down the mountain, some ways down, where he could already see a village at the bottom, a village that looked very familiar to him. He saw a young man that looked really humble, unlike the last two rich people he met. He was standing with his back leaning on a tree. Seph breathed a sigh of relief and thought, No way this guy will make me an offer I can¡¯t refuse, I can rest easy, and just say hello while passing him or something. Before Seph could open his mouth, the guy spoke, ¡°Oy, Seph, where have you been for a while? How could you go away for this long and not tell your best friend?¡± Seph felt very confused. He hadn''t seen this guy before. Also, his age was close to that of himself. Just what is happening? This is the weirdest road I have ever gone down on. ¡°I am very sorry. I don¡¯t know who you are. Do we really know each other?¡± Seph told the young man with a doubtful face. The guy had a surprised look on his face, with his upper body leaned back in shock, like he couldn¡¯t believe his ears. ¡°What are you talking about, Seph? I am your friend, Sun. How can you not remember me? We spent our entire lives together. We saw each other daily, before you went and disappeared suddenly.¡± Sun, that name does sound familiar. It sounds like the name of a dear friend, but I can¡¯t place his name on that face. It¡¯s less hairy or something. Seph was lost in thought, as his so-called friend was still standing there in disbelief. Maybe I should just talk to him, play along, and see what he wants. ¡°Haha, you should have seen the look on your face. Of course I remember you Sun, how have you been doing? I am sorry I left suddenly.¡± The surprise disappeared from Sun¡¯s face in an instant, and he spoke loudly and excitedly, ¡°You totally got me, ever the prankster you are, I am doing pretty good, but I have exciting news for you, that I can¡¯t wait to tell you.¡± ¡°What news do you bear?¡± Seph asked, still wary of this guy, but he couldn¡¯t help but listen. ¡°Remember, you told me before that you would give anything to know who your father is? While you were away, a man came to your house, and he was speaking loudly to your mother while I was passing by. I thought she might be in danger, so I listened in. You won¡¯t believe what I heard. That man was your father. I kept listening in, and when he came out I hid, and then followed him up this very mountain, and I learned where he was staying. It was a long journey, but I thought you really wanted to learn, so I had to follow him to his destination. If you want, we could go right now over to the city where he is staying, and you can either ask around about him, or you can even talk to him and learn why he abandoned you and your mother.¡± Seph was very confused. Somehow his mother had totally slipped his mind. Was that who he needed to get to the base of the mountain to meet? He also forgot the mystery of his father, but if true, he wanted to know. He needed to learn who that man was. ¡°That¡¯s great news Sun, I¡¯ll go down to meet my mother, and then we can head on this journey together.¡± Seph said his heart was full of excitement but also trepidation, of what he might learn. ¡°I have things to do later tonight, so I was thinking if we make haste now, we could reach your father, and I¡¯d leave you there and return to attend to my work, so what say you? Your mother can wait. This father of yours has been a mystery all your life since he left you both.¡± Why is it that everyone I meet wants to stop me from reaching the bottom of this mountain? This feels really suspicious. Also, how could I forget my mother? I remember vaguely now that she needed medicine, and that¡¯s why I embarked on this journey to begin with. I won¡¯t risk my mother¡¯s life for the sake of learning the identity of a father who abandoned us. No way in hell will I do that. Seph steeled his resolve and said, ¡°I am sorry, Sun, I can¡¯t go with you. I have to see my mother. We can go on this journey on another day where you are free. Excuse me now, I have to continue my way down.¡± ¡°Oh, I am surprised, but of course you want to see your mother first. Goodbye Seph, I¡¯ll see you soon.¡± Sun moved towards Seph as if he was about to hug him, but at the last second, he pushed Seph with his entire upper body suddenly off the mountain they stood upon. Seph couldn¡¯t stop the sudden unexpected attack, and fell backwards off the mountainside, his eyes wide in surprise and fear. This was the end of his journey, he thought, but what hurt him the most was the realization that he won¡¯t save his sick mother. He closed his eyes in anticipation of the moment his body would hit the ground¡­ Chapter 42: Scorn鈥檚 Swords Part 1 There is a savage beast in every man, and when you hand that man a sword and send him forth to war, the beast stirs. -George R. R. Martin If you saw me as a newborn child, surrounded by dead bodies, you would think that I would, for sure, die. But that¡¯s not what happened. I cried for a day. I remained silent for another, but on the third day, I was saved. This weird energy started seeping out of the bodies of dead Amorians. Was that Karma¡¯s doing? Did she perhaps try to help and instead that freak new energy came to being instead? I am not sure, as I never got my wish to speak with her face to face. But indeed, this was the first time in history that this kind of energy was recorded, and it sustained me. There was no food, but that energy nourished me. After one month, I had the body of a three-year-old boy; I didn¡¯t know how to speak. The only thing I was familiar with was the darkness I had been trapped inside. I knew no smell but the stench of dead bodies. I knew no touch, but the icy touch of death. But I knew Yin energy by heart already, and at that age it was my first attempt at manipulating that energy. I siphoned the entire body that blocked my way out, and that was the first time I properly saw light. That was the first time I saw another living creature, as there were a few birds of prey feasting each now and then on the cadavers of the Amorians. My body was powerful. I could have left, I could have probably survived the desert to reach civilization somehow, but I didn¡¯t. After seeing the sun for the first time, I crawled back into the space I was trapped inside for the last month. And by instinct, I started meditating. Two weeks later, I was controlling lumps of black substance that oozed from the bodies. They answered to my will. Two weeks more, and I made the maggots gather in front of me. They, too, answered to my will. Training that ability for a while more birds of prey also fell under my dominion. And two weeks from then, I made the blood in their veins answer to my will. And by the last two weeks, I remained in the hole. I had commanded the ghosts of the Amorians, but I let them rest. They deserved to rest. During those two months, I consumed all the bodies, and all the Yin energy that reeked in the hole. In just three months, I had the body of a twelve-year-old boy, the most horrifying twelve-year-old boy ever. With each body I consumed, I learned their history, their lost hopes and dreams. By the end, I was the walking memory of all these Amorians. I was their hopes and dreams, but most of all, I was their scorn. That¡¯s how I got my name, and I had a mission to bring the emperor of the Solea empire to heel. But this was a mission bigger than just one man. I had to recruit help. I had to teach others how to use and harness and cultivate yin energy. I had to make sure I wasn¡¯t the last one of my kind. Your presence here, legacy taker, proves that I succeeded. Yin energy didn¡¯t perish with me. I called to me my birds of prey and made them carry my light body over the vast desert that surrounded the city of Amoria. The emotion I was most accustomed to was despair, so I followed it, and that¡¯s how I found the first Yin cultivation disciples. This was the first time that I explored the outside world. I saw nature and the buildings of the different towns and villages of the empire.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. I saw people go about their daily business. They didn¡¯t seem too torn by the Solea empire winning the war. In fact, it didn¡¯t matter to the common folks who ruled. They were going to live in poor conditions either way. That¡¯s why it was imperative that I follow that feeling of despair, because these common folks would never share my hate for the empire. They gain nothing from wars; rather, they lose every time. The common folks are the ones who pay for the steep cost of war. Were they wronged by each ruling lord since maybe the dawn of time? Absolutely, but they got used to it. It didn¡¯t matter anymore who ruled and who didn¡¯t, they just wanted to live in peace. But those who experienced grave injustice to the point of exuding despair from miles away, those will make the perfect soldiers for my war. After all, nobody feels this despair as much as me. After a day of flying I found the workshop that was the source of the despair, so I descended, and inside I found a man, with his head inside a gourd, it seemed he was a gourd artist that draws art on gourds and sells them to rich households. He was pretty much dead, dead by drowning, if I had to guess. I got his head out of the gourd, and sat down beside his lifeless body, and instead of siphoning the Yin energy I felt trapped inside him, I pushed more of that energy into him. It took a few days, since it was my first time doing this, but I finally brought him back to life. He woke up disoriented, while I was wondering if that means yin energy can bring any dead person back to life. I was doing everything on instinct. I didn¡¯t know it would work for sure, but it did. I waited for him to orient himself after the resurrection before asking, ¡°What is your name, sir?¡± The man looked at me wide eyed before he said, ¡°A child! My name is Dante. What happened? Who are you?¡± ¡°My name is Scorn, and about what happened, that¡¯s what I would like to learn from you.¡± Dante looked around him like he was scared before he said, ¡°I owed the lord of these lands taxes. They put exorbitant taxes on me, because I work with fine arts, but I don¡¯t always sell enough to pay them.¡± Dante stopped like he was reliving the traumatic experience before continuing, ¡°They came to my shop, and asked me for the coins, which I didn¡¯t have, they started breaking things as they usually do, I begged them to stop, they started beating me up, and when they were sure I really had no coins to pay them, they drowned me in my biggest gourd...¡± Dante stopped speaking like he just realized what happened, ¡°I was murdered! How am I alive right now?¡± He looked at me wide-eyed. ¡°I revived you, and I want you to follow me, and I promise power to take your revenge on the local lord.¡± I made my offer in my calmest, coldest voice. ¡°Who are you? How can a child your age have such power?¡± Dante asked me. ¡°I promise to tell you everything in time, but now what¡¯s important is, will you take the opportunity or not?¡± Dante was hesitant for a second before he said, ¡°I will, I am going to follow you, if you deliver on your promise, I am not sure how you come to have such power, but I know you revived me, and that¡¯s enough for now.¡± I took the huge gourd that they drowned him inside, as it had gained special energy from the experience, and sat with it on the ground, after a while I gave it my power of manipulating the black lumps, which I hadn¡¯t yet given a better name than ¡°black lumps¡±. I gifted him the gourd, and told him, ¡°You now have enough power with this gourd to take revenge upon those who brought this fate on you, test the gourd¡¯s powers before you head to the lord¡¯s villa and finish him, then you are to meet me in Amoria.¡± ¡°Yes, my lord, thank you. I¡¯ll join you after I show these unjust monsters what they deserve.¡± I continued on my way to find my next disciple. After another journey through the lands of the Solea Empire, I found a bustling town, which I descended upon to learn what all the crowds are about, and was informed that a high-ranking military general who was from a noble birth, is about to be executed. Death by a thousand cuts was his sentence. I stood there with the watching masses, as they kept cutting him with small blades at the start, then bigger, much sharper blades later on. He was bleeding his life away, while I was looking right at him, and he was looking at me. Maybe I accidentally reached out to console him with my mind. He was very stoic, facing this horrible death. After the two-day spectacle, he was a shriveled, lifeless body. The people had left; the soldiers left too, leaving him nailed on a wooden post. I went to his side and did the same process that revived Dante, this time much faster. The general awoke, still shriveled up from blood loss. He looked weakly at me and said, ¡°Child, I saw you watching from the crowd. Is it over?¡± ¡°Yes, it is over. They killed you, but it¡¯s not the end of your story General, it won¡¯t end here if you so choose, but first I have a question for you.¡± ¡°Ask away, child. I¡¯ve got nowhere else to go.¡± ¡°Why did they kill such a high-ranking general in the army like you?¡± The general looked at me for a few seconds, like he was weighing his allegiance for the empire for the last time before he seemed to reach a decision and said, ¡°I refused to take part in the massacre of Amoria. I have been in jail since then, and now they finally got to me. They passed their judgement, death by a thousand cuts. I was always loyal to the empire. I didn¡¯t want the stain of killing civilians to ruin the empire¡¯s image for the rest of our days, but no one else saw the same as me, and that was the hill I died on. Now tell me, who are you, child?¡± ¡°I am the Scorn of Amoria, I am the one who will bring the empire to heel, and you will help me in doing so. That¡¯s why I revived you.¡± I mentioned the fact that I revived him for my words to weigh more, and be believed, especially that my young age wasn¡¯t in my favor. The general sighed heavily, and closed his eyes before saying, ¡°I accept. I¡¯ll bring justice to the victims of Amoria, and I¡¯ll take my justice despite those who brought forth my downfall.¡± ¡°Rise Scarlet General, you now follow a just cause, I grant you the power to manipulate blood, so that you turn the blood of those who deprived you of your own blood on them, so that you drink the blood in their veins and nourish your body from those who depleted it.¡± His body started showing signs of life, as the power to manipulate blood also worked to make him regenerate his blood faster, and in a short time, he could free himself from the cross. ¡°I¡¯ll meet with you in Amoria. We will take revenge on the emperor one day together.¡± Chapter 43: Scorn鈥檚 Swords Part 2 The real beggar is indeed the true and only king -Gotthold Ephraim Lessing I continued on my path through the lands to the imperial capital of Solea. It was my first time in the capital of this horrid empire, but I promised myself it wouldn¡¯t be the last. One day I¡¯ll take them down; I¡¯ll turn the streets into another Amoria. You might say I became what I hate but my goal was much bigger than that. I wanted to burn it all down, before I thought if I wanted to rebuild, or if we simply didn¡¯t deserve to continue existing. In the middle of a large market, I found another body, covered by bugs. You could see the bones of his entire body. The market goers looked at him with fear and disgust before going on their way. I had to wait until nightfall to help him, but the energy was there; it called to me. I commanded the bugs to let him be, and I took down the body, sitting down next to it in the dead of night. I did the same process of pushing my Yin energy into him, and I finally revived him, but he was still a bare white skeleton, which was surprising. I thought he would regenerate his flesh or something. Two violet circles appeared in his eye sockets instead of his eyeballs, as those too were eaten. He looked at his bare-boned body, horrified. It was impossible for him to look horrified, but I could imagine what was going on in his mind, and how his gaze lingered on his bones. I asked him, ¡°What happened to you?¡± He looked weirdly at me, his magical eyes narrowing. It seemed like he knew I revived him or something, because my magic ran through him, and he was a more magical being than the others I revived because of his state. He said, ¡°I was drunk one night at the inn, where I said that the lords are making the farmers hungry, just to afford to eat the best the land can offer, and sweeten their tea with honey. I went back to my house, only for the soldiers to come barging in the next day. An informant had reported me. The prince imperial himself attended to me and said, So you think we are taxing you to sweeten our tea with honey? I couldn¡¯t respond to him. I was frightened after the beating I had already gotten. Then the prince ordered the guards, Take this man, crucify him in the city square, after you slather his entire naked body in honey, just so that he knows we don¡¯t care for honey. We care for order around here. And that¡¯s how the bugs ate all my flesh as excruciatingly slowly as you can imagine.¡± ¡°I feel you did this to me? You revived me into this skeleton?¡± The man asked tentatively, like I scared him, but it was really hard for him to look scared, because his voice was deep and distant, like it came from another realm. I answered him, ¡°Yes, I am the one who revived you, because I need the help of people like you. I need to take down the unjust empire, and only people like you felt the extent of their malevolence. I promise you power beyond your wildest dreams, you only have to follow me in my war¡­ in our war.¡± He bowed down deeply and said, ¡°My liege. I can feel deep inside me already that I must be loyal to you, but I also feel you can set me free of this blind loyalty. I¡¯ll bring down the empire with you.¡± ¡°From this day forward, you will be known as the Skeleton Lord. I promise you, when we can take over this capital, you will get your revenge on the prince. But the emperor is mine, and mine alone.¡± I told that man and granted him the power to command skeletons. I had just gained this new power myself when I was trying to revive him. Bestowing these powers on my disciples didn¡¯t deprive me of them, but I felt I could give only one power per disciple. I sent him off to Amoria as well, before I continued walking around the imperial capital. I didn¡¯t need sleep, so I could make use of every single minute I am alive. No one was living a good life in this city. The poor abided by the curfew and never left their houses after sunset. The only open places after sunset were the inns and brothels, which the soldiers attended; even those soldiers looked miserable to an extent, and the workers of both the inns and the brothels didn¡¯t look genuinely happy. As for the higher establishments, nobles and their offspring attended them, and they were the only people that looked happy in this land. How can you feel happy when those serving you feel miserable, or are you so drunk out of your mind that you can¡¯t notice them? Or maybe the nobles drink in the first place to not notice the misery they were surrounded with? Who knows, maybe one day I¡¯ll ask them, before I stab them through the heart. In a remote part of the city, I found a dead beggar that was living next to the trash dumpster. He looked to have been here for a few days. How many days was this body here, while no one knew he was dead?Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Or maybe they didn¡¯t care? I felt his despair, which was offputting. Why would a beggar feel that sense of despair? He must have lived with that most of his life to become accustomed to it. What was his story? I ordered the bugs to fly off his body and sat beside him and revived him. I talked to the man, ¡°Tell me, what is your story? How did you die here? Why were you feeling such despair at the moment of your death?¡± The man looked at me in disbelief. He couldn¡¯t believe that he was revived after death. ¡°You revived me, child? How could a child have such power to revive another man?¡± He asked while his eyes were wide open. ¡°I might look like a child, but I have the wisdom and power of an entire nation. Don¡¯t worry about my machinations for now, just answer my questions, old man.¡± ¡°Yes, my lord, I always felt this despair. It was like I never existed for the folks of this city. You see, I used to be a respected teacher. I taught many of the city folks. I used to live a good life, my lord, until it all came crashing down around me. My wife sir, that harlot, betrayed me with a high-ranking officer in the empire¡¯s army. I was oblivious to it all until one day I caught them in the act. I went to the city¡¯s judge, but my case was turned down. Not only that, the officer put two soldiers in front of my house to stop me from going in, and when I tried to enter, they beat me up, carried me, and threw me in this trash dumpster. They thought I was dead, but I wasn¡¯t. I never left this spot since. How can we live with such injustice, my lord? How can I not feel despair when I see the people living despite knowing full well they could be in my place any day? If this is the fate of a teacher of generations, what hope does anyone else have? I wish I had the strength, my lord; I would make things right around here. I wish I could make a difference.¡± The man talked with such passion, the thoughts of a man whose heart was broken, whose honor was sullied, whose pride was dragged through the mud and stepped on by a thousand pigs. ¡°I hear you teacher, I hear your anguish, I feel it, and I assure you, we will make a difference. We will bring the empire down, but I need a favor from you.¡± The man cut Scorn, ¡°Anything my lord, anything for the man I owe my life to.¡± Scorn looked at him stoically before continuing, ¡°I want you to remain in the imperial capital. I will grant you a power, and I want you to use it to spy for me, and inform me of everything that happens in the capital daily. You see, there are others besides you and me. We will do operations elsewhere, to get stronger, but it¡¯s imperative that we know the movements of the army, so that we don¡¯t get surprised early, before we are strong enough to bring them down.¡± ¡°I accept my lord. I accept, I¡¯ll do anything. You have nothing to worry about, my loyalty to you will be eternal,¡± the man said so fast, with a pitiful look on his face, it was like he revered Scorn, even before knowing what he was. ¡°Well then, from now on, you will be known as the King of Beggars. I¡¯ll grant you dominion over insects. They will spread through the city, and whisper to you of the happenings of the city every day, and you just have to report your findings to me. Because your job is very important, no one else from my followers will know about you. You will remain a secret, my secret follower, my secret ally.¡± ¡°Thank you, my lord, thank you. I¡¯ll do as you ask, so that one day you can bring this city down with me by your side.¡± I gave him the power, and I left him there, on the same spot, but in a much better position than before, he now had power beyond his wildest imagination. Through him, we will always be one step ahead of the empire. I left the King of Beggars and headed outside the city on foot. I was contemplating our next move. We needed to become stronger. We had unique skills, but we didn''t really have the raw power. I had to ask my officers and figure out the next move. Just before I reached the city gates, I saw a man that looked sad and lost. What¡¯s more surprising, he didn¡¯t look like a noble to ignore the curfew. No guards approached him for his clear violation of the curfew as well, so I was intrigued to learn his story. ¡°Greetings, good sir, why are you out and about at this late hour? Don¡¯t you know there is a curfew?¡± The man continued walking slowly while looking as sad as ever. It was like he didn¡¯t even hear me addressing him. I just stood there looking perplexed, but five steps later, the man raised his head like he just remembered something. He looked tentatively at me while narrowing his eyes. He kept his gaze on me for a few seconds before saying, ¡°You talked to me?¡± ¡°Umm, yes, I thought you didn¡¯t hear me.¡± I said, still confused. ¡°You.. you mean you can see me?¡± The man asked with a look of disbelief on his face. ¡°I have two eyes. Of course I see you!¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand. Nobody else can see me, nobody could see me for the past few years! You are the first!¡± The man was very excited that he finally found someone he could talk to. I narrowed my eyes and said, ¡°Oh! Are you a ghost? I didn¡¯t see it before, but I think now I see it.¡± ¡°Yes, you are right. I have been a ghost since I died. This horrible existence is the worst. I can¡¯t talk to anyone. I can¡¯t move on either.¡± ¡°How did you die?¡± I asked inquisitively. ¡°I was the training partner of the young prince. A nation gifted the emperor some rare magical weapons, and the emperor gifted his sons these weapons. The young prince got a pair of gloves since he loved Kung Fu so much. The prince used them on me, and I felt like my soul was leaving me with each punch. I told the prince that being hit by them feels awful, and that we need to learn their effect before we use them further, but he wouldn¡¯t have any of it. A few sessions later this happened, my body just dropped lifeless, and my soul has been wondering the imperial capital ever since.¡± ¡°Tell me, do you hate that prince who didn¡¯t heed your warning, who ignored your safety?¡± ¡°I do. Sometimes I go to the imperial palace and see how they live happily, and I can¡¯t even die properly.¡± ¡°What if I told you I can help you get revenge on him? What if I told you I can grant you power if you join me?¡± The man couldn¡¯t believe himself, but he must have thought anything was better than this miserable existence. ¡°I accept, my lord. I¡¯ll follow you forever. If not for revenge, it would be because you are the only person I can talk to.¡± ¡°From now on, you will be known as the Invisible Commander. I¡¯ll give you dominion over souls.¡± The Invisible Commander bowed down to me, and I granted him the power to control ghosts. I then transformed into ghost form as well, and we both left the city through the gates. I was extremely adaptable, figuring out how to expand the use of my powers just from observing my surroundings. Chapter 44: Mind You either control the mind or it controls you. -Napoleon Hill. As Seph closed his eyes while falling to his death, his entire life started rolling in his mind, but he saw things he shouldn¡¯t have a recollection of. Was that what death was like? First, he saw the day he was born, and the midwife giving his young frail body carefully to his mother. His mother looked at him with tired eyes, but she was delighted to have brought this life to the world. Next, he saw the midwife informing his father of his birth. His father¡¯s face was obscured, which was very weird, considering the midwife¡¯s face wasn¡¯t and he never saw her before. ¡°A very healthy son of an able body master¡­ What will you name him?¡± The memory felt like it intentionally obscured his father¡¯s name that the midwife mentioned. ¡°His name is Seph. I hope his fate is better than that of his father.¡± The man said, not really showing happiness at getting an offspring. He gave the midwife a few coins, and she thanked him profusely and went back to take care of the mother. Next scene was Seph. He appeared to be a one-year-old, taking his first steps. His mother was so happy encouraging him. ¡°Yes Seph, you did it! I am so proud of you, my adorable walking baby son.¡± A smile appeared on the face of the falling cultivator. He would have never thought of himself as adorable. It must be her maternal instinct or something, he thought. His father was sitting in a corner, clearly watching the scene, but no sound came out of him, his face was still obscured. Next scene was Seph at two years old, his mother carrying him, hugging him to her chest, while walking around the village and asking about her husband who had left and never returned. Those who saw him on the fateful day said he took the road outside of the village, but nobody knew anything further. Villagers rarely left this village, same as most villages, and his mother never saw the outside of this village before. Next he saw himself at three years old, his mother washing the clothes of the families that owned the big farming lands in the village, and little Seph helped her happily instead of playing outside. After that he saw himself at four years old, outside, after he helped his mother, trying to get the kids to include him in their games and instead they ridiculed him. ¡°Don¡¯t you have some loin clothes to wash? Get away from us. You must stink.¡± All the kids laughed. He was furious, but he didn¡¯t fight them and instead left to go back home and sit with his mother while she sewed clothes as usual. Seph was wondering how all of this was happening, and he still didn¡¯t hit the ground, but he didn¡¯t open his eyes. In the next scene, he was five years old, asking around the village for work. He had thought if he couldn¡¯t play, maybe he should find work. He asked many people. ¡°Oh, you are too young, Seph. Come back when you are seven.¡± Said the elder when he asked if he could carry water to their house. ¡°Sorry Seph, we are running into a poor season of fishing these days. I can¡¯t take another worker,¡± said the fish seller at the daily market. He heard similar excuses from the sellers in the market. In the end, he found work at a farm, only when they were picking the new vegetables. His work was much less than what the grownups could do, but they still paid him some vegetables to take home daily. ¡°I told you over and over you don¡¯t have to work Seph¡­ but if this makes you happy then so be it, I am glad my little man brings me food stuff daily, you are a good boy Seph I am proud of you.¡± That was what his mother said after the first day he worked. At six years, he saw the first ever fight he had gotten into, but something weird happened. He remembered coming back from the field that day, and one kid was calling him a bastard. That was the first time they ever used that insult against him. While, the older people in the village knew his father and knew that he wasn¡¯t a bastard. The kids didn¡¯t know, and the word pissed him off. The weird thing was that day he snapped and beat up the kid immediately, this time though, he didn¡¯t, he could see his body as if it was waiting for his command to fight, he thought beating that kid up as a child was okay, but I don¡¯t think now with what I know, and what I learned in life I would beat him up again. Young Seph, from memory, just looked at the kids, and left them cackling and jeering, and went home. Seph was very confused at the weird change that happened in the memory, he thought, We can¡¯t change the past! Or can we?This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Regardless, the memories fast forwarded to seven years old. Seph was returning from the field, and he saw the elder walking towards him. The falling cultivator thought, That¡¯s the day I asked the elder again if I could be the water carrier of the village. The elder smiled his grandfatherly smile towards Seph. The man sure knew how to be popular, and how to affect people of all ages, how to talk to every man, woman or child. When they came close, the elder greeted Seph, and Seph did the same, and then they were both heading their way. The falling cultivator thought, No, this is wrong, this is not how this event was like. I need to ask him to become a water carrier; the money I brought home was a big help to my mother. Seph again willed his young self to do the right thing. He called the elder after he had passed him by. ¡°Sir! Remember your promise to me?¡± Seph called after him. ¡°Oh, what promise would that be young¡¯un?¡± The elder replied with a puzzled look on his face. ¡°You said you would allow me to be a water carrier when I became seven years old. Well, I am.¡± ¡°Haha.¡± The elder laughed heartily, before saying, ¡°Yes, I remember, you have my blessing Seph, and my household will be your first customer, pass by our house tomorrow to take the water buckets, and when people see you doing the job, they might ask you to deliver to them as well.¡± Seph remembered being elated that day that he got the job. The memories fast forwarded again to eight years old Seph. He had been working for a year at this point. He had gotten used to the routine. His body had gotten used to the rigorous work, even if it still hurt every day. He could see his young self heading towards a house. Oh, hell no. Seph thought he remembered that day clearly. It was the time he accidentally saw the woman dressed in light clothing and her husband beat him. Seph willed his body to go finish another task before delivering water to this house. Next scene, Seph was nine years old. His mother told him they¡¯d saved money this month, and he could use it for anything he wants. He asked her to make sure they really didn¡¯t need this money, and she assured him. She gave him the money, and Seph started thinking about what to do with it. He kept thinking for days. He never thought he would have coins to spend, however he wished and had absolutely no plans for them. More days passed as Seph hadn¡¯t reached a decision, which felt weird for the falling cultivator. He knew he didn¡¯t take that long. He thought again to will his young self into deciding, and sure enough, it worked. Next, he saw himself on the steps of the closest monastery to their village. He started climbing towards the top, and once he reached the doors, he saw a man standing at the door to greet the visitors and learn their purpose. ¡°Shifu.¡± Seph said and bowed down deeply. The man smiled and put his palm on Seph¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Rise, son. What is it you want from us?¡± ¡°I would like to be a scholar, but I come from poverty. I brought coins with me though! I can probably bring more in the future.¡± Seph said, taking out the coins from his pocket, and presenting them as if they were an offering to the goddess. ¡°Come with me child, I¡¯ll set you on the path to become a scholar and have a bright future.¡± They headed inside the monastery, and the memory faded, making way to another memory. In this memory, Seph was ten years old. He was studying during the night, next to a lit candle. He had been having trouble in his studies, and was thinking of giving it all up. He put the manuscript next to him, and laid down, looking at the ceiling, thinking if he should pursue this any further, or if he was just not built up for it. An hour passed with Young Seph looking at the ceiling, but adult Seph remembered he didn¡¯t spend that long reaching a decision again. He thought of how his life turned out to be, and how he became a yin cultivator. This was the first time he remembered this little detail since he found himself at the peak of that mountain he was now falling to his death from. Do I really want to waste time studying to be a scholar, when I¡¯ll end up dead anyway and never reach my goal? He thought deeply about that. I think I should continue studying, even if I¡¯ll end up as some abomination cultivator, knowing the things I know from these studies gave me knowledge, and experience, and helped build my character. He willed his young self again to pick up the book, and Young Seph continued studying. The memory faded again, making way to another. This time, though, the memory fast-forwarded eight full years. He was now 18 years old, on the day his mother fell ill. ¡°Her condition worsened. She needs Vitality Grass, which grows halfway up the mountain. I ran out, but it¡¯s the only way to save her. I am not sure if we can wait until the morning, and even then, I am not sure if a peddler or a merchant¡¯s caravan would pass by the village.¡± The doctor told Seph. Seph remembered replying immediately to the doctor that he will go up the mountain himself to search for the grass, but in the memory he didn¡¯t, so he willed himself immediately to speak out. ¡°I¡¯ll go up the mountain and bring you the grass.¡± Seph said resolutely. ¡°Come on Seph, you will risk your life. Excuse me, but you are a young man. We can¡¯t risk losing both of you on the same day.¡± Seph glared at him. ¡°I won¡¯t let my mother die if I can do something about it.¡± The falling cultivator felt a tear fall from his eye at the realization that he won¡¯t be able to save her after all. ¡°Seph she lived a long fruitful life, she brought you to this world, raised you into a fine young man, I don¡¯t think she would like the idea of you dying for her, maybe she can survive until the morning, but if she can¡¯t, at least you will live on and remember her.¡± ¡°I am not having any part in this discussion. She will live, and that¡¯s final.¡± He walked to his room, got dressed quickly, and got out of the door, into the chilly night. The memory fast forwarded half an hour more, to when Seph was standing in front of the black glowing tree, he took cover in the cavity, and then plucked the fruit, he then stopped looking alarmingly at the place where the stone that will kill him, will shoot from. Seph thought, I can will myself to avoid death, but is that the right thing to do? Is there a chance to save my mother that way? Or was the best chance to always enter the legacy trials? The Seph in the memory was about to run away from the scene to avoid the death, but the falling cultivator willed him to stop. He again heard a shouting voice he remembered very well, ¡°It¡¯s one of them,¡± and another followed, ¡°Get him fast.¡± At that moment, a stone the size of a watermelon shot towards him, but this time Seph jumped to intercept it. The shock from the stone seemed to have done something to his falling body, and he felt he was descending much faster into the abyss under him. Chapter 45: Scars of fate Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on Earth. -Fyodor Dostoevsky. After recruiting my new Lieutenants I returned to Amoria, and right after the gates with a few minutes I found them waiting for me. They didn¡¯t even greet me, as the scarlet general said. ¡°We have a problem. Our powers are waning. We still have them, but they are much weaker.¡± I replied, ¡°I know I feel it too. I am feeling it as the time passes. Maybe it¡¯s because we gained a burst of power from the massacre of Amoria.¡± The Scarlet General said angrily, ¡°You promised us power, and now we are losing it.¡± I looked around me, and it seemed the rest of them shared his sentiment. I said calmly, ¡°I think we should increase our power using the scars of fate.¡± Everyone started looking thoughtfully at one another. It seemed they grew closer together than to me in the time it took me to return to Amoria. I hoped to close that gap in the future; we have to function like a family or the enemy will beat us by passing through the gaps and stab us in the back. Dante said, ¡°Why do you think we can use the scars of fate to cultivate our bodies?¡± ¡°I passed over one on the way back here. I examined the energy from a distance, and I could tell that we both share the same origin. The scars are clusters of yin energy that deface the fabric of reality. Those monsters that come out either from our world, or from a parallel one, aren¡¯t who created the scars. They just found a portal and walked too close to it, not knowing any better. Probably in the future, with sufficient research, we could use the scars to visit those parallel universes ourselves.¡± I paused and let the magnitude of my words sink in, and then continued, ¡°The cultivators can¡¯t use that tainted energy for cultivation, and that¡¯s why they don¡¯t bother closing the scars, but we can gain way more than them. The invisible commander which you all haven¡¯t met yet.¡± I said while pointing at the ghost beside me, then continued, ¡°Told me on our way back about how the empire already closed a few scars of fate because they were just too close for comfort, and the only thing the cultivators who closed it gained was some magical items. The danger doesn¡¯t equal the incentive for them, but for us, we are going to gain power every time we brave one of those scars of reality.¡± I looked at them and could hear the hums of approval each of them made. Dante asked, ¡°Just how dangerous will it be to close the scars? There are only five of us! I am sure the empire sent battalions to take these things out of commission.¡± I answered, ¡°Our powers are nothing to scoff at. They are like the elemental powers in their strength and wide range of use. The more we cultivate, the stronger we will become, and five of us are more than enough if we are smart about it and we use our powers to their full extent. I¡¯ll strategize most of the fights along with the scarlet general, so you have nothing to worry about.¡± I saw the general give me a nod of approval after saying that; he was, after all, our most experienced army man, and he would be very useful once we split up to cover more scars of fate as our energy needs will just increase as the time goes. ¡°What are we waiting for, then? Let¡¯s go get stronger. The empire has to pay for what it has done to us,¡± the skeleton lord said with his infernal voice. It sounded like it came from the depth of hell or a faraway world, guttural and primal. All of us nodded in approval, and we started heading towards the gates again. Amoria was always isolated, but now it seemed like the world was avoiding it like the plague. We headed towards the closest scar of fate to our location. We didn¡¯t meet another human all the way there. We scouted the scar of fate from afar, according to the information I had gathered, this was earth-based tormented scar of fate, the tormented had merged with scorpions morphing them in horrifying ways and enlarging them, the scorpion head came to stop just under my waist, but its tail was higher than my head. We started preparing. The scarlet general made a two handed great sword with his blood manipulation power, a great scarlet sword, that looked really impressive. The invisible commander summoned 3 ghosts and was going to command them through the battle from afar. Dante was joining him in the back row as well with his gourd. His gourd had physical capabilities, but he didn¡¯t get used to fighting with it yet, and closing a scar of fate is gonna be rough. The skeleton lord extracted his backbone right in front of our eyes and was using it as a chain-like weapon. Another backbone grew back in its place immediately. He also removed his rib cage and used it like a shield, and another rib cage grew back in its place. I didn¡¯t know he could do that. He said that he could Necromance the scorpions after they die to use two of them on our side as well, but he was going to be in the front row with the scarlet general. Which gave me the chance to remain in the back row, to avoid physical battle since my body was still that of a little boy. I created a bow and arrow with my blood manipulation and shot an arrow towards a scorpion after making sure the team was ready; the arrow hit the scorpion right in the head, but it didn¡¯t die. It scurried towards us, along with two of its kind. There were a lot of these scorpions in the area, and we had to be smart about this. The Scarlet General waited until they were within a safe distance and then rushed one of them. It tried to strike him with the poison in its tail, but he blocked it with the wide part of his sword. It then swiped at him with its pincers, but he deftly dodged backwards twice, before landing the sword with an overhead arc that cut the scorpion in two. I was pretty impressed. He was, without a doubt, our most experienced fighter. The scorpions had human-like eyes on their heads, which was the only clue, other than them being earthly creatures, that they were a tormented version. Meanwhile, the Skeleton lord stood in the path of another scorpion as well, and when it tried to hit him with the tail, he blocked with his rib cage shield, and its tail got stuck inside, he then slammed the tail in a way that made his backbone weapon circle around it, his eyes glowed brighter at that moment, and he pulled the weapon hard, its edgy parts cut the tail clean off, the scorpion scurried back in pain, but the skeleton lord pursued it, and he raised his foot, and a sharp bone grew from the bottom of his heel, he stabbed the scorpion with it right through the head killing it immediately. Only one scorpion remained, Dante threw a black lump at it, it started decompose but it wasn¡¯t fast enough, the invisible commander sent his ghosts towards the scorpion as well, the ghosts attacked by passing through the body of the scorpion, every time one of them passed through the scorpion it got electrified, we could see smoke coming out of the scorpion by the time it got close enough, a final arrow in its weak head after all the decomposition and frying killed it immediately. This looked terrible, though. Three of us had to work together to kill one, while two of us could solo. We needed to grow stronger, or to learn how to use our powers better through trial and error.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The scarlet general looked at me to signal that I pull a new patch of these things. Fighting right next to the scar of fate is not a very smart idea when you only have a team of five. I aimed the arrow at the next scorpion but it turned its head at the last moment, and the arrow passed by it, heading for another scorpion beside it. This caused a group of five scorpions to get attracted to us instead. We had to each take one of them, which was easy for the skeleton lord and the scarlet general, but not for the rest of us. I called to my birds of prey, which were hovering close by; they carried my body, and I kept aiming for the same scorpion. While not flying too far away to make it focus on me, it couldn¡¯t reach me and I picked it apart from the air. The invisible commander attacked with his ghosts, the smoke was rising from the scorpion, but it ended up reaching him, it attacked him with its tail, but the tail went right through his body, and the scorpion got a bigger jolt of electricity, his eyes brightened at the realization that he was impervious to these monsters, and he dashed a few times through the scorpion killing it. Dante had the roughest time soloing, though. He threw three lumps at the scorpion before it reached him; the scorpion tried to stab him with its pointy tail, and he freaked out, in his fearful state, he unintentionally commanded his gourd to block the attack, but when he realized he could do that, he just hid behind his gourd, manipulating it with his energy, to keep blocking the strikes of the scorpion which kept on getting weaker until it finally dropped dead. Once he finished his fight, he looked around to see what we were all doing, only to realize we all had finished our own fights and were watching him instead of helping, the scarlet general walked towards him and put his hand on his shoulder, and gave him a stoic nod, that was his way of telling him, you did a good job. We continued on the same way, pulling in groups of scorpions and killing them, our bodies soaking in the yin energy after each kill. Finally, after we thinned out their numbers considerably, it was time to take out the boss. The boss was just a huge scorpion, its body was as tall as our tallest fighter which was the scarlet general, and its tail was towering above us, I wondered how it was going to fight using that tail, since it was so tall, and we would need to be pretty far for it to aim its tail at us. It looked horrifying, though. Not only did it have humongous human eyes, but it also had various human limbs sticking out of its body in various places, even some human heads that had no eyes, where they should have been there was only smooth empty skin devoid of any features beneath. Me and my group gathered, and they were asking what¡¯s the plan was. It seemed everyone was worried about that boss, and we needed a strategy. ¡°When you fight an adversary that tall you usually go for the legs, so they can¡¯t carry it anymore, but the issue is, this damned scorpion got eight of the bloody things, we won¡¯t be able to take out the legs.¡± Everyone gave him a hum of approval. Each once in a while, one of us looked at the scorpion, thinking we might find a weakness there somewhere. The scarlet general continued, ¡°Its tail won¡¯t help it at all if we are fighting it from a proximity, the issue is its pincers, and luckily for us it has only two of those, we can focus on one pincer destroy it, and then focus our attacks from the side with the missing pincer.¡± We were all impressed by how fast he came up with that plan. ¡°In order to do that, we will need Dante to attack it with his lumps of that ungodly substance, and the invisible commander to attack it with his ghosts, after the pincer decomposes completely we will focus our attacks on that side, while both of them finish the job, we will need to distract the boss, preferably from three different sides, that¡¯s where I and the skeleton lord, and Scorn will come in, anyone has any objections to this plan?¡± We all looked at each other and nodded. I said, ¡°No, we all agree. We should improvise, though if anything goes south, we need to be ready for anything that might arise.¡± The scarlet general nodded and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± The skeleton lord revived two of the scorpions to attack from the front row, and they accompanied us forward. We walked closer to the scorpion within throwing distance, and Dante loaded it with his lumps. Some fell to the ground, some hit its body and not the pincer, but most hit the pincer. I flew towards it, launching an arrow after another wherever, really. I just wanted its attention and its carapace was thick enough that all my arrows didn¡¯t penetrate in the beginning. The invisible commander went in for the attack, his ghosts preceding him, but he was following right after them. Once the ghosts passed through the pincer twice each, the commander passed through them once as well. His bigger jolt of electricity got the attention of the boss. It looked at him and he trembled a little, but he knew he was invincible, before he could attack it a second time, the boss screamed towards him, and pain ran through his entire body, and he got paralyzed same thing happened to his summoned ghosts. I noticed what happened immediately, and I swooped in, turned into ghost form as well, and carried the invisible commander away. Even though he was heavy, don¡¯t ask me how. I know he was a ghost, but he was heavier than me. I landed with him behind Dante and left him there to heal from his paralysis. The skeleton lord was on the left side of the scorpion, he attacked its legs multiple times with his chain weapon, but it didn¡¯t even look at him, he felt stupid standing there not even able to pull aggro towards him so he circled back to the front side. The scarlet general was in front of it. Each time it attacked him with a pincer, he smacked the pincer away with his sword. The revived scorpions were beside him attacking the boss, but the boss seemed confused by them and it didn¡¯t attack them. The issue is, they were too weak to make a difference, anyway. Cracks started showing on the right pincer, which we targeted after three minutes. I started shooting arrows towards the scorpion¡¯s head, and it took notice of me. It tried to stab me with its tail, but the birds dodged the attack. In this moment of distraction, the scarlet general gave out a huge war cry and jumped high in the air, then landed along with his sword in an overhead arc that smashed the pincer. The scorpion boss screamed while taking a few steps back. Its scream paralyzed the ghosts of the commander again, but the commander was away, and he was already coming out of his paralysis at this moment. Splotches of black covered the entire body of the scorpion, which was the effect of the black lumps of Dante, but its body was nowhere near as weak as the pincer got after the barrage of attacks. The scarlet general raised his sword high in the sky, I thought he was going to attack with it, but then he looked at me, and I noticed he was pointing the sword at me, I swooped in, and once I was close he said, ¡°Tell Dante to focus his attacks on its head now, we need to weaken it to finish this fight, also find out where the hell is the skeleton lord, I am missing him the entire fight so far.¡± I nodded and rose in the sky again, going back towards Dante and delivering the message, before I rose higher in the sky to find the skeleton lord, but he was already closing in on the front side of the scorpion, so I just headed back to the fight. At this moment I thought, if the best weapon against this scorpion is the black lumps, why am I not using them? For someone with so many powers, I only used two of them so far in this battle, and that¡¯s not good. I needed more fight experience. I tried to get a black lump to appear in my hand, but it didn¡¯t work. I looked at the battlefield and landed next to the shattered scorpion pincer. I put my hand on it, and felt that I could create a black lump out of it, so I made one and threw it at the scorpion head. I kept on doing that along with Dante, both of us trying to avoid hitting our friends. Meanwhile, the general had come up with a new plan: he made the skeleton lord block the attacks of the left pincer, while he kept stabbing the scorpion in the head. The fight took some time, but the scarlet general finally shattered the head of the scorpion, and it dropped dead immediately. We gathered around the scar of fate, which was a dark blue slash in the face of reality, it¡¯s hard to describe, you¡¯d have to see it for yourself, but the location of the slash was a no-man''s-land, you could go behind it and see the world was fine, but when you looked at it from either side, the sky behind it disappeared, the ground wasn¡¯t there, it just hovered there, ominous and foreboding, and promising of the dangers of the unknown. I told the team, ¡°Meditate with me, my friends, command the yin energy to enter your bodies. In time, this scar of fate will cease to exist.¡± And so we did. We all gained three levels of body dismantling from this single scar of reality. And my body grew three more years to be the body of a 14-year-old now. After closing the scar it left behind three chests with a magical item in each of them, and the scorpions we killed evaporated after we closed the scar, but some of them left behind small black crystal, with the boss leaving the biggest one, we checked the crystals and could tell that they contained yin energy, that we can cultivate with, I asked everyone to let me have the crystals though, as I intended to give them to the king of beggars, so he can become stronger without leaving the capital city, but they didn¡¯t need to know about him, he was going to be my secret weapon. We were going to continue closing these scars of fate, and do tougher ones to grow much stronger. It was surprising we only made the third level of body dismantling, but I think it was because all the energy I got from Amoria, which I then passed on to my disciples, was going to run out eventually and we were going to be powerless, because we were already fighting at the strength of the third level of body dismantling, we needed to earn this power; we needed to cultivate, but the yin energy that we earned was now ours. Nobody can take that away from us. We were only going to get stronger. The empire became very lax after winning the war. They didn¡¯t seek strength, but we wanted all of it. Chapter 46: Soul The soul feels what the mind ignores. - Stace Morris Seph¡¯s fallen body shot down way faster, and within a minute he had already reached the ground. He felt like his body fell into something that had the consistency of a swamp. It felt like heavy, thick water, and he felt himself sinking in. Realizing he wasn¡¯t falling to his death, he finally opened his eyes, but he might as well have left them closed, because all around him and above him was dark. The only spot with any light at all was where he fell. All around him there was this heavy, thick black liquid, and hands made of that same liquid, pulling him down into what looked like a hole. He didn¡¯t know what was happening, but he wouldn''t let them do as they please. The entire area outside the hole was pitch black, only the hole had any light, and he wasn¡¯t sure what was the source of the light. Seph started struggling against the grasping hands that were pulling his prone body under. He started boxing the hands, closed fists punching left and right. At first that worked, but then the hands became more stubborn. They didn¡¯t let him go when punched. So he started wrestling them open. They felt sticky, and they left traces of the same black substance on his palms, but they were really strong. Seph eventually pulled himself free to stand on his own two feet, but the hands caught his legs instead and started pulling down. He then heard their voices, voices moaning with pain, miserable cries. Their heads weren¡¯t visible, but that didn¡¯t stop their voices from drowning the silence. Their voices made him feel a deep sense of melancholy almost immediately, and he wondered why he was fighting them? Why didn¡¯t he just allow them to pull him down to the depth with them? It probably wouldn¡¯t be as horrible as his continued state of existence. If it¡¯s death that their grasping hands promise, would it be really horrible? If it was a convergence of souls in eternal suffering, was it really different from slugging your way through life, without a goal, without friends, without a family? At that moment, he remembered his family; he remembered his mother; he remembered his goal. And he snapped out of the melancholic state of mind that they put him under, but he was knee deep inside the black hole already. He started punching them again, wrestling them free, but it wasn¡¯t helping. Seph was drowning without hope of survival. He was adamant about surviving, even though there was no hope for him. The hands were grasping his chest and pulling him under already, but at that moment, something most wondrous happened. A spirit version of a monkey holding a wooden staff appeared. The monkey looked around him in wonderment, not really knowing how he got here, but there was nothing to see except the black hole. The monkey was standing right outside it in the dark, but his spirit glowed with a blue hue that made him visible to Seph. Seph looked at him questioningly for a minute, before something in his mind said, Sun. Sun started stabbing the hands with his staff, over and over, trying to help Seph from his predicament. Seph was frozen by the surprise.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The monkey screeched at him, snapping him from his absent-mindedness, and they both started working together to break him free. Seph had gotten a lot of his body free from the hole. It reached only his waist now. Seph could feel himself smiling already. He was sure of his survival now, and Sun gave him one of his big smiles as well, his pearly white teeth almost lighting the dark. But their brief victory changed rapidly when the hands started pulling Seph from inside the hole. His body descended faster. Sun thought of how to save his friend with no hands to stab now, and the only solution he came up with was to extend the staff to Seph and try to pull him out. Seph did just that, but Sun was a quarter of the weight of Seph, and Seph continued going down, anyway. At one point he thought if he kept holding the staff he would start pulling Sun down with him too, something he definitely didn¡¯t want to do. When the black hole reached his chest again, he let go of the staff, but Sun screamed at him to hold it again, furious at his friend trying to give up. Seph gave Sun a deep look. He didn¡¯t want to doom him, but he didn¡¯t want his last memory to be of him giving up, too. He held the staff, but without pulling on it, and he continued to descend. The hole was up to his neck, and it looked like there was no way out. A minute later Seph''s entire face was inside the hole. He couldn¡¯t see outside anymore. He was thinking of letting go. Sun gave out a primal cry, something he didn¡¯t know he was capable of. Just when Seph was about to let go of the staff, he was pulled up. The pulling strength from the other side was significantly stronger. His face came out of the hole, and he looked at Sun, and saw how he was pulling with all his strength, but that wasn¡¯t what saved him. Behind Sun was a much bigger version of Sun, another spirit monkey standing on two feet, his body the size of an adult human but much stronger. He wore advanced protective armor and there was a crown on his head. He looked like he was the shadow of Sun, and he held a much bigger and longer staff that extended down to converge with Sun¡¯s staff. While Sun was exerting such effort to pull his friend free. The other monkey was pulling Seph free with no effort. Sun didn¡¯t seem aware of his majestic shadow that was making this all possible, but Seph saw it clear as day. When the hands came out of the hole again to grasp Seph¡¯s body to drown him, they got burned by the faint blue light coming out of the enormous shadow of Sun. They disintegrated immediately. Seph knew it was only a matter of time before he got out now. A few minutes later. He was completely out of the hole. He had survived. Seph was elated to see Sun and went towards his friend to greet him, but before he could say anything, Sun disappeared. Seph looked at Sun¡¯s enormous shadow, and he was still there. He stuck his tongue out at Seph and laughed before he also disappeared. A deep voice ringed out from the surrounding darkness saying only one word. Soul. *** Outside of the three tests, Sun was in some place dedicated to the companions as they weren¡¯t legacy challengers. He was in deep meditation and looked to be in distress for a while. At some point, a tear even dropped from his eye down his cheek, but a few minutes before he came out of his meditation, he didn¡¯t look stressed anymore. He even had a smile on his little monkey face. He got out of his meditation and wondered if what had just happened was true at all. He suddenly heard a voice that he knew too well from behind him, which made him jump. ¡°You interfered with the trial.¡± ¡°Eek!¡± Sun looked at the hovering spirit of Scorn scared, he knew then that what happened was real, and he didn¡¯t give a fuck that Scorn might be mad about it, but he was still scared. ¡°How did you do it?¡± Scorn asked. Sun thought for a second, then raised his shoulders, signaling that he had no clue. ¡°I wonder if I should disqualify Seph because of your interference.¡± Sun screeched at him angrily, then hid his face with both of his palms when Scorn looked at him in feigned anger, only he didn¡¯t know that Scorn was playing with him. ¡°Relax, I only came to tell you that Seph just won the trials. He is about to take the last parts of my legacy. All the other parts he shared with whoever made it to the soul trial like him, but the last and most important part will only be his to know. I just hope he makes the right decision with the information that he is about to learn. You won¡¯t have to wait much longer. At least now you will enjoy your wait, knowing that you helped your Master beat these trials, and your role was perhaps bigger than he even expected it to be. I brought you these assortments of fruits and nuts to enjoy while waiting for your master to reach the prize room, where you will accompany him once more.¡± Saying those last words, Scorn waved his hand above an empty table in the middle of the room and big plates of fruits and small ornate plates of nuts appeared out of nowhere. Sun screeched in happiness and jumped on top of the table and raided the nut plates since Seph had only fruits to give him for most of the trials. He made a mental note to make Seph buy him nuts, because they were delicious. Chapter 47: The Oblivion Malady Revenge is a dish best served cold. - Probably some vengeful asshole After surviving the hole, Seph looked around the dark, big place he was in. He still saw nothing at all, except an enormous book glowing with light faraway from him. He walked close to the book, only to realize that this book is Scars of fate and other catastrophes by Zhi Zixin, but it was a giant version of it. He looked at the open page and read the following chapter. Sometimes it seems like our struggles are never ending. I opted to dedicate an entire chapter in my book on catastrophes, to be about the Oblivion Malady. I sadly couldn¡¯t prove that this malady really exists, even though we still see signs of it every day. The Emperor though -Karma blesses his soul and all his family tree- believes me, his advisor on all things alchemy, the best to occupy this job since time immemorial. I try to be humble, but it¡¯s impossible when you are as accomplished as me. It¡¯s better to just own it. But enough about me. Months after the empire won the war, this malady spread. First, we started hearing in inns, how some people forgot fifteen minutes or more of their day. They didn¡¯t know what led to these mysterious accidents, just that they forgot fifteen minutes, and then came back to some place they didn¡¯t remember going to in the city. The cases were few enough, and hearing about them in inns, we all assumed it was just a case of heavy drinking, especially that the victims were not high-profile people. The issue is, we started hearing about how it was happening to high-profile empire employees and noblemen and a few cases of women shortly after. It seemed to happen more during official businesses, and during gatherings of the imperial court. This was when I started taking notice. I was present during those gatherings, and while I saw the victims in those meetings paying attention to everything being said, they seemed to not know anything at all about anything that happened during the meeting. I started compiling a document about all these accidents, and I noticed something most alarming. These cases were, in fact, always separate. It never happened to two people in the same gathering. Which could mean this was intentional, someone using magic, intending foul play, but the issue is, I didn¡¯t find any concrete evidence that we were being harmed by anything said in the gatherings. With no motive or harm, there is no crime. But it also raised an important question: how was the malady spreading? If it¡¯s one person only per gathering that should mean that it¡¯s not spreading by air, I doubt it spreads by touch either, the noble men really do love greeting each other with hugs, and the noble women kiss each other lightly on the lips, but if its men greeting women, they kiss them on the cheek. Which should mean it¡¯s not spreading by bodily fluid either. Also, why does the malady keep disappearing and then appearing again? It¡¯s rarely the same person, but there were a few cases where the same person contracted it again. Which destroys my theory more, since there should be an immunity period like most other maladies. I still stand by my theory, though. In the few cases I¡¯ll discuss with you now, you will learn why, dear reader. A while ago, a high-ranking officer of the empire was standing trial for a crime, most heinous. We had nothing so sinister and sick happen in the capital before. The officer had for weeks tortured his mistress, daily. He would strip her naked and whip her flesh. It seemed at first she was convinced it was just a new kink her lover picked up. Because according to the upper-class women who meet with her, she went out with them various times, with the tips of whip marks on her body appearing from under her garments. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. When asked, she would smile playfully and tell them she was enjoying some rough bedroom action, which caused her lady friends to not worry about her. But then she stopped making public appearances altogether for two weeks. The officer started torturing her and raping her daily. She was left tied to the bedposts. The guards posted outside of her house were informed to not let her leave the house. They didn¡¯t see her, and she didn¡¯t try leaving. But everyday they would hear her screams of pain when the officer arrived. They thought nothing of it, because a pattern was already established before that. Where she would scream and she would leave the house in a great mood with her lover. But then the officer suddenly stopped visiting, and they started smelling rot coming from the house. They couldn¡¯t help but go in, and that¡¯s when they found the dead body tied to the bedposts. They reported it immediately, and the officer was caught. Here is where this ties into the oblivion malady. Under oath, the officer swore over and over that he did nothing to her. That he didn¡¯t do any rough play in the bedroom with her. Unluckily for him, the two guards testified against him, and her lady friends too. The officer couldn¡¯t stand it though, before the verdict, within one day, they found him dead in his cell. He had tortured his own body with a sharp blade until he bled out. Investigation started on how he even got that blade, but eventually the case was closed after they got no further leads. I attended the trial, and I have to say, I have never seen a man so vehemently sure that he had done nothing in my life. I think he did all these things under the effect of the oblivion malady. He was probably the longest victim under the effect of the oblivion malady. He got the virus and developed the weird kink, killed his mistress and, like all other victims, the malady had run its course through his body. He killed her, but the goddess smiled on him and made him forget what he had done. Weirdly, though, the next crime also pertained to this same case. This time, it was the two guards that guarded the house, and they had the same symptoms. Excuse me for the couthiness I¡¯ll discuss this case with. You know I am not usually one to discuss carnal matters, but I think this case is also because of the oblivion malady. One guard reported himself for murdering his guard partner and his wife. The surviving guard testified that he returned one night to find his friend -yes, they were friends, if you were wondering- fucking his wife. He said and I quote, ¡°blood boiled in my veins as I saw them in the act. They didn¡¯t notice me there. They seemed out of it, not realizing anything else around them. The horrible thing that I regret is that I froze. It wasn¡¯t a normal freeze either that takes you a moment after an immense shock. No, it was a fifteen minute freeze. I tried to command my body to move, but I couldn¡¯t, tried to shout, but I couldn¡¯t. I was furious, and my anger was getting worse with every passing second. Finally, when they finished, I roared in anger at them, and it looked like they had snapped out of a trance, my wife was scared as hell covering her body, my friend looked lost, he looked between me and her, it was like he didn¡¯t even know how he got there, I was still in my work clothes, he was unarmed pants around his ankles, it was a no contest really, I just stabbed him in anger repeatedly, and then I cut the head of my cheating bitch of a wife, and then I came and reported what happened, I was defending my honor, I expect not to be charged with anything after you see their bodies with the clear signs of sexual betrayal on both of them.¡± Of course, he had to go through the legal channels and testify in court. The judge acquitted him of any crime, as it was an honor murder. You would think that this chain of crimes would stop there, but no. The same guard that was acquitted of any crime kidnapped the same judge that set him free. He Tortured him for two weeks and painfully raped him anally, before the judge finally died of his wounds. The weird thing is the guard also died of similar wounds and the evidence points to the judge inflicting those wounds on the guard. He wasn¡¯t raped, though. Just what the hell happened? How can two people mutually torment each other, even though one of them is clearly the kidnapper and the other is clearly the kidnapped? It makes no sense, it almost feels like their bodies were controlled, but the imperial court doesn¡¯t have anybody with that ability, the imperial army doesn¡¯t have anybody with that ability. Is it perhaps another trait of the oblivion malady? Does it awaken some sort of demonic desire within the victims? And that¡¯s why the officer didn¡¯t know he tortured his mistress. That¡¯s also why the guard¡¯s friend didn¡¯t seem to realize he slept with the wife of his dear friend. And maybe it¡¯s also why the guard watched his wife fuck another. Maybe the virus awakened a depravity within him that made him like watching? And when he snapped out, he killed them? But how did he and the judge agree to mutually torturing each other? Maybe I am reading this all wrong, but since most of the malady victims just reported forgetfulness and missing parts of their days. We could argue maybe it¡¯s not an inside job, but an outside party spying on the empire, or trying to hurt the empire, but none of our campaigns were spoiled because of leaked information. Not to my knowledge. And the officer and judge and two guards that died were, in fact, inconsequential to the empire. They just did a job. Excuse me, but they were grunts. Why would an outside enemy go to such length just to kill these individuals? That¡¯s why I am leaning towards my theory, that this is what I call the oblivion malady. New diseases appear all the time. We fight them; we come up with new potions to prevent or cure them. And I have already made such preventative potions to ensure that neither the Emperor nor me will contract this malady, but I need to test cheaper versions on repeat oblivion malady patients until I reach the perfect cheapest formula. And of course I am working on a less expensive formula than the one me and the emperor use, as well for the nobles, but they are famously phobic to try out new potions unless they absolutely have to, or unless they are dealing with erectile dysfunction, they will drink anything to cure that! I hate that my evidence isn¡¯t concrete about the malady. I hate that I still didn¡¯t come up with a cure for it. But at least no harm has befallen the nation except these three interlinked crimes. May the goddess touch us with her mercy, and may the Solea Empire live forever. Long live the empire, Long live the emperor. -Zhi Zixin -Scars of Fate and other catastrophes Chapter 48: The end of the expedition If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all. -Dan Rather After reading the oblivion malady chapter in Zhi¡¯s book on catastrophes, Seph thought, ¡°That must have been the King of Beggars revenge. His wife betrayed him with a high-ranking officer in the imperial army. The guards that beat him to an inch of his life were two, and they guarded her house, and the corrupt judge that ruled against him. He annihilated them, making sure they felt exactly how he felt when he got betrayed and abandoned by the law, and how the beating they gave him almost killed him. Their life was forfeited. That¡¯s a scary man. I wonder if he is still alive, or any of Scorn¡¯s friends, for that matter. My knowledge of their story is still lacking at best. I need to know more to know my next move after I get out of here. This is all so complicated. An empire I never heard of. Yin cultivators that are hunted by human cultivators. And now I am hunted too. Somewhere in the past, a team of legendary yin cultivators who should have made significant advancements to still be alive to this day disappeared with no trace. And to top it off, the new yin cultivators with me in this trial. I have to figure out how to deal with all that. Survive and thrive and protect those who I love, which is only my mother, but still. I need to learn more.¡± As if on cue, the enormous book quickly flipped its pages and opened a new chapter for Seph to check out. Day 15 of the expedition We have been traveling for the last two weeks, trying to reach the base of Scorn in Amoria. It¡¯s a pretty gutsy decision to make his base in such a famous location. A vulnerable one as well! But so far, even knowing his base, we couldn¡¯t take him down. But to that I say no more. Scorn is going down even if it¡¯s the last thing I do. Atelia Megi still scares the shit out of me and everyone else, but we still talk daily, and because of her, everyone now fears me by extension, which is honestly not a bad thing. I enforce respect because of my position, but rarely fear, specially that I never abuse my place of power. I also got to talking with the colonel. His name is Tan Yunyi. He is a cultivator of the golden core realm. He uses a long golden glaive as his weapon. Very formidable in a close quarters fight, I hope he cut Scorn¡¯s head with one of his attacks. Most of the campaign is built on his shoulders alone, as even my alchemy will never be strong enough to compare to someone at his level. I still think with my help we are going to win this time. The two captains are also cultivators, but of the foundation establishment stage. Atelia¡¯s power was of the foundation establishment stage as well. What clenched the win for us was another mercenary, a cultivator of the wind blade. He is in the early golden core realm. He uses a pair of Chakram as his weapons. I couldn¡¯t wait for the moment we finally laid the beat-down on Scorn, and we were very close to Amoria now. I will lay my writing feather now to prepare for the upcoming fight¡­ A sudden feeling of unfathomable danger just assailed my senses that I didn¡¯t have time to close my book. My instincts are screaming at me, a blaring danger not only to me but the entire campaign. Perception is the attribute that boosts our natural instincts. And mine is very high. I cultivated it with special pills. Nobody has this kind of perception without being a cultivator and a specialized one at that. Suddenly we were bathed in darkness, an unnatural darkness, as this was high noon. I looked up and saw a flying man with dragon wings that blotted out the sun before I could shout to alarm the others. The man dove straight for the Chakram mercenary and carried him away. I wonder if I¡¯ll see that cultivator again. I have a feeling that only one of them shall return. A man then appeared in front of our campaign, donned in an ornate scarlet armor, and carrying a huge scarlet two-handed sword. He started killing our front row soldiers, like the god of death unleashed on a bunch of weakling humans who were unlucky enough to be the vanguard of the army. Our general thought fast and headed to the front row, and was now fighting toe to toe with that scarlet god of death. I am ashamed to say this, but I was frozen. That wasn¡¯t the end of our trouble, though. A black lump of some substance came flying from our right flank and hit my partner Atelia Megi in the face. We looked alarmed to where it came from, only to find a man with a huge gourd on his back smirking at us. At that moment, we heard the screams of our left flank as well. I looked there while Atelia headed to intercept the man with the gourd. I saw what looked to be a team of 10 floating ghosts passing through our soldiers on the left flank, electrocuting them each time they passed through them. Behind the ghosts there was another ghost that was dressed in a transparent ghostly attire resembling a war general or something. He had the cruelest smile on his face. Our two captains headed to stop the ghosts. Some soldiers started panicking and were running away, then they screamed, ¡°THEY ARE BEHIND US TOO!¡± Accurate enough, behind us was a skeleton warrior that was over two meters tall. His eyes shone like two purple hellish flames. When he saw the soldiers stop advancing on him, he rushed them instead and started cutting them down with a chain made of bones. You might think how I can write all this mid-battle. It¡¯s because I ran away and took cover. We won¡¯t win this fight. I feel it in my bones, but I thought that if I am lucky, and you find my diary, you will learn the compositions of Scorn¡¯s army. The only problem is, who is Scorn? Is he the scarlet one, or the gourd user or the ghost, or the skeleton behind our army? Or maybe he is none of them, and he is the one with the dragon wings who kidnapped our other golden core fighter? I have an identical diary to this one in my workshop back in the capital. That diary immediately copies the one I carry on me.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The emperor will learn anything I write here if he orders a search of my workshop, since he knows about my diary. Please, your highness, if we don¡¯t return. Please Goddess Karma, let him see this diary, so that he knows how to beat Scorn after learning the composition of his army. I am not a defeatist, though. I have never been. I could wait for our fighters to lose, but I won¡¯t and I¡¯ll join the fray. Luckily my feather isn¡¯t a normal one, it¡¯s a magic feather that I bought to write notes when my hands were busy. While fighting, the feather will write exactly what I think about. I just need to hide it, so that Scorn¡¯s warriors don¡¯t learn of the fact that the emperor will be onto them. *** I have already hidden my diary and feather, rushing now towards the ghost warriors. I have the right weapon to beat them. Meanwhile, the colonel is locked in battle with the scarlet fighter. Both of them look to be equals on the battlefield. The colonel did a whirlwind move with his glaive that was too hard to follow for my eyes. And it looked like the scarlet warrior had blocked all hits. As I saw red sparks inside the whirlwind, I assume they had come from each time both their weapons clashed. Suddenly, the colonel was pushed back, and I saw the scarlet warrior with his leg raised in front of him. He had kicked him with enough force to push him back five meters. ¡°You are a worthy enough opponent to learn my name before I kill you,¡± spoke the scarlet warrior in a loud enough voice for a quarter of the battlefield to hear, ¡°My name is the Scarlet General. You were unlucky enough to be sent by your emperor to fight us, but we are unstoppable. We are unbeatable. You were sent to your doom. So, let me make your death swift, worthy fighter.¡± ¡°My name is Tan Yunyi. Colonel of his majesty¡¯s imperial army. You have caused your first grief in this life when you killed those vanguard soldiers. You and your accomplices signed your death warrant when you cut our path to Scorn. Say your prayers, General, for you now draw your last breaths.¡± The Scarlet General just smirked, and two blood arrows floated beside his head, before they shot fast and killed two more soldiers immediately before he spoke again. ¡°Don¡¯t make promises you can¡¯t keep the colonel. We are indeed unstoppable, and you are as good as dead.¡± He finished his speech and blinked out of existence, only to appear next to the colonel. Drops of blood were marking the distance between where he was and where the colonel was. A lot of blood dropped from where he had come to a stop. His sword lodged inside the chest of the colonel, who looked at his opponent with disbelief before coughing a mouthful of blood. ¡°How?!¡± said the colonel. ¡°We might be at the same stage of cultivation relative to our different paths, but you are not on my level, I am afraid, colonel. I reached this stage by being in constant battles. You reached the golden core realm by meditating and popping pills. We are not the same.¡± With that, the Scarlet General pushed his sword even deeper, which made the gap in the colonel¡¯s chest even wider because the sword got wider the closer it got to its base. He pulled his sword clear of the colonel¡¯s corpse and stood still, watching the battlefield. I watched him warily, fearing that he might interfere in my fight, but he didn¡¯t. The soldiers we had with us were useless, though. As they just froze, looking at the General with fear stricken faces. I looked over at Atelia Meji and found that she did one of her horrible spells again, as all the soldiers that fell in this battle so far rose from the dead, and were all rushing toward the gourd user. He threw his black lumps at them. And blocked their various attacks with his gourd. Even smashing their heads with his gourd to finish them. It was both a defensive and an offensive weapon. That wasn¡¯t Atelia¡¯s only trick, though. She performed another spell that stripped the soldiers that got killed again by the gourd user of their bones and she used them for armor. The woman was already freakishly tall. The bone armor just made her stand a head taller. She made a place in her bone armor for her book. I assume so she could hold it constantly. It sure feels like if you strip the book of her hands or in this case armor. Atelia Meji will cease to exist. She also carried a bone shield and a long mace with a human skull at the top. She sauntered towards the gourd user. ¡°You are good, but are you good enough? Are you capable of beating the supreme necromancer of the entire world? With your little gourd and your ridiculous mud.¡± Atelia spoke to him condescendingly. ¡°Oh! So you fancy yourself a supreme necromancer? Woman, you haven''t any idea what you got yourself into. Pray for your god of death to make your death swift. Because dying at the hands of Dante is anything but. In the meantime, can your zombies stand up to these skeleton warriors that I got from a friend of mine?¡± Dante threw a bunch of bones on the ground right after he finished his taunt. The bones he threw became skeleton warriors in a few breaths, and were already advancing towards the necromancer¡¯s zombies. A fight ensued between the two dead armies, but it was clear the skeleton warriors were superior, while the zombies needed their heads intact to fight the skeletons. The skeletons didn¡¯t have this problem at all. Each time one of their skulls got knocked over, they would just retreat, look for it, grab it, and cork it back on their heads, and after turning it from side to side a little, they would get back into the fray. The zombies were immune to all injuries except head injuries, while the skeletons were immune to all injuries except if their entire body got smashed in fast succession. ¡°HAHAHAHAHA. You are only making this fight easier for me, by providing me with more bones.¡± Atelia¡¯s laugh was horrifying and demented. She renewed her spell as soon as she said that, and her body grew even larger with the bones of the dead. ¡°Did you ever hear of the saying the bigger they are, the harder they fall?¡± Dante spoke in an amused tone, before he ran towards her legs, and a maw opened in the palm of his hand. That regurgitated copious amounts of the black substance. Atelia wasn¡¯t alarmed by what happened, because the initial lump that hit her did nothing to her face. But in a few seconds, her bone legs that raised her significantly off the ground got eaten through by the black substance, and her humongous body started falling to the ground, before she could rise to her legs again after reforming her bone armor. Dante shouted, ¡°Gigante Mort.¡± His gourd swelled to a gigantic size and fell down hard on the head of Atelia Meji. The fight was over, and Dante also stood still and didn¡¯t move from his place. These fights were so fast, by the time I think of what¡¯s happening for my feather to write the entire happenings of the battlefield. They were already over. The ghosts had fried ten soldiers or more to death, and I had to stop them. But I had to check our last front, or rather the back, of our formation. The skeleton warrior was going to town on our soldiers, killing them left and right with his chain of bones weapon. At one point, the weapon broke after clashing with the skull of one soldier while the soldier died. The skeleton warrior didn¡¯t seem fazed that his weapon got smashed, and pulled his backbone mid battle and lunged at our soldiers again. Meanwhile, the two captains reached the ghosts and started blasting them with red and blue orbs. They were orbs of fire and water, the two captains weren¡¯t picked randomly, they were a team, their powers complimented each other, and it was rumored that fighting together made them handle any warrior of a realm higher than them. The orbs were doing minor damage to the ghosts as they just stopped them in their tracks for a few seconds. The captains looked at each other and nodded. They each raised an opposite hand facing each other and shot the orbs at each other¡¯s hand. The orbs merged on impact and then flew, directed by the will of the two officers at the ghosts. Not all orbs were accurate, though. It seemed their minds had to be in sync for the orbs to shoot at the right ghost. They communicated without talking to keep everything a surprise, but it was enough to annihilate all the minor ghosts. Their leader remained, though. He started floating towards the captains, but they stopped him by launching orbs at his oncoming body. All orbs were accurate now, because there was a single target. The only issue with their fighting prowess is the combined orbs did minor damage to the ghost leader. He stopped for only a second after each impact before floating the rest of the way towards the captains. After he reached them, he extended both arms towards their throats as if he was choking them, but he wasn¡¯t really touching them. His hands passed through them. That wasn¡¯t an issue for him though, because his electrocution power was much more severe than that of the minor ghosts and the two captains died immediately. I found myself along with some surviving soldiers that were frozen in place by the horrifying opponents, just standing there looking at how we were flanked by scary individuals from each cardinal direction. Before I could compose myself, the sun got plotted out again, and darkness fell on us. I looked to the sky and found the dragon winged warrior descending on me like a death incarnate.... Chapter 49: Scorns Daggers Part 1 After reading the last chapter in Zhi¡¯s book, the world around Seph morphed again. He now had an overtop view of a battlefield. A scar of fate appeared under him. It was a black slash in the face of reality. Weirdly, there were no living monsters to be seen. Seph looked around and found Scorn¡¯s entire team present, but there was an extra individual that was moving too fast for his eyes to follow. Seph still tried his best. He carried an ornate one handed sword that was extremely well made. And was wearing a sleek black attire that hugged his body, and a pointy hat that had the shape of a triangle in front and from the back. Seph couldn¡¯t see his face from his point of view. The dark swordsman moved like lightning towards the Scarlet General, and landed a hit that shattered a tower shield he was carrying and even landed on his shoulder cutting into it deep. In the blink of an eye, the dark swordsman reached Dante and struck him with his sword. Dante defended with his gourd in panic, but the gourd showed cracks all over after that single hit. Dante immediately used some skill that made his body turn into a black substance that got sucked into the gourd, and he appeared in a different place entirely on the furthest point of the battlefield. His gourd remained behind, though. Seph thought the gourd looked exactly like the one he used. He wondered if it¡¯s the same one. The swordsman was about to land a hit on the gourd to smash it, thinking that Dante was hiding inside, but the Skeleton Lord showed up and blocked the hit with his bone shield, which got smashed immediately. The swordsman was ruthless and didn¡¯t stop there. His second hit completely decapitated the Skeleton Lord, whose body fell limp. In the next second, the swordsman appeared in front of Scorn, who was flying towards him. He attacked him with his sword, but Scorn defended with his dragon wings. They had very tough bones that would have blocked any other hit, but not this one. The sword slashed Scorn¡¯s right wing in half. Before the swordsman could land another hit to potentially finish Scorn off. The transparent body of the Ghost Commander appeared suddenly in front of him, and in the blink of an eye, he zapped through the body of the dark swordsman. The swordsman got electrocuted and paralyzed immediately. Seph was almost at the same height as them, and could finally see the face of the dark swordsman since he stopped moving. He had the eyes of a beast, scary yellow eyes that had a vertical slit pupil in the middle. They were panicking right now, but you could tell how intelligent this creature was. The high collar of his black shirt covered the bottom half of his face. The upper half appeared to be covered in fur, like that of a cat. It was still hard to determine what this creature was, though. Suddenly, a blinding scarlet comet shot from where the Scarlet General was, and he appeared next to the dark swordsman carrying a long lance that was now lodged in the creature¡¯s stomach. A second later, a purple portal appeared behind the black swordsman, and from within came a bone sword clutched by a bony hand that repeatedly stabbed the dark swordsman in the chest. Seph looked over to where the Skeleton Lord used to be and found a similar portal with the Skeleton Lord standing beside it, his skull back on his shoulders. The Ghost Commander zapped himself through the body of the swordsman again to make sure he remained paralyzed. From the furthest spot of the battlefield, many small black balls rose in the air and they shot with the speed of a bullet towards the dark swordsman. Dante screamed, ¡°YOU RUINED MY FAVORITE WEAPON YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!¡± Seph thought, man this guy is the coward of this group. He didn¡¯t even come closer after he found the group had paralyzed and hurt their opponent. The dark swordsman¡¯s body got peppered with bullets, but none of them passed through. They lodged themselves halfway into his flesh, and the rot was spreading. The swordsman snapped out of his paralysis, and the Ghost Commander suddenly stepped away. The purple portal closed up, and the Scarlet General dropped to the ground. The way was clear for the dark swordsman to wreak havoc again, if not for the rushing body of Scorn who was carrying a one handed sword of his own that he used to decapitate the dark swordsman ending the fight immediately. A few swirls of energy under the scar of fate cleared up and revealed a few treasure chests at the same time. Seph guessed those were the rewards for the high level scar of fate they just finished. Scorn descended on the ground, his body missing half a wing. He gave his friends half a smile before saying, ¡°Too close for comfort. Who knew core creation level scars of fate could be this tough, eh?¡± The Ghost Commander replied, ¡°You all owe me your lives. Maybe I should be the one who gets all the loot.¡± Dante, who had come back into proximity to his friends after the dark swordsman got decapitated, the same way he left, as the black substance came out of his gourd, forming his body again. He spoke out and said, ¡°No way in hell. That piece of shit ruined my favorite weapon. I need my part of the loot to get a replacement.¡± The guttural hellish sound of the Skeleton Lord answered him, ¡°Relax you ninny, the commander is just joking. Where were you during the fight when we were all getting thrashed by that mysterious devil, by the way?¡± Dante¡¯s eyes became wide, and he said defensively, ¡°I was fighting like the rest of you. What do you mean where was I?! Watch what you are insinuating, you sack of bones.¡± The Scarlet General finally spoke and said, ¡°Enough of your rough jokes, everyone. I don¡¯t want to be separating you fighting-children again today.¡± All three looked offended, but before they could speak up, Scorn spoke again, ¡°My friends, this is the last scar of fate we had to beat before finally going after our goal of storming the capital. We have waited long for this moment. You have all proven yourself very loyal to me and dedicated to my goal, and for that I am ever thankful to all of you for your support and your comradery. After we meditate, we will reach the next stage of cultivation, and we will be on par with the empire¡¯s best.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Scorn stopped and looked at all his friends closely to see how they felt about his words. ¡°It will be a tough war for sure, but we will come out on top. I have the utmost confidence in all your abilities. So, let us, for the last time, meditate together and reach new heights as Yin cultivators.¡± Each of Scorn¡¯s friends nodded at him before he sat down to meditate. Once he closed his eyes and started meditating deeply, he felt a sudden sharp pain in his chest. He opened his eyes and saw the Scarlet General in front of him with a one handed scarlet sword that he used to stab him in the chest. Scorn looked at him in disbelief, but before he could say anything, he felt another sharp pain in his back, and his entire body was electrocuted and paralyzed. Seph, from his overtop view, screamed ¡°NO!¡± but no one could hear him. The Ghost Commander was standing behind Scorn with a transparent sword that he had stabbed him with. Instead of panicking, Scorn closed his eyes. Next, the Skeleton Lord stepped up after the other two looked at him, and stabbed Scorn with a bone sword. And finally, tentatively, Dante stepped forward and stabbed Scorn with a sword made of his black substance. The Scarlet General then spoke, ¡°We are very sorry, Scorn, but we couldn¡¯t fight your war anymore. Fighting the empire is a very dangerous war, even for us. They have strong enough cultivators that will fight for their cause, and they can pay the rest of the cultivators to defend them. Our chances weren¡¯t good. We probably would have all died fighting them, and wouldn¡¯t have even gotten to the emperor¡¯s doorstep. You want to destroy the empire, and leave multitudes of people to fend for themselves with no ruling government to set their affairs in order. Pulling the rug from under the feet of the empire will leave the mortals in civil wars for 200 years at least, before new borders become clear. But even if we destroyed the empire. Was that going to be enough for the Scorn of Amoria? I heard you say many times you want to burn it all down before deciding if we deserve to continue existing. We don¡¯t want to take part in ending civilization. We¡¯re very sorry, my friend, but it had to be done.¡± *** Weeks ago, the emperor of Solea was sitting on his throne carrying the twin diary of Zhi Zixin. He was alone and speaking to himself, ¡°So you are dead now, my friend, but even in your death you serve your emperor one last time, giving me the information I need to beat Scorn once and for all. A battle with Scorn¡¯s warriors is dangerous for the empire. We can probably come out on top, more than a 60% chance if I am a gambling man, but it will be a costly war even if we win. The only solution I see is to give each of his warriors what they desire most. Hell, even more than they desire, to end this war before it even begins. That Scarlet General sounds awfully familiar. I think he probably is one of my very own that got turned against me. I¡¯ll send an official ambassador to make a deal with him after I order the court magician to track his movements. Once we find a certain time where the Scarlet General is isolated, we will reach out to him and convince him to switch sides, or even become his own man and not answer to us or Scorn again.¡± *** A week later, in a brothel, where the Scarlet General liked to go to let off some steam. The lighting was dark enough so that no one could recognize the differences that Yin cultivators have from humans. He wasn¡¯t wearing any of his conjured scarlet armor. You would think he is just another pervy old man in search of a good time, but the ambassador of the emperor knew better. He was sitting close to the general, and between them was a pretty woman. The ambassador was waiting for his chance to make a good impression on the general, and once the general ran out of liquor, he got his chance. ¡°Another amphora on me, for the powerful gentleman and his lovely company.¡± The ambassador shouted. This wasn¡¯t new to the general. Sometimes people felt so good in the brothel that they just became generous and started buying wine for the surrounding people. He raised his last glass to the ambassador without saying a word. The woman that was sitting with the general excused herself to the washroom, and the ambassador found it a chance to make something happen. He promised the whore that was with him ten gold if she can convince the other one to suggest to the general that they all sit together. True enough, not ten minutes later, both couples were sitting together. ¡°Glad to make your acquaintance, sir,¡± said the ambassador once they got together. ¡°Likewise, my generous friend, so what is it you do?¡± The general didn¡¯t really care for the ambassador at all. His escort convinced him by saying that the other man was feeble and she will convince the other woman to join them if they sit together, leaving the poor man without company. ¡°I am an ambassador for powerful people. I facilitate certain contracts for them and recruit additional forces for their cause. They trust my judgment completely and have given me complete authority to make very generous offers to those who would join them,¡± the ambassador said emphatically, trying to play at the natural greed of humankind. Greed that if we were deprived of, we wouldn¡¯t ever strive to better our lives and our place in this world. Greed that without, we would have probably remained in the safety of our farms and grown our own food and lived peaceful lives forever. The general became alert after hearing these words because he figured out something was up. He expanded his spiritual sense to cover the entire brothel and ¡°saw¡± no danger. He expanded it further and everything was still very peaceful and safe. He relaxed and thought to hear out the ambassador, to learn what he had to say. ¡°Oh! That¡¯s very interesting. You must be well off then to have all these powers,¡± the general said. ¡°Yes, I am doing very well, but that¡¯s not even 1% of how good the people who I deal with will be when they accept to deal with me.¡± ¡°So, what if I may ask, is your new mission?¡± The general knew this was an offer for him, and he was interested enough to hear it. He didn¡¯t think that he would even consider accepting. ¡°My employer sent me to make a deal with a general of an opposing force. Our only ask is for that general to abandon his force. What we offer is nothing short of whatever they might need.¡± ¡°What if the general doesn¡¯t want for anything?¡± ¡°We all want something. Some of us want more freedom to not be under the yoke of our masters anymore, to be our own masters. While others are tired of serving an army and want their own army, or even their own kingdom. Some of us don¡¯t want to work for the legacy of another anymore and want to create our own legacy, our own lineage. Some of us want riches to set us up for life. There is always a way, especially if it¡¯s for a just cause. And what¡¯s more just than to stop the annihilation of a nation and to save hundreds of millions of people from the chaos of civil war that is bound to happen if there is no powerful ruler to govern the lands?¡± The ambassador finished his speech, but he knew he had his hooks in already. Now they learn if the general will take the bait. The general stared at the ambassador, pondering his words. He remained silent for five minutes, considering all possibilities in his brain, before saying, ¡°What if the general wants everything you offered? His own sovereign kingdom, an army, riches, a lineage?¡± ¡°If that¡¯s what he desires, I have the power to make it a reality,¡± said the ambassador confidently. ¡°And what is it that your employer asks of this general?¡± ¡°Complete support in whatever action he takes against a certain Amorian. It could be as big as the general¡¯s aid in killing him, or it could be as little as the general¡¯s refrain from joining the upcoming war. Either way, we will compensate the general just the same. And his life will never be in danger. If it comes to killing the adversary, the general will have the aid of all his friends to make it happen. We don¡¯t intend to stop at making a deal with the general. We will reach out to all the others.¡± The ambassador spoke confidently. All pretenses have been abandoned. They both know exactly what these words entail now. ¡°I accept. I¡¯ll choose my kingdom, but I¡¯ll not answer to the empire after the deed is done. You will pay me a kingdom¡¯s ransom, and I¡¯ll only help in the killing if you convince every single officer of the Amorian¡¯s group. Otherwise, all you¡¯ll get from me is my guarantee to not take part in the upcoming war.¡± The General stopped for a second before remembering something. ¡°Oh! And there is an individual that served in the imperial army, that got dishonorably discharged and killed for a crime he didn¡¯t perpetrate. I want a full pardon for his name and for the empire to honor his legacy.¡± Seph was still watching, and he felt like he was the subject of betrayal upon hearing the words of the Scarlet General. But this was all in the past. This was all done. Scorn failed because his friends turned on him. ¡°We accept your conditions General, I have to ask you one last question though. Which one is Scorn? We know the composition of your army, we know some of you by name, but we don¡¯t know which one is Scorn.¡± The Scarlet General was silent for a few seconds, like he was abandoning the last shred of loyalty he had for his old Master before saying, ¡°He is the one with the dragon wings.¡± Chapter 50: Scorn鈥檚 Daggers Part 2 The world morphed around Seph and he found himself inside of the art shop that he witnessed in a prior scene from Scorn¡¯s story. Dante focused intently on his work. This was how he winded down after the constant battles. The ambassador walked in on him and made his presence known. ¡°Greetings, honorable artist.¡± Dante looked around him, puzzled. He was sure he closed the door behind him. How did this man make it here? The man continued, when Dante said nothing, ¡°I had a request, and I intend to pay lavishly.¡± Dante used his spiritual sense to inspect the man, but he wasn¡¯t dangerous, just a normal human. This relaxed the easily scared Dante. After all, he was a cultivator. He could take on any human easily. But just to be sure, he expanded his spiritual sense further and found nothing untoward. Now that he was sure of his safety, he addressed the intruder. ¡°How did you get in here? And how did you know of this workshop?¡± ¡°Relax, I am just a servant. I mean no harm. I am an ambassador for formidable people, and I come here on official business. To propose a deal for you. If you accept it. You will amass riches more than your wildest imagination,¡± said the ambassador, while trying to look as harmless as possible. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you are talking about. Who are these people that you present?¡± Dante said, his paranoid nature still in full effect. He knew the man couldn¡¯t harm him, but he obviously had strong backing. Dante was scared because he was alone and away from Amoria. There was considerable distance between his workshop -where he went for some rest and relaxation- and Amoria. He thought, even if the man couldn¡¯t harm him. He could still get ambushed on the way back. The ambassador picked up on Dante¡¯s fear and was amused. To be feared by such a scary monster was something he never thought would happen. ¡°Okay, I can see that this meeting could go very wrong if I don¡¯t abandon the anonymity of who I present. I come to you with an offer from the empire. We want you to opt out of Scorn¡¯s upcoming war against the empire. And we will pay generously just to keep the empire safe from your power. And to keep you safe from ours.¡± Dante became even more worried, but not from the empire. If Scorn knew he even considered this, his wrath would be unmatched. ¡°I refuse. Are you stupid to suggest such a thing? Do you know how powerful Scorn is? I wouldn¡¯t trade the empire as an enemy for him unless I was crazy. Please, just leave, and don¡¯t tell anyone we had this meeting. I hope none of our other friends are on the way here. If they snitch on me, I am done for.¡± Dante stopped for a second before he continued, not giving the ambassador time to talk. ¡°Why would you do this to me? You might have just doomed me, you bloody idiot.¡± The ambassador cut his rambling. ¡°You might be surprised which side your friends will take in this upcoming fight. I think it¡¯s much safer to join them on the empire¡¯s side¡± The last thing the ambassador said shocked Dante that he couldn¡¯t speak for a few minutes. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. In the end he said one word only, ¡°Who?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say who, but one of your strongest for sure, and we don¡¯t intend to stop there. We intend to pull every single officer to our side. When we are done, our friend will be totally alone, or very dead. We don¡¯t ask for much. If we don¡¯t convince everyone, then you will only be expected to set out this upcoming war. But if we pull them all to our side, then we have another plan that will guarantee the silence of our friend forever.¡± The ambassador said confidently. ¡°I want everything you promised the other one. I am not less than any of them.¡± Dante said in an instant, his mind made up. Now he just didn¡¯t want to be left out. ¡°Granted, now I require you to tell me something that will help us in getting the rest to our side.¡± The ambassador asked as a sign of goodwill, but also because they lacked knowledge about the rest. ¡°Be careful of the Skeleton Lord. There is some uncanny connection between him and Scorn. It could mean that he can¡¯t betray his master. If you can bypass that, you will have all four of us on your side.¡± ¡°Pleasure doing business with you, King Dante. Hopefully we meet again, on better grounds for both you and the empire.¡± The ambassador left, leaving Dante behind, basking in the glory of being addressed as king, ruling over his own land. He thought there was going to be nothing left to rule anyway if Scorn got his way. He didn¡¯t feel too horrible about his decision. After all, someone else beat him to the punch. *** In front of the imperial palace. The Ghost Commander seemed to be on his off time, doing his favorite thing as well, and that¡¯s looking into the imperial palace with envy and hatred. He wished he could walk right in there and kill all of them, but there was magical protection around the palace. Today was different though than all the other times he did this, because the emperor himself came out of the protective layer around the palace. His eyes had a weird blue hue to them, and he was walking straight toward the commander. ¡°How are you doing, dear mentor?¡± The emperor said. The Ghost Commander was surprised, but he zapped fast towards the Emperor, intending to kill him, but then stopped at the last second and was about to zap away, thinking maybe this was a trap. ¡°Don¡¯t run away. I mean you no harm.¡± The emperor said before he lost him. ¡°Run away? Me run away from you? I ought to kill you right now and end this war once and for all.¡± The commander said indignantly. ¡°I agree with you, but I come to you unarmed, and I am sorry for what my son did to you. I am very sorry. But we don¡¯t have to fight anymore. I am prepared to pay you any compensation you see fit to put all of this behind us.¡± The emperor looked really sorry while saying all this.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The Ghost Commander felt his old loyalties tearing at his heart. There was a part of him that was always ready to put his lot with the empire again, and that part wasn¡¯t ready for the emperor himself to apologize to him. ¡°He killed me! How do you expect me to forgive this?¡± The Ghost Commander said in seething anger. He was mad that he was even considering forgiving them. ¡°I understand, but before that, me and my family have always treated you with kindness. You know how easily stimulated the youth are. The boy was just way too excited by his new toy. He is just a boy. I don¡¯t ask you to forgive him, but I ask you to have mercy on this old man. Don¡¯t harm my child and accept my apology and name any compensation you might want.¡± The Emperor stopped for a second and wiped the tears falling from his eyes with his long sleeve before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll give you your own kingdom, you won¡¯t have to answer to me or Scorn anymore, I¡¯ll give you riches to set you and your kingdom on the best start possible. I¡¯ll give you your own army. All for a chance at reconciliation with you. What happened was very unfortunate, but it was never meant to happen. Give us the chance to make peace with you.¡± The Ghost Commander felt like all the fight had been sucked out of him. How could he refuse when the Emperor himself, the son of the goddess, was weeping in front of him. ¡°What about Scorn?¡± The commander asked. ¡°We won¡¯t have to worry about him for long. He will face his death soon. All his officers are on the side of the empire now. It¡¯s pretty much over for him. With your help, it will be the end of Scorn. I could have sent an ambassador to talk with you as well, but I felt the need to talk with you myself. To put behind us all grudges and move toward a bright future for all of us.¡± ¡°You did?...¡± The commander was shocked that they had already reached all the other officers. ¡°So be it. I guess Scorn¡¯s war was always meant to die down without even attacking the capital. I accept, but I also want the gloves that your son used to turn me into a ghost.¡± ¡°Anything you require is yours. All I ask is your forgiveness for the sins of my son, and your aid in ending Scorn.¡± ¡°Just tell me what I need to do.¡± The commander said in resignation. ¡°In a few days, my ambassador will meet with the Skeleton Lord. We are preparing a spell to free him from the blind loyalty he has for his maker, but we still would like to have all three of you close by, so that if he refuses, you all kill him, then it will be only Scorn that needs to be dealt with.¡± ¡°My powers don¡¯t work on the skeleton lord, but I agree my presence will embolden the others to do the empire¡¯s bidding. I¡¯ll be there, my liege.¡± The Ghost Commander said and bowed down deeply. The emperor made a light bow with his head before heading back inside. Once he was sure the Ghost Commander left. The ambassador showed up and said, ¡°That was very brave of you, your highness.¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s a good thing I had that protective spell on me, though. The maniac almost attacked me. I can¡¯t wait to end Scorn and put all this behind us. I have to guarantee the safety of my lineage after me.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll head to The Skeleton Lord post haste. We will see this done. Make sure the court magician reaches out to the other officers of Scorn¡¯s army, so that they remain close by. We never know what these maniacs will react to our offers.¡± The ambassador said before leaving the emperor to his other attendees. *** The scene changed to nighttime. It was outside, specifically in a graveyard. Weirdly enough, the Skeleton Lord was sitting on one tombstone holding a flower and sniffing it. He had no nose to sniff with, but that didn¡¯t stop his longing for feeling alive again. The ambassador was just about to reach him, when the Skeleton Lord became alarmed suddenly, and threw the flower away before he closed the gap between him and the ambassador in an instant, and killed him without even saying a word. The empire had a Plan B, though, because the other officers all came shortly after and surrounded the Skeleton Lord. ¡°What is it you all want?¡± The Skeleton Lord said, his voice full of hostility. ¡°We need to talk. We all reached a decision, and we want you to join us. It has to be all four of us together.¡± The Scarlet General said. He was standing flanked by Dante and the Ghost Commander. The Skeleton Lord just eyed them with his infernal eyes threateningly, saying nothing. ¡°Do not be afraid. You will notice your inherent, magically induced loyalty is not working anymore. You don¡¯t have to answer to Scorn from now on. There is no link between the both of you.¡± The Scarlet General assured him. ¡°And what is that decision that you all reached and would like me to join you in?¡± ¡°We are going to finish Scorn. The Empire made us all offers we couldn¡¯t refuse. You were going to get the same offer, but you rushed and killed the ambassador. I have the authority to still guarantee you the same deal we all got. All that you need to do is accept the deal and kill Scorn with us. This war has to end. Scorn only wanted doom and destruction in the entire world for the fate of Amoria. I say enough of that. This all has to end now. Join us, my friend, in guaranteeing the continued survival of the humankind.¡± The General spoke rather passionately, like he really believed in his cause. ¡°The continued survival of the humankind, or the continued survival of the empire? I couldn¡¯t help but notice you said friend, wasn¡¯t Scorn your friend? Scorn that you are all hellbent on betraying now, wasn¡¯t he our friend?¡± The Skeleton Lord said, his voice full of disappointment. ¡°He was, but his war not only threatens to put the entire world in a civil war, it threatens to kill us as well. We won¡¯t come out the other side of the war with the empire unscathed, and you know it. They have made very generous offers to guarantee all of us our own kingdoms, riches beyond our imaginations, and most of all freedom from answering to the likes of Scorn or the empire ever again. If the empire is the real evil doer here, then they will get their time. It doesn¡¯t have to be with our hands. This is not our war anymore.¡± The Scarlet General was rather animated at this point. The Skeleton Lord gave him no hope that he was going to accept. ¡°And what if I refuse this offer?¡± The Scarlet general gave him a weak smile before saying, ¡°Then we will have to put you down, my friend. We all have to agree on this, and we can¡¯t let Scorn have your support or else he will end all of us easily.¡± The Skeleton Lord looked between all of them, then something happened they never saw before. The purple flame in his eye sockets went out. ¡°So be it. I guess I have no choice. I¡¯ll join you in your betrayal, but after this is done, I¡¯ll never speak to any of you again, and don¡¯t call me friend again. We are not friends. You would soon betray me like you betrayed Scorn if someone paid you the right price.¡± The Scarlet General looked at him with a challenging look. ¡°We don¡¯t have to be friends to see this through, and our kingdoms are far enough from each other that we never have to see each other again. The empire ensured to put us in four different locations so that we don¡¯t gather when we are even stronger and be a threat to them.¡± The Skeleton Lord asked, ¡°And what makes you think they won¡¯t decimate each of us, after we¡¯ve gotten rid of Scorn for them? We will be isolated and easy targets for them.¡± ¡°They won¡¯t put the empire in danger again, they know how close Scorn got to annihilating them, in an open fight a core creation cultivator can easily get away with his life, get stronger, and come back for revenge, they won¡¯t risk having any of us as their enemies.¡± The Skeleton Lord was out of arguments and just looked at his three former friends, before turning his back on them, and sitting on the tombstone again. The three looked at each other before they each teleported away from the graveyard. *** Seph was back at the scene where Scorn got executed again. Scorn asked weakly, ¡°What about my family?¡± The four officers looked at each other, and shook their heads saying no to the Scarlet General, before he said, ¡°We can¡¯t let your wife go, she is almost as strong as us, she would get stronger and come back to take revenge, but maybe I can convince the others to spare your daughter.¡± ¡°So be it. You can proceed with your betrayal. I guess like Amoria got betrayed before me, it was inevitable I would get betrayed as well.¡± The group surrounded Scorn and carried him back to Amoria, where they would proceed with getting rid of him. Chapter 51: Someone Worth Dying For Seph found himself in a room full of energy, meditating. He was finally out of the various illusions, and he felt something new inside him. He opened his status screen and found out something new.
Dao Insights
Seed of fire/early stage: Increase the chance of high and peak crafts by 5% while decreasing the chance of mid and low crafts by 5%. Seed of illusion/early stage: +5 Wisdom.
Seph then checked his total stats.
Name: Seph ???
Class: Undead Buddhist lvl 4
Cultivation Stage: Body Dismantling stage (IV)
Lifespan: 18/45 years
Strength: 45
Dexterity: 19
Intelligence: 27
Wisdom: 13
Constitution: 23
Perception: 25
Luck: 10
Seph was very confused how he got a Dao seed when he had been in constant tests and revelations for a while. He said out-loud, ¡°How did I get a seed of illusion without pondering on the Dao?!¡± ¡°It was always a possibility that whoever succeeded in the last three trials of the heart, the mind, and the soul which were all set up to be intertwined illusions, to gain a seed of illusion by the end of them. It¡¯s, after all, what high-level cultivators like me used to create these dreamscapes. But ours is a much deeper understanding of the dao of illusion. Not a mere seed,¡± the soul sliver of Scorn suddenly said. He was floating in mid-air and behind his back appeared his dragon wings for the first time. They were intact though, unlike how Seph saw them in the revelation, where he had one wing cut in half. ¡°Scorn!¡± Seph said in surprise, during the multiple revelations he had gotten way closer to Scorn than he expected. He had just seen this man executed in real time. He just saw this man lose everything because he trusted the wrong people. He felt bad for him, but he also knew just how powerful he used to be. It would be an insult in a way to show pity towards such a powerful individual. He had tons of questions for him, but he didn¡¯t know where he should start. ¡°Seph. Congratulations on beating my trials.¡± ¡°Thanks! I am very sorry for what happened to you,¡± Seph was still very touched by the revelations he saw. The sadness in his voice was genuine and his apology sincere. Scorn looked at him for a second before saying, ¡°Me too, Seph. Me too.¡± ¡°Is Sun okay? I don¡¯t see him.¡± Scorn answered, ¡°Sun is doing just fine. He is waiting for you in the next room.¡± Seph sighed in relief before asking a question with one word: ¡°The empire?¡± ¡°The empire is no more. None of the challengers of my legacy knew the name Solea. None of you even know how the empire disappeared from the face of the Earth. I guess they got what¡¯s coming to them in the end. I don¡¯t think they changed their name either, because there isn¡¯t a single empire in the world right now that is as big.¡± ¡°How do you know what we know?¡± Scorn explained, ¡°It¡¯s how the illusion part of the trial works. I get close and personal with your minds, and you get close and personal with mine. I have to access your mind to make you believe you saw a mountain or are falling into an endless pit or getting pulled into a bottomless hole.¡± Seph asked, ¡°Oh, what was up with these trials? During them, I couldn¡¯t understand that I was inside an illusion. But after I got out, I now have a recollection of each and everyone of them, and I can¡¯t say that I understand what happened exactly or if I even passed any of them for that matter.¡± Scorn chuckled, ¡°I thought they would be self explanatory, but since none of you understood. I think I overdid it and made these challenges too hard. In hindsight, how were you supposed to make logical decisions when I deprived you of all your memories? Sorry about that, but if I could go back in time, I would do it the same way again. After all, I got you as my winner. You will be a scary cultivator one day if you survive the cultivation world.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Scorn looked cheerful, which was weird. Seph thought something must be up. What would make the soul of a dead man this cheerful? ¡°So the first trial. The heart was to deprive you of your memories and then check if you can instinctually go after your true goal again. Many of you succeeded in that. For you, the goal was to get as fast as you can to your mother to save her life. The trial was to entice you with different worldly desires to forget your goal. Riches, power, and the allure of a mystery you strived to know for most of your life, but you resisted all of them and you went for your goal.¡± Seph nodded his head in understanding, but kept his silence. ¡°The second trial, the mind, was to make you choose to be a Yin cultivator again of your own freewill. Half of you actually failed this trial. All the other decisions were just a distraction, but they were amusing for me regardless to see what you would choose when given a second chance. Also, for your information, everyone who reached the last trial got the same revelations about my life like you, but only you got the complete story after beating the last trial. So congratulations on being the only one alive privy to my legacy, but as you saw, it¡¯s a legacy of vengeance. You are to do with the information you learned what you want. I can¡¯t possibly ask you to avenge me.¡± Seph felt a heavy burden on his shoulders again and said, ¡°Yeah, I am not sure what to do with that information either, you said the empire doesn¡¯t exist anymore, but that doesn¡¯t mean that your friends don¡¯t exist anymore as well.¡± Scorn smiled, ¡°Chances are they are still alive. Their Kingdoms are small and far. They can remain entirely anonymous if they want, or they can mingle with humans and rule humans without them ever realizing that they are being ruled by Yin cultivators, but if you would take my advice. I think you shouldn¡¯t tell anyone outside these walls that you beat the trial, even your sect. Try to keep it a secret or you will all have a huge target on your backs.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t thought of that. They would want to kill the only person who knows their secret for sure. What about the last trial? The soul?¡± ¡°Ironically, this trial tests your capacity for good or evil. I used to think I am the good guy but I am not sure anymore. The more sinister you are, the tougher this trial is going to be. The souls were based on the victims of Amoria and their desire for justice, but here is what¡¯s interesting. No one was supposed to win that trial. Meaning all of you would have drowned, eventually. If you didn¡¯t beat the trial, Gabalawi was going to win for sure. The trial tested for who would struggle the most. Who wouldn¡¯t accept the unknown in the pit of that hole? But you¡­ You beat the trial. Which is insane. I think at your level I would have also drowned. I don¡¯t know what happened there. The monkey was trying to save you. I saw that, but I am not sure how he succeeded!¡± Seph immediately said, ¡°I am sorry, Scorn, trade secret,¡± Seph wasn¡¯t about to share the information of the majestic monkey that showed behind his companion Sun and saved his life. Scorn laughed heartily for a while, but made no further comments on the subject. ¡°Now why don¡¯t we go meet your friend Sun?¡± Scorn said, ushering Seph towards another room. ¡°Let¡¯s! I can¡¯t wait to meet that rascal monkey again.¡± *** Seph entered an unfamiliar room and found Scorn waiting inside already. Once he got in, Sun instinctively felt him in the room, and got up from his relaxed position and ran towards him. The monkey jumped into his arms, whining happily. ¡°I am glad to see you too, buddy! How have you been?¡± Seph asked while smiling from ear to ear. Sun made a long sequence of happy screeches and hoots, like he was explaining his entire time without Seph. At the end, Seph said, ¡°All of this has happened? I missed out on a lot, but we will make up for lost time after we get out of here.¡± Seph then directed his words to Scorn and said, ¡°Shall we head for the reward room? I want that perfect body dismantling cultivation manual.¡± Scorn said, ¡°Sure, but before then, I actually have a personal request. Just know this: if you refuse, you still get your prize, so no pressure.¡± Seph was surprised, but acted like he expected this and said, ¡°Sure, tell me and I¡¯ll see if I can aid you.¡± Scorn sighed heavily, looking extremely sad for a soul sliver of a long dead cultivator, before saying, ¡°What you saw wasn¡¯t the end of my story. There was more. After I got stabbed in the back by my officers, they ambushed my wife and killed her.¡± Scorn sighed again before continuing, ¡°Then they captured my daughter. My beautiful daughter Lilith. They didn¡¯t kill her, but they were going to force her into exile. She refused and asked to be sealed along with me. Nobody had attempted to kill such a powerful Yin cultivator before me. So, it was a surprise that I didn¡¯t die from all my wounds. I got sealed away, but my baby, Lilith, asked to be sealed with me, alive.¡± Scorn gave Seph a serious, pleading look before he said, ¡°I want you to convince my daughter to leave with you. She is in a state of suspended animation. Her body hasn¡¯t aged a day since then. She didn¡¯t have any intention of leaving, but her seal, which was much weaker than mine, has weakened considerably now. She only needs to have the desire to get out. That¡¯s easier said than done. She lost her entire world that day. She hadn¡¯t been cultivating for long, and suddenly all her father¡¯s friends, even her godfather, the Scarlet General, all turned on her. Took her father away from her. Killed her mother. It was a harsh reality to live with. I don¡¯t blame her for giving up, but still I would like to see her take another chance at living. Please, Seph, save my child.¡± *** Seph wasn¡¯t big on life himself since he became a Yin cultivator. If he was, he wouldn¡¯t have won the trial because he would have chosen to not get turned into a Yin cultivator a second time in the mind trial. Convincing someone he didn¡¯t even know, from an entirely different era than himself to try life again, was a wild proposition. He didn¡¯t know how old she was. He didn¡¯t know any personal information about her, only who her father was, but the pleading look Scorn gave him moved his heart. Imagine using the last power of a soul sliver to save your daughter long after you were gone. All challengers got advantages in the trials, and it was always a possibility for the formidable progenitor to have demands of them, but this didn¡¯t even sound like a demand. Scorn was beseeching him to save his daughter. All he had to do was to talk with her. He was afraid of not only letting Scorn down. He was afraid of failing, and living the rest of his life, knowing he couldn¡¯t save a girl who didn¡¯t get to live her life to the fullest because of a tremendous tragedy. Fate worked in mysterious ways though, and Seph¡¯s life was about to change forever, because of answering Scorn¡¯s prayer. ¡°I¡¯ll try my best. I¡¯ll save your daughter,¡± Seph answered after thinking for a long time about if he even had it in him, to talk someone into giving life a second chance. Scorn waved his hand, and a portal appeared. The soul sliver became a faded imitation of what it looked like before opening the portal, but he didn¡¯t seem to care. It was going to be enough for the job. Chapter 52: Someone Worth Fighting For Seph stepped through the portal with Sun on his shoulders. He found himself in something that resembled a deserted, debilitated temple. There were walls that looked to be made of sandstone or something. The roof was falling apart, many pieces of the roof had fallen on the ground. Smashing the mosaic floor and littering the floor with many huge chunks of stone. In the middle, Seph recognized the emaciated form of Scorn, all four swords still sticking out of his body, each held by a chain that was sticking out of a column of mysterious metal with runes carved all over pillars and the chains. Seph couldn¡¯t see it, but there was a protective seal around Scorn. Yes, he was still alive, but Seph wouldn¡¯t try to save him. Scorn¡¯s soul sliver had specifically warned him not to. Seph was alone with Sun. if the soul sliver had followed it would have gotten sealed as well, and Seph would have had lost his only way back. Off to the side, leaning on the right wall, was his query. A coffin made of bones. Lilith was supposed to be inside of it. The cover of the coffin was like glass. He could see her from the outside. According to Scorn, that¡¯s because of the fading seal. She was a pretty girl of 18 years of age, maybe 20. He wasn¡¯t sure. Her body was covered in armor that was made of scales. He didn¡¯t know what type of scales exactly. The chest armor was shoulder-less, stopping right under her armpits. The pants were way less thick than the chest armor. They hugged her legs tightly, but were made of the same scales, and her feet were bare. Above her head was some kind of hat made of bones or something. Seph wasn¡¯t really sure. She had very delicate features, and such a sweet, kind, sleeping face. Seph felt his heart skip a beat once he saw her face up close. He wasn¡¯t sure how to convince her to come back to life, but something changed. Now he really wanted her to give life a second chance. She wasn¡¯t the first woman he saw during these trials. She wasn¡¯t the first girl around his age, either. Why did he feel so different about her without even talking to her? He shook his head out of these thoughts. Sun looked at the surrounding temple; sand from the desert covered the surrounding area. It was crazy that the desert didn¡¯t claim the entire temple, as it usually does with age. Maybe there was some kind of protection against that in place. Seph walked up close to the coffin and held his hand against the transparent glass cover, which was a special type of bones that got eaten away by the years. Seph wondered if the Skeleton Lord was the one who made it. He began speaking, ¡°Hello Lilith. You don¡¯t know me. I know some things about you. So, I¡¯ll introduce myself, so that we¡¯ll be on equal grounds. My name is Seph. I was a challenger in a legacy trial made by your father, Scorn, and I won the trials. I saw his story, and learned what happened to him, and to you. Your father¡­ He asked me to convince you to give life another chance. The seal holding you is very weak. You can break out if that¡¯s what you want, but you have to want to. Nobody else can make this decision but you.¡± Seph stopped for a second and thought, What happens if the seal breaks anyway after years? Will she be forced awake? And can she head back to civilization from here? Seph looked at the sky and noticed a very different scene than what he sees in the sky of his own planet. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Are they imprisoned on a different planet entirely? How is this even possible? Seph thought, his mind was completely blown away, realizing that he was probably on a different planet right now. ¡°Uh, sorry. My mind got side tracked there for a minute. It was very brutal what happened to your family. I have a mother too, you know? She is the reason I am even here. She got really sick, you see, and I went to bring her a healing herb and ended up as a collateral casualty in the war between the cultivators and their Yin counterpart. I then got an offer to join this trial where I would find the healing herb for my mom and gain a lot of power. Without losing much time because time inside the trial is compressed. Issue is, I feel the time compressing aspect of the trial doesn¡¯t work in this place. So, I probably don¡¯t have a lot of time to convince you to go back with me. But I won¡¯t leave without you.¡± Seph sighed heavily. He looked around him some more before saying, ¡°You know, the only reason that I want to be alive is to save her. So, I am really the worst person your father could have sent for this task. I had big dreams. I wanted to be a scholar, and I worked so hard as a water carrier to achieve this dream, but after my death, all my dreams came crashing down.¡± Seph sighed, then said. ¡°I can¡¯t assume, but that¡¯s how you probably felt when your parents died. Your dreams included them and when they were killed, you didn¡¯t know how you could go on anymore.¡± Seph looked at Scorn before saying, ¡°The issue is that it tore your father. It broke his heart. Can you imagine a dead man hanging between life and death with a thread, and he still cares so much for his daughter?¡± Lilith¡¯s lips trembled after hearing that and Seph noticed, but he thought maybe it¡¯s his mind playing tricks on him. ¡°Sun, did you see that?¡± Sun looked at him, confused. ¡°Her face, buddy. Did you see her lips move?¡± Sun raised his shoulders, implying he didn¡¯t know, and pointed elsewhere to tell him he wasn¡¯t paying attention. Seph thought, Did she react because her father felt bad that she gave her life away with his? Or is this the first time she learns of his condition and that he is still alive? ¡°I might not be big on life, but guess what? I want to live and cure my mother, and sell the gold nuggets I mined early in the trial and give her the coins to live a better life and not have to work again.¡± Seph smiled faintly before continuing, ¡°I also want to make friends. I never had friends, you know?¡± Lilith¡¯s eyelid twitched, and Seph didn¡¯t have to ask Sun this time, because the monkey went bananas. He started screeching, and pointing at the sleeping girl. ¡°You saw it too? Amazing, there is hope she listens to me, Sun!¡± After both highly excitable youths calmed down, Seph continued speaking, ¡°I think I saw your face twitch twice so far. I am not sure how much of this you hear. So, I am very sorry if you heard the commotion me and Sun made. He is my first friend, not of the human kind, though. Sun is a monkey.¡± Sun screeched at him. ¡°A very smart monkey!¡± Sun screeched some more. ¡°And a handsome monkey!¡± That seemed to have placated Sun. ¡°Damn, he seems satisfied now. So, where was I? I want to be friends with some of the trial takers. I also would love to be your friend if you decide to come back with me. You know a lot about me already. More than I know about you now. So we aren¡¯t equal anymore. Scorn feels horrible that you gave your life away with him. He couldn¡¯t do anything about it then. And who knows, maybe it was for the best. Those traitorous officers of his would have probably hunted you down regardless, but we don¡¯t even know where they are now. If they are alive or dead. Even if they were alive, they probably forgot about you.¡± The scales of Lilith¡¯s armor moved aggressively all over her body, snapping on top of each other, before they stopped moving entirely again. Seph was very surprised he got away from the coffin, but once things settled down, he approached her again. ¡°Fuck, your armor moved. You scared the hell out of me! Anyway, being alive means having a world of possibilities. You could make a new family of friends, or you could find love, or grow stronger and avenge your father if you are careful enough. I am not sure if he would appreciate me putting thoughts of revenge in your head. The first thing that will happen is you will see his picture in all his glory in the soul sliver. You could talk to him. Ask him for guidance? Or maybe tell him you love him?¡± A tear dropped from Lilith¡¯s eyes. Seph stopped for a second. ¡°I am sorry. I know when you made this decision, you probably thought that you were done with life. That you wouldn¡¯t go through these emotions again. That you wouldn¡¯t talk with any person again. Only to find this guy you don¡¯t even know, come and tell you to give it one more chance. To talk with your father one last time, citing all the possibilities that could happen if you give it another go,¡± Seph sighed heavily before continuing. ¡°But truly all I want to say is, it¡¯s worth it, and your father will be so happy to learn that he didn¡¯t cause your death, that you ended up living a full life. Who knows, maybe we can create something that even he and his army wouldn¡¯t have been able to create. If you stick with me or if you go on your own way, it doesn¡¯t matter. The most important thing is that you will end up with a world of possibilities and if it all goes south, you could just search for me and kick my ass or something.¡± Lilith smiled and opened her eyes slowly. She had the most beautiful green eyes Seph had ever seen. They were sharp, like the eyes of predators, but she was just waking up groggily, so he didn¡¯t even see how sharp they really were yet. The thing above her head that looked like a hat made of bones also opened its eyes. It was a bone dragon, completely white, tiny, a little bigger than the size of her head, its two wings were tucked behind its back, and it had baby blue eyes that looked really pretty in contrast with its very terrifying skeletal body. The bone dragon made a cute roar and coughed up a lot of ash that blackened its face. It opened its eyes wide from the surprise accident and then shook its head repeatedly to clean its face.