《Heaven's Brush》 Prologue ¡°Come on Sky we are almost there!¡± Running across the plains, one would see a boy and girl of that seemed to be of similar age and looked similar enough to be seen as family. In the distance, a city can be seen, filled with millions of people. However, behind them is what can be only called a gang chasing them. From them, arrows fly along with more strange powers following. All of them are moving faster than any normal man could ever hope to move. Of the targets, the girl is dragging the boy as he seems almost lifeless in the way he followed. Out of him, a forsaken voice came out. ¡°Just leave me, Jess you have a chance there. I am just hopeless.¡± Hearing the voice, a look of heartbreak goes across the girls face. Soon her face hardens once more, before performing a burst of speed towards the city. Laughter is heard from the group as taunts ring out. ¡°Run, run, little mouse!¡± ¡°Come on don¡¯t you wanna ¡®talk¡¯?¡± ¡°Hey little lady, I just wanna say hi!¡± Soon both parties enter the city. Besides a few glances, no one shows any interest in it. A look of worry passes the girls before she aims for the arena that dominates the city. Bursting in the arena, a quick look reveals that despite its size it is relatively empty. The people that are there give off an oppressive feeling of hidden strength. Soon all gazes are directed towards the pair that enters first. Soon only a small group of the initial gang follow behind them. Coming to a stop, the girl shouts at the top of her voice, in a way that is amplified either due to her efforts or how the arena works. ¡°I, Jessica of Cirrane, swear on the heavens that I possess a dragon physique and will join a sect that offers protection!¡± Any conversations stop at her declaration as some of the young look at the sky as if expecting something. While the elders all narrow their eyes at her in contemplation. After moments of nothing shouts ring out across the stadium. ¡°The Aquafist Sect offers protection!¡± ¡°The Lightningfall Sect offers protection!¡± ¡°The Moon Foxes clan offers protection!¡± Soon the arena echoes in a cacophony of voices as offers are shouted out and escalate as more groups join. Amongst the argument that broke out a single voice is softly spoken that silences everyone.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°The Dao Sect offers protection.¡± Shock is evident on the lady¡¯s face as the offer is made. Behind her, the gang members all have ugly faces when the voice reaches them. Relief floods her face as she shouts back in a similar manner to when she entered. ¡°I accept the Dao Sect¡¯s offer!¡± As the shout goes across the arena defeat is shown on the groups'' faces. The boy with the girl starts to have a bit of life return to his face as he hears it. Turning around the girl hugs him with a smile on her face and tears streaking across her face. Slowly, he returns the gesture as it starts settling in. A shout from behind them ruins the moment. ¡°Does the protection extend to both of them or just the girl? They attacked us and we demand recompense! Three of our brothers died and many jewels were taken also! At least give us the boy!¡± From the gang comes forth a person who can only be called a leader, and shouts towards the people calling themselves the Dao Sect. Panic rises from the face of the girl as she turns away, and towards the groups once more. The boy, however, smiles ruefully as he seems to have expected it. Slowly a voice once again rises from the group. ¡°Take the boy, however, give him a painless death. Do not touch a hair on the girl¡¯s head, however.¡± A smile steals its way across the gang leader¡¯s face as she confidently walks towards the pair ahead of him. Panic is heard from the girl as she seems to be pulled away from the boy. With a defeated smile the boy lets go of her. ¡°At least you got away, Jess. Just get revenge for me okay? One of has to live on. It might as well be you. You have a higher chance of getting revenge for the rest of us.¡± Then with a slight push, he shakes her off and she suddenly flies towards the people that offered her protection covering a large distance. Turning around the boy slowly, but steadily walks towards the gang-like group. One of the stronger grunts dashes out and picks up the boy knocking him unconscious in the process. Bowing before the various groups the gang with the bow in tow slowly leave the arena. The only sound is a girl crying. Back outside the city the gang throws the boy into a tree forcibly waking the boy up. He looks around and upon seeing his situation a sigh escapes his lips. ¡°You got good sense kid. To bad you just a little rat in the end. But don¡¯t worry your death will be long and painful. We ain¡¯t gonna let you escape your family¡¯s debt that easy. Plus we are stressed after the long chase you put us through. So please try to make it fun for us.¡± The leader started out seeming normal, however by the end of it a twisted expression appeared on his face and he spoke the last words with malice and disregard towards the boy. He raises his hand to strike the boy before a voice whispers in everyone¡¯s ears. ¡°You all disgust me.¡± Suddenly, to the boy, the world seems to pause and go dull as marks appear on all the gang members before the world returns to normal. One by one the gang members fall down as they split apart. A voice leaks out the boy who is sitting in shock. ¡°What was that caused this?¡± Out of nowhere, an old man appears before him. Looking down at the boy wonder and hope fills his eyes. ¡°Did you see that boy?¡± All the boy can do is slowly nods, before a wild laughter escapees the man lips, as the boy passes out once more. Chapter 1 Skylar woke up with a headache, again. He hated that feeling. It always felt like something was trying to get in. It did not make him happy to feel that again. It had stopped when his sister stopped cultivating around him. Now, however, he felt it in full force. He got up to go tell his sister to stop when he froze mid-motion. The past week came crashing back to him. Now he felt even worse. The fact that his sister had joined a sect, his parents were gone, and he was going to die. Going to die? In one swift motion, he finished standing up and looked around. Around was what looked like a small and decent camp. Looking down he was surprised to see a bedroll. No way people going to kill him would let him have bedding of any form, other than the ground. ¡°Ah, you woke. You all calmed down now, boy?¡± Skylar froze immediately and turned slowly to see the old man he saw before he passed out. He couldn¡¯t believe it. He thought he imagined what happened to the thugs. There was no way it COULD be possible. ¡°Could you see what I did to those, what to call them, degenerates? Judging by your facial expression I am inclined to believe you could and can still.¡± The old man, nodding to himself as confirming a great fact. Skylar just sat there with an expression of bewilderment and fear. He had been told to never interact with peer experts and what he saw with the thugs indicated that this was the case. ¡°Is there something you need senior? I am thankful for the help you gave me with the thugs. However, is there something I can do for you senior? I am not aware of what would draw a person of your stature to help me.¡± Skylar decided to take the jump and ask the big question to get it out of the way. He hoped it was not a deviant one who would use him in some nefarious way. Though with him being all alone everything just ending would be nice. ¡°Calm yourself boy, I was just passing by and decided to help. I am no evil cultivator. If I was one then the entire world would be doomed. Before you think I am being too haughty would like to point out I have been alive for over three thousand years. Most cultivators only live for a few centuries at best. Now come to the fire I will heat up the soup so you can eat.¡± The old man, no ancestor if his words were true, spoke so confidently yet with a trace of humility. It was a foreign concept.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The only cultivator he had interacted with was the boss of the gang. He had managed some insight into what he called the Dao of Embers. That alone was enough to overshadow even the strongest people in the village. As one could imagine, the boss of the gang held little to no respect to non-cultivators. Skylar walked towards the fire pit located near the edge of the camp. However, there was no fire. It would take awhile to heat the soup he saw hanging over the fire. Then something unexpected happened. It was similar to the time he saw the gang get cut down. The world to stop and reality seemed to rework itself as suddenly a fire was formed instantly. It was not a small fire one would expect from just starting it. No, it was a roaring fire that looked like it had been burning for hours. Suddenly, in a similar fashion, the soup floated out of the pot into a bowl that the ancestor had taken out. Passing the bowl to him, another bowl appeared in the ancestor''s hands and more soup flowed to the bowl before he sat next to him. Now Skylar had a look of curiosity and confusion on his face. Laughing, the ancestor motioned him to eat before doing so himself.
The sun was climbing high in the sky once more when Skylar was finished eating. He had not been expecting much out of the soup. It looked like a simple water-based one, however, the taste was better than anything he had ever eaten. Every time he finished the bowl, more would flow into it. Nearby the ancestor would just watch with a small smile on his face. He seemed content to just let him eat. The only reason he had stopped eating was because the pot was empty. Skylar made a small bow towards the ancestor when he finished. The ancestor''s smile grew a little bigger when he saw that. ¡°Now that food is out of the way, I would like to talk with you. When I helped you out I never intended to even appear in front of you, but you can obviously see my technique. Those who can are incredibly rare. To start I will introduce myself. My name is Ernoldus, my title among cultivators who know me is The Phantom. I belong to the Heaven Serving Lineage as the current master.¡± He did not understand what all that meant truthfully, but he decided to shelve any questions and introduce himself. There was no reason to get on his bad side. ¡°My name is Skylar. You can call me Sky if you desire. I was born and raised in a small village called Cirrane near the Skysplitting Mountain Range. I have one sister who is now part of the Dao Sect and I have no other living family.¡± Sadness oozed out of his voice as he went further with his introduction. Everything had happened to suddenly for it to fully settle in. Now that he had time to sit and eat a good meal and had slept comfortably it all came crashing down. Last time he seriously cried, he was probably 8. Now he cried like a toddler despite being 17. Everything he had grown up with, his parents, his friends were gone. He was never likely to see his sister again, and just felt so alone. Out of nowhere, Ernoldus hugged the boy. Soothingly and comforting he held the boy as he continued to cry into the night when he finally cried himself to sleep. Gently picking up the boy, with a strength that betrayed his age, the old man carried him to the bedroll he had woken up in. Carefully he tucked the boy in. Looking up into the night sky 13 constellations could be seen. They all seemed to shine brightly for a brief moment. Nodding in affirmation Ernoldus looked back down, before walking to a stump nearby, where he sat to meditate. He had waited so long already. Another few hours to start would not hurt. Chapter 2 Sky felt terrible. After crying, he had a restless sleep. To top it off his headache was back with a vengeance. With his puffy eyes, he looked around and saw Ernoldus sitting on a stump nearby with a pressure radiating off of him. Deep inside of him, he felt something stirring, raging, pulsing and desiring to be free. Suddenly before he could react, it stopped. Ernoldus was standing in front of him with a stupefied expression on his face. ¡°You haven¡¯t even unlocked your qi? Have you ever cultivated any daos? I was wondering why you were running from the entry level degenerate with your physique.¡± The suddenness of the questions, along with how he was feeling, it did confuse him as to what was happening. Sighing gently Ernoldus walked towards the fire pit waving Skylar to follow. On the fire, that was light this time, was a pole with an assortment of meat, fruit, and vegetable impaled along it. ¡°The food is not quite done cooking yet. However, I will like to get some answers from you. Depending on your answers I will talk while you eat.¡± Nodding, Skylar sat next to him waiting for the questions to start as he stared into the fire. ¡°I have two main questions for you. First I would like you to tell me about your past. It does not need to be in depth, I just would just like to get a general idea. Also, everything you know about cultivators. That is the more important one.¡± Skylar knew the one about his past was coming after yesterday. After that cryfest, anyone would have some interest. He started talking slowly and quietly, his voice a little raw from crying still. His eyes seem to have something come alive as the memory of the past came rushing back. ¡°For the first 15 years, I lived in Cirrane with my parents and my twin sister. We were simple farmers for common alchemy ingredients. We weren''t rich, but we were happy.¡± ¡°It was a custom in the village to test for cultivation talent once you were 15 during the harvest festival. My sister and I were the only ones at the time to get tested. It was a public event, it was a small village, everybody knew everybody. My sister. Jessica or Jess as we called her, went first.¡± A bitter sigh escaped Skylar¡¯s mouth before he continued.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°She had no limit on her talent. The testing tool was low grade, but with how high it showed, to everyone in a village like ours, the sky was the limit. At the time our parents did not seem surprised, with what we found out later there was no reason for them to be. Then I went up to get tested.¡± A few tears started escaping his eyes as his voice cracked as he tried to keep talking. ¡°There was no response. Even the people with no talent showed SOME response. I was worse than talentless. As such we were both praised and laughed at by the entire village.¡± Anger leaked into his voice as he continued. ¡°Then a few years later, they came. They were bandits, or what they liked to call themselves, royal tax collectors. Everyone who saw them could see that they were up to no good. However, they had a royal seal. There was no reason to deny them. The tax they expected was above what the village could give. Then someone, we never learned who told them about my sister. It was deemed that she would be enough for tax for the next few years. We fought back of course. However, our parents were no cultivators and were killed by them. Before, they left to stall they had us run to Heaven Gaze City. They were planning to go for a long time.¡± ¡°They told us that Jess had a dragon¡¯s physique, whatever that meant. We never learned what that meant truthfully. We could find protection from a sect there. They gave us instructions on where to go and what to say. They hoped to stall for at least a day. Dad had some knack for fighting, as he drove off any minor beasts that came for our fields. They barely lasted 10 minutes. He played with them, before killing them.¡± ¡°We ran for the next week straight with him on our tail. Jess had to practically drag me the last two days as I just gave up. It all felt hopeless to me. Home was gone, friends betrayed us, parents dead, and the likelihood of me living a happy life after this just seemed hopeless.¡± ¡°With your attainments ancestor, you likely know the rest.¡± Skylar stopped eating as Ernoldus passed him a stick that was fully cooked. Like the soup, it was above anything he had eaten. After the story he told however, it did not uplift him much as everything struck him like a hammer blow once more. A few minutes passed in silence as he ate. Ernoldus was silent just watching the boy with a contemplative expression on his face. Finishing the food he had Skylar resumed talking. ¡°I only know a few things about cultivators. They use qi that they accumulate to study daos. Borrowing the power of daos they aim to reach the heavens. Jess had a basic meditation manual she followed. She never really learned any daos. We both had headaches when she tried to meditate. She did unlock her qi which allowed her to enhance her speed, that helped us to reach the city.¡± He grabbed another stick of food and started eating slowly. Nodding slowly, Ernoldus seemed to break out of his thinking before speaking slowly. ¡°No wonder you never unlocked your qi. You were always around her and you mutually canceled each other out. Well, I have a lot of work ahead of me I see. Though this could be considered a blessing in disguise.¡± Pausing at what Ernoldus said Skylar looked up at him. ¡°What do you mean by work, ancestor?¡± Slapping himself on the head Ernoldus responded. ¡°I forgot to tell you didn¡¯t I, huh? Well, I planned on taking you in as my disciple. So, you can call me master now if you wish.¡± Chapter 3 ¡°STUDENT?!?¡± Sky sat there with a stunned face as he understood what Ernoldus just said. ¡°Why would you take me as a student? I am absolutely talentless! There must millions better off than me! I thank you for helping me, but there is no need to go this far.¡± Suddenly, Ernoldus burst out laughing. Sky sat there stunned as an expert sat in front and him and laughed like a child. ¡°If you are talentless then the entire world should be content to be mortals. The only one currently that could really compare with you would be your sister. Perhaps an explanation would help you out. We will call this the first lesson as well.¡± Nodding in confirmation to himself, Ernoldus stood up and motioned for Sky to do so also. Not daring to disrespect an expert, Sky stood quickly. The moment he did so, the world froze for a moment before the camp vanished from his eyes. Looking around in wonder Sky followed Ernoldus to the road as he looked back and forth between the man and the former campsite. Ernoldus gave a lite cough to catch Sky¡¯s attention before he began to speak in a much more serious tone than he used before. ¡°No matter what anyone says, every living thing possess qi. Qi is the essence of life, the only thing that changes is how much one has. More is not necessarily better, having a little just requires a rethinking in strategy. So to say that you have no qi is false. Qi is sealed naturally and by cultivating in a certain method attuned to a dao you can unlock the qi to use freely.¡± Around them, the world seemed to blur as many li seemed to pass, but Sky did not notice it. He was too engrossed in the lesson. ¡°Daos are the fundamental truths of the world. They make up the world and give it substance. Daos are divided into multiple tiers, levels, stages, etc. Depending on the organization or area it is called differently. For us, as a part of the Heaven Serving Lineage, we deal with four main levels.¡± ¡°At the top is the Primal Dao, below that are the Great Daos, even further down are the Common Daos, and lastly are the Truthless Daos. There are relative strengths within each level, however, it a matter of opposites and suppression, not pure strength.¡± ¡°The ones we will largely deal with are Truthless Daos as aids and Great Daos as the main combat focus. Furthermore, your physique is related to a Great Dao¡± Sky seemed to come shocked and confused at the same time. Smiling Ernoldus continued on. ¡°A physique is when a person is born attuned to a certain dao. It allows easier comprehension of that dao and related ones along with being a general power boost for against those of similar enlightenment. They are named after various things that hold significance for the dao.¡±Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°The Great Daos hold references to the 13 Zodiac Animals for physiques and other relations to them. Your sister, as an example, has a Dragon Physique, which allows her to be attuned to the Dao of Unity. You are her opposite and balance with a Rat Physique, it is part of the Dao of Separation. It is often misunderstood as a weak dao, however, to be the balance to Dao of Unity that is impossible for it to be true.¡± ¡°For that reason alone you have talent. The difficult part is that you embrace the dao to advance your physique. That means to act in line with the daos concept. You have been acting in line for so long regular cultivation techniques will not work since you have almost finished your physique.¡± Sky had been following in a rather dazed state since he heard Ernoldus claim that he possessed a physique. When he heard about how he had almost finished his physique a thought popped into his head. ¡°Um, Master is that why I get headaches sometimes? I always had one when my sister meditated and I had one when I woke up in camp around you.¡± Ernoldus paused to turn around and look at the boy. The surroundings that seemed to pause in a blurry focus. ¡°I wished you told me sooner. That means you are in a much more serious position than I initially thought. When we arrive I will place a seal on you to help mitigate it. I had planned on you getting some feel for a few Truthless Daos while we waited, but I guess that will have to wait as well. If we are lucky one be nearby. Some relaxation might do you good.¡± Sky tilted his head. He thought he had heard something before, but this just confirmed it. His so-called master had a few screws loose apparently. He had to be careful to not fall into the same habit. Suddenly, the world shifted once more before everything began to take focus once more. ¡°We are the edge of their territory, it would be best if we walked from here. Come now and stick close to me.¡± Sky stepped a little closer to Ernoldus as he followed close to him. Soon a gate appeared reading ¡°Territory of the Long Clan!¡± Sky felt a headache begin to form as each of the letters seemed to be filled with an immense intent. Then as soon as it started it started to dull. He could feel a second source counteracting the pressure. Looking towards his master, Sky saw him lift the corner of his mouth in a smile as he continued to walk. Sky muttered a small thanks as he kept with him. Passing through the gate the land around them seemed to change as the land itself seemed infused with the pressure from the gate. Yet, at the same time, it seemed gentler than the gate, almost nurturing in a way. Soon after a village appeared within sight. At the edge of the village was several guards along with a couple that he could only call nobles with how they seemed to dress up, and the respect everyone around them gave. As the approached the guards kneeled and the nobles bowed. Sky felt flustered as he had no idea what was going on when the man of the couple spoke. ¡°Greetings, envoy. I am the current chief of Long Cun. My name is Long Jiandan. This is my wife, Long Xue. On behalf of my people and the ancestors I welcome you to our village once more.¡± Ernoldus looked around, before nodding in approval. ¡°I thank you for your hospitality. If we could have lodging prepared for both me and my student. We will discuss business at a later time.¡± Long Jiandan nodded before he ordered a few guards to go prepare acourtyard for them near the center of the village. Sky noticed how a few of the younger guards seemed upset at how everything was happening but seemed to hold it in. He had a feeling their stay would not be as peaceful as he hoped.