《Sovereign Immortal (Technically not cancelled?)》


 Chapter Prologue Part 1. From the Stars and Far Beyond

    The Aether Space. It was an extremely dangerous area within the Immortal Realm, there were many spatial cracks, weak or strong, big or small but in the end, they were all dangerous even to Supreme Level Immortals.


    It was a place where there was rarely if ever anyone that could enter such a space and leave. Only the brave or foolish would be one''s to enter into such a space.


    Yet there were two figures, one emitted a bright shining light that could penetrate through the darkness of the aether and the other was one surrounded by a dark light as if it was devouring the aether itself.


    Of the two figures, the one emitting light had a indolent expression on his face as if he was bored


    "Hahaha Chen Ye! Your blocking my path? Perhaps our forces have enjoyed peace for to long? Well this isn''t a suprise, after all this is so much like you!" This was none other than the Heavenly King Zhen Mo who was half a step into the Stage of Grand Spirit Sovereign.


    Within such a sentence was by no means a hidden intent of ridicule, as Chen Ye being the DemonicMonarch was known for many murders, he had even slew mortals from various Worlds.


    Zhen Mo, however didn''t seriously mean a war as, Chen Ye himself was also half a step into the stage of a Sovereign of equivalent power. Rather however this was the stage of Supreme Martial Sovereign which had roughly the same power.


    As for the ridicule it was in truth that, Chen Ye was someone who killed far less than Zhen Mo, even though he was responsible for most of the murders in his faction.


    Chen Ye''s temperament was more considered as Virtuous as he killed mostly on those who were evil but of course even he made mistakes and killed those who were good.


    As for Zhen Mo his temperament was considered somewhat Virtuous as well, but he was someone who killed and believed in the sentence "You can kill a innocent, but never let a wrong man go free".


    The two eyed each other, slowly their aura''s started to collide and started to create greater Spatial cracks.


    "Chen Ye! Stop, we can talk this out, it''s not beneficial for both of us if we continue this!" Shouting came from Zhen Mo as he feared that the continuation of the aura colliding would create a unstable Spatial crack.


    The Aether Space was extremely dangerous even for them and only Sovereign at their full height of power could withstand and be perfectly fine from Spatial cracks.


    Much less Chen Ye and Zhen Mo who were only half a step into the ranks of a Sovereign. Even a Initial Sovereign would have to fear the spatial cracks as they easily could get unstable, this made Zhen Mo somewhat afraid.


    But Zhen Mo knew that Chen Ye would so bold to do such a thing and was still calm unlike his words implied.


    "Zhen Mo... We both know why we are both here! The Qi here has changed and turnt into an massive ravenous tornado, spatial cracks are forming out of nowhere, the surrounding elements and even Yin and Yang are being attracted here! This can only mean the descent of a True Sovereign!"


    In the Realm of Immortals there was a rule when one ascended to the ranks of a Sovereign. When one became a Sovereign they would be able to spend a million years remaining in the Realm and after that they would be forcibly brought to the place beyond the Stars!If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Such a law was by no means present in Mortal Worlds when one ascended to the Immortal Realms. But there were cases when one could descend below to the Immortal Realm or even a Mortal World frombeyond the Stars.


    What place was somewhere beyond the stars themselves? There was a saying "Mortals walk the lands and travel through the skies, Immortals walk on stars and traverse through space". This meant a Mortal could walk on a World and travel throughout the World''s Skies and Immortals walked on stars and traversed through space. (Mortal cultivators)


    But Sovereigns could with a wave of their hand, overturn away thousands of stars and cause gigantic spatial cracks. Much like how a Dragon with a single swipe of their tail could tear apart the Mortal World, it was the same when one compared a Sovereign to a Immortal Realm.


    "Chen Ye, for someone whose head is filled with nothing but wanting to have war, you''re smart enough to figure that out" Zhen Mo was right about this as even though Chen Ye was someone virtuous, he himself didn''t start a single war but if someone declared war to him he wouldn''t hold back at all!


    The next moment an enormous spatial crack appeared, but more suprising were two hands with each hand on the edge of their respective sides opening the spatial crack.


    At this rate it wasn''t a spatial crack, it was instead a dimension opening as one could safely travel dimensions through it, much like how the entity opening it was travelling from beyond the stars to the Immortal Realm.


    Both Chen Ye and Zhen Mo were frightened by the sudden appearance, they could sense it would happen soon, but how could they sense exactly when?


    They both immediately bowed and clasped their hands, fearing that the entity would kill them accidentially or because they were a nuisance.


    They would by all means not dare at all to run, after all the entity despite being half a step above them and in a realSovereign, the difference of a half a step sovereign and a real Sovereign was greater than the difference of Mortal and half a step sovereign. (True, is reserved for something else)


    Both of them still had their head down and still clasping their hands, after a few moments they heard the voice of something crashing down and saw the body with blue flames on it.


    The flames were without a doubt something the two couldn''t or more rather wouldn''t dare to touch. But something happened and the body collapsed and the core parts of the body started to fall of leaving only the heart and a little part of the chest area surrounding it.


    Chen Ye immediately before even Zhen Mo could think, rushed and flew over to the falling body parts. Zhen Mo however was still in daze, but quickly recovered from the shock and raced towards with Chen Ye and was just slightly slower.


    What was left of the entity''s body was a single arm which was clearly the left arm and also an leg which was also clearly the left leg.


    Chen Ye himself managed to take the arm and muttered to himself "The tail of a Dragon can shatter a World, The armof a Sovereign can swipe away the Immortal Realm!" This was considered somewhat true but, Chen Ye knew that the arm was by no means at full strength.


    Zhen Mo took the leg and muttered to himself as well "That lucky, Chen Ye! My cultivation may be based on the Soul, but that arm would definitely help my Soul Grasping technique... As for this leg, perhaps I can refine it......"


    Chen Ye takingthe arm was a blessing for him, not for it''s worth, but for it not being in Zhen Mo''s hand. If the arm did become something in his hands then it would become truly dangeorus for Chen Ye even with the help of the leg.


    As the two still eyed each other, they were both afraid and dared not to linger more and disappeared as streaks of light. As this was happening, the original heart, surrounded by vestiges of the chest started to become smaller and was almost little then just a heart.


    But there was something suprising, the heart and vestiges disappeared extremely quicker, as if the work wasn''t by the flame but by something else.


    There was someone following the heart and vestiges of the chest and was muttering "If my body land''s in the Mortal World.... Without doubt, the Mortal World will not be able to bear the azure flames.... Unfortunately I lost quite the amount of power when I had to surrender the body....."

 Chapter Prologue Part 2. Meteor

    Falling down to the Mortal World, was the remaining heart, constantly being burnt by azure flames. Following it as it was falling was a figure.


    "Mustn''t let it fall down...." The figure was constantly muttering this phrase as he was afraid that the body would land upon on the Mortal World. The figures fears were also not without good reason, as the flames would have the ability of burning through the entire Mortal World and theimpact from the body colliding with the World would definitely shatter it.


    As for the Azure Flames, they were by no means, ordinary. The azure flames were extremely deadly and capable of burning almost everything in the Immortal Realm, much less the Mortal World, but such flames were fortunately extremely slow at acting.


    But it didn''t matter how slow, such flames were as they would still spread until nothing was left. If the flames did fall down on the Mortal World it would take about a few hundread years for the fire to spread everywhere at quickest.


    However the flame''s if they ever touched blood would multiply and attempt to burn everything in sight and attempting to cure such an unfortunate event would by no means be easy as they within a moment would spread quickly even into one''s meridians.


    Perhaps those with a Inborn True Fire Body would be able to survive through the azure flames if they were fortunate enough.


    Yet as the figure was constantly worried about the flame, not to far away was a small and slightly petite boy for his age running towards such a flame. The boy could be seen as the age of eight or nine, but his true age was actuallyten and he had short black hair and a slightly small phyisque for people his age.


    The boy was trying to say "A meteoroid!" several times but as he did he kept on blabbering due to his attempt on running and speaking, making his words almost indiscernible.Despite the almost indiscernible words, one would be able to tell he was trying to reach to the "meteor".


    The "meteorite" or more specifically the vestiges of the figure''s former body wasn''t glowing brightly and it seemed that most of it''s shine was being somehowcompressed by something.


    The boy was running and running towards the "meteoroid" and quickly found the distance between him and the "meteoroid" only become further as he shouted "Why is it so quick....."


    He was making a sound that was slightly reminiscent of a whimper as he ran and was starting to get tired and puffed air every few seconds and as he was, a thought appeared in his mind and he thought to himself "I wonder what time it is?"


    "Hopefully it''s not past dark to much or else he''ll be angry at me...." The boy when pronouncing "he" had a sudden change of face and looked nervous but only for a moment before carrying on.


    At another place in the Mortal World was a small city and near the outer sections of the city''s territory was a very small village with a few houses. A specific house, quite far away from others, but also walking distance was an middle aged man, losing bothblack hair and gaining white hair.


    He looked to the sky and it was if he could instantly tell the time from the sky and muttered "He''s..... late...". His current expression was that of a mix of both worry, anxiousness and anger as he continued looking up.


    The "meteor" was now starting to land it''s flame became less and less evident and started to disappear at a rapid pace and the figure was currently fading slowly and his body even started to become scatteredaway by the wind itself.


    Clearly the figure didn''t have much time left and was trying to do best of what it''s lifespan let it do. The boy on the other hand was full of life as if he seemingly forgot the moment of recalling "he/him" and as he was running he had a slightly awkward expression.


    "Huh? Why''s the meteor going darker?...It''s slower as well?? It''s landing!" Clearly the boy didn''t know a lot about meteors and was just speculating. He started to run quicker and came across it falling down and he went close to it.


    The figure however didn''t notice at all the boy, as if he was putting all of his focus into the "meteor" and didn''t have any time to look at anything else. The figure took in a deep breath and said proud heartedly "Almost done... Even if the remaining parts of the flame land on the Mortal World, it will be fine...."


    Moments after he said that, the young boy after expending even more of his strength had finally made it to the "meteor" and saw it had fallenand was greatly tired from his sudden burst of speed as he wanted to watch as it landed.


    Fortunately for the boy, the "meteor" was greatly slowed down by the figure allowing for the boy to catch up,originally moving at about an extremely quick speed of a few million metres a second but was greatly slowed down to a mere hundread metres a second.


    By the time it entered below the clouds of the Mortal World to the point of when it became within fifty metres of the boy to the slow speed of five metres down and eventually even to barely going down.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    The boy looked for anywhere to sit down and after a few seconds did so and attempted to catch his breath as he saw the meteor on the floor, barely the size of his fist and a small azure flame which was slowly being blown by the wind.


    The figure, however was oblivious of the young boy''s existence and said "Now to find a host body, it shouldn''t be to hard....But first things, first" The figure closed his eyes for a moment and in the next moment reopened them.


    At that point, at another part of the Mortal World was a tall man, emanating immense pressure and was sitting on a golden throne with dragons carved at the top of the throne that were seemingly trying to soar to the sky. Next to the man was a rusty bronze sword which emanated no pressure and looked strange compared to the tall man''s imposing figure.


    His eyes were originally closed and he was seemingly sleeping or more accurately meditating and as soon as the figure''s eyes opened, the tall man woke up and coughed out several mouthfuls of blood, before managing to stabilise himself and he threw upon his sword to the sky.


    No one else in the entire Mortal World felt such a sensation like he did and back at the where the figure was a few words could be heard "Impossible... An Immortal Artifact? Still... Whoever blocked my vision, with or without an artifact would have to pay a high price".


    The figure was frowning, how could he ever think that something in the Mortal World, could block his vision? Even in the Immortal World he would be considered an peak figure, but at the Mortal World in a weakened state his great vision was blocked...


    As the figure was pondering this, the young boy started to quickly come closer whilst making sure no one was looking at him and started to touch the "meteor" out of curiosity but stopped at the last moment seeing the azure flame and moved his hand to it slowly.


    Still pondering the figure didn''t at all notice the young boy at simply ignored him, but when his vision was blocked it didn''t block him from seeing everything it, however did block from seeing anything other than the entire continent he was on. Whilst it was the entire continent it was just seeing all the cities and the alike and there was nothing really special.


    Regardless the vision didn''t let the figure see the souls or spirits of people rather just what one could see with their normal eyes. However after thinking for a bit, the figure slowly floated down and all of a sudden saw a young boy approaching a small azure flame...


    The figure looked upon the boy and shouted "Stop! No.... Don''t touch that!!!" Despite the shout''s the boy couldn''t hear him, it wasn''t that the boy was deaf or the figure wasn''t loud enough. The figure was currently in a incorporeal body and he hid himself using it but forgot to stop being invisible and soundless.


    The young boy was currently getting on his knees to touch the azure flame, the flame all of a sudden became smaller and the young boy became shocked and tried to touch the flame as quick as he did.


    It took three moments to touch the azure flame and within every moment the azure flame became smaller and smaller making the boy needing the time to touch it an additional extra moment.


    But regardless the boy managed to touch the azure flame, yet by the time he did it was the size of the eye of a needle. At that moment the azure flame infected his bloodstream rapidly causing his body to glow azure for a split second.


    At this point the figure knew he had failed and said "It''s too late.... I have one thing remaining left" The figure''s form started to distort and disperse with the wind, but when it did disperse with the wind it instead of following the wind, flowed directly into the young boy''s body.


    The figure appeared once again, yet this time within the young boy''s body in an unknown area, he frowned and said "Who could''ve thought that I would ever sacrifice, my remaining Spirit power for a Mortal boy...."


    "Hahaha...If this was the past..... In my prime, I wouldn''t need even bat an eye when an entire World would be destroyed...." The figure after falling from beyond the stars, felt that his end would be near and thus grew sentimental whilst falling all the way to the Mortal World.


    "Hmmm, but times have changed, this boy reminds me of my second disciple, always curious and adventurous, but in the Greater Realm there are many like him and he''s not anything unique. I guess this is fate? For things to have happened like this."


    The azure flames were slow acting, but this was only on land and even on flesh it would still be slow acting. But on blood or liquid it wouldn''t stop until it met a greater flame or was somehow extinguished by either having no source to feed on or by some sorts of even greater liquid.


    After the flames destroyed the body from inside, out the flames would then disperse into countless smaller flames and burn the land.The figure rematerialized himself within the boy''s body and waved up his arms and of all sudden the azure flames within his body halted for a second.


    "Fortunately the azure flames haven''t reached the meridians yet. Wait... If I were to..." The next moment the azure flames continued their movement and moved into the meridians of the boy slowly and the meridians started to ignite with azure flameswithin a few minutes.


    The boy however was actually walking back home and didn''t feel a single feel, except for some prolonged refreshment, he didn''t feel anything else at all and just joyfully went back home.


    The figure wasfrowning once again and muttering "It appears, Iam trying to swim in the shallow and murkey areas of a lake..... His appitudes are mediocre at best, his best appitude is wind and itself is only "so so" even the azure flames igniting his meridians didn''t give him any bonus in the fire appitude. All it''s done is that it''s made his body stronger to refine fire...."


    "I still can''t believe that I used my remaining Spirit Power, just for a insignificant mortal.... Oh how Fate mocks me, If I managed to have just "one step" into that "stage" even fate wouldn''t be able to obstructme. But regardless a mortal shouldn''t suffer because of my own ignorance, I guess it''s fate''s last desperate action to keep me stuck "here"..."


    The figure felt sorrow because it could get into the next "stage" but was happy as he managed to at least save the Mortal and he smiled and said "My dream.... It''s no longer my generation, no longer my era.... But kid... Soon enough it will be yours....."


    In the distance to where the house was an young vibrant woman shouting out "Ye''er, Ye''er where are you!?" The voice was getting quieter and quiter and the middle aged man was still sitting and looking to the sky, but the anxious and worried look disappeared into anger as he could see a moving figure about the size of a young boy.....

 Chapter Prologue Part 3. Dream of a Past

    In the distance was the figure of "Ye''er" or more specifically the young boy from earlier whom had touched the azure flame of the "meteor". He was currently running at quite the speed and he himself didn''t know how he was.


    "Mmmmm, I''m usually tired by this point? Was it that blue fire? Can I become strong like those Immortals!?" To a young boy like him, cultivation was a far fetched dream which perhaps may never be achieved or found, at least until the day before.


    The young boy was fantasizing about Immortalsas he heard in legends that those that could were able to move mountains and change the sea. In the Mortal World there were three terms about how people were classified as.


    They were either Mortals, Pugilist and Cultivators. Mortals were natural born commoners and those who were Pugilist were those who were considered those who had just barely touched the surface of Qi. Those who were Cultivators held an exalted status in the secular world and out of a few thousand Mortals there would usually only be a few cultivators.


    Cultivation started from Spirit Foundation moving on to, Soul Emergence, Enlightenment and Immortalization. On the entire World only the figure would know such information and perhaps as well the one on the throne from before.


    To people, like the young boy there only knew cultivators as "Immortals" and didn''t know about cultivation such as the Spirit Foundation. He only knew that there were Immortals capable of great feats.


    The boy had about then arrived at the house, he currently had a happy expression until he saw the face of his father whom had an imposing presence.


    He had a slightly rugged face and a mean look and was lacking his left arm which he lost in a beast horde. Thankfully it was the left arm and not the right arm, as if it was so the right arm then his power would plummet and his life would become much harder.


    He was a Pugilist and had an extremely small amount of Qi within his Dantian. If he had enough Qi it would start to transform in to the base of a statue which was just like some metal on the floor.


    Once the statue began than this was the start of Spirit Foundation and at the peak the statue would become fully materialised allowing for incredible physical prowess. Once one attempted to assail the Emerging Soul stage to become an Soul Emergent Cultivator the statue would attempt to become real!


    The Heavens were strange. If one attempted to revive someone who was dead, the heavens would allow it, granted whomever was doing so was strong enough to do the revival process even the though the heavens could easily wipe them out.


    But they would never allow for something that was never even alive to become a real and alive being. That''s why when someone was attempting to become a Soul Emergent Cultivator they had to face a tribulation.


    They would face the statue itself and if they defeated it with their own power and their own alone, then after that the statue would become real and gain flesh and blood and have the same mind and thoughts of the original person.


    The statue was a second body and could be stored within the main body, but it couldn''t be done vice versa.


    But regardless it was equivalent to having another body and people could live on as merely the statue itself but that would cut off the road to enlightenment.


    Who failed to defeat the statue and lived would have the statue disappear and never appear as whatever they destroyed would be appear as an illusion. For example if one destroyed the head of their own statue but not anything else then they could make only the head appear and it was the same for other body parts.


    Those at Pseudo Soul Emergence wouldn''t ever create a physical body with the statue but rather only an illusion and this was the main difference. The difference between an Illusion and Reality was far to big a gap to be passed.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    But if one wished to regain their statue it could only be done with an Heavenly Treasure or restarting cultivation. Restarting cultivation meant a possible loss to everything and was considered worse than being a Pseudo Soul Emergent.


    But Pseudo Soul Emergents always had far more power as even dealing a single wisp of damage such as tearing of the ear of their own statue would make them stronger than most normal peak Spirit Cultivators.


    To become an Enlightenment Cultivator was to fuse the statue with the main body becoming one sole body and having the user become countless times more powerful as what was once one became two and became one again.


    Within Enlightenment were three other steps and after which was Immortalization which was as the name implied for Immortals.


    But yet again such stages of cultivation were impossible for Zhou Ye for him to reach before. His father had yet to even properly take a step in to cultivation and his mother, suprisingly was actually a cultivator but a weak one at that and even weaker than the father because of her elemental disadvantage.


    Within the Realm of Cultivation there were an array of elements, ranging from the main ones of fire, water, wind and earth there were also other elements such as Spatial, Void and the alike.


    Excluding elements such as Void, Spatial, Time, Yin and Yang and Lightning. All other elements were branches from either fire, water, wind or earth and all elements eventually came from them.


    Zhou Ye''s own element was Wind and his Father had the element of water as well and his mother had the element of fire, this naturally meant that his father had an elemental weakness, if it was the other way around then his mother would be several times stronger.


    As for his mother currently, she was looking at Zhou Ye and hugging him and saying "Ye''er! Where were you?" Zhou Ye looked away before moving his eyes on to his fatherwho was eagerly waiting for Zhou Ye''s answer.


    "I saw a meteor! I followed it and it landed!" Zhou Ye''s answer was quite loud and attracted the ire of his father as he heard a loud shout "You.... Fool! If I...." His father was just about to scold him before seeing the mother saying "It doesn''t matter... It''s quite dark let''s go in!"


    Zhou Ye''s mother at this point seemed that she had power over his father and this was because the father wouldn''t be bothered to argue as he lost several times in arguments they had together as well as the fact that the mother sometimes may even resort to force against him.


    The three were now at a dinner table eating and talking to each other. Zhou Ye''s father currently had thoughts on about the "meteor". "A meteor? I don''t remember telling him anything about something like that...?"


    Zhou Ye''s mother was thinking "Humph...He probably told Ye''er about that "meteor" he just wants to pass the blame". Compared to Zhou Ye''s father serious thoughts, Zhou Ye''s mother didn''t really needserious thoughts as there was nothing important going on.


    Zhou Ye however was focusing one hundread percent on his meal and didn''t even notice the expressions his mother and father had, but was caught by a voice "Ye''er the family competition is soon! I hope your ready for it" This was from his father and was said in quite some sarcasm as if he wanted Zhou Ye to get hurt.


    This was true, but this was more of a lesson for Zhou Ye than anything. The family competition was virtually completely safe as killing was banned and so was crippling or even severely damaging your opponent.


    A small family group had to stick together, they were also the smallest of the three leading families of the city and thus the young generation was greatly valued, no matter of whatever branch.


    Zhou Ye, hearing the competition was slightly frightened as it was only six months away and those who entered it were usuallyeither powerful Mortals or even pugilist. In fact there was even the family head''s son being a great talent and having immense appitudes as well as already stepping in to cultivation.


    The leader of the family clan was a Late Stage Spirit Cultivator or otherwise a Spirit Master. For both the Spirit Foundation and Soul Emergence stage, each early, middle, late or peak was virtually akin to an entire stage.


    This was because within any of the four quartersof the cultivation there would be three grades. The difference between each grade meant a difference where one could defeat another and an entire stage meant the difference of effortlessly defeating one a stage lower.


    This worked for both Spirit Foundation and Soul Emergence, the other stages worked differently with no early, mid, late or peak and had their own levels.


    As for pseudo it meant a failed attempt to reach a stage and those at half-step were people who managed to become half way inside of a cultivation stage. For example a Half-Step Emergent Soul cultivator meant someone who could despite yet not defeating the statue, still use it for themselves much like how true Soul Emergence cultivators could but by a lesser extent.


    Half-Step was an uncommon but not rare cultivation and was an ideal cultivation to be at before assailing the next stage instead of doing at the peak of their stage which was the minimum.


    Through all this, was located within the Dantian of Zhou Ye, a man on the floor sleeping and dreaming of a past, long ago.

 Chapter Prologue Part 4. Dream of the future

    Zhou Ye was currently lying in a little room on a stone bed, barely smaller than the room itself and having ragged furs on the bed for some sort of luxury, so that the bed was not too hard.


    He was thinking about the Family Event but wasn''t worried as he knew it was something that wouldn''t be met with penalties if one failed unlike other major families such as clans.


    He took in a deep breath and started to feel asleep. The moment he did feel asleep the figure within the Dantian, immediately opened his eyes from his sleep and smiled before his surroundings changed in colour.


    Zhou Ye at that moment was dreaming and as he did, he saw a completely white blank space surrounding him. As he moved on to touch something, all of a sudden the blank space turned into a plethora of colours.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    He found himself at an unknown place and in front of him was a middle-aged man with a short beard and the endless space of stars in his eyes saying "Xuan! We have to get going" Zhou Ye subconsciously followed him and as he did it was if years had passed.


    In this unknown place, three years suddenly passed and the middle-aged man passed away from an enemy attack, Zhou Ye was struck with grief, he didn''t know who this middle-aged man was, but when he died he knew it was his master.


    To differ between dream and reality was too hard at this current moment, Zhou continued on living such a life, but for some reason, the years felt incredibly short and he could only remember very important events for some strange reasons.


    Strangely he was currently at Spirit Refinement and nearing Soul Appearance, whoever''s life that Zhou Ye was currently living in was likely that of a genius.


    In thatyear, it was as if Zhou Ye remembered nothing, but meeting a few friends and breaking through cultivation and he was barely able to remember his brothers and sister, it seemed as if Zhou Ye was living another''s memory, but it was greatly limited!


    Within the same year, he took a step and stride into Soul Appearance and when he was nearing sixteen, found an incredible treasure which an Immortal Founded Clan wished for, using such treasure he rapidly advanced to the Peak of Soul Appearance but lost many of his friends and family due to the Immortal Founded Clan.


    Another five years, passed and memories were still incredibly vague and faint, but Zhou Ye simply continued on. Travelling through other Worlds and meeting new friends and enemies he realised a Divine Truth of the Heavens and became an Enlightened Lord.


    After seclusion and fighting against peak figures of the World, Zhou Ye in this strange dream managed to reach Immortalization and then silently disappeared from the World.


    Next thing, all of a sudden, Zhou Ye saw himself in the Immortal Realm, countless more images filled his mind and all of them were just as vague and faint as the previous ones shown, from founding a sect to attempting to reach the Pseudo Realm, failing and falling down.


    But at the end, he saw something, when he in his dream was falling down, he saw two figures arguing with each other and as he fell more and more down, with his mind and the dream mind contradicting each other, he managed to realise where he fell down was the Mortal World, where he resided.


    But, everything was so vague and faint, he could barely remember a single thing, it was if someone didn''t want for him to know the memories.


    As he was landing on the Mortal World, he saw a young boy, it looked like him and Zhou Ye, all of a sudden realised..... The next moment the dream shattered.


    Waking up, he saw an old man, wearing a completely white robe with white hair which was loose and restrained and his robes seemed as if they were being constantly pushed by some non-existent wind.


    Sitting on a Golden Throne, on the throne were countless engravements of Divine Entities, Dragons, Immortals and the alike which didn''t seem real, but rather alive!


    Not just that, all the engravements were quailing in front of the old man, just a single one of the engravements would be capable of doing limitless things, but in front of theold man, they were obedient.


    The old man spoke "Boy, I''ve shown you my story, haven''t I? I had to of course block out some parts, that your mind simply wouldn''t be able to handle or that you in the future, yourself will seek out. You know what the Pseudo Stage is correct?".


    A sigh was accompanied by the last sentence, this sigh was if it could freeze the entire World and cause even the Hells to freeze over.


    Zhou Ye replied "Yes!", Zhou Ye felt as if he lived a life similarly, but as soon as it ended, everything came back and the memories themselves were only faint and vague.


    Zhou Ye knew what the Pseudo Stage was, even Immortals died from age, they were given the term "Immortal", as Immortals couldn''t be compared to a mere World. Worlds when achieving a specific age would automatically destroy itself and its remains would form a new World, but Immortals would live through the span of hundreds and some even thousands of these Worlds.


    Being in the Pseudo Stage was different for every stage, in some stages a person would gain the same benefits as the next stage, but in a lesser portion, life span and unable to go through to the stages beyond and in others they would even lose power when failing, but gain lifespan.


    The old man, lost a large amount of life essence and his body was dematerialized in a sense, he was only a soul, which in its own regard was at a level beyond any in the Immortal Realm, but the Sovereign Universe decided to suppress the old man''s soul.


    As long as the old man didn''t use too much of his power, he could live a long life, far longer than even the Mortal World, but what was the point of a life like that? It was far too boring!This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Zhou Ye looked to the senior and in the next moment, the old man spoke: "Haha, My name is Tang Xuan, I made sure you wouldn''t find my name in your dream, I naturally want to introduce myself!"


    "Your wondering why I fell down why?". Tang Xuan was smiling as he said this as if there was a large amount of pride on his face, Zhou Ye replied: "not really....".


    Tang Xuan sighed and said, "I will tell you anyway, it''s because......" Zhou Ye listened and found out it was because that he was at the peak of the Immortal Realm that he had the "honorary title" of more specifically the fact that he was Pseudo.


    Sighing, Tang Xuan simply replied, "Well, I don''t care, it''s more interesting for me to tell you, it''s because of......". As Zhou Ye listened he started to connect the pieces of his dream and what Tang Xuan was saying, but every time he connected the pieces, his head started to hurt, his head couldn''t handle too much information, so he stopped.


    Apparently, Tang Xuan when became a Pseudo TrueSovereign, he got enraged and started to directly attack the Sovereign Universe above the Immortal Realm.


    A Pseudo True Sovereign was different to a Grand Spirit Sovereign or a Supreme Martial Sovereign, the latter two were called False Sovereigns, but they were still a type of a real Sovereign and were called as such, but a Pseudo True Sovereign which were actually a tad bit stronger than the Grand Spirit and Supreme Martial Sovereign, but it wasn''t a real Sovereign, only a Pseudo version....


    However even Pseudo True Sovereigns couldn''t forcibly open a path into the Sovereign Realm, but Tang Xuan did such a thing and it released Sovereign Qi on to the Immortal Realms which opened the path for the True Sovereignty of the Immortal Realm.


    Tang Xuan then looked to Zhou Ye and noticed something, the system of cultivation that Zhou Ye used was almost fundamentally different to his own, Zhou Ye didn''t cultivate to a level which could even be described as in any way good, but Tang Xuan in a single look could tell that Zhou Ye''s cultivation system was different to his own.


    Tang Xuan thought to himself, "Spirit Refinement? To refine is to create a Foundation?, Soul Emergence?, The Soul isn''t emerging, it is appearing!, Truth Enlightenment, I suppose you''re becoming enlightened of a truth?, Immortalization though lies the same....".


    Tang Xuan, was drawing upon the similar points and sighed in a relentless manner as he kept putting the pieces together.


    Tang Xuan then started to explain to Zhou Ye, the system of cultivation, fortunately, Zhou Ye knew at least a small bit of Cultivation and wasn''t as confused a Mortal would be. (Non-Cultivating Mortal)


    Zhou Ye listened to Tang Xuan, as he explained the system and different stages of cultivation.


    The first stage was Spirit Foundation, but for Tang Xuan, he learnt Spirit Refinement, they were similar, but at the same time, distinctly different, to refine the Spirit, one had to temper it through countless ways of both physical and mental tests, but creating a foundation was different....


    Next on was SoulEmergence, but the truth was that the Soul wasn''t emerging, it was simply appearing as it would normally be hidden from common sight.


    Beyond was Truth Enlightenment, Tang Xuan knew it as Six Truths and Ways of Enlightenment.


    Immortalization was actually, exactly the same, except that Tang Xuan''s people in the other World could also become a Martial Immortal.


    There were also Minor Stages, Early, Middle, Late and Peak. But strangely for Zhou Ye''s World, a Spirit Foundation at the Early or Middle Foundation would be called a Spirit Acolyte and a Late or Peak Stage Foundation would be called a Spirit Master.


    Tang Xuan, remarked how someone could call the late and peak of a stage the same thing, in truth even the Early and Middle parts of a Stage could have major differences, for only Spirit Foundation was acceptable, but it was also found in Soul Emergence, Enlightenment and fortunately not Immortalization, if not Tang Xuan would have gone mad.


    Tang Xuan was to used to merely, Early, Middle, Late and Peak instead for the stages.


    Tang Xuan then explained about Immortals, after one became an Immortal they could enter the Immortal Realm or stay at the Mortal World, if one chose one choice, they would be barred from the other, meaning that an Immortal couldn''t return to their home World.


    Immortals couldn''t directly interfere with the affairs of the Mortal Worlds, there was, of course, a few exceptions... But this was done so that Mortals could grow to become Immortals without help.


    In the great span of the Immortal Realms, there were actually nine Immortal Realms, each themselves having Eighty OneMajor Worlds and countless Minor Worlds. Then there were the, even more, countless Mortal Worlds, but an Immortal would usually only ascend every few hundred or even few thousand years, to one of the Nine Immortal Realms.


    (Nine Immortal Realms, Eighty One Major Worlds, Countless Minor Mortal Worlds)


    The number of Immortals then becoming Sovereigns, didn''t even go up to a hundred and barely passed the fifty mark and that was counting Grand Spirit, Supreme Martial and even Pseudo Sovereigns.


    As for the few exceptions, if an Immortal wished to enter a Mortal World and stay there, there would be two ways, one would be to completely have the power to overwhelm the ones who set the rules, Tang Xuan had such power, but many others didn''t.


    The other way was to eternally stay at that World and not leave until it''s destruction to which they would then absorb the planet and leave, prisoners would also suffer a fate similar, but when the World destroyed itself, they would be able to absorb it.


    Tang Xuan then got bored and even decided to speak about Mortal Worlds, but decided to make the information a bit shorter as he could notice the slowly getting bored Zhou Ye.


    There were four types of Worlds, first off was a FreeWorld which could have existed for mere days to even millions and near its collapse. Most Worlds that were incredibly old would be called Free World''s as they would have been called as free from the influence of Immortals.


    One would think that such Worlds would have a disadvantage to Worlds with recent Immortal influence, but such Worlds would normally have a greater Qi Flow, Cultivation Speed and more advanced beasts to fight, this meant a greater general population with potential and talent.


    New Worlds had recent Immortal Influence as Immortals would be assigned to secretly guard the World for a Hundred times Sixty-year cycle and only interfere when outside forces appeared. After their cycle ended, then what happened to the World would be left alone and ignored.


    The Hundred times Sixty-Year Cycle was simply a normal Sixty-Year Cycle, but this cycle would be recorded a hundred times.


    (If you don''t understand it, search up Sixty-Year Cycle and look at a hundred of them from ascending order, also it''s not a Six Thousand Year Cycle. It''s one hundred Sixty-Year Cycles.)


    Example: Year of Zhenren First Cycle: Second Year. The second year out of sixty and the first cycle out of one hundred.


    Tang Xuan came from a New World called, Celestial Star and it was fairly recent, but it was a few tens of thousands of years after Immortal Influence.


    Then there was a Monster World, which was described as when the population left were only mindless monster''s, this was extremely rare as those mindless monsters would in time gain intellect and become cultivators and some may even become virtuous heroes or wise sages.


    There were also others that defined a Monster World as a native World, should these mindless monsters be in fact the natives of the World.


    The final one was an artificial world which could only be made by Supreme Level Immortals or higher such as Sovereigns.


    After a bit more talking, Tang Xuan got bored and saw Zhou Ye, touching his head, Tang Xuan could obviously see that Zhou Ye''s head was probably hurt because of the massive influx of information.


    Tang Xuan then decided to end it with a sentence "Regardless, even if your cultivation system is different, it doesn''t matter, it appears my Cultivation Method will have it''s Ninth or perhaps Tenth even, soon Practitioner.


    Saying this, Tang Xuan dreamt of the future.

 Chapter 1. The Passing of a Year

    The end of the old year and the start of a new year.


    Zhou Ye was now of the age of elevenbut had the physique of a nine yearold still. Zhou Ye coming from a commoner family, didn''t have a personal birthday but rather celebrated it at the start and end of every year instead.


    (Commoner is pretty much middle class)


    He was currently running down a small mountain and on him were several weights and the combined weights were about one hundred jin.


    Running down the mountain he dodged several trees as well as the occasional jumping over rocks.


    He was sweating constantly and was moving and dodging everything in his path as best as he could.


    At the bottom of the mountain was Tang Xuan sitting in meditative position and waiting for Zhou Ye to arrive.


    Such a position didn''t make any difference to anything and wouldn''t give any beneficial effects, rather it was force of habit.


    Tang Xuan had lived for millions of years and had been in constant meditation for more than half his life and even if it didn''t do any good he would do it regardless as it was a habit.


    Zhou Ye dodged through tree and tree and he jumped over a few rocks, in the distance was a small fire which Tang Xuan could sense but he ignored it as he couldn''t sense the cultivation or what was happening in the fire due to the Immortal Artifact from earlier blocking most of his vision.


    Tang Xuan whilst meditating also attempted to look again throughout the World, however due to his cultivation being suppressed and damaged by attacking the Heavens and the Immortal Artifact he couldn''t go on any further.


    As for his cultivation being damaged, it was because when he was in the Pseudo Sovereign Realm he took his rage against the Heavens and attempted to reach the Sovereign Realm and at the last moment reached the Sovereign Boundary of Power.


    But he was automatically rejected as he wasn''t a True Sovereign and was pushed down and burnt by the azure flames all the way down to the Mortal World.


    Since Zhou Ye and Tang Xuan had met, they had only gone through physical exercises and told Zhou Ye to wait for the passing of a year to learn his cultivation method.


    Zhou Ye was ecstatic and wanted to learn the method immediately but first had to temper the physical body.


    The Physical body could be tempered by a variety of elements such as wood, fire, earth, metal and water which were the primary elements. There existed other minor elements such as Spatial, Time, Void and the alike which couldn''t normally be learnt.


    Zhou Ye, however, was tempering his body via only normally strengthening as he had yet to embark on the cultivation road.


    Tang Xuan in his meditative position for a split second had his eyes flickered but only to close them again as if he noticed something but chose not to intrude on it.


    Zhou Ye screamed out "Ahhhhh!" he had just narrowly avoided a tree, but tripped over a pebble which brought him all the way down to the mountain.


    Tang Xuan got out of meditative position and stood up whilst having a slight smug look on his face and saw Zhou ye slowly falling down the mountain.


    The test was for Zhou Ye to safely reach the mountain, it was only a small mountain and the trees were quite small but the rocks were slightly big and Tang Xuan could guess that Zhou Ye would probably fail eventually.


    It took a few moments and Zhou Ye eventually made it falling down to the mountain, Zhou Ye stood up to make sure his body was fine and looked for any broken bones and by pure luck there were broken bones, not even fractures.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    He was relatively unharmed, in the distance Zhou Ye could start to smell a small amount of fire and asked Tang Xuan "Master! Where''s the fire coming from??".


    Tang Xuan smiled and said "Beloved Disciple don''t mind something that trivial, I have yet another test for you to climb the mountain high above which soars to the skies, it shouldn''t be to hard for you to reach there".


    Tang Xuan pointed out his finger and whilst it wasn''t the highest it would probably be the second or third highest, but it''s steepness made it easy for people to climb as long as they had enough time.


    But Tang Xuan added something else "You have half an hour to reach the top.....".


    Even Spirit Acolytes that were at the middle stage of the Foundation would take an entire hour to get up there and those Spirit Acolytes only at the Initial stage of the Foundation might even take three hours at least and four at most.


    But, Zhou Ye lived in an Old World, it had long since forgot the two cultivation paths. Within Zhou Ye''s world there was nobody cultivating system and because of that in truly prosperous Worlds such as Celestial Star they would be poorly matched against.


    Of course, Zhou Ye had not been doing body cultivation yet but his physical body was about on equal to that of a Spirit Acolyte at the InitialFoundation.


    Zhou Ye whined and said "Master.... Please give me more time!!" in truth Zhou Ye didn''t know how long it would actually take and merely guessed that it would probably wouldn''t be enough time.


    Tang Xuan patted Zhou Ye''s head but it wasn''t a true feeling as Tang Xuan didn''t have a physical body and said "You know I can''t do that, I''ll tell you a trick theres a small Crow, which has the ability of lifting up heavy weights".


    (Strong Crow)


    It was likely that through these words that Tang Xuan was trying to tell Zhou Ye to use the Crow to lift him up the mountain.


    If so then it would only take twentybut the other ten would have to be used to try and tame the Crow!


    Crow''s were extremely fast, but couldn''t hold on much weight, fortunately, this clearly wasn''t any ordinary crow.


    In the World of Cultivation it wasn''t entirely impossible for there to be beasts that managed to reach the Spirit Master stage of late foundation or even peak foundation by merely existing.


    A Crow like this was just so, it didn''t have much interactions with humans and could be easily tamed as long as it was before it grew interaction or had a negative interaction with humans before.


    Zhou Ye then sped up a lake in a forest, Tang Xuan sighed as he was going to say something and saw the fire getting slightly bigger and he decided to fly up and see what was happening.


    Tang Xuan soared through the skies and soar a crazed man wearing a bloody robe and had bloodshot eyes screaming out "Yuan Li, you won''t ever find me! I Liu Yan, once I break through to Promintent Soul won''t have much trouble joining the Infernal Dusk Empire Sect".


    Tang Xuan merely ignored him as he saw him going to an area known as Dreaded Earth Lands an area where thousands had died in the ongoing war between the Infernal Dusk Empire and the Holy Illumination Empire.


    Zhou Ye was currently inside a lake looking for fish to catch, in the past he would so using a net made of tree branches and leafs but would fail every time due to his insignificant strength but now he felt confident doing so with just his hands.


    Unfortunately Zhou Ye couldn''t find any fish and started to go in deeper and whilst this happened, the passing of the crazed man "Liu Yan" started to scare away a few animals.


    The Crow on the nest looked angry as it''s babies which were just born were being frightened by the immense pressure being brought on to them.


    The Crow sped on to attack the crazed man but it didn''t do anything as the crazed man took a look and immediately the Crow was about shattered and was just breathing on.


    The crazed man then killed all the baby crows as well but one small egg was left out which was glowing with an azure translucent aura.


    This was the power of Soul Emergence, the ability to use power outside the body it was a gap between Spirit Foundation that simply couldn''t be passed by most.


    The Crow was left alive as some sort of cruel mercy by the crazed man as he continued walking and Zhou Ye at that time managed to catch a fish.


    Zhou Ye then got a few sticks and made a fire to cook the fish, in the past Zhou Ye had seen people feed animals with cooked fish and didn''t know any better if a bird would like it or not.


    The time of five minutes had passed and Zhou Ye had got the cooked fish and went to where the crow''s where and went to the bottom of the mountain and climbed up a few metres and more metres until he made it to the crow''s nest.


    He didn''t see the Crow on the floor but went up and saw the dead bodies of a few baby crows and saw a egg as it was hatching.


    A baby crow immediately hatched out with its eyes shiningand attempted to take the fish from Zhou Ye and the two both fought over it for a few seconds before Zhou Ye getting pushed off the nest.


    The baby crow was eating the fish happy and brought to the fish with him to the ground to Zhou Ye and was cuddling him slowly.

 Chapter 2. Origin of Celestials

    Apparently, the bird thought that Zhou Ye was its parent after getting food from him.


    Zhou Ye was confused and Tang Xuan laughed "Hahaha, congratulations! It seems it''s a Spirit Beast but it won''t go too far unless you find a way to evolve it".


    A Spirit Beast a beast that had the ability to reach the peak of the Foundation, but never further unless one was to evolve it with a Heavenly Treasure.


    In fact, Zhou Ye even heard a voice "Please take... care.... of him....." the voice sounded as if it came from someone on the brink of death and it exactly from the crow on the floor.


    Surprisingly it was Spirit Beast, as it was a Spirit Beast it was capable of some transmission to humans via Spirit Power but this was extremely exhausting unlike how Soul Cultivators did so.


    Tang Xuan was smiling and then all of a sudden he felt something, the clouds were going dark and started to gather. A Promintent Soul of the Peak Emergence was in the distance and every step he made caused the clouds to gather and turn dark as well as turning rivers the other way.


    It could be seen that this personhad some experience in the Soul Emergent Stage being a Prominent Soul at the Peak of Emergence and was likely transitioning to the Enlightenment Stage.


    Concerning this, when one was within the Spirit Stage and attempted to reach the Soul Emergence they would have to go through small steps which solidified their steps into the SoulStage.


    They were all known as Half-Step to Soul Emergence as well One-Third of a Step, One-Quarter of a Step and even into smaller fractions, but only when it reached at least one-quarter of a step would it be a recorded cultivation level and people called such a level.


    For example, if someone became a One-Eighth Step into Emergence they wouldn''t be called a One-Eighth Step but rather a "Strong Spirit Master".


    For both people trying to reach the Soul stage they would usually eventually end up in either One Quarter Soul, One Third Soul, Half Step in to Soul, Two Thirds Soul, Three Quarter Soul and Three Thirds Soulbefore finally reachingthe Soul Stage.


    But for the Enlightenment stage, it was quite different in fact, becausewhilst in the Soul Stage to reach the Enlightenment Stage they would have to experience Seven Soul Transitions.


    The first two were simple and were known as Minor Enlightenment and people that achieved were called Minor Enlightened the next two were slightly harder and some people attained this level of power and were known as Adequate Enlightened and after which was an rare level of power known as Major Enlightenment and the Seventh was known as Truth Enlightenment.


    If there were one hundreadpeople all at Promintent Soul peak of Emergence, there would be about roughly fifty of which had no footing into any of the Transitions and that was about half it could be seen how hard it was merely become a Transition Cultivator.


    Thirty would then be in the first and second Transition with then, fifteen within the third and fourth and likely five within and fifth but not the sixth.


    Every step the Soul Emergent Cultivator made, the terrain in front of him moved away as if he was using some sort of natural law to command them to move and make way for himself.


    People at the first and second transition could make rivers turn and the earth to shake, but only those in the third and fourth transition could make tsunami''s out of calm waves and move mountains with a thought and those at the fifth and sixth could make the entire World shake with their fury and those at the Seventh had the very ability of making miniature Worlds!


    This Soul Emergent Cultivator was clearly at the third Transition, perhaps even at the fourth or at least approaching it.


    Zhou Ye looked to the mother crow, now knowing it was the mother said "I will....". He picked up the crow and put it on his shoulder but the crow wouldn''t stay and almost fell down because of that Zhou Ye simply decided to carry it with his hands.


    Through all this five minutes had passed, Zhou Ye had another to reach the very top and as he tried but he heard a voice coming from Tang Xuan "I''ll give you a bit more time, as for that pressure... Ignore it, just a trifling third transition passing by looking for someone".


    Zhou Ye then slowly climbed the mountain and as he did, the crow would continuously try to fly. Zhou Ye fell down the mountain several times to catch the crow as it also fell down, fortunately Zhou Ye was able to just in time catch the crow in most times.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    After a few times, ten minutes had passed and he still couldn''t even climb up past ten minutes as the crow would keep trying to fly up, eventually Zhou Ye even started to bleed and the blood that came out started to drop on a few leafs.


    Immediately the Leafs were alight with azure flames, they were quite warm and even gave an nice feeling to the bird whom started to dance in the flames. It''s wings started to turn in to wings with an azure flame outline and it turned slightly azure even.


    (No leaves)


    There was even a small drop of blood that went inside the crow which caused for it to turn almost completely full of azure flames and it started to fly slightly before it came falling down back to Zhou Ye.


    Zhou Ye was even slightly picked up by the Crow with it''s new found strength but it quickly fell down afterwards. Zhou Ye looked to the crow and said: "I''ll call you Small Azure".


    Zhou Ye originally thought to call it little but it wasn''t that small to that extent and just called it Small Azure until it would likely become just Azure.


    Small Azure was basked full of azure flames and was much like a Phoenix except for it being blue and it''s flame more warm than anything but suprising, Zhou Ye looked down to the Azure flames and they had gone to near the entire forest and was even burning the water....


    Zhou Ye started to panic, but in the next moment he heard a voice "Don''t make the same mistake...." the next moment all the azure flames disappeared from the wind.


    Small Azure could only slightly fly, but whenever it touched Zhou Ye it felt full of power and didn''t want to let go.


    Zhou Ye then said "Small Azure, lift me up to the top of mountain!" The azure crow tried his best and only got Zhou Ye a few metres at a single time and Zhou Ye in return jumped and jumped whilst having Small Azure in his hands.


    It took a few minutes, but they eventually made it to the top where in the next moment, Tang Xuan appeared. Of course the azure crow couldn''t see him but it was able to sense it''s arrival as Tang Xuan started to reveal himself.


    The azure crow looked at Tang Xuan before backing off seeing how it''s "parent figure" Zhou Ye didn''t have any hostile replies.


    Tang Xuan looked at the Azure crow and said "Your luck is good, your blood is perhaps greater...." he was remarking about how some of Zhou Ye''s blood could give Small Azure an evolution surprisingly.


    He had a stern look at Zhou Ye before retracting and saying "Ye''er, Do you know the Origin of Celestials and their power?" Tang Xuan had decided to address Zhou Ye as either beloved disciple or as a parent figure would in turn as to make the disciple and master relationship more affectionate.


    Zhou Ye replied "No?? What''s a Celestial??" Tang Xuan looked to the sky and pointed to a star and continued "A Celestial..... Do you remember in your dreams a giant? It was holding a star in it''s hand".


    Zhou Ye replied "Yes! Why?" the next moment Zhou Ye understood, that the giant holding an entire star in it''s hand was a Celestial. Tang Xuan continued "Some time after I reached the Stage of Supreme Immortals, I endeavoured to learn the secrets of Celestials".


    Zhou Ye had faint memory of such events, because Tang Xuan blocked out of most of the unimportant events which happened in the Immortal Realm in his youth but was able to show his Mortal World memories which were much smaller in comparison.


    Tang Xuanfrowning said, "But after the first time I saw a Celestial, they all disappeared.....but...". Then smiling he continued "I found the Ancient Base of the Celestials and their secret cultivation art...."


    Zhou Ye then asked, "Am I learning that??" Tang Xuan sighed and shook his head and said: "Only Celestials can learn that and it becomes almost impossible to become stronger after the Supreme Immortal Stage".


    Tang Xuan then said "You will be learning a modified version, that I created which allows for one to become a Sovereign! Your fellow disciples have learnt it as well..."


    Zhou Ye knew that he had five Senior Apprentice Brothers with him being similar and reminiscent to the Second Eldest Apprentice Brother. Tang Xuan had the hierarchy not set in power but rather in age as to keep things more stable in fear that the brothers would end up hurting each other.


    He also had two Senior Apprentice Sisters with one of them being Tang Xuan''s only daughter and the other his adopted daughter.


    All of the seven had also learnt the same way that Tang Xuan was teaching Zhou Ye and he would be including Tang Xuan the ninth person to ever learn it.


    Tang Xuan then continued and said "It''s name is Celestial Origin! It is the act of constructing your body in to that of the heavens!". A Celestial was a born being made of the Heavens themselves and the greatest of Celestials were said to be incarnations of the Heavens themselves.


    In the Immortal Realm, there was a Legend in the pastthat the Ruler Of Celestials was the one who created the Nine Immortal Realms with the help of Eight other Ruler like figures.


    Tang Xuan then started to shine and so did Zhou Ye himself. Celestial''s were all born Immortals and because Zhou Ye wasn''t Immortal he had to start off as a Mortal and work his foundation from there.


    Zhou Ye''s very soul started to change and it turned in to an Translucent Azure and Violet Colour. It was becoming the Soul of a baby Celestial and his body started to shine as well in a Azure and Violet Colour.


    The heavens started to become excited as if they were happy or the alike that something akin to a Celestial was born. Zhou Ye''s meridians started to expand and became a Translucent golden colour and his bones became translucent with a silver shine to them.


    All the clouds gathered at the top of the mountain and there started to be light shining upon Zhou Ye making him seem like a True Celestial who was the Divineand Favoured Son of Heaven.


    At the same time, the Third Transition Cultivator was amazed by the blinding light and immediately ran over to see what was happened with the earth below him moving as he ran to keep up to him running on an even angle.

 Chapter 3. Golden Light?

    Tang Xuan felt the aura arriving and then said urgently to Zhou Ye "Lend me your body for a bit...." Tang Xuan could usually just take control at any time without any trouble but he just wanted some assurance to make sure Zhou Ye was consent with it.


    Zhou Ye nodded and the next moment, Zhou Ye''s face transformed in to that of a mixture of his own and Tang Xuan''s but it beared a striking resemblance to Tang Xuan''s face when Tang Xuan was clearly much younger.


    The light started to become re-drawn and Zhou Ye''s body became translucent violet, azure and gold color which seemed to exhibit the aura of a Celestial.


    Zhou Ye''s body started to levitate and all the surroundings start to become distorted and changed in color turning grey as if they were being absorbed.


    The Third Transition cultivator looked at the levitating Zhou Ye and was greatly surprised and took a few steps back.


    The First and Second Transition represented the ability of using the Elements, The Third and Fourth represented the ability of moving mountains and causing tsunamis, The Fifth and Sixth represented the Ability of Flying on a Weapon and moving the Qi flow even.


    The Seventh represented the Ability of a Miniature World and at that stage one could fly freely through the skies and see the World and even attempt to reach the Immortal Realm.


    The Enlightenment Realm had another name and that was the "Divine Steps Realm" once one reached the Enlightenment Realm it was considered the first step to Divinity and within the Immortal Realm there weren''t a small number of Enlightenment Cultivators and even more Spiritand Soul Cultivators.


    But there wasn''t a single Mortal, the Immortal Realm didn''t only contain Immortals, it contained tens and thousands of more Spirit Foundation, Soul Emergence and Enlightenment Cultivators.


    Unfortunately, Zhou Ye''s World was an old one and the path way to get to an Immortal Realm had long since been severed and it wasincredibly hardfor a mere enlightenment cultivator to create a Portal to get to the Immortal Realm.


    Meaning that only Immortals within Zhou Ye''s World could only ascend to the Immortal Realm and Enlightenment Cultivators were stuck in the Mortal World.


    Zhou Ye''s World had several Enlightenment Cultivators, but very few had made it a desolate World whereas in Tang Xuan''s World before Tang Xuan''s ascension he destroyed all the corrupt Empires and most of the beasts.


    As for the Immortal Realm itself, it was a Realm where more than just Immortals had lived in and the very minimum was Spirit Foundation.


    When a baby was born in the Immortal Realm they would automatically be a person of the Spirit Foundation and at the age of adulthood they would be a Spirit Master of the Peak Foundation.


    Not just that the Strength of the Spirit Master Of the Peak Foundation would be even able to match a normal Soul Cultivator from a Mortal World.


    The difference in resources was simply to large and so was the talent.


    Those who had immense talent in the Mortal World having an body from lowest to highest Pure, Innate and Inborn simply having the lowest a Pure Body allowed for one to be a genius within an Country.


    Innate was a genius for an entire Continent and Inborn would be for an Entire World, but regardless a single Immortal Realm had the size of trillionsof Mortal Worlds and in fact even a few floating meteors were much bigger by a few million times.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    The Third Transitition cultivator of course knew nothing of this and even thought that Enlightenment was the highest boundary achieved in the World.


    He was half right and the other half false however. The Third Transition cultivator looked at the blinding light and was suprised, it was to even a degree that whilst he couldn''t see a single thing his eyes were perfectly fine.


    It was if he was watching an Divine Being preaching to Mortals. The Third Transition cultivator attempted to sense the cultivation but was actually pushed back a few metres in doing so.


    He didn''t dare to do it again,he saw Zhou Ye in front of him levitating and didn''t dare to move, the next moment he bowed and clapsed his hands.


    The Third Transition cultivator then said to Zhou Ye "Distinguished Senior, this Junior is looking for one called.... Liu Yan!"


    The moment he said "Liu Yan" there was a sudden bloodshot within the Third Transition cultivator but it quickly redrew.


    The Third Transition then said, "Distinguished Senior, this Junior asks for your great name!"


    Zhou Ye was shocked, he didn''t have a name to give or anything and even so was Tang Xuan.


    In the next second however a voice was heard from the mouth of Zhou Ye which caused the lines to redraw but still shine and cause the earth to turn bright gold.


    "Ye..... Zhou!" The moment it was said the entire mountain turnt gold and the beasts seeing this all retreated to different directions.


    The Third Transition cultivator saw the ground below and quietly said in reverence "This Junior is.... Yuan Li, I would ask Distinguished Senior why he is here?"


    The voice replied "A strand of destiny.... In the Burning City of Rusof, there lies two siblings of the Rosuf Household, one Thirteen and the other Eleven, find those two for me and bring them towards me in the span of three days".


    Yuan Li then replied "Distinguished Senior! I can bring them within the span of a single hour! Please just wait!".


    Zhou Ye was some what troubled at how to respond the three days was merely to distract him and then disappear according to Tang Xuan.


    Tang Xuan whispered "Crafty slighty......" Zhou Ye then just nodded his head and in the next second, Yuan Li disappeared and appeared again with a burning city.


    The speed he exhibited was definitely not a Third Transition''s speed it was even touching the surface of SixthTransitions Speed and even surpassed that of a Fifth Transitions!


    To have such a Speed, within the Third Transition, Yuan Li was by no means an normal individual or that he had an Soul Treasure.


    The truth was that Yuan Li was simply no normal Individual within the continent he would be counted as within the top three fastest including even those hidden monsters and elders of the Continent.


    He saw two siblings being chased and then ran towards them with every moment a flash he instantly slew mercilessly the ones chasing the two siblings and had taken them.


    Yuan Li didn''t think he would actually find the siblings so quickly, the two siblings were just outside of the city walls and were seemingly running from something.


    Yuan Li didn''t even care slightly and was only focused on taking the two to Zhou Ye. Yuan Li''s speed was now much slower only at the Precipe of the Third Transition as he was bringing two people with him.


    Had it only been one person then he would be several times faster and more people would mean several times slower.


    In the time this was happening it had only been five minutes, Tang Xuan himself at the Third Transition''s speed was only at the Precipe of the Third Transition whilst he was at the Beginning of the Third Transition.


    The next moment Yuan Li appeared and bowed whilst clapsing his hands once more and said "Distinguished Senior, I have brought back the two as soon as I could!".


    The two were actually still awake and suprised by what happened, in their point of view a man appeared in a flash anhillating the people chasing them.


    Then that man brought them to an golden figure, which was extremely bright. The two thought that perhaps the man was worshipping a golden statue?


    But next that very golden statue moved and said "Good work...." Tang Xuan was greatly suprised how a Third Transition cultivator could be so fast! For a normal Third Transition it would at least require an hour just to travel to the City.


    For a Fourth it would take an hour to go and come back whilst looking for the two.


    For a fifth it would take at least ten minutes, but this fellow here only took five, it was far to suprising.


    But the most suprising was when Tang Xuan looked at the two siblings and his eyes widened up quite the large amount when looking at the two as if he saw a jewel in front of him.

 Chapter 4. Talent

    Zhou Ye, couldn''t see it but Tang Xuan saw it as simply as he could, the young girl had an Inborn Body! It was actually also attributed to both Ice and Fire meaning it was a Dual Inborn Body.


    Whilst the World did have five elements as its core it also had other elements serving as the foundation or pillars of the Core such as Ice and water.


    Tang Xuan when exerting his vision before being obstructed by the throne sitting man was able to see just for a few seconds the entire Continent and even if it was a mere second, Tang Xuan had virtually perfect memory and could recall faces.


    What he saw wasn''t actually the girl but rather the boy next to her whom had Innate Body for Lightning which would be a perfect conductor or catalyst for Celestial Origin.


    Tang Xuan was now slightly overtaken by greed and actually attempted to exert his vision once more, this time a man on a throne coughed out even more blood than before than threw a Spear to the sky to go to Tang Xuan and to protect himself.


    Tang Xuan saw the Spearcoming towards him and attempted to stop it but he was quite weakened and just managed to do so with it stopping in mid air.


    His body moved towards the two children then but all of sudden, invisible chains came from the Spear, surprisingly it was an Immortal Artifact!


    Tang Xuan was truly surprised, a Third Transition who could move at the speeds of the Sixth Transition and an Inborn Talent for Lightning and even a Dual Aspect and Immortal Artefacts.


    Such things in an old Mortal World should not have existed unless it was the home of an Immortal that lived and died.


    Tang Xuan resisted the spear, but what came falling down was the World suppressing powers which pushed him down, but no one could notice not even Zhou Ye.


    Tang Xuan then said "It appears I''m getting a bit greedy, hahaha" he then looked to Yuan Li and said, "Here take this and show it your council".


    What he gave was a tiny bit of his essence in the form of an hourglass and it would project himself but it wouldn''t have a single bit of power and only could be used as a messenger or the alike.


    When it was turnt upside down, a spirit avatar of Tang Xuan would appear and when the sand all fell down then Tang Xuan would disappear.


    Yuan Li was just about to leave before he heard a voice "Wait.... Take these two kids with you... have them be neighbours of the Zhou Family Household of Zhou Shanand live with them for a bit in disguise with the surname Ye until I call for you again...."


    Yuan Li was surprised at how specific Tang Xuanwas about especially with the name of the person and why the two siblings would now have the same surname as the person in front of him, he merely shrugged and listened.


    Yuan Li then nodded and disappeared with the two children and within mere moments arrived in side a Council room, Yuan Li looked at the hourglass and flipped it before entering the room.


    All of a sudden a bright light enveloped the entire outer roomand a figure entered the Council Room with an old man with the name of Zhenren Ling and said "It appears we have an distinguished guest?"


    The old man actually sensed Yuan Li the moment he entered the Council room and he himself was at the Sixth Transition and was amongst themost powerful of the Zhenren Empire.


    Other old men then said "What do you mean Ancestor Ling?" "Who is it?". Zhenren Ling then replied "Look who Yuan Li, the person we were just talking about brought with him".


    Tang Xuan was somewhat feeling weak as he was suppressed by the natural forces of the World and would continue to do so until he withdrew or became stronger.


    If he was at full strength then the suppressing force could be ignored and if he was able to use Celestial Origin even not at full strength then the World wouldn''t even suppress him.


    But how weakened was he right now? It was far to much, all he could do as simply leave a simple projection and then he withdrew all the aura and said "We''re, I have to go to "sleep" for a while.... Once you reach Perfect Soul Stage you''ll be able to awake me but, until then goodbye....."You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Zhou Ye was quite confused but he then was suddenly influxed with some information "Ye''er, if you wish to ascend higher in the Celestial Origin method then simply draw upon the essence of the Heavens and you will arise in time, You may have also noticed I didn''t let you see all my memories but only the pivitol parts of my life (excluding family) and so when the time comes when you have an experience simmilar to my one it will be unlocked.


    Zhou Ye then looked at Small Azure and said "Alright let''s go home!" It was far to much to take in, he simply decided to just go home and recollect his thoughts slowly.


    Meanwhile, at the Council Room, Tang Xuan''s projection explained a few things about what has transpired before disappearing with the wind.


    At that moment all the Elders within the Council were shocked and they called for a Closed Council Session which meant that not even the Emperor of the Zhenren Empire could interrupt them.


    As Zhou Ye was returning home he thought about the "Perfect Soul Stage", whilst he didn''t actually seeall of Tang Xuan''s memories he received what he needed.


    He knew what "Perfect Soul Stage" represented, it was the ability of not fightning Transition stage Enlightenment Cultivators at the Soul Realm but fighting True Enlightened Cultivators at the Soul Stage.


    If Yuan Li from earlier practiced a Heaven Defying Cultivation Art or a Divine Cultivation Method it wouldn''t be strange for him to have the speed of a Sixth Transition at the third Transition.


    But he clearly didn''t which was what surprised Tang Xuan, fortunately however for Zhou Ye was that Celestial Origin allowed one to enter the "Perfect Soul Stage".


    Those who practised Celestial Origin, after breaking through "Perfect Soul Stage" they wouldn''t enter Transition or Enlightenment but rather what was called "Five Steps to Celestiality".


    In the distance whilst Zhou Ye was travelling back to his home and recollecting thoughts, Yuan Li was talking to the two siblings and said to them "Alright from today onwards your new names will be Ye Yin and Ye Cheng" he said this as he looked to the older girl and younger boy (respectively).


    "As for your past lives of being a member of the Rusof Family it can''t even begin to compare to your current status...." The two siblings were suprised and didn''t know what was happening, the younger boy, Ye Cheng looked to his elder sister and said "Elder Sister, who is this creepy old man??".


    Ye Yin, wasn''t just older than her brother she was several times more mature and when she was half the age of her brother she was still more mature and knowledgeable.


    She didn''t dare to call the man whom took her and her brother an old man, after all she saw how the old man took her and her brother within a second and appeared in another place thousands of metres away.


    How did she know that it was thousands of metres away? It was the Dreaded Earth Lands and she had heard rumors of such a place and it was a few thousand metres at minimum and even a few dozen kilometres at most from her city which made the city somewhat victim to frequent monster attacks.


    Fortunately their, leader was Three Thirds in to Soul but died in peaceful cultivation and unfortunately an rebel who was her grandfather''sadopted son had decided to kill her father and seize the City for himself.


    They were easily a top FirstClass City and were close to becoming a Ruler City if her Grandfather broke through, but now the City would only be a FirstClass City at best and barely and Second Class at least.


    This was mainly because of her Grandfather being the Protector of the City and protecting it from any beasts coming from the Dreaded Earth Lands.


    Concerning the Dreaded Earth Lands within a specific area was a fluctuation of Qi, this meant someone was making a breakthrough.


    The person making it wore a bloody robe and had bloodshot eyes this was none other than the man whom killed the crow, however he wasn''t looking as crazy as before.


    He was completely calm and didn''t have a worry at all, he was being chased as he stole a Qi withdrawing treasure which allowed for him to withdraw his Qi and hide his presence from even people his Yuan Li.


    He was feeling a breakthrough coming upon him and he smiled as fluctuation of Qi instantly disappeared, that moment he disappeared from where he was and appeared a few moments later in front of a dark and tall building with a violet tower.


    That was the a branch headquarters of the Infernal Dusk Empire Sect which in turn was a branch from the Mythical First Continent, the bloodshot robed man looked to the building and said to himself


    "Yuan Li, I Liu Yan will in time surpass you! Just wait....." The next moment he walked in to the building and his figure disappeared.


    As this was happening, Zhou Ye was returning back to his home with small azure on his shoulder and had redrawn it''s azure flames but it''s feathers were now that of an azure colour.


    It was getting a bit dark now, when Zhou Ye was at the mountain it was still morning and the time difference from then and now wasn''t to big but it was that the mountain and where Zhou Ye lived was a different timezone region.


    Zhou Ye, had far more endurance now as he learnt Celestial Origin, by merely existing he would receive the Qi of the Heavens which was omnipresent and all-existing in all spaces.


    Even if he slept he would gain more Qi than others of the Spirit Foundation when they were to meditate, the difference was truly big.


    As Zhou Ye was returning home it had been about just half a hour, he saw his parents talking to an middle aged man whom likely familiar with two children.


    (Zhou Ye''s speed compared to Yuan Li''s is virtually snail pace which is why Yuan Li got to Zhou Ye''s home first and notice the slight time skip

 Chapter 4.5 The Council of the Empire

    In the Mortal World, there were five continents with three of which being human and two of which being that of the beast and demon kind.


    Within the smallest continent known as the Black Serpent Continent was the Zhenren Empire, the most powerful Empire of the entire continent, but barely considered a major power within other continents.


    Regardless in it''s own land it was considered a top power which could easily influence the entire continent. Within the Zhenren Empire were several vassal Kingdoms and minor countries which were below them.


    The Mo Overlordship was an Kingdom lead by it''s ruler Mo Tian whom was in the Third Transition and extremely powerful, but compared to certain others within the Empire he was considered extremely weak in comparison.


    Within the Mo Overlordship was a city known as the Mo Capital, it wasn''t where the Mo Tian was born and nor was it the ancestral home or anywhere special except for one fact.


    The Zhenren Council was located within the Mo Capital and over half of the entire City was actually a giant Council Tower which made peoplelose their thoughts upon seeing it.


    At the top of the Tower was a certain room, inside the room the four corners of it were completely covered by gems of all kinds except for a spot every corner where a single painting could be seen.


    As there were four corners there were then fourpaintings, each of the paintings emmitted an immense aura which caused anyone below the First Transition to fall to the ground and become unable to stand.


    One of the paintings depicted a middle aged man holding a sabre and lunging out, it could clearly be seen that the middle aged man was an expert of the sabre.


    The paintings couldn''t be described as real or life like but rather as completely alive and standing in front of a person which made one feel fear and death when they saw the painting.


    It was as if one could see themselves being pierced via the sabre as they looked at it being pointed by the middle aged man.


    Even if one was a First Transition Cultivator, they would feel their neck being stabbed and near death itself.


    Another painting was a young woman holding a vase and within the vase was a myriad of elements which could be unleashed at any time and wreck havoc throughout the entire continent.


    This to felt far to alive and when one looked at it carefully, one could feel as if there was some sort of strange existence with overwhelming strength that could break out at any time but obeyed the woman at all ideas.


    If anyone below the Second Transition looked at it they would be trapped within a strange dream where they saw a myriad of colors and would be trapped within the dream.


    The third painting was that of another young woman carrying a golden spear, she emitted an radiance which caused the heavens to look dim in comparison.


    She was in the phase of a moment before using her spear to strike a foe, anyone less than the Third Transition would instantly feel as if their chest was being pierced.


    This time there was no trance or dream simply a figure that made the light dim in comparison to her. Her hair was golden, her clothes, her pupils, only her body wasn''t golden.


    She looked suprisingly like Yuan Li as if she was related by Yuan Li somehow in a way....


    If Tang Xuan was here he would feel a familliar sense from this young woman, not from the figure or the body but the radiance which was being emitted....Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    The middle aged man and the first young woman were both at the Fifth Transition when they were still alive, as for the second young woman she was suprisingly at the Sixth Transition.


    However even more suprising was that the fourth picture was empty, but below the picture was an extremely old man whom was levitating in mid air.


    The Sixth Transition meant becoming one with the Weapon and being able to use it to fly and soar to the skies, but the Seventh Transition flew without a Weapon.


    At the Seventh Transition, all mortal weapons would become useless and non-lethaltowards them, only Immortal Artifacts could harm them.


    Perhaps a Top-Grade Holy Artifact based soley on attack, might do some damage, but if one was to become a True Enlightenment Cultivator then nothing under Immortal Artifacts could even do them a single hint of damage.


    This old man looked gaunt as if he hadn''t eaten anything in several days but the energy he was brimming off completely overturnt the pictures and everyone else within the room.


    He like Yuan Li resembled the woman from the picture, but it was more of that the woman actually resembled him instead!


    Before when the Council was happening, the old man wasn''t present and was busy meditating but now that something important happened he simply had to appear himself.


    The Council had twelve fixed members and a thirteenth chairman whom was only temporary and would act when an emergency happened.


    The Chairman position had relatively no power and was merely symbolic. Of the twelve members, five of the twelve were at the First Transition and could barely withstand the pictures but fortunately there were shielded by a strange orb in the middle.


    The strange orb protected them from the pictures, though the weakest of the five would occasionally looked as if they were inflicted with intense fatigue.


    Another four were all at the Second Transition with one of them being a Pill Master whom could create a mythical Grade Seven Pill.


    The one who was a Pill Master definitely had a prestige far higher than his peers as grades determined a large amount of things.


    The grades were a set of levels before even the Formation of the Holy Assembly of the Illumination Empire Sect and the Infernal Court of the Dusk Empire Sect.


    The Zhenren Empire was formed much later than the two empires but had the position at the top of the continent but the grading system was used by the entire World and it was basically the foundation of all Sects and Empires


    Grade One to Three determined a Spirit Foundation Item, Powerhouse, Sect or the alike, Grade Four to Six determined the same but for Soul Emergence instead, Grade Seven to Eight was Transitions and Grade Nine determined True Enlightenment.


    The remaining three was the Ancestor of the Mo Family, Mo Shan and was at the Third Transition but he didn''t dare to call himself Ancestor Mo because another person had taken the title of "Ancestor"


    Zhenren Ling was at the peak of the Sixth Transition and less than half a stepbefore the Seventh Transition, he was the oldest living member of the Zhenren Imperial Family and wielded the greatest political power.


    He called himself "Ancestor Zhenren", other council members or his close friends would call him Ancestor Ling or simply even Ling.


    At the age of three thousand eight hundread and sixty he only had about one hundread and forty years of life left before he returned to dust or soil or to breakthrough and achieve another thousand years.


    The final member was the levitating old man who looked gaunt, he was known as Yuan Zen.


    He had achieved the Seventh Transition and attempted to step in to True Enlightenment, but after all these years simply couldn''t.


    No one on the Continent knew what True Enlightenment was, only one single person on the entire continent had achieved it but this person had long become reclusive and neutral in the affairs of the continent and all but the truly old cultivators forgot about him.


    His age was four thousand nine hundread and sixty five, he roughly only had thirty five years left to live, he might be able to lengthen it if he burnt his essence and used it as life essence but unless all hope was lost he wouldn''t dare so.


    Yuan Zen was deemed as the most powerful of the Continent and said to even hold a slight edge against the Holy Assembly Master and the Infernal Court Judge.


    If Yuan Zen was the most powerful, excluding the only Enlightenment Cultivator for good reason then why was he not Emperor of the Empire instead?


    If he had the most power wouldn''t it be normal for him to lead the Empire instead of Zhenren Ling?


    It was very simple because everyone''s generation after Yuan Li''s great grandfather were relatives to the Zhenren Imperial Clan.


    The Zhenren Imperial Clan was more of a mix of the Yuan Family Clan and the Zhenren Family, except for Yuan Zen and a few others.


    Every single member of the Yuan Family was related to the Zhenren Family as the two families only intermarried with each other except for a few special circumstances.

 Chapter 5. Meeting each other

    As Zhou Ye walked he saw his parents, talking to a familiar man, that familiar man was none other than Yuan Li. His face hadn''t changed a large bit, but his aura felt vastly different.


    pine


    Both Zhou Ye''s father and mother had an aura which was present whenever one stood on the road of life, such an aura was almost impossible to change, but it was much easier to hide or mask.


    But Yuan Li had actually changed his aura! He simply could have hidden it or masked it to a lesser level or even make his cultivation seem lower.


    Hiding and masking aura wasn''t too hard of a task but Soul Emergents could see right through whoever did so and hiding one''s cultivation was even harder as there were people who could simply see right through them if the cultivation level difference was too high.


    But changing the aura on a fundamental scale was nigh-impossible, but if someone of the True Enlightenment Cultivation was looking for a Spirit Foundation Cultivator who changed his aura on a fundamental scale.


    Then the True Enlightenment Cultivator would have better luck simply looking for people with a similar face or attitude and temperament instead.


    Whilst Yuan Li had changed his aura it wasn''t to a fundamental degree but perhaps those of the Sixth and Seventh Transition would need a few moments of close study to realise who it truly was.


    IfTang Xuan was here he would react surprised and say "Interesting, to change his aura to such a degree...."


    Yuan Li saw the upcoming Zhou Ye and felt a familiar feeling with Zhou Ye as he thought


    "That kid.... I feel as if I''ve seen him before... That bird??? I clearly saw that before at the mountain!"


    Yuan Li wanted to continue but decided rather not to and decided to recollect his thoughts and decide how to greet Zhou Ye when he came close enough.


    As he was just about to talk he heard the voice of Zhou Ye''s father and opted to let him talk instead.


    "Brat! Where have you been? Say hi to your Uncle Yan Li". Yuan Li smiled and said, "You can just call me Uncle Yan...."


    Zhou Ye found it a bit awkward and then said: "Nephew greets Uncle Yan!". Yuan Li smiled and then said, "Nephew Ye, these two are my daughter and son".


    Yuan Li decided to play the role of the parent after consulting it with both the boy and girl.


    The girl moved up but before she could say anything the boy moved up and said "Hi I''m Ro......" before he could finish he was hit on the head via the girl.


    The girl then moved up further and said: "Hi I''m Ye Yin, I''m currently at fourteen years of age, I wonder if you''re my elder or younger brother then?"


    Mortals wouldn''t notice but as long as one had at least a single step into cultivation they would be able to notice a simple thing coming from Zhou Ye.


    Zhou Ye was clad in a very faint light white coloured aura and it was basically unnoticeable, but to some cultivators it made his body look slightly foggy.


    If the fog became more evident than even Mortals would notice it and by then basically all cultivators could easily see it.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    But this had nothing to do with the question but was something that Ye Yin noticed, Zhou Ye then answered


    "Hi Elder Sister Yin, I''m only eleven this year so call me Younger Brother Ye". Ye Yin expected for Ye Zhou to be more like ten years of age but the difference between ten and eleven wasn''t that big.


    Ye Yin also wanted to make sure, as it wasn''t impossible for there to be people of an old age but looked young and not via cultivation but just through natural means but that was incredibly rare.


    The boy went up again and was thinking to himself "Ye Cheng.... Ye Cheng... not Rosuf...."


    "Hi, I''m Ros...... Ye Cheng!. I''m currently twelve years old right now so Hi!"


    The conversation that happened next was quite awkward, Yuan Li found a few awkward advances coming from Zhou Ye''s mother asking for information about his"wife".


    Yuan Li simply said that she died a long time ago and that he wasn''t able to move on since.


    Suddenly, Yuan Li then said "Brother Shan and Sister Li, the coming of age ceremony is soon isn''t it? We should all go as a collected family!".


    Zhou Ye was surprised, not at the fact that Yuan Li called his father and mother, brother and sister but the fact that this was actually the first time he heard their first names....


    Zhou Shan then said "Alright Brother, but will the Household Affairs Elder allow it?". Yuan Li then said, "We''re from the same overall family, of course, he would!".


    Yuan Li was posing as an actual member of the Zhou Family and was able to do so as he called upon a few connections or more accurately asked a favour from a person who owed a favour to who owed a favour to..... which repeated several times due to Yuan Li large connection base.


    If Yuan Li simply asked a favour from someone of the Zhou Family to be one of their members it would look quite weird, fortunately, Yuan Li had virtuous friends who in turn also had righteous and virtuous friends who would do almost anything to return a favour.


    (Yuan Li, is passing off as an actual blood member of the Zhou Family, he kind of got his friends, who got their subordinates, subordinates, subordinate to do it.)


    Yuan Li then added a few words about the coming of age ceremony and explained it to Zhou Shan and Zhou Li but it was also directed at Zhou Ye and some what to Ye Cheng and Ye Yin.


    "The five sects are the Golden Fire Sect, Yun Star Sect, Rising Sun Sect and the Brilliant Moon Sect, Origin Temple, Lightning Hall". (Rising Sun and Brilliant Moon are the same sect".


    "I heard the Golden Fire Sect has several geniuses in fire and is the third strongest and has the richest resources as well as heritage!"


    "The Yun Star Sect is the strongest with a Soul Emergent Cultivator, but their resources and heritage are the newest and they barely have any connections....."


    "The Rising Sun and Brilliant Moon Sect have both Fire and Ice Cultivators and are the second strongest with a Soul Emergent as well and their resources and heritage are the second best only to the Golden Fire Sect.


    "Origin Temple, I heard is only a branch of the main sect and whilst it''s the weakest, there''s a saying that the main branch is strong enough to take on all the other four sects with ease!".


    "Lightning Hall is quite different, I''ve heard it''s true power is unknown as the Ancestor plays a role in the shadows..."


    Yuan Li was just saying some random stuff he knew because it was basic, if he was to say everything he knew then he would spout on for several hours.


    He knew the difference between Origin Temple and it''s true branch but it was useless for him to actually say anything as would Zhou Shan and Zhou Li believe him?


    Probably not? They also would likely not understand anything he says.


    Ye Yin when she heard the name Sun and Moon Sect started to shake in excitement, they were a sect which treasured fire and ice cultivators.


    Yuan Li was able to figure out that her talent was that of a Dual Inborn Body which could be described as beyond a physical body!


    Pure Bodies could be made and refined via man-made means but an Inborn Body was only lesser than an Innate body and couldn''t be faked or man made it was all natural.


    If a cultivator had an Ice Inborn Body then that meant that their Ice Element would, therefore, be several times stronger but if it was a Dual Inborn body....


    Then even if the elements were contradictory, it wouldn''t matter! One could use both Ice and Fire at the same rate and power as that of a normal Inborn body.


    There was even a legend about a man with an Innate Body with every single element making him a genius of all fields but one day he suddenly disappeared.


    Ye Yin more than anything wished for power against the Han Family, they were the family that overthrew her old family the Rosuf Family.


    How could she not bare hatred? If she didn''t then it would make her seem unfilial but since she did hold hatred she would definitely take revenge.


    She needed power and she could get power from the Sun and Moon Sect!

 Chapter 6. The Tri-Sect Alliance of Ven Country

    Of the Ven Country, there were the Five Main Sects known as the Golden Fire Sect, Yun Star Sect, Rising Sun and Brilliant Moon Sect, Origin Temple and Lightning Hall.


    There were lesser sects but they were only those that people with no heritage or background at all would join.


    The bigger the City the more the sects would attempt to go to such. The Ven Country was where the City, Zhou Ye resided in was and it was quite strange for a Kingdom.


    Of the Zhenren Empire, it was one of the Three Great Kingdoms which resided as the main Kingdoms just below the Empire.


    The Ven Country was ruled by it''s King, Ven Ru. The King was more of a scholar anddidn''t like being a King and was largely a pacifist who saw none of his sons worthy to be the next King.


    The Ven Country called itself a Country rather than a Kingdom as it was the wishes of the current King who didn''t wish to change the name.


    Ven Ru had several sons who eyed the throne and the strongest of which was his Second Son, Ven Zhengzhong.


    The Second Prince had a cultivation of First Transition but, he was already at the age of one hundred and seventy.


    The Second Prince was already at the age of being called Grandpa and in fact actually had a few grandchildren of his own, but his age wasn''t even close to his First Brother''s whose age was at four hundred and twenty-three and at the peak of Emergence.


    The Third Prince himself, however, was only Seventy years old but he looked far older than his two older brothers as he was stuck within the Spirit Foundation and advanced slowly which meant is aging process was only slowed down to where he looked around fifty years old.


    Then there was the Fourth and Youngest Son, Ven Zhiqiang whose was said to be strong and impossible to besuppressed to the fact that he even at his current age of Thirteen and strength of Spirit Foundation that he went into a forest within The Demonic Territory he returned with the heads of several Emergent Beasts!


    He did so to acquire some merit and recognition from his Father, The King. But the King ignored even the Second Prince and merely read a few books and lectured about the path of cultivation from time to time to his sons.


    The Second Prince, Ven Zhengzhong was furious as he was yet to be King. He had waited several decades to be King but in the end, he was upright and loyal!


    He waited and waited and didn''t even think of starting any rebellions, whilst he wished to be King he put the Kingdom of Ven Country before him.


    If the Country fell then he would have no reason to live but if he died then he would die so for the Country! He at least wanted the King if not him to be his Eldest brother as there was no one else worthy.


    The Second Prince didn''t dare to also ask his father to crown a King as the current King had an incredible strength! In the past, before the Ven Country was one of Three Great Kingdoms there was the Qarn Kingdom the weakest of the Three Great Kingdoms which invaded Ven Country.


    In theact, Ven Zhengzhong the Second Son unified the Three Sects of the past which were all the current Sects except for the Origin Temple and the Yun Star Sect.


    They formed the Tri-Sect Alliance and with Ven Zhengzhong at the center pushed back the Qarn Kingdom but at the later stages of the invasion, a man at the stage of Second Transition suddenly appeared!


    He was none other than the King of the Qarn Kingdom, Qarn Zeben who had long since reached the peak of Second Transition and wanted a valuable treasure that there apparently was to help him assail the Third Transition.


    He as a Second Transition had a terrible foundation and even if he advanced to the Third Transition, it would definitely be his last destination in cultivation before withering and returning to the Earth.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Qarn Zeben paid quite a large amount to invade the Ven Country as there were about five other countries which were in the way in terms of distance.


    Ven Zhengzhong was surprised at Qarn Zeben''s arrival and wasn''t able to resist at all as his cultivation back then was at the Peak of Emergence and only a normal Peak Emergent, unlike his current brother whom could fight against First Transitions whilst at the Peak of Emergence.


    The Zhenren Empire had a special rule for countries attacking each other, if they were told to stop by a member of the Imperial Family or an Imperial Envoy then they would have to.


    Other than that as long as the Kingdoms in the war wouldn''t be starting their own Empire or leaving the Empire after the battle the Zhenren Empire wouldn''t care that much.


    But why had they made the rule specific for making their own Empires or leaving it was because, in the past, a Great Kingdom conquered many countries on the East Side of the Empire and then declared independence.


    Fortunately, this Kingdom was ruled by someone of the Yuan Family and was thus spared and granted amnesty but their Empire wasn''t a true Empire and was more of an incredibly powerful Kingdom directly under the Empire.


    It was known as the Yuan Empire or the Vassal Empire as some would call it due to it being an Empire and a vassal to another Empire.


    When Qarn Zeben appeared in front of Ven Zhengzhong, he instantly suppressed Ven Zhengzhong and then everyone else with the only one being capable of standing was the Lightning Hall Forefather or otherwise known as theAncestor of the Lightning Hall.


    Qarn Zeben by merely himself suppressed the entire Tri-Sect Alliance and he slaughtered several hundreds of Spirit Foundation cultivators and dozens of Emergents.


    There were oceans of blood caused by the deaths of the Tri-Sect Alliance members whose cries seemingly reached the Heavens.


    When Qarn Zeben then attempted to kill Ven Zhengzhong, time seemingly froze and before Qarn Zeben could even process what was happening by then Ven Ru had appeared.


    Of the Three Sects or the Ven Family, no one would ever forget how powerful Ven Ru showed himself to be.


    Ven Ru appeared before Qarn Zeben and instantly within a second destroyed the latter with a single word which was muttered and unable to be heard.


    Only Qarn Zeben heard the word but he died and his internal organs and body exploded within the next second as he showed immense fear just before his death.


    Since then no one dared to question the King and the Ven Country was granted the Great Kingdom status and theQarn Kingdom entered into relative seclusion to regain their strength.


    Yuan Li was currently inside a small hut like building which was where he lived with the two siblings and he was currentlypainting.


    Every stroke and every brush of art were like that of mortal painters, it looked completely normal to Mortals but if any cultivator even at the lowest level they would see it and notice it that it wasn''t a normal painting.


    It brimmed with Qi and power and whilst it had about the same as a Spirit Foundation Treasure if one was to touch upon the essence and truth behind it would be akin to that of an Early Holy Grade Item.


    A Holy Grade Item was another word for a Transition Item or a Seventh and Eight Grade or powerhouse. Yuan Li normally could at best only make an Emergent or Sixth Grade Item with all his strength but the brief encounter with "Ye Zhou" gave him an insight.


    He immediately held it in and then began to draw a painting which was that of "Ye Zhou" who was levitating. It was if all the might and power of "Ye Zhou" was within this painting.


    It was if it could expel the evils of all the lands and cause even the righteous and virtuous to kowtow to show their inferiority.


    Even Yuan Zen''s might as was only likethat of a spark in comparison, whilst "Ye Zhou''s" was simply like that of a burning fire.


    At the same time there were three sects which came at a single time to the City, in the middle was the Lightning Hall and on the left was the Rising Sun and Brilliant Moon Sect and at the right was the Golden Fire Sect.


    There was a teenager with immensely powerful Qi which emanated as if it was lightning, he looked to be at the age of sixteen at most but he was emitting a level of cultivation which was just half a step away from the Emergence realm or rather actually less than half a step!


    The Lightning Hall was the most powerful of all the sects except perhaps for the enigmatic Origin Temple and barely stronger than the Yun Star Sect.


    The Yun Star Sect Forefather was at the Second Transition but the Lightning Hall Forefather was only at the Peak of Emergence but the Lightning Hall Forefather actually when fighting the Yun Star Forefather had quite the edge!


    The teenager was none other than Yan Mo and people wouldn''t know of him directly but they would definitely know of his surname.


    This was because his surname was the surname of the Lightning Hall Forefather, normally there wouldn''t be anyone like Yan Mo going to the City as it was only a third-rate city, but there were two reasons why the Forefather sent Yan Mo.


    The first was that there were some strange things within the City as the Zhou Family Leader, Kov Family Leader and the Lin Family Leader were all great figures of theSpirit Foundation, but alas, they wouldn''t be able to sense Yuan Li and knew very little of Yuan Li in the first place.


    The second was that the Lightning Hall Forefather had actually a senseof Yuan Li''s hidden arrival within the City via his spiritual sense which could surprisingly actually sense people several levels higher than his own.


    (The forefather had a hunch that Yuan Li had arrived, through his spiritual sense)

 Chapter 7. Coming of Age Ceremony (One)

    At the City where, Zhou Ye lived there was such a thing known as the Coming of Age Ceremony, those who were at the age of ten to twelve would be the people that entered such a ceremony.


    (Different to Family Competition)


    Before the Coming of Age Ceremony was the Pre-Age Ceremony taken at the age of five to showcase one''s talent and potential but nothing more.


    At the age of sixteen they would enter the Post-Age Ceremony showcase everything from combat skills, power, knowledge and all which could be tested, this also happened in the Coming of Age Ceremony but to a much lesser extent.


    As Zhou Ye was eleven, he and Ye Cheng could join the Ceremony and Ye Yin would instead join via the means of a special invite which Yuan Li decided to secure so that Ye Yin could at least join a sect.


    Yuan Li, of course, told Ye Yin to not get to attached, but he didn''t explain quite why, but it was obvious that Yuan Li did so because he knew that the sect would barely be able to teach anything to Ye Yin.


    Ye Cheng and Ye Yin were currently talking to each other, "Elder Sister! When will "Uncle" be back?Where is Elder brother Ye?". Ye Cheng and Ye Yin without any other''s presence decided to address Yuan Li as Uncle instead as it would seem unfilial to call him Father.


    Ye Cheng didn''t know where Yuan Li was but neither did Ye Yin who simply ignored the question and smiled somewhat when she heard Ye Cheng call someone younger as his Elder brother.


    Ye Cheng was far too sheltered and Ye Yin, on the other hand, could be described as hard working and well known with information and was even at the Late Stage of The Spirit Foundation or a Spirit Master.


    Ye Cheng himself was only at the Early Stage of The Spirit Foundation or a Spirit Acolyte, the difference between the two in terms of energy and power and wasn''t that great since it was only the Spirit Foundation, a crossable gap.


    But Ye Yin''s combat experience far outclassed and so did her knowledge compared to Ye Cheng meaning that even if it was Ye Cheng at the late stage instead it wouldn''t make much difference.


    Ye Cheng, also called Zhou Ye as "Elder brother" because he felt that he should as Zhou Ye seemed to him as a senior and Ye Cheng''s figure was actually even slightly smaller than Zhou Ye''s.


    He was extremely quiet and only talked to his sister in the past, he barely ate and he barely talked to his hands and also barely ever saw any evil acts or the alike.


    He had at least someone to talk to now and that was Zhou Ye and didn''t feel as lonely anymore, whilst Yuan Li did come time to time to help cultivate it was largely limited.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Zhou Ye was currently on top of a mountain sitting and not because it was somewhere special but when Zhou Ye saw the limited memories of Tang Xuan he saw that being on a mountain was a great visual effect or a relaxation place.


    Within the Dantian of Zhou Ye was a sleeping Tang Xuan and countless pieces of lightning everywhere which invested the World inside the Dantian.


    Normally within a normal Dantian would a very small World covered by immense fog and mist, but Zhou Ye''s one was without a single fog or mist and everything within it could be seen.


    All of a sudden the countless pieces of lightning began to converge into one object which was a strange line which tore through the middle of World within the Dantian.


    All of a sudden clouds from every direction appeared and there were even slight signs of life as a microorganism.


    At that moment, Zhou Ye''s body for a split moment turned azure and gold and this meant that he had entered into Spirit Foundation and was now a Spirit Acolyte.


    He could feel all the energy pouring into his body and constantly refreshing it, it was simply amazing and he for a split moment when the body turns azure and gold felt as if he could move entire mountains and seas themselves.


    This time the clouds moved and opened up to show their approval but nothing more as this time it was simply Zhou Ye breaking through whereas last time, Tang Xuan used his immense might to make the heavens bow due to his Divine presence.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Zhou Ye then stood up and smiled and he tookout a sword which he received from his family a few years ago, his family wasn''t poor but it definitely wasn''t rich either it was more in the middle class where they could afford him a life of schooling and some combat tools.


    As Zhou Ye swiped and struck the air with his sword, it was if for a split second the air had a hole made in it due to its intense speed.....


    To have such speed was known as "Spirit Lord''s Might" which was the ability of a Spirit Foundation who had reached the very Peak of the Foundation and capable of even creating holes and cuts in the air for a brief moment due to their strength which was actually comparable to Soul Emergents.


    Zhou Ye didn''t have the strength,but from the limited memories, he inherited he knew there was a technique known as "Imperial Movements, Ten Steps to Godhood" which was despite its glorious name a very, very, very common technique within the Immortal Realmsand even some Mortal Worlds.


    When practiced it allowed for one to put all of one''s energy into a single point, control the movement of one''s weapon as if it was the extension of the body parts and several other abilities.


    In fact on could even use it to create brief cuts and holes in the air using it due to the incredible control, but in the Immortal Realm creating brief cuts and holes were impossible.


    The Immortal Realm had a much stronger and stable space which meant that not even Enlightened Cultivators could create holes or cuts in the air there, whilst they could move entire mountains and seas in the Mortal Worlds.


    The "Imperial Movements, Ten Steps to Godhood" was actually created by Tang Xuan''s Second Disciple known as the "Swift Imperial God" who completed up to the Tenth Step and ascended becoming a God which was a path similar to Celestials, Titans, Dragons and other mythical creatures.


    Humans had their own cultivation method and so did Demons, therefore if Celestials, Titans, and Dragons didn''t have different cultivation methods then wouldn''t it be quite weird?


    Strangely Humans and Demons had compatible cultivation methods and so did Dragons and Phoenixes as well as Celestials and Titans.


    When Tang Xuan''s Second Disciple ascended to Godhood which was the equivalent of a Supreme Immortal, vied to become a God Monarch which was the equivalent of a lesser True Sovereign as well a leadership position to help his Master ascend to be a True Sovereign.


    Zhou Ye, smiled seeing his actions and knew thatthe more he practiced the more information he got as when he took a step in the method he suddenly saw the memories of his Second Apprentice Brother.


    His Second Apprentice Brother was at the Spirit Foundation when he made the technique and was given the prototype from the First Apprentice Brother, Zhou Ye surprisingly, however, couldn''t see the face of the First Apprentice Brother as if it was purposely blocked.


    Suddenly he heard a voice "Elder Brother Ye!!!", coming up was the even smaller Ye Cheng who was slowly running to Zhou Ye.


    Zhou Ye was now looking quite gaunt as normally he barely had any food not because he didn''t want to not eat it but because he caused his father too much of a headache that caused him to barely ever get any food.


    This caused a slight amount ofmalnutrition but since he was cultivating now, it would barely make a lot of difference, but the malnutrition of the past made its impact which was the stunting of Zhou Ye''s height.


    Ye Cheng, didn''t have a high metabolism even though he ate a lot, but he cultivated at least to the Spirit Foundation which helped his growth as the Qi refined his body, but he simply wouldn''t grow and the chief physician claimed it simply as his lack of growth ability likely taken from his mother.


    His sister, Ye Yin, on the other hand, was slightly taller than anyone else her age including boys that were even at the age of sixteen, she took after her father''s height and her mother''s maturity and wisdom and thus was already at the Peak of Foundation.


    Ye Zhou''s body was quite now a bit refined compared to the past, it brimmed with a slight sort of aura that intensified him slightly.


    "Elder Brother Ye!!!, We have to go back home, it''s the ceremony tomorrow, so Unc.... Fatherand your parents are going to get us ready!"


    Zhou Ye noticed that Ye Cheng almost said Uncle instead of Father but simply ignored and walk to Ye Cheng and said: "Alright let''s go!".


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Within a certain building that said "Spiritual Capacity Test", to many people this was an unknown power. The Spiritual Capacity of someone meant the amount of power and ability of power they had in terms of Spiritual Power.


    It was a very ambiguous power in the Mortal Worlds,even if Tang Xuan saw this sign he would be bewildered but if he saw it.


    But if he saw someone demonstrate it, he would instantly realize what it was. In the Immortal World, Spiritual Capacitywas better known as HeavenlySenseswhich allowed for people to move mountains and seas with the mind or Soul.


    Withinthe Mortal World, space was weaker meaning that those that could barely shatter small hills in the Immortal Realm could shatter entire mountains in the World easily.


    Moving and shattering were very two different as one could easily shatter it but moving it with the mind was almost impossible to do even in the Immortal Realm by Enlightened Cultivators.


    Even if they were in the Mortal World they would barely be able to do it, much less Mortal born Enlightened Cultivators.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Within the room of the buildingwas an old man wearing a ragged robe sitting down on a chair in a strange position, his eyes were sharp as if they contained the laws of the World themselves.


    His cultivation was blurry and couldn''t be seen, but strangely all the objects in the room were floating except for the chair itself.


    Suddenly the old man closed his eyes and all the objects fell to the floor and from a few miles away, a certain river was churning upwards and downwards as if it was being controlled by someone.....

 Chapter 8. Coming of Age Ceremony (Two)

    In the distance was an incredibly large building, surrounding it were three statues, they were the Three Ancestors of the Tri Sect Alliance and each of them was still alive as the Sect Master of their current sect.


    Currently, there were several hundreds of carriages going to the large building and other then the large building there was also another building which was barely smaller than it and it said on top of it "Spiritual Capacity Test" and contained the same ragged old man.


    Near to him, was a spirited young girl, she had a slender waist, long and smooth legs with a beautiful face and a figure which could simply be described as nothing less than breathtaking.


    By merely looking at her, mortals would be stuck in a trance and this would be without any Qi or techniques, but by the mere sight of her.


    Even cultivators would feel somewhat reluctant in fighting against her. Ye Yin would be described as a beautiful Princess figure which shook the hearts of nations, but this spirited girl would simply be given the title of Goddess.


    She currently had her hands on her body curves which were made more noticeable, seeing such a thing even those of the Zhenren Council wouldn''t be able to remain unmesmerized from such a beauty.


    She was Ven An, the Grand Princess of the Ven Nation. She was a Princess that was hidden from the public eye and even to her siblings she was only known as by name.


    Within the entire Ven Nation, there were about three people who knew her and saw her in person, they were her Father who had greatly cherished Ven An, due to her incredible literary abilities.


    Her youngest brother who was about a year younger than her, meaning that Ven An at the age of fourteen was the only one able to gain any attention out of all hersiblings, from her father.


    The other was a ragged old man who was also her teacher and even the Ven King''s senior by several generations and only decided to teach Ven An due to her incredible literary abilities and Ven Ru being his first and only other disciple.


    Ven An, didn''t just have incredible literary skills, her cultivation was already at the Late Stage of Emergence. Her talent was perhaps the greatestif not, at least among the top three within the entire Empire.


    But going from the late stage to the Peak of Emergence was a step equivalent from a mortal cultivating to the Late Stage of Emergence and going from the Peak of Emergence to not even the First Transition, but rather having the ability and strength of assailing the first transition and live to tell the tale without succeeding was the same as having to reach the Peak of Emergence from the stage of a mere Mortal.


    Those that lived without becoming aFirst Transition Cultivator would become stuck to the Pseudo Transitioned Realm, but at the same time, their strength would be said to even higher than most at the First Transition, but they could never enter the Second Transition, fortunately their lifespan actually increased higher, albeit not as high as a First Transition it was enough to keep them busy and make sure they don''t go crazy.


    The Tribulation of the Transition was truly dangerous unless one was born from a powerful noble family or had an incredible fortuitous encounter or simply earth-shaking talent it was virtually impossible to pass the first Transition.


    Yuan Li, Yuan Zen, Ven Zhengzhong, Liu Yan, Ven An and several others all had one of three at least and could be described as having a smooth path into the World of Cultivation.


    But after the First Transition, everything was completely up to the person who was undergoing the Second and beyond Transition.


    When one is at the Quarter, Half Step or anything beyond Peak of Emergence they could get the help of someone who was already in the First Transition, to help them via giving them Qi from a distance, lend them information on their path of cultivation and other ways.


    Giving Qi was the most common way that people became First Transition cultivators, but by the second Transition, whenever giving Qi was done, the Heavens would react in anger and attempt to kill whoever dared to do so, albeit the power of the Heavens then, would be limited regardless, unless one achievedEnlightenment they wouldn''t escape with their lives.


    Following the Path of another person would be similar, but by the Second Transition, people''s path would start to differ and change immensely. Perhaps if an Enlightenment Senior was giving information of their own path to a First Transition Junior it would work.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    But if a Seventh Transition Senior gave information to a First Transition Junior it may or may not work, depending on the similarities in the path.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    "Teacher!". This was said by Ven An, her voice sounded as if was said with an Angelic tone, but the ragged old man simply ignored her.


    The ragged old man, looked to Ven An and then outside a window and said "Yuan Li.... What is your connection with that, person?...."


    Ven An stood still and attempted to say something else, but then all of a sudden she heard a voice from the ragged old man, "Go!, I need to divine some stuff".


    Surprisingly, this old ragged man was actually a Diviner and saw that his destiny and another''s was heavily connected for some reason.


    Normally Diviners wouldn''t be able to see their own destiny, they could only see a likely possibility out of the limitless possibilities that existed, the ragged old man saw upon thousands of people destinies that may or may not come true, but for some reason he could see his own and in it was a young boy whom would decide his fate.


    Ven An, left the room and thought "I wonder what FourthUncle is doing? TeacherLi said he was hereand keeps talking to himself about it...".


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Moving around elegantly, was a teenager who wore a silver robe with blue lightning symbols on the parts of his body, this was Yan Mo.


    He was simply testing his skill around a few trees and didn''t have a single care in the World as he did so, every so often he would stop and look at the sky and smile.


    Yan Mo didn''t know why he was here, whilst the Forefather was the one who gave the order, he simply got Yan Mo''s father who was a high-level Elder within the Sect, to do so instead.


    Yan Mo, because of his father''s status and not of the forefather''s who was impartial, was a TrueDisciple of the Lightning Hall.


    Disciples were usually divided into the ranks from lowest to highest, Outer Region Disciple, Formal Disciple, Inner Palace Disciple, Conclave Disciple, True Disciple and finally Venerable Disciple.


    Elders were ranked in virtually the same way, but none of the sects, including the Yun Star Sect which had its main base in another country, used all the disciple rankings.


    Only major level sects within the Empire of Zhenren such as the Supreme Nine Soul Sects which was lead by a member of the Zhenren Council would use all the ranks.


    Most sects such as the Lightning Hall and the others within Ven Country used instead, Outer Disciple, Inner Disciple, Conclave Disciple and True Disciple.


    Yan Mo wasn''t truly deserving of the True Disciple title and was more of a Conclave disciple, but his contributions to the sect were truly greater than others even if his strength wasn''t.


    He had killed several evil people and saved the lives of thousands, but even that wasn''t deserving of the True Disciple title, usually True Disciples wouldn''t even lower themselves to the way of saving people personally but Yan Mo, did so why earned him the merit of the people and the sect which was why no one objected to him being a True Disciple.


    It was also so that, people of other sects would say that "Yan Mo, despite being a True Disciple, lowers himself to help others!". If Yan Mo as a Conclave Disciple did so, the effect of Yan Mo''s virtuous actions wouldn''t be as big then.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Zhou Ye and Ye Cheng were currently both in different carriages which were all travelling to the large building, within Zhou Ye''s carriage were three other people.


    If this was any other Third Rate City than the one, Zhou Ye lived in than the carriage would likely be filled with about five to eight people instead.


    Zhou Ye''s village was a part of a Third Rate City, but they were treated like a First Rate City, due to theirThree Family Heads, Zhou, Kov and Lin who were all great figures at the Spirit Foundation. (Feeling guilty for changing this, hopefully, noone will ever notice)


    But also that rumours had it each of the Three Family Heads had their Ancestor''s backing them up. It took place a few decades ago when the Ancestors of the Three Families were the Family Leaders but entered seclusion.


    Not just that, rumours had it that each of the Ancestors were all Soul Emergents which was the first condition for a City to be a First Rate City and eventually a Ruler City with five Soul Emergents.


    No one knew what happened, but after a certain day, the Three Family Leaders entered seclusion and Three new Family Heads came to take upon their mantles.


    Within, Zhou Ye''s carriage of four people, including himself, Zhou Ye was currently conversing with the other three.


    "So Zhou Ye, you''re from the Zhou Family? That''s a pretty big family!". Zhou Ye was currently being admired byanother person whose name was Yozu, he didn''t have a surname because he was from a very poor family.


    There were also two other people, Zhan and Lin Voen, Zhan came from a slightly better family, but he didn''t have a surname either. Voen came from the Lin Family which was, fortunately, an allied family with the Zhou Family.


    If Lin Voen, instead came from the Kov Family, then Zhou Ye and Lin Voen would have to naturally be enemies with each other, lest their own families turn on them.


    Lin Voen, simply smiled at Zhou Ye and looked to the other two, not with disdain, but rather no emotion at all.


    Ye Cheng''s carriage was a bit different, there were three other people, but only one person spoke to Ye Cheng and the other two were simply quiet.


    Kov Bai was the name of the only person talking to Ye Cheng, she was pretty nice and fortunately for Ye Cheng, she didn''t that he was friends with Zhou Ye.

 Chapter 8.5 (Mainly background and filler information)

    Within the City, there were the three Major Families.


    The Lin, Zhou and Kov Families, each of which ruled over one of the Cities ruled over an amount of the Six MinistriesOrders.


    Personell, Revenue, Rites, Defence, Justice and Works, but these Orders were not given equally to the Three Families.


    The Kov Family, wielded four of the orders and had the power of suppress both the Zhou and Lin Family with ease, they ruled over Defence, Justice, Rites and Personell, their power over the City was truly immense.


    But, in order to rule the City, one needs either overwhelming power in comparison to their foes or all six of the orders, this was true to even the Zhenren Empire.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    In the Zhenren Empire, Princes were divided into Prince, High Prince, Imperial Prince, Jeweled Prince and Crown Prince. Princes and High Princes were as such due to their birth and backing, but Imperial Princes were titled granted from the Princes own merit.


    Jeweled Princes were Princes with at least a single Ministry Orderunder them and the Crown Prince would be chosen by the current King to be the successor and would naturally have an Ministry Order or two.


    But there were times when a Three Jeweled Prince with Three Ministry Orders had overtook and become the Crown Prince as he had a single Ministry Order more so than the previous Crown Prince.


    (Each Jewel, is a Ministry Order).


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The Kov Family was in a way, The Ruling Family of the City, but they had a single weakness, their incredible lack of money in comparison to the other two families.


    The Lin and Zhou Family ruled over Revenue and Works, respectively.


    Those two Ministry Orders, ruled over the source of Income for the City, but the Kov Family had the majority of power and Ministry Orders, how did they not rule over the entire City?


    In the past, before the Three Ancestors entered seclusion, they were the Patriarchs of their own Families, back then the Lin and Zhou Family had yet to ally and thus they were in quite a few battles.


    But the Kov Family''s Patriarch had the strength of an Middle Stage Emergent, The Patriarchs of the Lin and Zhou Family were only at the Early Stage of Emergence, fortunately The Kov Family''s Patriarch rushed into such a stage which made his strength only barely greater than the two Patriarchs of the Lin and Zhou Family combined.


    Normally, a Middle Staged Emergent would have the power of not two, but three, alas the Kov Patriarch rushed into the Middle Stage and caused an unstable breakthrough.


    But managed to make it through and not become a Pseudo Middle Stage or even die from it, then one day when the Kov Patriarch decided to attack the Zhou Family, something strange happened, The Lin Family intervened!


    Both the Lin and Zhou Family decided to ally in the face of the Kov Family, that day the Kov Patriarch retreated and fled after being forced back by the combined effort of the Lin and Zhou Patriarch.


    The two Patriarch''s realized the unstable balance brought via the Kov Patriarch''s breakthrough and decided to ally and have marriages to form a singular family, but as of yet has not happened yet, but is progressing extremely quickly.


    More and more time passed, but the Kov Family became ever stronger, the Zhou and Lin Patriarch then did something crazy, when the Kov Patriarch became somewhat weakened after a "scuffle" with a Peak Spirit Beast.


    Of course, this wasn''t an ordinary Peak Spirit Beast, if it was then a normal Early Stage Emergentwould be able to fight the beast and even a Spirit Lord wouldn''t have much trouble against it.


    (Spirit Lord, is a title for those whom are at the Foundation, but have powers equivalent to an Early Emergent, not an actual cultivation...)


    This Peak Spirit Beast was a Lesser Behemoth, its bloodline was quite powerful and it allowed for it to challenge even those at the Peak of the Early Stage of Emergence, even the Zhou and Lin Patriarch individually likely wouldn''t survive against it.Stolen novel; please report.


    If the Kov Patriarch was only at the Peak of the Early Stage of Emergence, he would definitely lose to the beast, he had the most unstable foundation, but in terms of breakthrough the greatest luck.


    Both and Zhou and Lin Patriarch knew that they wouldn''t become a Middle Staged Emergence even if they tried, they weren''t as lucky as the Kov Patriarch.


    When the Kov Patriarch was somewhat weakened, he was attacked jointly by both the Zhou and Lin Patriarch. The Kov Patriarch was weakened, but not to the point of falling down to the Early Stage of Emergence, he was barely clinging on to the Middle Stage of Emergence.


    Both the Lin and Zhou Patriarch unleashed their secret techniques to put down the Kov Patriarch, but the Kov Patriarch was far to strong....


    By merely existing in the Middle Stage of Emergence, he got stronger and stronger as time passed, of course there would be an eventual stop, but he had yet to reach it fortunately for the Lin and Zhou Patriarch.


    By both the Lin and Zhou Patriarch, sacrificing their life essence they could temporarily both have enough power to equal the Kov Patriarch.


    The Lin and Zhou Patriarch, heavily cornered the Kov Patriarch and forced him to enter seclusion, but as the Lin and Zhou Patriarch used their life essence, they couldn''t deal the death blow and was also forced to enter seclusion.


    At the day after, the junior Patriarch''s who are now the current Patriarch''s took upon the mantles of leadership, unfortunately for both the Lin and Zhou Families by the time their Two Patriarchs acted against the Kov Patriarch, it was far to late as the Kov Family had an advantage built on to long.


    It was merely based on hope that the Lin and Zhou Family would be able to defeat the Kov Family in time.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Ye Cheng''s, carriage was a bit strange, Ye Cheng and the girl were actually the only people that cultivated....


    It wasn''t rare for poor people to have never cultivated, most if not all the cultivating resources within the City were all kept by the Three Families.


    In certain areas of the continent, there were what people knew as "Mortal Areas" they took up about suprisingly half to even sixtypercent of the entire continent''s area.


    These areas where were Mortal Kingdoms thrived and mortals lived without the presence of cultivators, this was done to improve the level of potential that people had within their "spirit roots" or even without them they wouldn''t be able to cultivate.


    But that was a lie, everyone not only had a spirit root, everyone had a sufficient spirit root to cultivate, and even whilst cripples with their spirit roots torn or disabled wouldn''t be able to cultivate, their children or descendants would still have roots.


    It was impossible to be born without a "Spirit Root" it had to be torn out and destroyed and even without it, there was another way to cultivate which wasn''t the same way that the people of Zhou Ye''s planet knew of.


    The Zhenren Emperor of the Fourth Generation created such Mortal Areas, he did so to monopolize the cultivation resources, he clearly favoured quality over quantity.


    The Fourth Generation Emperor simply said that those born within Mortal Areas had far worse potential compared to those born in the Cultivation Cities and Villages.


    Whilst this was true, this was simply an excuse formed by the Fourth Generation Emperor.


    As such he decided to let them form their own Mortal Kingdoms as did the Infernal Court Judge of the Ninth Generation and the Holy Assembly Master of the Thirteenth Generation.


    Of course, the Fourth Generation Emperor, knew that every few hundread years there would be a genius, so he would sent an Envoy whom would be described as an "Immortal" to the masses of people to give them hope, if someone had an talented "Spirit Root" they would join the sects.


    These Mortal Areas were protected by extremely powerful shields which prevented for normal cultivators to enter, most cultivators wouldn''t even know of an Mortal Areas existence, until they reached the First Transition.


    Anyone under the First Transition would be unable to enter a Mortal Area, the Fourth Generation Emperor feared that an Peak Emergent Cultivator would seize all the treasures of a Mortal Kingdom and use it for themselves and thus made a shield which prevented all those under the First Transition.


    On the other hand, First Transition cultivators wouldn''t even be bothered to look at the treasures a Mortal Kingdom may have.


    Because of this, there was a plentiful amount of resources for the Three Empires and the Sects and Clans took what they could, whilst the Mortal Kingdoms would live as if bliss in ignorance.


    Truly the Three Empires were greedy, they monopolized all the cultivation resources so that others would find it hard to cultivate! Everyone could normally cultivate, but the Three Empires didn''t want it like that......


    Yuan Zen, Li and even Ven Anas well as many others knew of this, but this was also to keep the balance and make sure there was a steady supply of cultivation resources, because of this there would always be ninety percent of the resources used by ten percent of the entire population.


    Mortals had populations hundreads of times greater than cultivators, if they all wanted to cultivate, none of Three Empires could likely afford it.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Zhou Ye, in his carriage was talking a lot to Lin Voen,the conversation was nothing more than just a bit of talking about their family life.


    Lin Voen, originally started talking about how he despised the Kov Family, but noticing that Zhou Ye didn''t like talking about it, decided to stoptalking about it.


    As for the other two, Yozu and Zhan, they had yet to cultivate and Zhan was even from an Mortal Area and didn''t know anything about Cultivation.


    Yozu on the other hand had a slight understanding at least.

 Chapter 8.75 Holy Illumination, Infernal Dusk and Zhenren (Part One)

    At another building, not the Spiritual Capacity Test building, was the largest building and was surrounded by nothing other than the statue of the Ancestors from the Tri-Sect Alliance and a strange Sword in front of the statues.


    In the past, there was once a generous donator who donated a Holy Grade artefact, it was an Eight Grade Sword known as Sky Sorrow.


    It was invaluable and legend had it during its creation it attracted the Wrath of Heaven and caused a Minor Calamity when the Sword was made, meaning that it went against the Will and Laws of Heaven for it to be made, on that day the skies twisted and seem as if they were crying.


    But, the Heavens couldn''t prevent it being made and in it''s anger, made it so that only those whom were at the very least at the First Transition and have a Lightning Based Spirit Root, those that didn''t fit the criteria would be subject to Heaven''s Wrath which would be capable of making the skies cry and even instantly killing a Third Transition Cultivator.


    But it''s value was still incredible, it was still an Eight Grade Sword, not just that, if the Lightning Hall Patriarch or more commonly known as theAncestor was to breakthrough to the First Transition, it''s value would multiply tenfold.


    Because the person, couldn''t use it and that he was a friend to the Tri-Sect Alliance, he decided to simply give it to the Lightning Hall Patriarch, he then disappeared, many people said that he died of Heaven''s Wrath or another reason, but no one truly knew.


    But the Lightning Hall Ancestor didn''t take it with him. No one knew why, there was a saying that those with Lightning or Thunder Spirit Roots were known as the Sons or Daughters of Heaven (non-respectively) when they faced tribulation, it was far less dangerous than any other type of cultivators, but they required several times more energy to complete it.


    For the Lightning Hall Ancestor, to not take it with him, likely meant that perhaps another would take it, many believed it would be someone like Yan Mo!


    He was currently within the building surrounded by the statues and the Sword, on the horizon were seemingly countless carriages arriving at the large building.


    Within the building, Yan Mo was in a slightly large room, there were only two other people his age as well as several other people, but they were all old and people that were Elders of their respective sects.


    Yan Mo felt himself being suppressed by one of the people at his age, it was a woman that was slightly tall, young, gleaming and even a bit meagre.


    The other person at Yan Mo''s age felt even more suppressed, not just by the girl, but also by Yan Mo.


    At that time, the Sect Patriarch of the Solace Sect looked to Yan Mo and then joyfully spoke to an Elder of the Lightning Hall Sect, "Brother Yan, your Sect''s genius is as incredible as the words have said! I believe that he''ll likely be the next Sect Master or Patriarch!".


    Yan Mo didn''t feel much emotion, but the Elder did and said: "Hahaha, your geniuses are pretty close themselves, Brother Solant!".


    Whilst Yan Mo wasn''t bothered to react, the Elder had to, The Solace Sect wasn''t on the power of the Lightning Hall, but its power was directly below theirs, as for Patriarch Solant, it wasn''t his true name, but the name of the Patriarch.


    Patriarch Solant then replied subconsciously in a subservient tone and replied "My geniuses aren''t anywhere close... Not with Yan Mo''s title and his actions which have saved the lives of many from Ven Country to countless other Countries and Kingdoms.


    Yan Mo was by no means the greatest Disciple of the Lightning Hall, he was, however, the one that received the most publicity and fame from several other neighbouring Countries and Kingdoms.


    He had the title "Scion of Heaven", even the Holy Illumination Empire Sect wouldn''t dare to take on such a title, rather they would use Son or Daughter of Heaven, but Yan Mo had something that the Holy Illumination Empire Sect didn''t have.


    Along time ago, Yan Mo went on a journey to refine himself, on his journey he slew countless evil practitioners and on the way he met with a group of Transitioned Cultivators of the Holy Illumination Empire Sect fighting against the Infernal Dusk Empire Sect and their own Transitioned Cultivators.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Arriving at when, only a few group of Infernal Dusk Transitioned Cultivators had managed to drive back the Holy Illumination Transitioned Cultivators of which eventually only one remained, the latter gave Yan Mo a strange hand sized sculpture of an archaic man.


    Seemingly the Infernal Dusk Transitioned Cultivators wanted the sculpture and then went to attack Yan Mo, but as Yan Mo held the sculpture to his heart, a shocking change happened.


    A light from the sky appeared to hit the ground,it as if there was a shockwave of light, it slew every single Infernal Dusk Transitioned Cultivators, even those of the Third Transition, unfortunately, there was no one stronger than the Third Transition there, meaning that the true level of Shockwave was left unknown.


    The sculpture then disappeared into Yan Mo and the remaining Transitioned Cultivator returned back and told the Holy Illumination Empire Sect of the news, such news shook the Holy Assembly, and thus they decreed and allowed him to use the title "Scion of Heaven" for the miraculous event.


    Yan Mo, himself didn''t have much memory of the event, he only returned home to see that everything was the same, little did he know that a Holy Illumination Transitioned Cultivator was almost at all times making sure he was safe from any major harm.


    The Holy Illumination Transitioned Cultivator wouldn''t bother to protect him at every turn, even if Yan Mo was facing a near death experience, the Cultivator wouldn''t do anything unless it risked the life and death of Yan Mo.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The Infernal Dusk Empire Sect, however, were different in their reactions. They were furious, but also afraid, not of the Holy Illumination Empire Sect, but of the Zhenren Empire!


    Yuan Zen himself had more power than the Infernal Court Judge and the Holy Assembly Master, the Infernal Dusk Empire Sect was already in a war with the Holy Illumination Empire Sect, to also fight the Zhenren Empire was a choice which could lead to their eventual fall.


    Currently, the Zhenren and Infernal Dusk Empire Sect were in neutral terms, there was a certain rule which was that, as long as the people whom died or fought were less than the Transition stage, they wouldn''t care.


    Even if an Infernal Dusk High Prince or even the son of the Infernal Court''s Judge and the Zhenren Crown Prince or a Beloved Princess was to die, as long as they were below the Transition stage, there would be no further argument.


    Of course, such rules were that it was in neutral territory and not in the one of the Holy Illumination''s land. But, those that died that day, were at the lowest Transitioned Cultivators and at the highest Third Transition.....


    But Yan Mo wasn''t at the Transition Stage, he wasn''t even at the Emergence Stage, he was only half a step if news of Yan Mo''s actions on that day came to public ears, then Yuan Zen would likely be willing to challenge even the Infernal Dusk Empire Sect.


    The Holy Illumination Empire Sect would likely very quickly ally with the Zhenren Empire if such an action was indeed done by Yuan Zen.


    This feared the Infernal Dusk Empire Sect and decided it wasn''t worth it to get revenge. They decided it would be better get revenge at a later stage when Yan Mo would be alone and in neutral territory.


    Of contemporary times, The Infernal Dusk Empire Sect practiced not evil, but more worthy of being called "Demonic Arts" they did such things such as slavery, live refining, sacrifices, soul shattering, sealing and devouring as well as body stealing and the alike.


    Such acts were looked down, extremely heavily by the Holy Illumination Empire Sect and the too Zhenren Empire looked down on such vile acts.


    If one were to think of the three powers, then the Infernal Dusk Empire Sect was vile and had an aura of evil that was generated from several lifetimes.The Holy Illumination Empire Sect, in turn, would be a Saintly Presence, not in comparison, but in fact.


    The Zhenren Empire, whilst wasn''t a Saintly Presence, but they were a force which abhorred the acts that the Infernal Dusk Empire Sect did so.


    The Holy Illumination Empire Sect looked upon the Zhenren Empire as a potential ally, they didn''t dare think of less, as their power was weaker than the latter, but the Infernal Dusk Empire Sect was a pest or parasite, they didn''t care if someone used Evil Cultivation Arts, they were still considered the Arts of a Human, even if someone followed the Killing or even Asura Path...


    The Holy Illumination Empire Sect, believed in the "inherent" good of people and even Evil Cultivation Arts were held by Virtuous and Righteous Leaders of the past generations, as for the Killing and Asura Path, even Wise Sages of the past had slew entire Kingdoms of evil people and Asuras that were Devas shouldered the Heaven and lead to its prosperity.


    On the continent, Evil Cultivation Methods and Arts were different to what the Infernal Dusk Empire Sect did so, Evil Arts were that of sacrificing more of one''s own self and were sometimes classified as forbidden due to the danger to not others, but themselves....


    The Infernal Dusk Empire Sect practiced Demonification, they much akin to becoming Demons that would slaughter thousands if not several times more people.


    Fortunately only an Enlightenment Cultivator could become a True Demon, those of a lesser stage would only become False Demons.


    Because of this the Infernal Dusk Empire Sect, had cultivators while at the same level, capable of defeating others at a higher level.


    The Infernal Dusk Empire Sect was the home of Demonic Cultivators and several Demonic Beasts and legend had it that Demonsthat could tear open the sky and burn the earth were buried under with their life force halted until the time they were needed.........

 Chapter 8.75 Holy Illumination, Infernal Dusk and Zhenren (Part Two)

    The Zhenren Empire.....


    The Holy Illumination Empire Sect and Infernal Dusk Empire Sect, the two Empire Sects had existed for tens and thousands of year with a history going back far before the Zhenren Empire.


    One practised the Art of being Virtuous and Righteous, to follow a Path left by those of Wise Sages, Devas, Buddhas, Gods, Deities, Immortals, Celestials, Divine Entities and the alike.


    The other practised the Art of being Wickedness and Sinful, to follow a Path left by those of Malicious Priests, Asuras, Era Fiends,True Ghosts, Everlasting Creations, Demons and the alike.


    By following such a path, one''s power would increase as they would draw upon power from the Heavens or Hells which would allow for them to not just be stronger at the same cultivation stage as cultivators that didn''t follow a path, they would also progress quicker.


    The Zhenren Empire had existed for a mere few thousand years and was only somewhat older than Yuan Zen and it followed no Path, but what had made it so powerful?


    Capable of suppressing both the Holy Illumination and Infernal Dusk Empire Sect, perhaps Yuan Zen wasn''t the greatest under the Heavens, but on the Black Serpent Continent, both the Infernal Court Judge and Holy Assembly Master had to admit their inferiority.


    Why was the Zhenren Empire so strong? The ability to overturn any force except for the two other Empires, they were considered invincible.


    Their secret was how eccentric they were! They unlike theHoly Illumination and Infernal Dusk Empire Sect had hundreds of different cultivation Arts and Methods, the Zhenren Council, had members that whilst weren''t at a high level of Transition with Nine of the Twelve being at the early levels of Transition.


    However even the weakest of the Council, the one that was fatigued by the strange pressure, but if he was to face someone at the Peak Third or FalseFourth Transition, the latter would be defeated with a mere flick of the wrist.


    The difference between the First and Third Transition, was a great gap, Yuan Li was, of course, a special exception with his incredible speed. The difference between the First and PseudoFourth Transition was even greater.


    A Pseudo Fourth Transition Cultivator was the same as virtually any Pseudo Cultivator, they had limited life and would die soon, but near death, it wouldn''t be rare for them to reach a type of Enlightenment as they werewalking on the very edge of life and death.


    There were even Legends of a Pseudo Seventh Transition Cultivator who was once a Genius that was reputed to become an Enlightenment Cultivator but failed miserably on the last step.


    He lost Enlightenment of the Heavens, but he gained something else, he gained Enlightenment of Life and Death by walking constantly day and day through it without a care in his life.


    By this, he bypassed the Pseudo Stage and became an Enlightenment Cultivator and ruled an entire Era before ascending to the Upper Realms.


    Of course even the strongest of the Council, Yuan Zen couldn''t do this and it was unlikely that anyone would ever do so.


    Whilst crossing the gap between the First Transition and Pseudo Fourth Transition seemed trivial in comparison, it was still without a doubt incredible.


    The weakest member of the Council could cross from the First Transition to the Pseudo Fourth Transition, except for the Council themselves, no one knew of such facts.


    Whilst theHoly Illumination and Infernal Dusk Empire Sect had their own hidden experts, if they heard that the Council had such people, perhaps they would have already surrendered to the Zhenren Empire.


    As for the other eight of the Nine that was either at the First or Second Transition, they were all comparable to the Fourth Transition and those at the Second Transition were comparable to the Fifth Transition.


    But what would make theHoly Illumination and Infernal Dusk Empire Sect truly feel frightened would be that Zhenren Ling the Ancestor of the Zhenren Empire that always lived in the shadow of Yuan Zen, wasn''t actually that much weaker than the latter.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    If Zhenren Linghimself, was to say that he was the second strongest on the continent, just below Yuan Zen, then it wouldn''t be hubris from the former or crazy talk. If the Holy Assembly Master or Infernal Court Judgechallenge the former, they would make likely make the biggest mistake they could make.


    Living in the shadow of Yuan Zen, Zhenren Ling managed to live a life without much publicity or fame as most of the things he had done were already accomplished by the former.


    He lived a simple life when he wasn''t at the Council and lived as a scholar and by living as such managed to touch upon Enlightenment before even Yuan Zen which meant that if he reached the Seventh Transition, he would have a high chance of reaching True Enlightenment, unlike Yuan Zen who had a minimal chance.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    But even without the Council, they had hidden experts, naturally, they were below the Council, but they created their own organisation called "Ten Arts and Methods, One Thousand Masters, HundredThousand Students".


    (NOTE: Arts and Methods are different!, Arts are something that can be used in any level and method is a way to cultivate, most methods will be the same, but as they progress will have more and more distinct features)


    The top ten Cultivation Arts and Methods were recorded and each had their respective Masters, there were actually more than just ten, but only the top ten could truly be worth thought of, the Solant Patriarch practiced the SolarFire Art which was an ancient art of controlling flames.


    The SolarFire Art was ranked at the Tenth greatest Cultivation Art, and this included those of the Infernal Dusk and Holy Illumination Empire Sect.


    Those who had mastered it would be capable of drawing fire from the Sun and using it to their own, obviously the Solant Patriarch wasn''t the strongest as he was only at the Emergent Stage, but he wasn''t too far and was ranked as the Seventh Greatest Master of the Art.


    As for the Method that the Solant Patriarch used, it was the Solace Method, it was virtually the same as any other method, except that cultivation would go on more smoothly and easier if one had a virtuous heart and helped others.


    Obviously, Methods were more prized than arts, this meant that there were fewer methods, but regardless, the Solace Method was only ranked at Twenty-Seventh.


    The organisation also kept a list called the "Masters, Lords, Kings and Emperors List" it was a list of if someone was in any of the five categories and each level of the list was quite self-explanatory and this helped the Zhenren Empire, roughly identify who was the strongest and helped to increase the fame of those on the list.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Such anorganisation secretly served the Council and were capable of overthrowing any force below the Three Empires, except for perhaps the Legendary Teng Kingdom.....


    The Ten Arts and Methods Organisation combined with The Council, excluding Zhenren Ling and Yuan Zen, would have no trouble conquering any Kingdom except for the Teng Kingdom, however with Zhenren Ling and Yuan Zen, perhaps the dream of unifying the continent, wouldn''t be a dream, but rather a goal to strive for.


    As long as Zhenren Ling and Yuan Zen lived, then the Zhenren Empire would never fall, the loss of the Council or The Ten Arts and Methods Organisation may prove somewhat detrimental, but it was only a small loss compared to Zhenren Ling or Yuan Zen.


    If the Zhenren Empire was so strong, then why didn''t they act? It was because they themselves also feared theHoly Illumination and Infernal Dusk Empire Sect.


    TheHoly Illumination Empire Sect had the Incredible ability to call down Divine Judgements and Striking down foes from thousands of miles away with ForgottenArts.


    The Infernal Dusk Empire Sect had the Ancient ability to transform into Demons and reviving Archaic Demons long dead or faded to dust.


    If one where to say, that there was a war which happened between all three Empires, then there would likely be no victor, whilst the offensive power of theHoly Illumination and Infernal Dusk Empire Sect weren''t as powerful, they had formation and an ancient heritage which allowed for them to at the very least make sure that their own Headquarters wouldn''t be destroyed.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Other than Yan Mo, there was also a genius known as Wu Lin, who came from theHoly Illumination Empire Sect, Wu Lin was told by his Master to be on good terms with Yan Mo and make sure he doesn''t in life-threatening danger.


    He felt quite bored, he was waiting for a moment to talk with Yan Mo and become friends with him, but he felt as if there was someone who was looking down on him and in any moment could crush him.


    It wasn''t a senior cultivator, but rather the girl, he felt a sense of reverence when he was near Yan Mo and thus let himself be suppressed, but he was actually suppressed by the girl, if she was at a higher cultivation, then it would be normal.


    But he was an Emergent Cultivator of the Early Emergence (Early Emergent Cultivator), surprisingly the girl was a Spirit Master of the Late Foundation, however most surprising was that the girl was younger.


    This wasn''t suppression because of a difference in talent, it was suppression of power, Wu Lin felt that if he was to face the girl, he would lose within three moves....

 Chapter 9 Four Tests, The Mind-Heart, The Physique, The Spirit-Soul and Essence (Part One)

    The test which Zhou Ye, Ye Cheng and others were about to take was known as the Four Primary Tests.


    The Mind and Heart were seperate, but at the same time, they were deeply connected with each other. This test was known as the Mind-Heart Test, but it could also be interchangeably used as Heart-Mind Test.


    There was also the Spirit-Soul Test which worked the same way, atleast until one achieved Enlightenment they would virtually be the same, and even at Enlightenment, they would almost beindistinguisable or hard to find the differences between, at least until Immortalization.


    Then there was the Physique Test, it was the show of how powerful one''s body was, at the level of people that were below Immortalization, this was the most important, but when one achieved Immortalization, this Test would be regarded as a minor test.


    This test measured the amount of talent and ability the body could exhibit, some had better talents with certain elements, some would even be favoured by the Heavens, their bodies would be naturally resistant or favoured to lightning which made tribulations easier.


    Of course, those at such a level, wouldn''t face to many tribulations, but there were many lightning beasts in the World, not just that, in the World there was a long and reclusive faction known as the Ten Layered Tower Sect.


    Hearing such a name, most people would think it would be a normal Sect with some experts in cultivation, but it was more of a beast taming sect, the most surprising however was that, over ninety percent of the people were.....


    Lightning/Thunder Rooted Cultivators or ones with a Lightning/Thunder Meridian or Dantian. For some strange reason, those with Lightning related bases had far greater talent with taming beasts!


    This was obviously quite rare and astonishing, thus it was the general assumption that most Lightning based cultivators could tame any beasts, and this was no lie.


    Whilst the Lightning Hall did indeed have people of Lightning Based attributes, as well as a few Thunder Based attributes, they didn''t really have a talent of taming beasts, but it was naturally better than most sects....


    As for Roots, Meridians and Dantians, it was quite simple. Roots were the element you were born into and the talent you had, and then everyone was born with One Hundread and Eight Meridians, starting with only eight open, one had to open all of them to maximise their potential.


    It could be said that Roots were the natural born talent you had, Meridians were the talent which could be expanded upon by opening more of them and the Dantian was ever changing. The Dantian was the container of all the energy, it could be expanded upon, but doing so was virtually impossible.


    Whilst Meridians weren''t a display of strength, it was one of talent,for example, someone had at the First Transition may have opened twenty meridians and another at the Second Transition may have only opened ten meridians, this didn''t indicate strength.


    But it did indicate talent, the person at the First Transition likely became so much before the one at the Second Transition had done so, as for getting Lightning or Thunder based Meridians, there were two ways, refining one''s own self through a close encounter of Lightning or Thunder and the other was to create it through a pill or alike.


    Dantians were the source of energy, the wider and more greater the Dantian was, the more energy it could contain, for certain people, the size of a Dantian wouldn''t matter to much, in the Mortal World, condensing Qi was very common, there were barely if ever any people that would ever have to much Qi of their own level.


    Everytime there was a cultivation breakthrough, the Dantian would expand, the energy of a person would also automatically condense, with more space and more condensed Qi, this meant that the Dantian would rarely if ever be full.


    The Test of Essence, it was the mark that one had left from their past lives, it was the aura which they exhibited, it was the power that one had emanated, it was the very Essence of one''s self.


    (Sypnosis: Mind-Heart, Spirit-Soul and Essence are virtually the same thing, until later levels, but at the same time are very different and more similar at the later levels. I''ll write more about it later).


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Wu Lin was still bored and waited for his chance to speak to Yan Mo, after a few minutes passed he decided to look outside a window.


    He saw upon countless carriages, some were still arriving and some had already arrived.


    As he looked outside, he saw Yan Mo jump out of a window....


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    A few seconds had passed and by this time, Zhou Ye had by then left his carriage, he simply followed a group of people and fortunately found Ye Cheng, even more fortunately, he managed to narrowly avoid Lin Voen and the other two, Yozu and Zhan as they tried to talk to him.


    Unsurprisingly, Kov Bai, the girl that Ye Cheng talked to earlier had already left Ye Cheng to go with her friends, though not without giving Ye Cheng a pat on the head as if she felt some sort of connection or feeling to do so.


    Suddenly, Zhou Ye''s surroundings became shadowed, looking up Zhou Ye saw upon a young youth falling down from a tall building.


    This youth was none other than Yan Mo, the people around Zhou Ye then started to move, they didn''t know who Yan Mo was, but if he was jumping off from such a high building where only higher levels were allowed.


    How could his status not be high?


    As Zhou Ye looked, a very dim light started to shine at the chest area of Yan Mo, it was as if there was an resonation, the light was starting to burn Yan Mo quite harshly.


    At that moment, it was as if time had froze, Zhou Ye''s surroundings had rapidly changed, the Soul of Tang Xuan moved a tiny bit, but other than that, it remained still.


    Everything was as if it was frozen and the surroundings rapidly changed, not just from where Zhou Ye was, but everywhere in the entire World.


    In another continent was a gardener, he was currently watering some plants, whilst everything was frozen, he was only slightly slowed down, he exhibited an air of majesty, he was clearly the one on the Throne before, but he was currently being a gardener for some reason.


    As Zhou Ye''s surroundings changed, he himself stood exactly still, as the World changed more and more, a faint voice could be heard "Who is it? Who is it? You are not the Son of Heaven?".


    "Do you dare? Do you dare? I am the Treasure Spirit of the Everlasting Sovereign!".


    Zhou Ye simply stood still and waited, he actually knew what a Treasure Spirit was because he learnt from Tang Xuan, it was of course just a brief description, but he knew that they were very arrogant and ignorant in most cases.


    As for the Everlasting Sovereign, Tang Xuan had mentioned to Zhou Ye about him very very very briefly, whilst it was brief, it was very specific and it was that the Everlasting Sovereign was amongst the weakest and most shameful Sovereigns...


    Zhou Ye then replied "Of what level did your Sovereign reach of? A mere lesser or a True?".


    Suddenly the faint voice had a thought "Imposs..... How the hell does he know between the levels of a Sovereign? Hmmph, maybe it''s just a lucky guess, I''ll ask and see if he truly knows".


    The faint voice then spoke once more "He could traverse through Worlds, destroy them as easily as breathing and he even made the Celestial Palace bow their lofty heads!".


    Zhou Ye replied "Do things to Worlds? Even a Lesser Sovereign can do such a thing, the Celestial Palace? They''re only pretend Celestials!".


    Zhou Ye learnt from Tang Xuan that whilst Treasure Spirits were ignorant and arrogant, they were especially arrogant when talking about their Master and ignorant of those stronger than whoever it was.


    Not just that, a Treasure Spirit''s strength would be incredibly weakened if it wasn''t being used by a person that was capable or by using their reserve power.


    By a mere guess, Zhou Ye decided to take a risky guess and simply say that the Treasure Spirit''s Master wasn''t anything big.


    Zhou Ye actually didn''t feel like himself, he felt that there was something wrong with him, perhaps it was the rush? Who knew? He just did what he was doing as if he was feeling to do so.


    If Tang Xuan could see this, he would likely say that it was if he was looking at a younger version of himself.


    The faint voice then started to create a form, it was that of a young man with a very lofty expression, he looked as if he didn''t have a care in the World, he looked to Zhou Ye and thought to himself


    "How the hell does he know!?!?!? The Celestial Palace''s secret has only been known to the top experts of the Immortal Realm!".


    The faint voice that was now a lofty expressed young man then said "How would you know the difference between a fake and real Celestial?".


    The lofty expressed young man felt proud with himself, unless one was an Top level Expert or Celestial themself, it would virtually be impossible to prove it.


    Being the former, a top level expert was basically impossible as if Zhou Ye was, then he wouldn''t have to argue and top level experts wouldn''t even tell their top disciples of such a matter.


    As for the latter, even a normal Celestial had the strength of a High Level Immortal and by mere age they would grow into entities that could threaten the most powerful Immortals.


    When the lofty expressed man said this, Tang Xuan''s Soul had for a split second started to shine brightly and invigorate Zhou Ye''s own Soul, was Tang Xuan truly asleep?


    Perhaps he was simply waiting for the perfect moment....


    As Zhou Ye''s Soul was invigorated he felt the urge to say something and he very much did so.


    "The difference? I will show you...."


    Suddenly a bright light then covered the entire World, the gardener was then a woodchopper and was also drinking a cup of tea which made him look quite awkward with a tea cip in his right hand and an axe on his left hand.

 Chapter 10. Four Tests, The Mind-Heart, The Physique, The Spirit-Soul and Essence (Part Two)

    A FEW MONTHS AGO


    Before Tang Xuan''s untimely withdrawal, he mentioned a few things to Zhou Ye.


    One such thing was the Everlasting Sovereign, as for the ragged old man who could manipulate objects and cause them to levitate, Tang Xuan didn''t bother to tell Zhou Ye about it.


    How rare was the ability that the ragged old man exhibited? Even in the vast amount of Mortal Worlds, finding a single practitioner would be beyond hard, out of the limitless numbers of the Mortal Worlds, there would only be one in a million and in most cases one in a billion.


    This was because those with the ability that the ragged old man had, were people that generally were more likely to ascend than their peers!


    But Celestial Origin exhibited even greater powers and Tang Xuan didn''t feel that the power of the ragged old man would even be remotely useful.


    As for the Everlasting Sovereign, Tang Xuan just talked about him as an insignificant figure, the Everlasting Sovereign was actually a True Sovereign, but no one actually addressed him as such.


    His power was greater than a Lesser Sovereign, but in comparison to Tang Xuan, he simply couldn''t compare.


    There would only be one True Sovereign every Era, but Tang Xuan then got angry that his dream position was taken, but it eventually subsided due to his acceptance of it.


    When Tang Xuan raged against the Heavens and the Sovereign Realm, he initiated Celestial Origin to the highest degree and became an existence comparable to the Celestial Emperor.


    Alas when he opened the clouds and went through, he was pushed down after defeating several True Sovereigns which had actually lived there.


    Just before his fall, he saw upon countless Celestials, of the countless, each of them was slightly bowing and kneeling but didn''t do anything to help.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    BACK TO NORMAL TIME


    The surroundings of Zhou Ye were covered by a golden indescribable light, the lofty expressed young man showed a look of distress.


    The face of Zhou Ye then became a mixture of his own and that of Tang Xuan''s, once again the Soul of Tang Xuan moved a slight bit but didn''t do anything more.


    Celestial Origin wasn''t a cultivation Method, it was the Method of becoming a Celestial, Cultivators and Celestials were quite similar at the early stages, but as they went on they were different.


    Gods and Celestials were however very similar even at later stages and that was why Zhou Ye used his Senior brother''s technique on the steps of Godhood.


    Zhou Ye''s body and face were no longer young, whilst to Cultivators youth with power indicated greatness, Celestials were entities which held wisdom beyond countless years and preferred to keep the appearance of a wild sage.


    Also if Cultivators and Celestials had however exchanged life force, it would clearly be seen that even the weakest Celestials would have greater life force than any Immortal under the level of a Supreme Tier Immortal.


    Befitting Zhou Ye wasn''t the aura of an Emperor, it was the aura of a wise sage, whose words could lead Empires into disarray and cause Emperors to be victorious in every battle.


    The woodcutter was now a fisherman, he looked back and saw the countless lights, he moved on closer and closer and before he knew it, he saw upon the face of Zhou Ye which had a striking resemblance to Tang Xuan''s.


    He stopped in his tracks and went back after seeing the face, in the distance, the painting by Yuan Li had started to resonate and something within the Holy Illumination Empire also resonated.


    The lofty expressed man then looked and said "No.... They all died out, only he could do such a feat, perhaps his disciples!".


    Zhou Ye then replied "Enough" with his hand in the air as he pointed to the sun. Suddenly everything disappeared starting from the sun and the World was reverted back. Zhou Ye''s faced and body also returned to their youthful looks.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    At the same time, a feeling of suppression came on to him for a split second, it came from somewhere far away and was obviously not anyone within a few feet.


    (Light was covering the sun)


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    It was as if nothing had changed, Zhou Ye was back, but Yan Mo was still falling, Zhou Ye quickly withdrew his hand and attempted to move back, but he felt restricted.


    As for Yan Mo, he thought that it was Zhou Ye who had caused the burning in his chest, but he wasn''t stupid enough to just believe it on that assumption.


    The old man that came with Wu Lin, however, thought very differently, he decided to restrict Zhou Ye, but Yan Mo was still falling, as he was he attempted to avoid Zhou Ye, but at the same time, the old man had actually caused Zhou Ye to move forward.


    When Zhou Ye felt this, he noticed that this restriction was very different to the suppression he felt, the two things were clearly done by two different people.


    Zhou Ye could only move forward if he relied on the special reserves, his own power was yet enough to do anything, other than cursing in his heart to whomever that was doing it, he didn''t do anything.


    Yan Mo actually ended up landing on Zhou Ye''s shoulders, when Zhou Ye did so, he was quite surprised.


    "How tough are these shoulders?", Yan Mo was thinking of how they could be so though, it was unheard of for him for someone like Zhou Ye who was a mere Spirit Acolyte.


    But Zhou Ye''s Soul practised Celestial Origin, his body his as well, but it that was more of a mix between the two.


    The old man then made Zhou Ye move forward, but Zhou Ye decided to resist at this point, Zhou Ye moved both forward and backwards, as Yan Mo went to jump forwards, he actually moved backwards.


    He slipped on Zhou Ye''s shoulders......


    Going back, he landed on his back, it was very awkward, he didn''t try too hard to keep a firm position when on Zhou Ye''s shoulders as he felt it would be disrespectful if he pushed on too hard.


    But he actually slipped and fell to the looks of everyone, some were giggling, but none dared to laugh, they all thought that Yan Mo was a high-level figure.


    As Zhou Ye came to help Yan Mo back up, several guards came and prevented Zhou Ye from coming close, but Yan Mo told them to go away instead.


    The old man that came with Wu Lin was just about to make a move, but all of a sudden he could feel that he was being suppressed by something that was very close....


    Yan Mo didn''t'' know what to say, he simply looked at Zhou Ye and then walked away, at the same time as the wind moved, Zhou Ye quickly disappeared.


    Yan Mo was slightly amazed to the speed, suddenly a voice was heard, "Nothing to be seen here! The tests will begin now! Go head to the buildings!".


    There were a few whispers, the tests weren''t meant to begin until at least another hour, it was clear that it was beginning now to try and hide what just happened.


    A few people saw Zhou Ye''s face, only Yan Mo and the old man could properly get a good look, the few people that did see Zhou Ye''s face would likely on feel a slight resemblance.


    The old man that came with Wu Lin stayed still and wondered where the suppression was coming from...


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    During all this, there was a ragged old man in a certain room, the room was located as it was before, in the Spiritual Capacity Building.


    Heavenly Sense or Spiritual Capacity wasn''t a born ability, it was one that had to be forged by those with a heart that could go through several cycles of life.


    But surprisingly in the Mortal World, there were actually many people that had Heavenly Sense or Spiritual Capacity. Indeed there was a one in a million or one in a billion Worlds for there to be someone with such powers.


    There were limitless Worlds.... Some worlds may even only have people with the Heavenly Sense! Others may from their beginning to their end have not a single one with Heavenly sense....


    Next to the ragged old man was a middle-aged man, he laughed a bit as he said: "Hahaha, some Elder from the Lightning Hall Sect wants me to start the test early!".


    The ragged old man replied "Brother Chen, why don''t you just decline him? Aren''t you rich enough that he won''t bribe you? They say your wealthy enough to ignore all bribes?".


    The middle aged man then replied, "Of course, that''s why I''m called Chen Fu, but then almost all of the Elders from the Lightning Hall came and bugged me, there was also a stingy old man that came with that Wu Lin that told me to as well!".


    The ragged old man then replied "How strange....." Chen Fu the middle aged man then replied, "Indeed it is, I must go now Elder Li, I will report back later".


    The way the two talked to each other was how a subordinate and superior would talk to each other, but the way they said it betrayed that idea.


    They talked as if they were very close, it felt more like a talk between brothers that would simply address one as higher than the other, but at the same time ignoring that one was higher than the other.


    The ragged old man''s full name was Li Deshi and he had the job of managing the Spiritual Capacity Test, he only came because he was bored and wished to find out more about Yuan Li.


    He was quite bored, but a few minutes ago, he noticed something... Time had frozen about a few minutes ago and had gone normal again. He couldn''t act in that time, but as soon as it happened, he managed to lock on both Zhou Ye and Yan Mo.


    When the old man that came with Wu Lin tried to make a move he was suppressed, who else could it be that suppressed him?


    Li Deshi had done a very small Heavenly Sense lock, it was very small, but he was confident it couldn''t be destroyed by someone like Zhou Ye or another.

 Chapter 11. Four Tests, The Mind-Heart, The Physique, The Spirit-Soul and Essence (Part Three)

    The Heavenly Lock or Spiritual Lock which came from Heavenly or otherwise known as Spiritual Sense in the Mortal World, was a lock which was almost impossible to escape from.


    Only those with an incredibly powerful Soul or Mind would be capable of bypassing it, by Soul, one could use it to shatter the lock, with the mind, the lock would be forcibly pushed out or shattered.


    Li Deshi didn''t worry about anything like it being shattered or pushed out, but right now, something was happening to it....


    Zhou Ye didn''t notice it either, but as soon as the Heavenly Lock entered into his body, there was something in his body that started to act.


    At the same time, within Yan Mo''s body was the lofty expressed man, he continuously muttered to himself and even shouted, but Yan Mo didn''t hear a single word.


    If Yan Mo did so, he would likely feel that the lofty expressed man was quite eccentric....


    The lofty expressed man kept on muttering, "That Kid.... Hahahahaha, Whats with my luck! Perhaps I can sow some positive karma! I might even finally leave this godforsaken realm! Who knows, I might in the future breakthrough to the Void Opening Stage!".


    If this was a Demonic Practitioner then they would likely wish to take Zhou Ye''s body, this wasn''tjust due to the Path that they took, it was because of ignorance!


    If the lofty expressed man had a chance of taking Zhou Ye''s body, he wouldn''t dare to. When he first saw Zhou Ye''s display, it instantly reminded him of a certain expert.....


    In fact, regardless of which Path that a Martial Artist took, seizing another''s body would be possible... Even a Practitioner of the Deva Path which generalized to the Righteous Path wasn''t above that.


    Only those Celestials and Gods would have the pride and righteousness to not seize a body, others would definitely do so.


    Within Zhou Ye''s body, there was something in his body that started to devour the Heavenly Lock....


    In less than the time it took to brew a cup of tea and for Zhou Ye to arrive at the biggest building, the Heavenly Lock was almost completely gone.


    Li Deshi, just then noticed the Heavenly Lock was almost gone, at first he didn''t worry too much, after all, he wasn''t a minor figure.


    Spirit Foundation Cultivatorshad an incredible memory, Soul Emergents had a photographic memory and those of the First Transitioncould easily remember a year''s worth of information for several decades, granted that they at least try to keep it as a memory when it first happened.


    Obviously, Spirit Foundation Cultivators even with such memories wouldn''t be able to remember everything, as more time passed, their memories would be diluted unless action was taken, Soul Emergents suffered the same deviations, even those of the First Transition would face such deviations if sufficient time passed.


    But Li Deshi''s cultivation was muddled, he clearly wasn''t an Enlightened Cultivator,his cultivation was blurry....


    But he was surprised because he actually couldn''t remember Zhou Ye, he started to panic, just before the Heavenly Lock disappeared, he made another one....


    At the same time, Ven An then quietly entered the room and silently went behind him, she whispered to her teacher, "Teacher, won''t you teach me more on the Heavenly Sense?".


    Li Deshi quickly responded with, "I''m busy, go bother, Chen Fu". Ven An then decided to leave, arguing against her Master? She knew too much how the experience felt when one argued with Li Deshi.


    As Ven An was leaving, she heard a word, it was "wait", she then smiled and began to turn around, but the next moment, her smile turned upside down and she simply left with an angry stride.


    After Li Deshi said "wait" he continued to "As you''re leaving, can you tell people not to disturb me?".


    After that, a few people came up to Ven An to ask her of Li Deshi, from the tone of these people, it was obvious that they didn''t know that Ven An was the Princess of the Ven Kingdom, they only knew her to be the Apprentice of the Spiritual Capacity Tester.


    Ven An knowing there was nowhere left to go, simply went to Chen Fu''s place to wait for a bit.


    Quite some time passed, as the Lightning Hall, Golden Fire Sect and the Rising Sun and Brilliant Moon Sect were as a part of the Tri-Sect Alliance and the signature sects of the Kingdom, they were already there and ready.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    The Yun Star Sect and Origin Temple had yet to arrive, when the Yun Star Sect had heard that the event was starting early, a member of the Yun Star Sect looked to his Elder and said "Elder Mu, why do we have to go quicker now? They''re only a small City and barely worth your attention!".


    This Elder''s surname was obviously Yun as was the tradition of members of the Sect, rather his first name was Mu and was thus addressed as such.


    The Yun Star Elder Mu looked to the young member and said "It''s not just for them, it''s for more than just that....", it was obvious that the Yun Star Elder meant that his real goal was something else to what the younger member believed.


    The Yun Star group was arriving within a small carriage with an Emergent beast at the very front which went at incredible speeds towards the City.


    As for the Origin Temple, their people were wearing almost completelywhite robes with a black temple on the chest and back, currently, they were walking, but each step could be seen as walking a few metres and no slower than the Emergent beast.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Zhou Ye at that time was talking with Ye Cheng, in all honesty, they didn''t have much to talk about.


    At that time, a loud voice was heard. "The Test of the Physique will now begin!".


    This loud voice came from a young adult standing, he wore a white robe and looked as if he was looking down at the people below him.


    He was at the Peak of the Foundation, as a Spirit Master, he was someone that had the ability to look down on everyone. But he wondered why people like Yan Mo, Wu Lin and the girl had arrived, any of the three could easily defeat him.....


    As for everyone else, they had just then stepped into cultivation.


    People like these weren''t born in Mortal Areas, and they all stepped into the very start of the Spirit Foundation.


    But for them advanced to the Soul Emergence stage was a near impossibility. Embarking on the road to Emergence, one would form their own statue.


    Forming a statue and advanced needed two things! Talent and resources.... (Refer back to Prologue 3 for more information)


    The people here didn''t have very good talent, nor did they have resources.... Becoming a Spirit Acolyte of the Middle Foundation was likely the best they could ever reach.


    (Middle stage of Spirit Foundation is called a Spirit Acolyte, prologue 3)


    But even within that Stage, there were differences in power. That was because power was measured mainly in physical amounts at the Spirit Foundation stage.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    This was done by measuring one''s strength in Jin. In most cases, an Early Foundation Acolyte would have the strength of about Two Hundred to Four Hundred Jin. As for Middle Foundation Acolyte''s, their strength would be about Six Hundred to One Thousand and Two Hundred Jin.


    Those of a Late Foundation Master, their strength was One Thousand and Five Hundred Jin to Three Thousand Jin. This was the difference between an Acolyte and a Master. As for Peak Foundation Masters, they boasted the strength of Four Thousand Jin to Six Thousand Jin.


    Beyond Spirit Masters were Spirit Magnates, they failed to enter the EmergenceStage and could only get parts of the statue instead.


    Generally, their strength was around Seven Thousand Jin to Nine Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine Jin.


    Ten Thousand was the amount for those of Emergence, this could only be matched by those known as Spirit Lords. Spirit Lords were Spirit Masters that managed to attain the power to contest with Emergent Cultivators.


    If a Spirit Lord became a Spirit Magnate, they would instead be called a Spirit King. A Spirit King, would have the strength of over Ten Thousand Jin, as for those Spirit Lord''s that became Emergents? They would be a Sect Chosen.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The Physique Test was done via measuring one''s physical strength in comparison to their level, as well as measuring one''s talent through their inborn and innate body and its Root.


    Though the latter of measuring one''s talent through the inborn and innate body with its Root had long since been changed to the Spirit-Soul Test.


    The Mind-Heart Test was measured through one''s mentality and ability of comprehension, they would be given something to comprehend as well as an test to see the limits of one''s mind.


    The Spirit-Soul Test was the most important test and was otherwise known as the Spiritual Capacity Test, it measured one''s Spiritual Soul Power.


    Essence was different.... It was quite hard to understand...


    Physique was managed through practical assessment and the other three tests were measured through a colour grading system.


    The Colour Grading system was Six Grades. From the TerribleRed, Inferior Orange, Minor Yellow, Major Green, Mythical Blue and Legendary Violet.


    The Majority of people had a Colorlike what Zhou Ye wouldnormally be at such as Red and a few such as the Zhou Patriarch''s Son would have Orange.


    Yellow and Green were rarely found in an entire Kingdom and Blue was extremely rare in even Empires and Violet was only seen every thousand years.


    Existences such as Yuan Zen and Zhenren Ling, in their lifetime actually saw quite a few of these talents of the Violet level. One became a Spirit Kingand was Honoured as a Spirit Emperor and managed to slay even a First Transition with a single slash of her blade. (Cultivation levels go for both Genders unless it''s strictly specific)


    Another became a Formation Genius and created the Forming Land Corporation. One became an Emergent, but one day disappeared. But in the entire Empire, there was only ever one person from the Royal Family to have a Violet Grade.


    This was the Fourteenth Generation Emperor of the Zhenren Empire. He was often known as the most Virtuous and Righteous Emperor and his descendants ruled the entirety of the Western Domain of the Zhenren Empire.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Chapter 12. Four Tests, The Mind-Heart, The Physique, The Spirit-Soul and Essence (Part Four)

    Currently, the Physique Test had just started.


    A voice was then said, "Whomever wishes to go first, go first".


    Only a few would dare to go first, if someone with terrible strength when first, it would be akin to embarassing themselves.


    If someone went after a person that did incredible, they would feel that the someone would be trying to catch the fame off the one who came before them.


    Not just that, whilst talents were arranged in color that were six categories, the categories were quite big in terms of talents.


    Red was the worst talent, the more stronger and darker it got, the more closer to orange, the quicker it would turn into Orange.


    But within that one category of Red would encompass a multitude of talents, it had a very specific system, but compared to measuring the strength in Jin, it couldn''t even compare.


    Every single Jin made a difference, every single attack method, every single stance, every single attack itself would makea difference.


    Currently here was about a thousand or so people, whilst there were a lot of carriages, some people even chose to walk or go by other means....


    (More people than just those that came through carriage)


    There was just about a small amount below two thousand people, the majority came from the carriages, but others came from the surrounding towns and villages or even Mortal Areas.


    Suddenly a young boy went up, he looked to be at around the age of twelve and had a rugged look on him.


    This was Kov Zedong, he was said to be born in East of the Marsh, or otherwise known as a poor person.


    The Marsh was a place wherethe poorer members of Kov Family had lived, the family members there usually had terrible talent. The Marsh was a given territory as the previous owner didn''t wish to have the responsibility of taking care of it and was a friend of the Kov Family.


    The Kov Family didn''t have a real use for it, but the Kov Family had quite a large amount of people within it. If one counted the population of the City that Zhou Ye lived in, it would number roughly about fifty thousand.


    As for the City''s villages and towns, combined they made up about eighty thousand people.


    This may seem like a big number, but Ye Yin''s home City had a population of five hundred thousand people, including the towns and villages made it about seven hundred thousand.


    The Kov Family had about around a few hundred numbers in their families and the Zhou and Lin Family individually had a little less,in comparison to the City, it didn''t have quite a lot of people, but it was the largest Family in the City, nonetheless.


    The Marsh itself actually had about seven hundred people, it was lead by an random unlucky Elder from the Main Family, the random unlucky Elder would find themselves bored with nothing to do at the Marsh, however they would at least have supreme power there.


    The second most highest in rank next to the Elder would usually be about two or even sometimes three ranks lower. This granted the Elder, supreme power within the Marsh as no one would be able to even touch him.


    Kov Zedong faced many tribulations on his way to where he was, the Kov Family was far more harsh to their own sons and daughters than the Lin and Zhou Family.


    In the Cultivation World, there was an often saying that many had said about how Sect Chosens and the alike were made. (Here comes the side stuff)


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    "For a Genius to be born, Ten People must serve as stepping stones, For a Chosen to be made, One Hundred Geniuses must be stepped on, For an EarthBound Emperor to be born, One Thousand Chosen must submit, For a Loose Child of Heaven to be born, Ten Thousand EarthBound Emperors must perish."


    This saying preceded the Three Empires and was one of remaining vestiges of memory that the Black Serpent Continent had. (Talent system of the Six Colors is also a vestige)


    A Genius was someone who could become a Spirit Lord before Twenty Years of Age. A Chosen was someone who was an Emergent that could defeat someone at a small stage higher than them. (Middle Emergence can defeat Late Emergence)


    An EarthBound Emperor was a Transition Expert, this was to say that those at the Transition Stage could traverse and rule over the Earthly Lands as an Emperor, but only those Enlightened Sages could roam the Sky at such a speed that tornadoes were formed from a simple breeze.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Of course, the Sixth Transition with a weapon could fly and a Seventh Transition could fly by themselves, but the speed that they flew at would only be comparable to a Beast of the Late Emergence.


    In fact some Transition Experts of the Sixth and Seventh Stage would rather travel on land if they were faster or it was energy efficient, some even learnt how to teleport which made flying at the Seventh Transition virtually useless.


    An Enlighted Sage would be capable of moving at speeds relative to an Enlightened Beast, the speed was simply incomparable.


    But Transition Experts did it mainly not for speed, but for fear, an example was when a beast had seen a flying human on a Spear,the beast itself was an Emergent Beast, but it fled in fear of the Human.


    No one knew why, but it just did..... Some said it was because a Beast actually didn''t go through Seven Transitions, but rather it would directly enter from the Emergence Level to the Enlightened Level.


    But it would face Three Calamities known as the One Third, Two Third and Three Thirds Tribulation. Each Calamity survived would make it a third closer to Enlightenment, even if a Beast was at Three Thirds Enlightenment, it would be an infinite gap between it and the Enlightenment Stage.


    (You''ll notice I use Enlightened for other things such as Enlightened Emperor, but they aren''t Enlightenment Experts, I''ll explain this when Zhou Ye also learns about it) <======May or may not have edited that out, but for example


    As for a Loose Child of Heaven, the title was very loose! To properly describe it would be impossible, but there was a common fact, every Loose Child of Heaven, became free from the Earth and flew from their Earthly Shackles and became Enlightened.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Kov Zedong''s greatest danger wasn''t his family''s enemies, it was his own family that could at any moment kill him if someone greater came to take his place.


    The Marsh Elder saw Kov Zedong as barely an talent, but Kov Zedong was hiding most of his strength of this moment, but he feared one person also at the Coming of Age Ceremony


    (Omg, it''s the actual name of the thing, also what the chaptershould originally be called.


    This one person was Kov Peng, he was a Spirit Master of the Late Foundation, he was the son of the Grand Elder of the Kov Family.


    Through blood he was also the nephew of the current Patriarch and was likely to be the next Patriarch.


    Whilst most of the youthshere would have the worst talent of Terrible Red, some would have the occasional Inferior Orange and others like the Son of the Patriarch of the Zhou Family, would have a Dark Inferior Orange Talent.


    Kov Peng would likely be an Minor Yellow Talent, in some ways he could be considered a genius and in other ways he wouldn''t be.


    After all to be a Genius it was much like being a Chosen, in order to be a Chosen, more than just an Emergence Cultivation mattered, after all there was more than one way of cultivating..... (<--- I have hinted this before, especially with Li Deshi)


    Kov Zedong feared that Kov Peng might go against him, but he wasn''t stupid enough to show any hostility to Kov Peng.


    As Kov Zedong went up, in front of him was a Wall of Dark Steel. He then started to get into his stance and threw his right fist toward.


    There was a little amount of Qi in this move, it could be seen through this action that Kov Zedong had practiced mainly his physical strength.


    The next moment, the fist collided with the Dark Steel Wall and there was no visible damage, but it was at this time, a loud voice was heard "One Thousand Three Hundred and Fifty Six Jin!".


    The Five Representatives from the Five Sects looked to each other, they were talking, but nobody could hear them, as for them thinking that the strength might be wrong? They didn''t believe the loud voicewas one to make a mistake.


    The loud voice was none other than a Ven Country Representative! The Five Representatives were Middle Stage Emergent Cultivators and the Ven Country Representative was an Early Stage Emergent, normally a Third Rate City such as what Zhou Ye lived in would only get an Early Emergent at best for a Sect Representative.


    In fact, the Zhou Patriarch was only a Spirit Master of the Late Foundation, the Lin Patriarch was a Spirit Master of the Peak Foundation and the Kov Patriarch himself was half a step into Emergence.


    These made them only Third Rate City Leaders. But, behind each of these families were..... the Ancestors!


    The Zhou and Lin Ancestor they were both Early Emergent Cultivators, as for the Kov Ancestor he was a Middle Stage Emergent Cultivator, it was an unstable breakthrough he made. A breakthrough nonetheless! He was a True Middle Stage Emergent Cultivator and not the Pseudo version.


    (Chapter 8.5 for reference)


    The Three of them individually easily qualified to be a Second Rate City Leader and the Zhou and Lin Ancestor together or Kov Ancestor by himself was enough to create a First Rate City!


    Therefore this Representative was sent. The Representative was quite bored, he saw as the Five Representatives from the Five Sects conversed, he couldn''t hear them, as his cultivation was to low.


    All of a sudden, a voice came from the Yun Star Sect Representative, "Child, join our Sect, whilst you''ll only be an Outer Disciple, an Outer Disciple of the Yun Star Sect gets one hundred Spirit Essence Stones when they join and Ten Monthly Spirit Essence Stones".


    "This number is no smaller than what a Inner Sect Disciple of the Lightning Hall gets!". After that, three Representatives began to laugh, but the Lightning Hall Representative wasn''t the one to not laugh, it was the Origin Temple Representative.


    The Lightning Hall Representative then told the Yun Star Sect Representative "Hahaha, don''t trust him kid, what he says is true, but they have terrible Masters of the Corporeal Arts"


    "Our Lightning Hall at least has some experts that are based on the more Physical Aspects of Cultivation, even such that they can jump stages of power! We''ll also give you an Inner Disciple position, will you accept?".


    Kov Zedong, then looked towards the Lightning Hall Representative and replied that he would, after Kov Zedong, there were many others that went after him, but they weren''t really worthy of having any of the five being attentive to them.

 Chapter 13. Four Tests, The Mind-Heart, The Physique, The Spirit-Soul and Essence (Part Five)

    Other than Kov Zedong, for the past few minutes, there wasn''t really anyone that got the attention of the Five Representatives.


    Each attack was processed by the Ven Country Representative, he easily saw through each technique and attack.


    Each flaw, each weakness, everything was seen through.


    The Representatives were quite bored, all they did was hand our Outer Disciple Positions, they simply gave the Outer Disciple Position to virtually everyone.


    If those that didn''t deserve it, so far, only Kov Zedong had actually stood out.


    As a person just received an Outer Disciple Position, a young boy then suddenly jumped up and shouted out.


    "I''m Shen Yaozu, Five Representatives, Please Watch!".


    The Five Representatives became a bit surprised, but they didn''t let any facial expression out.


    Shen Yaozu then gave the person who just received the Outer Disciple Position, a slight push.


    Then going into a stance, he didn''t use his right hand, but rather his left, the next second, a streak of light interacted with the Dark Steel Wall.


    The Five Representatives and the Ven Country Representative were quite surprised, they were able to that the streak of light was actually the left hand which moved at an incredible speed.


    Obviously, it was only the young children that saw the streak of light, Kov Zedong saw a remnant of a fist, several others took notice and were slightly surprised.


    Kov Peng was looking bored, he was able to easily see that the attack was a fist, others such as the Lin and Zhou Sons of the Patriarch saw likewise.


    Immediately the Ven Country Representative, then shouted out "One Thousand, Nine Hundred and Fifty-Seven Jin!".


    That was an incredibly high number for a Third Rate City, even a First Rate City would only have such people occasionally.


    (Third Rate City thing was explained last chapter)


    Shen Yaozu deserved to be called a Genius! He had the destiny to do so, perhaps when he grew up, he might even become a Sect Chosen.


    The Five Representatives then began conversing with each other, the next minute, the Yun Star SectRepresentative looked to Shen Yaozu and said "Child, we have decided that you can either become an Outer Disciple of my Yun Star Sect or an Inner Disciple of the other three others sects, except for Origin Temple".


    The people were quite surprised, even with a strength ofOne Thousand, Nine Hundred and Fifty-Seven Jin, it still only gave him an Outer Disciple Position. However more surprising was that the Origin Temple hadn''t offered any position.


    Shen Yaozu looked towards the Lightning Hall Sect and replied, "I will join the Lightning Hall Sect!".


    The Yun Star Sect Representative looked towards the Origin TempleRepresentative and thought to himself, "Why is he so quiet? He has yet to offer any positions...."


    At this time, Ye Cheng was remembering something that his Sister told him, "Cheng''er, don''t forget to remember the moves that your Uncle taught you....". Zhou Ye was sitting down and thinking, how things would go.


    Countless other people then began to go, there wasn''t anyone truly interesting, after a few minutesnobody decided to go up, at this point the Ven Country Representative then randomly pointed out people.


    Eventually, a young boy called Zhou Zixin came up, he was none other than the Son of the Patriarch of the Zhou Family, unlike Kov Peng he wasn''t the most talented in the family, but Zhou Zixin was at least for his own age group.


    He attacked in a strange way, instead of using his fists, he actually used a weapon! At the age of ten to twelve, it was much easier to use one''s own hand.


    Generally, most cultivators still used their own hands, this counted even those that used weapons. What Zhou Zixin using was quite strange, it was a halberd. Zhou Zixin was about Twelve years old and about One Hundred and Fifty Centimetres.


    Since he wasn''t a Corporeal Cultivator that focused fighting on the absolute physical aspect, he was about average height


    The halberd was almost double his size when it struck the Dark Steel Wall, a voice was heard. "One thousand, Six Hundred Jin!".


    The Five then talked with each other, the Origin Temple representative actually looked towards Zhou Zixin and said: "Child, I will offer you the Outer Disciple Position, it comes with Three Hundred Spirit Essence Stones and a Monthly Thirty of them!"


    Other than the Five Representatives and the Ven Country Representative, they couldn''t understand why he was offered a Position when Kov Zedong and Shen Yaozu wasn''t. When they also heard the benefits of becoming an Outer Disciple, they were shocked, the benefits far outweighed any of the other sects.


    The other Representatives and Ven Country Representative knew why the Origin Temple Representative valued this child so much, it was because of how the Child struck the Wall and how it used the Halberd.


    They saw that the halberd was a normal halberd, but it was actually given Qi by Zhou Zixin. Inserting Qi to a Mortal Object..... That was the mark of a Spirit Master of the Late Foundation.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Even if one possessed the physical strength to match a Spirit Master, a Spirit Master would always have more than just physical strength.


    Whilst Kov Zedong and Shen Yaozu had strengths that were equivalent to a Spirit Master of the Late Foundation, they would find themselves lacking in plenty of areas which could lead to their defeat.


    When one became a Spirit Master of the Late Foundation, they could insert their Qi into any Mortal Material and it would become a Quasi Spirit Artifact.


    Since it was made from their own Qi, it would be especially useful to them more than anyone, this worked all the way until one became a Transitioned Cultivator which made simply putting Qi into weapons virtually impossible as it was too dangerous and unstable for a simple Mortal Weapon.


    Zhou Zixin also wasn''t a Spirit Master of the Late Foundation and had managed to create a Quasi Spirit Halberd. With it he had the force of One Thousand, Six Hundred Jin, evenif someone with Two Thousand Jin in their arms tried to block it, the arms would be cut off like butter, due to the Halberd being a Quasi Spirit Artefact.


    The Origin Temple Representative saw the incredible potential in the boy and decided to take him as an Outer Disciple, Zhou Zixin then agreed and felt a surge of self confidence.


    A few others were also chosen, this time though, some of them were quite talented and a few were even given Inner Disciple Positions from the Lightning Hall, Rising Sun and Brilliant Moon Sect and the Golden Fire Sect.


    The Yun Star Sect at the same time only gave Outer Disciple Positions to those that could become Inner Disciples of the three sects. As for the Origin Temple Sect, simply to receive an Outer Disciple Position, it seemed that the conditions were far too hard....


    Eventually, it was now Kov Peng''s turn and about seventy percent of everyone had already gone through the test, it was called the Physique Test, but tested strength more than anything.


    One would think that the Body of someone would be tested here, but surprisingly it was actually tested at the Spirit-Soul Test as it would be easier to do it with the Meridians and Dantians as well.


    Kov Peng looked towards the Dark Steel Wall with a sense of boredom, he began to throw his right fist, the right fist travelled extremely quickly, the white robed youth that looked down on everyone was surprised.


    (The white robed youth was the one that said that the Physique test was beginning, Chapter 11 for reference)


    He even thought that becoming a Spirit Acolyte of the Spirit Foundation was the best they could reach, yet how wrong was he,seeing how he couldn''t fathom the speed of Kov Peng''s fist.


    Before anyone even noticed, there was a tiny dent in the Dark Steel Wall. However more surprising was that the Five Representatives and the Ven Country Representative noticed that within that attack, there was no Qi present, it was based entirely on physical properties.


    They thought that Qi had to be used as their was a tiny dent on the Dark Steel Wall. "Two thousand, Seven Hundred and Eighty-Seven Jin!".


    Two thousand and Five Hundred Jin was the mark for making a dent on the Dark Steel Wall, Five thousand Jin to make a mark, Seven Thousand and Five Hundred Jin to bend it and Ten Thousand Jin to destroy it.


    (By mark, Imean a pushed in part of the steel)


    The Origin Temple Representative looked to the other four Representatives and said, "I will not take him".


    The Yun Star Sect Representative then also said "His Meridians and Dantians.... They hold no Qi, but his style, it reminds me of our Seventh Patriarch, perhaps I will take him....".


    (MORE SIDE STUFF)


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The Seventh Yun Star Patriarch was a Corporeal Cultivator, with a single fist, he could make the waves split in two.


    He began as a normal Cultivator and eventually became a Prominent Emergent of Peak Emergence, but one day his Dantian and Meridians were crippled by a Sect enemy.


    Because of that, he was the only Yun Star Sect Leader in the entire line of Patriarchs and Matriarchs to not reach the Transition Stage. He even had to resign his spot due to that, humiliated and disgraced by the Eight Yun Star Patriarch, he disappeared into the Dreaded Earth Lands and returned fifty years after.


    (Note: He didn''t venture deep, just about the outskirts,not the border, but not the inner parts either, I''ll reference it in a future chapter)


    (Dreaded Earth Lands are mentioned in Chapter 4)


    There, he tempered his body to immense standards, at the Tenth Year, anyone below theStage of Late Emergence wouldn''t be able to harm his body.


    At the Twentieth Year, only Peak Emergent Cultivators could harm his body, At the Thirtieth Year, onlyPeak Emergent Beasts could harm him.


    (Beasts, generally have higher physical strength than humans)


    At the Fortieth Year, he could virtually slay anyone below the Transition Stage in a single hit and even those at the Transition Stage would stay wary of him. By this time, he grew some fame through a new identity called, Hou Song.


    He used only his fists at the Dreaded Earth Lands, after one day he was challenged by a Third Transitioned Cultivator, following this, he barely won and decided that he needed a weapon.


    Nine years passed and he created a small axe, the Seventh Yun Star Patriarch, Hou Song, wasn''t a bulky figure despite his physical strength. Using this small axe, he easily defeated those at the Third and Fourth Transition.


    At the near end of the Fifty years, the Yun Star Sect had it''s Ninth Yun Star Patriarch, the Eight Yun Star Patriarch died trying to protect the Sect.


    The Yun Star Sect was fighting the Xaynan Kingdom, a mysterious Kingdom which set its eyes on the Yun Star Sect.


    On the brink of destruction the Yun Star Sect was almost destroyed, but then Hou Song appeared and using his axe, pushed back the Xaynan Kingdom and eventually slew it''s Monarch.


    After doing so, he went to the grave of the Eight Yun Star Patriarch and kowtowed to it and regained his Position as the Seventh Patriarch.


    After two hundred years of wise ruling, he was one day approached by a certain individual who was a Violet talent, the approach was that of a journey to the core of the Dreaded Earth Lands.


    Eager to journey there, he told his friends that he may not come back alive, doing so, he resigned his Position and gave it back to the Ninth Patriarch and with the Violet Talent and three others, he travelled to the inner core.


    He never returned, but legend had it, he and the Violet Talent with the other three travelled to another Continent, or so the legends had it that the Dreaded Earth Lands had a portal to another Continent.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The Yun Star Sect Representative then reaffirmed himself and said "No... I must take him!".


    He then looked at Kov Peng and said: "Child, accept my offer, you can be an Inner Disciple of the Yun Star Sect with about one thousand Spirit Essence Stones and a monthly hundred!".


    Kov Peng clasped his hands and did a little bow before leaping off the stage.


    The Yun Star Sect Representative then thought to himself, "In such a place like this, who would''ve thought I would find one like him.....


    Right after it happened, the Ven Country Representative actually pointed at Ye Cheng, everyone moved away from Ye Cheng except for Zhou Ye.


    Ye Cheng was greatly frightened....

 Chapter 14. Four Tests, The Mind-Heart, The Physique, The Spirit-Soul and Essence (Part Six)

    Ye Cheng simply stood still, Zhou Ye was right next to him.


    Ye Cheng was quite frightened, he looked to Zhou Ye who appeared calm. Zhou Ye wasn''t actually calm, he was simply frozen and was waiting for Ye Cheng to make a move.


    Zhou Ye looked to Ye Cheng and said: "Go up, try your best".


    Ye Cheng started to walk up the stairs leading to it, somepeople simply decided to directly leap up to the Dark Steel Wall platform.


    It wasn''t a very high platform,but most people decided to walk up the stairs as they may not be able to jump one metre under a bit of pressure from everyone looking.


    Ye Cheng kept trying to remember what his Uncle had told him as he walked up, in another moment he was standing in front of the Dark Steel Wall.


    He got in to a stance and started to remember what his Uncle had told him.


    "Imagine yourself appearing in front of you, imagine him fighting, do so and fight as there is another of you"


    "Imagine him as your own flesh and blood, you are him and he is you"


    This was a simplified version of a Grade EightCultivation Art that was made by Yuan Li himself. The two sentences were the forefront of becoming an Emergent Cultivator.


    (Note that it''s simplified)


    When one assailed the Emergence Stage, they would have to fight their own statue, if they suceeded in to the Emergence Stage, their statue would become another one of them. It would be one''s self and one''s self would be it.


    Unless it was necessary, most people wouldn''t use their Statue Body, it paved the way for an easier journey to Enlightenment, if not then simply to reach a higher level.


    (Reference: Prologue 3 and after this whole part of the four tests end, I''ll have a chapter properly explaining cultivation)


    Ye Cheng imagined that there was someone in front of him, he imagined himself in front of him.


    He didn''t realise, but he wasn''t imagining himself, but who he wished to be. In front of him without realising was the figure of Ye Zhou.


    Ye Cheng imagined that the figure was about to punch the Dark Steel Wall and he himself began to follow the figure.


    Ye Cheng then started to throw a punch, the stance was simple, the way the punch was thrown was as well.


    Simplicity at it''s finest, but as the punch was being thrown, there was a influx of Qi which appeared on the right hand, the influx took the shape of a hand.


    It was as if the bones of Ye Cheng''s right hand started to glow in a golden color. For Qi to be visible, it was the sign of Emergence or the appearing of the Soul.


    Naturally the Five Representatives were surprised, however, the Ven Country Representative was the most surprised.


    For a split second, the Ven Country Representative thought that he saw a figure in front of Ye Cheng.


    As Ye Cheng''s right hand neared the Dark Steel Wall, it accelerated in speed and hit the Dark Steel Wall.


    The Dark Steel Wall didn''t shatter, but rather it had a strange mark on it. It was as if there was a vibrating sense of Qi on the wall.


    The Dark Steel Wall was almost in a sense being devoured by the vibrating sense of Qi, it started to shake and shudder.


    The Ven Country Representative then said "Two Thousand and Five Hundred Jin!".


    He could see that the Dark Steel Wall wasn''t shuddering and shaking because of the physical force, rather it was the strange Qi.


    Ye Cheng felt his arm was incredibly sore, his fist especially so. But it began to fix itself at an incredible pace.


    Ye Cheng looked to Zhou Ye and he saw that Zhou Ye simply looked to the Lightning Hall Representative, Ye Cheng then pointed not at the Lightning Hall Representative, but rather the Golden Fire Sect Representative.... Zhou Ye nodded as he thought that Ye Cheng was pointing at the Lightning Hall Representative.


    Zhou Ye simply chose Lightning Hall as they had Lightning based Cultivation which was the most similar to Celestial Origin out of the other sects, as for Ye Cheng? That was just a wild guess as Ye Cheng himself didn''t know what he was suited to.


    The Five Representatives were currently to busy talking to each other that they didn''t realise Ye Cheng''s pointing, all the other ten to twelve years old did so. The Ven Country Representative saw it, but didn''t bother to act and subconsciously moved closer to Ye Cheng.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    As for the white-robed youth he was amazed, if those like Kov Zedong and Shen Yaozu were occasional Talents in First Rate Cities then Zhou Zixin was a top talent in a First Rate City.


    As for Kov Peng, he didn''t cultivate the traditional way and rather focused on the physical body solely due to a certain incident. Through this he was able to exhibit a large amount of strength.


    At the Legendary Teng Nation, his style of cultivating only the body would make him a star, at another place like the Heavenly Foundation of the Renlan Society they would see him as worthless.


    The Yun Star Sect Representative only accepted him, due to a sense of nostalgia, and perhaps he may receive the inheritance of the Seventh Patriarch.


    As for Ye Cheng, perhaps he might be a genius that wouldn''t appear in a Ruler City, but rather a Province where Transition Cultivators existed.


    The Origin Temple Representative looked to the other four and said "Back off, he will join my Origin Temple! He will join as an Inner Disciple, can any of you beat that?".


    An Outer Disciple of the Golden Fire Sect, Lightning Hall Sect, Rising Sun and Brilliant Moon Sect would get about Ten Spirit Essence Stones and a monthly Spirit Essence Stone.


    An Inner Disciple of the Golden Fire Sect, Lightning Hall Sect, Rising Sun and Brilliant Moon Sect would get One Hundred Spirit Essence Stones and a monthly Ten Spirit Essence Stones. This was actually equivalent to an Outer Disciple of the Yun Star Sect.


    As for an Outer Disciple of Origin Temple? It was Three Hundred Spirit Essence Stones and a Monthly Thirty Spirit Essence Stones.


    The difference was far to big, as for an Inner Disciple of the Origin Temple? They would get One thousand Spirit Essence Stones and a monthly Hundred.


    The other four representatives felt quite threatened, unless they offered a Core Disciple position which was above an Inner Disciple, they wouldn''t be able to do anything.


    But a Core Disciple position meant that one was guaranteed to be a Sect Chosen in the future, if not being one already.


    Only those in Provinces would be given such positions and rarely even in Ruler Cities which were below Provinces, but above a First Rate City.


    The Yun Star Sect Representative looked at the Origin Temple Representative and replied: "Very well, then I won''t offer a position..."


    The Origin Temple Representative then looked to the other three and waited, after a moment, the three Representatives then agreed as well to not offer a position.


    The Origin Temple Representative then looked towards Ye Cheng and said loudly, "Child, join my Origin Temple, you can join as an Inner Disciple and receive One Thousand Spirit Essence Stones and a Hundred Monthly!"


    Everyone was left shaken, it was such a high amount for joining and just staying each month was the same as the starting amount an Inner Disciple of other sects would get.....


    Ye Cheng looked at the Origin Temple Representative and clasped his hands, his legs were shaking as he was a bit scared of denying the Representative, he then spoke in a loud tone in order to hide him being frightened.


    "Sir..... I must decline!". Ye Cheng didn''t know what title the Representative came by and simply said Sir instead.


    The Origin Temple Representative wasn''t shocked, he simply replied, "You wish to join the Yun Star Sect then?".


    If it wasn''t Origin Temple, then the only other Sect worth joining would be the Yun Star Sect. As for Lightning Hall which was the strongest of the Tri-Sects, they had a weak foundation compared to both the Yun Star Sect and Origin Temple.


    But it had to be known, Origin Temple was actually the weakest Sect! But it was only a mere branch of the real Sect, this greatly frightened all the other sects.....


    If the Origin Temple''s main branch came and attempted to annex the Ven Country, then perhaps it wouldn''t be strange for the Ven Country to switch Rulers.


    The Yun Star Sect was the strongest then was, The Rising Sun and Brilliant Moon Sect after which was, The Golden Fire Sect, as for Lightning Hall, it held a strange position, it was the strongest yet weakest Sect of the Tri-Sects.


    Origin Temple was then put at the bottom, but it had to be known, any Inner Disciple of Origin Temple would be able to apply for an Outer Disciple Position in the Main Sect.


    This was what made fear in to the other Representatives, that the Main Sect would make an action and go against Ven Country.


    The Yun Star Sect Representative revealed a slight smile, but then it turned in to a frown. Ye Cheng replied, "I wish to join the Golden Fire Sect!"


    This set off waves, the Golden Fire Sect Representative expression turned exuberant, he then asked Ye Cheng "Child if you truly wish to join the Golden Fire Sect, then this one will take you as his First Disciple!".


    The Golden Fire Sect Representative was a Middle Stage Emergent, he was no Sect Chosen, but if he used a few of his treasures, then him defeating a Late Stage Emergent wouldn''t be to difficult.


    He hoped that Ye Cheng would become a Chosen, but what did a Chosen represent? It was an Emergent, but an Emergent that could defeat those a small stage higher than them. If Ye Cheng was an Early Emergent, he would have to without any Suppressive treasures defeat a Middle Stage Emergent.


    (Suppressive Treasures are treasures that are simply used to suppress people without the actual person being at the same level, it''s like something given to a Sect Chosen to protect them from death. Yan Mo''s sculpture which slew all those Transitioning Experts is a Suppresive Treasure as it wasn''t Yan Mo''s own strength or relied on like a Sword or Axe)


    In the Golden Fire Sect, an Inner Disciple was someone that was a Spirit Master of the Peak Foundation, Sects like the Yun Star Sect had Half Step Emergents as a Inner Disciple and the Origin Temple only had Emergents as an Inner Disciple.


    But because of this, the Golden Fire Sect had several hundred Inner Disciples, The Yun Star Sect had a few dozen and Origin Temple had usually less than twenty.


    Being the disciple of the Representative, it was certainly higher than an Inner Disciple Position, but it lacked in comparison to a Core Disciple.


    Ye Cheng kowtowed to the Golden Fire Sect Representative, most others wouldn''t, but Ye Cheng felt that he would be disrespecting the Representative if he didn''t.


    He had grown up like that, quite sheltered, but at least he didn''t grow up spoiled.


    The Golden Fire Sect Representative then remarked, "Brave..... Very Good, he''s bold enough to deny that Origin Temple Representative and kowtow right here...."


    "Hahahaha, Boy, You can come with me to the Sect first. Everyone, the Golden Fire Sect is now leaving! Farewell Friends!".


    Ye Cheng looked to Zhou Ye, but all of a sudden, multiple people appeared next to him and started to pull him to a majestic carriage.


    The carriage looked as if it was made of Heavenly Materials and Precious Jewels, Ye Cheng was suddenly pushed in there and the Golden Fire Sect Representatives exchanged farewells with the other four Representatives and as he leaved, as well to the Ven Country Representative.

 Not a chapter (Announcement)

    I couldn''t make it in time.


    I was too slow.


    I didn''t make the distance.


    Also, I need to announce a few things that are quite important.


    1. I noticed I''ve made quite a few inconsistencies, I''ll have to fix them, hopefully, nobody notices.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    2. A lot of unexplained things will be explained later


    3. Next chapter will be 14.1 instead of 15. (Not filler)


    4. I''m trying to link things at the moment.


    5. Constructive Criticism would be nice. (Please)


    6. Trying my best, but don''t expect the best (Expect something second rate at best)


    7. This is a terrible excuse because I can''t write quick enough


    8. Chapters that are .1 or .2 aren''t filler (Trying to link things, when I can''t through normal chapters)


    9. Unless something, terrible has happened, I''ll release the one I was working one tomorrow and then just continue.

 Chapter 14.1 Beast Army

    While the Testing Process was happening, there was something happening in the distance.


    Three separate locations were currently being invaded! Not just that, they were being invaded by a Beast Army!


    A Hundred or fewer Beasts meant a Beast Party, A Thousand Beasts meant a Beast Horde, Ten Thousand Beasts meant a Beast Swarm and a Hundred Thousand Beasts meant an Army!


    The First location was the Western Domain of the Zhenren Empire, the second was the Legendary Teng Nation and the last was the Headquaters of the Heavenly Foundation of Renlan Society.


    The Western Domain was the most powerful Domain of the Four Domains of the Zhenren Empire and was the former home of the Fourteenth Generation Zhenren Emperor.


    The Legendary Teng Nation was the most powerful Vassal Kingdom under the Infernal Dusk Empire. It was the equivalent of the Zhenren Empire''s Yuan Clan. Through that, the strength of the Legendary Teng Nation was evident.


    As for the Heavenly Foundation of Renlan Society, it clearly lacked in comparison to the Western Domain and the Legendary Teng Nation, but like the Legendary Teng Nation, it was a member of the Eight Territories.


    The Eight Territories were Eight Key Points of Areas which stood above the others, they were the Apex Powers which existed just below the Three Empires, but they were all vassals of the Empires.


    Only existences such as the Main Branch of Origin Temple would dare to not show them respect, but even the Origin Temple ignoring them would have to show respect to the Zhenren Empire.


    From the Zhenren Empire was the Mo Overlordship, Ven Country and the Chuwu-Zavn-Aven Confederacy.


    The Ven Country was the weakest of the three and ranked at Seventh out of the Eight Territories. Because of this the Main Branch of Origin Temple didn''t show them much respect and even tried to kidnap some of the less promintent members of the Country.


    The Chuwu-Zavn-Aven Confederacy was actually Three Families that banded together, by themselves they wouldn''t be considered one of the Eight Territories.


    Two of the Familes together would allow for them to barely qualify as the weakest of the Eight Territories, but three of them together made it so that they were thefourth amongst the Eight Territories.


    The Mo Overlordship was the most powerful of the Three and was ranked as the Second most powerful of the Eight Territories.


    Their might was said to easily overpower Origin Temple. Theyexisted as the third most powerful family out of the entire Zhenren Empire.....


    Their might was obviously incontestable, but with forces such as the Origin Temple and others, why weren''t they territories?


    It was because of their Main Branch wasn''t actually located on the Black Serpent Continent. They were said to exist on another Continent, whilst it wasn''t the mythical first continent, it was said to be a continent beyond the reaches of a normal cultivator from the Black Serpent Continent.


    However if the Origin Temple dared to bring their Main Branch, the Three Empires would find it as a threat and instantly destroy them.


    The Legendary Teng Nation out of the three could be said to have the least trouble against the Beast Army, they even had the most dangerous Beast Army, however they were able to easily overturn them.


    They were the most powerful Territory, but not the most powerful existence under the Three Empires. At the top were the Three Empires. Below them wasn''t the Legendary Teng Nation, but rather the Yuan Empire or the Vassal Empire.


    (Reference, Chapter 6)


    The Zhenren Empire had it''s leaders, it had it''s generals, it had it''s advisers, but it''s heroes came mainly from the Yuan Clan.


    The Yuan Empire wasn''t a true Empire, many called it a Pseudo Empire, however none called the Teng Nation a Pseudo Empire much more a True Empire.


    It could be seen who was stronger, the Yuan Empire without doubt had a place as directly below the Three Empires. This was actually the strength of the Yuan Empire without counting Yuan Zen whom was counted as of the Zhenren Empire.....


    The Legendary Teng Nation was one of the two Vassal Kingdoms under the Infernal Dusk Empire. Other than it was the Zen Principality.


    The Zen Principality was the most mysterious of the Eight Territories, it simply appeared out of nowhere and then continued to grow to where it is today and became the Third most powerful Territory out of Eight.


    The Holy Illumination Empire was truly unlucky, whilst they had Three out of the Eight Territories like the Zhenren Empire, the Three Territories were all at the bottom.....


    The Heavenly Foundation of Renlan Society was ranked at the Fifth most powerful of the Eight Territories and was the most powerful of the Three Territories within the Holy Illumination Empire.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Ranking Sixth was Veras Dominion, they didn''t have anything to special, they had a few members which had a great amount of strength, but other than that, there was nothing special.


    Ranking Eight was Sunwen Civilisation, the weakest Territory,but they had one thing that others didn''t. They had a Fire Source, it was a Source which could allow for one to fuse with it and create incredible effects.


    If one had a Inborn Fire Body or greater, than they would be able to fuse with the Fire Source, doing so would grant them incredible power.


    The current leader of the Sunwen Civilisation was the Sunwen Matriarch whom was originally at the Fourth Transition before the fusion which was actually the highest any Patriarch or Matriarch had ever been before fusing with the fire source.


    When she combined with it, her cultivation skyrocked to the Late Sixth Transition, however everyone else in Sunwen Civilisation was quite weak, which made it a somewhat problem and prey to other Powers.


    (Power Ranking (Excluding Origin Temple and etc.): Zhenren Empire, Holy Illumination and Infernal Dusk Empire Sect, Yuan/Vassal Empire, Teng Nation, Mo Overlordship, Zen Principality, Chuwu-Zavn-Aven Confederacy, Heavenly Foundation of Renlan Society, Veras Dominion, Ven Country and Sunwen Civilisation.)


    This news started to explode everywhere, Ye Yin was quite shocked when she heard of this, but she was told by Yuan Li, that everything would be fine.


    She didn''t know how exactly powerful Yuan Li was, but she could tell that he was strong enough to grant protection.


    Ye Yin knew what a Beast Army represented, her old City was constantly ravaged by Beast Hordes which were nothing in comparison to Beast Armies.


    If not for her Grandfather that was at the Middle Stage of Emergence, her City likely would have long since been overturned by many beasts that came from the Dreaded Earth Lands.


    (I''ll explain the Grandfather in a future chapter)


    Whilst Ye Yin knew what the Beast Army represented, others knew what else it represented.


    It was more than just three attacks on three separate places.


    They were concentrated and properly planned! Normally Beast Armies would ravage anywhere they travelled to, however these specifically targeted the Western Domain, Heavenly Foundation of Renlan Society and the Legendary Teng Nation.


    This meant one of two things, the first was that someone had somehow gained the ability of controlling or at least influencing beasts in a certain way.


    The second was far scarier, it was that a Beast had become Enlightened.....


    If a Beast became Enlightened, they could transform in to a Human, they could communicate and use the Endless Heavenly Energy of the Skies.


    The majority of Beast kind lived within the Dreaded Earth Lands. There existed a divided society, there weren''t Three Top Powers unlike the Three Empires, rather there were dozens, Beasts unlike Humans had no real reason to unite.


    Humans did so as their interests were quite united and they feared the beasts, as for the beasts? They didn''t have a reason to unite, some top Beast Factions even preyed directly on other top Beast Factions.


    Only an Enlightened Beast would be able to cease the fighting and Rule over all of the Beastkind.


    But there was also a Human Enlightened Expert, could it be that the two had fought and severely injured each other?


    That was what the Three Empires had in mind for their thoughts...


    Some thought to venture in to the Dreaded Earth Lands, however who was brave enough?


    Countless promintent individuals had dared to venture deep, among these people was a Violet Talent of the Zhenren Empire, the Second Moonless Patriarch, the Ninth Grand Seer, the Twenty Fifth Xean Province Lord, the Eight Barrier King and the FifthWarden of Tesite Mountain.


    All, but one individual had ever returned alive. Only one that had ever returned alive was the Fourteenth Generation Zhenren Emperor.


    (Made an edit, The Seventh Yun Star Patriarch entered, in to the Dreaded Earth Lands, however he never ventured deep, think of it like the outskirts.)


    Legend had it that in the youth of the Fourteenth Generation Emperor, before he became a Emperor, before he was even a member of the Royal Family, when he was still a member of a long forgotten clan.


    One day his younger brother followed a beast, for some strange reason, the beasts didn''t touch him, but when the Fourteenth Generation Emperor followed, the beasts growled, however relented when he went near his younger brother.


    He continued to follow his younger brother and tried to pull him back, but the younger brother began to run. The Fourteenth Generation Emperor was only fifteen at his age and his younger brother was thirteen.


    Eventually, they both ended up in a strange place, there were two statues.


    One was a Beast Like Man and the other was an Emperor.


    The younger brother went to the Beast Like Man statue, the Fourteenth Generation Emperor attempted to follow, however he was blocked by a strange force. He then saw the beasts come to him, he ran to the statue of the Emperor and all the beasts then moved away in fear.


    Suddenly the Fourteenth Generation Emperor then felt sleepy as he felt a strange energy enter his body, the last thing he saw was his younger brother go through the same process.


    A year passed and the Fourteenth Generation Emperor and his younger brother was said to have died somewhere. His parents were naturally full of grief for both him and his younger brother.


    The Fourteenth Generation Emperor then awoke, he felt as if his body had become one with the World, from then on, he decided to look for his younger brother, in such journey''s he rescued many people.


    In time, he fell in love with a Imperial Zhenren Princess. Without even knowing it, he became a SixthTransition Expert by their marriage.


    One day, the Zhenren Empire was in turmoil, a Zhenren Jewel Prince slew both the Crown Prince and Emperor, bargaining with the Council that he alone was enough.


    The Council reluctantly agreed, however, the Jewelled Prince made the mistake of trying to slay the Imperial Zhenren Princess.


    On a near death experience for the Imperial Princess, the Fourteenth Generation Emperor had a breakthrough to the Seventh Transition and flew to the skies and easily slew the Jeweled Prince.


    In this, the Council fearing the Fourteenth Generation Emperor, immediately made him the Emperor and gave him a title and was known as the First Titled Emperor.


    The Infernal Dusk and Holy Illumination Empire Sects then paid their respects, after a fewcenturies.


    The Fourteenth Generation Emperor flew to the skies and was said to have become Enlightened.


    In fact, it was the belief that he was the same Enlightened Expert protecting humanity....


    As all this was happening, Li Deshi just so happened to receive the news through a scroll, looking at it, he simply laughed and threw it away.


    The Council was stationary, they were awaiting a decision by vote.

 Chapter 15. Four Tests, The Mind-Heart, The Physique, The Spirit-Soul and Essence (Part Seven)

    As Ye Cheng had left, everyone else was speechless.


    Becoming the First Disciple of a Representative..... What did it represent?


    Each Representative had a fixed strength, this was the law of a Representative to attend the Coming of Age Ceremony (That''s what the chapter should be called)


    This fixed strength was Middle Staged Emergence. For Origin Temple, the number of Emergents they had wasn''t clearly defined.


    The Yun Star Sect had many Emergents. They even had a Transitioned Expert and the right to rule an area of land, which was known as the YunKingdom.


    Lightning Hall was different..... They weren''t a Sect after all the name Hall wasn''t there for no reason!


    Nonetheless, it was called a part of the Tri Sect of Ven Country for its meritorious actions.


    Other than Sects in the Black Serpent Continent, there were Clans, Empires, Kingdoms and another type of existence.


    These were Halls, Temples, Assemblies, Courts, they took on many names and wereunorthodox organisations.


    They all had one thing in common, they originated not from the Black Serpent Continent, but rather another land.


    Lightning Hall was once a part of a bigger Organisation, much like Origin Temple, however, the big difference was that Lightning Hall had lost all its connection to its parent organisation.


    (I''ve mentioned that Origin Temple, Holy Illumination and Infernal Dusk Empire Sects originated from other lands in previous chapters)


    For the better or the worse, a new Lightning Hall was made without any connection to its parent organisation.


    The number of Emergents were unknown, but it wasn''t a rare event for a Spirit Lord to appear every few years at Lightning Hall, it wasn''t rare for a Chosen to appear every few dozen years there either.


    Lightning Hall was said to have a strange Cultivation Method and Techniques which allowed for one to easily topple those of the same stage and even challenge those a Minor Stage above.


    (Stage is a full Cultivation Level, minor stage is Early, Middle, Late and Peak)


    As for the Golden Fire Sect, The Rising Sun and Brilliant Moon Sect, they were much worse than the other Sects.


    If they went against Origin Temple without its Parent Organisation, they would surely win, however, it wouldn''t be strange for there to be a guest Elder from the Main Branch there.


    If the Main Branch of Origin Temple went to attack Ven Country, then perhaps the Leadership would have to change!


    Rumours had it that the PatriarchAncestor of the Main Branch of Origin Temple was at the Fifth Transition, he was said to come from the White Dragon Continent.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Five Continents, Three ruled by Humankind and Two by Beasts and Demons.


    The First and Greatest was the Mythical First Continent, very little was known about it. It was unapproachable and nigh impossible to reach unless one was said to be an Enlightened Cultivator. Legend had it, that even Enlightened Cultivators were common there....


    Then there was the White Dragon Continent, this Continent was far more approachable and closer to the Black Serpent Continent, not just in distance, but power as well.


    Through clever reconnaissance, the Zhenren Empire was able to find out that the White Dragon Continent had Five Major Organisations. Even the weakest was said to whilst not have an Enlightened Cultivator, be strong enough to easily overpower both the Infernal Dusk and Holy Illumination Empire Sect.


    The Zhenren Empire would be said to have the same power as them. The two continents simply couldn''t compare, however, if the Zhenren Empire was to combine with the Holy Illumination Empire Sect, victory wouldn''t be far fetched against the weakest of the Five Major Powers.


    If the Zhenren Empire ruled the entire Continent, then they would be a force that even the White Dragon Continent would have to give some respect to....


    As for the other two continents, they were simply ruled by Beast and Demon Kind, only the Mythical First Continent had proper information about the two.


    (In case you forgot, the Holy Illumination and Infernal Dusk Empire Sect are branches from the Mythical First Continent)


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Yan Mo watched as Ye Cheng was taken away into the carriage, eyes widened, he felt that perhaps in the future, Ye Cheng may be a potential rival....


    Wu Lin watched and did nothing, he didn''t feel bothered to watch.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    As for the Girl that Wu Lin felt suppressed by, she simply watched and counted her fingers as if she was divining something.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    As Ye Cheng was in the carriage, he activated a strange object in his hands, suddenly in the sky was a bright light.


    It was a light only Transitioned Experts could see, Yuan Li appeared the next instant at the top of a hill and watched Ye Cheng.


    He sent a Spirit Transmission to Ye Cheng, "Cheng''er, don''t worry, everything will be fine.... Don''t activate the talisman unless something serious happens next time....."


    Yuan Li then disappeared, at the same time, Li Deshi appeared at the spot that Yuan Li disappeared from, he sighed and then disappeared as well.


    Ye Cheng then heard a voice, "Cheng''er, I need you to hold this orb and it will do the rest, it''s a Talent Orb!".


    This voice was the Golden Fire Sect Representative, Ye Cheng felt a bit weird with the old man calling him Cheng''er, only a few people had called him that.


    Even his sister barely called him that, his "Uncle" Yuan Li did so, his Grandfather, GrandMother, Father, Mother and other relatives did as well.


    But seeing that this Old Man was doing so, he felt a bit weird, but he understood that a Master was like a Father or a Mother.....


    Ye Cheng was the First Disciple, he was also likely a Legacy Disciple....


    Disciples were in four categories. The Least was an ordinary Disciple, they would be given from time to time, a few sentences on how to cultivate, but nothing more.


    Emergents would usually have a large amount of these disciples, they would also usually be relatives or relatives of the Emergents friends that lacked talent and needed any sort of background.


    Above an ordinary Disciple was an Honourable Disciple, they were generally those with talent that was meant to give fame to the Master rather than surpassing him or her. Emergents would usually have quite a number of them but in most cases only a dozen at most.


    Above was a Personal Disciple, those who based their Foundation of their Master''s, they may or may not surpass their Master. One could be an ordinary Disciple or even Honourable Disciple of several Masters, but one could only be a Personal Disciple of a Single Master unless both Masters agreed or one was greatly stronger than the other.


    The highest was a Legacy Disciple, they were taught and given everything, through them the Master lived, through them the legacy survived, they were the next Master.


    An ordinary Disciple was akin to an attendant that would have little status in the Master''s eyes.


    An Honourable Disciple was akin to a minor relative.


    A Personal Disciple was akin to a Son or Daughter of a Father or Mother, but they weren''t the most favoured.


    A Legacy Disciple was akin to the most favoured Son or Daughter of a Father or Mother.


    Because of this Ye Cheng, could be thought as a Son like figure for the Representative.


    Ye Cheng showed a dismayed response, the Representative then simply replied, "Cheng''er, You are my First Disciple, I''ve lived for at least a hundred years or two and my life span is close to being over..... My legacy has to continue, my life doesn''t, but it has to...."


    (He say''s that, but he''s got plenty of years left)


    This showed that the Golden Fire Sect Representative clearly thought of Ye Cheng as his Legacy Disciple.


    Ye Cheng nevertheless moved back. The Golden Fire Sect Representative didn''t care, he simply ruffled Ye Cheng''s hair and went outside the carriage.


    Ye Cheng then touched the orb, all of a sudden, the orb changed to violet, it began to darken and darken, before transforming slightly translucent, however then immediately losing its colour.


    The Orb was a Talent Orb, it was also put to examine the Spirit-Soul. This showed that Ye Cheng had an incredible Spirit and Soul which meant that whilst his mentality wasn''t incredible, his perception and understanding of the laws would be.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Back at the Coming of Age Ceremony, the tests continued, Yan Mo and Wu Lin didn''t go through tests, rather they were there simply as they were told to.


    The girl came on her own will, she heard rumours of Yuan Li was at the area.


    To her, Yuan Li was a deity-like figure, if she could become his Disciple, even if it was the lowest type, only the Ven Royalty would dare to touch her within the Country.


    After all, Yuan Li was quite famous, his fame wasn''t as great as the Emperor''s, however, his position wasn''t that much lower, his strength would be said to be barely lower, and his speed was without doubt much quicker.


    (In case you forgot, the Emperor is a figurehead, the Council holds the majority of power)


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The Tests continued, the Physique Test saw no more figures which were even capable of matching even Kov Zedong...


    Eventually, it became Zhou Ye''s turn.


    He jumped up all the way to Dark Steel Wall, he simply punched it with his fist, he didn''t wish to drag out a lot of attention, most of his techniques were that of Qi Generating and Meditation.


    He could try and punch with a flashy technique, but he didn''t wish to.


    As he did, his fist soon connected with the wall, the Ven Country Representative then shouted out, "One Thousand Four Hundred Jin!".


    The Sects then asked which one Zhou Ye would join. Zhou Ye then chose to become an Inner Disciple of Lightning Hall.


    He was originally going to also choose the Golden Fire Sect so that he could follow Ye Cheng, but who would''ve thought how ecstatic the Golden Fire Representative got that he would even recall the entire Sect.


    As there were many of these happening, a withdrawal was rare, however no big deal.


    At most the Representative would be criticised, however not taken action against.


    Yan Mo looked at Zhou Yeand had a slight smile, he felt that he should apologise, even though he was the one embarrassed, it wouldn''t be awkward for people that wished to be on his good side by taking vengeance on Zhou Ye.


    As Zhou Ye started to walk away, he heard the voice of a girl arguing with an old man.


    The old man was none other than Li Deshi who kept telling the girl that was Ven An, that he was busy.


    Li Deshi kept mumbling to himself, "When I moved to the area that Yuan Li was, he had long since disappeared, for some reason it was in the same area as that talented kid.... But the one I''m looking for is still here! I can sense him being extremely close".


    He was able to feel a sense of Yang rather than Yin, he was also able to see a glimpse of the face, this meant that this had crossed off the chance of it being a woman, unless it was a woman that was born with Yang instead of Yin, however this had never happened before in entire Continent, and never even thought off.


    Ven An looked to Li Deshi and said, "Who? Yuan Li! Where is he!". Li Deshi replied, "Not him... Someone else."


    As Li Deshi was only mumbling, Ven An only got part of the sentences that he said, because of this, she thought that Li Deshi was thinking about Yuan Li.


    Ven Anhad previously left, but she went back in as there was nothing to do at all.....


    She saw how Li Deshi was acting and then left the room.


    Zhou Ye continued on when he heard the voices, all of a sudden he saw a face and Ven An saw Zhou Ye.


    All of a sudden the surroundings of Zhou Ye began to rapidly change.......


    (This is what happened when the Treasure Spirit talked to Zhou Ye and when Zhou Ye got the memories of Tang Xuan.)

 Chapter 16. Four Tests, The Mind-Heart, The Physique, The Spirit-Soul and Essence (Part Eight)

    Why were Zhou Ye''s surroundings changing?


    Something triggered a memory of Tang Xuan to take place.


    After all, Tang Xuan had only given him the most basic memories, the life that he lived as a mortal and before his Immortal Ascension.


    If he gave the memory as an Immortal travelling through the Nine Realms, the Aether, The Vast Lands, Endless Seas, God-Planets and others, it would destroy Zhou Ye''s mind and soul.


    Tang Xuan came from the Ninth Immortal Realm, where no True Sovereign had yet to be made.


    With there not being enough resources, he travelled through the other Eight Realms, he saw real and True Sovereigns there.


    When he was ready, he decided to go through the tribulation to become the True Sovereign of the Ninth Realm, however, he was actually rejected, the Everlasting Sovereign appeared from nowhere when Tang Xuan travelled the other Realms and became a True Sovereign.


    Tang Xuan attempted to, however, defeat the Tribulation and failed, reducing him to a Pseudo Sovereign, but still incredibly powerful.


    The Tribulation was so intense, that if a normal Immortal came to see it for a fraction of a second, their soul would instantly disperse.


    Much less, Zhou Ye''s Soul, there was no way that he could show such memories.....


    Zhou Ye found himself in different clothes, he could feel an immense energy surging off him.


    He was at the Peak of Spirit Refinement, he looked to be about fourteen or fifteen years of age.


    He was simply standing and looking at a river, suddenly a middle-aged man with a short beard and the endless space of stars in his eyes looked to him and said, "Xuan, follow me, I wish to show you, your Junior Apprentice Sister"


    The middle-aged man was none other than Tang Xuan''s Master.


    Zhou Ye then began to follow his "Master", as he did, he came to a stop and saw "his" Junior Apprentice Sister.


    It was a young girl, she was at the Late Stage of Spirit Refinement and was capable of shaming a flower.


    She said to Zhou Ye, "Hello Elder Apprentice Brother!".


    Zhou Ye then replied, "Hello Junior Apprentice Sister".


    All of a sudden, reality then returned, the young girl disappeared, and she was replaced with Ven An.


    Zhou Ye looked to Ven An, but then quickly ran away.


    He felt as if his heart was burning, he felt as if there was something happening within him.


    Was it love at first sight for Ven An? Or was it love generated from memories of Tang Xuan''s Junior Sister.


    Ven An looked to Zhou Ye, she felt as if he was someone she saw before.


    This was the effect of karmic bonds, it was the bonds which preserved even through death.


    Unless one was able to sever the karmic bonds, shatter one''s soul line or solve them, they would follow one''s life for an eternity.


    Zhou Ye had a karmic bond with Ven An, it wasn''t an ordinary one, clearly, something happened after they met which caused a major event.


    Zhou Ye then ran away, Ven An was confused, why had such a thing happened?


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The other tests were now beginning, an uncommon, but not a rare question was currently lingering through the minds of all the youths.


    This was a question asked every year, however it was purposely not explained at the very beginning.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    This question was....... Why did the Physique test decide which Sect they went to?


    It was simple, it was because before the Emergence Stage, the Spirit-Soul, Essence and the Mind-Heart, they were all virtually impossible to use.


    Only when one reached the Emergent stage could they sense their own Spirit-Soul, use the power of Essence or expound on their Mind-Heart.


    It was called Soul Emergence for a reason....


    The Soul was Emerging or in Tang Xuan''s terms, appearing.


    In the Spirit Foundation Stage, the body would become refined more and more, it would continue to do so until one reached a bottleneck.


    That bottleneck was, of course, the Soul Emergence Barrier.


    Some incredible individuals or known as Spirit Lords were those that refined their bodies to the point that even Soul Energy could penetrate it.


    Spirit Magnates were those that were Pseudo Emergents that failed their final step would have Soul Energy, however, it wouldn''t even come close to penetrating the bodies of a Spirit Lord.


    If a Spirit Lord somehow despite being at the same power of a new Emergent was to fail that last step due to any reason, they wouldn''t be called a Spirit Magnate, but rather a Spirit King.


    This Spirit King (Or Queen) would have a body refined by Soul Energy, they would give up cultivation on the Qi Sense, and would go on the physical sense.


    This was much harder and much less rewarding, but this was the only way.


    In fact, there was once a woman that was stuck at Spirit King due to a kind act of saving another before herself.


    For dozens of years, she saw herself become older and older, however one day, she had a strange breakthrough, nobody truly knew what happened.


    But her power suddenly increased, her physical body had a sturdiness which was said to be comparable to the Seventh Yun Star Patriarch of his fortieth year when he went to the outskirts of the Dreaded Earth Lands.


    The Dreaded Earth Lands was a strange place, many claimed to have once been there, many thought to have been in there, but the Empire only counted for one to have truly entered the Dreaded Earth Lands when they passed into the Dreaded Region.


    This was where all the Beast Tribes existed, only the Fourteenth Generation Emperor at the height of his power before his ascension to Enlightenment was said to have been there.


    As for others, they could claim they went inside, however, the Empire wouldn''t say they did.


    Even Ye Yin''s Grandfather could claim such a thing, whilst the Empire wouldn''t support it, they wouldn''t deny it.


    Noone however dared to enter the Dreaded Region as the Beasts lived there and Beasts... Had an incredible Innate strength advantage.


    This Innate strength advantage was what allowed them to contest against humans of higher stages.


    Beast''s Innate strength was dependent on their bloodline. Through this, the beasts were ranked as, Ordinary Beasts, Antique Beasts, Variation Beasts, Primordial Beasts and even onto God Beasts.


    The further one went down, the greater Innate strength was one born with.


    Humans were no different, they had bloodlines themselves, however, they would mostly be incredibly weak.


    Humans couldn''t even achieve much with physical strength after a certain level as the norm was that Qi Cultivation was the far easier and quicker way.


    This was definitely true, yet why was the Physique test that decided the Sect then?


    Because.... The Fifteenth Generation Zhenren Emperor once made a decree as it would be so!


    In the history of the entire Zhenren Empire, only the Fifteenth Generation Emperor was deemed by the masses to be crazy, he kicked out the entire Council, spat on the faces of the Holy Assembly Master and Infernal Court Judge and even took his own daughter as a wife.


    During the time he did all this, his Father the Fourteenth Emperor was retired, and still alive!


    The Fifteenth Generation Emperor found his lives being even as Emperor overshadowed, so he did crazy things to get attention, however, he was also the first Physical and Qi Cultivating Emperor.


    Because of this, when his father disappeared and was said to have become Enlightened, he was a Fourth Transition Cultivator, however as practised both Physical and Qi Cultivation, his strength was even greater than a normal Fifth Transition Cultivator.


    But he was actually a genius of both, his strength was therefore equivalent to a Sixth Transition Cultivator, through his life, he did crazy things.


    He destroyed a Kingdom by "accident", made strange policies such as the Physique Test deciding the Sects, that people would have to drink water from separate springs of where they bathed, created a strange circular object which seemed to block certain objects, created a curved sword which was somehow useful in cavalry and then went on to introducing other eccentric ideas.


    (His Ideas, are more strange to them, then they are to us, I''ll make more examples later)


    Many people had ideas of changing the test which chose the Sect, however many did have to agree that many that did take the tests, wouldn''t be at the Emergence Stage and therefore not be able to sense the other three.


    Because of this, many actually praised him and called his ideas revolutionary and incredible.


    Before they did all four tests to check, the results of the Tests other than the Physique tests yielded very little information which would determine if they were worthy or not to join a specific Sect.


    The Fifteenth Emperor hypothesised that it would be better to start on the Physique test as it allowed for more people to join Sects and it was based more on the individuals own strength.


    The Mind-Heart, Spirit-Soul and Essence were mostly from birth, however, the Physique whilst also from birth could be improved drastically from birth by its own individual.


    Whilst others would have to wait for an Age or Cultivation Stage to improve the Mind-Heart, Spirit-Soul and Essence, the Physique could be improved by simply training and hard work.


    Also, how many people even entered the Emergence Stage? Most were stuck in the Spirit Foundation and unable to sense the Mind-Heart, Spirit Soul or Essence very well, it was quite obvious that the Physique Test was a far better indicator.

 Chapter 17. Four Tests, The Mind-Heart, The Physique, The Spirit-Soul and Essence (Part Nine)

    The Mind-Heart, the Spirit-Soul and Essence, they were virtually the same thing until one reached a very high level.


    But even at the Start of Cultivation, they would be minor differences which differentiated them from each other.


    The Physique Test would normally also see if people had special talents in their bodies if they had Innate Divine Strength if they had special roots which allowed for a quicker way to cultivation for certain elements.


    Unfortunately, nobody had roots, even if they did, they would like the Meridians and Dantians be reported and checked on the Spirit-Soul Test.


    The Spirit-Soul Test checked upon one''s Meridians, Dantian and Root. It was seen as the most important Test after the Physique Test and was seen as the most Important when one attained the Emergence Stage.


    Then there was the Mind-Heart Test. If the Spirit-Soul Test, tested the Meridians, Dantian and Root, then the Mind-Heart tested the Heart and the Mind.


    Those skilled in the Mind-Heart were capable of comprehending the True Laws of Fire from a mere wisp of flame even when another that had Fire Based Meridians, Dantian and Root tried to do likewise to a Fire Source.


    It was the ability of comprehension and having a sturdy mind. This was all created through hard work, after all, could you be born with the ability to comprehend the True Laws? Perhaps some Variation or God Beasts would be capable of doing so with inherited memories, but humans simply couldn''t.


    At birth, a baby had a weak mind and couldn''t comprehend much, but perhaps, that baby may grow up to have an invincible mind and comprehend the laws of the World.


    This same rule applied to everything, the potential of humans were endless, but at the same time frail....


    Other than the Mind-Heart was Essence.


    Essence was very strange, it was the Essence that you exhibited from the lives before, the experts of Zhou Ye''s World couldn''t explain it, or perhaps they chose not to?


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Beginning now was the Essence Test, it was simply as written as so, if one decided to change the order of the tests, then they could, but the Physique Test still had to be first.


    In all honesty, the Essence Test was actually optional, if one decided not to do it, then they didn''t have to.


    The First Emperor made it one of the four Tests, but beyond that, nothing else was known about it.


    As time passed, it became less and less important.


    Those like Zhou Zixin, Shen Yaozu, Kov Peng, Kov Zedong and others like them, simply felt it beneath or not worth their time to do so.


    Zhou Ye originally felt as doing so, but he chose not to as he feared that as Tang Xuan''s was somewhere slumbering within him, he would cause a strange reaction with the Test Orb.


    A few minutes passed, and the Essence Test was about ending, not that much bothered to take the Test.


    Some people were even intimidated by the masses simply looking at them.


    Li Deshi was simply watching, to him every minute seemed to be akin to a day.


    He could Cultivate in closed meditation for several years if not decades, he would even do so without a care.


    That was what he was doing before he was awakened after a Hundred Year Cultivation Meditation.


    But right now, those years he spent in a state of meditation for Cultivation, seemed to be akin to a second.


    He was waiting, waiting... For the one who had somehow almost fully devoured his Heavenly Lock.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Now there was the Spirit-Soul Test, this Test had the criteria of checking the Innate and Inborn Body with their Root, which Elements one''s Soul and Body could match with.


    In the past, the Innate and Inborn Body with one''s root would be checked on the Physique Test, however, time brought forth with it changes.


    Most of the relevant Physique Test Characteristics and Criteria were taken by the Soul-Spirit Test, perhaps in time, the Physique Test would be relegated to only physical strength and nothing more.


    The Spirit-Soul Test tested two things.


    They were the Spirit and the Soul.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Noone on the entire Continent would be able to properly describe the Spirit and the Soul, they could at best only give what they thought it was like.


    However tens of thousands of years worth of information was able to tell that the Spirit and Soul were Indistinguishable, however at the same time, very different.


    The Spirit was the extension and the Soul was the Inner Sanctum.


    The Spirit extends and builds upon the statue which acts as the Foundation, the Soul draws upon the Heavens and is protected by the Mortal Body.


    If one died and the Mortal Body is extinguished, then there would be left the Spirit and the Soul.


    Perhaps some powerful experts of the Mind-Heart would be capable of otherwise, but if one thought of anyone, even those that never even started on Cultivation, when they died, the Spirit and Soul remained.


    When a Mortal died, their Soul would enter the Reincarnation Cycle, their spirit would spend some time on the Earthly Land and it perhaps might dissipate or undergo a transformation.


    But Cultivators were different.


    To truly kill a Cultivator, their Soul and Spirit would have to be extinguished.


    As long as a Soul Emergent Cultivator was prepared to give up their Mortal Body, he or she could then live on merely their Spiritual Body with the Soul as the nucleus and Spirit as the body.


    Even Spirit Foundation Cultivators acted as the same, however, those that were killed likely wouldn''t be able to create a Spiritual Body with their Qi.


    It would be more likely that their Spiritual Body would be swept away by the wind and those that had their Mortal Bodies destroyed would also likely have their Soul and Spirit extinguished by the one who destroyed their Mortal Body.


    The main way to survive without a Mortal Body was simply preparation...


    As the Spirit-Soul Test was now beginning, Li Deshi couldn''t help but remember a certain individual.


    He was thinking of the Quasite Valley Lord. Unparalleled in his Generation, the Quasite Valley Lord felt little to no challenges.


    But his Generation was only one of many dozens of which that Li Deshi had lived through.


    But the Quasite Valley Lord was the Star of his Generation.


    But, it was only after his death, that he became the Star of his Generation.


    This was because he was said to have cultivated a strange art which he found in his youth.


    He practised what is now known as Revolving Stardust.


    During his life, he was a normal Cultivator.


    Not mediocre, but not talented either.


    Before his death, he was known as Bossan.


    No surname, just Bossan.


    Bossan, in his youth, saw a falling object, this object was a Star.


    Normally Stars were the size of Planets.


    But this one seemed to only be at the size of Bossan''s Hand.


    Bossan didn''t touch it, but as he went closer.


    The Star started to turn into Stardust and it disappeared into Bossan.


    After that, Bossan simply began to cultivate.


    Then many years passed, he was stuck on Spirit Foundation and knew that whilst he would likely live for more years, he wouldn''t become an Emergent.


    But one year, before his lifespan would fail him.


    He managed to break through all of a sudden, he was confused as to why, but simply lived on and believed it to be for his Good Deeds.


    Becoming an Emergent, he joined the Quasite Valley.


    For hundreds of years, he remained there.


    But one day, the Quasite Valley was attacked by its enemy, Tesite Mountain.


    The Attack was lead by its Greatest Warden since the founding of the Mountain.


    The Fifth Tesite Warden.


    Tesite Mountain had Three Heads during the time of the Fifth Warden.


    One was the Seventh Mountain Lord who was in charge of all the resources and just above the other two, he himself had the lowest Cultivation.


    Another was the Second Mountain Keeper, she was capable of creating a formation that could spread to miles and miles to protect the Mountain.


    Then there was the Fifth Warden, he was simply domineering.


    He was a Generation older than the Quasite Valley Lord. Perhaps if they were born in the same Generation, then the position for the Star of the Generation would''ve far more interesting to Li Deshi and others.


    During that attack, Bossan died.


    As he did, a strange transformation happened to his Spirit and his Soul started to shine incredibly.


    His body began to be reformed,


    This only happened during the Transition Stage, but even then, it was limited, unless of course, one was in the Sixth or Seventh Transition.


    When his body was reformed, it looked as if the very stars were within them.


    His eyes had the Endless Expanse of Space, his hands were like the flowing stream of the Universes rivers of light.


    A single look from him could cause anyone below the Transition Stage to perish, he easily destroyed all those around him.


    He even wounded the Fifth Warden and when the Tesite Mountain people saw this, they were all scared and started to retreat.


    The Fifth Warden followed and left behind a letter as he went with his people.


    In the later years, Bossan was made the Valley Lord, at that day, he opened the letter that the Fifth Warden gave him.


    Opening it, the next day, he abdicated his Position and disappeared into the Dreaded Earth Lands with his disciples and never appeared again.


    Though his disciples entered only the outskirts, even they disappeared.


    Li Deshi, saw as this all happened, he could also have saved Bossan''s disciples, but he chose to let the Universe decide their fates.


    He was amazed by Bossan''s Body, it wasn''t a physical body and it wasn''t of Qi either, it seemed to be a Pure Energy Body.


    He later questioned the Fifth Tesite Warden but didn''t get any answers.


    What Li Deshi didn''t know was that the Body of Stars was actually a Spirit Body and the Energy came from the Soul.


    Later on, Li Deshi became increasingly interested and focused on the Spirit-Soul, he even remarked that one with an incredible Spirit-Soul would be able to become his Disciple.


    It was a joke, but because of that, Governors, Marquises, Dukes, Princes, Kings, Imperial Princes, Jewelled Princes, the Crown Prince and even the Emperor himself came upon.


    Li Deshi regretted his decision and had a hard time telling them all to disperse.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    As the Spirit-Soul Test was beginning, there was a middle aged man explaining it.


    Everyone from the Lin, Kov and Zhou Family already knew all this, they were well educated and obviously knew all this already.


    But those that came from poor families weren''t a small number, in fact, they were the often majority.


    The middle aged man simply spoke that it was an important Test, and that it would determine your element and the alike and argued how important it was to get a good grade on their talent.


    But of course, he wouldn''t say anything that only when you became an Emergent would it be important.

 Chapter 18. Four Tests, The Mind-Heart, The Physique, The Spirit-Soul and Essence (Part Ten)

    Currently, there were people that were talking to each other, not all of them were, however, the children, some were from the Three Sects that were betting on who would get the best results.


    There was also an old man talking to a man in Silver Armour and Sect Disciples arguing against each other, this was for a single reason.


    This was because the Test was currently starting.


    Many people were excited, but those that came from the Three Families weren''t truly excited.


    They knew that only if one received a very high grade, that they would be seen in good eyes.


    Those such as Zhou Zixin, Kov Zedong and others could easily become a Late Spirit Foundation Master, perhaps if they were lucky for their talent in the Spirit-Soul, they might reach the Emergence Stage.


    They were unlike their less achieving peers, extremely excited and wanting to get a good grade.


    This was because even if one had an incredible Spirit-Soul, without a good Physique, how could they enter the Peak of Spirit Foundation to become an Emergent and use the Spirit-Soul in the first place?


    There were even cases where people with an incredible Spirit-Soul were denied to some sects, this was because whilst they had a sufficient Spirit-Soul to become an Emergent, the resources needed for them to first become a Peak Spirit Foundation Master would be greater than what the sects would bother to afford for.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    At this moment, Chen Fu and Li Deshi were chatting to each other in a room.


    "I hope you can help me find him" Li Deshi''s voice was quiet, but at the same time loud.


    Chen Fu replied with, "Brother Li, you can count on me!".


    Suddenly a knock was heard on the door.


    "Come in", Li Deshi''s voice had a hint of anger, but it was more of just being a bit annoyed.


    Coming inside was a man wearing faintly glowing silver armour, on the silver armour was a symbol, it was the Symbol of the Zhenren Empire.


    The Symbol of the Zhenren Empire was a Serpent, a black and white one.


    It looked similar to a coiling dragon, as the Black Serpent was eating the tail of the White Serpent, and the White Serpent was eating the tail of the Black Serpent.


    Other than the Symbol there was also a Golden Strand, this was the enchantment of the Armour.


    Normally Silver Armour would be penetrable by even Mortals with Swords.


    But this Enchantment made it equivalent to a Grade 2 Spirit Armour.


    Automatically, this Silver Armour would be impenetrable to anyone below the Spirit Master of the Late Foundation.


    If a Mortal received this Armour, in a battle of ten thousand, he would likely be the only survivor, it went on to the idea that Mortals would likely die from fatigue or be too hot within the armour than anything, rather than battle with the armour on.


    But most importantly, the Silver Armour, Symbol and Strand made the man''s position evident.


    He was a Captain of the Grand Zhenren Imperial Forces. This position meant that he was at least a Spirit Master of the Late Foundation, which he was.


    But if you compared his position to Chen Fu, much more Li Deshi, he would be nothing.


    Chen Fu then looked at the man and said, "State your business? Can''t you see, I''m with a guest?".


    Chen Fu couldn''t be bothered to remember all the names of guards, there was nobody noticeable, so he chose not to.


    The Captain then replied in a confident tone, "Lord, I am Captain Aiguo, I have been asked by an Elder of the Yun Star Sect to relay a message, however....."


    Before Captain Aiguo could finish his sentence, Chen Fu interrupted him and said, "What is the message? I don''t want a, however!".


    Captain Aiguo then replied, though this time nervously, "Lord.... He didn''t have the nicest tone or nicest words to say...".


    At the same time, Li Deshi had his eyes closed, he closed them when he heard Captain Aiguo knocking, he had actually heard what the Elder said to Captain Aiguo.


    Chen Fu then replied, "Do you want to be Court Martialled? Tell us the message!".


    Li Deshi smiled and said, "Don''t bother, Brother Chen, I already know the message".


    Chen Fu then said, "Captain Aiguo, leave the room please".


    Captain Aiguo then left, Chen Fu then immediately asked, "Brother Li''s ability is great, you must have an incredible amount of foresight to already know what he would say!".


    He was obviously sucking up to Li Deshi, he knew that Li Deshi would be able to hear it through his ways, but decided to praise his foresight instead.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Chen Fu then asked, "What did the Yun Star Sect Elder say?".


    Li Deshi then replied, "So so, nothing important".


    Chen Fu then replied, "That Elder, however, is quite despicable, he got a Captain of the Army instead of bringing himself, he must have said something bad as he wasn''t brave enough to come himself"


    Li Deshi, "Perhaps, Perhaps...."


    Chen Fu himself was a General of the Army.


    The Grand Zhenren Imperial Forces had ranks divided into a clear hierarchy.


    The bottom was what was known as the Bronze Class with the Soldiers, Sergeant and Lieutenant.


    The Three ranks wore Bronze Armour with the Symbol and a Silver Strand, the Silver Strand was a Grade 1 Spirit Imprint which made the Bronze Armour, a grade 1 Spirit Armour.


    Each strand was a representative of rank, one strand meant a Soldier and Three meant a Lieutenant.


    They were normally at the Spirit Masters of the Middle Foundation or lower.


    After the Bronze Class was the Silver Class.


    Silver Captains, Silver Commander and Silver Colonel.


    They were at the very least a Spirit Master of the Late Foundation and a Silver Colonel was half a step into Soul Emergence.


    Wearing Grade 2 Spirit Armours, they were quite strong compared to even normal Cultivators.


    Anyone below the Gold Class in the Grand Zhenren Imperial Forces was someone that likely joined the army as they had to due to financial reasons or to escape a crime through paying off the empire.


    As for Chen Fu, he was a Gold General, that was all that was needed to say.....


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Captain Aiguo was talking to an Elder, this was the Yun Star Sect Elder that told him what to say.


    The Yun Star Sect Elder looked with a face of slight anger and said, "Very well, I myself will go and visit him then!".


    Li Deshi smiled all of a sudden and said to Chen Fu, "We have a visitor".


    Chen Fu noticed that Li Deshi smiled and immediately opened the door to see who it was, and saw an old man, this was the Yun Star Sect Elder.


    Chen Fu moved out of the way and the Yun Star Sect Elder looked to Li Deshi in the eyes.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Zhou Ye was currently sitting down, he was quite bored.


    He waiting for the Spirit-Soul Test to start and he saw a few Elders saying that the Test should start.


    Even though the Physique Test itself had already been done early, and they were ahead by half an hour.


    The Elders, especially from the Yun Star Sect wished to start Tests early, they, after all, looked down on the Three Families.


    Origin Temple was silent in this matter, their disciples were also silent too.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Li Deshi and the Yun Star Sect Elder looked at each other, they stared each other down.


    They started in debating, but Li Deshi won the debate easily.


    Next, they played a game of Chess, the Yun Star Sect Elder then won within ten moves.


    They continued debating and playing games of the mind, Chen Fu felt quite bored as he watched the two.


    But he had to admit that Li Deshi was a terrible Chess player.


    Losing within ten moves?


    Chen Fu felt that he could at least last Twenty or even Thirty moves!


    In fact, the first eight moves were basically given to Li Deshi, but Li Deshi didn''t properly utilize his chances...


    He thought that Li Deshi was only playing around, but it turned out that Li Deshi was simply bad at Chess......


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    At another location, there was Teng Nation.


    There was an old man.


    He wore a Violet Robe, embroidered with Golden Stripes and on his head was a Crooked Crown.


    He had a twisted smile and planked eyes, when he spoke, his tongue turned.


    This was the Teng Nation''s Sovereign.


    Though he looked as he did, when one was near him, they felt a sense of happiness....


    It was warmth and the feeling of contentment.


    He said loudly and joyously, "Brother Wu, how is our front going?".


    Next to him was a young man, he looked to only be at most in his twenties.


    "Brother Teng, it is going well, we have lost quite a few of our people and the Empire is demanding more and more people".


    The young man called Brother Wu looked to only be twenty, but he was actually at least a few Hundred and was even a bit older than the old man.


    But the Teng Sovereign chose to not keep his youthful appearance when cultivating, unlike the young man.


    "Brother Wu.... Do you think one day that we will be free from the Empire? Our people die and so do others? Why can''t there be a single Empire?".


    "Brother Teng is surely ambitious, striving to rule the entire Continent?". The young man called Brother Wu remarked in a sarcastic tone,


    The Teng Sovereign replied, "Brother Wu, I dare not to, I simply hope that one day, the Continent will be unified, though if it''s unified by the Infernal Dusk Empire, it''s better off fragmented!".


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    At this time, Li Deshi and the Yun Star Sect were arguing with each other.


    The argument had actually turned in to them shouting to each other.


    This argument was simply about who wore the more stylish clothes.


    Chen Fu simply watched and felt quite bored.


    Eventually, Li Deshi got angry and simply shouted out, "Alright I get it, you''re just trying to get me to start the test early! Fine! I''ll do it then!".


    At that time, Li Deshi disappeared in a flash, he then put on a ring on his right hand, all of a sudden about hundreds of talent orbs appeared.


    There was actually too many....


    He then shouted out, "You know the grades! Simply put your hand over it and it will record your best result!".


    As for the Yun Star Sect Elder, he was surprised and even shivering a bit.


    He saw Li Deshi disappear in a flash, and then sense him at the Hall where all the Tests were being taken place at.


    Not just that, he didn''t see any afterimages.


    No matter how fast someone was, there would be an afterimage.


    For there to not be an afterimage, there would have to be a few conditions.


    One would be that one disappeared and reappeared, this was the concept of Dimension Walking, but that was only a Legend.


    Another was Teleportation, this was far more achievable, but it wasn''t known who in the Era could do so, perhaps some in another continent could do so, but definitely not on the Black Serpent Continent.


    There was also Temporal Distortions similar to Dimension Walking, but like it, it was only a Legend.


    Li Deshi reappeared to the shock of the Yun Star Sect Elder.


    Li Deshi looked to the Yun Star Sect Elder and then said, "Haha, alright let''s continue our debate!".


    The Yun Star Sect Elder then quickly said, "My apologies, but I have to go now!".


    Li Deshi then look at surprise as he saw him go, but decided to at least remark on it, "Very well, I hope I see you whenever our paths cross again!".


    The Elder thought to himself, "I hope so not!".


    Chen Fu then looked to Li Deshi and said in a hesitating tone, "Brother Li, you can teleport???".


    Li Deshi then replied, "Nothing special....."


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Zhou Ye was currently holding an orb in his hand, and then the orb started to shine and a colour started to appear....

 Chapter 19. Four Tests, The Mind-Heart, The Physique, The Spirit-Soul and Essence (Part Eleven)

    The Colour that appeared on Zhou Ye''s orb....


    It was completely clear, there wasn''t a trace of colour....


    "Impossible!". This wasn''t from Zhou Ye, but rather someone else who had seen his talent was only Red.


    There were also other exclamations, the people that used the orb were without a doubt surprised, many exclamations close to that of, "This orb must be defective!".


    There was even a child who said, "My family''s Spirit Foundation Master checked my talents, they should at least be orange!".


    Li Deshi looked at Chen Fu and said in a tone that seemed that he was disconnected from the World, "Not a single person with any roots, not a single person with extraordinary-"


    Before Li Deshi could finish his sentence, he suddenly stopped. He closed his eyes and smiled, he then laughed and said to Chen Fu, "Brother Chen, that Yun Star Sect has really hit big this time!"


    Chen Fu replied, "Brother Li, how could they have hit big? Was it the one who achieved over Twenty Seven Hundred Jin on physical prowess alone?"


    Chen Fu at the same time had a thought, "Teleportation.... Only one with incredible progress in the Spatial Laws can achieve such.... My Grandmaster could teleport, but he was only able to do so after a Thousand Years of complete meditation...."


    "Brother Li, unless you are a genius capable of understanding teleportation or have achieved another way of doing so, I should be calling you Grandfather....."


    Li Deshi then replied, "Brother Chen is correct, his Meridians and Dantians hold no Qi, but this doesn''t mean he is crippled!"


    "What!? Brother Li, I knew you weren''t the sanest man I''ve met, but can you cultivate without Qi?". This was what Chen Fu was thinking, he didn''t dare to say it out loud, but what he did dare to say was.


    "Brother Li, how does one cultivate without Qi?".


    Li Deshi replied with a joyous tone as if he enjoyed telling other people and showcasing his knowledge,


    "Brother Chen, it is quite simple, have you heard about Body Transformation?".


    Chen Fu replied, "Indeed I have, what of it?".


    Li Deshi looked to Chen Fu and said, "How many people Cultivate Body Transformation in the entire Continent would you say?".


    Chen Fu replied, "A Million? A Few million at most?".


    Li Deshi then replied, "But how many go beyond Spirit Foundation for Body Transformation?".


    Chen Fu''s face showed a look of surprise and he replied, "Ten? A Hundred at most??".


    Li Deshi then replied, "I believe your Elders have taught you that Body Transformation is a Holy Grade Method?".


    Chen Fu nodded his head.


    Li Deshi then slammed his foot on the floor, he then started speaking loudly and more aggressively, "Don''t trust your foolish Elders! They''re nothing more than idiots that don''t know the immensity of the Heavens and Earth!


    Holy Grade Method? That makes the way we cultivate a Grade Six Method!".


    In the World that Zhou Ye lived in, Body Transformation wasn''t seen as the same way as Essence Gathering which was seen as a Universal Way of Cultivating.


    Body Transformation was simply seen as a Method, but in truth, it was like Essence Gathering, they were one of the same.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    (Chapter 11 Reference, "The Colour Grading system was Six Grades. From the TerribleRed, Inferior Orange, Minor Yellow, Major Green, Mythical Blue to the Legendary Violet Grade")This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Zhou Zixin received the grade of Inferior Orange, his hopes of becoming an Emergent were almost immediately dashed, but since he didn''t receive Red, he still had a small amount of chance of becoming such.


    Shen Yaozu received the grade of Inferior Orange, however, whilst his Orange was quite dark, it actually seemed to be turning to yellow, but couldn''t make it.


    He had a higher chance, but it was still quite dim.


    Kov Zedong also received Inferior Orange at the same Grade of Zhou Zixin.


    A few others also received the Inferior Orange Grade, albeit barely.


    However what surprised many, was what the Lin Patriarch''s Son received, it was actually Yellow! The Grade Minor Yellow! In the Physique Test, the Lin Patriarch''s Son was virtually hidden or invisible.


    Nobody bothered to mention or think of him, but his Grade was actually Minor Yellow!


    As long as he received sufficient resources, becoming an Emergent likely wouldn''t be too hard.


    But with such a weak Physique, he would likely stop the very beginning of Emergence.


    At the same time, Kov Peng''s orb had flashed without colours....


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    "Brother Li, I know that cultivating in other ways are possible, but they are extremely rare, much less rare though than cultivating without Qi!".


    Li Deshi then looked at Chen Fu and replied, "Bah! Rare? Perhaps on our continent, but on others, it is the norm!".


    Chen Fu then decided to suck up and said, "Brother Li''s knowledge and insight is as wide as the World, he truly sees beyond the mountains!".


    Li Deshi then said, "That Kov Peng, his Meridians and Dantian doesn''t carry Qi for a reason. It is because his Meridians and Dantians are actively resisting Qi!


    It is the Yun Star Sects fortune and that Kov Peng''s fortune as well!"


    Chen Fu then asked, "How is it also Kov Peng''s fortune? In the first place, you never told me how it was the Yun Star Sects fortune!".


    Li Deshi giggled a bit and then said, "Brother Chen, the Yun Star Sect is a powerful Sect with an entire Country as its land, however, it is only a Vassal Country, is it not? Who do they directly answer to?".


    Chen Fu then replied, "They directly answer to.... Quasite Valley!


    Li Deshi then said loudly, "Have you ever heard of the Quasite Valley Lord, Starsea Bossan?".


    Chen Fu replied, "The one that had a body of Pure Energy?".


    Li Deshi replied, "Indeed, and through my years of research, I have hypothesized that his Pure Energy Body which wasn''t an Innate or special type of Root Body was due to his Meridians and Dantian.


    Something, I''m not sure what, perhaps it was Star Essence, entered his body and transformed his Meridians and Dantians to produce more Star Essence and form a body, his death caused the body to form."


    Chen Fu replied, "Brother Li, you are confusing me, aren''t you deviating from the subject of the question?".


    Li Deshi then laughed loudly and said, "Your the first to be brave enough to point that out! Okay, I''ll tell you it straight out, I believe Kov Peng, possesses the same ability, his Meridians and Dantians are Star Essence Variants!".


    If this was true, then that would mean that Kov Peng would become the next Starsea as he would be able to produce Starsea Essence through his Meridians and Dantians much like how a Human with a Dragon Marrow, would produce a mixture of Human and Dragon Blood, and perhaps in some cases, only Dragon Blood.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Kov Peng was truly distraught, his Talent for the Spirit-Soul? Absolutely worthless.


    Despite being made into an Inner Disciple of the Yun Star Sect, he felt that he might drag it down a bit.


    But at the very least, he found solace in the fact that all his siblings were only able to become Inner Disciples at best for the Tri-Sect Alliance.


    When he saw Kov Zedong getting Inferior Orange, it was as if he had gotten into a state of a drunken stupor.


    He got quite sad and depressed, but then he saw something else.


    He saw another person with a clear orb, he got happy and was also able to notice something else.


    "Another person with a clear orb! Hey doesn''t he look familiar? As If I''ve seen him before....."


    Kov Peng simply shook his head of the idea and went on to see the person that had a clear orb.


    The person with the clear orb was obviously Zhou Ye......


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Zhou Ye looked at his orb, clear? Didn''t this mean he had no talent? If this happened a few months ago, he would''ve resigned himself to his fate, but he knew that he Cultivated Celestial Origin.


    How could an orb be able to measure the talent of not him, but rather the Technique?


    He didn''t dare claim himself above the Talent Orb, but he definitely did so for the Technique.


    But there would be a minor problem if he showed his talents to his parents or relatives, worse if he showed it to Ye Cheng or Ye Yin, who might make a joke and say they are more talented than him.


    He felt lamented, but he knew that this wasn''t his true talent, or at least he hoped.


    But all of a sudden, he saw a young boy coming towards him, he had a slight smile, it was likely that the young boy saw his Grade.


    But Zhou Ye was able to tell, that it was unlikely that the young boy had malicious intents or which to insult him, rather the slight smile seemed to be representative of not pity, but rather being connected or alike.


    Zhou Ye felt a bit weird as well though, he knew things that people his age shouldn''t know.


    From Tang Xuan''s memories, he knew of a certain relationship which though accepted and common in Tang Xuan''s World, was barely tolerated in his World.


    (Just sowed, will reap this later, but for now, I will help the seed grow)\

 Chapter 20. Four Tests, The Mind-Heart, The Physique, The Spirit-Soul and Essence (Part Twelve)

    With a childish smile, Kov Peng came running to Zhou Ye.


    "Brother Ye, we both have the same Grade!". Kov Peng was indubitably enthusiastic.


    He simply didn''t want to be the only one that got nothing as a Grade.


    Kov Peng also thought that Zhou Ye used Physical Strength, as Zhou Ye was able to become an Inner Disciple of Lightning Hall.


    It was a common thought that those that got nothing on the Spirit-Soul Test had no Qi, but that was a misconception.


    Zhou Ye was looking at Kov Peng and thought to himself, "Why are you calling me, Brother Ye? Why are you being so familiar, when our families are enemies with each other."


    Zhou Ye replied, "Brother Peng, we must both be unfortunate to get such grades!"


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Chen Fu was looking at Li Deshi, there was a silence brought from the idea of a Star Essence Meridian and Dantian Variant.


    Bravely breaking the silence was Chen Fu, "Brother Li, shouldn''t we check on the Grades now?".


    Li Deshi looked at Chen Fu and replied, "Don''t worry, Brother Chen, I have already checked the Grades, Kov Peng even got nothing as his Grade, and so did someone else!"


    Chen Fu was shocked and he sighed and thought to himself, "The Kov Family was anticipating for Kov Peng to get Minor Yellow, if not Inferior Orange, perhaps they already knew that Kov Peng would be getting nothing?".


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    "Don''t worry, Brother Ye! Surely people like us with resolute hearts will shine in the Mind-Heart Test!


    Kov Peng said this with shining eyes, he seemed to be a kid that had yet to be corrupted in the ways of the Three Families fighting.


    Zhou Ye replied, "Perhaps..."


    Zhou Ye seemed to be listless, Kov Peng then said, "Brother Ye, let''s make a bet!"


    The eyes of Zhou Ye were slightly opened, he seemed to be a bit interesting and he asked, "What bet?".


    Kov Peng then said loudly, which also attracted the others, "Which of us can become an Emergent first!".


    Zhou Ye sarcastically replied, "Someone like me, will never become an Emergent".


    Though Zhou Ye replied sarcastically, it was in mind only, and not in voice.


    Kov Peng then shouted, "Brother Ye, we can both do it! Flying like those Immortals won''t be too hard either!".


    Those that were attracted started to laugh, but those from the Three Families didn''t do so.


    The Kov Family didn''t do so, due to the status of Kov Peng, not just his Family Status, but his Status as a Yun Star Inner Disciple.


    As for those that came from the Lin and Zhou Family? Other than Zhou Zixin and the Lin Patriarch''s Son and a few others, nobody would dare to say that their talent was greater than Zhou Ye.


    Zhou Ye at the same time seemed to be an in a trance due to that sentence....


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    "It''s definitely not that Lin Patriarch''s Son, his Spirit-Soul seems too weak for the one I''m looking for...."


    Li Deshi was looking for the one that managed to devour his Heavenly Lock, he was mildly surprised by the Lin Patriarch''s Son Spirit-Soul Grade, but his age, let him see those that had greater grades, but died without becoming a famous figure.


    After all, those Legendary Violet Talents succumbed to age due to their insufficient Cultivations or weakness when adventuring, but Yuan Zen, Zhenren Ling and many others like them on the Council, were they a Violet Talent? (Mentioned this before)


    "Screw it, I''ll just start the Mind-Heart Test a bit early! Surely he or maybe she will appear then".


    Li Deshi had a thought that it was very like a male, as he was able to sense Yang and see the Body Shape, but nothing was impossible, and at the next second, he remembered such a thing.


    "Perhaps.... It''s the child that Kov Peng is with? Or Kov Peng himself? After all, Geniuses can''t be held back by a mere Spirit-Soul Grade of nothing...."


    These were all thoughts of Li Deshi, Chen Fu was simply sitting down and watching Li Deshi thinking.


    Li Deshi then said, "Start the Mind-Heart Test early, I will administer it myself!".


    The next second, Li Deshi disappeared, and he reappeared above all the children.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The ragged robe made Li Deshi look like a beggar, however, he was also levitating which made him look like an Immortal!


    There wasn''t a single trace of Qi on him either, if one saw him in the Secular World, they would believe for him to be just a mere Mortal.(Don''t ask a question about this sentence, I mentioned it before and will do so later)


    The Four Representatives had their eyes opened greatly, especially the Origin Temple Representative.


    Li Deshi smiled and said loudly, "The Mind-Heart Test will now begin, anyone that is still standing in ten breaths of air, is a Red Grade or higher!".


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    At this moment, everyone attracted by Kov Peng''s shouting began to disperse and concentrate.


    They started to clear their mind and meditate in a sort of way.


    Zhou Ye was in a trance of some sort, and Kov Peng was smiling, he wasn''t prepared in any way, he just looked up to Li Deshi and smiled.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Immediately the Yun Star, Lightning Hall, and the Brilliant Moon-Rising Sun Sect Representatives began to converse with each other.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    The Origin Temple Representative then with his hands, created a few symbols which seemed to serve as signals for others.


    Li Deshi saw this and this smiled, he saw members of the Origin Temple that came with the Representatives creating more symbols with their own hands.


    The Origin Temple Representative for some reason didn''t use Spiritual Messages, but why? Anyone could do so, and it was extremely safe.


    But if it as if, the Origin Temple Representative feared to do so....


    Li Deshi looked at these signals, and after a few seconds, began his own signals, eventually, the Origin Temple Representative saw it, and then stopped moving his hands at all.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    At this moment, the tenth breath of air passed, an invisible shockwave came upon to all the children.


    At this point, Zhou Ye''s body simply fell to the ground as did many others, when Li Deshi and Kov Peng saw that Zhou Ye''s body fell, they had a look of disbelief.....


    Kov Peng felt simply nothing from that shockwave, his mind was strong and firm, but he then saw Zhou Ye fall as well, his mind grew slightly weaker.


    Li Deshi then said loudly, "Whoever can remain standing after fifteen breaths of time is an Orange Talent!".


    He at the same time, thought to himself, "What the! It definitely isn''t that kid....."


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    At this moment, Zhou Ye was within another space.


    Or rather, he was meditating and his physical body was on the floor, but he was standing in his Mind.


    He was within his Dantian, he saw an old man on a Throne sleeping, that was the Soul of Tang Xuan that had to sleep.


    His Mind-Heart was fragile at the moment, it was because of a thought!


    "Am I the same Zhou Ye? The same child who dreamed of being an Immortal? Am I Zhou Ye or someone modeled after another?".


    When Kov Peng asked if Zhou Ye wished to become like those Immortals that flew, he suddenly remembered how he felt before he met Tang Xuan.


    The way he became what he was now, was a slow but evident process.


    Only his Mother and Father would truly figure out that he changed, but for the past few months, he only conversed with the siblings and little with his parents.


    "Regardless, if I have changed or not, I am Zhou Ye, and nobody else!".


    At this moment, Zhou Ye''s body began to get back up, his Mind-Heart was now stronger, there was now the Orange Talent Test.


    At the same time, the old man on the Throne awoke, he had a look of sadness, but also happiness.


    He then spoke, "Ye''er, of all my disciples, you are the second to realize how much they have changed, your Eldest Brother who was the first to realize, took about ten thousand years....


    I suppose it is the difference between growing up as an Immortal and a Cultivator, but I mustn''t intervene....."


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    At this moment, Li Deshi was counting down from five, but then he saw someone getting up, he immediately use a Qi Technique to hide him.


    He did so, as he feared that if someone saw that a person got up before even the tests ended, that his attack was too weak?


    In some other Cities, due to the massive difference in strength of one participating and the one organizing the Test, it could take even hours for the person to wake up unattended.


    Also due to the massive difference in strength, any form of injury to the Mind-Heart was very rare, and in most cases would be seen as beneficial.


    Li Deshi had incredible control of his Technique, he definitely saw that Zhou Ye had fallen down, and was out for the count, he also saw Zhou Ye''s meditative trance, but he merely dismissed it.


    "Didn''t he fall down, how is he back up! -_- I''ll just have to hide him and speak to him myself...."


    Then became the Orange Talent Test, it hit everyone, and there were about four people standing, and one person on their knees, as for the rest, they were long "asleep"


    The four standing were Zhou Zixin, the Lin Patriarch''s Son, Kov Zedong and Shen Yaozu, and surprisingly, the one on their knees was Kov Peng.


    The atmosphere was completely silent, they didn''t dare to speak, as it would disturb others, but more importantly, themselves.


    Kov Peng on his knees laughed and said, "Hahaha, I''ll win first place for Brother Ye!".


    The Yun Star Representative smiled as he saw this, he encouraged such courage like that.


    The other Representatives thought of it as foolishness and some even, audaciousness.


    Zhou Ye simply looked at the standing Kov Peng, he came up to him, he was completely unhindered by any pressure.


    But the five that had yet to fall, were shaking.


    Li Deshi then shouted out, "Twenty Breaths of air until the Yellow Test!".


    Those twenty seconds were harrowing, Li Deshi looked to Zhou Ye, but chose not to act yet.


    Suddenly at the twentieth breath of air, one person remained, it wasn''t someone kneeing, it was someone standing.


    They all expected it to be Zhou Zixin or the Lin Patriarch''s Son, but who it was standing wasn''t one of the two.


    The one standing...... It was Kov Peng!


    Everyone around was surprised at the ability of Kov Peng, however, the Four Representatives and the Ven Representatives weren''t surprised by Kov Peng, but rather still looking at the levitating Li Deshi.


    Standing in the air.... They were still simply shocked.


    Li Deshi then spoke with a proud voice and said, "Hahaha, Child you''ve done well for a mere Third Rate City!"


    Li Deshi then clapped his hands, suddenly everyone began to wake up, or get up if they already awoke.


    However he also saw that Zhou Ye looked perfectly fine, he then realized that Zhou Ye also went through the same Tests that Kov Peng did so as well....


    The Representatives then attempted to talk to Li Deshi, however before they could do so, he already disappeared....


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Li Deshi looked to Chen Fu and tossed out a medallion, jokingly he said, "Brother Chen, if you ever have any troubles, just scream out Li Deshi outside the Imperial Palace, I never forget those that do me good!".


    Chen Fu then quickly replied, "Brother Li, what about this medallion??".


    At the same time, he thought, "Scream outside the Imperial Palace? I''m a lowly General, even Admirals and Marshals wouldn''t dare to, do you think I am the Grand Marshal??".


    At the same time, he then read the medallion, there was a moment of silence, on it said, "Li Deshi, The Twenty Seventh Imperator of the Yuan Empire".


    What did the term Imperator mean to Chen Fu? Well, it meant nothing, he didn''t even know what it meant.... As for the Yuan Empire, he thought it was just a rumor, but the medallion was definitely real....


    "Imperator? What kind of term is that?? Is it an Imperial Title? Military Title? Yuan Empire? I thought it was just a rumor, his surname isn''t even Yuan? Is he a kid born outside of the Clan??".


    "Have I been scammed?"(He doesn''t know what the Title of Imperator is, this is his first time hearing it)


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Li Deshi then appeared else where, at this time, an old man looked to Li Deshi and said, "Brother Li, did you give someone your self-conferred Medallion again?".


    Li Deshi smiled and replied with, "Self-conferred? If I wanted to be the Imperator, would you dare to stop me? But, anyway, it was simply sowing a seed, in time, I will reap all that I have sowed!".


    The old man replied, "Haha, also, have you found anyone interesting to where you went?".


    Li Deshi replied, "One person, I need you to check up on him for me, also, I need to enter closed Cultivation soon".


    The old man replied, "Who is it? As long as they aren''t the hidden geniuses of the other Empires, I can do so, even the Emperor wouldn''t dare to stop me!".


    Li Deshi then smiled even more and said, "I knew I could count on you, his name is Zhou Ye, comes from the Zhou Family and will be entering Lightning Hall soon".


    The old man frowned a bit and said, "Lightning Hall... That''s part of the Tri-Sect Alliance of the Ven Country.... The Ven King owes me a favor, I''ll get him to do it for me...."


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    About an hour passed, the Ven Country Representative overlooked everyone, he then said in a loud and commanding voice, "You all have Seven Days to spend with your families, on the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Day, you will be able to go to the Sect via Carriage!


    If you wish you can go early with us now, or by yourself later, if you miss out on the Seventh Day, you also have to go to the Sect by yourself"


    A very small number of people decided to go to their Sects now, most decided to spend at least a bit more time at their homes.


    Zhou Ye thought to himself, "So this is life...."


    He then started to walk, and he began to walk quicker and quicker, every step traversed a meter at least and a few at most.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    At another area was a small Palace, it was the Palace of the Ven King, within his left hand was a sparrow he caught and in his right was a letter that seemed to be formerly attached to the sparrow.


    The Ven King let go of the bird and used his left hand to pick up a book, he then muttered, "Senior Yuan, I will repay the debt to my utmost skills!".


    The task was simple, it was to keep watch over Zhou Ye, however, it said, that whilst Zhou Ye might get injured, he mustn''t die yet, at least to shadow him for a single year, then if he dies after, it would be simply Heavens Will.

 Chapter 21. Leaving Home

    The Beast Army was now receding, the three invaded locations and their respective Leaders began to cry out tears of joy.


    Whilst the Beast Army wasn''t too big, it brought the fear of an Enlightened Beast, however, if one such did exist, it would''ve acted by now, instead of simply sending three Armies.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    As the Beasts were receding, just outside of the Dreaded Earth Lands was a crazed man, he wore a Crimson Robe, and in his hands was a small Pill, the next second, he disappeared....


    At that same time, Yuan Li who was sitting down suddenly stood up.


    He muttered words only he himself could hear, the next moment, he also disappeared.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Zhou Ye was currently walking back home, each step was meter traversed.


    Before he even knew it, he was already back home.


    He came back to see that his Mother and Father were there, his Father laughed, looked to Zhou Ye saying, "Ye''er, did you hear of Cheng''er and his incredible talent?


    I heard he came from the "Ye" or so family, his Mother must''ve married into someone of our Family!"


    As he said this, he heard his wife, saying otherwise.


    "Nonsense! It could''ve been his Father that married into us!".


    Zhou Ye''s Father then laughed and said, "That''s very rare....."


    The Mother smiled and replied, "Ok then! Brother Mo, why did you take my Surname then?".


    (Zhou Ye''s Father''s surname before "Ye" was "Mo")


    The Father became silent for a breath of time and then began to laugh and replied, "Because you kept telling me to!".


    They continued to nag on and on, but Zhou Ye smiled, he just wanted to be himself....


    From meeting Tang Xuan to where he was now, everything felt like a dream.


    He had thoughts on what would''ve happened if he never met Tang Xuan, would he be happier or sadder, regardless of power.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    At another area, was a meditating figure, it looked to only be about twelve or so years old.


    The meditating figure was clearly male and wore a loose white robe embroidered with crimson flames that appeared lifelike.


    His body had a tiny shine, and it was even slightly transparent, one could see his veins were overflowing with energy, his Dantian was clouded making it unable for others to see.


    This was none other than Ye Cheng.


    At this time, there were three figures looking at him.


    One was the Golden Fire Sect Representative, another was a female wearing a similar robe to that of Ye Cheng''s, however, the flames were noticeablybigger and even more lifelike.


    There was also a male wearing a violet robe with white embroidered flame and within his eyes seemed to be a hint of flame, if anyone was to see him, they would shout out, "Grand Ghost Flame Sect!"


    The Grand Ghost Flame Sect was an Evil Sect, true to their name, they were one of the Sects that ranked at the top for Evil Sects, in both notoriety and power.


    Their Cultivation Method was to use the powers of the enemies they killed, whilst did this seem Evil, in comparison to Demonic Methods, it seemed righteous.


    Demonic Sects were known to drain the life essence of people, stealing Bodies, devouring Souls, were all common, but Evil Sects would at most only raise the undead they themselves killed and create puppets of what they killed.


    Raising undead and creating puppets were without a doubt controversial, however, for one to actually raise someone from the dead or create a puppet, they themselves would have to be the one to kill them, the Heavens were truly strange in their workings....


    The Violet Robed Man was astounded as he saw Ye Cheng, he had a crooked smile and said, "Brother and Sister Li, the Grand Ghost Flame Sect will definitely take him! I can assure you that there will be no troubles at all!"


    The Golden Fire Sect Representative looked sternly to the Violet Robed Man and replied, "Yang Tao, can we really trust you?


    Yang Tao replied happily, "If not me, who can you trust? Brother Li, you and your Sister are chained by the Golden Fire Sect, if you bring that child to the Grand Ghost Flame Sect, you''ll certainly be free!".


    The woman''s face then became a bit angry as she replied, "What do you mean chained? The Grand Ghost Flame Sect is one of the Evilest Sects in the World!"Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Yang Tao replied, "Sister Li, you are chained, what you don''t know is that the World is more than just this Continent! In fact, the Ancestor of my Sect has even broken through to the Fourth Transition!".


    Hearing this, the Brother and Sister Pair was stunned, what did Fourth Transition mean? It was the level everyone believed the Ven Ru (The King) to be at when he killed Qarn Zeben with a single Word.


    After all, Qarn Zeben had a terrible foundation in the Second Transition, and each Transition was a major difference.


    The Golden Fire Sect Master was only a Peak Emergent as was it for Lightning Hall and the Brilliant Moon and Rising Sun Sect.


    Their Ancestors were all reclusive figures, for a junior, it wouldn''t be worthy to act, even the Ven King would have to think before acting against the Ghost Flame Ancestor if he tried to take Ye Cheng.


    After all, the Ghost Flame Ancestor could now kill a few Third Transition Beasts and raise them from the dead to unleash them onto the Ven Kingdom.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Zhou Ye talked with his Parents, he felt his life as the same before he met Tang Xuan, simple and without worries.


    Then before he could his Dinner, his Mother suddenly reminded him of something, "Ye''er, the Family Competition is soon!".


    Zhou Ye forgot all about it, there was a Family Competition where people would fight, it would always happen on the Fifth Day after the Coming of Age Ceremony, thus most people of the Zhou Family would leave on the Sixth Day.


    When Zhou Ye heard this, he immediately replied, "Mother, Father, I think I will leave for the Lightning Hall on the Fourth Day!".


    His Father then replied, "Nonsense, the Fourth Day is the Patriarchal Conferment, the Current Patriarch who is our Great, Great, Grand Uncle will be replaced by our Great Great Grand Father....."


    Zhou Ye had many relatives, this was because, Cultivators married at young ages, with many people and lived to extreme ages.


    His Great Grand Mother had married several men, and she had given birth to dozens of Children, each of the Children flocked to the Mothers side and helped her become the Current Grand Elder.....


    She did so at the age of only twenty.... She was currently about One Hundred and Eighty, she was barely keeping up with her age, and her lifespan was near its end, however, she nearly had as many descendants as her age.....


    (Including the Sons and Daughters of her own Sons and Daughters and etc.)


    Zhou Ye then replied, "Father I will leave the Third Day...."


    His Mother then said, "Again with your nonsense, the Third Day is......


    His Father then said, "The Second Day is none other than.....


    Zhou Ye then asked, "Can I leave today?". His Parents both looked to him and said, "Look at this, our Child wants to go to the Sect already! It''s a shame that the carriages have already left...."


    Zhou Ye then replied, "I can walk!".


    His Mother started to cry a bit and say, "Our child has grown!". His Father then sighed and said, "Ye''er, you can go, but at least write back to us every week or so!".


    Zhou Ye kowtowed to his Parents and replied, "Of course". He then began to leave, at this time, he felt an incredible hunger come to him, but he had to keep on walking.....


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    About a day passed, Zhou Ye was currently walking, and he remembered that he had yet to eat since the Coming of Age Ceremony, he was around half way there to Lightning Hall.....


    He got weaker and weaker, but even if he fainted, he wouldn''t die of hunger as he had Heavens Nourishment..... (Just Qi as Nourishment)


    Any other Spirit Foundation Acolyte would''ve fainted by now....


    He was currently taking a path, on his way, he took a stick to support him, this Path would take him about three-quarters of the way, and the last quarter would be simply going up a hill....


    On him, was nothing but the stick he had, an Inner Disciple of Lightning Hall Medallion with his name engraved, the clothes on his back and a small purse of gold....


    He didn''t know why, but he decided to take his gold that he had saved up, it was only about five taels of gold, whenever there was a Patriarchal Conferment, everyone would be given a Tael of Gold, this was only worthwhile to the poorest of Branch Members.


    Zhou Ye had saved about three of them and was given two overall from his Birthdays, that only his Parents celebrated....


    Suddenly he heard the sound of horses and a voice from behind, Zhou Ye very slowly moved to see what was behind him, the next second he was trampled, but before he was, he heard this, "Watch out! The horse is out of control!!".


    Zhou Ye: -_-


    The horses were pulling a carriage, but something made them go out of control, the horses then began to stop, at this time, a young man came out of the carriage, he saw Zhou Ye and said, "Great Heavens, please tell me he is alive! I don''t want a ghost to be following me if he dies!".


    The young man picked up Zhou Ye and began to take him into the carriage, on top of the Carriage were two words, "Asnia City".


    Asnia City was a Third Rate City, but unlike, the City that Zhou Ye was born within, this was a True Third Rate City, the resources were terrible.


    The City Lord was only a Pseudo Soul Emergent, the City had never in its history come up with an Inner Disciple of any of the Five Sects, they mostly had lesser known Sects where the Sect Ancestor or Master had yet to become a Prominent Soul.


    When Zhou Ye was put into the Carriage, there were about seven other people... This carriage though big, looked like it would only fit about six people comfortably, as for eight people? They would be squished and now with Zhou Ye entered, one of the seven protested, "Yi Jun, our carriage is virtually full already.... Why would you do this to us!".


    They would be squished and now with Zhou Ye entered, one of the seven protested, "Yi Jun, our carriage is virtually full already.... Why would you do this to us!".


    The one that protested did so with a smile, he meant this as a joke, the other six then began to laugh and Yi Jun giggled a bit as well, and tried to put Zhou Ye slightly above the one or next to to the one that protested.


    Yi Jun then began to hold the reins of the horses, he was actually the one that had to take the carriage.... In Zhou Ye''s City there would be some people to do it for them, however, Asnia City was simply to pitiful and poor.....


    If Yi Jun didn''t bring back the horses and carriages, he and the other boys would get no resources for a month....


    The Horses and Carriages weren''t cheap, but they were compared to Eight people''s resources for a month...


    Zhou Ye was currently in a coma state, the other seven didn''t touch him, as they learned when they were younger, that touching a corpse would cause the ghost to chase them after death!


    This was obviously nothing more than to scare them, but they definitely believed it....


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    At a small city, there was a man without a right hand, he had a distinct scar on his left eye and in front of him were ten people that seemed to be mercenaries.


    The leader of the mercenaries was handshaking the man with his left hand, and in his eyes were a sense of greed as his right hand held several taels of Gold.....


    The man then said, "Kill the one called Yi Jun, even though he is an Outer Disciple, before he gets to the Lightning Hall he is nothing special...."


    The leader of the mercenaries smiled and with the nine behind him, he started to get on an horse, the horse was tall and much bigger than those of the carriage and moved at simply incredible speeds.....


    At this time, Zhou Ye was beginning to wake up as he felt a bad feeling...

 Chapter 22. Mercenaries....

    As Yi Jun was pulling on the horses, he heard a sound. He stopped the horses and felt as if something bad happened, but when he looked in the Carriage it was simply that Zhou Ye awoke.


    The Seven then looked to Zhou Ye and started to ask Questions, they asked where he came from and what Sect he was going to and the like.....


    Zhou Ye only said his name and a few other things... He said that he came from a Third Rate City and was going to Lightning Hall, as he said this, one of the seven then said, "We are as well! We''ll probably take a day or two....."


    The Journey was about two thirds done, it would only take about an hour or two to become three-quarters done. However going up the hill.....


    For them, it might take a day or so.... One was that horses and carriages couldn''t get up there, fortunately killing was prohibited and when horses arrived there, they would automatically go to their stables.


    In the distance far away, there were ten horsemen, the speed of the horses compared to the carriage was simply incomparable. The horses were too quick in comparison to the carriage...


    Not just that, as the ten horsemen went together, it created a sense of terrifying aura, the leader held a halberd, it even seemed to have some Qi on it....


    Though the horses were quick, the distance was still large...


    About an hour passed, Zhou Ye was bombarded with questions, but he eventually decided to simply ignore them.


    As he was in the carriage, two of the people decided to sit outside of it and on top of it with Yi Jun.


    At this time, they could hear the sounds of horsemen, it was loud and powerful....


    Yi Jun yanked the reins to make the horses go quicker, he did so lightly and not with much force as he didn''t want to cause the horse to much pain.


    But the horses seemed to go crazy.... They started to go slightly green, Yi Jun then remarked, "Greendust Poison!".


    Greendust Poison was a simple poison, to Cultivators it would have minimal effects, to the horses that Yi Jun used, it would be fatal....


    What was scary was that it didn''t kill horses right away, it would do so whenever they would get tired, nobody knew why, perhaps the creator knew, but many hypothesized it to due to horses not properly swallowing the Qi or when it got tired something within its stomach would react....


    However, to the horses that the ten mercenaries were using, they were much stronger and would only be a slightly impaired with minimal effects by the Greendust Poison.


    The horses then fell over, as did the carriage, they were in a slightly grassy terrain, so none of the people within were hurt too much.


    The Eight then stood up together and all began to come near each other, they all drew a weapon of some sort.


    Yi Jun held a short sword as did the others, this was basic protection against normal bandits, they were, after all, at least Outer Disciples of Lightning Hall, with swords, they should be enough any ordinary bandit party.


    In about two harrowing minutes, the horsemen were in front of the Eight.


    Just one moment before they would''ve trampled the Eight, the horses stopped.


    The Ten looked to the Eight, the comparison between the two was simply too big.


    One group didn''t just outnumber the other, they had stronger weapons, better horses and individually far greater strength.


    The Leader looked to the Eight and loudly said, "Listen here, little ones, this Leader, is looking for Yi Jun!".


    There was a moment of silence before the Nine other horsemen began to go around the Eight, they drew their weapons, it was all swords of roughly the same length.


    The Eight were frozen stiff, they knew the reputation of these Bandits....


    Or rather mercenaries....


    They were known as the Thunder Collapse Mercenaries, every strike that connected with their weapons, was like the sound of thunder collapsing!This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The City Lord once even tried dealing with them, however, these Mercenaries with their horses were too quick and their Leader was said to have been withstood a single strike, but the Leader was then severely weakened and didn''t appear for a month.


    Yi Jun looking at these bandits, cursed inside, "That stupid old man! He must want my inheritance!".


    The Leader smiled and then said, "I''ll question you all one by one, to see who it is..."


    At that second, Yi Jun was grabbed, he was started to be pulled, however at the same time, a sigh could be heard.


    This came from the carriage, the Leader simply ignored it, but then he heard a yawn after it.


    He let go of Yi Jun and holding his halberd he walked slowly to the fallen carriage.


    "Let''s see who it is!". The leader then struck the carriage with his halberd, the carriage exploded, there seemed to be Qi on the Halberd.


    But at that time, he felt that he couldn''t move the Halberd a tiny bit.....


    For Zhou Ye, he overheard everything, however, he didn''t dare to try and block the halberd, he simply decided to wait for it to hit the carriage, once it did, and the moment that it blew up the carriage....


    It would stop, he then took that chance to grab the halberd in less than a second as quick as he could.


    Zhou Ye knew that if he tried blocking or grabbing it while it moved, his hand would be simply chopped off.... If he waited for it to stop, then there would be no force which his hand would face.


    Though it was sharp and had some Qi on it, it seemed to be quite normal, yet not a Quasi Spirit Artefact, but not too far....


    Zhou Ye slowly stood up, whilst still grabbing the Halberd.


    The leader was quite shocked, he tried to pull and pull, he then had a thought, "Ha, I''ll just threaten his friends..."


    But before he could speak, he noticed something was happening to the Halberd, there was a sound.


    It was if steel was being crunched or smashed....


    He saw the part that Zhou Ye grabbed was being broken.....


    The Leader tried to pull, even more, however, it just broke even quicker!


    If it was an actual Quasi Spirit Artefact, Zhou Ye wouldn''t be able to break it so easily.


    But he broke something that was close, at this time, he started to walk closer and closer.


    The Leader seeing this, stumbled back, at this time, Zhou Ye stared at the Horsemen, in them was also fear, they subconsciously moved their Horses back.


    The Leader then shouted, "Kill his friends!". (Not sure if this is realistic or unrealistic)


    Zhou Ye then ran to the Horsemen, but the Horsemen stood their ground and attempted, but surprisingly, the Eight children.... (I say Children, but they''re taller and stronger than what we consider Children)


    Managed to parry the strikes, Zhou Ye then jumped and appeared in front of a Horsemen, he then kicked him off...


    He did so for the others, the Leader seeing this, simply muttered, "Freak....."


    What wasn''t surprising wasn''t the Eight parrying the strikes or Zhou Ye jumping, it was breaking the Halberd.


    The Halberd weighed two hundred Jin and if swung properly would make one thousand Jin of force and with the Qi, it would be an extra five hundred.


    When Zhou Ye grabbed the Halberd, it was as if he blocked it, the Leader thought it too, this was why he was afraid...


    Zhou Ye then ran to the Leader, his speed was incredible, he attempted to punch the Leader, but the Leader dodged, he then said to Zhou Ye,


    "Little one, you must be a distinguished member of Lightning Hall? I am but a simple Mercenarythat has been deceived and asked to capture one called Yi Jun, I was told that he was a traitor to the City!".


    Seeing that Zhou Ye wasn''t listening, he then said, "I am no saint, but I can assure you I only do what my job entails me to do!".


    Zhou Ye then said, "What does your job entail you to do?".


    The Leader''s face turned into a smile and he said, "Little one, I was ordered to capture Yi Jun for him to be a traitor, but it appears that he can''t be a traitor if he is a friend to one like you!".


    The Leader had a tongue that spun lies, though they were lies, they were without a doubt, well presented and well said....


    Zhou Ye then looked to the Leaders Chest and saw a Velvet Vest, he could see the Qi acting within it....


    "Are you repentant?".


    The Leader nodded his head, "I am!".


    Zhou Ye then pointed to him and said, "Then give my your Vest, or I will take it from you....."


    There was a moment of silence, the Nine Horsemen knew that the Leader was able to survive the attack from the City Lord, only due to the Vest.....


    The Leader replied, "Little one, one shouldn''t get greedy....."


    Zhou Ye made a stop closer and began to close in, he attempted to punch the Leader.


    The Leader blocked in time, he was pushed back slightly, he sighed relief, but at the next second, Zhou Ye disappeared.


    He tried to look behind him, as he did, Zhou Ye was already behind him and had jumped to punch his face....


    The Leader was thrown back several meters....


    If he was punched in the Chest, he likely wouldn''t feel anything, but at the face, it was harsh....


    Zhou Ye immediately appeared in front of the fallen Leader, he then said again, "The Vest... or your life?".


    There was a sense of coldness within his eyes, but it was merely an act.


    The Leader took of his Vest and said to the nine, "Brothers, let us leave, we will act another day...."


    Zhou Ye took the Vest, he didn''t wear it, this was as long as he could breakthrough to the next stage of his Cultivation.


    The Vest would become useless, and he could sense his breakthrough would be soon.


    He then walked to Yi Jun and gave it to him, "This is yours, for helping me when I fell down... After I got trampled by your horses....."


    Yi Jun then smiled and accepted it, Zhou Ye thought to himself at the same time, "No? I thought you would''ve said something like, No you take it, you took it off him... But you simply accepted it..."


    Yi Jun then wore it and simply smiled, there was a moment of silence. (I like moments of silence)


    It was then broken by one of the seven that said, "Brother Zhou, you must be an Inner Disciple right?".


    Zhou Ye simply nodded his head.


    Yi Jun looked to Zhou Ye and said, "Those Mercenaries were the Thunder Collapse Mercenaries...


    Zhou Ye smiled and thought to himself, "I''ve changed I guess...

 Chapter 23. Celestial Lightning Branch

    Zhou Ye and the Eight were now walking, it was a long journey. (The Eight is the Seven + Yi Jun)


    Zhou Ye didn''t seem to be a tiny bit tired, however, the eight seemed exhausted....


    About three to four hours passed, Zhou Ye thought to himself, "It''s dark...."


    One of the seven said to Zhou Ye, "Brother Zhou, it''s dark, let us sleep...."


    Zhou Ye replied, "We''ve had enough rest....."


    Yi Jun jokingly rebuked him by saying, "Brother Zhou, we aren''t like you! You should simply stop showing off! It''s just unfair you''re bullying us!".


    The other seven then started to say similar things, Zhou Ye laughed as did the Eight.


    However, Zhou Ye simply said, "Ok that''s enough, let''s keep going".


    At this time, the Eight simply fell down, Yi Jun was the first to fall down.


    Zhou Ye''s stomachgrumbled, he wondered how the Eight''s stomachs had yet to grumble....


    He went to Yi Jun and slowly searched his clothes.


    Extremely slowly and quietly he did this, suddenly he had athought, he was quite nauseous, it was a simple memory that he had from Tang Xuan''s past, he tried to forget it, but it was quite hard....


    He gently moved part of the vest and then the robe, and he saw a familiar object.....


    It was bread!


    He muttered to himself, "Keeping the food for yourself... I even gave you the Vest...."


    Zhou Ye slowly pulled it out, but at that time, it tickled Yi Jun.


    Yi Jun started to make some strange noises, Zhou Ye then felt nauseous, a memory came back to him....


    But he simply ignored it for the sake of the bread.


    Yi Jun started to laugh a bit and Zhou Ye was extremely careful not to apply too much force.


    He decided to go just barely a single centimeterabove Yi Jun''s body and pull the bread from there.


    At this time, one of the seven woke up, this one was Du Chun. He was a simple boy, he had a common name as well, within his Family were many others with a similar name.


    This was expected of the biggest Family whose population was about one-quarter of the entire City''s full population.


    He saw what was happening to Yi Jun by Zhou Ye and it reminded him of something that he saw about his Uncle, he muttered, "The profound people are always eccentric". (Profound means strong in this case)


    Saying this, he fainted.


    Zhou Ye then had the bread taken out and walked a bit before he began to eat it.


    He hadn''t eaten for about a day or so, he was naturally hungry, though he had received Heaven''s Nourishment due to Celestial Origin, he would still feel hungry, whilst he wouldn''t die for even several weeks, he would still get hungry....


    Zhou Ye stood watch of everyone as he ate the bread, after a minute or so, whilst he didn''t feel sleepy, he was still tired...


    About three or so hours passed, Zhou Ye was meditating, he did so as he got bored, he decided to explore the memories of Tang Xuan, it was without a doubt a strange experience....


    Every time he did so, he felt himself becoming more and more like Tang Xuan, but before he did so, he remembered who he truly was.


    Another hour passed and Zhou Ye stopped meditating, he looked to the Eight and woke them all up, starting with Yi Jun who he hit his back with.


    They then began to resume their journey.


    After half an hour or so, they saw a large hill, in truth, it wasn''t that big, there were far larger hills, it was simply that Zhou Ye and the others had yet to see a giant hill...


    The large hill was only called a small hill....


    As they came closer to the large hill, a middle aged man with a goatee appeared, he with a smile asked, "Children, where are your Horses and Carriage?".


    Yi Jun replied with, "Elder, our horse was poisoned by Greendust, we don''t know who did it, as for our carriage, we were attacked by mercenaries, thankfully we had Brother Zhou with us."


    The middle aged man looked to the group and saw that everyone except Zhou Ye moved back.


    He was about the say something until he saw something within Zhou Ye''s hand.


    It was the Inner Sect Medallion, the middle aged man then coughed and said, "Alright, it seems you speak the truth, you need not worry about the horse or carriage".


    They then began to slowly go up the hill, it wasn''t actually as big as it looked from a distance, in about ten minutes they made it up.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    At the top, they could see the clouds and they saw that the Sect was actually above the clouds!


    Legend had it, this was due to the Lightning Hall Ancestor using his powers to keep it afloat, others stated that it was through a combination of experts and one even was that the clouds were being lifted up by an invisible giant.


    Zhou Ye saw five gates, they were the Outer Sect Disciple Gate, Inner, Conclave (Core), True and Elder Gate.


    He showed his Inner Sect Medallion and entered the Inner Gate, as he did, he could feel powerful auras all around him, one of the aura''s had an accompanying voice, "Looks like we have a new addition"


    Another voice came with


    "This is the third this year, we have about twenty-seven new Outer Disciples though...."


    As did another...


    "What are Outer Disciples worth?"


    And another...


    The voices spoke to each other, they seemed to hold great power.


    Suddenly, a young man appeared, in his early twenties, he seemed to hold incredible strength, every part of his aura seemed to be vibrating and make one feel weak when near him.


    He said in a majestic voice, "This one is Kong Hu, young brother, do you wish to join my Branch?".


    Zhou Ye replied with, "What is a branch?".


    Kong Hu began to speak once more, however, someone tried to interrupt him, "Don''t trust Kong...."


    "Silence!". Kong Hu''s voice was powerful and loud, the one that tried to interrupt him immediately ran away.


    Kong Hu smiled and said, "My branch name is the Celestial Lightning Branch, do you wish to join".


    Zhou Ye hearing the name, "Celestial" felt that this was the cycle of Karma which brought him to join perhaps or this man was simply a well-intentioned man.


    He replied happily, "I do wish to join".


    Kong Hu became jovial and started to jump, "He grabbed the hands of Zhou Ye and took him away, in a moments time, they were at a small hall.


    There was a long line to what it said, "Branch Joining".


    Zhou Ye looked at this line and sighed, as did Kong Hu at the same time that said, "Little Brother, you remind me of myself a bit."


    Kong Hu''s face didn''t sound so majestic as it did before, but Zhou Ye hardly noticed it.


    Immediately he breathed in and majestically said, "Recede.... Now!".


    Suddenly the line scattered. Everyone in the line could feel themselves being forced to move.


    At the front of the line was even a Conclave Disciple that looked to Kong Hu and said, "Senior Brother Kong, aren''t you abusing your power a bit too much?".


    Kong Hu then replied, "Abuse? You''re the Core Disciple, I''m only an Inner Disciple, I heard that your Elder Brother is even a True Disciple, tell him that I congratulate him for his success."


    The Conclave Disciple replied, "Senior Brother Kong, please do not bring my Elder Brother into this..."


    Kong Hu laughed and said, "Move aside."


    The Conclave Disciple quickly moved away.


    Still grabbing onto Zhou Ye he appeared in front of a desk, the desk suddenly became shrouded with thick Qi.


    Kong Hu looked surprised and said, "Look''s like Elder Brother Hao has become a Prominent Soul, I congratulate you..."


    The thick Qi disappeared and revealed a middle aged man, he then replied, "Looks like you''ve seen through me, well, what is it today? Huh? Who is this child?".


    Kong Hu replied, "Someone that decided to join my Branch!".


    The middle aged man then said, "Your Branch has to enter the Lightning Shadow Zone once a week, even Emergents may not survive, but you want to send a Spirit Acolyte?".


    Kong Hu smiled and said, "Don''t worry about something as trivial as that...."


    The middle aged man sighed and then put a stamp on what seemed to be Zhou Ye''s identification papers...


    Zhou Ye then felt himself being dragged away again, at this time, he found himself in a forest.


    He saw a small house, on it said, "Celestial Lightning Branch".


    He knocked on it, and there was no response, he then entered it.


    Suddenly a young boy that seemed to be about fourteen tried to attack him, Zhou Ye subconsciously activated "Imperial Movements". (Chapter 7 Reference)


    The young boy attacked with a dagger, but Zhou Ye managed to easily dodge each attack, but, he was unable to parry or block it as he was far too weak...


    There was definitely Qi on the dagger, which meant that this young boy was likely a Spirit Foundation Master of the Late Foundation.


    The young boy then stopped, as did Zhou Ye.


    A smile was present as was a strange look, he looked to Zhou Ye and said, "Your the second to dodge all my attacks...."


    Zhou Ye took another step, then an arrow came towards him, he just managed to dodge it and as he did, he heard a woman''s voice in the background laughing.


    The young boy looked up in the small house and said, "Sister Wen, please stop doing it, the house is small, we don''t have enough space to do things like this..."


    The woman''s voice responded with, "How could I Wen Lian, be restricted by this tiny house? Brother Geng, thinks the same right? Don''t you Bai''er?".


    The young boy then looked to Zhou Ye and said, ''My name is Geng Bai, up there is my blood Sister Wen Lian."


    Zhou Ye found it a bit weird for blood siblings to have different surnames, but he chose to not say anything.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Inside a room at Lightning Hall, were two people.


    One was Kong Hu, he wore a robe that barely seemed to fit him, it was a plain robe, just blue in color. His face wasn''t handsome, it definitely looked a bit ugly, but it was more of being rugged and one that looks like that he went through several battles.


    In front of him was a youth in a Silver Robe embroidered with symbols of azure lightning. The youth, however, was handsome and even a look of worry being present, couldn''t hide it.


    The youth was Yan Mo, as he was conversing with Kong Hu, "Kong Hu, I heard you made a Spirit Acolyte join your Branch!".


    Kong Hu gave an awkward face and replied, "Brother Yan, aren''t we half-brothers? Sure I was born about thirty years after..... But we still are-"


    Before Kong Hu could finish his sentence, it was interrupted by Yan Mo, "Kong Hu, don''t try to dodge the question, the Lightning Shadow Zone is a place your Branch must go, if you didn''t make the Ancestor so angry, he wouldn''t have made your branch go!".


    Kong Hu simply replied with, "That old fart? Isn''t he meditating in his cave? He''s just hiding from me, just wait, until I catch up to him, he knows that it''ll be soon."


    Kong Hu was currently an Emergent of the Early Stage. But his power was already enough to not only contest, but also defeat Prominent Souls of the Late Emergence.


    Not even the current Ancestor when he was at the Middle Stage of Emergence was able todefeat those of the Late Emergence.


    Kong Hu was the greatest genius of the Lightning Hall, he was the child of his Mother who died giving birth to Yan Mo, because of this, he felt a sense of clinging to Yan Mo.


    "Kong Hu, this isn''t any matter, not even the Current Sect Master can overrule the law. Do you THINK the Lightning Shadow Zone is any ordinary place? Legend has it, before our split with the Main Sect when our Sect Master was a Transition Expert, even he wouldn''t dare to go there"


    Yan Mo''s words were harsh but true.


    Kong Hu replied, "Brother Yan, you''re too young, you don''t understand the truth about the Lightning Shadow Zone, haven''t you ever wondered why our Chosen always return alive from it? But our Peak Emergent Elders near their death never come back? Have our Peak Emergent Elders ever crossed a gap? No, only our Ancestor could do so, not even the Sect Head!".


    "Only those capable of killing a minor stage above them, ever come back, those that can''t, they rarely ever come back, don''t you see the pattern?".


    Yan Mo took a second to think, and then realized something, "Do you think that the new addition to your branch will be able to come back?".


    Kong Hu nodded and said, "Of course."

 Chapter 23.5 Kong Hu (Backstory)

    On the top of the Hill, far below the Lightning Hall base, Kong Hu stood and looked at all those below.


    Unlike, Yan Mo, he lived an impoverished life, but everything changed at the age of thirty-three until he found an incredible inheritance!


    But before thirty-three, he challenged many odds and failed many times and sometimes even thought of ending it all.


    His Father he didn''t know, but he was clearly a famous figure from those that mistook him for his Father.


    His Mother was Yan Jun, she was a fairly powerful Prominent Soul, but she was cursed by an unknown expert and died when she gave birth to Yan Mo.


    But, long ago, much before even Kong Hu''s birth, she fought bravely on the front against a Beast Swarm, however, one day she was suddenly attacked by her own Brother who had switched sides and suffered fatal injuries.


    Fortunately for her, Kong Hu''s father appeared, a petite young man, he wore a simple and slightly tight robe, he had a beautiful face but was incredibly clumsy.


    Seeing Yan Jun, the petite young man helped her by healing her wounds using a simple bowl of water.


    Yan Jun when first healed by the water asked where it was, but it came from a simple stream and she saw that the petite young man was only a mortal, thus she ignored it.


    Yan Jun though healed, was far from a full recovery and decided to leave to recover, but the petite young man wished to follow, thus they both went.


    On the way there, they came across a young woman, every part except for her body was golden, her clothes, eyes, pupils on the other hands were golden.


    She even held a golden spear, she had a happy expression, she looked to only look about seventeen or so, but Yan Jun knew that it was only a technique to make oneself look younger, she also feared that she would steal the petite young man.


    The young woman came close to the petite young man and said, "Humph, I guess Elder and Younger Brother Mo, were right, you''re a tad bit interesting...."


    Smiling she then disappeared, in a flash.


    The petite young man looked to the slightly possessive Yan Jun and decided to not talk with others so easily then.


    Also after this, Yan Jun decided to teach the petite young man Cultivation but later found out that his meridians weren''t even present....


    His veins and Spirit-Soul, Mind-Heart, Essence, and Physique were no better, they were complete trash!


    The petite young man took a blow in confidence but recovered from such.


    As they traveled to Lightning Hall, Yan Jun and the petite young man would normally sleep with each other.


    One day, Yan Jun became pregnant, she was pregnant with Kong Hu!


    It was a long and arduous experience for a mortal woman, but for someone like Yan Jun who was a Cultivator, whilst the experience wasn''t pleasant, it couldn''t be described as agonizing.


    However as soon as Kong Hu was born, he was found to be incredibly cold and slowly killing everything around him, taking him to a physician, it was discovered that Kong Hu was born with the Mystical Twelve Meridians Yin Body.


    This meant that Kong Hu would have an overflow of Yin, but as he was male, it would be near fatal, thus, Yan Jun and the petite young man instead of going to Lightning Hall, went to the Ancient Desert.


    Whilst not the most dangerous or second dangerous it was the third most dangerous, just behind the Regal Marsh''Dai Palace, and obviously most dangerous, Dreaded Earth Lands.


    What they had to get was a Grand Yang Creation Pill, it was a rare Pill, though not common, it wasn''t unfound, despite its great name, it simply created more Yang for the user.


    After a week, they found it easily, but when they did and feed it to Kong Hu, they were suddenly attacked by those from an unknown sect.


    But the Pill could only suppress, not oppress or remove, one day, Kong Hu''s life would one day be filled with Yin again...


    What they desired wasn''t the Pill, rather it was, Yan Jun''s life!


    A battle erupted and during that battle, the petite young man actually died, he was easily stabbed by the people.


    They wore purples robes and had expressions of not evil, but rather good, but their laugh and actions showed otherwise.


    The petite young man wasn''t just stabbed, the blade which was used was stuck there which gave him great pain, in anger, Yan Jun burnt her own life essence and had a minor breakthrough which allowed for her to kill those of the unknown sect.


    With her minor breakthrough, but also life essence hurt, she slowly went back to Lightning Hall with Kong Hu, remembering the life of the petite young man, when she returned, she entered meditation and didn''t leave for sixteen years....


    The day that she left meditation, she immediately married an Elder, at that time, Kong Hu was actually called Yan Hu, but when she married the Elder. This elder was quite lecherous, and because of thatKong Hu didn''t want to associate himself with that Elder and decided to change his surname to Kong.


    Though his surname was also Yan at that time, it was actually a slightly different Yan, with it being pronounced slightly ever so different, however, it was written virtually the same.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Regardless, he didn''t want to be known to be related to the Elder and only used the surname Yan when talking to his Mother.


    After a year, Kong Hu decided to leave, for the next sixteen years, he lived his life in misery as he barely progressed from as he left a Spirit Acolyte of the Middle Foundation to a Spirit Master of the Late Foundation.


    At the age of thirty-three he thought of ending himself, but who would''ve thought that as he was scammed for a fake treasure map, he found a strange cave.


    The cave turned out to be an inheritance from an Expert, it read on the ground of the grave which the Expert made for himself,


    "Here be I am, I am Eternal, Everlasting and the Emperor of Every Generation, know my name, it is, Fu Ming! Thousands have carried the name before me, and they have been likewise."


    Kong Hu was shocked, for a second he believed it to be false, then he read the next sentence.


    "I am one person, but I have been thousands, I Fu Ming have been Emperor of the Fu Dynasty, Overlord of the Westsea.... Potentate of......Celestial Master of Lightning....."


    The titles were many, but what was most surprising was that Kong Hu didn''t know if a Fu Dynasty ever been existed.


    Then he looked below and saw another sentence.


    "Here be you are, regardless of who you are, you are now Fu Ming, Lord of all those below the Heavens and....."


    Kong Hu didn''t understand, but he moved a bit closer to the words, suddenly, a face appeared out of nowhere, it went on his face and it disappeared. (No pain involved)


    Kong Hu didn''t realize, but it actually merged with his face, and he no longer looked the same....


    Kong Hu then decided to continue his travels, as he went, people began to look at him more respectively, his face looked far more mature and had a hint of wisdom.


    Even his aura and essence had changed, his voice also had a slight change that wasn''t evident.


    One day, he looked in the mirror and saw himself....


    He was shocked and dismayed, he kept rubbing his face, but nothing happened....


    At the very same day, he saw a group of Emergents bullying a mere Foundation Cultivator, he tried to avoid them, and one of the Emergents accidentally bumped into him.


    When seeing him, the group immediately dispersed as if they were afraid, the Foundation Cultivator thanked him apparently, on the grounds that he saved him.


    Kong Hu knew that it was his face that was the reason, but he was still a Spirit Master... Not an Emergent....


    After a year, he found out that he could actually change his face, doing so would also change his aura and essence....


    He realized that this was the perfect disguise, he was jovial, exuberant and happy beyond measure.


    Changing his face with a thought, he became amazed, at the same time, he accidentally took a Yang Pill and it inflicted with his natural born Yin Qi, the suppressing stop.


    Kong Hu tried to eject it outside of his body, but as he tried, both Yin and Yang collided with each other, and then lightning in a straight line appeared, it completely broke a nearby boulder and went on through several meters....


    Kong Hu then decided to only use such as if he was pretending to be Fu Ming.


    For the next few years, he lived a good life, he laughed with friends and rarely used his Fu Ming identity, but when he did so, he would demonstrate the lightning and challenge a few experts for some materials.....


    As Fu Ming, Kong Hu could feel his power neared Transition.... But that was uncontrollable and untamed, it could only go in a straight line and Kong Hu might even sometimes have recoil.


    He even once accidentally destroyed a building where men and women were bathing next to each other only blocked by a somewhat thick wooden wall.


    Thankfully nobody ever found out.


    Before Kong Hu even knew it, with such resources because of "generous" Experts and even the Master of the Spitfire Cultivation Method, he became a Spirit Lord.


    He lived without worries, but one day, he heard that Yan Jun was actually near her deathbed and many were asking for physicians to cure her.


    Though Kong Hu changed his surname, everyone still called him Yan Hu, which he only liked his Mother calling him such.


    At this time, the Elder was older, he was also wiser and no longer lecherous, he was now a gentle and quiet old man, he even lost his right leg for Yan Jun as well as his left arm to get a special Pill which would help her in the illness.


    Kong Hu looked at the Elder straight at the face, there was a moment of silence, the Elder smiled and entered meditation knowing that Yan Jun probably wouldn''t survive, he shed a tear and disappeared.


    Kong Hu went to his Mother and seeing that the illness was great, but he realized something, this was no illness, she was pregnant, for some reason, he looked at the Pill and he recognized it, it was the Meridian Step Pill, it would allow for the children of the Mother to have a boost in their Meridians.


    It would even help the Mother to survive, he knew that the Elder likely meant and had good intentions, but he knew something else, Yan Jun shouldn''t have been this ill due to pregnancy....


    He looked and looked but couldn''t find a single reason, he decided to wait and watch, as the maids helped, he could do nothing but watch, after a few minutes, the baby was born.


    Yan Jun was incredibly weak, she seemed to have just woken up from having fainted, she seemed to be cursed, but Kong Hu couldn''t tell properly.


    Yan Jun saw the face of Kong Hu, her heart skipped a beat, she started to cry and said, "Hu''er.... You look just like your Father.... But your little Brother... He looks just like me"


    She smiled and gave Kong Hu a little hug, then she closed her eyes and collapsed.


    Kong Hu kowtowed and saw Yan Mo who was simply careless and unknowing of what happened, he picked up Yan Mo and smiled.


    The two lived a normal life, Yan Mo was quite quick at cultivating, it made Kong Hu''s speed seem like a snail...


    Ten years passed as if it was a flash, the Ancestor seeing upon Yan Mo, decided to take him and give him a marriage contract with the Bren Kingdom Sect''s Second Princess, Kong Hu decided to intervene, however, was unable to turn the contract.


    The next day, a man named Fu Ming appeared in front of the Bren Kingdom and the contract was rescinded.


    The name Fu Ming within Ven Country was quite famous, it was after all a Great Kingdom, unlike the Bren Kingdom which was only a normal Kingdom.


    But nobody knew what Fu Ming did to make the Bren Kingdom rescind the agreement.


    The Ancestor did it again, but Fu Ming''s name popped out again, then Kong Hu stated that the Ancestor shouldn''t do so anymore.


    In his rage, the Ancestor made it so that Fu Ming''s branch, just newly established, had to go to the Lightning Shadow Zone every week.....


    However, he wasn''t blinded by rage, and therefore other than also grounding Fu Ming, didn''t make it impossible for Kong Hu to survive, as he knew that Kong Hu would be able to survive within the Lightning Shadow Zone.


    But he never imagined that a mere Spirit Acolyte would be sent there, even he didn''t know how the Lightning Shadow Zone worked.


    At this time, Kong Hu and Yan Mo''s relationship had been greatly damaged, Kong Hu was unable to see Yan Mo, and during that time, for the first three years, he spent all his time Cultivating, and eventually became an Emergent straight away capable of challenging Middle Stage Emergents.


    At the end of the third year, eventually people came to join his Branch and his personality changed, they were his only contacts and only people to speak to, how could he not be influenced by them?


    At the fourth year, he became brave enough to leave his designated area despite being grounded, then the Vice Sect Master came to stop him, but the Vice Sect Master was blown away and Kong Hu''s name spread everywhere.


    Yan Mo came to see him, they both looked at each other, but Kong Hu saw that Yan Mo had changed as he had been gone.


    For the rest of the years, they stopped regularly talking to each other, rarely would they have a full conversation....


    But one day, like the Fourteenth Emperor and his Brother....................


    A choice would have to be made.....