《The Taboo Entity》


 Chapter 0: The White Figure (Part 1) (Edited)

    Within a vast forest, a deathly silence covered the terrain. Silence was not irregular within the vast forest, however it was not a natural quiet as it felt more tensed and deadly as though a knife was pressed against a man''s throat, still and horrifying.


    However, something broke apart the tensed silence. An earth-shattering roar thundered throughout the forest as the many creatures that were resting suddenly got scurried off to somewhere.


    On top of a mountain, an enormous figure could be seen standing on it. It was a huge tiger with white furs and black strips. Its eyes were golden and on its back were three pairs of heavenly, pure white wings.


    This tiger was known as the Six Winged Tiger God and it was one of the mighty kings of the vast forest. This creature was the descendant of a Beast God and possessed an extreme rich bloodline, acquiring the powers of its ancestor.


    Though it was majestic creature, the Six Winged Tiger God had patches of red on its white fur. It was blood. The white tiger breathed heavily as it stared upward, directing its anger and murderous wrath toward a white cloaked figure.


    The white cloaked entity was around six feet tall and slender in shape. The white cloaked figure raised its arm and a swarthy hand appeared. From the hand a brilliant light flashed and a black spear appeared.


    The white cloaked figure looked the white tiger below. "Little devil, give up! I''m tired of all this chasing and battling. You can''t beat me anyways so why push any further? Just let me kill you now so I go back home."


    The six-winged tiger looked at the white figure and roared, crazed and hateful toward the white figure above it.


    The white figure looked at it and sighed, "Fine...you''ve gave me no choice, but to do this."


    The white figure tossed the black spear at the beast in which it roared in agony. However, several more black spears suddenly descended from the sky as it pierce the tiger.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    The tiger continued to roar in agony as it turned towards the white figure. Astonishingly, the tiger spoke in human speech towards the white figure, "Damn you! Damn you! Damn you! Why are you doing this to me?!"


    The white figure looked at the white tiger and coldly snorted, "Why? You ate the juniors of my Angelic Heaven Church so how can I let you go? Even if they weren''t all that amazing, for someone of your figure killing the weak is not something I can ignore. Also you¡¯re not a Tiger God. That fake aura you have pisses me off."


    "Y-You seen through my disguise?"


    "Of course I have. I''ve killed a few Bloodshape Demons and am quite familiar with that innate disguising ability. In fact, if a kill a few more of you, I might actually gained enough data to make a disguising technique."


    The white figure in the sky laughed softly.Immediately, the "tiger god" angrily roared at the white figure. As it roars the white fur on its body started to turn black and its stripe turned red. A berserk, evil aura was suddenly unleashed as the black tiger lunged toward the white figure.


    Under his cloak the white figure sneered. Another black spear appeared in his hand once more and he struck out. Facing the black spear the black tiger felt a horrifying chill that send most of its fur standing. The black spear was like the finger of death, carrying an intense and demonic power that wanted to slaughter everything.


    The black spear pierced through the black tiger''s skull and directly struck its brain. At the same moment, the tiger shivered and hatefully stared at the white figure.


    "Y-You..."


    "I what, huh?" The white figure sneered.


    "Die!" The black tiger let out a final roar. A radiant bloody light was suddenly released from the black tiger''s body.


    "Not good," the white figure thought.


    The bloody lights then condensed into a red sphere which soon turned black. Then, the black sphere exploded!


    BOOM!


    A massive explosion erupted in the sky which traveled for hundreds of miles. Everything caught up in the explosion immediately turned to ash.


    The trees and plants on the ground turned to ashes.


    The scattering and running animals that escaping the fight between the white figure and "tiger" also turned to ashes.


    The explosion, though powerful and terrifying, lasted for only a minute.


    After the explosion stopped, a terrifying silence cloaked the forest once more. At the same time the silence appeared, a bloody piece of cloth started to drift down from the sky and onto the earth. Once it landed on the ground the bloody cloth too burned to ashes.


    Everything within the range of a thousand miles was completely incinerated into ashes. Along with smoke, the scent of blood filled the air.

 Chapter 0: The Azure Flower (Part 2) (Edited)

    One week after the battle between the white figure and Tiger God-morphed Bloodshape Demon, a group of people appeared at the desolate and dark zone that stretched as far as a thousand miles.


    They wore white cloak, similar to cloak that the white figure wore. The white cloak were outlined with black and on the back of the cloak, a cross with wings could be seen.


    These people were of the Angelic Heaven Church, the Paladins.


    The Paladins are a group of elite warriors who trained since young to defend and fight for Angelic Heaven Church. They carried out secret missions, performed divine ritual, and helped out the masses. They''re reputation were good and although some aren''t all that friendly, they were all noble, virtuous, and good willed.


    However, at this moment these valiant and prestigious warriors all had cold faces under their cloak. One of them stepped out of the group and kneeled one knee down to the ground. It was a woman, who reached out her hand and touched the earth.


    A mysterious golden light engulf her as she muttered slowly under her cloak. The Paladins behind her were silent and each held a solemn expressions as they watch the woman performed a mysterious magic.


    Soon the woman stopped muttering and the golden glow died out. The woman hurriedly stood up and smiled at the group, "I can feel it! He''s alive!"


    The paladins all let out heavy sighs as they too smiled at each other.


    "Although he''s alive, he''s heavily injured. Let''s go, he headed east." The woman said toward the paladins. Three pairs of golden wings emerged from her back and she flew up toward east. The other paladins too grew wings behind their back, however, they had white wings rather than gold, and flew in the same direction as the woman.


    The group was flying at an astonishingpace of thousands of miles per hour, surpassing the speed of Mach 5.


    "You better still be alive when I get you bastard," The woman muttered under her breath as she suddenly accelerated, almost reaching the speed of Mach 6.


    .....


    Ten thousand miles away from the paladins, a young man was limping in the forest alone. He was tall, swarthy, and had a head of white hair. His eyes were bright and lively with golden pupil, giving them a brilliant luster. In the young man''s hand was a torn up and bloody white cloak.


    This young man was the white cloak figure that fought against the Tiger God-morphed Bloodshape Demon, a paladin of the Angelic Heaven Church, Leylin Ashwood.


    "Damn that thing," The young man cursed. "If my power wasn''t sealed by that old man, I wouldn''t be like this. So what if I ate one of his cattle, doesn''t he have a crap ton more anyways?! If this master wasn''t so amazing, this master would''ve been killed!"


    Before the Bloodshape Demon completely self-detonated, Leylin used a special and magical item called the Instant Flash Coin which teleported him ten thousand miles away. However, the he didn''t pull out the coin fast enough to teleport so some of the explosion managed to damage Leylin before he escaped.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    "Damnit, now I can''t even go back to get its core. The core of a Star-level demon could sell for a fortune!" The young man loudly lamented.


    Leylin continued walking until he saw a speck of blue in the distance. He walked a little further and spotted a lake.


    "Water!" Leylin, though limping, rushed to the lake. Once he reached the shores, scoop a handful of water and started drinking. As he drank the water, a warm feeling rose in his body and he felt himself feeling more refreshed and stronger. He continued this process seven times until he stopped.


    "This water is quite good-it actually has Celestial energy in it. Not only is it helping my wounds heal, but also rejuvenate my strength."


    Leylin took out a bottle and started collected some of the lake water. He then took a out a tiny coin and planted it on the ground. It was an Instant Flash Coin.


    "I''ll mark this place for now and once I return back to the church, I''ll come back and collect some more water."


    Leylin decided to take one more drink as he kneeled down and scooped out another handful. However, the previous warm feeling he got from the lake water didn''t appear again.


    "Hmm? There''s no more Celestial energy?" Leylin was stupefied. Just a moment ago the lake water contained Celestial energy and he clearly felt himself healing. How was it that there''s no more Celestial energy?


    However, at this moment, Leylin suddenly felt a terrifying force near him. Almost a hundred feet away from him to left, an azure pillar of light suddenly appeared.The azure light pillar shot to sky like a spear and pierce through the cloud.


    Leylin felt a majestic force from the azure light pillar that completely stunned him. He jumped up and landed on a boulder that can near him. As he look on, he saw an amazing phenomenon.


    Almost a hundred feet away from him, there was an azure pillar at the center of the lake. However, at the center of that azure pillar was an azure flower bud. As Leylin stared at the azure flower bud, the majestic and terrifying aura that he was feeling amplified.


    This flower bud was the true source of the majestic and terrifying aura that Leylin felt!


    Then, after a minute Leylin saw the azure flower bud, the flower bud...slightly opened.


    The azure flower was blooming!


    In the next second, the flower completely bloomed!


    The moment it bloomed, a powerful shockwave spread across the entire region. Leylin was knocked back and fell off the boulder. The lake erupted and cries and roars could be could heard in the distance.


    Leylin quickly got up and, staring with his golden eye, he stared at the azure flower again and once again, was stunned.


    However, this time, what he saw was truly stunning. What he saw could be entitled to be one of the most, if not, the most shocking phenomenon in his or anyone''s life.


    At the center of the azure lake was an azure pillar of light.


    At the center of the azure pillar of light was a newly bloomed azure flower.


    And on the center of the azure flower...was an infant!


    The moment the infant appeared the azure pillar started to dissipate. The majestic and terrifying aura also started to disappear. Leylin, feeling the aura going away, grew three pairs of black wings behind his back and advanced carefully toward the mysterious infant.


    As he arrive at the azure flower, he gently pushed one of the azure flower''s petal away and stared at the infant. The infant had a black hair and had skin that pale white.


    As though he knew somewhere was staring at him, the infant opened his eye and stared back at Leylin with its clear, beautiful azure eyes.


    Two pairs of eyes stared at each other, one golden the other azure.


    Leylin carefully put his hand under the infant and lifted him up.


    "Blue eyes that are as clear and vast as the azure sky. Since your eyes are clear and blue seems to be centered on you, I¡¯ll name you Caelum. Caelum Ashwood."


    Under the azure sky and radiant sun, a man and a child looked at each other curiously. Soon a smile appeared on both their faces as the man, with the child in his arm, flew into the distance.

 Chapter 1: Devil Descending to the Angelic Heaven (Edited)

    In Sky Silk Empire, the Holy Spirit Cathedral stood atop high on Sky Rich Mountain. Preachers, priests and nuns could be seen walking throughout the cathedral.


    The Holy Spirit Cathedral was set up by the first generation Holy Spirit Cardinal of the Angelic Heaven Church ten thousand years ago atop Sky Rich Mountain. It was gifted to the cardinal by the Sky Silk Emperor of that time. Since the creation of the Holy Spirit Cathedral, the title of Holy Spirit has been passed onto seventeen cardinals. At the present, the eighteenth generation Holy Spirit Cardinal was in command of the cathedral.


    Inside the Cathedral, a child was currently kneeling down in front of a golden armored figure. The figure was a man who had an extremely handsome face and calm air to him. However, anyone who looked at him closely would realize that his aura was sharp like a blade and calm like a weapon readied to strike out.


    The man turned around and stared at the young man for a bit before saying, "Child, how long have you been in the church for?"


    "Twelve year, unc-sir!" The child hastily replied.


    "Twelve year, huh?" The man replied, "I remembered when I when picked you from a lake all those years ago. Now fourteen years flew by in an instance and now you have longed since been readied to follow the path of the stars."


    The child looked up at the man and said, "Uncle, I don''t understand. Why is it that I can''t follow the path of the stars in the Angelic Heaven Church? The Angelic Heaven Church is a holy land and even if my talent is average, the church lacks no resources. I can still be a bishop or cardinal of the church."


    The child pleaded at the man, but the latter shook his head, "Like I already said, Caelum, the church isn''t the right starting point for you. Trust me, I''m an expert of divination and can already see that if you start following the path of stars here, you''ll never even reach the rank of priest, much less bishop or cardinal."


    "That doesn''t make sense! How can me staying here ruin my path to the stars!?" The child angrily said.


    "The holy ground of the Angelic Heaven Church has been rejecting you, Caelum. You of all people should know this by now," The man sighed. "Why else do you think that you can''t gather Celestial energy? In fact, if not for my special charm, you would be feeling pain right now."


    "Look, Caelum, I know that you feel frustrated so I''ll do my best to help you follow the path to the stars, okay?"


    "Yes, uncle." The child raised his face. His jet-black hair swayed gently as he move and his blue eyes, though pure and clear, contained anger and stress.


    This twelve years old child was Caelum Ashwood, the infant founded and raised by the man who was wearing the golden armor, Leylin Ashwood. Fourteen years after the blooming of the azure flower, many events occurred to Leylin during these times.


    After returning to the Angelic Heaven Church, Leylin was heavily rewarded for his service. Although he was being punish by performing dangerous task for eating one of the cattle of the Angelic Heaven Pope while drunk, he was heavily injured and thus received compensation and was released from the sin of a cattle of the Pope.


    Soon after, he got a promotion after battling another powerful demon and obtained the Core of the demon. He, who was acardinal of the time, was promoted to being a Titled Cardinal, the Holy Spirit Cardinal.


    Leylin Ashwood, the current and eighteenth generation Holy Spirit Cardinal!


    Although it has been a smooth ride for Leylin over the year, Caelum hasn''t been fortunate. Most children around the world would follow the path of the stars since five or six, absorbing Celestial energy and becoming warriors.


    However, Caelum, though tried many times, never has been able to absorb or come into contact with Celestial energy. In fact, Celestial energy would actually harm him and only if Leylin hadn''t handed him a special treasure that blocks Celestial energy, Caelum would be screaming in pain right now.


    "I shall leave now, Your Highness." Caelum stood up and exited the cathedral.


    Watching him leave, Leylin had a complicated and helpless expression. He silently turned around and looked up, staring at the statue of an angel.


    "The great calamity will arrive soon and the Angelic Heaven Church can''t escape it. I''m sorry, Caelum, but you can''t be here."


    Leylin muttered silently as a tiny tinkle sparkled in his eyes.


    .....


    Below Sky Rich Mountain was a tiny blue lake that shimmer and twinkle from sunlight. A black haired boy was sitting on the shores as his leg swing back and forth in the water, making splashes that occasionally wet his clothes.


    "Stupid Uncle Leylin," The black haired boy said.


    This child was obviously Caelum.


    "Little Caelum, what''s wrong?" Someone asked.


    Caelum turned his head around and looked at a beautiful, white haired woman who was walking toward him.


    "Aunt Hera!" Caelum got up and ran toward the woman with his bare, wet feet.


    He jumped up and hugged the woman. "Aunt Hera you''ve been gone for so long. It''s been half a year since I''ve seen you!"


    "Yes, yes, yes. I''m sorry child, I had an important mission to do that''s all." The beautiful lady said.


    This beautiful lady was Hera Debs, a high ranking Paladin of the Angelic Heaven Church. Twelve years ago she was in the group of Paladins that was sent to find Leylin after his battle with the Bloodshape Demon. At the same time, she was also present when Caelum was still an infant and soon became one of his many guardians inside the Church.


    Although the influence and prestige of the Angelic Heaven Church was peerless, it was only comprised of a few hundred members, all of which were adults who were great Paladins. Being the only child in the Angelic Heaven Church, everyone treated him with affection and spoiling him.Fortunately, Caelum wasn''t arrogant and didn''t take what was given to him for granted.


    "Aunt Hera, do I really have to go somewhere else?" Caelum asked.


    Hera''s eyes revealed pain as she quietly said, "Yes, child. You have to go, but don''t worry, we''ll send you to a good school and there you can still follow the path of the stars."


    "But it''s so far away from the church!"


    "Don''t worry child, we''ll come visit you from time to time," Hera said. "I promise."


    Caelum looked down dejectedly before nodding.


    "Good child." Hera stroked Caelum''s hair before saying, "Come, and let¡¯s go to the lake. I''ll show some water magic."


    Caelum looked up again, his eyes flashed with joy. They both walked to the lake again and laugh as mystical creatures composed entirely of water dance around them.


    .....Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    The moon hung high in the sky. In a hall within the Holy Spirit Cathedral, four golden armored figures were sitting on four golden thrones. These four figures were the echelon of the Holy Spirit Cathedral, the Holy Spirit Cardinal Leylin, and the three Archbishops.


    One of the Archbishops, a red haired, green eyed man, proclaimed, "Lord Holy Spirit, the message regarding the entity that destroy the Sacred Spirit Cathedral has just been received. It is heading this way as we speak sir. What is your first command, Your Highness?"


    Leylin had a very ugly expression on his face as the red haired Archbishop spoke. The Sacred Spirit Cathedral was one the seven great cathedrals of the Angelic Heaven Church. It was built twenty thousand years ago, being twice the age of the Holy Spirit Cathedral and was an extremely strong faction within the church.


    However, the Angelic Heaven Church received news a year ago that this mighty faction has justannihilated by a mysterious entity. News regarding the destruction of the cathedral said that a dark cloaked figure descended from the sky and with a wave of its hand, countless shadows rained upon the cathedral.


    The Sacred Spirit Cathedral and everything around it in a thousand miles radius has been engulf in shadow and darkness, turning a holy land into a desolate region. This shocked the Church and the entire world. This calamity damaged the prestige of the Church greatly, however, they were still labeled as a powerhouse.


    "The first objective is to send all of the mortals inside and around the cathedral away. If that ''thing'' comes here then they''ll definitely die. Prepare the Instant Flash Array immediately!"


    Under Leylin''s order the red haired Archbishop stood up and said, "Yes, your Holiness." He then walked away.


    Leylin looked over at another Archbishop and commanded, "Baron, you tell the other priests to set up nine layers of restrictions array and twelve layers of defensive arrays all over the cathedral and surrounding area."


    Archbishop Baron silently stood up, bowed, and disappeared on the spot. Leylin then looked at the last Archbishop and said, "Lilith, setup ten Battle Angel Formation now as well."


    The last Archbishop stood up and bowed and she too disappeared on the spot.


    "Hah...to think that something like that would arrive on Planet Angelica is bad luck. Why would a jinx like that arrive on the planet so suddenly?"


    Leylin signed heavily as he once again looked up at the angel statue. The angel statue portrayed an angel with twelve wings wearing valiant armor and wielding a holy spear.


    Leylin looked at the statue and silently muttered, "Lord of War, for what is the reason that evil has befallen upon the church."


    At this moment, a whisper sounded in his ears, "Let me tell you instead."


    A terrifying chill roused inside of Leylin. A black spear materialize in his hands as he turned around and struck out. His spear immediately hit something and was stop in place. However, what stopped his spear were two fingers that held onto the spear head.


    The chill intensify in Leylin as he backed away. In front of him was a dark cloaked figure that had a dark red arm stretched out from underneath.


    "Who are you!?" Leylin yelled at the dark cloaked figure.


    At the same time a single thought flashed in his head, "The mysterious being!"


    "Me? Hahaha! You don''t deserve to know me, but I''ve made it a commitment to tell who I am before I kill them," The dark figure laughed. The dark figure then dashed forward with its blood red arm still stretch out.


    It then plunged its arm toward Leylin''s chest and pierced the through the latter''s armor, ripping out his heart that was gripped within its hand.


    "You-You...," Leylin stuttered as blood leak through his mouth and his chest bleeding progressively.


    "Remember my name in the Underworld and let it travel with you through reincarnation! I am the demon that will haunt all under the heavens, the Limitless Wraith Emperor!"


    The demon then closed his hand...and crushed the heart!


    He then roughly took out his arm and Leylin, who eyes almost contained no life or vitality, fell onto the floor, dyeing the holy grounds of the Holy Spirit Cathedral red.


    The demon put his hand into his mouth and lick the blood that was all over it. "The blood of an Astral-level half-angel, half-human expert is quite tasty and I''m only getting hungrier."


    The demon laughed and grew a pair of bloody wings behind its back as it soars to the sky, breaking through the cathedral''s ceiling. It raise a finger toward the sky and bellowed, "EVIL''S THREE WORD ENGULF THE WORLD! WRATH!"


    The clouds turned into a black color and the sky turned into a bloody red. Spectators from below look up as a horrified feeling rose within their heart.


    In the bloody sky above, the black clouds were swirling and coming together as they formed an enormous face!


    The face was that of man''s, but looked more demonic and savage, like a beast or devil.


    "BLOOD!" As the demon cried once more, the demonic face...opened its eyes!


    Two pure red eyes that shimmered with a bloody glow illuminated the sky. The face, with its bloody eyes opened, now truly appeared like the face of the Devil or evil god. Anyone who looked at the eyes of the face would instantly go mad.


    Images of war, battles, slaughters, death, and blood would engulf their minds and some spectators that looked up even starting fighting or even murder people that were close to them. Some people even died on the spot or had their head explode.A gruesome scene has already taken place within the Sky Silk Empire before the demon even went all out.


    The demon sneered again before saying the last word in its evil spell.


    "SLAUGHTER!!!"


    With the final word spoken by the demon, the demonic face from above opened its mouth and screech!


    The heaven-shaking sound caused millions of structures to collapse and over half of the entire empire resident had their head exploded and which over one third of the empire resident went absolute berserk!


    At the same moment it screeched, thousands of shadows rained down onto the empire. Looking at the shadows more carefully, the shadows appeared humanoid and even had human faces!


    However, their faces were distorted and looked extremely evil. Wearing black cloaks and moving so fast that they looked like shadows, these humanoid shadows with wicked expressions looked like ghosts!


    Indeed they were ghosts, however, they were the vilest of ghosts that existed in the deepest parts of the Underworld. These ghosts were wraiths!They terrorize, kill, and possess. When they were alive they were wicked fiends in human form that committed countless sins.


    The wraiths descended upon the empire like rain drops from Hell.


    "Help! Help!"


    "Ghost! Ghost!"


    "No, my son!"


    "Grandpa!"


    Countless screams and cries resounded throughout the empire, however, the Holy Spirit Cathedral was the most affected. Being that the Limitless Wraith Emperor directly performed the "Evil''s Three Word Engulf The World" chant above the cathedral, the members of the cathedral were most affected.


    Numerous priests and nuns died from head explosion and many others were corrupted by the wraiths as they killed and did all sorts of other vile actions to their fellow members.


    In the course of a single night, the once beautiful Sky Silk Empire and majestic Holy Spirit Cathedral descended into chaos. Demons laughed and mortals cried. The sound of evil laughter and miserable cry resounded through the land.


    .....


    As the Limitless Wraith Emperor stared below, he saw a woman holding a child in her arm as she flew east. Three corrupted paladins were chasing after them, drools that contained blood and wicked smiles implanted on their once-peaceful faces.


    The woman turned her head around and sadness filled her entire face. Tears welled in her eyes as she reached into her blood-dyed white cloak and threw back a golden orb. The golden orb attracted the attention of the corrupted paladins. They slowed down slightly as the golden orb neared them.


    Then, without warning, the golden orb transformed into an array of golden lights and exploded!


    The corrupted and mindless paladins were immediately engulf in the explosion and died. Hearing the explosion from a distance away the woman tears fell out.


    This woman was Hera and the child was Caelum.


    Before the demonic face that the Limitless Wraith Emperor summoned appear, Hera felt a extreme sense of danger. Then, when the demonic face appeared, she immediately took Caelum and flew to the Holy Spirit Cathedral where she saw the cold, bleeding body of Leylin and corrupted members of the church.


    She immediately knew what was going on and, without looking back at the cold body of Leylin, she flew away while crying and carrying Caelum, who she knocked out before flying up to the cathedral.


    After dealing with the people who were once her friends, she flew for hours until the sight of the demonic face, red sky, black clouds, Limitless Wraith Emperor, and chaotic empire was completely out of sight.


    She looked below and found a tree in which she descended to. Her six golden wings retracted into her body and she laid Caelum down onto the tree before she too rested.


    Hera silently looked at Caelum to check if he was hurt anywhere. After checking him, she immediately muttered nonsensible lines while closing her eyes. Her body glowed with a golden color and some minor wounds that were on her body healed.


    After healing herself, Hera signed deeply, "The calamity has arrive earlier that what anyone has expected. Not even the Pope expected this."


    The Pope who she was referring to was the Pope of the Angelic Heaven Church, Pope Starwell. Before the Limitless Wraith Emperor appeared and the Sacred Spirit and Holy Spirit Cathedral''s destruction, Pope Starwell made a prediction that a mysterious entity would arrive on Planet Angelica that would bring calamity upon the world.


    He predicted that the calamity was profoundly strong, stronger than the entire church or the world powerhouses combined. The Angelic Heaven Church immediately send numerous missions that of which were of two types: collect data of any strange phenomenon on Planet Angelica and silently send the planet''s citizen to another planet.


    Hera was doing the former type mission: collecting data. However, no amount of preparation or collecting data would''ve prepare anyone about what happed today.


    Hera silently looked at Caelum. She stood and hug the boy and silently whispered, "I''m so sorry, little dearest. Don''t worry, we will survive this, I promise."


    However, a cold and sinister whisper echoed in her ears, "What a shame, you''re going to have to break that promise as soon as you made it."

 Chapter 2: The Mysterious Black Card (Edited)

    Hearing a cold voice like that of the Devil''s whisper, Hera turned her head around.


    Draped in a black cloak, with skin as red as blood, a man with six horns and black hair stood there. Staring at him standing there, Hera felt the red man giving off a devastating and demonic aura. The rich scent of blood was around him. He stood there like a bloody, demonic mountain or a demon king that just ascended from hell to dye the world with blood. His six horns were curved upward and were positioned in a way that looked like a crown-a black devilish crown.


    "Wraith Emperor!" Hera quickly stood up and took out another golden orb from her cloak again.


    "Oh, so you know my title," The red man mused. "Wonderful! My influence and prestige has already begun to spread it seems."


    The red man laughed and waved his finger. The golden orb in Hera''s hand turned dark anddisintegrated into dust.


    "Wha-"


    "Little toys like those aren''t even worthy being in my present. It offends me greatly that you would you even consider using such a thing against me and believe that you''ll be fine." The red man laughed again.


    "Tch!" Hera clicked her tongue and a golden sword materialize in her right hand. The golden sword was a single-edged sword with a black hilt decorated in jewels and a white grip.


    The sword looked quiteextraordinary, extraordinarily expensive. Although it was forged with fine jewels and metals, the sword was immensely ordinary in aura. It didn''t compare to the explosive golden orb and looked as though it could be easily broken.


    "A sword?" The Limitless Wraith Emperor stared at the expensive-looking sword. "You want to use something cheap like that to harm me? Well, considering that you brought it out, it shouldn''t be too bad, right?"


    The red man disappeared from where he stood and appeared directly in front of Hera. He lifted his hand, formed a fist, and directed a punch.


    Black-red winds swirled around his fist and an overbearing force suffocated Hera. However, she resisted and slashed out the golden sword.


    The golden sword and the fist clashed!


    The air screamed as a shockwave between the two spread out. The shockwave covered the surrounding trees, blowing and tearing the trees to pieces. The ground below the female paladin and the demon cracked and some rubbles were sent flying as well.Barks and earth soared into the sky like a land tsunami, covering great distance and tarnishing the land.


    Dust floated and covered the air as Hera, who was now holding an unconscious and bleeding Caelum, was breathing heavily. Her right arm was covered in blood and several bloody holes covered her arm. She held onto the golden sword whose blade broke into several shards.


    It was a grotesque sight, however, the red man wasn''t any better.


    His right arm was too covered with bloody holes and covered in black colored blood. One of his horn was chipped and his black cloak was torn to shred, drifting away in the winds.


    The red man''s face was extremely dark as he stares at his opponent, "An Empyreal-grade artifact! I would''ve never thought that this small world would have something so rare. Too bad though, an Empyreal-grade artifact isn''t enough to contend against my body strength!"


    "It doesn''t matter if it killed you or not," Hera panted heavily. "Just as long as there''s enough time for him to come."


    As she said that, the red man felt killing intent surge behind him. He turned around and punched out.


    His fist came into contacted with another weapon, a black spear. The wielder of that black spear was a man who wore golden armor, but there was a gaping, bleeding hole in his chest. Around him was a pitch black aura that contained killing intent.


    His aura was extremely similar to that of the red man''s!


    However, in the black aura, long white hair drifted in the wind. That man was Leylin.


    "It''s you!" The Limitless Wraith Emperor was extremely surprise to see Leylin alive and standing.


    "How are you still alive?"


    Leylin said nothing as the black aura around soars to the sky. He brandished his black spear again. Dark winds gather around his spear as he struck out.


    The red man lifted up his hand and a bloody mist swirled around his palm. The bloody mist condensed and turned into a large red mirror.


    The mirror came into contact with the spear and broke. Though the mirror broke, the spear stilled push forward!


    Looking at the spear that was heading to his chest, the red man crossed his arm and blocked the spear head. However, he was sent flying from the force of the spear.


    Like a red star, the Wraith Emperor flew for countless miles until he crashed into the side of a mountain.


    "Leylin!" Hera looked at the man who she thought was dead.


    "Hera." Leylin went in close and hugged Hera.


    "How is he?" Leylin said as he look over at Caelum.


    "Fine, but bleeding on the head." As Hera said that, she put a hand over the wound on Caelum''s forehead and within a few seconds, the wound healed and she retracted her hand.


    Hera looked at Leylin and signed, "So you used that, huh?"


    "Yes," Leylin said. "I had no choice, or else, I wouldn''t get here in time."


    "What are we going to do now?" Hera had a helpless expression on her face as she stared at Caelum''s sleeping face.


    "First, we send him off." Leylin reached into his armor and pulled out a rolled up black scroll. He set the black scroll on the ground and it magically unrolled itself.


    "A Thousand World Vortex Scroll! You''re going to send him off with that?"


    "Unfortunately, yes." Leylin slashed his finger with his spear and a drop of his blood fell onto the center of the scroll.


    "Although it''s dangerous, we have no choice if we want him to live."A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Hera had a hesitating look on her face. She thought for a moment before gritting her teeth and set Caelum down onto the scroll.


    The scroll lightly lit up with a blue glow. The air around Leylin, Caelum, and Hera distorted as a raging wind billow in the forest. At the same moment raging wind appear, the mountain that the Limitless Wraith Emperor crashed in was erupted into rubbles.


    "YOU DAMN HALF-ANGEL! I SHOULD''VE ANNIHILATED YOUR SOUL AND BODY! THIS TIME, I''M SENDING YOU TO MY ENDLESS NIGHTMARE CAULDRON! YOUR SOUL SHALL BE ETERNALLY TORTURED!"


    The Limitless Wraith Emperor bellowed as the wind raged even rougher. Heaven and Earth trembled as the demon roared in absolute hatred and anger!


    Hera trembled slightly and Leylin furrowed his brows as he stared at the direction of crumbled mountain. He then turned around took a silver-colored ring and stuffed it into Caelum''s shirt.


    The air distorted even more as the blue radiance shone brightly.


    "Damnit, that bastard''s rage actually even interferes with the flow of Celestial energy?" Leylin cursed.


    "TRYING TO ESCAPE IN MY PRESENCE!?" A bloody star started to the members of the Angelic Heaven Church. The red man''s eyes were completely black and bloodshot. He punched out with a fist towards the group.


    However, his aim was neither Leylin nor Hera, but Caelum.


    "NO!" Hera sidestepped and opened her arm. The fist went through her body and blood splattered everywhere.


    "HERA!!!"


    Leylin screamed as the black aura surged into a black tempest. The spear once again once again charged forward.


    The demon punched out with the same hand while Hera dangled on his wrist. This time, Leylin was sent flying through the desolate terrain and crashed into several trees.


    The red man growled and slashed out with his arm. Hera roughly flew out from his arm while a gaping hole was through her stomach.


    Leylin, who was several hundred feet away, got back up and rushed back to the battlefield. Seeing Hera on the ground bleeding, tears welled up in his eyes as his killing intent roiled up.


    The red man only sneered at the killing intent until he turned and send a kick to Caelum!


    However, at this moment, a blue radiance appeared and suddenly the red man''s leg was stopped from going any further to the child. The blue radiance was dazzling and beautiful, like the color of the vast and brilliant sky. But, the blue radiance wasn''t from the magic scroll.


    Instead, it was from...Caelum!


    Unbeknownst to anyone, even the Limitless Wraith Emperor, Caelum eyes has been opened this entire time!


    His eyes shone with azure light and a majestic aura was around him. However, Caelum''s eyes were filled with the sense of time and ancientness. Profoundness like the deep sea and boundlessness like the sky were clearly in those eyes, eyes that did not resemble that of a twelve-year-old child.


    "Thou is not allowed to harm this seedling," ''Caelum'' said, but with ancient intent in his voice."He is the last of us, our hope."


    ''Caelum'' turned around and bowed to the corpse of Hera and turned around again to Leylin.


    "This one could not thank thee enough for thy great service of growing this seedling," ''He'' bowed again. Leylin mouth was agape, but no sound came out.


    "As for thy...," ''Caelum'' turned toward the red man, "He shall come back for thy and sever your thread."


    The magic scroll under Caelum shone brighter and brighter until it completely engulf him. The air twisted and turned. The wind raged and earth trembled.


    "Before leaving, this one shall make a commitment in stand for this seedling," ''Caelum said. "Within a century, this seedling shall return. However, whatever this seedling will do afterward will depend on him. This one guaranteed that thou''s church shall be avenged."


    The last line was obviously directed to Leylin who signed in relief.


    With space and time twisting, wind raging, and azure light shining, the magic scroll shone with a final blue glint before Caelum completely disappeared.


    The two men were silent as they stared at the spot where Caelum disappeared. Although the red man was strong and lived for a very long time, he felt a sense of fear when ''Caelum'' mentioned him.


    As the red man was silently pondering, Leylin walked over to Hera''s corpse. He looked at it for a moment before a while before he took out a white sheet from who-knows-where and covered her in it. Surprisingly, the sheet was spotless as it cover her, as though there was no blood on her.


    "Now then," Leylin said slowly. "We had a battle to come back to don''t we?"


    The red man raised an eyebrow at Leylin''s comment. "You want to fight? You''re so strong, so how about this?"


    The red man took a crimson pill from his pockets and presented it to Leylin.


    "Take this pill, swallow it, and pledge to be my servant. You can be one of my mighty generals, the first general."


    Leylin gripped his black spear tightly.


    "If you do, I''ll heal the wound on your chest."


    He gripped it even tighter.


    "Or how about this? I''ll revive that woman and you and she can reunite."


    The Holy Spirit Cardinal turned around. A massive black tempest swirled around him as he flew up. Eight massive black-golden wings spread out in a majestic manner.


    "The day I serve you will be the day that I, Leylin Ashwood, have truly died! DIE, LIMITLESS!!!"


    A black spear in hand, wearing golden armor with a black aura around him and eight wings behind him, the angel of war and death descended down to clash with the demon.


    The demon only signed before laughing and jumped up. The Heaven-Earth shattering battle between demon and angel began once again.


    .....


    "Live..."


    "Survive..."


    "You are our hope..."


    "Do not let us down..."


    "Remember your promise..."


    In a dense and luscious green forest, a child was laying on a tree. The child appeared to be five or six years old. He had black hair that reached to his shoulders and had ordinary features.


    The child slowly opened his eyes, revealing a pair of blue mystical and enchanting pupils.


    "Whe-Where am I? Where is this?"The child asked to no one particularly.


    He looked around his surroundings at bit. A pair of intelligent eyes swept through the forest as the child confirmed that he was in a forest.


    "Strange. Although I know that this a forest, I don''t know my name. Could I have had gotten a head injury?"


    The child was extremely intelligent, but he couldn''t remember his own name. However, name or not, the child was able to identify his surroundings and was even aware that he didn''t remember his own name.


    Most people would panic if they found themselves in an unknown environment or lost an important piece of memory, but the child was extremely calm. He even came up with a solution as to why he was in this situation...


    The child looked around again and spotted a pathway. Seeing the pathway, a new conclusion pop into his head: perhaps he was abandoned?


    However, he only shook his head and started going down the pathway. He walked down the pathway for two miles until he reached the end of it.


    At the end of this pathway, a small shrine was constructed. At the center of the shrine was a small black-golden idol that was sitting in a crossed-leg position.


    The black-golden idol had mix features of a deva, buddha, and demon with its six arms, a golden crown on its head, a ferocious face, and three eyes. A body carved from black gold with bulging muscle and power, a physical representation of might, strength, and force.


    He walked closer to the shrine and spotted a white bun beneath it. The bun was on a plate and extremely clean. However, the child hovered his hand over the bun for a few second before noticing that the bun was cold.


    However, cold or not, the child started reaching out for the bun. He picked it up, brushed it off with his hand, and start eating it.


    At the same moment he did that, the black-golden idol''s three eyes shone brightly.


    "So you were the one that I was waiting for all those years, huh?"


    An ancient voice came from the idol and the child looked up with a surprise expression. Cracks appeared on the chest of the idol and black small object flew into the child''s head.


    "Ah!" He let out a cry. The black object sunk into his head, but he didn''t feel pain.


    However, that didn''t stop the child from thinking, ¡°Is this divine punishment? I ate the food of this deity so it¡¯s punishing me, right?"


    Once the black object completely entered his he blacked out and collapse on the ground. The lights in the idol''s eyes were also starting to disappear.


    However, a faint laugh came from the idol before the light vanished.


    .....


    "Where am I now?" The child opened his eyes and endless white greeted him.


    "Is this hell?" The child muttered.


    "What hell?! If this was hell, then I rather be going through the Ghost Gate for ten thousand cycles! Then again, the void hell isn''t all too bad as long as you bring something fun along."


    A voice echoed around him and the child, who was startled, started to turn his head left and right.


    "Where the hell are you looking at boy?" The voice said again. "I''m up here!"


    The child looked up and he saw a thin black card. The card was entire black and looked like it was from cheap plastic.


    He reached forward and touch the card.


    [Contact Confirmed! Install Genesis A.I. Program?]


    "What?" The child was stunned.


    [Yes] [No]


    "What is this?!"

 Chapter 3: The A.I. chip of a Human Emperor

    [Contact Confirmed! Install Genesis A.I. Program?]


    [Yes] [No]


    "What is this?"


    The child stared at the black card as a voice echoed in his head. This voice was ancient like the first voice, however, this voice was colder and very stiff. It as though a machine had just talked to him. It completely contrast the first voice which was lively.


    "That''s called an A.I. chip or more specifically, the Genesis A.I. Program." The lively voice echoed out again. Beside the child, a dark golden ball of light appeared. It shone with great brilliant and asilhouette of a humanoid figure could be seen within it.


    As the light start to disperse, a man walked out of the light and towards the child. He wore a black and golden robe with three golden hairpieces that maintained his long black hair. His golden eyes were piercing and bright, excluding an aura of majesty and power.However, when the child looked at those, his head started to hurt and a nuance ofmelancholy formed within him.


    "Yo kid, are you okay?" The man threw a confused look at the child and said caringly.


    "I''m fine," The child said. "Who are you?"


    "Who am I? I am a king among kings; an emperor among emperors! I am an embodiment of good-looks and bravery. Gods fear me, Devils quiver in my presence, dragons bow before me, and all revere me!" The man spoke with pride all over his face. "So who am I? I am one of the Sovereigns of the Heavenly Revelation Era, Human Emperor Qin!"


    The aura of majesty intensify at the man last words and golden lights glittered everywhere in the white space. Golden dragons, immortal soldiers, deities, and demons. Countless figures appeared behind him; all kneeling down while their gazes of reverence pointed towards him.


    However, all, but one person were treating him like that.


    "Um...I''m sorry sir, but I''m not entirely sure what ''Human Emperor'' or ''Sovereigns of Heavenly Revelation Era'' means, so I still don''t really know who you are," The child said calmly.


    The sound of something breaking into thousands of pieces rang out as the man''s expression sunk. The countless golden figures behind him vanished and he stooped his shoulder.


    "To think that someone doesn''t know me in this day and age," The man said with a downcast expression. "Has it really been that long? Has my achievement and glory really vanish in the presence of time?"


    "Sir, I''m sorry, but I have amnesia," The child said with an apologetic expression. "So don''t worry, I''m sure that people still-."


    Before, the child finished speaking, the man''s expression return to normal and he said with a smile, "Ah, don''t worry kid, I was only messing with you. To be honest, I would be surprise if people still know or remember about us Human Emperor or the Sovereigns of the Heavenly Revelation Era."


    The man looked at the black card in the child''s hand and blankly said, "Let start over again. That thing in your hand is an A.I. chip called the Genesis A.I. Program that I created long ago."


    "A.I.?" The child looked at the card in confusion.


    "A.I. stands for artificial intelligence; they''re intelligence that technology and machines have and can perform tasks such as scan, translate, observe, and many more. However, the A.I. that I created, Genesis, is the best A.I. in the universe! It''s a divine artifact!"


    The man''s face was filled with pride as he stared down at the card. However, what he didn''t say was that this was the only A.I. chip in the universe and thus could be considered the best and that only he knew how to create it.


    "Well kid, if you want this divine object then all you have to do is say ''yes'' and you can have it," The man said.


    The child opened his mouth and just before he said ''yes'', he halted. The child pondered for a moment before he closed his mouth and threw a cautious look at the man that said, "Why should I listen to you? How do I know if I''m being scammed into something?"


    The man had a blank expression on his face for a moment before yelling, "Ey, brat! If I wanted to scheme something why would I use you huh? You think you''re so special that I want to scam you? Can''t you do this uncle a favor and just accept my inheritance?"


    The man was infuriated. He, the prestigious Human Emperor and one of the mighty Sovereigns of the Heavenly Revelation Era was actually given a cautious look by a child? Long ago he was given the title of ''Paragon of the Virtuous Noble Dao'' and was esteemed to be one of the most powerful and holy individual in history. However, the child''s questioning look made his red and his heart in flames.


    Seeing the man in rage the child didn''t show fear. However, the rage and distain he saw in the man face when he wouldn''t go so far as to scheme against him made the child believe his words.


    He turned toward the card and said out loud, "Yes." A blue, transparent screen in appeared in front of him.


    [Answer Confirmed! Beep! Installing Genesis A.I Program: 3%]


    The child looked at the blue screen as a long, red rectangular box appeared at the bottom of the screen. In the red box, a similar size blue rectangular box was advancing slowly through the red box.


    Time passed as the blue box was almost thoroughly across the red box.


    [Genesis A.I. Program Installment: 98%]


    [Genesis A.I. Program Installment: 99%]


    [Genesis A.I. Program Installment: 100%]


    [Genesis A.I Program Has Successfully Installed! New Host Confirmed! New Name?]


    The blue screen distorted and then a line appeared on the screen that blink every second.


    "Name?" The child didn''t what the A.I. was referring to; a name for the A.I. or for him?Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    "It''s for the A.I.," The man said. "I made this A.I. a long time ago and haven''t used it because I have my own A.I.. This is the first time it has ever been used so you need to give it a name."


    "A name, huh?" The child looked at the screen and continued to think for a name.


    While thinking he thought of something that he though was quite ironic."This thing that I''m supposed to give a name to is going to a name before even I, its owner, remember my name."


    He continued to think before he blankly, "Eden. I''ll call you Eden from now on."


    The child didn''t know what ''Eden'' meant nor cared. He just felt that the word was pleasing to say and call out.


    [Beep! New Name: Eden! Confirmed?]


    "Yes." The A.I. made another ''beep'' before it said it¡¯s in stiff, but warmer voice.


    [Genesis A.I. Program Has Been Renamed To ''Eden!'' Eden Greets You, Host!]


    After saying that, the blue screen disappeared in front of the child, but the child felt another presence around him and he could tell that it was Eden.


    "Good, now that you''re done let me tell you something about myself." The man walked towards the child with a stick in hands and a pair of glasses on his face.


    The child was a stunned as the man walk over to him. "Where the hell did he get those from?" The child thought.


    The man waved the stick and a black screen appeared. The screen appeared to be similar to the screen Eden used with the child, with the only exception in being black.


    "Genesis, replay and summarize my memories into a play," The man said toward the screens and then countless images flashed through the screen at breathtaking speed.


    However, the child saw every image and completely memorize every frame that was shown. As the child look at the screen, the man started to talk.


    "Long ago, there was a child that was born in Imperial Qin Royal Clan of the ancient Eternal Melody Empire. On the day he was born, seven-colored lights descended from the heavens and numerous divine beasts came by to prostrate in worship to the child. Of the divine creatures that came, a mystical beast that hasn''t been seen in years, the Qilin, went over and kissed the child on the head."


    "Since that day, the child went through many trials and experience endless glory and prestige throughout his life. He made various breakthroughs and was a sovereign in his generation. Very few ever matched his talent as he became peerless Paragon at a very young age. This handsome, powerful, talented, handsome, peerless, unrivaled, and handsome man was me!" The man face was full of arrogance as he talked. However, anyone from his time wouldn''t deny his speech and agreed that he was a hero of his generation.


    "Then, one day, an army of outsiders suddenly appeared and devastated the lands. I, being super powerful, destroyed that army and saved countless worlds, with the help of some friends. Then, I got a nickname from the masses, Human Emperor Qin! It sounded a lot more badass than ''Paragon of the Virtuous Noble Dao'' so I picked it up and that was my official title along with a bunch other title."


    The man continued to talk for no end. Hours or days seemed to pass as the man continued to brag about his life. Then, after a while, the man was finally concluding his story.


    "Ah, it''s time for me to conclude to my tale. My glory ended when I tried to go into this space hole. I then ended up dying in there, but my soul traveled to this idol that I set a long time ago. People come by every now and then to give me offerings and I give them good fortune depending on who they are," The man sighed as talked about his death. "And that''s all to be my story."


    The child yawned once the man finished and said, "I thought that you were supposed to summarize your story, why did it take so long. Also what do you mean you reincarnated from a planet called Earth? And that you were a scientist? And that your name was Michael? Also, how did you die like that? Weren''t you super strong and smart? I feel your story is a lie."


    "What lie?!" The man was infuriated again. "My story was all true! I reincarnated from Earth, arrived in the cultivation world, became an emperor, and died by mistake. It''s embarrassing to say how I died, okay? Be lucky to know how I, the majestic Human Emperor, disappeared from the world."


    "Majestic, my butt!" The child, who had a calm and patient demeanor, began to show fiery emotions as he talked to the man.


    "Tch! Damn brat, let me show you this Emperor''s divine might!" The man stretched out his hands and pinched the cheeks of the child.


    "Ow! Ow! Ow!" The child cried as the man pinched his cheeks.


    As a man and a child were fighting in an endless white space, cries and screams echoed in the white space. After what seemed like an hour, the man and the child were lying down on the white space. Exhaustion were on their faces as they pant and breathe heavily.


    "Damn brat, you''re pretty good," The man said while his two of his hairpieces laid down on the white space. "This Emperor is now tired because of you."


    The child with red cheeks then said, "Tired? You old geezer, you better be down for the count for pinching my cheeks. You didn''t have so hard you know."


    The man got up and put back on his two hairpieces. "Kid, I find your personality to my liking. For someone as young as me, I don''t disciple. Instead, call be big bro and I''ll gift to you some good stuffs."


    "Huh? Big brother? You old geezer, what ''big bro''? Someone as old you is enough to be my ancestor, right?"


    "So what? My age doesn''t mean crap! I''m still young in the inside. Acknowledge me as your big bro and I can give you the dankest of skills and techniques," The man cursed.


    The child stared at the man for a moment before saying, "What would I need skills and techniques for, huh?"


    "What?!" The man''s eye were round like saucer. "You don''t want power? Why?"


    The child blankly said, "I don''t need. There''s no reason for me to have power."


    "Not even if it could help get your memories back?" The man raised an eyebrow at the child.


    The child looked at the man with surprise. "I can get my memory back?"


    "Of course you can. Something is currently sealing your memories and if you cultivate, you can break the seal."


    "Really?"


    "Yes! Anything is possible with power and strength!" The man looked serious at the child. "Well kid, what is it? Do you want or not? Do want your memories back?"


    The child took a moment to ponder. He then looked at the man and said with determined eyes, "Yes! I want power! I want my memories! I want to know why I was in the forest! I want it all! Please give me power, big bro!"


    The child bowed to the man. The man looked blankly for a moment before a smile appeared on his face.


    "Good! From this day on, you are brothers with me, Qin Daozi!" The man declared.


    Qin Daozi pointed his index and middle finger at the child. Two rays of light were launched at the child and a surge of information appeared in him.


    [Unknown Force Has Enter The Host! Beep!]


    Eden''s voice rang in the child again.


    [Identified Force: Two Manual! Accept?]


    "Yes!"


    [Confirmed! Analyzing The Two Manuals! Analyzed Data: 30%]


    [Confirmed! Analyzing The Two Manuals! Analyzed Data: 40%]


    [Confirmed! Analyzing The Two Manuals! Analyzed Data: 81%]


    [Confirmed! Analyzing The Two Manuals! Analyzed Data: 100%]


    [Download Complete! Beep! Two Manual Identified: 1 Body Refining Art and 1 Divine Ability!]


    [Body Refining Art-Divine Asura Idol: Based on the primordial Asura Clan, the Divine Asura Idol is a body refining art allows one to cultivate the body to be the same as the Asuras. Gather the elements and forge a body from the elements.]


    [Divine Ability-Supernova: Based on the death of a star, this divine ability was created by Exalted Celestial Nightsky. Gather energy into a single point to create a celestial explosion.]


    The child stared in wonders at these new techniques that he just received.


    Looking at the child, Qin Daozi smiled with pride again. "What do you think? Big Bro Qin has cool techniques, huh?"


    The child nodded and said, "Big Bro Qin you''re so cool! You have such powerful arts and techniques!"


    The man''s smile widened and he said, "Nah, those are just basic arts that you can cultivate for now."


    However, his expression then turned serious. "I just remembered! You don''t have a name do you?"


    The child shook his head. "Should''ve done that from the start, huh? In that case, let me give you name."


    Qin Daozi closed his for a moment and thought, "Nine seals, nine layers of restriction. Someone sure put out a powerful enchantment to seal this kid memories. The seals are really complex, even for someone like me."


    He then opened his eyes and said with a grin on his face, "I know what your name should be now! From this day on, your surname is Qing and your name is Jiufeng! Qing Jiufeng!"

 Chapter 4: Sea Dragon Restaurant

    "Qing Jiufeng? What does that mean?" The child said.


    "In my times, Qing has many meaning and in this case ''azure''. Jiu means ''nine'' and feng means ''seals''," Qin Daozi said. "So your name is Azure Nine Seals."


    "Why is my name Nine Seals?" Jiufeng asked.


    "Uh...well, doesn''t it sound cool?" Qin Daozi said nervously.


    "I guess?" Jiufeng was still suspicious about the name given to him and he made some idea about it, but erase the thoughts.


    "Anyways, since I''ve given you some good fortune, go back to the real world and cultivate on them." Qin Daozi tap his finger on Jiufeng''s forehead and the white space started to collapse. Light pierce his eyes and Jiufeng closed his eyes in reflex.


    Once he opened his eyes, he appeared back in the real world again. It was nighttime and the sky was glittering with stars. The moon hung high in the sky as small silhouettes of birds flew in the night sky.


    "I''m back." Jiufeng got up and rubbed his head. He felt something wet and when he looked back at his hand, red liquid was dyed all over his fingers. Staring in horrors, Jiufeng got up and said, "Eden!"


    [Yes, Host?]


    "Scan my body." Jiufeng wanted to try using Eden while in the real world. This act was also to analyze the injury on his head.


    [Affirmative! Beep! Scanning Host''s Body!]


    Not even a second pass by before Eden responded again.


    [Host''s Body Has Been Analyze! Results: 1 minor head injury, 1 shirt, 1 pants, 1 ring, 1 pair of shoes.]


    "A minor injury," Jiufeng thought. "All I need to do is get it patched up and I should be good. Hm? A ring?"


    Jiufeng put his hand into his shirt and felt a circular object in there. He took it out and a white ring appeared.


    "This ring..." Jiufeng felt a certain connection with the ring that he couldn''t put in words. He put the ring on his left middle finger. He put his hand high in the air and the white ring shimmered in the moonlight.


    "Time to go find the nearest city or town." Jiufeng looked around and found another pathway. He followed it with hopes that he would reach a residence.


    .....


    The moon descended as the sun rise, shining light upon Black Pinecone City. On Grey Street, an old restaurant was erected on the corner of the street.


    The old restaurant had two story and on the building, a billboard hung high above the entrance. It had two characters on it: Sea () Dragon ()!


    Sea Dragon restaurant was an old, but famous restaurant. It was established 20 years ago by Old Man Hai and is one of the most famous restaurant of Black Pinecone City. In its earlier years, the restaurant''s reputation and prestige spread like wildfire.


    Countless famous individual visited the restaurant over the years. Powerful cultivators, prestigious artist, wise scholars, and government officials were said to have visit this restaurant. Even the Mayor of Black Pinecone City has been seen in numerous occasions to have eaten here.


    As the sun rise, the doors of Sea Dragon opened and a figure walked out. It was old man who wore black clothing and a bamboo conical hat on his head. The old man had wrinkles on his face and a pair of ancient eyes. However, his stature was tall, his eyes carried vitality, and healthy white hair on his head and face.


    This old man was precisely the owner and founder of Sea Dragon, Old Man Hai. Everyone morning, Old Man Hai would usually go out for a walk around Grey and neighboring streets.


    "Yang''er should be coming any moment now," Old Man Hai muttered. "Might as well go now."


    Old Man Hai closed the doors behind him and started walking through the street. Some shop and other restaurant owners also open their doors early and greeted Old Man Hai as he walked by.


    "Good Morning, Old Man Hai."


    "Owner Hai, how are you?"


    "Hello, Old Man Hai."


    Old Man Hai greeted all that talked to and spent some time talking to them as well. He has lived on the street for decades after all and has long since form relations with everyone in the street and some others in other streets.


    Old Man Hai walked around for a long time until the sun rose all the way and the streets were bustling with people. He decided to walk back to his restaurant, however, he took a long path to go back.


    "Hm?" While walking back the old man spotted something beside the streets. As he walk closer to it, he saw that it was a boy who was covered in dirt and patches of red dyed his hair. The boy appeared anywhere to be five or six and his clothes were ripped as well.


    "Oh my." He picked up that boy and put him on his back. "Poor child, who could abandoned you here in this parts?"


    Old Man Hai began to walk back again, however, this time, only with an injured, black hair child on his back.


    .....


    In Sea Dragon restaurant, many customers were sitting down and talking. The sound of talking, eating, and drinking was everywhere in the restaurant.


    A group of men walked into the restaurant and one of them said, "Waiter!"


    "Coming, sir!" A young man walked out of the kitchen and greeted the group of men. "A table for how many, sir?"


    "Oh, Bai Yangjian!" The man had a surprise expression as he stared at the young man. "You returned after so long, huh?"Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "Yep! I returned early so I can help Grandpa Hai with the restaurant. Very few works here after all so I had to or else, gramps might be in trouble, especially with his old age," The young man replied.


    "Hahaha! Damn brat, if Old Man Hai heard that, you would be getting a beating right now!" The group of men laugh as the young man led them to a table and wrote down their orders.


    Ten minutes later, the young man returned with an enormous amount of food of which he placed on the men''s table. The men casually ate, paid for the bill, and left with satisfied stomachs. The young man went over to their table and cleaned up.


    Ding! Ding! Ding!


    The sounds of a bell chiming and footsteps could be heard as the doors to the restaurant was opened. The young man looked up and went over to the doors with a smile.


    "Hello, dear customer. A table for how many, sir?" The young bowed slightly before he straighten his back up and his expression blanked.


    "Gramps, your back!" The ''customer'' who just went in the restaurant was Old Man Hai!


    However, Old Man Hai''s face was serious as he kneeled down and laid down a dirty boy. The young man was surprise once he saw the boy.


    "Wash him up and get him a new pair of clothing. I''ll go cook something up for him. Make it fast."


    Old Man Hai quickly walk to the kitchen and the sound of fire and metal sounded from there. The young man quickly did as he was told. Half an hour later, on the second floor of the restaurant, the boy was cleaned, dressed up, and colors surface on his face.


    His black hair was spread out all over pillow and an old man and young man were beside him, sitting in chairs.


    "Gramps, where did you found this kid?" The young man asked.


    "On the road," Old Man Hai replied. "I found along the way as I was returning to the restaurant. For such a young child to be abandoned, hah..."


    The young and old man continued to talk. As they talk, the eyes of the boy fluttered and then he woke up.


    "Where am I now?" The boy said.


    "Hm?" The young and old man looked at boy.


    "Oh, you''re finally awake," Old Man Hai said.


    "Excuse me, sir. May I ask where I am?" The boy politely asked.


    Old Man Hai thought for a moment, "What a polite child. Could it be that someone really threw him just like that?"


    "You are at Sea Dragon restaurant on Grey Street of Black Pinecone City," Old Man Hai said.


    "Sea Dragon? Black Pinecone City?" The boy pondered for a moment before saying, "I see...thank you for telling me, sir. Are you perhaps the one that save me?"


    "No, no, no, I only picked you up from the road. There''s no need to consider me your savior. You would''ve lived even if I didn''t pick you up," The old man said.


    However, the boy still got up and kneeled in front of the old man. "Thank you, sir, for saving me. I know what would''ve happen if you didn''t pick me up, sir. I truly thank you and if there is, I''ll do anything to repay you for your kindness."


    The young man and old man looked at each other and they both sighed.


    .....


    Time flew by as a month has pass since Old Man Hai picked up and rescued the boy.


    At Sea Dragon, a boy was walking around the restaurant and cleaning the tables with a towel. He thoroughly cleaned all the chairs, tables, and some parts of the floor if they were dirty.


    This boy had blue eyes and black hair that was tied into a ponytail. This boy was the child rescued by Old Man Hai and his name was Qing Jiufeng!


    Qing Jiufeng was originally going down the pathway until he slipped and fell down a slope. The place at where he landed was also the same place where Old Man Hai found him, the side of a desolate road.


    Ever since he was picked up, Jiufeng has been working for Old Man Hai at Sea Dragon. He also learned that the young man''s name was Bai Yangjian and that he was the grandson of Old Man Hai''s friend.


    Bai Yangjian was a cheerful youth and he was very helpful and kind to anyone around him. He constantly advise and help Jiufeng and treated the boy as though he was his big brother.


    "Jiufeng! Come up here and take a bath!" Bai Yangjian''s voice echoed down from the second floor to the first. "Your shifts over, leave the rest to me! Make sure to go to bed early!"


    Jiufeng stopped what he was doing and replied back, "In a bit Big Brother Yang!"


    Three minutes pass by and as Bai Yangjian was walking down the stairs, Jiufeng was walking up. They both talked on the stairs for a bit before both went finally went there ways.


    Jiufeng took off his clothes and descended into a hot, steaming bath tub with flower petals floating on it.


    "Ah..." Jiufeng let out a sigh of relaxation and relief as he felt the hot water touch his skin.


    However, a voice suddenly broke his mood. "Jiufeng!"


    Jiufeng was completely surprised until he put up his left hand and a golden light flashed from his ring. From the golden light, the voice appeared again. "You should use this chance to finally cultivate!"


    The voice was of Qin Daozi''s. Jiufeng recently discovered that Qin Daozi entered his ring after the collapse of the white space. He didn''t how the latter did it, but he didn''t mind it. However, every now and then, he would Qin Daozi say something about him never thinking that he would be the ''old man'' or ''spiritual grandpa'' that lived inside the ring.


    "Whatever that means," Jiufeng thought.


    For the past month, Qin Daozi has been repeatedly telling Jiufeng to cultivate, but the latter has been refusing since he couldn''t find a good place to cultivate. Even during bathing, he didn''t have time as he would use the public bath house where other people were.


    In fact, only for today when the bath house needed to check for recent damages did Jiufeng found time to cultivate, which was now!


    Jiufeng closed his eyes and the image of a book appeared in his mind. On that book was the line: Divine Asura Idol. Jiufeng first time cultivating will be in the body refining path using the body refining art: Divine Asura Idol!


    The book in his mind opened and golden inscriptions and letters flew out from the book. His mind was filled with these golden words as he continued to follow the instructions in this book.


    As Jiufeng cultivate, a gust blew around him as he mediate in tub. The gust then turned into a breeze, which then turned into a small tempest that surrounded him.


    The small tempest then compressed into a small ring of wind. A stream of that wind then entered his body as he mediated on the Divine Asura Idol. Specks of lights appeared in his head and a surge of power appeared in his body.


    Realizing this, Jiufeng knew exactly what happened. He completed the first requirement to cultivate, absorbing natural energy in his body! Be it body refining, magic casting, enchanting, or pill making; any and all form of cultivation must start with the first step which was to absorb the energy of nature into your body!


    The small tempest was in fact a tempest of natural energy rather than one of wind! The natural energy continue to flood into Jiufeng''s body.


    Black liquid and dirt appeared surfaced on his body in the outside world. This was the impurities of his body, the impurities of a mortal before he cultivates.


    When a person starts cultivating, their body would go through a complete change as their body flood with natural energy. This was especially so for body cultivators who focused on cultivating and refining their body.


    As the natural energy flood his body, Eden suddenly popped in his head.


    [Beep! Beep! Host Is About To Reach Star Transformation! Error! Error! Star Transformation Can''t Be Reach! Breakthrough Can''t Be Reach!]


    The natural energy flow in his body suddenly halted. Jiufeng was instantly stupefied. What happened? Why has the flow of natural energy stopped?


    [Beep! Beep! Current Cultivation System Doesn''t Match With New Cultivation System! Switch Cultivation System?]


    "Switched system?" Jiufeng didn''t know what Eden meant by ''Cultivation System'', however he still said yes and Eden responded.


    [Affirmative! Switching Cultivation System! Current System Levels: Star Transformation, Star Rotation, Heavenly Constellation, and Celestial Sea!]


    [Beep! Beep! New Cultivation System: Body Transformation, Spirit Cycle, Spiritual Vortex, and Primal Sea!]


    "New Cultivation System?!" In his head, Jiufeng''s eyes were saucer as a new surge of information was in his head and the flow of natural energy continued again.


    And then, in the next minute, a rumbling sound came from Jiufeng as an aura of natural energy was around. The natural energy flowed everywhere around him as Eden came up again.


    [Beep! Host Has Successfully Breakthrough! Congratulations! You Have Reached Body Transformation Stage 1!]

 Chapter 5: Violet East Air Scripture

    [Beep! Host Has Successfully Breakthrough! Congratulations! You Have Reached Body Transformation Stage 1!]


    Jiufeng opened his eyes and clenched his fist. He felt that his body was tougher as natural energy was naturally flowing inside his body like a river. At the same time, he also felt vast amount of natural energy all around him. It was in the air in breathed in, the water he bathed in, and everywhere else around him. He could sense all the natural energy around him that could be absorb and make him stronger.


    This was the result of cultivating, the result of treading the path of the strong!


    Although he was extremely excited about having natural energy, Jiufeng knew that he was only at the first step of cultivation. An early, weak step.


    Before cultivating, Qin Daozi explained that there were two primary path of cultivation in the world: Body Refining and Energy Refining. Body Refining cultivators usually have advantages over people who cultivate other things such as energy. This is because the body is strengthen by the energy of nature and while those that refined energy only increase the quality of energy that they use and in the earlier stages, it doesn''t amount to much.


    Just breaking through to the Body Transformation Stage 1 of the Body Refining path was equivalent to obtaining the peak-level power of Body Transformation Stage 1 of the Energy Refining path. This advantage continued for a long time for body cultivation, however, just as strong as it is, it''s also hard to cultivate.


    If not for the fact that the Divine Asura Idol was a top-grade body refining art and easy to cultivate in the beginning, Jiufeng wouldn''t have been able to absorb natural energy into his flesh even with other body refining art so quickly in the beginning.


    Jiufeng took a moment to admire the natural energy and power of his body before getting out of the tub, put on clothes, and went to bed.


    .....


    The next morning, Jiufeng woke up and went downstairs for breakfast. On a large table, multiple large dishes were placed around as Bai Yangjian and Old Man Hai were sitting around the table.


    Old Man Hai turned around and said, "Good morning, child, and congratulations on having a cultivation base."


    "Congrats Little Jiu, you can cultivate now!" Bai Yangjian excitedly said.


    "Huh?" Jiufeng was stunned. How did they know that he was cultivating and entered Body Transformation Stage 1 last night?


    "Hm? What with that surprise look for?" Bai Yangjian asked. "Oh! You''re wondering how we know. Well you see, we felt natural energy coming from upstairs. I went up to check and saw natural energy going in and coming out from you. I realize that this was probably your time and so I didn''t disturb and went back to tell Grandpa Hai about it."


    Old Man Hai nodded his head and smiled. "Children usually cultivate at around your age while some naturally absorb natural energy before twelve. Either way, they will enter the realm of cultivation. However, to naturally breakthrough at such a young age is quite an achievement. You have talent for cultivating."


    Old Man Hai went under the table and brought out a black box. He opened the black box and took out a purple, hard covered book and handed it over to Jiufeng.


    On the book were several characters that Jiufeng couldn''t identify and so Eden stepped in and translated it for him.


    [Item Obtained: 1 Cultivation Manual!]


    [Violet East Air Scripture (Volume 1): In ancient times, it was believe that when the early morning sky and sun turns purple, an Immortal has descended to the Mortal Realm to bring good fortune to all. Absorb the violet energy of the sun. Only usable during early sunrise, before noon, and late sunset.]


    "This is a basic cultivation manual that''ll help you cultivate to further stages," Old Man Hai. "It''s a tradition to give children cultivation manuals once they enter the realm of cultivation, so don''t you dare give it back. I know your character by now and can also see your deep desire to cultivate."


    Although a month wasn''t much, Old Man Hai has already gotten a firm grasped of Jiufeng''s personality. He noticed that the boy was kind and didn''t take gifts as much as he given gifts. Thus he handed him this cultivation manual, not truly because of tradition, but because of the boy''s character.


    Jiufeng was extremely happy and said with a smile, "Thank you, Grandpa Hai!"


    "Haha, come! Let¡¯s hurry and eat before the food gets cold." Old Man sat on the chair again and picked up his chopstick and picked up a slice of pork.


    Jiufeng also sat and ate as did Bai Yangjian. However, Bai Yangjian was looking at the purple book in Jiufeng''s lap before he actually start eating. No one knew what he was thinking of, beside Old Man Hai, who quickly glanced at the young man. All three people ate and celebrated before noon as the sun slowly and timely rises.


    .....


    Night ascended as Jiufeng was already asleep.


    On the first floor of Sea Dragon restaurant, Old Man Hai and Bai Yangjian were sitting at a table while a tea pot was releasing steam into the air. The smell of green tea encompassed them.


    "Grandpa Hai, why did you give him the Violet East Air Scripture?" Bai Yangjian asked.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "Why are you jealous?" Old Man Hai said teasing tone.


    "Of course not! But you giving him the scripture if the same as accepting him as your disciple right?" Bai Yangjian worriedly asked.


    "Nope. Although it''s precious to me, that scripture was given to him as nothing more than a present." Old Man Hai poured himself a cup of tea and took a slow sip of it.


    "However, him cultivating in the scripture is equivalent to him following the Daoist path. If he follows the Daoist path, then wouldn''t he be in major trouble in the future?" Bai Yangjian also poured himself a cup and drank.


    "The seed of the Dao has already been implanted in him," Old Man Hai calmly said. "I''m not sure how, but it is. He also has a top-grade Body Refining Art. This child is most likely the descendent of a powerful clan. However, as to why he is here and doesn''t remember anything...hopefully time will tell us."


    He took another sip of tea and remained silent as he watch the stars in the night sky. Bai Yangjian also remained silent. In truth, the cultivation manual that Old Man Hai gave to Jiufeng was something very profound and special. Normally, he wouldn''t give it out, even if it''s for a ritual or tradition.


    Also, the tradition in which the old man spoke of was indeed a tradition, however, it was an old tradition that hasn''t been practiced in many years.No one practiced such a tradition as children at this day and age would be given a cultivation manual instantly as long as they can read the manual.


    The old tradition implied that only when a child gather natural energy and step onto the realm of cultivation on their own will they be given a manual to help them go further.Such a tradition was harsh and natural unpopular and so this tradition has long since been forgotten by many, but not all.


    Bai Yangjian shook his head and sighed. "I guess so. By the way, Grandpa Hai, I was wondering if you''re going to sign him up for Everdawn Academy."


    "Everdawn?" Old Man Hai pondered. "Yes, I was thinking about sending him there. Are the requirement still the same or have the change?"


    Everdawn Academy was an old, but famous educational institution that has existed for countless generations. It was established thousands of years ago and it since its beginning, it has only accepted geniuses. All figures that managed to get in the academy were top talents of their generation and those that graduated the academy were even more terrifying!


    One thing was for certain about this academy though: all that ever got in the academy, graduated or failed, later became extremely famous figures. Some established sects, some made their own schools, and even some went back to their countries and became the leader of it in a few years! No small amount of kings, emperors, sect masters, or leaders came from Everdawn and so the academy had another name under it banners.


    The Academy that Produce Deities!


    Such an academy that produce "deities" held the interest and attracted all sorts of powerful group to send their geniuses over. Be it ancient sects, holy empire, divine kingdoms, large countries, or powerful clans, everyone tried to send their greatest talent to Everdawn Academy.


    However, how could it be so easy to get if you want to? Although it produces "deities", Everdawn had an extremely low acceptance rate!


    In could be said that in one out of a hundred monstrous genius that applies there would make it in the institute! Everdawn had three major requirement for a student to go in:


    1) The child''s age must be below 13.


    2) They must have a cultivation level of Body Transformation Stage 9.


    3) They must be able to defeat a 3-cycled Spirit Cycle Golem.


    The first two requirement were simple, especially for strong organization that have lots of resources. However, the third requirement, defeating a Spirit Cycle Golem was the trickiest one. A Spirit Cycle Golem was a puppet that was created with the same power as a regulator Spirit Cycle-level cultivator, which wasn''t much. However, the distance between the Body Transformation realm and Spirit Cycle realm, although not much, was still significant to a certain degree.


    A regular Spirit Cycle realm cultivator was at least 5x stronger in body or energy compared to a Ninth Stage Body Transformation realm cultivator, depending on the path the cultivators chose and for every cycle that a Spirit Cycle cultivator goes through, their strength and power doubles!


    So, in addition to a 5x superior strength, going through three cycles meant that the Spirit Cycle Golem that Everdawn Academy sent out was at least 20x stronger than the average peak Body Transformation cultivator!


    Although the geniuses that were sent to the academy weren''t average, very few would actually have the power to skip levels and fight what was 20x stronger than them! Alas, it was this requirement that gave Everdawn the name ''Academy that Produces Deities'' and it was fully deserved.


    "The requirements are still the same, unfortunately," Bai Yangjian sighed again. "Little Jiu isn''t going to have an easy time if he wants to get in. Even if he has the scripture to cultivate, he needs cultivation skills to fight against the golem."


    He raised his cup and took a sip again while peeking at Old Man Hai''s face. The latter''s face was still calm and peaceful as his old eyes stare at the night sky.


    Bai Yangjian sighed. "Grandpa Hai, I have a mission tomorrow so I''ll go to bed early."


    "Hm." Old Man Hai made a sound as Bai Yangjian walked upstairs to his room on the second floor.


    Old Man Hai continue to watch the night sky. His eyes twinkled like the stars as a blue glint appeared in his eyes from time to time.


    "The formation of the stars has changed; its has reverse. So another one has fallen, huh?" He said to himself.


    A small green light twinkled in the sky and Old Man Hai looked over. He sighed as he pointed a finger to the sky. In the next minute, the green light faded away.


    "That old geezer wants me to go back now? Hmph! It''s still my vacation time, so unless he wants to go to war, I''m staying here for ten more years!" The old man distainfully said as he stared at the green light fade away.


    At the same time, a blue light launched from his pointed finger and soar to the sky. The blue light was brilliant and excessively bright, like a minature sun. However, no one in Black Pinecone City spotted this light as though it was never there. Not even in residence of neighboring cities could see this light.


    However, distance away, on a mountain, a man in black clothing sighed as he was apparently the only person to see this light. His body was tall and slender, but his face was covered by the a mask and the hood of his clothing.


    "Elder Eastsea has responded. Huh? What''s with this message?" Under the mask, the man had an incredible expression as he stared at the blue light. "How can I possibly take this back?!"


    The masked man was instantly thrown into a mess. The man just received a message from that blue light, but the content of that blue light made him hesitant to send it back to the person who wanted him to send a message to Old Man Hai.


    "What do I do now?!" A tiny cry resounded in the mountains.


    .....


    At Sea Dragon restaurant, Black Pinecone City, Old Man Hai had a smile on his face as he stare into the sky.


    "Now then, time to turn off the lights and go to sleep. This is old man is tired." He turned around and turned off all the lights in the restaurant and went to second floor to his bedroom.


    The restaurant was silent as was Black Pinecone City. On a table somewhere near the windows of Sea Dragon, a tea pot was still seeping tea and steam rise into the darkness of the night, only visible when occasional moonlight shines upon it.

 Chapter 6: Learning from Old Man Hai; The [Rain Dragon Steps]

    Three days later, three miles from Black Pinecone City was small mountain range where Old Man Hai and Jiufeng was walking uphill.


    "Grandpa Hai, slow down." Jiufeng was exhausted after walking for a long time. Although he was a body cultivator, he was at the lowest stage and thus, was only slightly stronger than a regular mortal adult.


    Two days ago, Old Man Hai told Jiufeng to follow him to study cultivation skills. Even with a cultivation base, having no cultivation skill was akin to wasting time. Even with a longer lifespan and being slightly more powerful, all cultivators are deemed as warriors. The moment someone entered the cultivation realm they''re fate changed to be one of battle and conflict.


    Mortals, although not free, were spared from anything to do with cultivators as long the mortal doesn''t choose to do anything with cultivator. A cultivator, even the weakest and lowest level kind, harming a mortal would result in them gathering bad fortune.


    Fortune was a mysterious thing in the both the cultivation world and mortal world. However, cultivators, beings that they always come into contact with the supernatural, would be affected by fortune the most. Good deeds would result in massive good fortune and evil deeds would produce horrible bad fortune that would affect them on the cultivation path.


    Old Man Hai looked at Jiufeng and said, "Come on, Jiufeng. Aren''t you a cultivator? Aren''t you strong? A little walk isn''t much, you know."


    Although the words of Old Man Hai were simple and direct, anyone that would look at him would see that he was moving like a shadow, fast and illusionary. His steps were soft, yet nimble; quick, yet consistent.


    Jiufeng look at Old Man Hai and sighed in his heart. Qin Daozi once told him that Old Man Hai, although appeared mortal, was actually a cultivator-a strong cultivator. He was strong to the point that he was able to hide his cultivation and contain his aura within him.


    He also said the same thing about Bai Yangjian, however, he didn''t disclose their cultivation level to him and he didn''t ask for them either. It was an unspoken rule to never disclose the cultivation level of people who you just generally don''t know or a friend, out of respect of course.


    "Grandpa Hai, how long would it take for us to get to the waterfall?" Jiufeng asked.


    "Just another half mile." Old Man Hai had a smile on his face as he treads on. Jiufeng''s face was downcast as he let out millions of complains in his heart.


    .....


    "We''re here." Ten minutes later, Old Man Hai and Jiufeng arrived before a lake.


    The lake was clear and translucent. A waterfall flowed down onto the lake from a hillside. Trees and flowers surround the lake and the wind blew them. All this made the scenery look like an Immortal paradise, thriving with nature and ethereal to the world.Even Qin Daozi was amazed as he look from inside the ring.


    "Watch, child." Old Man Hai jumped into the lake. Jiufeng made a sound as he look at Old Man Hai heading toward the water. However, when his feet touch the lake surface, Old Man Hai stood there. He stood atop the water as though it was solid, as though the lake was a floor.


    Old Man Hai turned his head. "Jiufeng, today I''m going to teach you cultivation arts. Do you know the categories of cultivation arts?"


    Jiufeng nodded his head. "Uh. Cultivation arts are categorize into four types: attack, defensive, movement, and miscellaneous. The first two types are common types of cultivation arts, but the other two are a little rarer."


    "Indeed. Today, I''m going to be showing you two cultivation art. One attack, one movement. They are known as the [Pentawave Surging Fist] and the [Rain Dragon Steps].


    "Let me show you the former, the attack-type." Old Man Hai clenched his right and made a fist. He turned to the left and punched out.


    An overbearing intent flood out from the old man and his fist seemed to have transformed into a raging river that flowed endlessly. Yet at the same time, his fist also seemed to appear like the center of everything, the core of the world.The air in front of him rippled like ripples on the surface of water.


    The lake below him and the ground shook as a massive column of water rose from the lake. The column of water transformed into a small wave that smashed into the shores. The wave dispersed and water fell onto the trees and flowers.


    Jiufeng felt an invisible wave wash over him as his body shook a little.


    "Such power," Jiufeng said. "That move was awesome."


    Old Man Hai walked over to Jiufeng and took out two thin books. On the books were the words "Pentawave Surging Fist" and "Rain Dragon Steps."


    "I just showed you the [Pentawave Surging Fist] and when I stepped onto the lake, the reason why I didn''t fall was because I was using this [Rain Dragon Steps] movement art.Make sure to cultivate these daily."


    Old Man Hai started to walk away as he wave his hand at Jiufeng without looking back. "Stay here for the day and memorize those two arts. Take your time, but make sure to return before sunset."


    Staring at the back of Old Man Hai who was getting further and further away, Jiufeng silently said thank you and then turned his attention towards the two thin books in his hand.


    "Eden, scan these book." Beeping sounds rung in Jiufeng''s head as he call for Eden.


    [Beep! Scanning Cultivation Arts! Beep! Scan Complete!]


    [Pentawave Surging Fist: An attack-type Cultivation art that contains the Concept of Vibration. Cultivating this skill will allow the cultivator to unleash their energy in waves that could pass through rocks, water, and air. Created by a Daoist Pentawave who cultivated near the oceans. Five stages: One Wave, Two Waves, Three Waves, Four Waves, Five Waves.]Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    [Rain Dragon Steps: A movement-type Cultivation art that contains the Concept of Rain. Cultivating this skill with allow the cultivator to move quickly with complex steps. These steps has a chance to confuse and daze any onlooker. At a higher level, these steps could allow a person to walk on air or on water. Created by the Empyrean Dragon Sage who saw a Rain Dragon fly in the sky during a sea storm. Six stages: Raindrops, Rainwater, Raincloud, Rainstorm, Rain Spirit, Rain Dragon.]


    "These two aren''t bad," Qin Daozi said from the ring. "You should start cultivating with the [Rain Dragon Steps]."


    "Ah! Big Bro, isn''t the [Rain Dragon Steps] much harder to cultivate?" Looking at the description of these skills, Jiufeng saw that the [Rain Dragon Steps] was definitely more profound. After all, if cultivated to an extremely high level, one could step onto the air or water as though it was solid ground. Old Man Hai clearly reached this stage as he could easily walk on water.


    However, Jiufeng didn''t know that he was underestimated its profoundness. A movement-type skill that could allow someone to walk on water wasn''t much in the cultivation world. Although it was rare to have a movement-type skill like these, it''s essentially useless since at some point cultivators could easily use natural energy to tune in with the water and casually stand on the water.


    What was the truly profound and rare about this skill was that it could allow someone to walk on air and even preform the same movement on the air!


    Only cultivators with high cultivation bases and power could actually use energy to walk onto the air. Skills that allow someone onto the air before obtaining that cultivation base was extremely rare. It was akin to having a life saver. Although the person wouldn''t move as fast or as consistent as a high-level cultivator that could walk on air, compare to other people of similar stages and power, that person would be at the top of their cultivation realm!


    "So what if it''s harder to cultivate? Movement skills are extremely hard to cultivate to begin with! Besides, it''s extremely important to learn one. Learning this can increase your chances to survive in this harsh world of cultivation," Qin Daozi said. "Listen to Big Bro, alright? Big Bro can guaranteed that you won''t regret it."


    Jiufeng nodded his head and sat down to cultivate. In his mind, the [Rain Dragon Steps] movement art was in complete view in the form of a book.


    "Let me give you give a hand too." Qin Daozi''s voice sounded in his mind. In his mind, the white space where he and Qin Daozi first spoken appeared again. However, the white space suddenly distorted and now Jiufeng was on a cliff in a mountain range


    Qin Daozi stood beside him and stares around the mountain range and sighed. "This is a place from my memories. It''s called the Mountain Range of Nine Elements."


    Qin Daozi waved his hand and dark clouds form from above. Cold wind blew around them and rain started pouring down. Jiufeng felt that his body was getting damp and sticky. Shock filled his heart and then he pinch himself. He felt pain.


    "Th-This is real? Big Bro, what did you do? How did we get here?" Jiufeng was completely stupefied. How did his Big Bro transported here?


    Qin Daozi smugly smile when he heard Jiufeng''s question. "Don''t worry, I didn''t transport us here. It''s simple really; I used my soul to connect it with yours. Once we were connected, I linked our minds together and now that I''m here I just use my memories to change the scenery. My soul is pretty strong after all and with a strong soul, my memories and mind is extremely strong as well and with a strong memory, I can use it to change the setting in this space that connects our minds together. Once you have a strong soul as well, this Big Bro will teach you cooler techniques!"


    "But until then, cultivate the techniques given to you." Qin Daozi became tiny motes of golden lights and disappeared from where he stood.


    Jiufeng sat down and looked up. The dark clouds, the rain, the wind, the mountain range. Everything seemed so real to him, but it was just an illusion, a piece of Qin Daozi''s memories. He silently admire the power of big brother in his heart.


    Icy winds swirled around him, cold rain pour on him, and the desolate mountain''s silence engulf him. He felt himself more in tune with the environment as time continues and at the same time, he was gaining more insight into the [Rain Dragon Steps].


    At an unknown time, Jiufeng stood up and moved. He move swiftly and nimbly, but also illusionary and ghostly.Every step he took made the water on the ground ripple and even though he took small strides, he was covering large distances in little time.At this moment, Jiufeng looked exactly like and had the qualities of a raindrop: swift, illusionary, and even mystical.


    "Good job, Little Bro. You just mastered the first stage of this [Rain Dragon Steps]." Motes of golden light appear in front of Jiufeng and they came together to form Qin Daozi.


    "I did?" Jiufeng was surprise. He mastered the first stage just like that?


    "Of course you did. You''re currently in rain and your heart was extremely in tune to the environment. Along with the fact that your talent is pretty good and that I''m here to help, you would definitely master the first stage."


    "I see. Ah! Big Bro, what time is it right now?" Jiufeng was anxious. He didn''t know how long he stayed in this mind dimension for and was worried that it was already sunset.


    "Oh don''t worry. This space was created by the link between our souls. With my amazing control over souls, I can even slow time down here to be a million year while in the real world, it would be a second," Qin Daozi comfortably said. "However, my strength isn''t what it used to be so I can''t slow it down that much. You took three days in total here, one while tuning with the environment and the other two for going around in circles when you mastered the first stage. Anyways, eight hours has pass in the real world and the sun¡¯s almost down so I''m going to let you go now..."


    Cracks appeared in the air as the space in front of Jiufeng''s eyes shattered, replacing with the view of a beautiful lake. However, he had no time to admire the lake as he gather natural energy into his body and used the [Rain Dragon Steps]!


    "The sun''s almost down!" Jiufeng use full speed and rush to Black Pinecone City.


    .....


    In Sea Dragon restaurant, Old Man Hai and Jiufeng was eating dinner at a table.


    Jiufeng ate and ate, but out of nowhere, he said, "Grandpa Hai, where''s Big Brother Yang?"


    "He went to another town to run some errands. However, that town is rather far away so he''ll return in a week." Old Man Hai said calmly.


    "Okay." The two ate and then washed the dishes. After that, Old Man Hai sat down on a chair and said, "Jiufeng, I''m going to give you a quiz about the two arts I gave you, okay? Since you came back home late, I''m assuming that you spent quite some time looking at them, huh?"


    "Wait, wait, wait, I was spending some cultivating on the [Rain Dragon Steps]," Jiufeng hurriedly said.


    "What cultivating? You still need to be punish for being late." The old man glared at the boy in front of him.


    After spending a month at Sea Dragon, Jiufeng got a sense of Old Man Hai''s personality.Old Man Hai, although appeared calm, peaceful, and kind, was extremely impatient. Anytime someone was late, Old Man Hai would be extremely ticked.


    When he was came back to the restaurant today, Old Man Hai appeared calm and even casually welcomed Jiufeng in to eat. Although, he was suspicious, Jiufeng didn''t thought much of it and now, he was about to pay the price.


    "No really, I was cultivating," Jiufeng said. "Look!"


    He gathered natural energy and preformed the [Rain Dragon Steps]. Jiufeng''s figure appeared and disappeared at constant rate. His figure was completely blurry to the mortal eye and every step he took was illusionary and profound.


    After displaying the [Rain Dragon Steps] for a whole minute, Jiufeng stop.


    "See, what did I you? I was really cultivating and even completed the first stage of the [Rain Dragon Steps]." Jiufeng''s face was filled with sadness and his expression screamed injustice as he look at Old Man Hai.


    However, opposite of him, Old Man Hai, who was sitting on the chair was agape and stared dumbfound at Jiufeng.


    "Yo-You actually mastered the "Raindrop" stage already?!" A voice filled of surprise resounded all over Sea Dragon restaurant.

 Chapter 7: Heading to Everdawn Academy

    "Yo-You actually mastered the "Raindrop" stage already?!" A voice filled of surprise resounded all over Sea Dragon restaurant.


    "Yea!" Jiufeng stubbornly said.


    "This...this is great! You really are quite something aren''t you?" Old Man Hai had a wide smile, but then his face turned stern. "To be able to master the first stage is quite something, however, your eight hour record isn''t much. There was once a great genius who managed to master the first stage in one hour!"


    Jiufeng nodded to Old Man Hai''s words, but in his heart he was shocked. One hour? Although in the real world it seem like he took eight hour to master the "Raindrop" stage, in truth, it took him three days to master it in the mind space. For someone to actually master it one hour, that person was indeed a real genius.


    Unfortunately, that "genius" Old Man Hai talked about was something he just made up. He created all for the sake of maintaining Jiufeng''s pride. He knew he showed a bit too much surprise so he did this to make that Jiufeng doesn''t grow overconfident or take too pride in mastering the first stage.This pride could transform into arrogance and that arrogance could affect Jiufeng''s cultivation path someday.


    "First stage..."Raindrop" stage...Jiufeng you''re coming with me tomorrow," Old Man Hai said resolutely. "Starting tomorrow, I shall seriously train you! I will make sure that you can go further in cultivation. Now, hurry upstairs and get some sleep, we''re going early tomorrow; before sunrise!"


    Old Man Hai laughed as Jiufeng walked up to the second floor with a downcast expression. Although he was enthusiastic about cultivating, he had a gut feeling that training under Old Man Hai wasn''t going to be something easy. He slept peacefully on his bed as head runs wild with ideas about tomorrow.


    .....


    The next morning, Old Man Hai took Jiufeng to train in the mountains and forests for weeks. Sea Dragon would usually remain close as Old Man Hai was spending most of his time training Jiufeng. Bai Yangjian would return back to the restaurant sometimes and would manage it by himself. However, the three were usually absent and thus, Sea Dragon was the "close" sign was hung on its door for many days and weeks.


    Old Man Hai taught Jiufeng all sorts of thing. He first taught Jiufeng hunting, fishing, and all sorts of basic survival skills. Even with cultivation, people should still know the basics on how to live and survive. Old Man Hai firmly believed in this and there was even a time when he threw Jiufeng into a pit of vipers. Only by relying on the [Rain Dragon Steps] did he manage to survive as Old Man Hai also gave him a rule of not allowing to use anything, but movement arts and skills.


    This type of training went on for a year.


    After Jiufeng developed his survival skills, Old Man Hai was finally teaching Jiufeng about his cultivation arts. With Old Man Hai''s teaching and Qin Daozi''s mind space, Jiufeng made multiple breakthrough in his cultivation base and cultivation skills.


    This type of training went on for three years.


    .....


    Many seasons has pass since Jiufeng started to train with Old Man Hai. The year was now entering spring.


    The sun was slowly appearing in the horizon. Half a mile from Black Pinecone City, a boy was sitting atop a grassy hill. He had his eyes close and his black hair wave along with the early morning breeze.


    He wore a set of comfortable black clothing-a shirt and pants.


    He rotated his cultivation base and streams of natural energy traveled to him. It entered his body and traveled through and nourished his bones, flesh, organs, and blood.


    He took a deep breathe in and an even stronger stream of natural energy was flowing to him. However, if one could see this energy, one would notice that this energy was colored purple!


    Usually, natural energy was clear and invisible. Even to cultivators, natural energy can''t be seen with eyes, however, there are two cases when natural energy can be seen.


    The first is when a cultivator is born with special eyes. These special eyes were natural gifted to them by luck. Their ancestor might have had these eyes or a mutation occurred while they were in the womb.


    The other case when natural energy could be seen is when the natural energy was produced from natural phenomenon or certain events that affect a terrain! Phenomenon such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and thunder storms would produce certain natural energy that corresponds with the phenomenon.


    The other case is when terrains are affected by a large event such as long-time war or a country with years of peace and joy, would also produce certain energy that correspond with the environment.


    In this situation, it was the former case and the purple energy that the boy was absorbing was also known as the Violet Air of the Sun! In ancient times, when the early morning sun and sky turns purple it was auspicioussign of the coming of a sage or the descent of an Immortal. The air would also turn purple and the east where the sun rose would show the mortal world a glimpse of the Heavens.


    As the sun slowly rises, the Violet Air of the Sun that the boy was absorbing was becoming more abundant and richer in quality as he absorbs it. He sat and meditated like this for two hours before the sun rose all the way.


    The boy opened his eyes and said, "The Violet Air of the Sun from the East is truly miraculous!"


    This boy was naturally Jiufeng and this year he was 10 years old. Ever since he started training in the [Violet East Air Scripture], Jiufeng has many multiple breakthroughs.


    First, he obtained a cultivation base of from the Energy Refining Path! The [Violet East Air Scripture] was a cultivation method of the Energy Refining Path after all, so it was natural that Jiufeng would obtain an Energy Refining Path base and after training in it for four years, he manage to achieve Body Transformation Stage 8!


    Then, he made major leaps and bounds in the Body Refining Path. Although the[Violet East Air Scripture] was a cultivation method from the Energy Refining Path, the Violet Air that was gathered from cultivating the scripture nourished his body in the process. The Violet Air was one of the most sacred types of energy out there and was beneficial to everyone.


    Even if most of it went to building his Energy Refining Path, the Violet Air naturally improved his flesh, bones, organs, and down to the smallest cell.In addition, with the [Divine Asura Idol], Jiufeng used that Violet Air in a more orthodox way and managed to advance his body all the way to Body Transformation Stage 9!


    However, his body wasn''t just simply at Body Transformation Stage 9. In fact it was more accurate to label it as Half-Step Spirit Cycle Body!This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The term "Half-Step" refers to a realm that it above the highest stage of a cultivation realm, but below the realm of higher cultivation.His body was "Half-Step" to the Spirit Cycle Realm meaning that it was higher than Body Transformation Stage 9, but below Spirit Cycle. That''s what it means to be at Half-Step Spirit Cycle!


    And finally, his cultivation arts. After four years, he reached the fourth stage of [Rain Dragon Steps], the Rainstorm stage. His movement was now akin to that of an actual rainstorm, quick and blurry to the mortal eye.At the same time, he also cultivated the [Pentawave Surging Fist] and reached the first stage of it, the One Wave stage.


    The rate of what he was going wasn''t the quickest, but for someone of his age, his speed of improvement was monstrous! Most children of his age, in four years, starting at the Body Transformation Stage 1, would advance to the fifth or sixth stage. Even geniuses would advance to the seventh or eighth stage, but Jiufeng, with the help of Qin Daozi and Old Man Hai of course, was definitely a young emperor of his generation!


    Jiufeng stood up and move. He seemingly transformed into a shadow as he head toward Sea Dragon restaurant.


    .....


    The doors of Sea Dragon open as Jiufeng walked in.


    "Hey, Little Jiu." A young man walked towards him. "Welcome back."


    This young man with golden hair, purple eyes, and handsome exterior was Bai Yangjian. After four years, the 13 years old Big Brother Yang that Jiufeng knew was now 17.


    During the time Jiufeng was training, Old Man Hai would usually have him spar with Yangjian and after fighting for numerous times, Yangjian and him bonded to the point that they really were as close as brothers. Yangjian even told him a little about himself.


    Yangjian was born into a good family of nobility and thus, was raised to be formal and kind child. However, Yangjian''s true personality was that of someone wild and fiery. Yangjian had shown that side numerous time during the time they sparred and only after a while did that side surface on casual greeting.


    However, none of that surprise him as much compared to Yangjian''s cultivation base. During one of their spar, Yangjian accidently revealed a bit of his cultivation base, releasing an overbearing aura.


    That aura knocked Jiufeng out and he passed out for an entire day. After waking up to Yangjian''s apologies and Old Man Hai''s yelling, Jiufeng used Eden to confirmed Yangjian''s cultivation. After feeling the aura of a cultivator, Eden or any A.I. would be able to analyze that aura and confirm the level of the cultivator. And Yangjian''s cultivation level shocked him.


    [Beep! Scanning Bai Yangjian! Target''s Cultivation Level: Half-Step Spiritual Vortex!]


    Half-Step Spiritual Vortex? Yangjian was actually above the Spirit Cycle Realm and was about to enter Spiritual Vortex! That was the highest cultivation level that Jiufeng has ever known and experience and that made him admire Yangjian even more.


    "Big Brother Yang, where''s Grandpa Hai?" When Jiufeng walked in he didn''t see Old Man Hai anywhere.


    "Oh, he''s going went for a longer walk today since we''re closing for today." Yangjian grabbed a wet cloth and wipe the surface of a table.


    "Closing? Why today?" Today was a Friday and Sea Dragon usually only take breaks on the weekends.


    "Wait until Grandpa Hai comes back and then we can all talk about it, okay?" Yangjian went to kitchen while carrying dishes.


    Jiufeng walked to a table and made tea for himself. An hour later, Old Man Hai came back.


    "Yang''er, Jiu''er, come here now!" Old Man Hai sat on chair as he called for the two youngsters.


    They both stopped what they were doing and sat in chairs opposite of the old man. Old Man Hai looked at the two and smile at Yangjian.


    "Yang''er, today is the day you return. Make sure you take Jiu''er with you as well."


    "Yes, Grandpa Hai." Yangjian nodded his head.


    "Huh?" Jiufeng raised an eyebrow at Old Man Hai. "Where is Big Brother Yang taking me?"


    However, who answered him was Yangjian. "Little Jiu, me and grandpa has been thinking about sending you to school lately. You''re already at that age and you must go to school. So, we''ve been thinking about sending you to my school, Everdawn Academy."


    "Everdawn Academy?"


    "Yup. Everdawn is the number one educational institute for young cultivators on Planet Starbud." A spark of reverence appeared in Yangjian''s eyes. "Everdawn was set up thousands of years ago and since the time of its creation, it has been the number one school. Virtually all top factions in the world has sent their youths to Everdawn to train and to come back as experts. In fact, one week from now is when the entrance examination for Everdawn shall start. However, Everdawn is extremely hard to get into as only little monsters could it get into it. Only once a year will they accept students and it''s usually less than hundred kids."


    A serious look flashed in his eyes for a moment, but then it went back to normal. "But, since you''re a little monster, you can get in easy!"


    Yangjian rubbed Jiufeng''s head and pinched the latter''s cheeks. "Ow, ow, ow!"


    Old Man Hai then said, "Indeed, you might be able to get in. However, the world is full of surprises and dangers. Everdawn Academy has had a strict entrance requirement since its first year and no one has ever join smoothly."


    He took out a black box from his clothes and then his eyes darted straight into Jiufeng''s eyes. "Jiu''er, take this."


    Jiufeng did as he was told and presented his hand while his palm was up. Old Man Hai placed the box into his hand.


    "There are two letters in that box. Remember, you can only open them if any of these three scenarios happen." Old Man Hai''s face was solemn. "The first is if you fail the entrance exam, open the first letter. If you pass, open the second letter and once you reach Primal Sea, you can open the first letter again."


    "What if I don''t pass and reach Primal Sea?" Jiufeng inquired.


    "Then still, don''t open the second letter. You can only open it if you pass." The old man''s face was completely serious as he spoke to the child.


    Jiufeng nodded and put the box away in his inside his black clothes.


    "Both of you go up and meditate. Tomorrow, both of you have to go early. It''ll take five days to get there."


    Yangjian and Jiufeng nodded and they went upstairs to cultivate. Old Man Hai sat at where he was and poured the tea that Jiufeng made into a cup. He took a sip.


    "Not bad."


    .....


    The next day. Early sunrise.


    On the outer regions of Black Pinecone City, the gates of the city stood tall. Old Man Hai, Yangjian, and Jiufeng stood there below the gates. Old Man Hai took out a wooden whistle from his pockets and blew on it.


    Xiao! Xiao!


    A clear screech echoed in the morning as a large white figure descended before them. Dust and wind rise which made Jiufeng close his eyes.


    Once he open them, he saw a gigantic white bird with thin golden armor covering its head and torso. On the side of the torso armor was the symbol of a hexagonal star with two wings sprouted on the sides of the star and a small crown floating above it. It was the symbol of Everdawn Academy.


    Jiufeng looked at the bird and felt a fluctuation of power coming from it. "Eden, scan the white bird."


    [Beep! Scanning Target! Beep! Target Identified! Name: N/A, Cultivation: 33-cycled Spirit Cycle Realm!]


    Jiufeng was secretly shock. Beside Yangjian''s, this bird had the highest cultivation base Jiufeng ever witness!


    Yangjian jumped onto the bird''s back and stretch a hand towards Jiufeng. "Hurry and get on the Cloud Drift Swallow, Jiufeng. Although it''s pretty strong, it has a very docile and gentle nature."


    Jiufeng took his hand, jumped onto the bird, and sat on. Yangjian then said, "To Everdawn, now."


    The Cloud Drift Swallow flapped its sky-concealing wings and soar into the air. In less than ten seconds, the bird was already a 100 feet above the ground. Then, in a fraction of a second, it flew West at breath-taking speed.


    "Bye, Grandpa Hai!" Yangjian and Jiufeng, with natural energy enhancing their voices, both as they waved at Old Man Hai.


    Old Man Hai waved back with a smile on his face as he watch them fly into the distance. Only when the figure of Cloud Drift Swallow disappear then the old man walked back to Sea Dragon restaurant.


    .....


    Forty miles from Black Pinecone City, Jiufeng and Yangjian were gripping onto the Cloud Drift Swallow tightly as it flew. Jiufeng would look back from time to time as he stare behind him, where the sun was rising in the East.


    "Little Jiu, it''s your first time going so far away, huh?" Yangjian asked. Jiufeng nodded his head. "Uh."


    "Feeling nervous won''t do much, but my words won''t do much either. What I can say is that I''m here for you and I''ll always be here." Yangjian smiled. "I will do everything I can to get you into Everdawn and if you can''t get in, I''ll make sure you are well taught."


    Jiufeng nodded slightly while still looking at the direction of the sun. They were now 100 miles away from Black Pinecone City.


    This was the first time Jiufeng ever left the city''s region and he was feeling nervous. However, in that heart flooding with anxiety was a flame of excitement. He turned his head around and his eyes burned with passion as he stared into the distance.


    "Everdawn Academy, where I rise to prominence shall start with you!" Jiufeng made a resolution that he whispered he in heart.


    Inside the white ring on his left hand, the sound of laughter echoed throughout a vast space of emptiness.

 Chapter 8: Everdawn Academy-Assessment; Golden Medallion

    Bai Yangjian and Qing Jiufeng traveled for five days without rest. On the sixth day, they saw Everdawn Academy or at least, the outer regions of Everdawn Academy.


    Everdawn Academy resided in Everdawn City, which was established on a vast plain on Skypetal Continent. However, the term "academy" or "city" didn''t fit it as much as calling Everdawn City or Academy a small country.The city was set up by the academy and thus calling the city a country wasn''t entirely wrong. If the city was a country then the academy was the governor and sole government of the city.


    Everdawn City covered at least 10,000 square miles and the academy itself is a 1,000 square miles. Its population was at least eight million, meaning there was plenty of land for anyone who lived here. Thousands of businesses were also set up here.


    Being that Everdawn Academy was the ruler of the city and was unofficially a country in and of itself, it had no need to pay taxes to anyone and was the one to establish taxes itself. However, the city had an extremely fair and well balance transactional laws and so, many merchants and business men came here to import, export, buy, and sell goods.


    There were four eight main gates to the city, each representing the eight directions. Anyone can enter the city by any of the gates beside the southern gates as the academy was located near the southern gates and only students, teachers, special permitted individuals, and those who are signing up for the academy can actually enter them.


    The Cloud Drift Swallow of Yangjian and Jiufeng was flying towards the Southeast Gate. Thousands of people were gathering outside the city''s gates and even more were coming in. In the air, dozens of the other Cloud Drift Swallows, that were carrying at least two passengers, were descending down and dropping off their riders.


    "Big Brother Yang, this is..."


    "Huh, it started a lot earlier than me and grandpa thought." Yangjian had a confuse look on his face. "Strange, very strange. Although this is a little odd, on the bright side, you can join the academy''s recruitment of new students starting now!"


    "Now?" Jiufeng had a blank expression on his face as he stared down.


    "Don''t worry about it, I''ll tell you everything about his school''s assessment once we''re down."


    .....


    Yangjian and Jiufeng got off the Cloud Drift Swallow and join the large crowd of people.


    "Man, I really should''ve talked about this when we were flying, but it''s not too late, so I can say tell now," Yangjian excitedly said. "You already know about that the school''s assessment for their new student which is that their age must be below 13, they must have a cultivation of Body Transformation Stage 9, and must defeat a 3-cycled Spirit Cycle Golem. If you pass it, you can join the academy! However, this is actually the school''s most famous assessment and only one of two. The reason as to why it''s so popular is because of all those spoiled brats from top-level factions. These brats have strong background, meaning that they have top cultivation techniques and manuals. This is a school that train monsters to become deities! How can the advantage of background allow them to join Everdawn? So the academy made this assessment for them, to truly pick out the strongest of the bunch. Anyone who doesn''t pass can either come back next year if they haven''t reach the age of 13 or join the outer court."


    Yangjian continued. "However, this assessment is also a little unfair, in a way. Why go through a tough assessment only to end up at such a low position? The reason as to why people take this is because of what happens if you pass it. If you pass the assessment, you get to join the inner court of the academy, something that only one out of five hundred students in the outer court each year can do!"


    "The other assessment of the academy is a little different. The rule still apply that you must be under 13 years old, but the assessment is that if you have a cultivation below Body Transformation Stage 9, but above Stage 5, you can join the Outer Court." Yangjian took a deep breath. "This is for those students with weak and lower backgrounds."


    "To be honest, knowing these two assessments won''t do you much good, since Grandpa Hai already decided for you to join by doing the Inner Court assessment since he wants you to join the hard way. However, the more you know!" Yangjian smiled as he patted the back of a moody-faced Jiufeng.


    .....


    Two hours later, a horn sound thundered from the walls of Everdawn City. The horn sound echoed all around for two minutes as the Southeast Gates of Everdawn City opened!


    A group of hundred people in black clothing walked out from the gate and greeted the crowds. They clasped their hand a bowed slightly to the crowd.


    "We of Everdawn Academy greet all fellow cultivators who came here for the annual recruitment assessment! As you all have been waiting for a long time, let us begin the assessment immediately!" The group all said in sync.


    The group then set up thirty tables where three people would occupy each. Nine people were behind them, setting up three large mirrors and the last remaining person was sitting in a chair supervising everything. At the same this was happening, another two group from two other southern gates were doing a similar process.


    The crowd split up into thirty lines that corresponded to the thirty tables. In the fifth line to the far right, Yangjian and Jiufeng were also standing in the line.


    "Big Brother, what are those three mirrors behind the tables for?" Jiufeng inquired.


    "Those three mirrors are called the Revelation Mirrors. The Revelation Mirrors were created to determine the cultivation level and age of anyone who stood before it. It was created so that anyone who are taking the assessment don''t cheat in any of the requirements," Yangjian calmly explained. "At the same time, they have teleportation arrays built in them for anyone who is willing to do the Inner Court assessment. All you have to do is walk into it and you''ll be sent into a different dimension where the Spirit Cycle Golem is located and ready for battle."


    Jiufeng nodded and sigh as he look at the line. The line almost seemed endless as at least a thousand people were in front of him, waiting for the assessment.


    "This is going to take a while, huh?"


    .....


    From ahead of the lines, behind the tables where black-clothed people were giving out different tickets that were labeled with different assessment numbers, a man shouted, "Age 25; Cultivation level: Body Transformation Stage 9?! So what if you''re at ninth stage? You dare come here when your age is twice the maximum?! Also, what is with this trashy level at such an age?! You think you can weasel your way in here by using such a crappy disguising technique?! Get the hell out!!!!"This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    A young boy, who didn''t even appeared to be twelve, was thrown into the air. The boy flew away from the line and the city region in general as he landed directly into a forest tree.


    He screamed miserably as he clearly felt his spine broke. However, despite being thrown for tens of miles away, he wasn''t bleeding and only appeared as though he had minor back problem.


    "Damnit! Damnit! Damnit! How is that possible? I used the [Hundred Transformation Secret Art]!" The boy loudly cursed as punch the ground numerous times. "Damn that old witch, she told me that Revelation Mirror shouldn''t be able to get pass the secret art and it wasn''t that powerful!"


    The boy cursed as screams of despair and madness cries out in the forest.


    .....


    "What was that?" Jiufeng only saw a screaming black shadow flew pass him.


    "Probably some loser who thought he could trick the mirrors. Lots of people use disguising technique that conceal their appearance, but in actuality, the mirrors determine one''s age by their bones." Yangjian smile slightly.


    However, both were stunned as another human figure flew pass them while screaming, again.


    .....


    "Outer Court assessment: Number 682-Age: 10; Cultivation: Body Transformation Stage 7. Pass!"


    "Outer Court assessment: Number 768-Age: 11; Cultivation: Body Transformation Stage 7. Pass!"


    "Outer Court assessment: Number 1172-Age: 9; Cultivation: Body Transformation Stage 5. Pass!"


    "Inner Court assessment: Number 17-Age: 11; Cultivation: Half-Step Spirit Cycle! Go inside."


    A black-clothed administrator patiently spoke to a silver-dress wearing girl as she walked in front of the Revelation Mirror. She then stepped into the mirror and then submerge into it.


    Countless eyes all stare at the mirror she entered to. Less than a minute later, the girl emerged from the mirror, but with blood flowing from her head and left arm dangling loosely.


    The black-clothed administrator coldly said to the girl, "Number 17, failed!"


    An old man appeared beside the girl with a bitter expression. They transformed into rays of red light and disappeared.


    The administrator calmly and coldly said to the next person waiting in front of the mirror, "Next!"


    .....


    Jiufeng and Yangjian were already in the front of their line as they saw the Number 17 girl failed the Inner Court assessment.


    "That girl was at the Half-Step Spirit Cycle like me, but failed?" Jiufeng furrowed his eyebrow slightly.


    "Mm, the Inner Court assessment is extremely hard after all, especially for those of Half-Step Spirit Cycle. They are generally above Body Transformation Stage 9, so the school would assign them to fight a peak-level 3-cycled Spirit Cycle Golem, unlike the regular one which is only at the early-level."


    In the past, many found a loophole in the Academy''s Inner Court assessment and so trained all the way to the Half-Step Spirit Cycle Realm to make their battle with the Golem much easier.However, the Academy immediately found the flaw on the first day of the loophole so they changed the Golem''s strength when battling Half-Step Spirit Cycle youngsters from early 3-cycle to peak 3-cycle, which represented a 50% boost in power!


    "Here''s your ticket." Another administrator gave Jiufeng a ticket with the number ''19'' on it.


    "Thank you," Jiufeng politely said before he walked to the line before the Revelation Mirrors. The administrator smiled slightly and turned his head around. However, once he did and saw Yangjian, he gasps.


    "Yo-Yo-Young Master-"


    However, before he could finish, Yangjian put on a finger to his lips and shushed the administrator. "Aiyah, don''t be loud now. I''m only here to accompany my younger brother."


    The administrator nodded his head and went back to his duties. After that, Yangjian left the line and walked to side, waiting for Jiufeng.


    .....


    "Next!"


    Jiufeng walked to the mirror and gave an administrator his ticket. The administrator nodded as the mirror surface glowed with a white light.The light soon dimmed and words appeared on the mirror surface and the administrator said them loudly.


    "Inner Court assessment: Number 19-Age: 10; Cultivation: Half-Step Spirit Cycle! You may go in."


    As the administrator announce his information loudly, numerous eyes landed on Jiufeng. Although he couldn''t see them, he can tell that there were people looking at him, looking with mockery, curiosity, and jealously.


    Like everyone who took the Inner Court assessment, Jiufeng put a foot into the mirror and then complete stepped into it.


    The moment he stepped in, Jiufeng arrived on a stone platform in a glassy plain and the mirror behind him vanished. The platform was 50 feet in radius and on the opposite end of where he stood, a stone giant was sitting down.


    The stone giant open its eyelid which revealed a pair of golden orbs and then it open it mouth. "Report your name."


    The stone giant had a rusty, old voice as it spoke out. Jiufeng clasped his hand and said, "Qing Jiufeng, sir."


    "You must knock me off the platform to defeat me." The stone giant quickly got up and it emitted a wave of power, revealing the power of Spirit Cycle! "Qing Jiufeng, prepare yourself."


    The Spirit Cycle Golem lunged towards Jiufeng and punched out. Jiufeng also punched out and their fist collided! Jiufeng was knocked back slightly, but then use the [Rain Dragon Steps] to stabilize himself. The golem once again advance towards him, but he punched out again as well!


    "[Pentawave Surging Fist], One Wave!" A faint ripple appeared where he punched out and the air in front of him distorted.


    Boom!


    The golem stopped in its track as it felt an invisible wave course through it. The golem shivered slightly and took a step back.


    However, Jiufeng took this exact time to strike out once again, but instead, directly to the golem''s chest. The golem shiver even more and took another step back.


    "It''s working!" Jiufeng''s eyes gleamed with a viciousness as he sent in more punches. However, on the 17th punch, the golem took two steps back and kicked up.


    The golem''s foot struck Jiufeng''s chin and he was sent skyward. It then jumped up and grabbed his head and then, smashed it down onto the platform.


    Boom!


    Large cracks formed on the platform as the sound of cracking bones sounded under the golem''s hand. However, the golem was immediately sent flying as well. Jiufeng, with blood flowing from his mouth, appeared from the rubbles and dashed towards the golem and sent another "One Wave" punch!


    The golem was knocked back even further and then landed on the grassy plain, 4 feet away from the stone platform! Once he saw the golem off the platform, Jiufeng sat down, cross-legged, and took deep breathes. He circulated his cultivation base and gathered natural energy into him.


    Moments later, the golem got up and stood before him. "Congratulations, Qing Jiufeng. You have successfully knocked me off the platform and have pass the Inner Court assessment."


    The golem waved his hand and, as though time reversed, the platform was restored to its original state, Jiufeng''s injuries healed, and the mirror appeared once again. The golem then threw a golden medallion at Jiufeng.


    Jiufeng caught it and looked at it. A hexagonal star, two wings, and a crown; the symbol of Everdawn Academy.


    "That is your Inner Court Medallion. From this day on, you''re not just a student of Everdawn Academy; you are a disciple of the Inner Court." The golem formed a rigid smile to Jiufeng. "Now, get out. There''s at least another thousand people out there waiting."


    Jiufeng smiled and walked into the mirror. Ripples like one on water appeared on the mirror surface and then he returned back to Southeastern Gate.


    .....


    Below the Southeastern Gate, the surface of the mirror Jiufeng entered the separate dimension through rippled as he walk out.


    In his hand was a golden Everdawn Academy Medallion that the administrators saw. The cold faced administrator that yelled at Number 17 before walked up to Jiufeng and said, "Wait on the sidelines. Once today''s examination is over, we shall take you and anyone else who passes the Inner Court assessment to your dorms."


    Jiufeng clasped his hand, bowed, and walked over to where Yangjian was standing and smiling.


    "Everdawn Academy."Jiufeng held up the golden medallion under the view of many envious eyes. The golden medallion of Everdawn Academy Inner Court glinted as the Sun''s rays hit it.From this day on, he would be a student at Everdawn Academy, a disciple of the Inner Court!

 Chapter 9: Opening the Black Box; Ye Wuqing

    Moments before the sun started to set, the administrators stood up and all said in unison, "Today''s assessment examination is over! Please come back for tomorrow''s evaluation!"


    The tables, mirrors, and chairs were all collected by them and then the group of administrators split up. Thirty lead the crowd to the other gates to Everdawn City, sixty lead the group of Outer Court students, and the remaining ten lead the remaining students to the Inner Court, including, of course, Jiufeng.


    Yangjian had long since left him and said that he had to go somewhere, leaving Jiufeng standing by himself for several hours. He glanced at the other students who passed the Inner Court assessment and sighed to himself. Beside himself, 13 other people passed the Inner Court assessment. In this new batch of students, 3 were Half-Step Spirit Cycle and the rest were Body Transformation Stage 9.


    However, even though they were the only ones to pass the Inner Court assessment amongst thousands of other talented children, none of them talked to each. Beside Jiufeng and two other kids, everyone else was cold-faced and seemingly emotionless. Arrogance was ''written'' all over their faces, and the aura of dominance and pride was all around them.


    The other two children, although weren''t arrogant, when Jiufeng tried to talk to them, they kept a distance from him and talked very politely, yet unfriendly. Jiufeng simply sighed to all of this and lamented that all of these spoiled and cold children were going to be his classmate and maybe even roommate.


    The group walked for over 20 minutes before the group stopped before a large field. Within the large field was a large white building with seven floors and open hallways. The passage of time could be seen clearly on the building as the white color was somewhat faded, revealing light yellow-colored stone behind the paint.


    "This is the first-year dormitory. All students that join, outer court or inner court, must live in this building for one year before advancing to second-year. There are a total of four dormitory and four grades that are colored: first-years which is white, second-year being blue, third-year being black, and fourth-year being gold." The cold-faced administrator calmly explained to them. "After your fourth year, you are no longer allowed to stay at dormitory and must find your own resident somewhere else on campus or in the city. At the same time, you no longer have to wear a uniform."


    He took a moment to breath and then said, "On your Inner Court Medallion there''s a number. That number is your room number set by the academy already. You may all go to rooms. Some of you have your luggage and some of you will have your luggage delivered later. Either way, go up, unpacked, and then go do whatever you want for the rest of the day. School shall start within four days. Familiarize yourself with the campus or city until then. Dismiss."


    The cold-faced administrator waved his hand, indicating the students to leave and as he left, the nine other administrator silently followed.


    Jiufeng and the other students looked at each other and they all started to walk to building. Jiufeng took out his medallion and flipped it around. Number 137; that was his room number.


    He walked up the stairs to the second floor and saw numerous doors along two hallways. The hallways was at least 500 feet long and at the end of the hallways were two restroom, each labeled male. Seeing this, Jiufeng made a conclusion that this was a male-exclusive floor and that most likely meant that every other floor were separated by sex as well.


    Jiufeng wandered around the second floor for a bit until he walked through the corridor and found his room. The door to Dormitory 137 was closed and Jiufeng took a deep breathe before opening the door.


    He opened the door and stepped in. The smell of wood blasted into his face as walk into the room. He looked around and examined the room''s content. One large table, one bunk bed, two cabinet, two safes, and a window that faced the East direction. Jiufeng nodded his head, closed the door behind him, and threw himself onto the bottom bed.


    "So soft!" He rolled around the bed for a full minute before sitting up. He looked at the door and sighed, "When will it come?"


    After Jiufeng passed the Inner Court assessment, Bai Yangjian said he had to go somewhere and left Jiufeng standing on his own. He also that the latter''s luggage would be delivered "later". However, being that he didn''t specify what "later" meant, Jiufeng was extremely annoyed.


    "Hah, what to do now." Just when he was about to lay down, he heard a knock on the door. He quickly stood up and open the door. Before the door was a large brown bag with a nametag labeled "Qing Jiufeng" on it. He looked around, but so no one there. However, he still took the bag and then he closed the door.


    Half an hour later, Jiufeng walked out of this room and quickly ran downstairs using [Rain Dragon Steps].


    .....


    On the first floor of first-year dormitory, hundreds of students were seated in the dining hall. Jiufeng was currently in a line waiting for his food. Soon, he received a small bowl of rice with stir-fried tofu and vegetables. He quickly ate and went upstairs again.


    "For something so simple, that sure was good." Jiufeng burped out loudly.


    "Ah...so lucky...I haven''t ate in so long." A muffled sound of misery sounded from the ring. Jiufeng wryly smiled. He sat up and crossed his leg. He reached down into the bag and pulled out a thin black box.


    Before going to Everdawn Academy, Old Man Hai gave him this black box to open. Insides were two envelopes, each could only be open under certain conditions. There was the first envelope, which can only be open if he failed the assessment or reach the Primal Sea Realm and then, there was the second envelope, which can only be open if he pass the assessment.


    However, since he did pass and made it into the Inner Court, Jiufeng was now able to open the second letter. He hurriedly lift up the box lid and reached into the box which contained two envelope, each respectively labeled "1" and "2".


    He took the number "2" envelope, open it, and read the letter that was in it.


    "If you are reading this letter, then congratulations. You have made it into the Inner Court! As a special present for you, I''ll shall give to an opportunity to be the disciple of an elder of the academy. By opening this letter, he will be coming for you any moment now. Although he looks scary, he''s a pretty good guy. As long as you don''t make him mad that is. Anyways, good luck!" As he read the last line, the letter in his hand turned extremely stiff and shatter into pieces in front of him.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "What?!" Just as he was about to gloss over the crumbling letter, he felt an intense chill behind him. He turned around and his were in the shape of nearly-perfect circles. Draped in a black, shadowy cloak with a hood, excluded an extremely cold temperature, surrounded in an aura of darkness and death, and with pale, ghostly skin, a young man stood silently behind Jiufeng.


    The young man raised his head and opened his eyes. As he stare into those eyes, Jiufeng saw a deep, infinite abyss that hid millions of deadly and sharp blades that made his heart tremble and his mind reel, as though those blades were slowly cutting his souls right now.


    He noticed that the flow of natural energy inside of him were also in complete turmoil as though they were scared children, running and screaming around. Jiufeng quickly unleash the Violet Air energy that was inside him and it managed to stabilize his energy flow.


    Although Jiufeng''s face was twisted in pain and caution, the pale youth still looked at him emotionlessly. He opened his mouth and a voice that seemed to come out of the abyss or the deepest, darkest hell surface to the mortal world.


    "Are you Qing Jiufeng?" Although this was a simple sentence, hearing this question made the energy flow in Jiufeng''s body roiled up even more.


    Gritting his teeth, Jiufeng managed to speak, "Ye-Yes, se-senior."


    The youth only stared silently before placing a black medallion on the table. "I am Ye Wuqing, the elder elected by Old Man Hai to give you guidance. However, if you want the slightest chance of becoming my disciple then you must enter Spiritual Vortex before advancing to the next year."


    In the next moment, the youth''s body was completely engulf in darkness and he was slowly melting into his shadow on the ground. Just as his head was about to completely submerge, he said, "Once you enter Spiritual Vortex, come find me on Night Demon Hill. I shall be waiting there for one year."


    With those words, he completely submerge and his shadow disappeared. The temperature of the room also returned to normal and the energy flow in Jiufeng''s body were slowing down and soon, completely calmed down.


    Jiufeng took a deep breath and then sat down and meditate. Ten minutes later, his complexion returned to normal, but his body was still shaking.


    "You did pretty well, Jiufeng." Qin Daozi said from the ring. "Being able to handle a millionth of the power of a Titled Cultivator is pretty good."


    "Titled Cultivator?" Jiufeng was still slightly daze from the young man presence and aura. Qin Daozi explained, "Titled Cultivator is a term for someone who reached to a far point in the cultivation world and can be considered a powerful elder. Not only that, that guy from before was also not any ordinary Titled Cultivator either. He''s definitely a genius and someone who can dominate people in the same realm and rock those in higher realm."


    Jiufeng stood up and picked up the black medallion on the table. On the medallion were two words written with white ink: Night Demon.


    "Night Demon, huh? That''s probably his title." Qin Daozi said. Jiufeng silently mumbled, "Night Demon...Ye Wuqing."


    He silently engraved this name into his heart and began to cultivate again. However, as he was cultivating he was unaware that a pair of black-pupil eyes were looking at him from a distance. These eyes were chilling cold, but it didn''t contain malicious intent. Rather, the coldness of the eyes were innate, created by the darkness and horrors of life.


    From the white ring, Qin Daozi sighed as he was the only existence that was aware of the eyes. "A bit anti-social, huh?"


    .....


    When Jiufeng opened his eyes again, it was already morning. He continue to sit there and circulated his cultivation base and the [Violet East Air Scripture], absorbing the Violet Air of the Sun. However, while he cultivating, he summoned Eden.


    "Eden, scan the aura of Senior Night Demon."


    [Beep! Scanning Host''s Memories! Scanning Senior Night Demon''s Aura! Beep! Beep! Beep! Error! Error! Target''s Cultivation Base Is Not Within Host''s Knowledge! Beep! Beep! Keep Scanning Process For Later?]


    [Ok] [Cancel]


    "Ok."


    [Beep! Beep! Confirmed Answer! Keeping ''Scan Senior Night Demon''s Aura'' For Later!]


    Jiufeng laid down and put his arm over his eyes. "Even Eden can''t confirm his cultivation level and I don''t want to ask Big Bro either. I need to get stronger and expand my knowledge."


    As he laid there silently, the sound of footsteps echoed behind his doors.


    Knock! Knock! Knock!


    Hearing the knocks, Jiufeng quickly stood up and walked over to the door. He turned the handle and opened it to only to see a youth with golden hair and purple eyes.


    Bai Yangjian lifted up his hand in greeting and said, "Hey there Little Bro, so how''s the room so far?"


    "Ah! Big Brother Yang, where were you yesterday?" Jiufeng stepped aside and Bai Yangjian walked into the room.


    He sat on Jiufeng''s bed and said, "Uh...I was just going around the city. By the way, have you open that letter yet?"


    "Yeah, I did. However, the paper crumbled into pieces and a man came in here."


    "A man?" Yangjian raised his right eyebrow.


    "He was extremely pale and wore a black cloak. He also had black hair and eyes." Jiufeng reached into his pocket and pulled out the black medallion and passed it to Yangjian. "He said his name was Ye Wuqing."


    When Jiufeng pulled out the black medallion, Yangjian had no reaction, but when the former said ''Ye Wuqing'', Yangjian swiped his hand and grabbed the black medallion from Jiufeng''s hand.


    He look at the black medallion intently and once he saw the words ''Night Demon'', he shivered. He stood up and grabbed onto Jiufeng and shook him. "El-Elder Ye? Wh-Why did he come looking for you?"


    "On the letter that grandpa wrote and from Senior Night Demon himself told me that Grandpa Hai assigned Senior Night Demon to guide me and Senior Night Demon told me that as long as I reach Spiritual Vortex before second-year, I can become his disciple." Jiufeng calmly explained even though he was being shaken.


    "Di-Di-Disciple to that guy?!" Yangjian had an expression of shock before he reverted it into one of pity. "Welp, it was good knowing you, Little Jiu."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "Uh...well...you see, Elder Ye is a pretty scary old man. I heard that he choose seven students to be his disciple before, but they all disappeared on the same day that were accepted."


    "Disappeared?" Jiufeng felt cold sweat break from his back.


    "Yep, disappeared; gone without a trace. Nobody knew how they disappeared, but there''s a rumor going around since that Elder Ye cultivates in demonic and evil arts and so, many believe that he accepted those students to be his sacrifice of sort." Yangjian furrowed his brows. "However, there is no evidence of Elder Ye cultivating in demonic arts as there is no ''evil'' aura around him and the families that the students came from never took him to court or press charges for murder. This is extremely suspicious and many believe that there''s more, however, the academy quickly disclose this and now, very few knows about this is matter."


    Jiufeng nodded, but then said, "Wait, if lots of people don''t know it, then why do you Big Brother Yang?"


    Yangjian jumped slightly and said hurriedly, "Uh...well, Grandpa Hai told me about this a long time ago."


    "Why has he never told me?"


    "Well if you knew that grandpa had someone like that to be your teacher, would you still go to Everdawn?"


    "..."


    "Exactly. Anyways, since it''s early morning and there''s still three more days left until the academy starts, I thought that it would be a good idea to go around the city. Wanna come along?"


    "The city!" Jiufeng''s eyes sparkled with excitement. "Yeah, let''s go!"Jiufeng rushed out the door and Yangjian followed him.


    At the same time, the cold pair of eyes that was looking through the window from a distance retracted and a dark shadow flew out of a tree."He is indeed the right one if he knows Bai Yangjian."


    The dark shadow traveled for long time before landed on a beautiful, white grassy hillside."I''ll shall wait here then."


    On a white grassy hillside, a pale-skinned young man with black hair silently meditated as an aura of darkness surrounds him and a thin layer of frost appeared on the grass around him.

 Chapter 10: Erwins House of Mysteries

    In Everdawn City, one of the most bustling market was the Windshift Bazaar and it took up a square mile of land. Although it wasn''t the most lavish, wealthiest, or biggest of market, it was a fine area to buy and sell for those of the middle and low class.Hundreds of merchants set their shops here and there was always something new in every direction.


    Within the bazaar, Jiufeng and Yangjian were both eating fried chicken wings as they walk around. However, they were chewing and biting the chicken wings like wolves, making any passerby that see them inch away with a nuance of disgust on their faces.But neither did Yangjian nor Jiufeng notice this.


    "This place is great!" Jiufeng said excitedly.


    "Mm, Windshift Bazaar is one of the best places in Everdawn City, in my opinion." Yangjian took a big bite out of the chicken wing. "There are plenty of good food here and some cool stuff too."


    "Cool stuff?" Jiufeng also took a big bite out of his chicken wing and then threw the bone into a nearby trash bin.


    "Yup. You just haven''t seen it yet since I''ve only taken you to the ''food'' region of the bazaar." Yangjian also threw away his chicken wing bone. "All the cool stuff like magical treasures and artifacts are at the western region of the bazaar. Let''s go!"


    Yangjian and Jiufeng swiftly walked to the western region while eating more chicken wings.


    .....


    In the western region of Windshift Bazaar, there were many shops and stores set up with hundreds of treasures, magical tools, and powerful weapon on displayed.


    In a specific shop that sell magical jewelries and gems, Yangjian and Jiufeng were viewing all the treasures that were displayed in the shop.


    A young attendant walked over and greeted them, "How are you two young masters? May I assist you in anything you find troubling?"


    Yangjian spoke up, "Yes, I would like to buy ten pounds of Greatfire Rubies."


    "Greatfire Rubies?" The young attendant blinked her eyes.


    "Yes, is there something the matter? Did you perhaps ran out?"


    "No, no, no young master!" The young attendant quickly said. "Please forgive me and wait for several moments."


    The young attendant hurried off to the curtains behind counter and entered it. Moments later, a red haired old man with a metallic eye-patch over his left eye walked out of the curtains and over to them.


    The old man clasped his hands and said politely, "Greetings, Young Master Bai." He also clasped his hand at Jiufeng.


    "Owner Li, it''s great to see you again." Yangjian clasped his hand as well and Jiufeng copied him. "I''ve come here to purchase my usually Greatfire Rubies."


    "My apologies, young master. We ran out of materials a while ago, and thus, couldn''t restock." An expression of grief surface in Owner Li''s face. "Although we no longer have Greatfire Rubies, young master, I''ve made a new type of gem that you would like as well."


    He turned to the young attendant, "Tao''er, go get the crystal I made two days ago."


    The young attendant nodded and left. A minute later, she brought out a small wooden chest and opened it. The content of the chest was a small blue gem. Although it appeared like a sapphire at first glance, at closer look, it appeared more like a diamond. However, whether sapphire or diamond, the small blue gem was releasing an intense heat and fiery blue glow that lit up the entire store, but the old man quickly closed the chest before anyone else beside them could see it.


    "This is my latest invention, the Bluefire Soulgem. It''s very similar to the Greatfire Ruby, however, it''s far more destructive and powerful. Not even a hundred pounds of Greatfire Rubies can be a match for a tenth of this thing''s power, much less ten pounds."


    Owner Li had an expression of pride as he stare at blue gem. "Young master, I don''t know how much you bought today, but, no amount of spirit stones or coins would I be willing to sell this off. If you want this, then you would have to trade something of equal value for it."


    Yangjian closed his eyes and stood there in deep thoughts. After many moments, he opened them again and wry smile formed on his refined face. "Welp, if that''s the case, I''ll return tomorrow to trade with you."


    He clasped his hand. "Goodbye, Owner Li. I''ll see you tomorrow at around nine in the morning, how does that sound?"


    "Splendid, young master." Owner Li clasped his hand in farewell as well.


    "Little Jiu, let''s hurry."


    Jiufeng clasped his hand and followed Yangjian out of the store. Owner Li looked at their backs silently before turning his head toward the young attendant. His eyes filled with affection.


    "Don''t worry, Tao''er. Young Master Bai will definitely trade with us some kind of plant, medicine, or pill. Once he does, you can finally start cultivating."


    The young attendant''s eyes rounded. "Ah! Grandfather, that young master just now was Bai Yangjian?"


    "Indeed. As I said before, he usually comes here to buy some attack-type jewels and gems from us. However, in the last four years, I haven''t seen him as often. I''m also quite curious about that boy next to him."Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Owner Li murmured the last two lines to himself and then walked back into the curtains behind the counter while Tao''er followed suit and offered to make tea for him.


    .....


    On a street in the Windshift Bazaar, Jiufeng and Yangjian were walking in long strides in a straight manner. Jiufeng glanced at the young man standing next to him who was in deep thought.


    "Big Brother Yangjian, what''s wrong? Is the Bluefire Soulgem too expensive for you?"


    Yangjian blinked. He smiled, "What''s expensive? I''m only thinking of which of the thousands of treasures that I have should I give to him that''s all. Ah! It really is a pain to have too many good things."


    "He and Big Bro are practically the same." Jiufeng couldn''t help, but muse about how similar Qin Daozi and Bai Yangjian were. "Since you have so much, will you give me some?"


    "..." Yangjian smile stiffened and he remained silent. He turned his head around to avoid Jiufeng''s gaze. However, his eye widen slightly as he stared at an alleyway.


    "Huh, I was walking so absent minded that I didn''t realize we near Erwin''s shop." He turned and walked into that alleyway. "Little Jiu, hurry up. I''m going to go meet a friend."


    Jiufeng followed him into the alley way. At the end of the alleyway was an old and large shop. Smoke rose from the shop''s chimney and sound of metallic wire and roaring engine noisily sounded from the shop.Atop the shop was a large sign with the name of the shop forged with dark-colored iron: Erwin''s House of Mysteries.


    Yangjian turned the handle of the door, the chimes of bell rang from above and they entered the shop. As they walk in, they were greeted by the spectacular sight of thousands of items. Complex machinery on shelves, crystals and metals lying around, paintings hanging on the wall, and robotic-looking sculptures standing around. There thousands of item here and as far as they could see, there were no two items that were the same. Everything here had a "one of its kind" appearance.


    "Please wait for a moment!" A young male voice echoed in the shop. At the center of the shop was a spiraling staircase and a figure rolled that staircase into a pile of papers.


    That figure screamed in pain. "Ah!"


    Yangjian walked over white rubbing the bridges of his nose. "Hah...you really need to organize this place, Erwin."


    The figure''s ear perked up and he quickly stood up. "Bai Yangjian!"


    Now that his face wasn''t on the ground, Jiufeng can now see his features. The figure in front of him was a brown-haired young man who looked no older than 17, but was 6''3 feet tall!


    Other than his height, another disguising feature about this young man were his two eyes, which were heterochromatic. His right eye was golden yellow, like Qin Daozi,and the other eye was sapphire blue, much like the eyes of Jiufeng.


    He also wore a black tank-top and pants while wearing two fingerless gloves. Although he had a wild look, there was a hint of grace within his moves.


    "Hm?" The young man, Erwin, turned his head and looked at Jiufeng who was slightly startled at the former''s eyes. Erwin smiled in amusement and led Jiufeng and Yangjian upstairs to the second floor of the shop.


    .....


    Several minutes later, the three of them were now sitting by a wooden table with three cups of ice coffee on it.


    "Ah, so he''s the kid that was picked up by Grandpa Hai." Erwin rubbed his eyes slightly before facing Jiufeng, "Haha, since you know Grandpa Hai and Yangjian and is also a student of Everdawn, you can call be Senior Brother or Elder Brother Erwin from now on, okay?"


    Jiufeng nodded white drinking his cup of coffee. Erwin turned his head toward Yangjian and said, "So why are you guys here?"


    "We were walking around the city for a bit and then we accidently arrive at your shop. However, I would come looking for you sooner or later."


    Yangjian took a moment before saying, "Erwin, how much are you willing to sell me one of your Spiritual Base Elixir?"


    "Spiritual Base Elixir?" Erwin had a ponderous look. "Although those are pretty rare, I can give it to you for free if you really need it. However, give me the reason as to why you need it."


    "Do I really have to?"


    "Of course you do, it''s to fill my curiosity."


    Yangjian slowly said, "I need it to use to trade for something."


    Erwin only nodded and reached out to a nearby box. He grabbed it and passed it to Yangjian who looked at the box with a daze expression.


    "Huh?"


    "What? That box has the elixir inside." Erwin spread out his arm and said, "See, sometimes being messy could also be orderly."


    Yangjian had a wry smile on his face as he said, "Thanks."


    .....


    The trio walked downstairs and Erwin said, "Yo Jiufeng, since this is the first time you¡¯re at my store, go pick out any one item you want."


    "Any item?"


    Yangjian crouched down and whispered into his ear, "You should take one. Erwin usually doesn''t do this kind of thing, but he allows anyone he''s close to or have good impression on, so you need to take one. Every item in this shop of his are spectacular and rare."


    Jiufeng said nothing and started to look around under the eyes of expectant from the two young men.


    However, even after 20 minutes, Jiufeng couldn''t decide what item he wanted. Indeed as Yangjian said, they were all spectacular, but too spectacular.


    Whenever he was interested in an item, Erwin would explain to him the item''s function and history. Each and every item made yearn for the item. However, the more item he was interested in and learn about made his decision of taking whatever one item he wanted harder.


    Another 20 minutes pass by until Qin Daozi quickly said in his head, "Jiufeng, take that wooden box with the wave-looking crest on it now!"


    Jiufeng turned his head and spotted a green wooden box with three waves drawn within a circle at the center of the box. He reached out and grabbed the box with curious eyes. Although it looked very beautiful, it had a very mundane and ordinary aura around it. In this sea of treasures, this is the most "ordinary" box he had seen. Yet possibly, that normality could be a reason for it being special and eye-catching in its own way in the first floor of Erwin''s House of Mystery.


    Though he had his doubts, Qin Daozi still telling him to take the box. "You have to get this box no matter what! This box will help your body advance to the Spirit Cycle Realm!"


    Hearing Qin Daozi again, Jiufeng raised the box high for Erwin to see and said, "Elder Brother Erwin, I want this!"


    "Hm? This box? Do you even know what''s in here?"


    "Nope. However, I felt a connection between me and this box," He lied. "I feel as though whatever is inside here is something that I must have."


    "This box, huh?" Erwin picked up the box and said, "This box has been in the store for quite a while now. It''s been here since the day my dad actually open the shop. He told me that a customer who was dressed in rags actually sold it here for a low price. The wood that this box is comprised of is very rare and the content of the box is most likely even rarer. However, what he found was a crystal that didn''t serve much purpose. Although it''s pretty rare and good, it''s not the best quality of any gems and could at most make some decent jewelry."


    Erwin clearly didn''t think much of the content of the green wooden box, however, seeing the look of determination on the child in front of him made him stop.


    "Well since you want this and I did say you could have whatever you want, go ahead and take it." He passed it back to Jiufeng.


    Soon, Jiufeng and Yangjian left the store and was now walking back to the academy. Once they entered the campus and Jiufeng returned to his dorm, Qin Daozi madly and excitedly yelled from the ring.


    "Yes! Yes! Yes! Now that you have the box, hurry and go find somewhere quiet and spacious tomorrow. Starting tomorrow, you''re going to meditate and cultivate to Spirit Cycle!"

 Chapter 11: Dormmates

    That day, Jiufeng lied on his bed and entered the mind space. He cultivated there for three days and then woke up from once the sun started to rise again.After spending another two hours cultivating and absorbing the Violet Air from the early morning sun, Jiufeng got up and was about to go downstairs and eat, but then he heard a knock on the door.


    "Big Brother Yang?" He walked up and open the door, but who greeted him wasn''t Bai Yangjian. Rather, it was a boy who carried a large backpack on his back.


    The boy had medium-long black hair and a pair of black eyes to match. His clothes consisted of a shirt and pant. Overall, the child had a very ordinary look.


    However, ordinary or not, Jiufeng wanted to know his cultivation level.


    [Beep! Scanning Target! Beep! Confirmed!]


    [Name: N/A, Age: 10, Cultivation Base: Half-Step Spirit Cycle (Energy Refiner), Half-Step Spirit Cycle (Body Refiner)]


    "Holy sh-" Jiufeng almost cuss in his head.


    "Yo!" The child waved his hand. "I''m assuming that you¡¯re my dormmate?"


    "Uh, yea. Come in!" Jiufeng stepped out of his way. The child walked in and gently laid his backpack. He climbed the ladder onto the top bunk bed and immediately laid down.


    "So nice!" He sighed. However, he then got up again with widen eyes. "Oh sorry. I haven''t introduce myself yet. I''m Luo Ming."


    He reached out his hand. Jiufeng reached over and shook it. "I''m Qing Jiufeng."


    At the same time they were shaking hands, another knock sounded at the door. "Excuse me, is anyone in here?"


    Jiufeng walked over to the door and saw two other youths. They were dressed in rather plain clothing, but one had red hair and blue eyes, while the other one had blue hair and red eyes. Just one person was enough to attract attention, but with these two standing next to each other, it truly made a spectacle.


    "Yeah, two people are already in here. Sorry, but you have the wrong dorm number." Jiufeng couldn''t stop moving his back and forth between the two children.


    The red hair boy took out his medallion and looked at it. He made a gasp and then smiled apologetically, "Oh, sorry. We''re in the next dorm."


    He rubbed his hair slightly in embarrassment, but then said, "Well, nice to meet ya neighbor! I''m Meng Yun. This guy over here is Fang Zhu."


    The blue hair boy only nodded. After that greeting, the two boys hurriedly walked over to the next dorm to on the right: Dorm 138. Although they were a bit awkward, Jiufeng silently took note of the red hair boy''s medallion which was gold.


    "An Inner Court disciple as well, huh? That other guy is possibly also one."


    [Beep! Beep! Auto Scanning! Beep! Scanning Completed!]


    [Meng Yun: Age: 10, Cultivation: Half-Step Spirit Cycle (Energy Refiner)]


    [Fang Zhu: Age: 10, Cultivation: Half-Step Spirit Cycle (Body Refiner)]


    He silently gasp in his heart. For those two to have the Half-Step Spirit Cycle cultivation meant that they had powerful background. Jiufeng didn''t take their talent into consideration since anyone who entered Everdawn is a genius in their own right. However, what made his heart tremble was Luo Ming with Half-Step Spirit Cycle cultivation in both energy refining and body refining.


    Seeing these three boys who had the same cultivation as him at the same age made his heart slightly uncomfortable. Although Old Man Hai and Qin Daozi, in secret, raised Jiufeng to be humble, he never once met children of his age that we could compete with him until now. The closest person to his age would be Bai Yangjian and that was a seven years difference.


    But now that he arrived at the "School of Deities", Jiufeng has seen many people like him who were gifted and that made him secretly uncomfortable. Unbeknownst to anyone, and maybe even himself, a seed of pride was sowed into his heart a long time ago.


    "Qing Jiufeng, who were those two?" Luo Ming''s words broke Jiufeng train of thought, but he manage to reply, "Oh, they''re our neighbors, but they accidently got the wrong dorm number that''s all."


    Luo Ming nodded and then said, "You''ve been here longer than I have right?"


    "Yeah, why?" Jiufeng replied even though he''s only been in the academy for three days with most of those days spent on training and exploring the city.


    "In that case, how about you take me around campus?"


    Before Jiufeng could reply, another voice said behind him. "Yo, can you take us too?"


    He turned around to a smiling Meng Yun and quiet Fang Zhu.


    "You guys too?"


    "Yeah! We just heard that you were gonna go around, so can you take us too?" Meng Yun were filled with expectancy.


    Under those eyes, Jiufeng could only groan in his heart. "Alright, sure. Let''s go to the cafeteria first, I''m hungry."


    .....


    The four children wandered the school campus for the most of the day. They visited countless buildings, looked at dozens of statues and sculptures of famous graduates, spectated mighty duels and battles, and spent time knowing each other.


    Of the four boys, Meng Yun was the carefree and wild type, Fang Zhu was the quiet and calm type, Qing Jiufeng was the intelligent and charismatic type, while Luo Ming was the mysterious type.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    At least, the other three think of Luo Ming as person of great secrets. He didn''t mind telling them that background nor cultivation base, but that only made him more mysterious.


    Half-Step Spirit Cycle Energy Refiner and Body Refiner.


    Raised and born in a small village by a single mother.


    Worked in a restaurant.


    Although these three factors didn''t add up, the three boys trusted Luo Ming''s words. The group wandered around the campus for several more hours until they got hungry again and went back to the first-year dormitory for dinner.


    After their meal, Meng Yun, Fang Zhu, and Luo Ming all went upstairs while Jiufeng stayed behind, under the excuse that he had important matter. When they left, they didn''t see that Jiufeng had a green wooden box under his arm as he walk towards the Southeastern area of the academy.


    .....


    On the east side of the academy, near the Southeastern Gate, there was a 50 square mile area called Section 2B. Section 2B was comprised of three buildings: the Trial Hall, the Cultivation Hall, and the Battle Hall. These three buildings were enormous and could easily be shelter for thousands of people, but were instead use to train students of the academy.


    The Cultivation Hall was 200-story tall building. It''s primarily used for students to meditate or find quiet and spacious rooms to cultivate in.


    The Battle Hall, as the name implies, is use for students to duel against one another. Every student who was accepted into the academy were top-level talents. As such, many had pride and confidence that were as tall as mountains and vast as seas. With so many prideful kids in one place, was peace even a possibility?


    Many students formed grudges with each other and although the academy tried their best to calm the hatred in the academy, there were too many reasons and ways student could fight with each other. Some were from rivaling clans, families, kingdoms, or any other organization. Some formed grudges before even entering the school and some fought just because they were looking for trouble.


    However, Everdawn had extremely strict rules and so there were almost no way for these students to vent. But, that all changed ten-thousand years ago when the second headmaster of Everdawn set up three battle grounds for the students and one of them was the Battle Hall.


    The last building, and also the tallest, was the 300-story tall Trial Hall. Of the three buildings in Section 2B, the Trial Hall was the most mysterious to anyone not enrolling in the academy. The Trial Hall is used a testing ground that measures the prowess of a student, however, per the rules of the academy, no one is allowed to disclose how students are tested.


    At around evening, just when the sun was about to set, Jiufeng entered the Cultivation Hall. Once he walked inside, Jiufeng headed to center of the first floor where he signed up for an empty cultivation room. After five minutes, he found that cultivation room and entered it.


    Once he entered it, Eden scanned the room for him and found that it 20 feet by 10 feet by 20 feet. Although it was rather spacious, Qin Daozi grunted from the ring. "Bah! This place maybe quiet, but it''s rather small. Oh well..."


    Jiufeng only ignored that comment and sat down at the center of the room. He placed the green box in front of him, but didn''t open it.


    "Big Bro, should I open it?"


    "Mm." Hearing the sound of confirmation, Jiufeng took a deep breath and then open the box. Jiufeng''s heart pounded as he was opening it. However, what was inside the box was a small, fist-size blue gem. It shone with azure luster from the light, but it looked very fragile and was translucent. Indeed as Erwin described it as: beautiful, yet very useless.


    "This is what going to help me breakthrough to the Spirit Cycle Realm?" Jiufeng thought aloud.


    "Well..." Qin Daozi took a moment. "Not exactly this, but more like what''s inside of it."


    A golden ray of light shot out from the ring and landed on the blue gem. The golden light sunk into the blue gem and, for a moment in time, everything froze. The temperature around Jiufeng suddenly dropped and an overwhelming feeling of crisis formed in his heart.


    However, his vision was obstructing by golden light and then, he blacked out. In the Trial Hall room, Jiufeng''s body collapsed and the blue gem that was in front was slowly churning and morphing into a black blob that was a centimeter in radius.


    Besides the black blob were twelve massive spheres of golden light that were floating alongside it. Whenever the black blob tries to expand, the massive spheres would immediately light up even brighter than they do now and the black blob would return to its initial size.


    It was clear the spheres of golden light were suppressing the black blob and a battle was occurring between them. However, every now and then, the golden spheres would emit a light sigh as they continue to suppress the black blob.


    .....


    Minute by minute, hour by hour. A day and a night has pass since Jiufeng collapse. Then in an unknown time, Jiufeng opened his eyes again.


    "Wh-What happen?" Jiufeng sat up from the floor and looked around. The last thing he remembered was a golden light and anything before that was completely fuzzy for him.


    "Yo, you''re finally awake." Qin Daozi said.


    "Ah, Big Bro what happen?" Jiufeng knocked his head a couple times. For some reason, he kept hearing Qin Daozi''s voice above him.


    "You blacked out when I was breaking that seal on the blue gem. But, you don''t really need to know about the seal. Here, need a hand?"


    A hand appeared in front of Jiufeng. "Thanks." He unconsciously reach out.


    However, his hand directly pass through the hand in front of him. He blinked a couple times before looking up.


    In front of him was a young man, dressed in black pants, a black jacket, and a yellow shirt. He had a bead bracelet on his left wrist and wore a pair of golden triangle earrings. His hair was pitch black like the moonless night, but a streak of his hair was golden, as were his eyes. His appearance was very neat overall, but flamboyant.


    "Ah, sorry. This is my spirit-body so I can''t really give you a hand." The young man giggled.


    However, unlike the cheery young man, Jiufeng had a face of horror. "G-Gh-Ghost!"


    "Ah." The young man blinked. "What ghost?! Can''t you see that it''s me, your Big Bro?"


    Jiufeng stopped screaming and look cautiously at the young man. Looking at the young man more closely, his appearance was 80-90% similar to Qin Daozi. In fact, he looked more like a younger version of Qin Daozi. After several moments, Jiufeng blinked and said, "Big Bro? Wait! How is it possible that you''re here?"


    The young man sighed and then calmly explained, "Alright, maybe you do need to know. That box you got from Erwin had a very unique item called the Skylock Blue-Gem. It''s a very powerful item that could seal and trap souls. That gem that you got had a very powerful soul sealed in it and well, long story short, I absorbed that soul and now my soul has healed slightly and become more powerful than before. It''s strong enough for me to make a spirit-body and you don''t need to know what a spirit-body is just yet. Let''s just say that I can exist outside again, but as a spirit."


    "I see...wait! You said that that box would help me advance to the Spirit Cycle Realm! If you used it already than what do I do now?" Jiufeng glared at Qin Daozi.


    "Of course I said that you would advance to the Spirit Cycle Realm! But when did I say that you''ll be using that gem to breakthrough, huh?" Qin Daozi harrumphed. "Take this instead, it''s way better."


    Qin Daozi compressed his hand together and a tiny golden box formed in between them. The tiny golden box started to dissolve and breakdown and what was left in its place was a tiny blue vial.


    He grabbed the vial and threw towards Jiufeng and the latter caught it. At first he felt nothing from the vial, but then his hands started to feel colder and colder until a layer of frost started to form on his them.


    "Wha-"


    "That''s a small vial with three drops of Frozen Skytears I got long ago from the Winter Wasteland. The Winter Wasteland probably doesn''t exist anymore, but that isn''t the point! Now sit down and open that vial. I''m going help you refine that so you can form your core, a core that hasn''t appeared since Heaven Revelation Era!"

 Chapter 12: One of Heavens Seven Taboo-Pathless Origin Grimoire

    During the process of entering the Spirit Cycle Realm, there were two steps that must be accomplish.


    The first step was gathering all of one''s natural energy and condense it all into a sphere. This sphere was called the spirit core and thus, this first stage was also referred to as the spirit core phase. The second and next step was called the core rotation phase because, as the name infers, cultivators must be able to rotate their core naturally.


    The first phase of entering the Spirit Cycle Realm isn''t difficult, however, to have the core rotate naturally and constantly wasn''t easy. Condensing a spirit core requires a vast amount of energy. However, as long as you have enough energy, you can form it.


    However, having enough energy to form a core wouldn''t be suitable once a person enters the core rotation phase. When the core of a cultivators starts to rotate, the natural energy that formed the spirit core would be released to the outside world and return to nature. This very point is the exact reason why many cultivators have a hard time entering the Spirit Cycle Realm!


    If a person used the minimum required amount of natural energy to form a spirit core, within a week of them staying in the core rotation phase, most of the energy that formed the core would''ve returned to nature and thus, they would returned back to Body Transformation Stage 9. Although they dropped a few levels, the cultivators could trained back to the two phases again. However, because they failed once, the foundation that they built up to the two phases were damaged and so, even if they were to succeed the second time, they wouldn''t be able to reach their fullest potential.


    But, even if they were to succeed, there was still a high chance that they would enter Body Transformation again. The main goal of Spirit Cycle was to rotate the spirit core constantly and quickly into a vortex. Every "cycle" in the Spirit Cycle represented how many revolutions a spirit core could go through in a minute and thus, the more "cycles" a cultivator was at, the faster the spirit core would rotate and the more natural energy would be released.


    With so many discouraging factors, it''s no wonder that the ratio of cultivator to mortal is 1:1000. However, the path of cultivation has existed since the beginning of time. Long, long, long ago, cultivators found three ways to prolong the process of the energy release.


    The first method was the most basic and that was to meditate and absorb natural energy. Although cultivators lose energy from the rotation of their cores, they are able to absorb energy faster than it''s released. This method was the cheapest way to prevent the energy release, but it was only sustainable for those at the low cycles of Spirit Cycle. At a certain cycle, the average being 10 cycles for most cultivators, the cultivator wouldn''t be able to absorb natural energy at a fast enough rate to sustain the spirit core.


    The second method was the most common method and that was to study a cultivation manual. For those of middle, decent, or high cultivation families or clans, cultivation manuals were their foundation! Cultivation manuals all had special ways for a cultivator to train. However, there were different classes and grades of cultivation manuals and the difference in a grade or class could determine your future.


    The last method was the most expensive and dangerous and that was to absorb more natural energy than what one''s body could contain. The natural energy that form the spirit core is based on how much natural energy is in one''s body and shouldn''t exceed more than one could normal handle. The only time when cultivators hold more energy than other are because they''re dual refiners of body and energy or have special blood and genes.


    In the case of Jiufeng, who was about to breakthrough to the Spirit Cycle Realm, he was going to use the third method with the help of Qin Daozi. Although he hasn''t reach the ninth stage of Body Transformation in energy refining, the purpose of the Body Transformation Realm was to allow cultivators to developed a strong body to hold and contain large amount of energy to condense a spirit core.


    In truth, one could only be considered a cultivator if they reach Spirit Cycle. Historians believe that in ancient times, Body Transformation didn''t exist as cultivators were naturally borned with spirit cores. However, more and more mortals were gaining the ability to cultivate and thus, Body Transformation was created. But, this is still a theory among cultivators.


    With the Half-Step Spirit Cycle Realm body, Jiufeng''s body would obviously be able to maintain and control more energy than most of his peers and so condense a superior spirit core. However, to Qin Daozi, simply having a "superior" core doesn''t amount to much. So, to help his "little brother" he took out the Frozen Skytears, liquefied natural energy that were condensed from the elements in an absolute, freezing cold environment.


    .....


    Within a room of the Cultivation Hall, Jiufeng sat before three floating droplets of blue liquids. A layer of thin white mist surrounded the three drops that emitted a horrifying chill.


    Looking at the Frozen Skytears, Jiufeng took a deep breathe before gathering all of the natural energy in his body. He willed into a single point in his chest, but just before the heart. In less than five minutes, all of the natural energy within him formed a small, transparent orb.


    It was his spirit core. However, this spirit core had a nuance of purple in it which came from the Violet Air. Just this spirit core alone was enough for Jiufeng to be at the top of his generation. But this was just the start.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Now after forming the core, Jiufeng took a tiny, tiny amount of natural energy and sent it to one of the Frozen Skytear. The moment his energy came into contact with it, the Frozen Skytear blasted out a chilling wave that turned the whole room into a freezer, but Jiufeng managed to took it.


    It entered through his mouth and he allowed it to go through his bloodstreams until a tiny blue drop of liquid was now before his spirit core. However, by doing so, the Frozen Skytear released a large amount of icy energy that was spread throughout his body.


    Layers of frost appeared on him and Jiufeng felt his entire being numb. At this moment a tiny stream of golden energy appeared inside him.


    "Don''t worry about the numbness or frost. Concentrate on extracting the natural energy from the Frozen Skytear." Qin Daozi said calmly.


    As the golden energy spread throughout him, the icy pain that Jiufeng felt was slowly vanishing. He sent another stream of energy into the Frozen Skytear and then pulled it into his spirit core.


    Then, an earth-shaking battle between him and Frozen Skytear took place within his spirit core!


    The Frozen Skytear was constantly thrashing and slamming into the membrane of the spirit core. However, Jiufeng was constantly pouring his natural energy into it, doing his best to suppress it. But the Frozen Skytear was a miracle of nature. It contained the power to freeze the world and sealed all life in ice. Even with the help of Human Emperor Qin Daozi, how could a mere child who hasn''t reach Spirit Cycle yet truly suppress and refine it with ease?


    Tiny cracks appeared on the core as Frozen Skytear continued to slam into it. However, Jiufeng disregarded it all and continue to pour his energy into it. After two hours, the Frozen Skytear completely submitted and then dispersed into a blue gas.


    The blue gas swarmed and churned in spirit core. The tiny cracks that appeared on his core were restored and now, a blue hue was added to the purple core, giving it a now new bluish-purple color.


    Jiufeng opened his eyes and then took a deep breathe. He then started to concentrate and maintain his core. Half an hour flew by and then he opened his eyes again.


    "Yes!" Jiufeng punched the air. "I''ve finally refined the first Frozen Skytear."


    "Yep, but there''s two more to go so take a ten seconds break and then start refining the second one." Qin Daozi materialize in front of him and said with a big, bright smile.


    "Ah!" Jiufeng gripped his head and banged it on the ground. However, he had no choice and begun to refine the last two Frozen Skytears shortly after.


    .....


    Night flew by and the morning sun was beginning to rise again. As the sun rises, Jiufeng walked out of the Cultivation Hall and walked for ten minutes before sitting down at a secluded area with dense trees.


    As he cultivated the [Violet East Air Scripture], the spirit core in his body was rotating madly as he absorbs the Violet Air. However, as he sat there, a powerful aura was released from him. It was an aura of otherworldly quality, filled with power and nothing mundane. It was the aura of Spirit Cycle!


    After he absorbed the three Frozen Skytears, Jiufeng''s spirit core transformed from a transparent, purple core to a blue-purple core that was thick and dense in natural energy! At the same time, his body gained a bit of muscle and he was now slightly taller than he was before. His features were also more defined and handsome than before.


    As of this moment, Jiufeng was in the Spirit Cycle Realm for both his body and his cultivation base!


    Time flew by once again and once he was done cultivating, Qin Daozi materialize before him.


    "Ah...it sure is nice being outside again." Qin Daozi melancholy said.


    "Big Bro, how fast do you think it''ll take me to reach Spiritual Vortex?" Jiufeng stood up and stretched his arms.


    "Hm...most likely within half a year."


    "Half a year?!" Jiufeng shouted. "Are you sure I''ll be able to cultivate so quickly?"


    "Of course. However, you can cultivate even faster." Qin Daozi rubbed his right hand slightly.


    "What do you mean?"


    Qin Daozi said nothing as he pressed his right index finger onto Jiufeng''s forehead.


    "Jeez, you have too many OP techniques and skills now. Even I didn''t have so many stuck in my head when I was your age. Well, since I''m your cheat, it''s only natural that you have so many."


    As he spoke a stream of knowledge was being transmitted to Jiufeng''s head.


    [Receiving Cultivation Art!]


    [Cultivation Art Identified! Cultivation Art: Pathless Origin Grimoire!]


    "Make sure to learn this cheat-art well. Okay, protagonist?" Qin Daozi smiled gently.


    However, his last words weren''t received by Jiufeng. The world around Jiufeng completely disappeared, replaced with endless space. Just with his eyes, he could see thousands of stars and sense the presences of many more.


    But, Jiufeng wasn''t focus upon the stars nor the endless space. Rather, he was looking straight ahead. His eyes were locked onto the figure of a man. Although he couldn''t see the man''s face, he see could the man''s long blue hair which blew without any wind, his tall and strong stature, as well as sense his ethereal and godly aura.


    Within the blue haired man''s right hand was a golden coin with complex symbols and designs that looked far more beautiful than any building or architecture in Everdawn Academy. The man flipped the coin and the moment it landed it his hand again, it transformed into a golden staff.


    Under the stunned views of Jiufeng, the man then threw the staff and it morphed into a golden spear! It struck into his forehead, but he didn''t bleed. In fact, he didn''t even feel pain.


    Rather, the moment the golden spear went through his forehead, the endless space and stars around him transformed again. He was now in a vast, empty, black void. Here, there were no stars and not even the endless space. He felt that although this black void was vast and boundless in size, it was also small. Very small, in fact.


    However, in this black void, he saw a book. It was colored black, had white sheets, and hard-covered. There was no title, no author, and no words.


    Despite its irregularity, Jiufeng picked up the book and opened it. As he turn the book cover, he was greeted with the words: Pathless Origin Grimoire.


    However, these words didn''t stay for long as the black ink on the first page morphed into a new line. These new words were of a completely different language that Jiufeng couldn''t identify.Just when he was about to call for Eden, the words once again morphed into a language that he knew.


    As he look at the translated words, he eyes became saucer as he read the title.


    "Solomon''s Diary: Tale of the First King of Humanity.¡±

 Chapter 13: Detention On the First Day

    "Solomon''s Diary: Tale of the First King of Humanity."


    "The First King of Humanity?" Jiufeng muttered. "Who is this Solomon?"


    However, all that responded to him was a rumbling sound. The sound like that of mirror shattering echoed throughout the black void.


    Jiufeng stared blankly as the black void around him...started to shatter! Cracks started to appear everywhere in the black void and radiant light shone from those cracks.


    Shortly after, radiant light blasted from the cracks and the black void became something like mirror shards, crumbling and dispersing in every direction. The world of trees, grass, and sunlight appeared in Jiufeng''s eyes once more, returning him to where he was.


    "Wha-What was that?" Cold sweat slid down from his forehead to his chin.


    Qin Daozi floated over to him asked, "What did you see?"


    "See?" Jiufeng described to Qin Daozi what occurred.


    "A blue haired man... diary of the First King of Humanity... Solomon..." Qin Daozi rubbed his chin as he mumbled.


    "Do know what any of that means?"


    "I''m not entirely sure, but I found this cultivation manual a long time ago in some ancient ruins. This ''Solomon'' should be the owner and creator of the Pathless Origin Grimoire."


    "Not entirely sure?" If Qin Daozi found this a long time ago, considering how great a character he was, shouldn''t he have already unravel the history of this manual?


    Jiufeng stayed in the room for several hours before exiting the Cultivation Hall. Once he was outside, he realized that it was already nighttime.


    As Jiufeng walked back to his dorm, he was jumped by Luo Ming who twist his arm around Jiufeng''s neck.


    "Bro, where have you been for the last two days?" Jiufeng wanted to get out of Luo Ming''s arm, but felt his grip getting tighter and tighter.


    "I''ve been at the Cultivation Hall!" Luo Ming let go Jiufeng and the latter took a moment to breathe.


    "You were there already?" Luo Ming sighed. However, his eyes brighten as he look at roommate. "This aura... you''re in the Spirit Core realm!"


    Jiufeng nodded as he walked to and laid on his bed.


    "Woah, so you advance already. I could''ve sworn that you were at the Body Transformation Stage 8 the last time I saw you though? Oh, you had some kind of pill or special treasure on you huh?"


    Luo Ming barraged Jiufeng with dozens of questions that night. Both of the boys didn''t get a wince of sleep at all talked all the way to the next day before sunrise.


    Once it was 8:00 a.m., most students went out of their dorm and started going to class.


    .....


    "Welcome to Class A135," A grey robed woman said. "I shall be your teacher for the rest of the year in regards to Body Refinement and Human Anatomy. You may all call me Teacher Gao."


    Body Refinement and Human Anatomy was a course that focused on the human body and its steps in the body refinement path. In this class, all of the students were body refiner and in the back of the class, on the left corner of the room, were Jiufeng and Luo Ming.


    Although Everdawn was known as a strict institute and had many regulations, it was surprising flexible with the students'' rights and choices when picking classes.


    Before entering the academy, students were allowed to choose any four courses out of the hundreds of courses that the academy had available and they would give it to the students. Even if a course was only chosen by one student, the academy would assign a teacher for that student to be taught.


    Each class was about an hour and a half, and a long with several break time, students would be in school for seven hours. However, most of these classes spend majority of the time on physical activities and meditation so there weren''t a lot of writing involve.


    Jiufeng wanted to choose his classes, however, Bai Yangjian said that Old Man Hai already signed him up for four classes: Body Refinement and Human Anatomy, Energy Refinement, Water Elemental Theories and Techniques, and Combat.


    The first two classes were mandatory classes every first year student must take. However, only those that trained as a body refiner and energy refiner would actually take both of those classes for the year, like Jiufeng and Luo Ming.


    As he sat and listened to the Teacher Gao''s speech, he look over at the students in the room. Besides him and Luo Ming, there were three other Inner Court disciples. The rest of the thirty-five students in the room were Outer Court disciple.


    In Everdawn Academy, Outer Court disciples and Inner Court disciples had different statuses as most disciples of the Outer Court were commoners while those of the Inner Court were from the upper class.


    As such, there were usually tensions from both sides as the Inner Court disciples looked down on the Outer Court disciples and the latter hated the former for their arrogance.


    Of course, not all Inner Court disciples were arrogant or from the high class nor are all the Outer Court disciples from humble roots or hated the Inner Court. However, those were only small percentages.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    When he and Luo Ming first arrived, they were glared by Outer Court disciples in envy as the golden medallion on their white student uniform were especially brilliant compared to the small insignia on the other party''s uniforms.


    At that time, they were greeted by the Inner Court disciples who had pride written all over their faces. Although, they appeared friendly, Jiufeng and Luo Ming made sure to stay away from them and kept themselves at a distance by sitting at the other side of the room, much to the other sides'' displeasure.


    When the teacher''s speech ended, the full class time had already gone by and everyone left the classroom to go do whatever in this current ten-minute break period.


    As Jiufeng and Luo Ming walked side by side, hoping to meet up with Meng Yun or Fang Zhu, a crowd of students were gathering and forming a ring in the grassy yard.


    "Hey, what do you think going on over there?"


    "Who knows? Let''s check it out."


    Jiufeng, Luo Ming, and other students walked towards the crowd, wanting to see the commotion.


    "Damn bastard, how are you going to pay for my uniform?"


    "What do you mean pay!? I didn''t dirty it!"


    "Damn commoner, if not for your blind dog eyes, how else would my clothes get dirty!?"


    "You''re the one that pushed into me, you sissy-faced punk!"


    In the center of the crowd were two students who look around Jiufeng''s age. One was an Inner Court disciple that had golden hair and golden eyes with a handsome face while the other was an Outer Court disciple with red hair and blue eyes with a height of 5''6 feet.


    Both were glaring at each other while crossing their arms and pointing their chin as high as they can while staring into the other''s eyes.


    "What''s going on here?" Jiufeng asked the female student to the right of him.


    "That guy with the red hair over there, Meng Hu, was walking around and then that golden-haired kid bumped into him. Even though it was the golden-haired kid''s fault, Meng Hu apologized like what any sane person would do. However, the golden-haired kid went berserk and started to cuss him out." The girl shook her head. "Man, what a prick, am I right?"


    She looked over at Jiufeng and saw his golden Inner Court medallion. She subconsciously took a step back and even bowed slightly.


    Jiufeng smiled wryly. Although he heard much already, this is the first time that he was thoroughly convinced that the reputation of the Inner Court disciples weren''t great at all.


    He didn''t bother with the girl and return his attention to the duo in the center,


    "If you kneel down and pay twenty Spirit Taels now, I''ll forgive you," The golden-haired boy said in a haughty tone.


    "F*ck you!" The red-haired boy pointed his finger at the other boy''s nose. "So what if I don''t pay? You''re going to bite me or something?"


    "I will call my clan over!" The golden-haired boy shriek like a maniac.


    "This is Everdawn Academy, you dimwit! So what if you''re clan comes over? Fighting isn''t allowed in the school!" Although rage covered his face, a hint of fear was in the red-haired boy''s eyes.


    "How dare you mock the Golden Lion Clan!" The golden-haired boy gathered natural energy in his fist and pounced towards Meng Hu.


    The latter tried to step away, but the golden-haired boy was too quick. Just when the fist was about to land on Meng Hu''s face, a hand reached out and grabbed the fist. The owner of the hand tossed the golden-haired boy away and the latter flew onto the ground.


    Several other Inner Court disciples went towards and picked up the golden-haired boy.


    "Who!?" The golden-haired boy looked at the person in front of Meng Hu.


    It was a black-haired boy who was about 10-11 years old. His eyes were ruthless and cold as they look at the golden-haired boy.


    "Hoh? A hero saving the day, eh?" Qin Daozi said.


    The person that stepped in and helped Meng Hu was... Luo Ming!


    "I said, ''who are you!?''" The golden-haired boy''s expression was ugly.


    "You don''t deserve to know my name," Luo Ming said coolly.


    Jiufeng stared at his friend who suddenly left his side and intervened. (Pun Intended)


    While he couldn''t stand hearing the golden-haired brat speak anymore, he had little intention of intervening. Rather it wouldn''t do him any good and he might even get mix in with the problem.


    When he saw the golden-haired boy about to punch Meng Hu, he already used his medallion to notify any nearby teacher to come over and handle the problem.


    However, never in his wildest dream would he thought that his friend would actually step in and is now part of the problem!


    "Damnit, Luo Ming!" He cursed under his breathe.


    "Wow, that was a pretty cool line don''t you think? This Luo Ming is like a Xianxia story''s main protagonist. He''s got the personality of one in fact." Qin Daozi was muttering to himself.


    Jiufeng''s ear perked up a few times, but they completely ignored Qin Daozi.


    "Hmph! You''re pretty arrogant to be beating one of our brother right in front of us!" One of the students that picked the golden-haired brat up said.


    "Yeah! I saw be beat him!"


    "Yeah! That''ll show him not to mess with us!"


    "Yeah!"


    "Smash his face in!"


    Five students started to rush towards Luo Ming with malicious intentions. The crowd had already long dispersed since the time the child from the ''Golden Lion Clan'' sent out a punch.


    Seeing five new opponents, Luo Ming took a stance, preparing to deal with them in, presumably, one move.However, before they could even reach Luo Ming, a ghostly figure already appeared before them.


    Jiufeng sent out five ''One-Wave'' punches, each towards one student. All of them felt a strange vibration that course through their body and were immediately pushed back.


    They landed twenty feet away onto the nicely trimmed grassy yard. Three were dizzied to the point of collapsing on the floor and the other two were slightly stronger, but they spat out blood as they tried to stand up.


    Everyone else stared at Jiufeng in shock. The cultivation base of those five students were at Body Transformation Stage 9. One of them was even a body refiner.


    Even Jiufeng was slightly surprised of his actions. He saw his friend in danger and before he knew it, his body already react and beat the other party in less than 5 seconds. "Hah... you''re doing the same thing as that idiot. Damnit Jiufeng!"


    He turned around and saw Luo Ming looking at him with grateful eyes. He nodded, but then black lines slid down on his forehead as he look at the fiveinjured students."Man, we''re so screwed!"


    "So it already ended..." The voice of a man echoed.


    A grey robed middle-aged man walked over and sighed as he look at the battle scene. "Have all you forgot that the fighting is prohibited except for at battlegrounds?"


    He flicked his wrist and winds travel underneath and lifted the five injured students, the golden-haired boy, Meng Hu, Luo Ming, and Jiufeng.


    "You''re all coming with me to the detention center." The grey-robed man then turned his attention to the other students. He then barked, "What are you all still looking at!? The bell has already rung and the ten-minute morning break period has already ended! All of you have two minutes left!"


    Some of the students pulled out watches and checked the time.


    "Ah! He''s right!"


    "Oh no, my next class is super far away!"


    "Let''s go, let''s go!"


    The rest of the students ran in different directions toward their next class. Actually, everyone was relieved that the teacher mentioned that they had classes.


    The moment that the grey-robed man appeared, all of them wanted to leave, not wanting to stay at the crime scene any longer, fearing that they might get involve somehow. In fact, some of them even ran the moment Luo Ming and Jiufeng stepped in, knowing full well that a teacher could come at any moment at that point.


    Watching the students scurrying off like little potatoes rolling off elsewhere, the grey-robed man laughed a little and flew into the air. As he flew the wind carrying the eight mischiefs also traveled alongside him.


    "All of you are quite bold! No one has gotten detention on the first day of school since quite a while!" The grey-robed man roared with laughter.

 Chapter 14: Famous Throughout the School

    The grey-robed man flew for ten minutes before arriving at a large stone-grey building complex. He put the students down at the entrance of the building and left.


    The moment he did so, several people in grey came out and grabbed them and entered the building. The five goons that injured went to the left side and the golden-haired boy, Luo Ming, and Jiufeng were dragged to the right side.


    Later, Jiufeng was separated from the Luo Ming and the golden-haired boy and placed on a chair in a solitary room. At first he tried to move around, but felt restricted, as though invisble shackles were tying him down to the chair.


    Minutes later, three grey-robed people entered the room.


    "Are grey robes a trend these days!?" Qin Daozi and Jiufeng said together mentally.


    "Qing Jiufeng, we would like for you to describe the scenario of the battle that happened today. If you were to answer truthfully, and if our investigation goes along well your answer, you shall escape extra punishment." The middle grey-robed person said.


    "At first I was walking around with my friend until I saw a huge crowd. Me and friend went over and see what''s all of the commotion is about. Then I asked a fellow student and she said that the golden-haired student bumped into the Student Meng Hu."


    They all nodded. One of them got a pen and paper to write it all down.


    "She then said Student Meng Hu apologized even though he wasn''t the one that commit the accident. However, the golden-haired boy started saying nonsense such as Meng Hu should pay for dirtying his robe and kneeling down and apologizing."


    Jiufeng gave time for the person to write. They all nodded again.


    "Then, the boy threw a punch at Meng Hu. Because the boy was too fast and Meng Hu couldn''t dodge in time, my friend, Luo Ming, stepped in and knocked him back. Then the boy''s friend was aiming to take revenge and then I stepped in and knock them down."


    They all nodded again. As that one interrogator was writing down, another suddenly said, "What was that technique that you use to push them back?"


    "It was an offensive technique that contained the Concept of Vibration."


    They all casually nodded again, but a tiny light of surprise was in their eyes.


    When the writing interrogator was finish, they all left the room, leaving Jiufeng sitting there alone. He then decided to wait and meditate, but the natural energy in him wouldn''t channel no matter what.


    Seeing that chair also restricts his energy flow somehow, he decided to just daydream instead. Half an hour later, the three interrogator came back again.


    "From all the answers we were given and from our investigation, the detention center deem you, Luo Ming, and Meng Hu innocent. The other students have been deemed guilty and will given three days confinement," The left interrogator said monotonely. "However, for breaching the academy''s rule of no fighting on regular campus, you shall be excuse of all classes today. You shall return to your dorm with Luo Ming and no visitors are allowed to come meet you. At the same time, besides your roommate, you are not allowed to have contact with anyone else. Understood?"


    Once Jiufeng nodded, the three interrogator channel some natural energy into the chair and then Jiufeng was able to move again.


    As he excited the detention center, he was greeted by Luo Ming and Meng Hu.


    When he saw Jiufeng, Meng Hu clasped his hand and bowed. "Brother Qing, I thank you and Brother Luo for helping me. If there''s anything I can do, I''ll will surely assist you."


    "It''s okay." Jiufeng smiled. Then, he looked at the Meng Hu''s hair and eye color and then a suddent thought flashed in his head.


    "Your surname is Meng and you have red hair and blue eyes; are you perhaps related to Meng Yun?"


    Meng Hu looked up and was slightly taken back before responding. "Yes I am. I''m his cousin."


    "Oh, how interesting! Meng Yun is our neighbor and friend. I didn''t expect to his cousin."


    The three boys chatted for a few minutes as they walk to the first-year''s dorm. Meng Hu excused himself as he was punished to stay in his dorm as well.


    As they returned to the room, Luo Ming asked Jiufeng, "If Meng Yun and Meng Hu are cousins, that means that they are part of the same clan. Why do you think that their part of different courts then?"


    "Like I know? Whatever the reason is, I don''t think that it''s polite to ask." He sat and meditated again. Luo Ming went up to his bed and did the same.


    .....


    Although Jiufeng and Luo Ming were rather relaxed and calmly staying in their room, the whole school was going wild.


    "Have you heard? Eight people got into a fight today and they all went into the detention center!"Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "No way! Already?"


    "What? How can people be so stupid?"


    "Those guys are probably Inner Court degenrates!"


    "I heard that it was two Inner Court disciples and one Outer Court disciple fighting six other Inner Court disciples!"


    "Woah!"


    The whole school erupted in loud conversations. Students started to gossip and spread rumors like wildfire and even teachers were talking among each other about the nine people that entered the detention center.


    The detention center was obviously the place where anyone who breaks the academy''s rules goes to. However, not many people were willing to break the school rules and gain a infamy.


    Of course, some students were bolder and more reckless than others so at least 5 people would go to the detention center each year.


    As for getting detention of the first day? The last time this occurred wasn''t too long ago, around four years ago.


    But if dismiss that time, the last time a situation like this happened was 300 years ago! And before that was 2000 years ago!


    With such a time gap, it was evident that in just the last decade, two first-day detentions that already occurred would shock the academy greatly.


    .....


    The next day.


    As Jiufeng and Luo Ming entered the classroom, every head turned toward them. It was almost like yesterday where everyone looked at them, but this time, the Outer Court disciples looked at them with admiration and the three Inner Court disciple viewed them with malevolence.


    What these two had done had earned the respect of the Outer Court, but were now viewed disfavorably by the bratty Inner Court disciples.


    Class soon started and ended. When ten-minute break period was over, they went to Energy Refinement in Classroom A267.


    Like the last class, everyone turned and stared at them. They both found a empty desk with empty chairs and decided to sit there.


    The teacher of Classroom A267 was an old man with disheveled red hair and a puffy red beard. The old man grunted slightly. "Ho? So you guys are the troublemakers from yesterday, eh? Well, whatever. Just behave well and do your homework and I won''t put you on the spot. You both will call me Teacher Redhawk."


    Although Redhawk appeared like a grumpy old man, he was very good at teaching and had considerable insight in regards to the path of Energy Refinement. With his help, two Outer Court disciples actually made a breakthrough yesterday.


    Hearing his lecture, Jiufeng was immersed in the topic and Luo Ming felt his Half-Spirit Cycle cultivation base actually slowly improving and was showing signs of entering the Spirit Cycle realm.


    After this class, they both went to separate paths as their third course were different from each other.


    Jiufeng went to Classroom A016 for Water Elemental Theories. Upon arriving, he saw that no one else was in the room beside the teacher who stood behindthe podium.


    The teacher''s hair was blue and long like a waterfall. He ties that hair up using a blue hairtie and also wore three blue rings on his left hand. While he wore the grey teacher uniform of the academy, the cuffs and outline of the uniform were colored blue.


    Of course, all of this ''blue'' made him very eye-catching, but the most enchanting part of him were his eyes. They were colored red.


    "Hello," the teacher said. "You must Qing Jiufeng, correct?"


    Jiufeng nodded.


    "Good. Everyone already chose their seat yesterday so the only ones that are left are the one in the middle of the front row, the far left of the third row, and the right corner. Choose whatever you wish."


    Jiufeng walked over to the middle front-row seat and sat on it. The teacher hurriedly walk over to the nearby shelf and picked up a book and then handed it to Jiufeng.


    "This is book that we will be studying on from now on." The teacher calmly smiled and walked back to the podium. "Oh that''s right, I forgot! Address me as Teacher Redwater now on."


    Three minutes later, the rest of the student walked in and clas started.


    "Good morning, everyone!"


    "Good morning, Teacher!"


    "We will return to where we left off from yesterday." Redwater began his lecture.


    "As I said before, in the beginning when worlds were being created and the universe was being established, the Five Elements were used as the foundation. The Five Elements are water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. Water was the source of all life; wood was the basis of all tools; fire was the originator of heat; earth was the most important basic element of creation; metal led to technological advancement."


    "This five elements are known as the Foundational Elements or the Five Elements of Creation! In this class, we will dive into the depths of the water element."


    Redwater pointed out his finger and water droplets started to form in the air. Soon, a whole gallon worth of water floated in the air and morphed into various shapes of people, animals, and items.


    "Among the Five Elements, water is the second easiest element to control, right after wood. Although it isn''t as savage as fire, sturdy like earth, powerful as metal, or easy to control like wood, it is the most versatile!" The excitement in his eyes began to show as he spoke. "This is mainly because water is in a liquid state and thus, has no definite shape contrast to wood, metal, and earth. Only fire is similar to water in this ''shapeless'' field, but fire can''t change form as quickly as water."


    The water morphed into a spear and the teacher grasped it tightly.


    "Today, I''ll be teaching everyone how to conjure water using natural energy." He dissolved the water spear into air. "The first thing you need to do is to visualize. Natural energy is the energy of nature and water is, of course, a part of nature. What you need to do is visualize water and conjure it by extracting the element of water within the natural energy around you."


    Everyone did as he said and began to meditate. Most people managed to complete what he said and materialize water around them. The student in this class all practice water-based techniques and manual so doing something like forming water was as easy as walking.


    This was especially so for students with high-quality techniques like Jiufeng with the [Rain Dragon Step]. He already mastered its fourth stage and was now at the ''Rainstorm'' level. When he was just at the first stage, he already had basic insight into the Concept of Rain, which was just one of the many water-based concepts.


    At his current level, he could even create the illusion of an actual rainstorm that could ensnarl his opponent in confusion. If he had a higher cultivation base, it was even possible for him to make the illusion into a reality and summon rain.


    Although it was within his capabilities, summoning an illusionary rainstorm wasn''t the class'' topic. He simply conjured a small vortex of water and allowed it to spun in the air.


    "Good, all of have conjured water. Let''s all play a little game of who can create what the fastest with water." Redwater smiled.


    This ''little'' game lasted for the entire class time. Jiufeng knew that besides the teacher, he had the highest comprehension in water-based concepts. However, he choose to remain low-key and showed a slightly above average performance.


    It was not because he wanted to be secretive nor was it to hide his skills, rather, he wanted to save up his power. After all, his next class was held in the gymnasium and the course was Combat. He was going to have to duel with his peers.