《Phantom Demon [Moved]》


 Prolouge: The summoning

    Inside a peculiarly decorated room, were 5 people. One old lady, who seemed as ancient as time itself, a young lady with long brown hair that looked like a fairy and three skinny old men. They were all dressed in luxurious white embroidered robes.


    The old lady pointed towards a weird formation circle on the ground and told the young lady, ¡°Even though our school has said that we won¡¯t involve ourselves in mundane struggles, if you become a student at our school, we can protect you.¡± The old men all release a breath of relief. The young lady was the last person alive from the royal family and the old men, under relentless pursuit, grit their teeth and came to this school.


    In this world it was a powerhouse that no one dared to anger. They hoped that their young lady could become a disciple here so that she would have the schools protection. The young lady nodded and started infusing her Qi into the formation.


    It was a type of summoning formation that the founder of the school stumbled upon. It came from the ancient time countless eons ago and no one today could replicate it. The founder worked out a school system, that allowed only women to use this formation to summon a partner. If you could use the formation to summon a partner for you, you can stay in the school. If not, then the school and you were not fated to be.


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    As the young lady kept of pouring Qi into the formation, a sheen of sweat started to form on her forehead. After 15 minutes passed, the glow from the formation had reached it¡¯s peak and was activated. Seeing that, everyone in the room jumped backwards instinctively.


    Since they couldn¡¯t stand the bright light from the formation, they had no other choice but to cover their eyes. When the light faded and they could look towards the formation again, there was indescribable happiness written all over the old men¡¯s faces.


    In the middle of a formation was a young man, around 16 years old, who was currently happily sleeping with a pillow under his head and a blanket covering his body.

 Chapter 1: Back Mountains

    When everyone saw the young man sleeping there, they were overjoyed. This meant that the young lady could stay in the school and it could protect her. The young lady just looked at the young man and then turned toward the old lady, ¡°Now that I have summoned him, can I be counted as one of the students?¡± The old lady smiled and nodded her head.


    They sent the old men out from the front door and then the old lady looked at the sleeping young man¡¯s meridians. She let out a sigh and shook her head. She looked towards the young lady and said, ¡°This guy will be of no use. There is not a strand of Qi inside his meridians and most of his meridians are completely clogged. His constitution is likewise very bad. At best we can just throw him in the back mountains so that technically you would have a partner.¡±


    She saw the young lady in thought and followed up, ¡°As long as you can form a Core before he dies, according to the school rules, you can stay here. All we have to do is keep him alive and as a part of our school until then. I will take you on as my personal disciple and will do my best to get you to reach Core Formation in the shortest amount of time possible.¡± Finally stopping, her eyes never left the young lady.


    Hearing until the end, the young lady just nodded and a cold light flashed in her eyes. Seeing that, the old lady arranged for a few people to take the summoned guy to the back mountains. Until now, he was still in a deep sleep. The people, who were carrying the young man, were completely dumbfounded by this guy. It was like he wouldn¡¯t wake up even if the apocalypse happened. Just sighing, they threw that at the back of their minds as they were pitying him.


    Soon they reached the unpopulated back mountains and they threw the guy in a shabby old house, they left him a note with all the information and a few books for him to learn of the history and language. Without a second look, they set up a few formations and went to carry on with their daily lives as if nothing had happened.


    A few hours passed and it was already dusk. The boy slowly opened his eyes and reflexively stretched his hand to grab a glass of water. When he couldn¡¯t find it, he sat up in annoyance and took a look around. When he did, his sleepiness was completely gone as he looked at the unfamiliar surroundings. Although he didn¡¯t start running around and panicking, unease was written all over his face.


    The room was extremely simple: A bed, a desk on which were a few books and a few papers, an old bookshelf that was full of antique books and a prayer mat in the corner. That was it. As he memorized the location of the things in the room, he carefully stood up and started walking around. He first looked at the insides of the house and afterwards he started looking around outside the house.


    There wasn¡¯t any sign of life anywhere but he ran into some strange rock columns that had weird engravings on the. When he tried to pass the rocks a light screen stopped him. He followed the light screen and in an hour did a full circle and was back at the first rock column. He determined that the house was the center and everything in a 500 meter radius was trapped inside. The only thing that comforted him was that wild beasts couldn¡¯t get in either.


    Earlier when he was following the light screen, a wolf appeared on the other side of the screen. He was stupefied because he had never seen or heard of this kind of a wolf, which was 3 meter long and 2 meters high with an extremely robust body. As he subconsciously backed away, the wolf pounced towards him and hit the light screen head first. After several tries it still couldn¡¯t get in so it gave up. That however gave him certainty that he was at least safe inside the barrier.


    With no luck outside and not meeting a single human like being, he walked back to the house. It was already pitch black outside but he managed to find an old oil lamp and a bit of oil with spark rocks. After about a 15 minute struggle he successfully managed to get the oil lamp to work. Nearly two hours had passed since he woke up but he still hadn¡¯t said a word. He tried to read what was written on the piece of paper but he couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of the letters it was written in.


    He could only put it aside take a look at the other books. He couldn¡¯t understand three of them at all but one of them seemed like a book on alphabet so he decided to carefully study it for the time being. In the blink of an eye, it was already morning but the young man was not sleepy at all. As he studied the alphabet book, he slowly learned what each of the letters mean and drew parallels with the English alphabet that he used in his previous life.


    Luckily, there were still a few blank pieces of paper and ink with an ink brush. When he had finished drawing out the alphabet in a manner he could understand, he tried to decipher the letter. Just as he was about to start, his stomach grumbled. He woke up from his daze and smiled bitterly, he had forgotten that he hadn¡¯t eaten anything. He tried to remember if he saw something edible outside, since there was no food inside the house. Very quickly he remembered the locations of a few fruit trees and bushes and made his way there.


    As he passed the small stream on his way back, he caught sight of his reflection and realized, that he was still walking around in his sleeping wear. That meant that he only had underwear and a pair of woollen pants on, nothing more. His short blonde hair was also a complete mess of a bed hair. Under his blue eyes were a pair of barely discernible black bags. He smiled bitterly for a second and decided to freshen up. He splashed his face with water and went back to the house with his food, he looked around and found a few container like things that could be used to hold water brought himself a bit of fresh water. When all these tasks were done, he looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was high up in the sky. He thought for a bit and guessed it was around noon.


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    He took the letter and his alphabet paper along with a blank paper outside to sit under a tree and he started deciphering the letter left behind. Until now, he had drawn a few scenarios as to how he got here and why but he wasn¡¯t certain of anything, so he decided to decipher the letter first before making any final judgements. As he kept deciphering the letter, his brows kept on creasing, making his face look uglier and uglier. He wasn¡¯t some handsome pretty boy but he wasn¡¯t ugly either, he was slightly handsome at best. But currently his brows made his face look like someone had shoved him face first into manure and he had no way to survive other than to eat it.


    After 15 minutes had passed from the start a furious roar echoed out the deserted back mountains, startling all the living beings there. The roar was of course the young man¡¯s, who was now completely enraged at the deciphered letter. All the things he used were scattered in different parts of the little courtyard as he went around trashing and loudly cursing, ¡°What Bullsh*t ¡°Be thankful for us not killing you¡±, You little sh*tf*cks were the ones who brought me here. Because my body isn¡¯t up to your standards you just throw me into the godforsaken damn back mountains and tell me to live on my own. Who in the Seven F*cking Hells do you think you are B*tch.¡± As he went around rampaging, in his mind the letter was firmly planted there and was being read in his mind on an infinite loop.


    Basically, what was written there were the circumstances on his summoning and because he wouldn¡¯t be of any use to the young lady, he was thrown here. The letter basically stated that he should be thankful for not being killed in the first place.


    As he went around rampaging in the little broken down courtyard, he knocked over a little stone statue of a Nine-Eyed Lion. When the little stone lion fell over, it broke into pieces and a black crystal pendant flew out from within. When it hit the ground, it produced unique high pitched sound, and black smoke started coming out from it. The young man kept on rampaging around and didn¡¯t notice the pendant or that the smoke it was releasing started taking shape of a ghostly old man. As the old man finally took shape and started looking around, he was startled. When he saw the young man rampaging around loudly cursing in an incomprehensible language he could vaguely put the pieces together as to how he was awakened.


    The young man got pissed off and started rampaging around, he broke the thing that the pendant was sealed in and he was released. As the old man thought it through, that was the most plausible scenario which had happened. He let out a little sigh and started observing the young man who was rampaging around. The more he looked, the more his aloof expression into a serious one. Even though he was a spirit, he could tell that the young man in front of him had no Qi what so ever but his bodily foundations were very solid.


    His body wasn¡¯t robust but it was refined and although it seemed that he was rampaging around randomly, his movements weren¡¯t completely random. His steps followed a specific rhythm and his center of balance was firmly fixed. No matter, which movement he did, his balance was firm and it drew out the maximum potential of a mortals body. Behind each kick, punch, palm or slap was his entire body strength. He was only a remnant spirit but he had all the memories of the time he was alive and he could tell, that this young man in front of him had tremendous potential to inherit his Close Combat techniques. He slightly smiled and waited for a few hours for the rampage to stop. When the young man had finally vented enough of his anger and started to look at his surroundings, he saw the ghostly old man in black robes.


    The old man smiled but to the young man it looked a malicious spirit ready to devour him. All of his hair stood on end and he subconsciously took a fighting stance that had been drilled into him since he was young. The old man let out a little laugh as he saw that and said, ¡°No need to be so on guard, I was just admiring your technique. Say, even though you don¡¯t have any Qi, your foundation in hand-to-hand combat is very solid. Did you get formal training from an expert since you were young?¡± Following that was silence. The corners of the old man¡¯s mouth were twitching as he thought that the little guy was ignoring him.


    He was about to curse at him when he saw the confused look in his eyes. He then remembered that the young man was speaking in an incomprehensible language so he realized that the little guy just didn¡¯t understand a word he said. He slapped his own forehead and produced a little ball of light. As it materialized the young man was even more on guard but the old man did not turn any attention to it. With a flick of his hand, the ball of light flew directly into the center of the young man¡¯s body and merged with it.


    When the wave of dizziness passed the young man and he wanted to curse at the old man, he stared blankly as new information appeared in his head. It was the alphabet and speech the old man was talking in. He could now understand the language like he had been speaking it from day one.


    He looked towards the smiling old man for a second and cupped his fists as he bowed saying, ¡°I, Nura Nalser, thank you, old senior, for this gift.¡±

 Chapter 2: Choices

    When the old man heard Nalser, he was a bit surprised. From the contact he had had with him until now, he painted him as a delinquent like person. However, when he saw that sort of basic courtesy that wasn¡¯t faked, he was surprised. Back when he was still alive, he had had countless young men with high status or low status bow to him like that but Nalser was the first person to bow with sincerity.


    He let out an amused laugh and brushed it off as he said, ¡°Well, your manners are quite refined young lad, now mind answering my previous question?¡± As he said that, it was filled with a bit of arrogance and superiority. Nalser sized up the old man and just said, ¡°I have no idea if senior would regard my grandfather as an expert but he has been drilling me in our family martial arts since I can remember.¡± He narrated how his grandfather was very strict in training and punished him for every mistake but outside of training he was a lovable old man.


    Since his parents had died in a car crash when he was young, he was raised by his grandfather. In truth, he had no memory of his parents and even though he had seen their pictures daily, for some reason he felt as though they were strangers to him. Since he didn¡¯t remember the time he spent with them, he couldn¡¯t relate to them at all.


    As the old man heard of the training that Nalser had been going through since young, even he couldn¡¯t help but get shivers. The training he did was equal to his own back when he started but he had the aid of countless elixirs and other treasures to help him withstand the pain and give him the most optimal training conditions. The young lad in front of him however did not but had persevered through that hellish training and built a very solid foundation in his martial arts. What he didn¡¯t understand was, why he had no Qi what so ever.


    When he asked him about that, he was dumbstruck to learn that he was not from this world in the first place and in the world that he was from, there was no concept of Qi. Qi was only used in Chinese novels and other similar stories but in his world at least he had never heard of anyone who could use Qi. When the old man heard that, he fell into deep thought.


    In his mind he was currently deliberating over a the only choice he had: Either use the remainder of his consciousness to reform Nalser¡¯s body to clear his meridians and make his body fit to practise with Qi or pass on giving Nalser his Legacy and wait for a new person to arrive. The reason he was currently very torn between the choices was because he had no idea when another person who was qualified would appear but on the other hand, Nalsers foundation was extremely solid making him the perfect person to pass on the technique to. Even though he had been sealed inside, he could still feel the passage of time. He knew that hundreds of eons had passed and Nalser was the first person to awaken the crystal pendant. He knew that his consciousness could only last for a few thousand years at best, to meet someone qualified enough during that time was completely grasping at straws.


    If his spirit could remain for a few more million years, he would have no problem waiting but since such little time was remaining to him, he was in quite the dilemma. Both choices had their own merits but currently he couldn¡¯t make a choice.


    Ever since Nalser saw that the old man went into deep thought, he shut up. He waited for about 10 minutes for the old man to say something but since he didn¡¯t, he just shrugged his shoulders and went inside to grab a few books. Since he could now understand the language, he was eager to look through the books to gain some knowledge. After about 5 minutes, he frowned. There was clear time gap in the writing of the books and the knowledge imprinted into him by the old man. He glanced towards the old man and discovered that he had a deep frown and was currently mumbling to himself as if he was deliberating something.


    Nalser let out a sigh and just looked for the piece of paper where he had written the alphabet. Now another line of letters was written next to the existing ones, these were the ones that the old man had imparted on him. After reading through the list, he nodded to himself, it was easier to draw the parallels between the ancient characters and modern characters than drawing a parallel between either of them with English.


    Since he had his trusty sheet of paper he slowly started deciphering the books titles as to establish a reading order. After translating all the titles and skimming through the introductions, he put together a reading order. It was actually as he had thought, the books went from elementary basics to profound specialized knowledge. He looked outside towards the sun for a moment and determined that the time should be around 3-4 PM. How accurate it was, he had no idea, since he hadn¡¯t seen a clock ever since coming to this world.


    His gaze fell on to the still mumbling old man but it was obvious that it was like he was having an argument with someone. Since he had learned it the hard way, that it was not a good idea to interrupt old people when they were like that, he kept doing his own thing. He grabbed the first book he was planning to read and headed outside.


    He arrived at the tree he was at earlier and cleaned up the mess around it a bit and sat down to read. The book he had decided to start with was ¡°Elementary knowledge of Cultivation¡±. From the introduction he could see that the book talked about different types of Qi and the stages of Cultivation. It also encompassed the most common bottlenecks at different stages and how to breakthrough them. It also briefly touched upon different professions amongst cultivators and also different types of cultivating. There were Sword cultivators, Spear cultivators, Bow cultivators, Spell cultivators just to name a few. In the myriad of worlds there were countless orthodox and unorthodox cultivation paths. To count them all, it would take eons.


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    Finally, after a few hours of deliberating, the old man had finally reached a decision. He would ask a few questions of Nalser and depending on the answers he would either sacrifice his own consciousness or not. However, when he started searching for Nalser, he found him sitting under a tree reading a book on cultivation. He was quite surprised about it, since he could vaguely understand the characters but when he saw the sheet that Nalser was consulting with from time to time, he was pleasantly surprised because to come up with this kind of a system in such a short time frame was quite smart.


    Atleast he wouldn¡¯t think of such a simple yet effective way in such a short period of time. He let out a sigh as she shook his head thinking, ¡°The passage of time sure is troublesome. The more profound and complex your knowledge grows, the less you think of simple yet effective methods.¡± It is the same as growing up. In Nalser¡¯s world there was a simple test to prove this theory. On a sheet of paper there was a bus drawn sideways. When you asked the kids and adults which way the bus was driving either left or right, only the children answered in a short period of time while the adults tend to over complicate things. The children would say the bus is going left because you cant see the bus doors. It was a simple answer yet it was correct.


    The old mans thinking was currently the same: Over complicated. He currently had the most perfect candidate in front of him to pass on his legacy. He would cease to exist the moment he passed it on any ways, so why deliberate on what could and could not happen. When he thought to this point, the old man let out a bitter laugh as he murmured to himself, ¡°Seems like I truly am over complicating things.¡±


    With that, he had made up his mind to pass on his legacy. When he had finally exited his thoughts he saw that Nalser was looking toward him. He was startled for a second before he cleared his throat and said in an expertly manner, ¡°Now then, how would you like to learn this old man¡¯s methods and acquire my Legacy?¡± Nalser stared blankly at the old man for a second and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the catch?¡± When the old man heard that, his head went blank, ¡°What catch?¡±


    Seeing the confused expression on the old man¡¯s face Nalser sighed and explained, ¡°If there was no catch you wouldn¡¯t have had to deliberate so long over whether to pass on the Legacy to me or not. So, there has to be a catch as to why it is either dangerous for me or detrimental to you.¡± Hearing that the old man understood that the young lad in front of him was no fool. He may not be some unparalleled genius but he had quite a bit of brains.


    He let out a bitter sigh and sat down near Nalser and started explaining, ¡°You see, most of your meridians are clogged. Your constitution is quite horrendous as well. However, you have a very firm foundation in martial arts and astonishing willpower. You also have a knack for Close Combat arts, the same thing I specialized in. The reason I was deliberating for so long is that because you are the perfect candidate in terms of foundation but worst in constitution. However, on the other hand, I don¡¯t have that much time left any more. By using the remaining consciousness I have left, I can reform your body to a certain extent clearing out your meridians and improving your constitution.¡±


    Speaking this far, the old man had a serious look in his eyes as he started Nalser straight in the eyes. Nalser was no fool and understood very well, what the old man meant. ¡°If you decide to wait for another candidate, you might not meet one. If you decide to pass it onto me, you need to reform my body.¡± As Nalser said that in a low voice, the old man nodded.


    As he was about to say something Nalser continued, ¡°However, that will hurt like Hell and there is no guarantee I will be able to withstand the pain or not. If I am able to withstand it, I can learn your Legacy but you will disappear. If I can¡¯t withstand the pain, I die and you have no one to pass on your Legacy to either because you will still disappear.¡± As he reached this point Nalser completely understood why it took so long to deliberate on the this matter.


    This directly concerned whether the old man¡¯s Legacy will be passed on or it will fade into memory. The old man bitterly smiled and nodded his head. Nalser¡¯s summary was exactly on point, so he couldn¡¯t refute anything about that. The old man took a deep breath and asked him, ¡°So, which is your choice? Either gamble on the Legacy or stay cooped up here for the remainder of your life?¡± The old man knew very well that Nalser couldn¡¯t practise cultivation with his current body so the only thing he could do was wait for his death in this sad little birdcage.


    Nalser thought for a second and said, ¡°I ain¡¯t no Saint or a Hero. My gramps thoroughly beat it into my since small: The only path to follow is your owns, taking side trips is okey but you need to return to your own path in the end. Staying cooped up here is just a little side trip.¡±


    He took a breath and smiled sinisterly, ¡°I am in.¡±

 Chapter 3: Legacy

    When Nalser said that he was in, the old man sighed in relief from the bottom of his heart. Deep down he had realized that if Nalser had backed out, his Legacy would have faded into memory. He held out his palm and upon it was the black crystal pendant.


    He looked solemnly at Nalser and said, ¡°This is the key to the dimension that holds my Legacy, without it, there is no way to enter it. However the key is split into two parts. First this pendant and second the method of entering. It isn¡¯t as easy as ¡°You have the pendant you can enter.¡± You also need to have the correct method of entering.¡± Hearing this Nalser fully realized why the Legacy would fade if the old man disappeared. It doesn¡¯t matter if you have they key or not, if you don¡¯t know the method of using it, it is a simple decoration. The old man passed the pendant over to Nalser and then gave him a step by step explanation on the method.


    When Nalser heard the explanation he imprinted it deeply into his mind so that he would never forget it. What surprised him was that you don¡¯t have to practise Qi in order to enter the pendant. Even a mortal with no idea what Qi is can use it. As he thought about it more closely, he understood the reason behind it. It was never guaranteed that the successor will have trained in Qi but if the persons foundations were solid enough, he could acquire it even if he was a mere mortal like himself.


    As he followed the method to enter step by step, he suddenly felt his vision go blurry and when the blurriness passed, the surroundings had dramatically changed. He currently stood in front of a little stone bridge that led to an island in the middle of the lake. However, what filled the lake wasn¡¯t water but what seemed to be a starry sky. As he stood there in a daze staring at the island that was floating in the middle of a starry sea, he heard a chuckle from next to him.


    He turned his head and discovered that the old man was standing next to him. Since it was the first time he ever saw such a scene he was quite baffled, the old man understood that quite well. However, deep within the man¡¯s eyes was a nostalgic gaze. With a sweep of his arm, he started leading the way towards the island. Nalser quickly followed him from behind and the closer they got to the island, the more clearly he could see the layout.


    There seemed to be at least 4-5 different houses and the scenery all around was quite breathtaking, just laying down there and just staring at the starry sky would make someone feel as though they were a part of the Heavens and Earth. As they travelled along the bridge, they finally reached the little island. Between the houses and the bridge was a mossy cobblestone path. The old man stopped at the end of the bridge for a second and took a look around.


    He heaved a huge breath as though he was firmly imprinting everything there into his very soul. As he released the breath he led Nalser towards a small cottage and pushed the door open. He gestured Nalser to enter first and as Nalser entered he was suddenly hit by the dizziness again. When the old man followed in after him, he was met with an angry glare, ¡°Just how many times do I have to teleport in this damn thing?¡± The old man as shocked for a second before laughing heartily, ¡°Every entrance on the island leads to a small pocket dimension inside the main one. The theory behind it is quite complex and it took me over a millennia to craft all the necessary rooms and dimensions, as for the dizziness you get used to it soon.¡± Nalser had no way of telling the old man off, so he stayed silent and started looking around.


    He now understood why the pocket dimensions were needed. The room he was in was at least 500 cubic meters big but the house didn¡¯t seem like it was even 30 cubic meters big. When Nalser was checking out his surroundings, the old man was looking at a small wooden door at the side of the hall. He was having his last doubts about whether he should really do this or not.


    Not knowing what to say, he looked towards Nalser and gestured towards the door, ¡°Inside that room is the formation that will allow me to reform your body and constitution, however I will ask one last time: Are you sure you want to do this? The pain you will feel will not be something simple or ordinary.¡± As he finished saying that, he saw the solemn look of determination in Nalser¡¯s eyes. He didn¡¯t even need to hear his answer to know that he was still going to go through it, so he started walking towards small wooden door. When they entered the room, it only had one thing, a giant circular altar upon which was a giant pentagram, carved into the stone.


    The old man pointed at the altar and said, ¡°Sit down cross legged at the center of the pentagram and we will begin shortly.¡± As the voice echoed out inside the empty stone room, Nalser started walking towards the giant altar. With a determined mind, he sat down directly in the center of the giant pentagram. He took a moment to breath in deeply and adjust his mind, when he breathed out, he opened his eyes and looked towards the old man. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±


    As Nalser said that, the old man nodded his head and placed his hand on a stone plate that was connected to the altar. Black light shone out from his palm and as though it passed through the carvings of the formation it quickly flowed along to form the giant pentagram on the ground. When the entire pentagram was filled with the black light, the old man opened his mouth and said softly, ¡°Let¡¯s begin.¡± Just as his worded rang out, black fires started popping out of nowhere inside the pentagram. Nalser was alarmed but he grit his teeth and stayed where he was. In his mind however he thought this, ¡°If the old man was lying and truly decides to take over my body, I have no one other than my poor sight to blame.¡±


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    As he thought that, he braced himself as the black flames that had formed slowly started floating towards the spot he was sitting at. He still didn¡¯t trust the old man because even a three year old wouldn¡¯t. To come out with such a generous offer at such a perfect timing was something that screamed ¡°SUSPICIOUS¡± but since he didn¡¯t have no other choice he had to go with this one. As he cleared his mind of all distracting thoughts he gazed at the black fires converging at his location. When the flames all reached the middle of the pentagram, they merged into one above Nalsers head and when the final piece of the flame had merged into the giant flame, it started pulsating.


    As if forming a resonance with the pentagram, he felt an invisible force slowly but surely pushing him up from the ground and into the flame. When he first touched the flame, he thought that he would feel indescribable pain but when it didn¡¯t arrive, he was a bit shocked. As he slowly rose from the ground to the flame, the old man¡¯s eyes looked resolute as he murmured, ¡°If you can withstand the baptism and reformation from the Nether Flames, you will leap from a carp to a dragon. However, the true ordeals come after that.¡± He resolutely watched as Nalser was rising to the middle of the flames.


    When Nalser was completely submerged in the flames, the flames started pulsating again and as the pulsating grew stronger, he felt some kind of a force slowly infiltrating his body. In the beginning the feeling was faint but as time passed on the pain became more and more unbearable. In the beginning he would only grit his teeth as if the pain was from regular practise but as time slowly passed, he could help but sweat and after about 20 minutes he started groaning.


    Another half an hours went past and now Nalser was screaming inside the flames, his voice was already hoarse from the screaming. The old man only winced at the screaming. There was nothing he could do to help Nalser. As the screams echoed out along the abandoned island, time slowly passed.


    Soon 3 hours had gone by from the start and Nalser¡¯s screams could no longer be heard from inside the stone room. That didn¡¯t mean that the baptism was over, far from it. His meridians had been cleared and reformed. His constitution had also been raised but now came the true baptism of the Nether Flame. When before only his meridians were affected, now all of his body was being tempered by the black flames.


    Nalser had no more energy left to scream. The pain had brought him closer and closer to the threshold of insanity. Only his last little inkling of willpower had been keeping him from crossing over the boundary and losing himself in insanity. As the flames kept on burning another 3 hours went by and this time, the baptism had truly ended. As the pentagram started dimming, Nalser¡¯s now naked body had gently floated back to the floor.


    On the outside, there were very few differences if you didn¡¯t count his hair that had completely turned snow white. His body was still refined but the muscles were a bit more drawn out now. His features still stayed the same. Seeing this, the old man let out a breath of relief when he probed Nalser¡¯s body. His body was now perfect for practising his Phantom Demon Close Combat arts. As Nalser was sleeping there, the old man used the very last remnant of his consciousness to imprint all the knowledge of the Starry Island into a jade slip. He even wrote a note on how to use the jade slip. As he finished all those preparations and had fetched a set of clothes for Nalser, his body started fading away.


    Just as he was about to fade away completely he saw Nalser looking at him with blank eyes. All he did was smile before he completely faded away. When he had completely faded away, Nalser¡¯s eyes closed again as he fell into a deep sleep. However, unknown to him, the changes from the baptism weren¡¯t completely over yet as he continuously broke through the first three stages of Qi Gathering.


    ***


    As Nalser had broken through to the first level of Qi Gathering in dozens of different worlds hundreds of people suddenly had an expression of astonishment. An old man sitting like a Buddha Statue, slowly opened his eyes as he looked towards the sky murmuring, ¡°A person who follows the Ancient Path. I wonder whose Legacy did he obtain.¡± This was the same thought that ran through all the old experts minds.


    The number of people who still followed the Ancient Path didn¡¯t exceed 500 and every single one of those people were legendary Paragons. The modern worlds cultivators were a joke in their eyes. Even the lousiest talent from the Ancient Path could mop the floor with anyone at the same stage or one higher of the ones who follow the Modern Path.


    On another planet that was filled with erupting volcanoes and lava, sat humanoid figure who could only be described as a Demon. He had a blood red body with sharp jagged teeth and a pair of horns on his head. The Demon gave ghastly smile as he said in an excited voice, ¡°Finally, someone inherited the Phantom Demons Legacy. The next few centuries should be something exciting to look at.¡± AS he let out a laugh he started imagining the future.

 Chapter 4: Awakening

    In an empty stone room, on top of a stone altar laid on young man. Next to him were some miscellaneous things like clothes and jade slips. That young man was Nalser and he was currently out cold. Several hours passed until he finally opened his eyes. Seeing the stone ceiling he closed his eyes for a second to collect his thoughts. He tried to remember, why he was lying there and the events that led up to it. As he slowly pieced it all together again, he let out a sigh as he sat up. His body didn¡¯t hurt any more and the baptism from before seemed like a bad dream.


    When he gazed around, he didn¡¯t find the old man from before but he found a set of clothes lying next to him with a jade slip on top of it and a note next to the clothes. He quietly picked up the note and read it, ¡°When you are reading this that means that the baptism was a success. Since I have fulfilled my duty, I am no longer ¡°alive¡±. Inside the jade slip you will find everything you need to know about the Starry Island. Fear not, through the baptism you have risen to the 3 rd level of Qi Gathering. I suggest you first put on some clothes and then familiarize yourself with your body strength before roaming around. Whether you want to stay here or adventure outside is all up to you. I wish you luck and good fortune. Shaon.¡±


    As Nalser read through the note, his expression was still blank. As he read to the end, he let out a sigh and said, ¡°So the old timers name was Shaon, huh.¡± When he thought about the beginning of the letter, he remembered a vague sight of the old man smiling to him as he was disappearing. He just shrugged his shoulders and donned the clothes prepared by Shaon.


    For some strange reason they fit like they were tailor made to Nalser. The black trousers were long and covered his legs until his ankles, by the ankles there was a special red bandage that tightened it around his ankle in a way that it didn¡¯t disrupt his movements. He also had a black tank top and a black jacket. What was surprising though was that even though all the clothing were black, there were red tribal like imprints on them. By itself it wouldn¡¯t be weird but the clothes were made in a way that seemed that the threads naturally changed colours like that.


    When he tried out a few simple movements with the clothes, he realized that they didn¡¯t obstruct his movement at all. It was like they weren¡¯t even there. As he kept trying out different movements, he also tried to feel the Qi, when he felt a warm sensation flow through his meridians, he was surprised. When he fused Qi into punches and kicks, they were faster and created small whistling sounds. The power had gone up by a tremendous amount.


    When he got the hang of infusing Qi into his movements, he suddenly remembered the jade slip. To say that he wasn¡¯t excited would be a lie. When he trained in the family martial arts, he liked to read all sorts of Immortal Cultivation novels. Now to have been given a chance to also become like a person from the novels, of course he was excited. However, he was not going to become some righteous hero or a villain or something. He would become a simple wanderer, no matter what war takes place, as long as it doesn¡¯t concern him, he won¡¯t go sticking his nose into it.


    As he tried infusing Qi into the jade slip, suddenly a bunch of different information entered his head. Since it was second time in his life that something like this happened, he freaked out a bit and dropped the jade slip. As he calmed down, he slowly arranged the information in his head. There were mainly 5 different buildings with different uses here. The building he was currently in was called the Training Hall. In it were various different room for specialized training and also a medical room. There were also an Alchemy Hall and a Refining Hall. One place had an alchemy room and a special garden for growing herbs while the other had a refining room and a warehouse filled with all sorts of materials.


    0The two buildings left piqued Nalser¡¯s interest the most. They were the Armoury Hall and the Library Hall. The Armory hall had all sorts of different weapons, armours, elixirs etc for his personal usage. The Library Hall was an enormous library that held the many techniques Shaon had gathered in his lifetime.


    Also there were several dozens of bookshelves on Ancient History and on different types of cultivation paths. What Nalser lacked currently the most wasn¡¯t cultivation or strength but knowledge. At the Starry Island there was not another living soul, so there wasn¡¯t anyone to harm him, however he didn¡¯t have a clue on cultivation. He needed to find the most suitable cultivation method for him and also the most suitable fighting techniques to go with it. Also, there might be some sort of useful trivia written on anything.


    With that in mind, he started setting his steps towards the Library Hall. As he left the Training Hall, he looked around for a bit. Now that his senses were enhanced, he no longer felt the dizziness from the teleportation. He started walking towards the Library Hall, when he felt something nearby move. When he turned to look in the direction, he was baffled to see a wooden puppet sweeping the pathway. He stared at the puppet for a good 5 minutes but seeing that the puppet didn¡¯t even seem to notice his existence he went closer to investigate it. The wooden puppet looked like a human but when it was sweeping or moving, there wasn¡¯t any ¡°Ka-cha, Kacha.¡± sound from his joints.


    He moved like a ghost, if you didn¡¯t see him walking past, you wouldn¡¯t even hear him. After observing the details of the puppet for a while, he continued moving towards the Library Hall. After thinking about the puppet and taking a new look around, he understood the puppets purpose. It was there to clean the island, however he had no idea if it had any combat power.


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    It was logical that there were some automated puppets running around the island cleaning because the previous owner would not have the time to do so and hiring someone would also be a pain. As Nalser arrived at the Library Hall, he was taken a back by the scene. The Library was literally a giant library that encompassed millions of different books. Some of the bookshelves were just floating around in the middle of the giant library and there seemed to be some sort of a dome covering them.


    Just as he started scratching his head, having no idea where to begin his study from, a puppet walked in front of him and from within came a wooden voice, ¡°Welcome to the Library Hall. May I be of assistance?¡± Hearing the voice Nalser just looked at that puppet with an open mouth, the only thing running through his mind was, ¡°These things could talk? But the other one didn¡¯t even notice my presence after I jumped in front of it. Nalser only came back to his senses when the puppet repeated it¡¯s question. Nalser thought for a second and said, ¡°Could I browse the books on Cultivation? Also where can I find the fighting techniques?¡±


    The puppet answered in the same wooden tone as before, ¡°The books on cultivation are on bookshelf #305934 and fighting techniques are on bookshelves #252345 to #252499. However for both I need to see the authorization token.¡± When Nalser heard the first part about bookshelf numbers, he subconsciously looked at the giant library behind the puppet. The only thought running through his head at that time was, ¡°Where da f*cking Hell are those bookshelves?!¡±


    However, when he heard the last part about the authorization token, his mind went blank. He had no idea, what the authorization token was. Suddenly, he had an idea. He took out the black crystal pendant and tried his luck. The puppet¡¯s head twitched for a second before asking, ¡°Do you wish to register yourself as the new Master of the Island?¡± Nalser was happy that the crystal pendant thing worked and immediately expressed interest in becoming the new master of the island. The puppet led him into a giant stone room, where on top of an altar was hovering a black crystal. The crystal seemed weird because white lines of text kept revolving inside it at high speed. He had no way of reading any of those words.


    The puppet instructed him to drop a bit of Qi infused blood on to the crystal ball. When Nalser did as the puppet instructed him, he felt a massive amount of information running into his head in an instant. It wasn¡¯t anything new any more but it startled him for a second since it came suddenly.


    After sorting through the information for about half an hour, he had a complicated face on. He now ¡°felt¡± everything that was going on. He knew where every pebble and such were. He also gained the ability to blink inside the Island. Let¡¯s say he was in the Training room but needed to consult with a technique record from the Library fast, he could just ¡°blink¡± and appear in the place he needed. After he had familiarized himself with the various command of the island, he proceeded to head towards the bookshelf on Cultivation. Naturally, the Library Puppet showed him the way, since he had no idea where the bookshelf was.


    After reading a book on cultivation for about 5 minutes, he deeply frowned. Next thing he did, was appear at the start of the bridge where he entered the island from. That place was where all the various entrance points were. He picked the entrance point where he came in from and exited the Starry Island. When he opened his eyes again, he was in the middle of the deserted, now trashed, courtyard. He quickly gathered his books and also took the bookshelf from inside the house into the Starry Island and warped back inside. However, what he didn¡¯t know was that, when he warped like that, he released an energy wave that alarmed the Elders.


    When they scanned the place with their divine sense, everyone felt their scalp go numb. That courtyard was especially used to imprison Nascent Soul level Elders who had committed a heavy crime. They knew that one of the three Grand Elders used that place to imprison her new disciples partner. If it was any other courtyard, they wouldn¡¯t pay it any heed but that place had very strict formations that even Nascent Soul Elders couldn¡¯t do anything about.


    To enter the formations undetected and leave with only a small energy wave like that, it needed extra ordinary level of strength. They knew nothing about the boy imprisoned there but they knew that he didn¡¯t have any sense of danger and was soundly sleeping when he was brought there. Furthermore, he didn¡¯t have a single treasure or a sliver of Qi inside his body, so the only conclusion they could come up with was that an extremely strong expert came and rescued him.


    Their biggest fear was, that he was from an ancient clan with roots leading back to the Ancient Era. Those guys cared about face over everything, to ¡°kidnap¡± their clansmen, even if it were the lowest trash, would be a direct slap in their face.


    Without the little lady and old lady knowing, an Elder¡¯s Conference was held to deal with this situation. If the clan would come to demand an explanation, they had little choice but to give up the elder. Even the Celestial Immortal Ancestor came to take part in this conference, as it concerned both her school and her personal disciple.

 Chapter 5: Ancient Path vs Modern Path

    When Nalser arrived back at the Starry Island entrance, he blinked to his previous position. The bookshelf and various scattered books were left at the entrance of the Island. When he appeared back at the reading place, he saw the puppet already cleaning it up. He told the puppet to stop and bring the bookshelf from the entrance here as well.


    When the puppet got the order, it immediately left to carry it out. Seeing the departing puppet, Nalser just let out a sigh, ¡°I wonder what it is called. Just saying puppet, puppet all the time to catch his attention is going to be annoying.¡± He pondered up on it for a second and then decided to ask for its name sometime.


    Shifting gears, he focused on the book in his hand. It was the book on cultivation he read first. The reason he was so in a hurry to get this book was, because this books and the one from the library had major differences in them. As he was skimming through the book. The puppet came back as well. It informed Nalser of completing it¡¯s duty and told him the location of the bookshelf as well. Nalser just nodded and then remembered to ask, ¡°Hey, what is your name? What did the previous master call you?¡±


    The wooden puppet answered in heartbeat, ¡°The previous master called me: Wooden bloke, Housemaid, Cleaner, Good for nothing-¡± Nalser just interrupted it with a sigh, ¡°Okey, I get it, you did not have a name. From now on you will be Librarian. It isn¡¯t something original or something great but it will be your name from now on.¡± The puppets head twitched again and said, ¡°Name confirmed. From now on, this one will be called Librarian.¡± Seeing the name being accepted that easily left Nalser baffled. Even though it was just a name, he expected there to be some sort of a complication.


    He just shrugged his shoulders and asked the Librarian for a few pieces of paper and something to write with. The librarian accepted the order and came back with a blank ancient book and a pencil. Nalser looked at the pencil for a second and asked with a shocked expression, ¡°This is a lead pencil. Where did you get it?¡± Lead pencils were a common thing in his own world but here, it seemed everything were back in the middle ages. To find a lead pencil here was something weird. The puppet answered in a heart beat again, ¡°This is the Nethercoal Pencil. It is an artifact the previous Master created when he got fed up with buying ink all the time. This pencil will always stay sharpened and all that is written with it will never fade away unless, the parchment it is used to write on is destroyed.¡±


    Hearing that Nalser nodded his head. This thing was something very useful. Just as he was about to dismiss the puppet, it said, ¡°This artifact has been used to write 9 834 652 books. They are all in pristine condition as if they had been written only moments ago.¡± Nalser looked at the pencil in his hand with a hint of terror. He had thought the part about it never needing to be sharpened was a hoax. But to write nine million books with it, this thing sure was scary. He shook his head for a second and then dismissed Librarian.


    He laid out everything in front of him on a desk. Right in front of him was the book in which he would write. On the left the book on ancient cultivation, on the right the book on modern cultivation. A glint of determination flashed in his eyes as he started working.


    ***


    In an arena like room, sat over a hundred women ranging from their 20-s to 70-s. In the middle of the room, was a small podium on which an old lady was talking. ¡°To be able to enter the formations without disturbing them at all. Also to exit, with only a small energy wave like that, showed that the person was someone who had extraordinary strength. The Ancestor also said, that if she were to fight with that person, she would most likely die within 5 rounds. She also said that that young man was most likely a part of some Ancient Clan, a power we can not afford to provoke. All the Elders present. Let me ask you this, what are we going to do in the wake of this calamity?¡± As the old lady in the middle of the podium asked the question, her gaze travelled across the room.


    She was one of the three Grand Elders and had done various mertilious deeds for the school. She had spent nearly all her life here, there was no way in Hell, she would want to see the school face a calamity during her time. The stone room was engulfed in silence. No one dared to open their mouths but everyone had the same thought running through their head.


    ¡°This was done by two people, just imprison them and when the ancient clan comes knocking, we will hand them over with our deepest apologies.¡± One of the older Elders finally opened her mouth. This was a bold thing to say because even though one of the people involved was a mere disciple, the other was a Grand Elder. A Grand Elder¡¯s authority was only second to the Ancestor. Even if all the Elders wanted to get rid of a Grand Elder, unless the Ancestor said so, they could not. This was exactly the case with the Grand Elder in question. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Although, she hadn¡¯t broken the rules of the school, she still bended them to suit herself. The current situation was the same. Usually, the partner has to level up with the disciple. They form a pair that entrust their lives to each other, this pairing was what the school was famous for. The pair complemented each other, they covered each others weaknesses. However, that Grand Elder had personally killed her partner when she entered Core formation. According to the rules of the school, she would still stay a part of it, if she so wished but the incident it self, had brought on a lot of dismay to the others. She didn¡¯t care about her partner and this was also the same for her disciple.


    Upon a certain seat, sat an old woman who seemed as ancient as time itself. She slowly, opened her eyes and said, ¡°Azure Flame Elder will from this moment onward not be counted as a Grand Elder. For bringing a calamity to the school, she will be imprisoned in the Nascent Soul Solitary Courtyard until the matter is over. As for her disciple, she is to be stripped of all her qualification of a Conclave Disciple and be demoted to be a Servant Disciple. Her qualifications for advancement in ranking will be tripled.¡± As the old woman spoke out, everyone looked on in disbelief. The old woman was the Ancestor of their Spirit Partner School. It was a well known fact that she doted upon the Azure Flame Elder because her talent was very good. There were even rumours that she trained her to pass on her title as Ancestor to her. With the Ancestor saying the final verdict, this matter had ended.


    While the school Elders had been thinking on what to do, Nalser kept on drawing parallels between the Ancient Cultivation and Modern Cultivation. By now, he had read through both books and also written out the equivalent stages. Rubbing the bridge between his eyes, he let out a sigh, ¡°Seems like the Ancient Path is truly stronger than the Modern one but at the same time has stricter requirements alongside various tribulations. If we were to say that the Ancient Path is a fight against Heavens, then the Modern Path is coexistence with the Heavens.¡±


    He looked at his notes for a second and continued murmuring, ¡°The Modern Path is more simplified but it also produces ¡°weaker¡± Immortals. The Ancient Path is divided into three Major Stages: 13 Qi Gathering stages, 4 Foundation Establishment stages and 3 Nascent Soul stages. The Modern Path however has 4 Major stages: 9 Qi Gathering stages, Palace Establishment, Core Formation and Nascent Soul. Expect for the 9 Qi Gathering stages there are no minor stages for the Modern path.¡± As he summarized his findings, he couldn¡¯t help but feel that the Modern Path was weaker.


    Although it was faster to train in, it did not produce the same kind of strong Cultivators as the Ancient Path. The differences between the Modern Path stages and Ancient Path were: 1 st Qi Gathering stages. In the Ancient Path there would be 13 stages, with the first 9 for building the body to be a suitable vessel for housing the Qi. The 4 last stages were for accumulating the Qi to break into the Foundation Establishment stage. The Modern Path however, had only 9 stages for Qi Gathering and they all had the purpose of accumulating Qi to break into the Palace Establishment stage.


    The differences between Qi Gathering stages weren¡¯t too big, in the later stages of the Ancient Path it would be more evident. However the real differences would become as clear as day duringa the next stage. The Ancient Path named this stage Foundation Establishment. It was split into 4 different parts: Qi Springs, Qi Sea, Qi Palace and Qi Core. You create Qi Kindlings to excavate your Qi springs. When you reach the maximum, you transform the Springs into a Qi Sea. Then you slowly solidify the Qi Sea and use it as building blocks to construct the Qi Palace in which you will birth the Qi Core. The Qi Sea stage was more like a purifying stage. You purify the Qi so that you can turn it into building blocks for the Qi Palace.


    The Modern Path however, skipped the part of Qi Springs, and Qi Sea and you just use your Qi to build a Qi Palace. This meant that the Foundation of the Palace was completely reliant on the cultivation method. The lower levelled technique you had, the more rundown the Qi palace would be. The Ancient Path relied more on hard work while the Modern Path relied more on cultivation techniques and resources. The Core Formation stage was the same as the Ancient Path¡¯s. You reach peak stage when the Core used to birth the Nascent Soul turns from transparent and ethereal into a solid Core.


    Usually the core would take the colour of the element that the user was most familiar with. Lets say you have the best affinity with the fire element and use only fire based martial arts, then your Core won¡¯t turn blue and into a Water Core. As for the Nascent Soul stage, it seemed really half-baked to Nalser. The Ancient Path had three stages for the Nascent soul. Birth, Infusion and Maturing. While the Modern Path only had the Birthing part. The Ancient Paths all three Minor stages had early, mid and late stage. The Modern Path on the other hand only had an early, mid and late stage. After the Nascent Soul stage comes the Tribulation.


    This is where the two paths go in directly different ways. The Modern Path had the Celestial Tribulation, while the Ancient Path had Empyrean Tribulation. The known Celestial stages were: Immortal, Prince/Princess, King/Queen, Emperor/Empress. The known Empyrean stages were the same but the two paths focused on different things after the Tribulation. The Modern Path focused on purifying the Qi and trying to improve their bodies while the Ancient Path focused more on comprehending the world mysteries, The Daos. The more Nalser read on the differences the more he felt that the Modern Path was like a joke. It was no wonder that the Modern Path book said that only 1 in 1 million Nascent Soul experts would be able to pass the Tribulation.


    Nalser just sighed and said, ¡°Well, seems like the Modern Path is over reliant on resources, while the Ancient path focuses more on the individual. The Ancient Path builds a solid foundation for the tribulation while the modern path just seeks for a longer life.¡±

 Chapter 6: Domino Effect

    Seeing the differences drawn out like that, Nalser couldn¡¯t help but wonder, ¡°Why is is the Modern Path so much simpler and weaker. Cultivation should be about defying the Heavens not bowing to it.¡± He just shook his head and decided to follow the Ancient Path. It wasn¡¯t that he had no choice but rather he felt that the Modern Path was too reliant on resources and less on hard work. The Ancient Path was the other way around, unless you whole heartedly dedicated yourself to it, you would not advance at all. Nalser also didn¡¯t want to be some kind of a sub par Immortal, so he decided that he would try and train in the Ancient Path.


    If he couldn¡¯t advance at all in that, then he would reluctantly give up and try the Modern Path. Since Shaon hadn¡¯t mentioned it to Nalser, he had no idea, that he had already started training in the Phantom Demon Art. Even if he wanted to learn other cultivation arts, it would now be impossible, as his Nether Flame would devour other Qi-s and his progress would stalemate. The Nether Flame Baptism changed his Qi into Nether Flame type, so his only road left is to practise Cultivation methods that involve Nether Flame Qi. Having read up on the cultivation stages and familiarized himself with the various tips and tricks, he decided that it would currently be a good idea to look for suitable Cultivation method.


    When he asked Librarian to lead him to the Qi Cultivating methods so he could pick one to practise, the wooden puppets head twitched again, ¡°But you can not train in other Qi Cultivation methods other than the Phantom Demon one. The old master had said that anyone who has passed the Nether Flame Baptism can not train in other Qi Cultivation arts because the Nether Flame would devour the Qi formed and if the Nether Flame grows out of control it will result in a Qi Self-Destruction.¡± Nalser stared blankly at the puppet. However, in his head he was extremely happy that the previous master had left such a knowledgeable puppet behind. He would have literally killed himself if he didn¡¯t have this guy here.


    He asked where he can find the Cultivation method for the Phantom Demon and followed Librarian there. When they reached in the middle of the giant library, the puppet suddenly stopped in front of the light screen protecting the bookshelf and said, ¡°Only the Master of the Island can go inside these formation barriers. All information related to the Phantom Demon Cultivation Art is on that bookshelf.¡± As he pointed at the bookshelf floating in mid air, Nalser nodded.


    It wasn¡¯t anything surprising. If every average Joe could enter the formations, then there would be no point in having them. As he stepped into the light screen, his feet landed on a floor made of the same light screen. On the bookshelf were around 20 books and they were all about the Phantom Demon Cultivation Art. In the middle of the bookshelf was a jade slip that held the Cultivation art itself. The books were there to speak how to train in the stages easily or when to learn which skills or what to look out for when training and etc. From all the books, Nalser could tell that Shaon had done through research on the cultivation art, so as to take the most optimal path with the least reroutes. He was actually very thankful for Shaon.


    If he hadn¡¯t been so through, his progress would have stagnated for a lot of reasons but by consulting the books already present, he could clear out over 90% of the problems. It could be seen that Shaon put a lot of thought into how to nurture his successor. Without much pondering, Nalser reached out for the jade slip. He had decided to first read the jade slip and then read the book on Qi Gathering. He felt that there would currently be no point in reading all the books, if anything else, they would confuse his path a bit more.


    Although it wasn¡¯t a bad idea to look at them for future references, it would impact him a bit too much and he may take the wrong path due to it. When he infused some Qi into the jade slip, the cultivation art entered was imprinted into his very soul. He sat down cross legged, closed his eyes and started sorting out the information inside his head. He subconsciously divided the cultivation art by the stages and focused more on the Qi Gathering stages.


    Mainly the Qi Gathering were about nourishing the body and tempering it with the Nether Flame. The third stage allowed him to use the Qi to infuse with things on bodily contact, the seventh stage allowed him to project Qi outside of his body and from the tenth stage onwards it was only about accumulating the Qi and making preparations to condense a Qi Kindling. Having sorted out the information inside his head, Nalser turned his attention to the book on Qi Gathering. The first sentence of the book was this: ¡°Before reaching the Foundation Establishment, it is not useful to study Techniques.¡± It also explained it in detail.


    The Techniques you could learn from Foundation Establishment onwards scaled. The ones learned in Qi Gathering didn¡¯t have much of an increase in power or speed or anything so learning them would practically be a waste of time. Seeing the explanation as well, Nalser agreed to the notion and decided not to leave the Starry Island before reaching at least Foundation Establishment and learning a few escape techniques and fighting techniques. He had learned that there were various Spirit Fruits and Spirit Nectars here so he had no quarrels holing up inside. ¡°Maybe just training until I reach a bottleneck that requires combat would not be a bad idea. I am not in a hurry to go anywhere any ways.¡± Having decided on his plan of action, he read the notes on different Qi Gathering stages written by Shaon.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Shaon had also constructed a special room, where by raising the difficulty it would give the best environment for training different stages. When he had familiarized himself with the cultivation method and what to watch out for when training or how to make the training most beneficial, he decided to eat a bit and rest. From tomorrow onwards begins his road of Cultivation.


    ***


    As Nalser went to sleep, The Elders, following the Ancestor order, went to imprison the Grand Elder and demote her disciple. The Grand Elder was first furious about the blasphemy but when she heard the true circumstances and also that it was the Ancestors order, she paled. She hurriedly sent out her Qi to probe the courtyard only to discover that it was completely empty and also, it was turned upside down. She felt her scalp go numb when she heard that the boy she thought nothing of might actually have connections with an Ancient Clan.


    However, her arrogance kicked in seconds after. ¡°That little twerp, just because he wasn¡¯t up to standards he had to scr*w me over like this. Hmph, when I get my hands on him, he will wish he was dead.¡± As she grit her teeth and thought that to herself, the young lady raged out with a loud voice, ¡°Why should I, a princess, be demoted to some lowly Servant just because of some crippled bastard? An Ancient Clan, what a joke, the School is the strongest in this world, why should it be afraid of some-¡±


    Before she could even finish the sentence, one of the two remaining Grand Elders slapped her and bellowed at her in a loud voice, ¡°You little fallen princess should get off your high horse. This isn¡¯t your palace or your dynasty where you can act so high and mighty!¡± The princess held a hand at her slapped face and looked on in shock.


    She had never been yelled at, much less slapped. Before she could even say anything the Grand Elder in white robes continued, ¡°When we are talking about the Ancient Clan, we do not mean a clan of this world. Outside of this world exist a myriad of other worlds and realms. The powerhouses there are strong enough to crush our entire world with a single snort. Since the Ancient Clans have been in existence from times immemorial, their resources are far deeper than our school and a Celestial Immortal level people are simply guards. Now then do you really think that we can afford to offend a power like that?¡± The princess was shocked, she had never known there were other worlds and realms out there as well.


    But now hearing how bad the situation was exactly, she started to become a little frighten. Seeing that, the Grand Elder in white robes just snorted and added in a cold tone, ¡°Those Ancient Clans care about face above all else. You two summoned one of their clansmen and then imprisoned him like that without explaining anything to him. Should that clan come and demand an explanation and reparations, do you honestly think that your two pathetic little lives are going to be enough to pay the price?¡± Hearing until now even Grand Elder Azure Flame started having second thoughts about seeking revenge from Nalser. To them, his background was too frightening and when they thought about it, they were the ones at fault no matter how you looked at it.


    You could even say that their impudence had solely cause this calamity. Since they had no way of refuting anything, they could only agree to their punishments. The Azure Flame Elder headed into imprisonment and the princess became a servant. However, this matter was far from over, soon the word of the situation spread over the whole school and life got very hard for the little princess but she could do nothing else than grit her teeth and accept everything. She was no longer a princess and neither was she a Conclave Disciple. If she was thrown out of the school, she would be found quickly and then she would be just a sex slave.


    ***


    Even thought the Elders and Princess¡¯s lives had been turned upside down, the main culprit was now preparing to start his training. As he stood in the Training Hall, before a giant iron door, he was checking whether he had all the things listed in the book.


    He had a few elixirs to take before starting, those helped with gathering of Qi and tempering of the body. He also had a few elixirs to take after training to help get his body to peak condition sooner and to make sure that the training didn¡¯t leave any hidden injuries. There were also a few elixirs in case something unexpected happened and he injured himself during training. Having double checked everything, he ingested the elixirs he had to take before starting training and immediately felt their effect.


    He slowly adjusted his mindset and then walked in through the giant iron door. He entered a similar room to the baptism altar but this one was a bit different. On the giant pentagram altar there were always black flames floating around. He adjusted the difficulty to 3 rd Qi Gathering stage and went to sit in the middle of the pentagram. The number of flames flickering on the altar decreased. When he had sat down and regulated his breathing he just said, ¡°Tempering formation start!¡±


    As soon as his sentence ended all the black flames that were left on the altar, immediately gathered over his head. He started revolving his Qi according to the Phantom Demon Art and he was slowly raised from the ground to the middle of the flames. The book said that this special training would allow him to get the best body for practising. The flame would burn away the impurities of his body and slowly temper it while at the same time, exhausting his Qi.


    When the tempering ended and he would gather Qi again, it would nourish his body making it stronger, more flexible. As he started feeling the pain from the flames, he immediately covered his body with Qi and grit his teeth as he continued his training.

 Chapter 7: Ripples

    As Nalser kept on training he quickly rose through the stages. However, he knew very well, that it had very little to do with himself because Shaon had prepared for him the most optimal training conditions. The best environment alongside the best elixirs for certain stages, coupled with basically a step by step detailed instruction. If he couldn¡¯t progress fast, then there would be something wrong. All he had to do there was sit and endure.


    With a month, he rose from the 3 Stage to the 6 stage. In the Qi Gathering Stages were in total 3 bottlenecks. First from the 2 to the 3 stage to learn to infuse Qi. From 6 to the 7 stage to learn how to project Qi outside of the body. The last bottleneck was in the very end, the condensation of the first Qi Kindling. Now that, he had hit his first real bottleneck, he went to consult the book again.


    The book¡¯s answer to the question was extremely simple, ¡°Imagine your Qi as a part of your body. For example, make it take the form of a hand and try to lift up a pebble in front of you.¡± As Nalser read that, he truly felt that he was stupid. Actually most of the answers in the book were extremely simple and simplified. However, no matter he thought about it, he for some reason always tried to overcomplicate things.


    What he didn¡¯t know was that, that was because he hadn¡¯t yet understood the essence of Qi. He was forcefully raised from a mortal into a person on the 3 Stage of Qi Gathering. Usually for a mortal to turn into a practitioner, they first have to get an understanding of Qi and the successfully step into the first level of Qi Gathering if they can understand it and gather a bit of it. However, since Nalser had skipped this part, he had a harder time with everything to do with Qi.


    Gathering it and accumulating it was easy, you only had to follow the Cultivation Arts method and you were set. However, to use it usefully was far more difficult. Since Nalser didn¡¯t have a proper understanding of the Qi, his progress stagnated. He couldn¡¯t gather any more Qi to nourish his body with, so there was no point in tempering in his body either at the moment. With not knowing what to do about that, he subconsciously went to the Library. Inside, he read the book again from the start to end but that didn¡¯t help.


    Just as he was sitting there pondering, Librarian came to clean up the desk. Nalser had an idea, so he immediately asked Librarian, ¡°Hey, Librarian, in your opinion, what is Qi?¡± The Librarian¡¯s head twitched for a second as his hand that was picking up a book halted. He looked towards Nalser and said, ¡°Qi is the energy of the world that makes up everything living. It is used to nourish the body to bring out the bodies maximum potential.¡± Hearing that, Nalser just sighed and cast his head down. What he got from Librarian was a classic text book definition. Just as he was about to dismiss Librarian, he saw a light flash by Librarians wooden eyes as he continued, ¡°However, the Qi is something that can only be understood by examining it closely. What you understand is different from what someone else understands. If Master is having problems understanding Qi, I suggest sitting down and carefully examining the effects of the Qi Master has.¡± With that, he left.


    Nalser, just looked at blankly the departing figure of Librarian. His mind however, was just wondering, ¡°What was that last sentence. His eyes flashed, that I am sure of. Maybe he has birthed a sliver of independent consciousness?¡± As he was wondering that, he glimpsed at Librarians departing figure for one last time before throwing it to the back of his mind. He decided that it may be the best to do as he told him and just sit down and closely examine the Qi inside him.


    Since his need for food, wasn¡¯t as big as when he was a mortal, being without any food for a few days was no problem to him. He decided to meditate and feel the differences in his Qi. A few days passed but Nalser brow was increasingly furrowed. He had been sitting in the same position, in the same place for the past 5 days. However, he still couldn¡¯t understand Qi at all. He had no choice but to temporarily give up on this and take a break.


    When he stood up to stretch, he remembered that he hadn¡¯t done is family martial art exercises in quite a while now. Thinking about them, he turned a bit melancholic, he had been learning these martial arts for as long as he could remember. His Grandfather was very strict in the training and there were times that he wouldn¡¯t sleep at all at night just because he couldn¡¯t get the timing for a punch down. Nalser remembered the times for a bit and then let out a deep breath. He took his usual fighting pose and wholeheartedly started doing his routine exercises.


    As he was immersed in both his memories and doing his routine training, he didn¡¯t notice how his Qi started gathering at his limbs. It followed the simple pattern. If he punched, it would gather at the hands, if he kicked, at the legs. Suddenly as he threw a punch like any other, a sonic boom could heard. This sudden boom, made Nalser mind clear again as he started recalling how it happened. As he sat there and complemented on what just happened, at the shadow of a building a few puppets had gathered.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    ***


    It was the Sweeper, Librarian and a few others from different buildings. They all looked towards Nalser and understanding could be seen in their eyes. Librarian muttered in a wooden tone, ¡°Seems, like my advise was useless. This guy is a natural at Qi handling and even does it subconsciously. All that is left now is for him to grasp his own Qi essence.¡± Everyone else present nodded. Sweeper just said in a relaxed tone, ¡°No matter how you look at it, he is just like Master used to be. He is not suited for just sitting around and comprehending things, he needs to move his body, familiarize himself through sweat. However, it is a good thing that he hadn¡¯t comprehended the World Qi. Otherwise, it would have become very detrimental towards his future progress.¡±


    Librarian just glanced at Sweeper and nodded. Of the seniority, Librarian was only second, the first who birthed his own consciousness was Sweeper. He was also the first one to pass the Tribulation. Librarian just said to everyone, ¡°Let¡¯s go back, Sweeper is keeping an eye on him so there is nothing for us to do here. And guys remember, unless he encounters a truly deadly situation we won¡¯t help him.¡±


    Sweeper just glanced at the other puppets and added, ¡°If he passes the Empyrean Tribulation, we will tell him everything of course. However, before that, try to act as if you don¡¯t have a consciousness. If he starts relying on us too much, it would also be detrimental.¡± Everyone understood well what Sweeper meant. A genius was only a genius until he worked hard. Even in the Ancient Era, there had been countless geniuses who well from from grace solely due to relying on others too much. Nalser had to build himself up by his own sweat and he had to rely on himself. Only after passing the Empyrean Tribulation would he be qualified to know the truth about the End of Ancient Era.


    As all the puppets went back to their respective buildings to do their own things, Sweeper picked up his broom and started sweeping again. He kept an eye on Nalser at all, so if something bad should happen, he could intervene in a second.


    ***


    As Nalser kept practising, in another grand world, inside a giant luxurious palace were a lot of Celestial Experts gathered. They were all bowing toward the throne upon which sat a middle aged man with a very suffocating aura. Even the Celestial level experts felt suffocating just being in the room. The man opened his mouth and asked in a cold but dignified voice, ¡°Have you found out, who the last ripple belonged to?¡±


    As the sentence ended, one of the men in golden armour stood up and said in a respectful tone, ¡°Your highness, the last ripple came from a minor world with the superpower having one Celestial Princess and 3 Celestial immortals, there are no others from the Celestial level. It is also a world that is unaffiliated to any power so it is safe to assume that someone found an Ancient Era experts Legacy but we have yet to determine who it was or where the person currently is.¡±


    As he said his piece, the man in golden armour respectfully stayed there, cupping his hand. The man of the throne thought for a second and said, ¡°Keep investigating it, We want to know who exactly that Legacy fell to and also if you find the person, if he doesn¡¯t agree to hand over the Legacy, kill him and take it from him. Remember, we aren¡¯t the only ones investigating this, we have to be faster than the other powers so that we can acquire the Legacy for ourselves.¡± As the man on the throne said his piece, everyone stood up and cupped their hands respectfully saying, ¡°Yes, your highness.¡± With a wave of his hand, he dismissed everyone and only he was left in the giant throne room.


    Seemingly lost in thought, he suddenly heard footsteps echo out. The man glanced towards the side and saw a young boy, around the age of 13 walking towards him. The boy had crimson red eyes and fiery red, short hair. He wore completely red daoist robes. He smiled towards the man on the throne and said, ¡°It is rare to see you in such a desperate situation. You had 90% of your Celestial level experts combing through the area looking for a needle in an ocean.¡± It was obvious that the young boy was quite familiar with the man on the throne as he was talking to like a brother.


    The man on the throne just sighed and shook his head, ¡°That is the area that Phantom Demon disappeared to at the end of the Ancient Era. If someone acquires his legacy, he has the power to rally all of the Ancient Era Remnants and if he does, the Modern Era will fall.¡± The young man just closed his eyes and nodded his head, ¡°That¡¯s true. Phantom Demon was the Emperor of the Ancient Era. He is the only person in the history of the Realm to unify it completely. All the Remnants are the hardcore subordinates of Phantom Demon. If the one who acquired his Legacy should want it, he could rally all of the Ancient Era Remnants. And that would truly spell the end of all the major powers involved in the war Eons ago.¡±


    As the two were talking in the giant palace, the same kind of a situation played out in all of the Modern Era major powers headquarters. Nalser¡¯s appearance had caused ripples to start forming on the seemingly still lake.


    ***


    While all the major Modern Era powers were doing their all to find Nalser, he was smiling in the Starry Island. Through continuous practise, he had gotten an exceedingly clear understanding of his Nether Flame Qi. He would just sit there and contemplate, at times he would stand up and throw a few punches or kicks and sit back down and repeat the cycle.


    Suddenly, after countless cycles, he opened his eyes slowly, with a smiling expression and said in a silent voice, ¡°So, this is what the essence of my Qi is.¡±

 Chapter 8: Who am I?

    When Nalser had understood the essence of his Qi, the Sweepers eyes flashed. His mind was shaken, ¡°He understood the essence this fast. In the future, his limitation will truly be his own determination.¡± That type of a situation was both the best condition and the worst. The best it was because, unless he lost his determination and will, there were no limitations to his future progress. However, should he lose his determination his progress would immediately plummet and finding it again would be extremely hard. However, there was extremely little Sweeper could do for Nalser, the only thing he could do was watch over him.


    Nalser however had now comprehended his own Qi essence and he felt as thought a dam broke open. A lot of questions he did not understand or had doubts about suddenly made sense. He slowly stood up and held out his arm, a little black flame materialized on his palm. He looked at it and mumbled with a light smile, ¡°The Nether Flame is something that is dormant. It usually seems like it is dead but should something happen it will explode with power. Nether Flame Qi is the same. Usually it is dormant and keeps on a low radar, however, should you move it, it will explode with power.¡± As he kept looking at the Flame just swaying on his palm in a rhythmic motion, his eyes glazed over as he kept comprehending something.


    In his mind, his mind flashed back to his childhood. In an ancient courtyard, a child about 5 years old was practising his punches. An old man with a long grey beard was looking over him smiling. It was already dusk but the little boy kept practising his punching until the old man laughed, ¡°Hey, lil¡¯Nalsu Come here, Grandpa will show you something.¡± When he heard the voice, the little boy looked towards the old man and smiled. He eagerly wiped his sweat off and ran towards the old man like the little child he was. He looked at the old man with glittering eyes as he asked him eagerly, ¡°What is it Grandpa, show me, show me.¡± Seeing the little boy so excited, the old man let out a laugh and had the little boy sit where he had sat.


    He moved to the centre of courtyard and looked at the boy solemnly, ¡°What I am about to show you, you are not to try without my permission.¡± After he said that, he waited for the little boy to agree. When he saw the little boy nod his head, he took a deep breath and entered a fighting pose. Red sparks flashed on his right arm as he gathered strength into it. As he released his breath, he punched out. A loud roar pierced through the silent skies as a flame dragon was shot out from his punch. The young boys mouth was open as he looked at the Dragon shooting towards the guys with glittering eyes. The old man looked towards the little boy and smiled, ¡°This is what I wanted to show you. If you at some time understand the essence of the world in your life, you can also learn to do that. However, it is very dangerous. One false move and you could end up hurting yourself a lot.¡±


    The little boy eagerly nodded his head but then Nalser¡¯s memories were cut short. He woke up from his daze, and he realized that tears were streaming down his face. He remembered that day as clear as it had happened yesterday. It was the first and last time his Grandfather had shown him that skill. However, it had left a very deep impression on him. And 4 years later, when he was 9 years old, that same move, had changed his world forever. He hadn¡¯t followed his Grandfathers advice and tried to use the skill. What happened afterwards was a catastrophe and from that day onwards, he was left alone in that world. These were the memories that Nalser did not want to remember.


    As his emotions grew out of control, the flame on his palm went out. He still stared blankly but he had reached a mental barrier. This was precisely the situation that Sweeper and the rest dreaded the most. The emotional scar left behind in Nalser¡¯s heart was too deep, so it started affecting his determination and also his will. As a result, Nalser could no longer summon the flame no matter how much he tried. In the end, he could only sigh and give up.


    With a sad expression he looked up towards the starry sky and sighed. He turned around to walk towards the border of the island and sat down at the edge, reminiscing. Sweeper watched as the situation went from okey to wonderful and to disastrous in an hour. He couldn¡¯t understand, what had just happened, so he quickly gathered all the puppets and conveyed what had happened to everyone without leaving out a single detail.


    When everyone heard it, they were just as confused as Sweeper were. They all looked towards Librarian who was most knowledgable. Librarian just let out a sigh and said, ¡°I am not 100% sure but it seems like an emotional scar. During his comprehension he probably touched upon the scar which threw his will out of balance. This is really bad. If he can¡¯t overcome the scar, then his progress will completely stagnate and he won¡¯t advance an inch in his whole life.¡± When everyone heard Librarians opinion, they looked towards Sweeper subconsciously, waiting for the decision. Sweeper was their ¡°leader¡±, who made the decisions.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Sweeper thought for a second and said, ¡°We will give him half a year. If he can¡¯t overcome his scar by himself, we will help him out.¡± Everyone looked towards Sweeper and one of the puppets present said, ¡°But were we not supposed to intervene unless he was supposed to die or until he reached the Empyrean Immortal level?¡± The situation had reversed very quickly, so all of them were puzzled. Librarian just let out a sigh and said, ¡°Think about it, he holds both the pendant and the Master¡¯s cultivation art. If his progress stagnated, the Legacy will be broken.¡± Hearing that, all the puppets finally understood the severity of the situation. If the Legacy broke, they would have no other choice but to stay on this god forsaken Island for an eternity with no way out. Everyone immediately nodded and left to do preparation in case they needed to intervene.


    However Nalser had no idea, that his action had alarmed all the puppets like that. He was currently sitting at the border of the island. One of his feet was dangling over the edge while he was leaning on the other. His eyes were fixated on the starry sky as scenes from the past flashed in his mind. He had no memories of his parents, all he could remember was his Gramps. He had always been there for him, except for him, he had never met other people. He had been in that little courtyard for his whole life, even after Gramps died in the accident, the place was completely cleaned up overnight.


    Food always appeared where it always had and life went on. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t want to leave the courtyard but he couldn¡¯t. Over the walls were light screens to keep him from exiting. All the walls were unbreakable and the door was the same. The only thing he had seen from the outside world was the sky. He had no idea, what the outside world was, the only things he knew were the things that Gramps had told him.


    There were also a lot of Xianxia like books that his Grandpa had brought him. As all the things flashed past his mind, he realized one thing: He had no idea who he was. His Grandpa had never told him more than that his parents died in an accident when he was young and his name was Nura Nalser. Everything else was a mystery. As Nalser tried to remember more details, maybe had missed something, he felt a splitting pain in his head.


    A memory ran to his mind. Everything was on fire and Grandpa was standing in front of him, kneeling on one knee. His hair was dishelved and he was covered in blood. His robes tattered, he looked straight ahead where stood a middle aged man in luxurious robes. Next to him stood a young man 13-14 years old with fiery red hair and fiery red eyes, dressed in completely red robes. The two had had a very furious expression as the man in luxurious clothes said to the old man in a clearly agitated tone, ¡°Why have you disobeyed Our orders?! You were to never teach this little bastard anything. It was already benevolent of Us that we allowed you to meet with this little bastard, and you defy US like this?!¡± Nalser was clearly scared as he was hiding behind his Grandfathers back.


    Gramps only smiled as he said, ¡°You worthless shit. Aren¡¯t you acting all high and mighty now. Have you forgotten that even though you both share my blood, your bloodline was not originally the direct bloodline? You were just a branch family, who after obtaining enough power, usurped the direct bloodline.¡± Saying that, the old man stood up and had a dignified air floating around him as he said in a majestic manner, ¡°I am one of the Ancient Bloodline and Nalser is the only direct descendant I have left. Do you really think that just because I didn¡¯t interfere in you usurping the direct bloodline, that I am afraid of you?¡± As the words left his mouth, flames seemed to grow on the old man as he was completely covered in flames. The battle played out in the capital and in the end, his grandpa lost.


    However, he used his last power to seal this memory deep inside him and made fake ones to replace them and also to isolate the courtyard and put it inside a special dimension he had prepared beforehand. It had a formation that automatically delivered food and books to him. That endless cycle continued until he woke up inside a new courtyard. From there on his fate had changed.


    Nalser looked with a shocked gaze, the more he remembered the more he was confused. Who was the man in luxurious robes, who was he, why was he in the courtyard and so on. As more and more questions popped up, also a goal formed. He stood up and looked resolutely at the starry sky as he made up his mind to become strong and find out about his origins. Also, he had to take revenge for Gramps. When he had made that resolution it seemed like a knot had been untied in his heart. If before he had no reason to cultivate, then now he had a clear goal to strive for. As people say, with a goal even the impossible becomes possible.


    His aura started climbing and he continiuosly kept breaking through the Qi Gathering Stages. His aura kept rising until it reached the peak of 10 stage. Without further ado, he rushed straight towards the training room to temper his body. His eyes looked resolute as he kept increasing the difficulty of the tempering formation. He grit his teeth and persevered. Over the next few months, it was as if he had gone into a frenzy. He cultivated like mad and tempered his body like mad. The period for resting was minimal of the minimal.


    Seeing Nalser like that, stupefied Sweeper and the rest. Now they were truly worried that he might kill himself with the over training. They already prepared all the things they needed if some accident should occur. No one paid any more mind to the fact that they were not supposed to help him out.

 Chapter 9: Knocked out

    As Nalser kept using his new found motivation to cultivate, Sweeper and the rest were very worried already. For a week already, Nalser had been drawing every last ounce out of his body. There had been several times, where his body had nearly failed but he had managed to take the elixirs in the last moment. He meditated for an hour or two and then carry on with the insane training method. This kind of extreme training had an extreme growth in short term but it had a high chance of leaving a hidden injury that will cut his life short at a certain stage.


    Currently, Nalser was meditating, the reason he had been cultivating like mad recently was to find out about his origin. In the beginning he was consumed by rage and cultivated for revenge, now that he had calmed down a bit, he wanted to know, why was he locked in the courtyard. He wanted to know who the people that killed his Gramps were. If there were someone to tell him that his training regime was insane, he would consider it but currently he was alone. He also didn¡¯t know his training regime was extreme. He just thought that it was harsh.


    However, no matter what, with out a strict training you couldn¡¯t become an expert. Just as he had finished his meditation, he stood up. The moment he did, he felt his vision blurry and he finally he blacked out. As he fell face first to the ground, Sweeper and the rest let out a huge sigh of relief, the sleeping drug they put into the elixirs started working. Even though it was a waste of an elixir, they couldn¡¯t care less about it. This was the only idea they had, that had a probability of working without them revealing themselves.


    The sleeping drug was tasteless and odourless, colourless. A novice like Nalser will never be able to recognise anything wrong with the elixirs, so, they were in the clear. They just had to use the sleeping drug when he was reaching his final limit. Sweeper walked out from behind the corner and sighed, ¡°This should knock him out for the next day or two, seriously this guy is damn insane.¡± Just as he was about to crouch down to check his body for hidden injuries, Librarian also added, ¡°If he keeps up this kind of a regime, he will break sooner or later. This sleep drug is only a temporary measure, we need to have a better plan than this.¡±


    Sweeper stopped what he was doing and just nodded. This was just a temporary stop measure, this can¡¯t be used until he comes back to his senses. Suddenly, Sweeper had an idea and looked towards Librarian, ¡°Hey, you said that he always reads the books on the stages right? He is currently at the peak of 11 stage, has he read the one on 12 stage yet?¡± Librarian thought for a second and answered, ¡°No, not yet. He usually reads the books on the stage when he reaches it. As I have observed it helps him from being distracted.¡± Just as he was thinking, it dawned to him, ¡°You can¡¯t be thinking-¡±


    Sweeper didn¡¯t even let him finish, before saying, ¡°Yup, we need to alter the book to include a lot of rest and checking for injuries and such. Luckily, it is the stage before the last, we can make it so that it is preparing for Foundation Establishment or something.¡± Librarian thought about it for a bit and nodded, ¡°This is plausible. I can modify the book to add that. Luckily, Master wrote later notes and I can just add it like that as well. However, what caused him to flip the switch like that? Without dealing with the cause, we can¡¯t always keep thinking of these kinds of temporary stop switches. He hasn¡¯t consolidated after a breakthrough for a while now. This will also throw the Qi out of whack and it won¡¯t flow in the body like it should.¡±


    Sweeper could just helplessly shake his head, ¡°I have no idea but it is directly connected to the emotional scar he has. This kid is just too abnormal. First he was sad, then depressed, then shocked, then furious. Now he is just determined, determination in his case is good but in this particular case it will be his coffin nail.¡± Librarian and Sweeper just sighed, they were the two most in contact with him, so they had the job of watching over him.


    Suddenly one more puppet joined them, It was the Training Hall puppet. Nalser had named him Dummy. Dummy just looked at the two and sighed, ¡°Why not guide him towards some secret body techniques? We should have some that will help him fortify his body, no?¡± Librarian and Sweeper silently looked towards him, they had not thought about this possibility. They also had this method. Librarian just slapped his head and said, ¡°We have a whole frigging library full of techniques, I can guide him towards the ¡°Hidden Meridians, Hidden Palaces¡±. It is specially made to sit and carefully search them from inside him. If we add that this will help his chances to break through to Foundation Establishment, we have a real chance of having him learn this and that would calm down his regime a lot.¡±


    They looked towards Dummy with gratitude, well as gratified as their wooden faces could show. Sweeper may be the strongest and Librarian might be the smartest but neither of them could hold a candle to Dummy in training. Under his tutelage, they had awakened all of the puppets on the Island and it was also thanks to him that they all passed the tribulation. This solution was a simple one but it was the most effective one.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    With their course of action established, they all left to carry out their plans. Dummy just looked at Nalser and sighed, ¡°Extreme training is good but too much good is bad.¡± He just walked away to carry on doing what he usually does.


    ***


    On the other side, Nalser¡¯s fast climbing through the ranks weren¡¯t worrying only the puppets but also all the Ancient Remnants. When Nalser had let out the Qi wave during the baptism, they had all locked onto it and they were all using various visual Artefacts to keep an eye on him. They all applauded his determination in the tempering and all but when he went into a cultivating frenzy, they even called all of the Remnants together for a meeting. That meeting however turned into a huge debate. Half wanted to intervene and to calm him the fuck down.


    Half however said this, ¡°This is his cultivation. How he cultivates, is none of our business and we have no right to interfere either. We are neither his master or kin, we aren¡¯t even acquainted, we have no right to condemn his cultivation method.¡± The discussion turned quite heated. One of the older men suddenly stood up and everything fell quiet. He had black metal armour with a dragon emblem on, his eyes were fierce as various scars decorated his face. His long grey hair was tied to a pony tail.


    He opened his turquoise eyes as he opened his mouth, ¡°That boy¡¯s name is Nura Nalser and just as you guys have been debating over, you have no acquaintance with him but I do. This task I will take it on myself, also to speak to him a bit of the past.¡± The rest of the old men just nodded, no one had any objections. He knew the boy, so he had some past with him, out of everyone here, he was the only person qualified to deal with this. As the old man had said his part, the meeting ended. Everyone courteously wished each other well and each went their own way again. After the hall emptied out, 4 people were still left, sitting on their chairs.


    They all wore the same black armour but had a different emblem. They were the Dragon, Phoenix, Turtle and Tiger emblems. They used to be the Ancient Kings four Generals, each had their own department. Turtle Army was in charge of guarding the capital and His Highness, Vermillion was in charge of supplies, Dragon was in charge of Infantry and Tiger in charge of cavalry. After the fall of the Ancient King, they each took their armies and went into hiding. The three with the Phoenix, Turtle and Tiger emblems looked towards the one with the Dragon emblem with a surprised look and finally the one with the Tiger Emblem asked, ¡°Old Dragon, you really know this brat?¡±


    The one called Old Dragon just let out a sigh and said in a depressed tone, ¡°Yea, do you guys know about the Heavenly Fire Empire Direct Bloodline?¡± They all thought for a second and the one with the Tiger Emblem said, ¡°Yea, I heard that 15 years ago there was an uprising in the Heavenly Fire Empire. They said that a Branch Bloodline overthrew the Direct one and massacred everyone in the Direct Bloodline.¡± He thought for a second and added, ¡°Ohh I remember, about 6 years ago the Founder and Ancestor of the Bloodline went missing.¡±


    Old Dragon nodded and said, ¡°Little Tiger is on half right. 1 st of all, the Direct Bloodline isn¡¯t extinct only one of them is still alive. The young prince who was just born was spared. Well, his fate was no different than from the others however.¡± As Old Dragon said this far, he fell into thought. When he snapped back to reality, he saw the confused looks and started clarifying, ¡°The young prince was born with the purest Bloodline Body, the Heavenly Flame Body. The current Emperor wanted to wait until he reached of age to snatch away that special bodily constitution and strengthen his own bloodline.¡± The old man took a breath for a second.


    Little Tiger just thought for a second and suddenly realized, ¡°You said that the prince was the only one alive from the Direct Bloodline, does that mean that-¡± Old Dragon interrupted him by saying, ¡°Yes, The Heavenly Fire Empire Founder and Ancestor is dead. The only one of pure bloodline left is the Prince.¡± The one with the Turtle emblem interrupted their dialogue by asking, ¡°However, what does this have to do with that brat? Are you saying that he is the Prince of the Direct Bloodline?¡± Old Dragon looked annoyed but his expression changed to one of sadness, ¡°Yea, I was about to get to there. What Old Turtle said is right, the boy Nalser is the last of the Direct Bloodline, born with the Heavenly Flame Body constitution. Now through a twist of fate he has acquired the Legacy of the Ancient King. No matter how you look at it, there is going to be a great storm in the future. Before his tribulation, he will most likely cause quite a big storm but after his tribulation it is going to escalate into a serious natural disaster.¡± He conversed a little more with them and then bid his farewells as he went to meet Nalser.


    ***


    Back on the Starry Island, Nalser had just woken up and was planning on continuing his training when Sweeper came. With a wooden tone he said, ¡°Master, there is a visitor.¡± Nalser was stupefied. ¡°Other people could enter the Starry Island?¡±As he was following Sweeper over the bridge, his head was in quite the turmoil. When he finally reached the end of the bridge, he saw a man clad in black metal armour with a dragon emblem on his chest.


    The man smiled to Nalser and said, ¡°I think you won¡¯t remember me so let me introduce myself. I am called Old Dragon. As for my real name, I have already forgotten it Eons ago. May I come in?¡± Nalser was shocked at the military salute the old man gave him. For some reason, the old man seemed familiar but he didn¡¯t remember ever meeting him. With a sweep of Nalser¡¯s arm, the barrier let up and the old man entered.

 Chapter 10: Talk

    Nalser led Old Dragon to a little table and a few chairs near the edge of the Island. This was the place where he usually ate. Sweeper also brought tea to serve as refreshment. The whole way, from the bridge to the table, they were quiet but Nalser kept up his guard and he kept observing the man. He couldn¡¯t see his cultivation base but that was a given.


    He knew the man next to him had a cultivation base that exceeded his by a few miles. Nalser was clearly on the edge, his contact with other people was practically non existent. As Nalser was fidgeting on his seat, not knowing how to start the conversation, the old man let out a laugh, ¡°You don¡¯t need to be so on edge. I mean no harm to you, I am just here to speak to you a bit.¡± The old man sat up right and a serious glint passed his eyes as he asked, ¡°How much do you remember about yourself?¡±


    This question startled both Nalser and Sweeper, who was nearby sweeping the pathway. Nalser cautiously asked, ¡°What do you mean by that, I remember my whole life.¡± The old man shook his head lightly and said, ¡°I do not mean the fake memories but the real ones, sealed deep inside. Your recent cultivating frenzy is connected to the memories, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    Nalser was startled, he could not understand who this old man was and how he knew that much about him. Nalser also put on a serious face as he sat upright, ¡°You seem to know more about me than I do. May I ask, what relationship does Senior have with this junior?¡± Old Dragon was a little startled, Nalser started using extremely courteous speech. The old man collected himself a bit and said, ¡°I used to be a sworn brother with the man you called your Grandpa. We have met several times when you were still little. This is my guess but your cultivating frenzy is because you unlocked some memories from your past and due to that you lost your reason, no?¡± Nalser was dumbfounded, this old man really was connected to his past and his guess was also on point, leaving Nalser no room to refute it.


    Not knowing what to say, Nalser just bit his lip as he lowered his head. The old man, seeing this, let out a sigh, ¡°Now then, sees like my guess was on point. So lets make a trade and swear an oath on it.¡± Nalser looked at the man in puzzlement, ¡°What trade?¡± The old man took a deep breath and said, ¡°You ease up on your cultivation and don¡¯t hurry to a grave like you have been lately and I will tell you about your past. What happened and so on.¡± Nalser was stupefied and thought for a second before nodding his head. He didn¡¯t understand the oath part but he can ease up on his extreme training if he knew who he was.


    Seeing Nalser nod so easily, the old man let out a sigh again, ¡°We both swear an oath to the Heavens, If either of us breaks the oath, the person will suffer punishment. The Heavens are fair to the point of it making me puke. They do not care about circumstances at all. So think about it carefully, never agree to an oath this easily.¡± The old man had a scolding tone but he understood that Nalser wasn¡¯t to blame about this.


    Nalser¡¯s Grandpa didn¡¯t teach him anything about cultivation and he currently didn¡¯t have a Master to talk about these things. He had gotten the Ancient Kings Legacy but the King had died countless Eons ago, he may have left him a lot of books on cultivation and such but he couldn¡¯t personally instruct him on many things. This was such a case. Nalser thought about it carefully this time. It was obvious that the old man wasn¡¯t planning on lying to him because he himself was willing to swear an oath as well. Even though Nalser had great determination and will, he faltered a bit even he himself couldn¡¯t guarantee that he wouldn¡¯t cultivate like mad after knowing his origins. He thought and finally after remembering what his Grandpa used to say, he agreed to take the oath.


    After they had both sworn the oaths, The old man asked, ¡°May I ask, what made you steel your resolve like that? You seemed to be in a lot of thought and suddenly smiled as if remembering something.¡± Nalser just smiled, ¡°I remembered what Grandpa said, ¡°Even 20 years isn¡¯t late for a gentleman¡¯s revenge.¡± It may take me a long time but as long as I can get the revenge, it doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Old Dragon had a complicated face on, what Nalser said wasn¡¯t wrong by any means but it meant that he had steeled to get revenge no matter what.


    Old Dragon let out a sigh and started, ¡°Now then, lets begin with who you are. You are the last Direct Bloodline prince of an Empire. Only a few months after you were born, a Branch Bloodline revolted against the Direct Bloodline and massacred it. The only one left alive was you.¡± He took a breath for a second and let it sink in to Nalser before continuing, ¡°You were left alive because you were born with a Heavenly Flame Body, the purest and strongest bodily constitution of your entire bloodline. The main instigator of the rebellion kept you alive to extract the bodily constitution to strengthen his own bloodline. However, your Grandpa couldn¡¯t allow that to happen and he fought to his bitter end to keep you safe. When he knew that he would lose the fight, he sent your courtyard into a separate dimension he had created. He also created various different memories to take the place of the ones he had sealed. What I honestly do not understand is how you got here and acquired the Legacy of the Ancient King.¡±


    As he looked towards Nalser, he stopped for a while. It was very evident that Nalser was currently digesting everything. Nalser looked at Old Dragon and asked in calm, cool manner, ¡°What is the Empires name?¡± Seeing Nalser like that, Old Dragon felt a chill run down his spine for some reason. ¡°This guy, what is up with those eyes? Is he truly a person who grew up in an isolated courtyard his whole life. Those eyes don¡¯t remind a greenhouse flower at all.¡± As he thought to himself, he started regretting his decision of telling him everything.


    He put on a cold face as he said, ¡°I will tell you the Empires name when you pass the Tribulation. Before that, you going against it is the same as an ant trying to move Mount Tai. You would only be seeking your own death.¡± Nalser stood up in fury and yelled at the old man, ¡°You swore an oath to tell me everything, aren¡¯t you afraid of the Heavens punishment?!¡± The old man calmly answered, ¡°I promised to tell you everything but I didn¡¯t specify when. This was one of the safeties I left just in case. Had you not said anything about revenge, I would have told you the name of the Empire. However, since you want to take revenge, I will not tell you before you have enough strength to understand the depth of Earth and height of Heavens.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Hearing it like it, Nalser was still furious but he picked up the clues from the old man¡¯s words. The enemy wasn¡¯t someone weak and before the Tribulation, he wouldn¡¯t stand a chance at all. Bottling the fury up, he asked with grit teeth, ¡°What is this Heavenly Flame Body?¡± Seeing Nalser like that, the old man inwardly shook his head as he started explaining, ¡°It is a special bodily constitution. It basically means that you were born with an extreme affinity with fire. In the future, you will have an easier time understand fire based arts and also no normal flames could hurt you at all. When you reach the Empyrean level you will be completely impervious to 90% of flames. Actually, in addition to the Heavenly Flame Body that you were born with, you also have an acquired body.¡± The last part confused Nalser, where had he acquired another body? The old man lightly chuckled and said, ¡°The acquired body is something you got from the Baptism, it is called the Nether Flame Body. Only the Ancient King has had this bodily constitution through history.¡±


    As he stated this matter of factly, he added in a helpless tone, ¡°However, this situation isn¡¯t as good as you would think. You have two extremely dominating bodily constitutions in your body. In the future, there are 3 ways how this can end:


    1. You will die as an aftermath between the bodily constitutions.


    2. One of the constitutions will prevail over the other and


    3. Which also has the lowest possible chance, the bodily constitutions will merge creating a completely new one.


    Currently, the first option has the highest chance of happening.¡±Nalser was shocked, wasn¡¯t this the same as him giving him a death verdict?


    Just as Nalser was about to say something, Old Dragon continued, ¡°The fight for supremacy is going to happen the moment you step into Foundation Establishment. Your only option to survive is to take it easily, eliminate all the hidden injuries inside you and also to temper your body to the absolute peak of Qi Gathering. Since your body is a bit more than a ¡®little special¡¯ your limit in body tempering is many times higher than most people. I suggest that when you reach the 13 Stage of Qi Gathering, you should learn these techniques: Hidden Meridians, Hidden Palaces. Bones like Jade, Tendons like Bowstrings, Skin like Rock and Muscles of Steel.¡±


    After he listed the techniques, the old man took a deep breath. He was observing Nalser closely, he knew very well that he gave a death verdict to Nalser but it had to be said. If he had rushed towards Foundation Establishment like he was, he would¡¯ve died with a 100% certainty. Now, provided that he followed his suggestion, his survival chance would rise to 50%. This would also provide the best foundation for the future.


    Most people had the misconception that Foundation Establishment was the most important stage in preparation for the future. The most important stage was Qi Gathering. How much you tempered your body or how thoroughly you did it in the Qi Gathering stages had the biggest and most direct impact on the future progress. To temper the body at the later stages of cultivation was many, many times more difficult than in the beginning. At most cases, it was already impossible. If the body in Qi Gathering is a block of unpolished jade, then in the later stages it would be like a polished jade statue. It would be nigh impossible to redo it then.


    Nalser wasn¡¯t a fool, he understood why he suggested the body tempering techniques like that. They would temper and improve his body overall, increasing his survival chance. Nalser just let out a sigh and said, ¡°Okay, I need a bit of time to digest all of that but I would like to know, who is this Ancient King you speak of?¡± Old Dragon looked at Nalser with his jaw almost dropping to the ground. This question had caught him off guard and he felt like he had suffered an uppercut. He looked at Nalser suspiciously and asked, ¡°You have never heard of the Ancient King? You do not know whose Legacy you obtained?¡±


    Nalser looked at the old man with an innocent expression and said, ¡°All I know that he called his arts: Phantom Demon Arts and that his name was Shaon. That is all.¡± The old man looked around with a suspicious face and as his eyes passed Sweeper, he thought for a second and then said to Nalser, ¡°Shaon was the Ancient King who had the nickname of Phantom Demon. Through history he has been the only being to unify all the Realms under the same rule. The Legacy you obtained is his, you are basically the successor of the Ancient King.¡± Now it was Nalser¡¯s turn to have his jaw drop to the ground as he asked cautiously, ¡°The only person to have unified the Realms?¡±


    Old Dragon nodded and said, ¡°Yes, he had been the only one to successfully unify the Realms under one rule. If it hadn¡¯t been for the Ancient Wa-¡± His sentence was cut short as he realized that he had already said too much. He hurriedly said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to know that far currently. It would only serve as a burden to you. When the time is right I will tell you everything regarding it. However for now, all you need to know is that, behind you stand all the remaining Ancient Experts. Though, we will help you out only once before the Tribulation, that is all.¡±


    As Nalser digested all what he was told, he understood bits of it and said, ¡°Before the Tribulation help me once, huh¡­. Basically, you want me to rely on myself and not the help of outside forces?¡± Old Dragon just nodded his head and said, ¡°Although it is not bad to have a strong backing, to rely on it too much would be only detrimental to your own progress.¡± Nalser also nodded his head.


    He understood the reasoning, if you had a strong backing to take care of everything for you, you would subconsciously start relying on it too much and your own progress would start stagnating. Seeing Nalser understand everything and accept it all so calmly confused Old Dragon a lot as he thought to himself, ¡°This guy is very weird, his mood changes too quick. One minute he was furious and the next he calmly and collectedly listened to me. I honestly do not understand how his head works.¡± He had no idea that Nalser was an extremely decisive person.


    If he couldn¡¯t do anything about it, he would leave it for later and carry on. He never had the habit of randomly mulling over things that he had no power over. In any case, he would have more than enough time to think over those things later when Old Dragon left. Old Dragon also understood that he had given Nalser a huge information dump right now and he needed a while to think over all things and work them out step by step. He talked a bit about Nalser easing up his training and cultivating the body tempering techniques as well. Without a further ado, he left the Island and left Nalser to work things out for himself.


    As Nalser sent him away, he suddenly remembered, ¡°Shit, I forgot to ask him how the Hell he got here.¡± Cursing a bit, he turned around to go and sit at the edge of the Island again to digest all the information he had received and to work out a plan of action.

 Chapter 11: Resolution

    As Nalser was thinking over all he was told that day, his head was in chaos. In his mind, he understood that he currently wasn¡¯t strong enough to take revenge but he also couldn¡¯t make the thought leave his head. Finally after hours of debating everything inside his head, he let out a sigh, ¡°Well, for starters I should try to survive the Foundation Establishment. As for the rest, I can think about it then.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t that he gave up on revenge for now voluntarily, he just had no choice on this matter. If he couldn¡¯t survive the calamity of the double bodily constitution, there would be of no use of the plans he had made. Nalser looked up towards the starry sky and said weakly, ¡°Well, I guess everything will be revealed when I pass the Empyrean Tribulation. Before that, there is no use in brooding over things that I am utterly powerless to change.¡±


    He was a kind of a practical person, there was no use in thinking over things that may or could happen. What was important was here and now. Making up his mind to lock down the thoughts of revenge for now, he focused on inspecting his body. To be honest, he hadn¡¯t thought about the hidden injuries his extreme training would bring. The more he inspected his body, the more grim his face turned. His body was filled with hidden injuries through and through.


    He let out a sigh and said, ¡°Well, seems like I was on direct path to the coffin if that old man hadn¡¯t interfered.¡± When he now started think about his training lately, he started feeling very embarrassed. He had thrown all caution to the wind and he could currently see the results of that. He didn¡¯t dare to imagine what would have happened if he didn¡¯t have the helping elixirs. He realized that he had been very hasty and also very impatient.


    He decided to take a time out and focus on healing his injuries. He also changed his plans a bit, when before he planned on reaching Foundation Establishment first and then going out to adventure. Since he now found out the he will most likely die after reaching Foundation Establishment. There was no way in seven Hells that he would die without seeing the world a bit.


    For the next few weeks, he kept meditating, taking healing medicine and slowly healing the different hidden injuries inside his body. He also went to the bridge every day and had a look at the different exits that led to various worlds. He remembered the names of the worlds and then went to the Library to look them up a bit. The information was most likely very outdated but he had no newer sources of information, so he had nothing to do now. During the time he was quietly meditating, he actually rose from the peak of 11 Stage of Qi Gathering to the 12 Stage. Now he understood clearly, just how badly the hidden injuries impacted his training. He didn¡¯t cultivate at all but he just meditated and healed his injuries but his Qi rose by a level nonetheless. All he could was bitterly smile and reflect on his bad training choice.


    He also went to the Armoury to pick out a few protective treasures. However, he was shocked to find out that the outfit he was currently wearing was actually the most powerful defensive Artefact that Shaon had ever forged. It was also his favourite one so he kept using it the most and nurturing with his Qi. So over the passage of time the Artefact had grown extremely strong. He found the jade slip that gave a detailed instruction on how to bind the armour and he followed it step by step. He was extremely surprised to find out that he could bind the armour when he was only in Qi Gathering but then he understood after reading the rest of the explanation.


    It said that the power of the armour was a stage higher than the Master. If he was in the Qi Gathering the armour would be a Foundation Establishment Artefact and so on. After he passed the Tribulation, he would unlock the true power of the armour. ¡°Again with the Tribulation¡­. Is it really such large gap? Tribulation this, Tribulation that...¡± As he sourly murmured to himself, he wasn¡¯t really angry but he was now more interested in the Tribulation. He also found the gloves used by Shaon. The clothes, boots and gloves came all as a single set. Wearing the entire set multiplied the power by several fold. Although he was only in the Qi Gathering stages, thanks to the treasures and his cultivation method, he could truly wipe the floor with a Modern Era cultivator in the Foundation Establishment.


    The difference in the strength of the body, purity in Qi, the flow of Qi between a Modern Era and an Ancient Era cultivator was the same as the difference between the Heavens and the Earth. The only reason that the Ancient Era cultivators lost the war was because they were outnumbered a thousand to one. No matter how good the quality, it can¡¯t beat the quantity if the numbers are high enough.


    As Nalser familiarized himself with the power of the Set, he also practised the fighting stances taught to him by his Grandpa. He now realized that it was a true fighting technique and it was actually very strong. What he did not know was that it was the personal fighting technique that his Grandpa created when he comprehended bits and pieces of Phantom Demons fighting style. Nalser hadn¡¯t practised cultivation for long but he understood one thing: No matter whose Legacy he obtained, no matter what technique, only the techniques created by himself would be the most compatible with him.


    He can learn his Grandpas techniques and Phantom Demons techniques but ultimately they will be a foundation for creating his on personal fighting technique Art. Now that his injuries had healed and he had chosen his treasures to use, he started going towards the bridge. He saw the different puppets and only glanced at them before passing them. When he reached the end of the bridge, he chose an entrance from the myriad of choices and exited through that.


    When he opened his eyes again, he was in the middle of a lush green grasslands. Behind his back was big forest and behind the forest were some mountains visible. However, in front of him was an endless grassland. He took a jet black board out from a Spacial Ring he had looted from the Armoury Hall. This board was a movement Artefact. It could expand and shrink by the users will but the smaller it was, the faster it was. As he stepped on the board it shook a bit before he could fix his balance. He started flying over the grasslands at a low altitude.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    As time went on his speed gradually picked up, in the beginning he was going at normal carriage speed but now he was moving like a car on a highway. Although he had practised flying with the board on Starry Island, there wasn¡¯t a surface big enough for him to use it well. This was the first time where he could fly straight for so long. As he started enjoying the wind and flying from such an altitude, he suddenly felt Qi ripples in the distance. When he turned his head toward the direction, the Qi ripples were emanating from, a huge explosion occurred. The explosion came so suddenly that Nalser almost fell of the board from being startled. He lowered his speed and sent out his Qi sense towards the direction.


    Qi sense was something he obtained when he stepped into the 10 Stage and in the book left behind by Shaon, it was the most important thing needed for close combat arts. If the user was skilled with it, during a fight, he could observe the opponents every little movement during the entire fight. It would be very easy to find the opponents weakness or an opportunity to escape with it. As his senses travelled across the grasslands he finally reached the place where the explosion occurred.


    He could see two sides fighting, one side was dressed in blue robes and they seemed to be in quite the bad situation. All the older men, seemed to be protecting a young lady around 15 years old. What seemed weird was that the young lady currently seemed to be suffering from a fever.


    The other side was dressed in yellow robes and they all had smug faces on. They seemed to be talking to the people in blue robes but since Qi Sense didn¡¯t transmit sound over as well, he couldn¡¯t make out what they were talking about. Nalser let out a sigh as he altered his course a bit, so that he would steer clear of the battlefield.


    Suddenly his face changed as he looked towards the battlefield with a serious face. He kept observing with his Qi Sense and suddenly realized that one of the old men grabbed the young lady and was heading straight for Nalser. It didn¡¯t matter how he accelerated or how he changed his course, the old man kept resolutely chasing him. Nalser frowned deeply as he stopped completely and stayed there waiting. About 15 minutes later the old man finally reached Nalser and he immediately kneeled down before Nalser and before Nalser could say anything he said, ¡°I implore for Young Master to take my family Miss and run far away!¡±


    Nalser¡¯s jaw dropped to the ground but before he could even say anything, or react for that matter, the old man placed the young lady on the board and rushed back towards the fray. Nalser just stood there stupidly, not knowing what to do. ¡°Should I just dump the little lady here and go on with my travels?¡± As the thought passed through his head, he immediately discarded it. From the wounds on the old man and from the lack of the wounds on the little lady, Nalser could tell very well that she was someone very precious to them. The old man didn¡¯t hesitate to discard his pride and seniority to ask help from a junior he hadn¡¯t even met help like this. Nalser just glanced at the little lady and couldn¡¯t help but take a closer look at the little lady. Although she seemed only 15 years old, she looked like a little fairy, her long blonde hair quickly captivated Nalser and he fell into a daze.


    Nalser was abruptly woken up when an explosion rang out nearby. ¡°Tsk.¡± He bit his lip and took the little lady into his embrace and started pouring Qi into the board and it flew out like a rocket. It even left behind sonic boom. No one below the Foundation Establishment could fly, well there were a few techniques that allowed to do that or Artefacts like Nalser¡¯s board but they were very rare even in the current Era.


    Nalser crouched as he embraced the little lady and he kept flying at full speed. There was a formation that negated the air pressure, so Nalser¡¯s only speed limit was the amount of Qi he could keep pouring in into the board. In a short period of time, he had crossed a distance of several hundred kilometers. When he could no longer find the pursuers with the Qi Sense any more, he looked around and made sure that there was no one around before taking the little lady into the Starry Island. He knew that him entering the Island like that, would leave behind a Qi Imprint but Shaon had also written that even an Empyrean King wouldn¡¯t be able to find the Imprint if he didn¡¯t know the exact Qi Aura.


    When Nalser entered the Island, he immediately took the little lady to the Infirmary in the Training Hall. There was a special medical puppet there, he named her Medic. As for the reason it was a her was that Shaon had made it into a female puppet and he had been very detailed with this puppet for some reason. After having Medic look over her, he left her to completely check her condition.


    As he sat outside cursing his luck, Medic came out and said in a feminine tone, ¡°She needs several Water Type elixirs to heal. She has an innate affinity to Water. I suspect that she might even have a Special Water Type Body Constitution. However, she has been poisoned with a very domineering Fire Type poison. It is only thanks to the affinity with water that she has survived this long.¡± As Medic looked towards Nalser with an emotionless face, Nalser asked her, ¡°Do we have these Elixirs in stock?¡± Medic nodded her head and then Nalser told her to administer them to her. When Medic left to get the medicine, Nalser entered the room.


    ***


    Around the corner Sweeper and Librarian were face palming. Sweeper asked in a helpless tone, ¡°Is this guy a natural shit magnet? How the Hell did he manage to get himself mixed up in this kind of a situation after leaving the Island for 3 hours?¡± Librarian could only helplessly shake his head as well.


    In the beginning, they were happy that Nalser would go out to also temper himself and see the world. However only 3 hours later Nalser had come back with a little lady who was poisoned in tow. They had seen a lot more than Nalser and knew that that lady¡¯s background was not simple, neither were the guys who had poisoned her. Unknowingly ,Nalser had mixed himself into quite a mess already.


    ***


    In a different world behind a table were 4 old men in armour. They were Old Dragon and co. They were currently looking at a water screen in the middle of the table with a complicated expression. Finally, Little Tiger let out a weak laugh, ¡°This guy is seriously a shit magnet¡­. In three hours, he managed to pick up a lady of an influential clan that is currently in the middle of an internal war. Maybe he should have never left the damn Island in the first place...¡±


    The three others had the same kind of thoughts. Old Dragon and the rest were more informed with what was going on in the outside world than Sweeper and company. The Clan that girl was from was not simple at all and Nalser right now would be courting death if he wanted to mix himself in that fight.


    **


    The same kind of situation played out in myriad of different worlds. All the Ancient Experts observing Nalser all had a face that seemed like it didn¡¯t know whether to laugh or cry on. However, in the end they could all just sigh at Nalser¡¯s shitty luck and hope that Karma would soon pay him back for this bad luck.

 Chapter 12: Are Bodily Constitutions contagious?

    When Nalser the room, he was greeted by a peculiar sight. The girl had already woken up and was currently looking towards him with a cold look. Nalser felt a chill as he thought, ¡°Those are not the eyes of a normal young lady.¡± With caution he took a chair and sat near the girl. However, he left a meter distance between them as a safety switch. He did not know how to start the conversation so he was quite troubled.


    Finally he grabbed his head and said, ¡°Okey, now that I have helped you out, I am stuck in your mess as well. Let¡¯s start with, who the Hell are you and what was your relationship with those old men?¡± The girl looked at him blankly and asked in a cold voice, ¡°What happened to the people that were with me?¡± Nalser was a bit agitated for some reason and said, ¡°Their most probably dead. One old timer threw you to me and told me to run, while he went to stop the people pursuing you.¡± The girl just let out an ¡°Ohh¡± and looked straight ahead.


    Nalser started to get angry and now he realized, why he was getting more and more agitated. Those old men gave their lives and even placed their trust in him, a total stranger, but she seemed like she didn¡¯t give a damn about them. Although he was no saint, she should at least give a damn about the people she owes her life to. Just as he was about to rise up and grab her head, he was stunned. He saw tears streaming down her face. His anger faded to the wind and now he was awkwardly crouching over the chair. Since he had no idea on what to do now. All he could do was move his chair closer and pat her head saying, ¡°You can cry all you want, this place is safe and nothing will happen to you here. I can swear it to the Heavens.¡±


    The girl just looked at him for a second before burying her head on her knees loudly sobbing. Nalser didn¡¯t realize, why he was so weird around the girl was because he felt some similarity but he thought that it was his figment of imagination. Just patting her head, he sat there not knowing what else to do.


    Soon Medic came back and left all the elixirs on the table. She also explained Nalser what to take first and what next. Should there be any complications, he could always call her and etc. Medic tactfully left the room and left the two of them alone. Seeing this Nalser was even more sure that all the puppets had intelligence but for some reason were hiding it. In the beginning, it was just a feeling but as he more observed these kinds of minute details, he understood that they were faking their ¡®puppetness¡¯.


    However, there seemed to be a reason for it so he currently would go stroke a hornets nest like that. Time flowed by and soon the girl sobbed herself to sleep after taking some of the elixirs and stabilizing her condition. However, Nalser had no way of leaving, at some point in time, the girl had gripped Nalser¡¯s hand and now she wouldn¡¯t let go. Nalser had at least that much tact that he wouldn¡¯t forcefully remove his hand.


    With nothing better to do, he sat next to the bed. At some point in time, he also fell asleep. He was quite exhausted from his over use of Qi when he bolted with the little lady.


    ***


    When the two of them were calmly and safely sleeping at Starry Island, a few people in yellow robes were lurking near the place Nalser had disappeared from. One of the people was a young man who was wearing quite the luxurious clothes. He looked quite handsome with his brown hair and azure blue eyes but currently his face was ugly like a pigs. His right hand, that was holding a bloody sword, pointed towards one of the old men in yellow robes and yelled, ¡°Where the fuck is she?!?! All you had to do was capture her but you incompetent bastards couldn¡¯t even catch one little girl that was poisoned?!¡±


    All the old men had embarrassed faces as they cast their heads down. The young man raged on, ¡°I took a huge risk poisoning her and trying to capture her all without obtaining her. If she arrived back at her branch and told what happens, a bloodbath will ensue. She was the key to making the Azure Branch submit to us! Now thanks to you bumbling oafs, we blew it. Be prepared to face the consequences when we return to our Golden Branch!¡±


    Very frustrated, he called off the search, he understood that someone had helped her out, otherwise there would have been no way for her to disappear like this. He turned to one of the old men behind him and asked respectfully, ¡°Is there any sign of the imprint sir?¡± This man was a Nascent Soul Elder dispatched to keep the young man safe. He also had an imprint set up in the poison. The Elder just shook his head and said in a helpless tone, ¡°It seems like the person who saved her is someone we have to think twice about provoking. All I can tell is that she teleported from here and from that point onwards some extremely strong presence is blocking me from feeling the imprint.¡±


    The young man was shocked. For a Nascent Soul Elder to say that means that their opponent is someone who has passed the Tribulation. The young man thought for a second and said, ¡°If what you say is true, then we are in some very serious shit if she manages to get that expert to help her.¡± The old man nodded and was about to say something when his expression suddenly changed.


    A ripple spread out from above Starry Island Imprint and suddenly 4 figures appeared in the air. They all excluded a majestic aura as the Nascent Soul Elders face became paler and paler. There were three men and one woman there. One of the men was wearing blue daoist robes and looked as though he was a transcended being, in his left hand was an azure sheathed sword. His hair was blue and his features were refined. His azure eyes glanced over all the people present and he turned his head towards the seductive woman and asked, ¡°Medic, is the one who left the imprint here?¡±


    The woman looked extremely seductive with her voluptuous breasts, that were quite revealed. She wore pink robes and her little mouth was pouting as she twirled her long brown curly hair around her finger. She pointed towards the Nascent Soul Elder and said, ¡°It is that old fart who left the imprint.¡±


    She looked towards a scholarly middle aged man who had short brown hair, with grey stripes mixed in at the sides. He wore white scholars robes and excluded a scholarly aura that would win a fight with words rather than with force. She said, ¡°Librarian, the technique is quite interesting. I think you would be interested in adding it to your collection.¡±If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    The scholarly man let out a ¡®Haha¡¯ laugh and looked at the juvenile boy next to him. The boy had short jet black hair and completely black pupils. He was wearing black leather armour as well, making him a mismatch in the group of people in daoist robes. ¡°Dummy, did you not have some techniques you wanted to try out. You can test it out on the rest of these guys.¡±


    The young man just crossed his hands before his chest and pouted, ¡°I expected there to be Celestial level people but these are all just scrubs who don¡¯t have a chance at passing the tribulation. I won¡¯t even be able to test out a few techniques on these guys.¡± These four were the four puppets Sweeper, Librarian, Medic and Dummy but they looked like bona fide humans right now.


    Sweeper just let out a sigh and said, ¡°Okey guys, let¡¯s wrap this up before Little Master and the little lady wake up. Afterwards it is going to be extremely hard for us to sneak back in without being noticed.¡± Everyone just let out a sigh and started killing everyone.


    In the blink of an eye only the young master in yellow robes was left. However he was completely terrified. Just as Sweeper was about to kill him, Librarian stopped him, ¡°Hey, we can use this guy. Don¡¯t be so hasty.¡± Sweeper listened to him and lowered his sword as Librarian went up to him, ¡°Now then, listen here. You are not to chase after that little lady any more. Next time, we will not hesitate to take everyone and slaughter your entire little clan. Are we clear?¡±


    The young master immediately kowtowed before them and said, ¡°Yes I understand exalted Celestials. I will immediately tell my entire Branch to give up on her.¡± Everyone of them had a smirk on their faces as they laughed at him. Dummy finally said, ¡°Oi little brat, we are not your weak ass Celestials. We are all Empyreans, so truly do think about it clearly, whether you want to pull any tricks or not.¡±


    Hearing this, the young masters face went even paler than before as he thought to himself, ¡°What dogshit luck does she have. She managed to get a Remnant behind her. Not even the Emperor is willing to pick a fight with them, nothing to say about our Clan.¡± His clan was quite powerful so of course he knew about the Ancient Path and Ancient Remnants. The Ancient path was far stronger than their Modern Path.


    From their talk, he could understand there were even more of them, so if their clan should choose to butt heads, they would without a doubt lose. He could only curse his luck as he sat there on the ground terrified and watch them leave. As Sweeper and the rest left the young master just fainted.


    When Sweeper and the rest entered the Island again, they quickly took on their puppet appearances again and went back to their positions. The reason they took action at that time was because Nalser would be in too deep of a shit otherwise. It was wiser for them to just quietly eliminate the threat like this than to reveal themselves when Nalser ran into a stone wall with those guys.


    ***


    Nalser and the young lady slept until the morning. When the young lady woke up, the first thing she noticed was Nalser¡¯s white hair. The next thing was that she was gripping his hand. She blushed for a second and realized what had happened. She remembered grabbing Nalser¡¯s hand and seeing the situation right now, she understood that she had never let go and Nalser had tactfully not withdrawn his hand either. She became curious about the young man in front of her. He seemed to be about the same age as her but for some reason, he seemed very mature.


    Just as she was about to try and take her hand away. Nalser groaned and opened his eyes. His blue eyes seemed extremely unfocused as he yawned and looked around. The young lady quickly took her hand away and sat there on the bed quietly. Nalser seemed like he was processing something as he looked around with his unfocused eyes.


    Gradually, however he seemed to come back to his senses as he seemed to remember where he was and why. When he saw that the young lady was awake, he gave an awkward greeting, ¡°Well, good morning. Before we start, you should most probably take the rest of the elixirs.¡± After pointing to the table, where the elixirs were, he started moving toward it to bring them closer. The young lady docilely took the elixirs and followed the instructions Nalser gave her. It wasn¡¯t that she wasn¡¯t suspicious but rather she had no choice.


    She understood that his place was a special dimension Artefact and she was completely at his mercy. After Nalser grabbed breakfast for them, Nalser asked, ¡°So, may I ask who are you and what was your connection to those people?¡± The young lady thought for a second before sitting upright in a graceful posture and saying, ¡°My name is Xu Mei. I am from the Five Heavens Clan. More specifically I am from the Azure Heaven Branch and the people who were after me were from another branch called the Golden Heaven Branch. My Azure Branch is focused on Water Type martial arts. However the Golden Branch is focused on Earth Type martial arts.¡±


    She took a sip of tea as she continued. ¡°My Azure Branch has dominated the strongest position of the Five Branches for generations and has held the Leader position for the same amount of time.¡± Nalser looked confused and the Mei quickly clarified, ¡°My clan is composed of 5 branches and every 30 years there is a family competition amongst the junior generation to determine the branch that will hold the leader position for the next thirty years.¡±


    Hearing thus far, Nalser understood. ¡°So all of this is another pointless struggle for power? Has the competition happened yet or is it still coming up?¡± Mei just helplessly said, ¡°The competition will take place in 7 months. My Azure branch has two unprecedented geniuses this time, so the Golden Branch, wanting to take power, had to resort to kidnapping me, so they could blackmail my Azure Branch.¡± Nalser just nodded his head until it suddenly dawned to him and he stammered, ¡°You couldn¡¯t be-¡±


    Mei, without letting him finish his sentence said, ¡°I am the only daughter of the Azure Branch Patriarch. Also I am one of the two experts my Branch has. The other is my elder brother who has reached the peak of Palace Establishment at the age of 20. A lot of Major schools have already expressed their goodwill and have tried to recruit my brother.¡±


    Everything became clear to Nalser. The reason they tried to get her was because she held two crucial positions.


    1. She was the only daughter of the Patriarch, so they most likely doted on her a lot.


    2. She was one of the aces, so just by eliminating her, they would increase their chances by a lot.


    Mei suddenly bit her lips and said in a bit of a depressed tone, ¡°There was one more reason they chose me. That sick bastard Xi Wei has had a crush on me from little. When he poisoned me, he told me in great detail about what he was going to do when my cultivation got crippled.¡± Seeing that face, Nalser could only guess that, what that guy told her, it wasn¡¯t pretty one bit. Nalser tried to calm her down a bit and asked, ¡°Even if he had a crush on you, wouldn¡¯t this be a little bit too extreme?¡±Mei just looked at Nalser and blurted out, ¡°It was also because I have a special bodily constitution called the Heavenly Water Embryo Body.¡±


    Hearing this, Nalser nearly fell off his chair as he shouted towards the Starry Sky, ¡°Are bodily constitutions fucking contagious?¡±

 Chapter 13: Retainer

    Mei just looked at Nalser blankly. She had no idea what he was thinking about when he raged out like that. Almost a little scared to asked, she just sat there. She knew nothing about Nalser and she always felt an invisible pressure weighing down on her. She knew that the young man, who was sitting the opposite to her, background was nothing simple and if she did something wrong, not only her but also her entire clan would suffer the consequences.


    She had heard a lot about the young masters from truly major powers. Since they had grown up with a silver spoon in their mouths, trying to find a just person amongst them was like finding a saint from amongst bandits. She conducted herself with utmost care and tried to do everything so that she would not offend the young master in front of her at all costs. Nalser thought for a second and asked her, ¡°The Water Embryo Body. It is an acquired body right?¡± Mei was just startled, it was true. However, the fact that he could point it out like that, meant that he did not have a weak background. Mei just nodded and said, ¡°Yes, like young master has said, my special body was acquired. When I was little, me and my brother like to play in the forest behind the family compound. When we were hungry, we would just eat the berries and such in the forest. However, one day like any other, I ate some kind of a blue fruit. After hovering on the edge of life and death for a week, my condition finally stabilized and I had acquired the Heavenly Water Embryo Body.¡±


    Nalser was deep in thought when he suddenly remembered that he read about it in one of the books on Special Bodies. He blinked to the Library and quickly brought the book. When he blinked back to his original spot and started looking it up. However, Mei was completely shaken. Her face went pale as she thought to herself, ¡°Domain Blink. This is only possible in Ancient Empyrean Dimensional Spaces. To have such a high level Artefact, is he a young master of some extremely powerful old clan or is he connected to the Remnants?¡± Just thinking about either of those choices would make her a few shades paler.


    Neither of those powers were something that they could or would dare to offend. She was already starting to consider whether having been caught would have been a better situation or not. However, that thought left her head as quickly as it entered. Currently all she could do was hope that she could curry the favour of this young master. However, she could not understand one thing: Why did someone of his status help her in the first place. If he didn¡¯t want to get mixed up in this mess, he could ha just handed her over to the Golden Branch or just dumped her somewhere. However, this guy went out of his way to help escape the Golden Branch and also he brought various elixirs to cure the poison inside her.


    However, the poison had corroded her quite a bit already. Her cultivation had fallen from the middle Palace Establishment to the 9 Stage of Qi Gathering. Her Qi was also corroded and most her meridians were crippled. Her future as a cultivator was now shot. In the future, the cultivation would gradually drop and if there would be no nourishing elixirs, it would plummet to zero soon and she would become completely crippled.


    In her, there was no value, so she couldn¡¯t understand, why would Nalser of out of his way to help her. Suddenly Nalser said, ¡°Ohh, found it.¡± She looked towards Nalser with a curious gaze. She couldn¡¯t understand the characters written on the book. Nalser started reading out loud. ¡°Heavenly Water Embryo Body, it is classified as a lower tier acquired body that can only be obtained when a person, who fills specific requirements eats a Water Embryo Fruit. The special body itself will have increased affinity with water and makes training in Water Type Arts relatively easy, twice the result for half the effort. However, the real value of the body lies in the ability to raise the bearers children¡¯s affinity with water and also it would give the offspring a certain special ability that will grow with their body. However, this type of special body can only be acquired by women.¡±


    With that Nalser raised his gaze from the book and looked towards Mei, ¡°So that Xi Wei or whoever, was after the effect of offspring?¡± Mei just blushed and nodded her head. Nalser just let out a sigh and his head almost hit the table as he said, ¡°So, mind telling me, who does he think he is?¡± Mei felt puzzled by the question but soon found that Nalser¡¯s gaze was a bit nostalgic as he looked away continuing, ¡°What gives him the right to decide upon another persons future?¡±


    Mei and even Nalser didn¡¯t know any more, whether the question was directed at Mei or someone else. Mei could only cast her head down and stay quiet. Nalser turned his head back and with a serious expression said, ¡°Your cultivation is shot now right?¡±


    Mei looked in Nalser¡¯s eyes and when she could see the resolution in them, she could only weakly nod. Seeing this Nalser decided to throw a curveball to her, ¡°If I gave you a cultivation method and elixirs to train until the Empyrean Level, would you be willing to follow me?¡± This completely stupefied Mei and well, everyone who were keeping an eye on him. Before Mei could even ask her what he meant, Nalser said, ¡°I will give you a cultivation method of Ancient Path. I¡¯ll help you fix your meridians and I¡¯ll support you through your way to becoming an Empyrean Immortal. All I ask in turn is that you give me your loyalty and help me kill a certain man.¡±


    Mei looked towards Nalser in shock. Not to mention giving her loyalty, if he told her to become his slave, she would be willing without a second thought. Just as she was about to answer, Nalser shot her a cold glance and said, ¡°The one I want to kill is of the royal bloodline of an extremely strong Empire. Think it through before answering. I¡¯ll give you 3 days to consider this. When I ask for your loyalty, I ask for a whole hearted one. I do not need traitor and I will also not hesitate to strike you down if you betray me. ¡°With that, Nalser left towards the Library.


    When before he did not have a wholehearted resolve, then now he had made his whole hearted resolve to survive and get revenge. If he alone wouldn¡¯t be strong enough to take on those traitors, then he will amass an army. He will grow an army that will be strong enough to take on any Empire, any power. Mei was just sitting there and thinking it through.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Nalser said all he said, so that she would make the right decision. He said that the enemy was extremely strong and had an influential backing so their chances of survival would be minimal. She could only make wild guesses about the reason of the enmity. However, the more she thought about it, the more she found out that there was no reason to reject Nalser¡¯s proposal. Currently, she could no longer train in cultivation. However, Nalser gave her a way of survival. If she went back to the clan like she was, she would have lost most of her value already.


    Only her family and some more loyal retainers wouldn¡¯t mistreat her but most people would see her as just a good incubator and would try to get some ties by selling her off. Mei looked resolutely towards the sky and said to herself, ¡°I don¡¯t care if you wanted to kill the Ancient King himself, I would stand behind you.¡±


    She set her steps towards the Library in hopes of catching up to Nalser. Although not a long time had passed, she could not even find Nalser¡¯s shadow. Since she couldn¡¯t read the Ancient Characters, she couldn¡¯t understand any of the plates. All she could do was ask Sweeper that where Nalser went. When she entered the building Sweeper pointed towards, her jaw almost fell to the floor. Inside the humongous Library, she felt like she was an ant. She was woken up from her daze by Librarian who asked, ¡°What can I do for you?¡±


    Mei looked over the puppet for a second and answered, ¡°I am looking for your Master, is he here?¡± Librarian nodded and signalled her to follow him. He led her through the maze of bookshelves to where Nalser was. Currently there were several different books laid out on the table and Nalser was scribbling something on the paper.


    The paper was written in 3 languages, so Mei looked at it very confusedly. Nalser actually acquired the habit of writing in English, like his Grandpa taught him, in Modern Era universal language and in the Ancient Era language. The only person who could understand his notes was probably only he himself. Nalser was currently immersed in the thing he was researching and he did not notice Mei closing in. Librarian also couldn¡¯t leave her here alone with Nalser like this, so he tapped on Nalser¡¯s shoulder to bring him back to reality. When Nalser saw Librarian, he was initially confused, since Librarian never interrupted him like this. However, when he saw the person Librarian was pointing towards, he understood. Nalser dismissed Librarian and turned to Mei. ¡°Three days haven¡¯t passed yet. Heck even one day hasn¡¯t passed yet, are you sure you have thought it completely through?¡±


    Mei just nodded and said, ¡°Yes and I have decided to accept young master¡¯s proposal. Actually, there was no need to debate over this. If I go back to the clan like this only my Father, Mother and Brother, some loyal retainers will care about me, the rest would try to exploit me as an incubator. What young master offered me was a way to survive, I would accept even if young master had wanted me to become your slave.¡± Nalser was very surprised. Not that she accepted but that she would even be willing to be his slave.


    Nalser looked towards her with a new glance and could only sigh, ¡°Are Ancient Cultivation methods truly that precious that you need to lower yourself like that. Any ways, who are you calling Young Master all the time? My name is Nalser and you can just call me that in the future.¡± Mei immediately bowed and refuted, ¡°How can I lower Young Master¡¯s status like that. It is as obvious as day that you have extra ordinary status.¡± Nalser just stared at her blankly and said in a dull tone, ¡°I just inherited this place as a Legacy. Before that I have had no contact with other people besides my Grandpa. Trust me, I am no Young Master. Well, now that you know the truth are you going to reconsider?¡±


    Mei looked stupefied as she asked, ¡°Did your white hair get taken as a bad omen and you were excluded from the clan?¡± Nalser looked at her stupidly as he asked, ¡°What white hair?¡± Mei just answered, ¡°Your hair is as white as snow. Some lower clan take these signs as an ill omen.¡± Nalser immediately stood up and started looking for a mirror but couldn¡¯t find one.


    Finally, with having no better option, he took a bowl full of water to act as a mirror. When he finally saw his pure white hair, he was stupefied. He had no idea, when his hair had turned white. He remembered that at the school he was summoned in, he had blonde hair but since there was no mirror on this god forsaken island, he hadn¡¯t noticed his hair had changed colour. He was stupefied by the change and went to grab Librarian. He didn¡¯t wait for him to ask him anything but directly held him by the scruff as he yelled at him, ¡°Why the Fucking Hell is my hair as white as snow?!¡± Librarian answered in an emotionless voice, ¡°Master¡¯s hair turning white was a side effect of the Baptism. Since the unbearable pain brings the person close to the edge of insanity, their hair usually turns white for some reason. This is something that is yet to be proven as to why it happens.¡±


    Nalser let down Librarian and he sighed, ¡°Will my hair ever turn back to normal?¡± Librarian just answered, ¡°No, it will not turn back and dying it will not help either as the dye will fade away with time.¡± Nalser just face palmed himself. Months had passed since the Baptism and he noticed something this eye catching only now. That was also thanks to Mei asking about it. If she had not asked about it, he probably wouldn¡¯t have figured out before it was too late.


    Thinking about it he realized that he left Mei in the middle of the Library alone. He immediately rushed back to find Mei standing where he left her. She had not moved an inch yet. This made Nalser a tad worried as he asked, ¡°Would you like to sit?¡± Mei staggered towards one of the chairs Nalser pointed towards and took a seat. She looked towards Nalser with resolved face and asked, ¡°Would it be possible to ask you to take my clansmen under the same conditions as me?¡±


    She was currently betting on the fact that Nalser needed help killing that person, so she would be able to get her family and their loyal retainers out of that snake hole clan only cares about benefits. Nalser was taken aback by the proposal but then asked in a suspicious tone, ¡°How many people are we talking about? And why?¡± Mei cast her head down and said, ¡°About 50-100 people. They are my families loyal retainers. Through the passage of time our clan has grown too big so it has become a snake hole where plots of rebellion are a common thing. My father has had the idea of leaving for a long time now but we have had no place to go. Also me being a Special Body, also didn¡¯t help, since they don¡¯t have the power to protect me by themselves.¡±


    Nalser thought about it for a second and said, ¡°Okey let¡¯s do it like this. You will talk about this plan to your father but don¡¯t mention anything regarding the Ancient Cultivation method or something. Just say that my backing is extremely strong. Also I will be the one to screen the people that you want to take along, just in case. Deal?¡± This kind of a situation was beneficial to both parties. Nalser needed loyal subordinates and Mei¡¯s family needed a safe place to come and live at. Since this was in their both interest, Meei just nodded, ¡°Okey, we will do that. But can I say that you were the one who saved me from the Golden Branch?¡±


    Nalser thought for a second and nodded.

 Chapter 14: Cultivation is an Endless road.

    Nalser however couldn¡¯t understand one thing, so he asked, ¡°Isn¡¯t your Azure Branch one clan, why would your family want to leave? I understand that it is only a branch of the clan but still?¡± Mei just lightly chuckled and said, ¡°For this we need to begin with the origin of the Five Heaven Clan. The Five Heaven Clan was founded by five sworn brothers back during the Ancient Era. Even thought in name it is the Five Heaven Clan, it is actually an alliance of 5 different Clans.¡±


    Mei took a breath and started explaining again, ¡°The 5 Clans have existed since the Ancient Era so they have grown far too big. Take my Azure Branch for example, we have the Main Branch and over 40 different branches as well. We are all of the same clan but my Main Branch has held the Patriarch position until now. Some more ambitious branches want to take control of the Clan themselves and become the Main Branch. The Ancestors of the Branches don¡¯t interfere in these kinds of things because they explicitly said: ¡°Unless it is an outside threat, we won¡¯t interfere. If the Main Branch loses to a different Branch, then it is fate.¡± So expecting help from them is pointless.¡±


    Mei just let out a soft sigh before continuing, ¡°Currently the only reason my Branch has held the Main Branch spot for so long is because my Father is a Nascent Soul Expert and 3 out 5 Grand Elders are loyal to our Main Branch.¡± Nalser thought it over for a second and asked, ¡°The Grand Elders are all Nascent Soul Experts?¡±


    Mei merely nodded before continuing, ¡°No matter which world or power, becoming a Nascent Soul Expert can get you a high position. Celestial level experts are all Ancestors who have given up mundane struggles and will only come out when there is a serious threat to their clan or power or something.¡± Nalser just nodded. This was somewhat in his calculation. From the books he learned that only 1 in 10 000 can pass the Celestial Tribulation. So to have those Ancestors all fight for benefits would cause chaos. So they must have reached some tactile agreement that Celestial Level Experts will only appear when destruction of their clan is imminent or something. Nalser looked towards Mei with glance that seemed to tell her to continue.


    Mei continued her tale, ¡°Because the Clan has grown too big, my family can¡¯t keep them all in check any more. Also a lot of younger or elder generation people go around stirring things into a mess, so the one who has to take the heat is my Father, The Patriarch. He is also the person who has to pacify everything. Since he has to manage the clan and at the same time clean up the messes the clan makes, he is dead tired.¡± Nalser started understanding the circumstances better.


    He asked something that had been on his mind for some time now, ¡°Why won¡¯t he do a purge in the Clan? I mean, he is the Patriarch so if he decided to purge all the rebels, no one could say anything, no?¡± Mei just lightly shook her head as she said, ¡°It is not that simple. The purge would¡¯ve worked a few generations ago but now it is impossible. Currently, the clan is extremely fragmented and some of the rebels are hidden far too deeply. If he carelessly executed a purge, they would all first work to overthrow the Main Branch and then fight it out between themselves for the position of the Main Branch.¡± Realization hit Nalser as he heard Mei¡¯s explanation.


    He had been too naive in his thinking, he hadn¡¯t thought about the undercurrents. ¡°Okey, so subduing the clan was not an option but what does your bodily constitution have anything to do with not leaving the clan?¡± Mei seemed to have been waiting for that question as she said, ¡°The clan has become greedy. They care more about their own benefits rather than their clansmen. If my family left like that, then the other Branches can forcibly take me back to the clan to sell off. They¡¯ll use some kind of a ¡®just reason¡¯ like ¡°We are doing this in order to protect you.¡± or something bogus like that. Also my body stirred some of the other major clans as well. We would also be easy picking for them. Currently, the only thing keeping them from making any rash moves is the position of the Main Branch of the Azure Branch.¡±


    Hearing this far, Nalser understood completely, he let out a sigh as he said, ¡°So your family is practically stuck between a rock and a hard place. Both choices are ticking time bombs but the choice to stay in the clan is the one with the longer fuse.¡± Mei could only bitterly smile to it and nod her head.


    She said in a somewhat sorrowful tone and asked, ¡°So can I ask Young Master for this favour? Even if I have to give you my body or become your slave, I will have no quarrels.¡± Nalser looked at Mei with an annoyed look as he pouted, ¡°I told you not to call me Young Master. Besides that, I have heard and understood of your situation.¡± Just as Mei¡¯s face started blossoming a smile and gratitude was welling up inside her, a bucket of cold water was splashed on her head as Nalser continued, ¡°However, I want you to remember that I am no Saint or a Hero of Justice. Our situation will truly be a give and take one. I will give you protection and cultivation methods while you will help me kill that man. That is all.¡± Mei could only cast her head down and think to herself bitterly, ¡°Of course he won¡¯t be my families saviour just because I need it. He has his own things to worry about, so asking him to take care of my clan without any remuneration would be too much like a fairy tale.¡± They discussed some of the details a bit more before Nalser took her out of the Starry Island.


    When they opened their eyes, they were in the middle of a blood soaked grassland. There weren¡¯t any corpses but signs of a fight were obvious from a glance. Since there were no corpses, they had no idea, who exactly had fought who, so they could just leave that place as fast as possible. Nalser followed Mei¡¯s instructions and started flying towards the city the Azure Branch called their home. The entire city was humongous as the Azure Walls towered over the horizon. Entering the city was no problem since Nalser was with the little lady of the main branch.


    Although Mei didn¡¯t notice, Nalser did. The atmosphere was very tense and the guards seemed to have very peculiars gazes directed towards Mei. Towards Nalser, he only detected the hint of hostility before it was carefully concealed. As Mei headed towards her home, Nalser started wandering around the city. As he kept walking around the giant city, he was always on guard as he thought to himself, ¡°5, no 6 people following me from the shadows. Seems like something big is going to happen soon.¡± As he kept walking around the city aimlessly, he kept his guard up against the people from the shadows.


    Luckily for Nalser, they had underestimated him severely because of his cultivation. All they could feel was that he was at the peak of 9 Stage of Qi Gathering when in reality he, who followed the Ancient Path, was actually at the 12 Stage of Qi Gathering. His battle prowess was however strong enough to kill each and every one of these 6 Palace Establishment Elders. He could even put up a fight against an Early Core Formation Elder and successfully escape. However, against a Nascent Soul Expert, he would be like a chicken for slaughter.


    Finally, deciding that it was currently not a good time to make a move, he booked a spot at an inn and started cultivating there. He was currently at the small success stage for the ¡°Bones like Jade¡±. His bones were currently as strong refined steel. Although his monstrously fast progress was no surprise to him, it left everyone else stupefied. Nalser¡¯s talent was never bad it was just mediocre. His main problem was that his meridians were nearly all clogged. It would have taken a lot of precious elixirs and time for an expert to clear out his meridians. However, the Baptism reformed his body. It cleared out his meridians, raised his bodies Qi conductivity and slightly raised his innate talent. Coupled with his determination and his monstrous comprehension abilities, a true bon-a-fide monster was born. Perhaps it wouldn¡¯t even take him a century to reach the Nascent Soul stage.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Another reason for his monstrous progress rate was also that his body held extremely little impurities. His body had gone through a hellish tempering, nearly all of his impurities had been burned away. If he could get rid of all the impurities in his body, he would usually have a 99% of reaching Foundation Establishment. His situation was a little special as stepping into the Foundation Establishment was a huge ordeal for him.


    As Nalser kept nourishing his bones with Qi according to the ¡°Bones like Jade¡±, he suddenly felt dizziness take over him. When he came back to his senses, he was back on the Starry Island. Before he could get an understanding of what happened, he saw that all the puppets of Starry Island were there, standing in front of him. In total there were 24 different puppets there. Just as he was about to ask what was going on Librarians voice sounded out, ¡°Is revenge truly that important you, that you would be willing to take people you pitied a bit here?¡±


    Before Nalser could say anything, the barrage continued, ¡°From what I have observed, you are extremely clever and weigh all the options before doing something. You are meticulous and determined, this kind of an impulsive decision is not like you. There is no way in Hell that you haven¡¯t realized what this place is. To bring a dubious group-¡± The barrage was cur short by a cold, enraged shout from Nalser, ¡°SILENCE!¡±


    Librarian shut up and everyone felt an indescribable chill run down their spines. It had nothing to do with age, experience or cultivation base. This was a chill that originated from the very soul. Nalser¡¯s cold gaze swept over everyone as he continued in a quiet but freezing tone, ¡°Revenge? What joke is that. I thought all of you twerps were smarter than that.¡± Before anyone could refute him, he continued, ¡°I never met my parents, I have no idea who my ancestors are and honestly I don¡¯t give a shit. I grew up in a little courtyard alone. All that was there for me were just books. Yes, Grandpa was there for me when I was younger but that is not the reason I want some shitty revenge. What I want to do is prove myself.¡±


    As Nalser took a breath, Sweeper quickly interjected, ¡°What do you exactly want to prove? Your superiority or that you don¡¯t need a strong backing to become an Expert?¡± Nalser looked blankly at Sweeper before giving a bitter laugh, ¡°If that is the conclusion all of you guys reached, then your intelligence has been wasted on you.¡± Everyone were enraged by that statement but before anyone could say anything Nalser continued, ¡°What I want to prove is that I am ME!¡±


    This shut everyone up as they watched Nalser stretch out his hand towards the Starry Sky with a sad look. ¡°I want to prove that the only person who has the qualifications to choose my destiny is myself. No one has any right to tell me what my future is, what my goals are supposed to be or what I am supposed to do. I want to live an unfettered life wandering the Realm, going where I want, drinking with who I want, chatting with who I want, fighting with what I want. Revenge? Destiny? Responsibility? Duty? That all can go Fuck itself for all I care. The reason I took them in is because to live an unfettered life, I need strength. Individual strength can only go that far, you need people to stand behind you.¡± Sweeper and the rest stared Nalser blankly as they finally understood that their train of thought had been extremely wrong.


    The reason Nalser was working hard for wasn¡¯t for revenge. It was to prove to everyone that he was himself and no one else had the right to decide anything for him. Librarian and the rest now actually felt a little embarrassed about them jumping the gun. Just as they were about to apologize for falsely accusing him, Nalser said in a cold tone, ¡°I knew you all had intelligence but I tactfully didn¡¯t pursue the matter because you had your own reasons. I respected you guys and didn¡¯t stick my nose into it, all I expected from you was to do the same.¡±


    Now Librarian and the rest could only cast their heads down in embarrassment, they had no way to refute what Nalser had said. They all looked towards Sweeper, who seemed to be deep in thought. Finally he let out a sigh and took his human form. Seeing this everyone was stupefied but what happened next stupefied them even more.


    Sweeper respectfully kneeled on one knee and cupped his hands as he respectfully said to Nalser, ¡°I sincerely apologize to Master for accusing Master like that. I have now seen the light and also understood that you are not hung up on revenge. I will ask Masters permission for this lowly puppet to wholeheartedly follow Master no matter what decision Master makes. No matter who you wish to drink with, no matter who you wish to fight with, this lowly one asks permission to fight by Masters side and protect Masters back.¡± Not only the puppets but even Nalser was stupefied by Sweepers sudden proclamation. Nalser¡¯s mind froze for a second but soon he understood that Sweeper understood his mistake and that he had now decided to cast away the facade and truly serve him as a retainer.


    Nalser looked at Sweeper and asked, ¡°Why have you decided to follow me now?¡± Sweeper, still kneeling and cupping his fists answered, ¡°We made an agreement amongst ourselves that we wouldn¡¯t reveal ourselves before you pass the Empyrean Tribulation so that you won¡¯t be relying on us. We were afraid that your own progress would stagnate and you would rely on us to take care of everything.¡± Just as Nalser was about to nod to that, Sweeper continued, ¡°However, I have now seen your true resolve. Master doesn¡¯t care about fame or revenge, Master lives for himself not others. This lowly one was blinded by his prejudice and has now seen the light. This one has steeled himself to follow Master through the Fire and the Flames.¡± This answer left Nalser completely baffled.


    He had not expected this kind of a situation to happen. Not so soon at least. Just as Nalser was about to accept Sweepers show of loyalty, all the other puppets also changed into their human form and fell into the same position as Sweeper. They all made the same proclamation as Sweeper and now Nalser was truly stunned. He had no clue on what to do now. When he sorted it all out inside his head he slowly said, ¡°Okey, I will trust my back to you all. However would someone please tell me, just what the heck is going on now?¡±As Librarian signalled everyone to get back to their jobs, only him, Sweeper, Dummy, Medic and Sweeper were left.


    Librarian started explaining, ¡°In the beginning, we were not supposed to reveal ourselves before you passed the Empyrean Tribulation. Even thought our own consciousnesses were minimal at that time, we still followed the Ancient King from before he unified the Realm. We have seen countless Geniuses, who have fallen to depravity because they started relying on their backing too much. However, now we saw your resolve. Master doesn¡¯t need face or wealth, you live for yourself not for your image. Your ambition isn¡¯t authority but freedom. Since Ancient Times, this kind of a mindset is extremely rare. Those who wish for freedom are the people that are the least likely to stray from their paths.¡±


    Just as Librarian finished, Medic continued, ¡°Even though we had steeled ourselves to stay on this damned Island until the end of Time, we have now seen the error of our judgement. We all revealed ourselves because we believe that Master will be able to achieve what our Previous Master couldn¡¯t.¡± Now it was Sweepers turn to say his piece, ¡°Since you have the ability and the mindset to achieve what the Previous Master failed to achieve, we are willing to bet everything on Master, should our judgement fail us, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.¡± As Sweeper finished his part, Nalser asked, ¡°What is it that even the Ancient King couldn¡¯t achieve?¡±


    Before anyone could say anything Dummy opened his mouth, ¡°To achieve the pinnacle of strength and break through the boundaries of Heaven and travel out to beyond the Heavens.¡± Nalser stared at Dummy stupidly, seeing this Dummy just smirked, ¡°The Previous Master had said that outside this Realm exist countless other Realms but he had also said that he will never achieve the strength required to break free from the Laws of the Heavens and go wander through the other Realms. However, we believe that the current Master has the most potential in the history of the Realm to achieve this.¡±


    Nalser asked with a disbelieving voice, ¡°You mean to say that the Empyrean Emperor isn¡¯t the pinnacle of strength?¡± Dummy just shook his head lightly as he said, ¡°Cultivation is an endless path, just because no one has exceeded the Empyrean Emperor level doesn¡¯t mean that there are no stages of cultivation after that. It just means that no one has reached the stage yet.¡±


    This sentence actually enlightened Nalser a lot. He felt that that a lot of questions previously unanswered, started getting the answers and making sense.

 Chapter 15: Heavenly Law of Freedom

    Seeing Nalser being enlightened, Sweeper and the rest quieted down and tactfully left him to contemplate. When they had exited the room, Sweeper turned to Dummy and asked, ¡°With your ¡®Thousand Faces, Thousand Lives¡¯ can you take Masters appearance and take his spot until his enlightenment ends?¡±


    Dummy thought for a second and said, ¡°Technically yea, I can mimic his appearance perfectly, I can lower my cultivation level to match his as well. However, anyone who is at the Celestial King level or higher will be able to see through me. Also, that little girl, Mei was it? She may also think that something is not right but she shouldn¡¯t be able to see through my disguise.¡± Sweeper nodded and told them the plan of action. ¡°Dummy, for now take on Masters place and buy us some time. Enlightenment can only be stumbled upon but never be found. This is a very precious opportunity, we can¡¯t disturb him at all costs for now.¡±


    Dummy nodded and his appearance started changing. In a few moments, he looked exactly like Nalser. The change was perfect down to every little detail. Even his aura was the same. He nodded towards the others and left the Starry Island.


    ***


    As for what happened outside, Nalser had no idea. He was currently completely immersed in the enlightenment. He was currently contemplating over the Laws of the Heavens. To achieve this at Qi Gathering, was the first in history. Since Sweeper and the rest had used their Aura to shield Nalser from any prying eyes, no one else knew what had happened to him. If they knew, they would completely lose their confidence in themselves.


    Time ticked by as Nalser¡¯s understanding continuously grew, he started understanding the Laws of the Heavens. The Laws of Heaven were extremely abstract and any sort of enlightenment gained regarding them was unique. If a thousand people gained enlightenment about the Laws of Heavens then all of them would gain their own understanding, never would be there two people who would gain the same kind of understanding. Hours passed, soon 4 days had already passed. And Nalser was still contemplating. However, the time limit set for Mei was slowly ending.


    ***


    They had agreed with Nalser that Mei would give her families answer in 7 days. Until then, Nalser would roam around the city. Currently, in a relaxedly decorated room, there were 7 people. The room had an ancient look and it gave a peaceful, serene feeling.


    On the master¡¯s seat sat a middle aged man with streaks of grey hair in his hair. He was wearing azure blue robes and he had a strong, oppressive aura surrounding him. On his left sat 3 old men who were wearing all similar robes but they had long grey hair. There were some scars on some of the old men¡¯s faces. On the opposite side of them, to the middle aged man¡¯s right hand sat a dignified woman in her middle year. She was still gracious and you could not see a single grey hair in her blonde hair. There were some wrinkles visible but they only gave her a mature aura. She currently had her eyes closed as she was waiting for her husbands decision.


    On the right of the middle aged lady, sat a buff youth. He had azure hair and a strongly built body. His aura and his eyes were both sharp like a sword. On the opposite side of the middle aged man, at the ends of the two rows, sat a young lady with blonde hair. That person was precisely Mei. When she returned home, without any further ado, she told her Father what had happened to her. Although, she didn¡¯t disclose more than Nalser allowed her, she was also surprised to find out, that Xi Wei had gone insane.


    She found out that all the Elders he had gathered to chase Mei with had been slaughtered and Xi Wei had been so terrified of the enemy that he had gone insane. He kept raving something about Ancient Empyrean Experts slaughtering the whole Clan, that it wasn¡¯t his fault and etc. All¡¯n¡¯all he had completely broken under the pressure. Hearing this, Mei was both glad but also suspicious. Although she couldn¡¯t understand Nalser¡¯s cultivation base, she knew that he wasn¡¯t an Empyrean level Expert yet and also there were more people than one. So this meant that behind Nalser stood a very strong power. At least, someone was looking out for him, even if he himself didn¡¯t know that.


    Although the Golden Branch didn¡¯t specify why their Elders and Xi Wei were there in the first place, the sudden disappearance of Xu Mei had made people draw connections between the two. That was also the reason behind all the bewildered gazes that Mei had gotten on her way back to her Family. When she had explained the situation and Nalser¡¯s offer to her Father, her Father asked for a bit of time to think over it.


    Today was the day that her Father had promised to give her the answer. Now everyone were waiting for the answer. Mei was quite nervous because she had already said that she would follow Nalser whether or not her family would accompany her or not. As she sat there nervously, she finally gathered her courage to break the silence, ¡°Has Honourable Father reached his decision yet?¡± As she asked that, everyone¡¯s gazes, except for the middle aged woman, were directed towards this Father. The middle aged man just let out a sigh as he opened his eyes, ¡°If you call me like that, it feels like we are strangers Lil¡¯Mei. Everyone in this room is family, we can drop the useless honorifics.¡± Hearing this Mei calmed down a little but still pressed on, ¡°Father, have you come to a decision on the proposal?¡± ¡°Ahh, Yea. I have thought it over but I would like to ask a few things first. Is that okey?¡±


    The middle aged man asked in a gentle tone, in his gaze was only gentleness. Mei nodded her head towards her Father and him, taking it as an agreement, asked, ¡°Well, first of all I want to ask, why do you believe that he can protect our family? I know you said that his backing is strong but if we leave the Clan, we will be facing a lot of Major Clans that have been keeping envious gaze on you especially. Are you sure that his backing is strong enough to guarantee that we will have no problems?¡± Mei just lightly smiled, currently everything was going just like Nalser had predicted. This was one of the things they had talked about afterwards.


    Mei just smiled mischievously and said, ¡°Nalser is someone, who follows the Ancient Path and has also promised that he will give us cultivation methods for the Ancient Path. He will also take care of the elixirs needed until we reach the Empyrean Level. Besides, does Father think that someone who can offer these things like it¡¯s nothing much, is someone whose background is lacking?¡± This made everyone nearly drop their jaws to the ground. Ancient Path cultivation methods were really rare. Even their clan has none even though they have existed since the Ancient Era. The people who follow the Ancient Path never allowed their methods to leak out, so maybe only the extremely old and powerful Ancient Clans may have a method or two. Mei¡¯s Father however, was quite worried. He didn¡¯t want to blindly jump from a frying pan into a fire.


    After he gathered himself a bit, he asked again, ¡°Who is the guy he needs help killing? To give such rewards, I can only suspect that that persons background is not weak at all.¡± It was obvious that this man had been a Clan Leader for a long time. With every thing, he would weigh all the pros and cons before making a decision. Mei just lightly shook her head in helplessness as she said, ¡°I do not know who he wants to kill or why. All he told me was that the person is man from a Major Empires Royal Bloodline. That is all.¡± The man just let out a sigh as he heard this. Currently the cons were heavily outweighing the pros.


    He grit his teeth and resolutely asked, ¡°This is the last question: After we help him kill the person, provided that we survive, what makes you think that he will still keep us by his side? Maybe he will just throw us away the moment we have outlived our usefulness?¡± Mei just smiled bitterly to that question, ¡°I have no guarantee to give that he will not throw us away.¡± Just as her Father was about to sigh and reject her proposal Mei continued, ¡°However, I believe that he will not throw us away.¡± Just as one of the older men wanted to ask why she thought that, Mei lowered her head and said embarrassedly, ¡°For some reason, I feel like killing that man is just a side goal for him. His true goal is something bigger, something more grand, it isn¡¯t something petty like little revenge. For that reason, he needs people to stand behind his back to keep it safe.¡± Hearing this, everyone in the room gave a peculiar gaze to Mei. Even if Mei herself had not realized it, they knew very well what the reason for her unfounded confidence was. Her Father, seeing Mei like that, could only sigh as he asked, ¡°What is you basis for this overwhelming confidence in this young man?¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Hearing this Mei was startled, she had not thought about this to be honest. She felt like Nalser wasn¡¯t a bad person, he was a bit weird but that was all. He had not done anything to actually win over her trust. He had just given her a choice and she had pushed for grander terms. Even though Nalser cropped the terms a bit, he had relented to her. However, she couldn¡¯t understand it herself, why she actually trusted his words. Seeing Mei like that, everyone present let out a sigh as her brother spoke, ¡°Lil¡¯ MeiMei, your trust in this person may be completely unfounded, you know that right? In the future, it may be your downfall if you blindly trust someone like that.¡±


    She wanted to refute her brother but she couldn¡¯t find the words to do so, so the only the she could do was give her brother a mean glare. Finally, she grit her teeth and said this, ¡°He is a gentle person who doesn¡¯t toy with peoples feelings like that.¡± Hearing this angry rebuttal, before her brother could say anything, Mei narrated how she had met Nalser. She had been semi conscious at the time the Elder trusted her to Nalser. As she narrated everything in detail, the others had also started to understand, where her confidence in Nalser came from. Thinking about it, they felt that Mei¡¯s trust wasn¡¯t wrong, Nalser could have just discarded her and go on with his life without getting involved with them at all.


    However, he went out of his way to help her. He even offered a way of survival for Mei, when everyone else would have distanced themselves from her. Now, Mei¡¯s Father was truly put in a hard spot. He could understand where Mei¡¯s confidence in Nalser came from, however, he could not get rid of the feeling that Nalser was keeping something crucial from them. Thinking about it, he suddenly discovered what had been eating at him, ¡°Hey, has he mentioned what would happen if you suddenly changed from the Modern Path to the Ancient Path? I do not believe that it is as simple as that.¡± Hearing this Mei started thinking and it was question she couldn¡¯t answer. Nalser had never mentioned anything regarding this. However, now that she thought about it, it truly wasn¡¯t as simple as changing the cultivation method. They would probably have to start cultivating all over again. It wouldn¡¯t be something disastrous for her or her brother or anyone else from the Junior Generation.


    However, the Elder Generation was a different story, they had spent most of their lives to reach where they have reached. To tell them to start over again would be the same telling them to throw away all the efforts they had invested. Realizing this, she told her thoughts to everyone in the room and all of them let out a sigh. One of the old men looked towards the Father and said in a helpless tone, ¡°It is just as we feared. It truly is not that easy. It would be extremely beneficial for the Juniors but us old foggies would soon become obsolete and an obstacle to them.¡± The middle aged man just gravely nodded his head, however Mei chipped in, ¡°That may not be the case.¡±


    Everyone looked towards her with a questioning gaze and her Father asked, ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Mei just said, ¡°I have been inside the Library, where all the techniques and such are recorded. It was humongous. It was easily double the size of the Royal Capital. I refuse to believe that he doesn¡¯t have techniques that the Elder Generation can use there.¡± Hearing this, all the elders had a new spark in their eyes. When before they thought that she would just say something to comfort them, now they understood that, what she said made sense.


    If the Library itself was that big, there may be techniques that even they can use to stay relevant. Maybe even overcoming the Tribulation won¡¯t be a dream any more. These old men had all given up on trying to take on the Tribulation and had decided to live out their long lives as ordinary Nascent Soul Elders. Under the Celestial/Empyrean level, they were actually the highest level experts already, so it wouldn¡¯t be that bad. They all nodded to each other and then to the Patriarch. Seeing this situation even the Patriarch had a new spark lit in his eyes. He decided to take this gamble. He was already walking on tight rope over a pitfall of jagged rocks. If this gamble failed, he can only blame himself. He closed his eyes as he said, ¡°Okey, we will follow you. However, is there a limit on how many people we can take with us?¡±


    Every ones gazes fell onto Mei who said with a slightly downcast face, ¡°I do not have the authority to take anyone to be honest. He said that I can choose a maximum of 70 people for the screening. The one who makes the final decision will still be him. I honestly have no idea on what requirements he chooses the people, so I would take the people most loyal to the family.¡± Hearing this, her father just nodded. This was within their expectations, No matter who it was, they wouldn¡¯t trust something so important completely to a person he had only known for a few days.


    Having reached the decision, Mei also informed them of the deadline and they started covertly gathering all the people who were loyal to them.


    ***


    While they were all discussing this, Dummy was growing increasingly agitated. During the four days he had been acting as Nalser, he had suffered 43 hidden attacks. 49 ¡°Bandits¡± had tried to rob him and for some mysterious reason, a lot of rumours about him being Devil Way cultivator had spread. It was extremely obvious that someone was trying to get rid of him and Dummy wanted to release his true cultivation and slaughter this whole town already. Unfortunately, He couldn¡¯t find out who the assassins and ¡°Bandits¡± belonged to or otherwise that family wouldn¡¯t exist any more. Suddenly, excitement ran over his face. He just got word from Sweeper that Nalser had exited his enlightened state. He would no longer have to pretend to be him. As he entered the Island, he was greeted by a burst of peculiar Aura.


    When he followed the Aura to the cause, his jaw almost dropped to the ground as he lost his composure. What greeted him was Nalser Blinking around the training room. This wasn¡¯t Domain Blink but rather a real Blink. He was using his own strength to teleport around. To be able to teleport like this in the Qi Gathering Stages was unheard of, all Artefacts that could allow a person to teleport like this were usually either Dimensional Artefacts like Starry Island or some other special Artefacts. But you had to be at least Core Formation to use those kinds of Artefacts. The techniques to use teleportation, those were rarer than a Qilin horn or a Phoenix feathers. And without a doubt those techniques were all at the Celestial/Empyrean level.


    This currently was a historical moment. As Dummy stared slack jawed, Librarian went next to him and said, ¡°It is amazing isn¡¯t it. He gained enlightenment towards the Heavenly Law of Freedom and has managed to get the innate ability to do small distance teleportation. You got to hand it to him, just when you think that he couldn¡¯t surprise you any more and that you had seen it all, he goes and flips it all upside down.¡± Dummy could just weakly nod to that.


    Nalser turned their understanding of things and limitations completely upside down time and time again. However, he didn¡¯t feel jealous, he felt anticipation. He was excited to see just how far Nalser could go.


    ***


    Soon, Nalser stopped blinking around and sat down with closed eyes. He was imprinting the feeling and limitations completely to his soul. When he finally opened his eyes, a little crystal orb appeared in his hands. On the orb, you could see Mei standing there and her voice echoed out, ¡°My Father agreed to follow you and in 3 days we will wait for you in the agreed location.¡± A smile spread out on Nalser¡¯s face as he turned towards Librarian, ¡°Do you know any techniques a kin to mind reading?¡± Librarian was confused as he said, ¡°Yes I do, the bigger the gap between us, the easier it is for me. Why?¡±


    Nalser¡¯s smile turned a bit cruel as he said, ¡°I need your help to weed out the poisonous grass amongst the Herbs.¡± Hearing that, everyone understood what Nalser was planning to do.

 Chapter 16: Deep Waters hide huge Serpents.

    Librarian looked towards Nalser with a twitching smile as he asked suspiciously, ¡°Is this not the exact opposite of the effect you want to achieve?¡± Nalser just let out a little laugh as he chuckled, ¡°I have not told you how I grew up right?¡± Everyone looked at each other as Librarian shook his head. Nalser just said, ¡°Well, before all the events that brought me here, I enjoyed doing two things: 1. drilling in the martial arts my Grandpa taught. 2. I like reading the Immortal Cultivation storied my Grandpa brought for me. I had over 300 books on them.¡±


    Hearing this far, they didn¡¯t understood what Nalser was getting at. They knew somewhat how Nalser grew up from eavesdropping on Old Dragon¡¯s and his talk. ¡°What do some books on Immortal Cultivation have anything to do with this situation?¡± As Sweeper asked that, Nalser just laughed, ¡°Those books tell the stories of young men, usually with mediocre talent or outright crippled. Through a fortunate encounter they get a precious Artefact that usually has some kind of an old grandpa that will guide him on his cultivation path.¡± Speaking this far Nalser paused for a second before continuing. His words became sharper as he continued, ¡°Following their journeys they are accompanied by a lot of treacherous plots against them. In those books, these situations are extremely usual story progression methods. However, what makes them useful is that there are several stereotype situations that occur.¡±


    Listening thus far, it confused everyone except Librarian. In his eyes there was a gleam as he asked, ¡°These books. This far you have been relying on piecing different things together from them to make heads or tails of situations?¡± Nalser nodded. He continued, ¡°These stories have similar cultivation paths or completely different. However one thing you can count on is that the journey is no smooth sailing. When you have read on a lot of different typical plots like that, you start to understand the signs a lot better. It is the same in this situation. There are some, who are loyal on the surface but have an allegiance elsewhere in this patch of people. And the chances are that they are quite far up on the trusted people list.¡±


    Librarian nodded but Dummy and Sweeper had no idea what the heck they were talking about. In terms of scheming, Librarian could have these two help sell themselves off and happily count the money as well. Dummy finally exploded and asked, ¡°What the heck are you two talking about?¡±


    Librarian sighed and said, ¡°Through talking with Mei, Master discovered some traces of betrayal in their family. For example, how did the Golden Branch know they were in the city? It was supposed to be a secret known only to select few. How did they know how many people to bring? You had to know how many people the other side had. These kinds of minute details point to a traitor amongst them and he seems quite loyal on the surface so...¡± Finally having explained it in black and white, both Sweeper and Dummy finally understood.


    Dummy asked again, ¡°However, what does that matter to you? You could just root him out later, no?¡± Nalser sighed again in disappointment. Dummy truly deserved the name. Nalser just asked in return, ¡°What makes you think that they will allow the family leave that easily?¡± Saying it like that it finally dawned to them. Since the enemies couldn¡¯t take it easy any more, they had to take care of this before Mei and his family reached Nalser. ¡°Why concern yourself so much with it? If those guys succeed let them succeed.¡± As Sweeper said that, he was quite puzzled by the nosiness of Nalser. Nalser just let out a sigh as he said, ¡°Yea, honestly I have no idea, exactly why, I care so much about it. The main reason would probably be because I promised Mei to help her. Other reason would be that I don¡¯t want poisonous snakes here.¡±


    Finally Sweeper and Co were satisfied with the answers. They didn¡¯t care about the overcomplicated plots. If you told them that you wanted them to move, they would. Librarian however just sighed as he said, ¡°I¡¯ll prepare some people that can use Qi Sense and have them look over Mei and the rest. Should some complication arise, they will move to help out.¡± Nalser nodded his head and was glad that at least Librarian was not a muscle head. ¡°Wait, not everyone of you can¡¯t use the Qi Sense?¡± Dummy just shook his head as he said, ¡°We are puppets who gained sentience. Since we were born in Foundation Establishment, only a select few of us have Qi Sense.¡±


    Nalser just nodded, well it made sense, so why bother with it yet. When Librarian returned from sending a few people, they all just sat in the room again. Finally, Sweeper couldn¡¯t take it any more and asked, ¡°How is it possible that you can teleport now?¡± Nalser lightly smiled as he said, ¡°From my comprehension, I realized that all Qi is connected. I can¡¯t explain it completely but it is like I connect to the Qi of the Realm and then fusing with it, I can teleport from one location to another.¡± Librarian and all others thought about it, it made sense.


    They all know a few teleportation techniques and the feeling they got, when they teleported, was pretty much the same. Currently Nalser knew how to do it but he couldn¡¯t explain it. His knowledge was lacking and this kind of knowledge only grew with time, as he gained experiences himself. They also talked a bit on how Nalser progress was elsewhere and when he told them that he had reached the ¡°Bones like Steel¡±, everyone looked at him like he was a genuine monster. When they finally explained his progress rate in normal terms to Nalser, he just let out an unsurprised ¡°Ohh¡±.


    Seeing this reaction was outside everyone¡¯s expectation and Dummy exploded again, ¡°What Ohh? We just said that your progress rate is unreal even in terms of Ancient Era Geniuses.¡± Nalser looked at him and said as if it was obvious, ¡°Hard work never betrays anyone. You can say my progress rate is monstrous but have I genuinely slacked in my cultivation?¡± This shut everyone up and made them reflect on this. When they thought back to Nalser¡¯s training, all they could do was shudder. No normal person could withstand that amount of torture. Seeing this Nalser closed his eyes as he said, ¡°The amount of pain I suffered by tempering myself was tens times worse than anyone else. Why should my progress rate be slower? The tempering built the most solid foundation and foundation is the key to everything.¡±


    No one could refute Nalsers words. The amount of tempering he did was unreal, even though he had now calmed down and taken care of his hidden injuries, his Qi purity and body had been tempered to the maximum. The amount of impurities he still had was minimal. If he perfectly trained in all of the body tempering arts as well, they felt that Nalser was going to be an unstoppable monster under the Tribulation if he survived the ordeal of Foundation Establishment. Although, they knew that it would be a terrible ordeal for Nalser and the chances of him dying were higher than him surviving, they pushed it to the back of their minds and decided not to think about it for now.


    Librarian looked towards Nalser and said, ¡°There is something else we need to tell you about Starry Island.¡± Nalser eagerly listened.


    ***


    Mei had no idea what Nalser was thinking or planning so all she could do was pick the people to accompany her. Her mother Father and brother didn¡¯t need a second thought however the other spots needed more careful consideration. This all had to be done is secrecy as well, so they had to be careful. As the time limit was breathing down her neck, she carefully chose the people.


    ***


    On a distant rooftop were a few people keeping and eye on Mei. They were Medic and a few others Librarian had chosen. However, just as Medic scattered all the other people to take their positions, she looked towards a nearby tree, ¡°You don¡¯t need to hide like that and isn¡¯t it degrading of your status for a Excalted Celestial to lurk in the shadows like that?¡±This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    As she spoke, a smile was always on her seductive face. As she said that, an old man in azure robes walked out from behind the tree, he sized up Medic for second before sighing, ¡°I do not know what fortune that little lass encountered to have so many Empyrean Experts behind her but I wish to ask you what you are trying to do in my clan?¡± This old man was precisely the Azure Branch Founder and Ancestor. Medic just laughed lightly and asked, ¡°You call this fractured snake hole a Clan? Isn¡¯t that a bit too far fetched?¡±


    The old man was enraged but he could do nothing more but suppress it deep down as he stayed quiet. Medic said in a cold tone, ¡°Your Clan is honestly a shit hole. If my Young Master hadn¡¯t intervened in time, the little girl would have been captured and currently she would be nothing more than a sex toy for someone of the Golden Branch.¡± The old man had a face of disbelief as he said, ¡°This is impossible, the Branches are all like one big family. Something like that to happen is impossible!¡±


    Medic just laughed as she said, ¡°A lot of time has passed since you and your sworn brothers founded the Five Heaven Clan. Take your own branch for example, currently side branches are colluding with outside people to overthrow the Main Branch. However, the question is: What are you doing about it?¡± Before the man could even answer, Medic continued in a cold tone as a freezing aura spread out from her, ¡°You sit in your sad little cave and play the unfettered expert. Your Clan is on decline and you still won¡¯t do anything about it. You should know the value of that little girls special body, right?¡± The old man could weakly nod to that before Medic continued, ¡°So why did you allow the Golden Branch poison her with a Severed Fate poison?¡± This completely stupefied the old man.


    Severed Fate poison was something he had only heard of. It was a very vicious poison that corroded the Qi, crippled the meridians, lowered the innate talent and made the person subservient towards the one who refined the poison before administering it. The old man stuttered, ¡°But, but-¡± Medic just cut him off, ¡°That little girl lost her faith in this snake hole and asked my Young Master to take both her and her Family under his protection. He agreed when he heard the circumstances of this snake hole. If you decide to step in the way, I will mercilessly cut you down.¡± The old man was completely embarrassed about this, he had no way of refuting anything.


    He always kept an eye out on what happened with the Clan, so of course he knew everything that had happened. However, he decided that if fate had this in store than it was meant to be. Now that Mei wanted to leave then Clan with the current Patriarch, a Nascent Soul Expert, with another 3 Nascent Soul Experts. Not only that but her brother as well, even the Ancestor had taken a liking to his talent. Also they took a lot of the juniors with good talent with them. If they all left, the Clan would fundamentally be crippled. Their pillars disappeared and also the future pillars. However, he could do nothing about his as he had invited this by himself. This made him seriously reflect on his management of the clan.


    Now it was too late to have Mei and the rest stay but he had to make sure this kind of a thing never happened again. He looked towards Medic and said, ¡°Since this was originally my fault, I won¡¯t make things more difficult to you than they already are. However, would you pass on my apology to the Patriarch and his family?¡± Medic nodded and took the apology the old man had prepared. She understood that the old man had understood his wrongdoings and most likely the Azure Branch is going to go through a thorough reformation in the near future.


    ***


    With the old man not making things difficult for Mei, she had an easy time gathering the people she intended. Time passed and now the deadline had been reached. In the early morning, outside the Azure City, was a group of 70 people, both young and old. They were all wearing long cloaks with hoods. No matter how you looked at this group, they were suspicious. However, one voice sounded out that said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± and everyone started following that person.


    The person in front was Mei. The location she and Nalser chose was half a day¡¯s worth of travel away from the Azure City. Even now, only Mei knew where they were going. As they travelled through the woods, Medic and the rest kept following time from the shadows. In the meeting spot, a group of 13 were waiting. They were Nalser, Sweeper and co. This was the spot that Nalser had laid down an Imprint. Soon half a day passed and Mei saw Nalser¡¯s silhouette in the distance. But he wasn¡¯t alone, there were 12 people with indescribable aura¡¯s surrounding him.


    Even though the weaker ones couldn¡¯t tell, all the people who were in the Core Formation and upwards felt their faces pale. All of those twelve people had passed the Tribulation. When they finally reached the spot where the people were, Mei said a few words privately with Nalser and after that Nalser¡¯s booming voice sounded out. ¡°Now, everyone empty your minds and let the Qi flow through you. This is something that needs to be done and if you for some reason do not want to allow that, they can step back and go away.¡± All of them were puzzled, but did as they were told.


    When Nalser saw that they were all ready, he nodded towards Librarian who closed his eyes and powerful Qi Fluctuations spread out. Everyone were alarmed but did as they were told and allowed the Qi flow through them. 5 minutes passed and then Librarian opened his eyes, he looked towards Nalser and said something to him. Since, Sweeper and the rest had put on a sound disrupting barrier over them, no one else could hear what they were talking about. However, the more the scholarly man talked the more Nalser frowned.


    In the end, he stepped forward and said, ¡°Now then, the people in the positions I name are going to move to my right, away from the rest. When everyone heard that, without pausing Nalser poured out a number of positions. Like 3 row, 5 person from the right and so on. When everyone named had moved to the right, they soon found out that it was actually a vast majority of them. Out of the 70 people present 48 had been called out.


    Since no one of them knew why they were called out they could only stay silent. However, when Nalser raised his hand, the twelve people protecting him, surrounded all of them. Before anyone could ask what he was doing Nalser¡¯s voice boomed out, ¡°You have guts. To appear here like nothing had happened after you had tried to overthrow the Main Branch. Do you guys seriously take me to be a fool?¡± As the words sounded out, everyone understood the meaning. These people had been malicious to the Main Branch but had been hidden deeply.


    However, Mei¡¯s Father could not accept that one of the old men was also there, so he asked, ¡°May I ask why you think they have anything to do with the traitors?¡± Nalser just glanced at him and sighed, ¡°The Qi waves from before were actually from a memory reading technique that is long lost in the Realm. I had that man read their memories and filter out the people with malicious intents.¡± This shocked everyone, however the Patriarch asked in a shocked tone, ¡°But but-¡±


    However Nalser¡¯s cold voice answered him, ¡°I honestly don¡¯t care about their situation. I am the Master of Starry Island, I have no leeway in taking in people who can turn that serene place into a snake hole.¡± This drenched cold water on everyone. It is not that they didn¡¯t understand the logic behind it but rather the people filtered out had all been loyal to them, alteast on the surface. They had a hard time accepting that they were traitors.


    Mei grit her teeth and said, ¡°That old man has followed my Grandpa and my Father for his whole life. Are you sure that he is one of them?¡± Nalser just gently struck her head with a fist. It wasn¡¯t a hit it was more like a tap as he said, ¡°I am sure.¡± Then he narrated everything from his suspicions to why he formulated this kind of a thing. Having everything explained like that, no one could say anything about it.


    Nalser¡¯s questions and everything he had done pointed to the obvious answer in front of them. With heavy hearts they could only accept that their sight had been blinded by trust. Now all that they felt towards the people in the circle was not that they were wronged but anger. They had betrayed their trust time and time again and now had the thick skin to follow them when there were benefits involved. Nalser looked towards Mei¡¯s Father as he said, ¡°What to do with them is up to you.¡±


    The Patriarch thought for a second before saying, ¡°Let them go. They used to be loyal to me and on the account of past relationships I will forgive them this once.¡± Nalser nodded and the 12 puppets disappeared. The people who were filtered out wanted to apologize but before they could do that, Nalser waved his hand and everyone who was no filtered out, disappeared into thin air.


    All the people left could do was defeatedly scamper back to Azure City.

 Chapter 17: Starry World

    When everyone opened their eyes from the sudden flash, they found themselves inside an old shrine. They were standing on a stone altar that had a complicated formation inscribed on it. Before they could even understand what had happened, they heard Nalser speak out, ¡°Welcome to the Starry World.¡± As Mei looked around carefully, she suddenly said to Nalser, ¡°This isn¡¯t the same place we were in previously?¡± Nalser just smiled and said, ¡°No, this is a separate pocket dimension. However they all connected and this one is about the same size as a minor world.¡± Everyone were dumbfounded but Nalser continued, ¡°Currently the only intelligent life here is you guys. This place is place I had prepared for you. Come I¡¯ll give you a tour.¡±


    With a signal of his hand, everyone started blankly following him. They were like country bumpkins, who had had never stepped out of their little farming village, who had suddenly appeared inside the Royal Capital. As Nalser walked out of the little temple, he said, ¡°This place is the Teleportation Hall. However, before you go out, you should let me know, so I can give you the key to get back here.¡± Everyone blankly listened as they followed him around. Nalser introduced the little town he had put them in. It looked like it was built in an old Chinese style. The districts were all strictly separated.


    After walking for 3 hours, they had finished their little tour of the place. Now they were at the living quarters and Nalser asked them, ¡°Now then, are there any questions?¡± Everyone still had the same blank look but now, a tinge of fear was hidden inside them. To casually prepare such a place for them, Nalser¡¯s resources were too deep for them to even fathom. Every place had special formations to give the best cultivation terms for them. It would not be a stretch to say that their cultivating terms were even higher than their Worlds Royal Lineage.


    Every month, they would get a certain number of elixirs. The Library with techniques was open for free, there would even be experts that came regularly to guide them on their paths. This just left them shocked to the core. They had no words to say. Finally, as Nalser was starting to feel a bit awkward from the silence, Mei asked, ¡°Is there some sort of ranking?¡±


    Nalser just answered, ¡°Well, I thought I¡¯d leave that for yourselves to figure out. I just want someone to be a representative for you. Say like someone wants to leave to get experience outside, they tell that person and that person will tell me.¡± Everyone understood that Nalser wasn¡¯t planning on becoming their ruler or something but will leave them to their own devices until there was either a need to intervene or until they asked his help with something. Everyone subconsciously looked towards Mei, she was the one who knew something about this place.


    Seeing this Nalser let out a sigh as he said, ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it, her cultivation is going to be done at the same place as me. I suggest you pick someone else.¡± This baffled everyone, however, Sweeper and the rest already knew this so there was no change in expression for them. Since it was their Master¡¯s decision, they had no reason to interject themselves. Finally it was settled that Mei¡¯s Father would be the representative and Nalser said with a smile, ¡°Congratulations, from now on you will be the first ever Patriarch of the Xu Clan.¡±


    Everyone was starting to adjust to Nalser¡¯s easygoing attitude and they started to relax a bit. Seeing that everyone needed to time to digest everything that had happened today, he dismissed everyone saying that they should pick their courtyards and he also gave the Patriarch his first job. He told him that he wanted him to establish some order in which they would come for tomorrows testing. In the beginning, he was confused but when Nalser elaborated that it was needed to see everyone¡¯s talents and to see their personalities in order to help guide them to their most optimal paths, the Patriarch was very eager as he set out to do his task.


    Nalser also gave him a pendant that he could use to contact him if they needed something. Bidding farewell for now, he took Mei along as he blinked them to Starry Island. Seeing the familiar surroundings Mei also calmed down a bit. They sat down at the familiar table underneath a giant tree, next to the little pond. As Medic brought them a cup of tea, Nalser said, ¡°I am honestly surprised that you came back. Technically saying, I gave you no reason to trust me or my words, so I am quite interested in the reason why.¡±


    Sweeper and the rest knew this conversation was going to come so they tactfully left the Starry Island, leaving only the two of them there.


    Mei looked down as she said, ¡°Honestly, I do not know why I trust you. I just feel that you won¡¯t throw us away when you have achieved your goal. It is a feeling deep inside, I can¡¯t exactly explain it.¡± Nalser was dumbstruck as he looked at Mei oddly, he understood what she was talking about. He thought to himself, ¡°I have only known her for a few days, sure I saved her life but why does her explanation sound like she fell in love with me?¡± Mei didn¡¯t see Nalser¡¯s odd face because her head was cast down. Nalser asked, ¡°You know nothing about me, my origins, only know I want your help to kill a man but not who that man is. However, nonetheless you still trust me?¡± Mei thought for a second as she nodded her head.


    Nalser just started laughing, this made Mei feel awkward but his next words made her a bit embarrassed., ¡°If you place your trust in someone blindly like that, you will get burned.¡± Nalser smiled lightly, ¡°However, this time the trust is not placed wrongly.¡± This made Mei puzzled as she looked towards Nalser. Nalser laughed a bit then narrated his true goal to her. He concluded everything with this, ¡°The road of cultivation is endless. Revenge? Duty? Those are worthless. What I long for is freedom. I want to travel unfettered and I need a backing to do that. Individual strength will take you only so far.¡± Now Mei understood what Nalser meant. Her initial guess that revenge was only a little side step for him wasn¡¯t wrong. She just didn¡¯t know what he wanted to do.


    Mei tried to change the subject, ¡°However, I did not know you had so many experts under you or even that you had an entire minor world.¡± Nalser just lightly laughed, ¡°Neither did I. I learned of these experts about a week ago. I knew that the puppets had intelligence but they had hidden it far too deeply. After certain circumstances, they all came out in the clear and also pledge their allegiance to me. However, that world. I had no idea about it until three days ago.¡± This completely stupefied Mei. She was confused as Hell until she remembered what Nalser once said.


    She asked in a doubtful voice, ¡°You said that you acquired this place as a Legacy?¡± Nalser laughed lightly and said, ¡°Yea, this whole dimension, the techniques, the puppets. Everything is a part of the Legacy and I acquired this all recently. Before this I had had no contact with the outside world at all.¡± Mei was even more confused than before. Nalser narrated how he had lived and how he came upon the Legacy.


    This decision was something that Nalser quarrelled a lot with Librarian. Librarian was dead set against Nalser telling Mei everything. Nalser however, said this, ¡°Why should they trust me when I don¡¯t trust them.¡± This shut up Librarian. It was logical that everything had a price. To earn someone¡¯s trust you had to show your trust in them. However, Librarian was not entirely agreed to it, so the debate continued for a while. Finally, after several days of debate, Nalser finally won out. However, he relented enough not to tell Mei that the Legacy was the Ancient Kings. Not yet atleast.Stolen story; please report.


    Mei however asked, ¡°You told me everything now, why?¡± Nalser just chuckled, ¡°How can I ask you guys to trust me when I don¡¯t even trust you enough to tell you about my origins.¡± This made Mei feel warm inside. She felt that the gap became a bit closer between them. Suddenly Librarian appeared next to the table and said, ¡°Master it is time to go and evaluate everyone.¡± Nalser and Mei looked at each other blankly, then they laughed.


    Without knowing, they had talked the entire night away. This was the first time Nalser met someone his age. The distance between the same generations people was smaller than between him and Grandpa or Sweeper and the rest. This was the first time, he felt that he didn¡¯t feel the feeling of a junior but an equal.


    They followed Librarian to the training ground. It was the place they chose to evaluate them. In the middle of the room was a little crystal ball. It showed the element the person had the best affinity with. The time they allocated for a person was half an hour. You had to give props to the Patriarch as well. With minimal time, he gave the most optimal line up. The young ones were the first, then the elder, and he himself was left last. Since to the elders it didn¡¯t matter if they waited for one or two more days but that one or two days of a difference was very crucial to the juniors. As juniors came in one after the other, the first test was for the affinity. Most people had a better affinity with another element than water. This surprised the Patriarch a little but Librarian said, ¡°It is no surprise, unless you were some ancient water type clan that allowed their people only to marry water affinity people.¡± This made the Patriarch understand that although the bloodline had some impact on a persons affinity with the elements, it wasn¡¯t set in stone. The affinity could also change a bit due to the environment and so on. Since they lived in the middle of the plains and mountains where Earth and Wind Type Qi were more abundant, the Water affinity dropped.


    After two days had passed, 4 columns stood in front of Nalser. They were divided by their element affinity. As Nalser nodded to himself he said loudly, ¡°Now then, since we know everyone¡¯s affinity I am going to say the people in charge of your divisions. So pay attention because they are going to be your future teachers.¡± Everyone sharpened up as they listened to him. Seeing this Nalser said, ¡°First one, Water Types will follow this guy.¡± As he pointed towards Sweeper, he stepped forward. Sweeper took over as he said, ¡°Water types are most suited for light sword arts. I also train in the sword so I can offer you some guidance but on other weapons I may not be able to help out much.¡±


    As Nalser nodded, he stepped back. Nalser¡¯s voice sounded out again, ¡°The Earth Types will follow this mountain.¡± As he said that a gigantic person walked forward. ¡°Earth Types are most suited towards Heavy Weapons. My personal weapon is a Hammer. I will do my best to guide you on this path.¡± This guy had huge bulging muscles and he wore a blacksmith like clothes. He was also a Master Artificer.


    Nalser nodded towards him and he stepped back. Nalser continued, ¡°Wind Types will follow this lady.¡± As he said that, Medic stepped forward and said seductively, ¡°Wind Types are most suited to light weapons or ranged weapons. I will do my best to guide all the people following this path. Especially all the young men, I will gladly give you some pr-va-te lessons.¡± As she said so in a very flirtatious manner, Nalser only facepalmed himself as he said, ¡°Please, do not stir up unnecessary trouble.¡± Medic just lightly struck out her tongue towards Nalser as she said in innocent manner, ¡°Okaaay.¡± Nalser was starting to think that putting her in charge was a bad idea.


    However he had no time to mull over it as he introduced the last instructor. ¡°Fire Types will follow him.¡± As he said so, Dummy stepped forward as he said, ¡°Fire Types are most at home in close combat or in magical arts. I use close combat myself, so if you wish to follow the magical arts path, I suggest you seek out this guy.¡± As he said so, he pointed towards Librarian. Librarian nodded and also stepped forward and said a few words for everyone who wished to follow the magical arts path.


    After everyone had been introduced, Nalser gestured everyone to take them to their respective training grounds. Soon the only ones left were the Patriarch, the two old men in the Nascent Soul Stage and Mei. The Patriarch looked towards Nalser and asked a little frightened, ¡°May I ask why we were not put into any of the divisions?¡± Nalser just lightly sighed as he said, ¡°Because we need to first figure out what you want to do.¡± He waved his hand, signalling them to follow him. Soon they arrived in a little courtyard. As Nalser gestured all of them to sit down, Mei went to bring tea to them. She knew what they were now going to talk about.


    When the tea was served Nalser asked, ¡°What do you guys want to do now? You know that to train in the Ancient Path, you need to start over again. All of you guys have good affinity with water, that is the only reason you have gotten this far in the first place. Now my question is: Do you wish to start from scratch or do you want to continue on the Modern Path?¡± This stunned the old men. Nalser gave the choice to them, he had no desire to demolish everything they had worked so hard for their whole lives.


    As they were thinking the Patriarch suddenly asked, ¡°If we started over, would we be able to reach Nascent Soul Level again before our longetivity runs out?¡± Nalser lightly smiled as he said, ¡°The Modern Path and Ancient Path are very different.¡± With that he explained the differences of the two paths and they all looked on blankly. Finally, one of the old men sighed, ¡°No wonder that a Modern Era cultivator can¡¯t even hold a candle to an Ancient Era one who is in the same stage.¡± The other two weakly nodded with a bitter smile.


    Nothing was known of the Ancient Path any more. Now that they heard the differences between the cultivation stages, they finally understood how big the gap between the two paths truly was. If the Ancient Path could be described as a stone castle then the modern path was like a straw hut. Now matter how much work you put into it, it won¡¯t be able to survive a storm. Now they had some serious thought material whether to start again or not. Nalser didn¡¯t rush them either, this was something that concerned their whole life¡¯s work. The decision won¡¯t be made rashly. After thinking for half a day, the last of the old men had made his decision.


    They all decided that they will start again. Nalser lightly smiled and then said, ¡°I honestly admire your resolution. If I was asked to throw away my whole life¡¯s work and start again, I would probably tell the person to go fuck himself.¡± They could only lightly smile to that. It had not been an easy choice but the choice had been done nonetheless. Nalser took out 3 jade slips from his Spacial Storage and passed them to each of the old men. ¡°Inside the slip is the method most suited to you. Familiarize yourselves with them through and through. However, do not start cultivating yet.¡± They all looked towards Nalser puzzled.


    Nalser just smiled lightly and said, ¡°We won¡¯t let all your previous work go to waste. Through a special formation we can change it to pure Qi you can use as a booster to quickly pass through the Qi Gathering and into the Qi Kindling stage. How many Qi Kindling¡¯s you can condense is up to the work you have done so far.¡± Hearing this this the old men had a complicated feeling. No one had been as kind to them before as Nalser. He didn¡¯t even let their cultivation, that they had already discarded, go to waste. As they expressed their gratitude, Nalser left them to prepare.


    Nalser took Mei back to the Starry Island and said, ¡°Now that everything has been sorted out and everything is moving onwards, it is time to tell what we are going to do with you.¡± Hearing this Mei immediately sharpened up as she started listening attentively. Seeing this Nalser also put on a serious expression as he said, ¡°The technique I will pass on to you is called the ¡°Water Fairy Arts¡±. It is extremely hard to train in but you should have an easier time training in it than any other Water Type Art.¡±


    Mei was a little puzzled and Nalser explained the cultivation method in detail. In the beginning stages, the Art will reform the body. Since most of her Qi is corroded, they first need to destroy her cultivation, then using the Water Fairy Art, they will reform her body and heal her meridians. The requirements for training in this art are extremely strict but there is one that is more crucial than others. The Art can only be trained in by people who have the Heavenly Water Embryo Body.

 Chapter 18: Show of might

    Nalser looked towards Mei with a slight smile, ¡°What I am going to tell you now, stays between the two of us. This is truly one of the secrets that can¡¯t be leaked out.¡± Mei was puzzled but she still swore an oath to keep this a secret. Hearing this Nalser was satisfied as his expression turned serious. He began, ¡°Now this is a secret that involves your bodily constitution.¡± Mei expressed a little surprise but still didn¡¯t say anything.


    Nalser continued, ¡°This is something that even during the Ancient Era only a select few knew. The Heavenly Water Embryo body, it is actually the best Water Type Special Body a person can have before they start on their cultivation path. However, at the same time, it is the most broken one.¡± Mei was now genuinely puzzled, from what Nalser said. ¡°The Heavenly Water Embryo body, the Embryo part doesn¡¯t actually refer to the offspring but rather to the person itself.¡± As he said this far, he gestured for Mei to sit down as he did the same.


    This was going to be a long talk and standing would be annoying as hell. When they had both sat down, Nalser continued, ¡°As I said, the Heavenly Water Embryo doesn¡¯t refer to the offspring but the person itself. The persons body is like an Embryo, from within can be born anything. All the special bodies required to cultivate special cultivation arts can be birthed by this Embryo.¡± He took a breath before continuing, ¡°This Water Fairy Art is the same. It actually has two strict requirements:


    1. The person hold the Water Fairy body.


    2. The person holds the Water Embryo body she can use to birth the Water Fairy body.¡±


    Mei seemed to understand what Nalser said and asked suspiciously, ¡°So my Water Embryo body can turn into any Water Type special body?¡± Nalser nodded. This blanked Mei¡¯s head out completely, that defied the Heavens completely. Seeing the blankness on Mei¡¯s face, Nalser just smiled as he said, ¡°As I said this body is extremely broken. Since you can acquire any Water Type Special Body with your Water Embryo Body, every Water Type art is for you to choose from. However, you can only choose once. Once the Embryo is used to give birth to a Special Body, it can¡¯t be reversed.¡± Mei merely nodded, she understood this far and it was quite logical.


    If she could turn back to start training in another body type, now that would be completely against the Heavens. Nalser lightly smiled as he said, ¡°Now, since you can train in any Water Type Art there is, you are wondering why I chose the Water Fairy Art for you, no?¡± Mei just meekly nodded, this was something that has puzzled her a bit. ¡°Was there some special reason behind it or something else?¡± as the thought ran through her head, she buried it deep.


    Nalser just said, ¡°The Water Fairy Art is actually the strongest Water Type Art. They have many specialization paths. They can easily become Artificer¡¯s or Alchemist. At the same time, they can completely focus on their sword arts or spell arts.¡± Mei understood what he meant by this. Usually people focused on one concrete path and then on the side they may study a bit of something or everything. Usually people who knew that they couldn¡¯t progress any further on the path of cultivation would start learning side jobs like Artificer or Alchemist. However, Mei was puzzled a bit as she said, ¡°Don¡¯t Alchemists and Artificer¡¯s need to have a Fire Type Arts? My Water Type Arts are the complete opposite of the spectrum, how can I learn them?¡±


    Nalser looked a little surprised by this statement. This statement conflicted everything that he had learned from the library. He looked around for a bit before blinking somewhere for a second. Since this had happened a few times already, Mei was getting used to it. A few minutes passed and then Nalser appeared again but next to him was an old man with white robes. The medicinal smell was strong on this old man. Nalser pointed towards him and said, ¡°This is Alchemist, he is an alchemist from the Ancient Era and he will explain it better than me.¡± Mei was puzzled a bit but understood what he meant by this.


    The old man let out a light laugh as he explained that every element could be used for concocting. However the fire type is the easiest and most widespread, atleast it was even during the Ancient Era. Since the other types had stricter requirement in terms of affinity and talent in Alchemy, they were far less know. Alchemist was one example of the unorthodox people, he used the Water Type method. The differences between the methods were time used in concoctions, the purity of pills, the success rate.


    The Fire Type had the fastest speed but the success rate was mediocre and the purity of pills very heavily relied on the Alchemist. The Water Type had a slow speed but it¡¯s success rate was highest and the purity of pills wasn¡¯t so heavily reliant on the Alchemist concocting the pills.


    The Earth Type had the best pill purity but the speed was the slowest of all. The success rate was also quite mediocre but one of the biggest downsides of Earth Type was that you did not know whether the concoction succeeded or failed before you break open the furnaces. Depending on the pill concocted it could take decades if not even centuries, so, to wait for a few centuries just to know that you failed, this was very frustrating.


    When Alchemist finished his explanation, he left to carry on concocting. All of the pill and elixir supplies came from him, so he had to buckle up and work overtime. Even though the stockpile he had built up over the years was not small, it won¡¯t last forever. Nalser continued with his explanation, ¡°Anyway¡¯s, the Water Fairy Art has the most paths to take so you can take your time choosing from them when you step into Foundation Establishment. With going over the important parts, Nalser explained the Water Fairy Art a bit, when he was done, he handed the jade slip with the actual Method.


    Mei was not stupid so she quickly understood the method. He gave her a bit of time to familiarize herself with the method before starting. Over the next few days, Nalser oversaw the training of the people a bit, helped the old men use their previous cultivation as a foundation to build the new cultivation. He also did his best to answer the questions given to him by various people and also gradually he destroyed Mei¡¯s previous cultivation base. Mei¡¯s cultivation couldn¡¯t be used since it was corroded by vile Qi and poison.


    Soon a week had passed. Inside a stone room, Nalser was standing in front of a giant blue cocoon, inside you could see a person. This was the Embryo Birth Nalser had talked about before. Mei was currently having her body reformed and she would acquire the Water Fairy Body. When the cocoon breaks, the process will be over. As Nalser let out a little breath of relief, Librarian appeared behind him.


    Nalser glanced over his shoulder and asked, ¡°Are the preparations made?¡± Librarian gently bowed as he said, ¡°Yes, all the preparations have been made. All the power¡¯s who tried to harm the convoy on their way to meet you, have been revealed and all the people are currently in positions.¡± Nalser nodded and let out a sigh, ¡°I guess it is true what they say.¡± Librarian looked a little puzzled as he asked, ¡°What do you mean Master?¡± Nalser turned around and smiled lightly as he said, ¡°Unless you put on a show of brute force, others will think you are a fangless tiger.¡±


    Librarian let out a little laugh as well as he gestured to Nalser to go first. Nalser just walked towards a special room where there was only a pentagram on the ground. When he stood in the centre of the pentagram he poured a little Qi in through his feet and he was connected to a system. He was connected to the minds of all the puppets outside, who were currently in position to go wreak havoc.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    After saying a few words, he commenced the operation. This kind of a decisive move made everyone baffled. All the Ancient Remnants looked on with a wry smile to this move. They understood well enough what this move signified. It was the same as saying, ¡°I have a lot of Experts that can demolish you all. Do you honestly think that you can get away with trying to lay a hand on my people?¡± After everyone had rampaged around a bit, they all stopped. In the air above all the powers, a giant astral body of Nalser appeared.


    Everyone looked up at him and Nalser said, ¡°I will forgive you traitors once but the next time you try to touch someone from my Starry Island...¡± His words were cut off by him but he then smiled sadistically a he said, ¡°I WILL DESTROY EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!¡± These words instinctively struck fear into every person who heard them. As the giant Astral Body swept his hand out, all the puppets were teleported back to the Island. They all were constructed from the same materials as the island and they were all bounds to the Island as well, It wasn¡¯t a stretch to say that they were a part of the Island.


    When everyone had been collected, the warnings given, Nalser stopped channelling his power into the formation. As he stepped out of the formation, Librarian bowed slightly as he said, ¡°This time, we have given a show of might. However, what kind of an effect this has is quite unpredictable.¡± Nalser just smiled as he said, ¡°It will buy us enough time. There is a special reason why they can¡¯t move recklessly against us now.¡± Librarian raised an eyebrow as he asked, ¡°What reason?¡±


    Nalser said, ¡°1. I rampaged in the headquarters of 7 different powers at the same time. If their heads aren¡¯t full of sand, they will understand that if I concentrate and gather everyone to attack the same power, they would be completely destroyed. Second of all, I said that if they touch any one from my STARRY ISLAND, again I will destroy them.¡± As he emphasised the word Starry Island, Librarian got it. He looked towards Nalser with a smile as he said, ¡°So, they will deterred by the fact that you have the Legacy of the Ancient King. They have to also be wary of all the Remnants. They most probably don¡¯t have the power to take on all of them, so they can only choose their moves very carefully.¡± Nalser nodded with a sinister smile as well.


    This kind of deterrence won¡¯t last forever but it will last long enough for him to build up strong enough of a back power before he starts making any other moves. Now, having finished all the urgent things, he could finally focus wholeheartedly on his own cultivation. His plans had all been thrown into disarray when he met Mei. Even he himself thought that he was a shit magnet when he first met her but now, seeing them all working very hard to be of help to him, he subconsciously felt a bit of warm inside. He told Librarian to pass on to everyone that he will be in closed door training to reach Foundation Establishment.


    A tinge of fright was apparent in Librarians eyes as he said, ¡°But, it will be the most dangerous ordeal for you. Maybe you should learn a few more-¡± Nalser cut him off mid sentence with a wave of his hand. Nalser smiled weakly as he said, ¡°I have already perfected the Bones like Jade, Skin like Rock, Muscles like Steel. I have also reached the small success stage of Tendons like Bowstrings. I will go into closed door training and when I have perfected it and Hidden Palaces, Hidden Meridians, I will attack the Foundation Establishment. I can¡¯t run from it forever, also, learning the more of the same kind of techniques will not have much of an impact any more.¡±


    What he said was right, all the techniques listed by him were the best of body refining ones available, so learning other wouldn¡¯t have much of an effect on him any more. With that, he entered his closed door training.


    ***


    Outside Starry Island, after a few days had passed, Nalsers deeds had spread far and wide. Some people had recorded it and all those recordings spread like wildfire. Since nearly no one knew of the truth behind the Ancient Era, Nalser¡¯s words spread a lot of rumours. He had referred to all the powers as ¡°Traitors¡±, this was also one of the hottest topics.


    However, what no one could understand was, how after had stepped and basically spat on all the Major Powers faces, there weren¡¯t any moves from their sides. This sparked a lot of discussions and also a lot of people started wondering just who Nalser was and why, at least for now, no one was making a move. However, the people from the Heavenly Fire Empire were in a complete uproar. Nalser looked like the splitting image of the previous Emperor.


    The reason the uproar even started was because there had been rumours before that the Crown Prince hadn¡¯t died when the change of power happened. However, since nothing was heard of the Prince or any sign of him wasn¡¯t seen, the rumours died down. Now seeing the mirror image of the previous Emperor appear in such a domineering manner, all the rumours that had died down were relit. Now all sorts of discussions were spreading out like wildfire, some of the more extreme ones even said that this was a sign from the Prince that, he is still alive and he will come and take back the Empire that was his by birthright.


    ***


    Inside the Royal Palace, in the throne room, the atmosphere was heavy and the face of the Emperor was very grim. He looked towards the youth dressed in red and asked, ¡°Are you completely sure, that it is him?¡± The youth in red also had a grim face on as he nodded his head before saying, ¡°The bloodline spell immediately reacted when he appeared. It was the same as when the Qi fluctuations. I am completely sure that it is him.¡±


    The Emperors face sank even more and he said in a cold tone, ¡°We must use whatever means necessary to kill him before he passes the Tribulation. All the figures who are still loyal to the previous Emperor will flock to him the moment he says he wants to take back something his by birthright. If he is allowed that, even the people would stand behind him and we would have to fight against our entire Empire to keep this damn seat.¡±


    Impatience was very evident in his voice. Nalser¡¯s disappearance had caused him countless sleepless nights. It had become a sort of a shadow over his heart. The only person who could destroy everything he had achieved, was him. He had already lost count how many times he regretted giving into his greed and leaving Nalser alive to strengthen his bloodline. He should have killed him then and there.


    The youth in red let out a sigh as he said, ¡°The problem is we can¡¯t find him. Previously, he was in your Ancestors special Dimension and we couldn¡¯t locate him. Then, when we finally found his clue, he disappeared again. Now he appears again and as it turns out, he has acquired the Legacy of the Ancient King.¡± His eyes turned sharp as his voice turned serious, ¡°If we make a move carelessly, we risk taking incurring the wrath of the Remnants as well as the all of the supporters of the previous Emperor. In addition to the people on his Starry Island, we would lose without a doubt and without much of a fight.¡± The Emperor just grit his teeth and squeezed his armrest. However, he didn¡¯t control his power and it shattered.


    He howled towards the youth, ¡°It was you and your Master who helped me overthrow the previous Emperor. A little setback like this and now you cower back?!¡± The youth was unfazed by the provocation as he said, ¡°The scales are bigger than before. When before we only had to deal with the Previous Emperor and the Ancestor, this time we have to deal with all the strongest experts from the Ancient Era in addition to the previous Emperors supporters.¡± The Emperor wasn¡¯t stupid, he understood very well what he meant by that.


    Previously, it was just an internal feud but now it had escalated into something where any careless move could warrant the complete destruction of their side. He calmed down a little but the urgency was still in his heart as he said, ¡°Still, won¡¯t losing the Heavenly Fire Empire also set back your Masters plans? So we should work together to eliminate this threat before it can grow too big.¡± The youth nodded and excused himself.


    When he left the royal palace, his smiling face exchanged with one of arrogance as he mumbled to himself, ¡°A mere pawn like you wishes to question Master¡¯s plan? Dream on. You aren¡¯t worthy of even being cannon fodder in Master¡¯s plans.¡± As he coldly cursed, he disappeared. When he reappeared, he was inside a black castle. The black castle seemed as ancient as time itself. The youth in red walked through the halls and soon reached a giant throne room. On the throne sat a figure enshrouded in shadows.


    The youth respectfully fell on to one knee as he said, without any arrogance or contempt, ¡°This lowly subject greets the Ancient Prince.¡±

 Chapter 19: Hidden Meridians, Hidden Palaces

    In a secluded little world, on an island in the middle of a lake was a little thatched hut. In front of the little hut, a man dressed as if he were a beggar, was sitting cross legged meditating. The man had a slender body, his face was as white as jade and as refined like a dolls. His long black hair was as straight as a sword. As he sat there meditating, a rift opened up in front of him. An old man in white robes stepped out.


    The robes had golden embroidery that gave them a majestic aura. The old man had a wrinkled face and his long silver hair was exactly the same as the man in beggar clothes. The old man smiled to the young man and said warmly, ¡°Your highness, it seems as though your world has another person who has the potential to shatter the fetters.¡± The young man slowly opened his eyes as he said, ¡°Yea, through a twist of fate, he acquired the Legacy of the previous person who had the potential.¡± The old man nodded warmly. The young man sighed as he continued, ¡°Fate truly likes to play tricks, huh...¡±


    The old man was puzzled by this statement but before he could ask the young man what he meant, the young man continued, ¡°Focus on the Soul Aura of that person. You will understand what I mean by that then.¡± The old man had a suspicious face but didn¡¯t say anything. Suddenly, his face changed as astonishment was painted all over it. He stuttered, ¡°H-H-How is t-t-that possible? It, it. He should have completely died countless years ago!¡± As the old man exclaimed, the young man threw a jade slip towards the old man.


    The old man caught it and looked at it for a second. ¡°Inside is his life until now.¡± As the young man explained in a few words, the old man poured Qi into the jade slip and information entered his head. A few minutes passed and the old man let out a sigh, ¡°To think that the Heavens are this unfair.¡± The young man also wrily smiled as he said, ¡°Even my Father, The First Being in Existence, can¡¯t escape the Laws of Heaven. To think that the person our Cosmos owes the most, who should have sown the best karma, has actually had to leave this tragic of a life.¡±


    The old man also nodded helplessly. He sighed as he asked, ¡°Is there nothing we can do to help him? We owe him too much to just let him do everything himself.¡± The young man helplessly shook his head as he said, ¡°The Laws of Heaven prevent us from interfering with worlds that have not had an Ascended person yet. All we can do is just wait and look at him.¡±


    The old man just sighed as he asked, ¡°However, how did he survive? The entire Cosmos saw his soul being shattered in the Dimensional War.¡± The young man also shook his head as he said, ¡°I have no idea but it seems like even he himself doesn¡¯t know it.¡±


    ***


    No one, knew what had happened in that little world and it didn¡¯t concern them. Nalser entering closed door training came as surprise to all the puppets but they could only bury the worry deep inside when Librarian told them what Nalser had told them. Nalser had chosen to go into closed door training in the Training Hall. As he kept cultivating the body refining techniques, his understanding of the importance of a solid foundation also grew. Most people overlooked them because training in them was painful and tedious.


    It was easier to reach small success and move on, however Nalser, who had now fully perfectly tempered his body in accordance to the techniques, let out a sigh, ¡°If I survive this, I should make it mandatory to reach perfection in at least 3 techniques before advancing.¡± Nalser opened his eyes and slowly stood up. He executed a familiar set of martial art techniques. After every move, a sonic boom rang out. His fleshly body had reached an unprecedented height. The only person in history to reach his body strength in history was the Ancient King.It was also due to his foundation with these body tempering techniques that he had the unprecedented power he had.


    In his time, he had unified the Realm and was only a step away from reaching Ascension. However he knew, that no matter how hard he tried, he would never be able to take that step. So he started collecting all sorts of techniques, devising all sorts of training methods and reflecting on his own training. All of this was done in order to find a disciple with the potential to pass all of it down to. If he couldn¡¯t achieve Ascension himself, he wanted to be the Master of the person who did.


    Through a twist of faith, all the preparations, all the expectations fell on Nalser. Nalser let out a sigh as he finished his set of martial techniques. He looked his hands and mumbled, ¡°The power of this fleshly body is something on par with a peak Foundation Establishment Stage person. With my Artefacts, I am on par with someone form the peak Core Formation, with my teleportation ability that couldn¡¯t be interrupted, I am on par with someone who is in the Nascent Soul stage.¡± It wouldn¡¯t be far fetched to say that when he reached Foundation Establishment, he would be the strongest person under the Tribulation.


    This kind of power, actually scared Nalser a bit. Even though he understood that this was all due to his hard work and a solid foundation but something didn¡¯t feel quite right to Nalser. Deep down, he felt that there was still something else involved. He couldn¡¯t put his finger on it but for some reason, everything he did was very familiar. He had never trained in cultivation but for some reason, all the techniques he trained in, he could somehow identify the mistakes in them and improve them. All the body refining techniques in the Library had a few pointless parts or false parts that lowered the final outcome. As he fixed them, he realized that the modifications he heightened the end point of the techniques. He could refine his body more thoroughly.


    In the beginning, he thought that he was just modifying them to suit them to himself but as time went on and the more techniques he modified, the more he realized, that he improved them over all rather than tailor them to himself. Although, he didn¡¯t let it show, neither did he tell anyone about it but it was something that was constantly on his mind. This was truly one thing that he couldn¡¯t find an explanation to, so that made him feel a bit unsure in himself.


    Although he had heard the saying, ¡°Don¡¯t look a gifted horse in the mouth.¡±, he felt there was still something extremely important hidden from him. It had nothing to do with his fleshly body but more with his soul. Before reaching the Core Formation and fusing his soul with the core, to birth his Nascent Soul, the soul is an intangible thing. It can not be felt or touched, however for some reason, Nalser felt some other existence inside him. Locked deep inside, hiding, waiting for something. However, he also somehow had a feeling that everything will become clear when he steps into Foundation Establishment.


    This was also one of the reasons he wanted to reach Foundation Establishment so quickly. He hated this feeling of being in darkness. If that something was bad for him and he would be engulfed in darkness, then let it be so. As he thought to himself, he sat down cross legged again and breathed out deeply. He directed his Qi Sense inside him and as the Qi Sense followed the Meridians, he was searching for the last Hidden Meridian inside his body.


    If he could find and open it, he can start opening his Hidden Palaces. When all of the other techniques were for tempering the body, this one was for tempering his Qi. By unclogging his 99 Hidden Meridians, he could increase his Qi intake and also his Qi rotation speed. Also he would be able to force out a lot more Qi in his body to use in a technique. The Hidden Palaces had the function of storage and purification. If he could open all of the 7 Hidden Palaces, his Qi reservoir would increase by threefold. It would also make it easier to channel the Qi.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Actually, you didn¡¯t need to unclog all the 99 Hidden Meridians to open the 7 Palaces but Nalser had a feeling that something different will happen when he finds all the 99 Hidden Meridians. In history, no one had found all the 99 Hidden Meridians, not even the Ancient King. Shaon had found 98 but had never found that last one. Days passed and soon two weeks had passed since Nalser started searching for the last Meridian.


    His eyes were bloodshot as he cursed to himself, ¡°What the Hell is going on? Why can¡¯t I find that last Meridian?!¡± He had searched every cell of his body through and through several times already but hadn¡¯t even found a trace of the last Hidden Meridian. He started doubting the last Meridian even exists, when suddenly he felt his heart thump. He slowly closed his eyes and started focusing on the thumping of his heart. The more he focused on the thumping, the more he fell into a trance. Hours passed, days passed. Soon a week had passed. Nalser¡¯s heart was beating very slowly now as he had reached an enlightened state again.


    Suddenly, the heart stopped beating and Nalser opened his eyes. However, when he opened his eyes, he didn¡¯t see the familiar training room but a giant, white, blank space. Inside that space was nothing, it was only pure whiteness. As Nalser looked around, his face had a blank expression. As he closed his eyes again and focused, he could hear a heart thumping slowly. Following the sound he moved across the white space. When he opened his eyes again, in front of him was a black cocoon. As he looked at the cocoon, it thumped loudly.


    As if possessed Nalser closed his eyes, stretched his hand out and touched the cocoon. When he did, the cocoon stopped thumping. Slowly, a curled up human figure¡¯s silhouette became visible. As time slowly passed, the silhouette became more and more apparent. When the silhouette was completely visible, Nalser slowly, took back his hand. As he did so, the cocoon started thumping wildly, Nalser slowly opened his eyes as a slight smile came onto his face. He slowly murmured, ¡°No wonder, no one has ever found the last Meridian. It isn¡¯t a real Meridian at all.¡±


    As he closed his eyes again, he exited the blank white space. Inside the stone training room, Nalser¡¯s heart, the heart that had stopped beating for a few days now, started slowly beating again. An hour passed and Nalser opened his eyes. Inside them was no excitement, hesitation. In his eyes was only tranquility.


    As he closed his eyes again, popping sounds started ringing out inside the stone room. PA! PA! PA! PA! PA! PA! PA! As the popping sounds continuously rung out, Nalser¡¯s body was covered in black filth. However, the layer of filth was only a few mm thick. These were the last of the impurities left inside Nalser¡¯s body. In addition to finding the last ¡°Meridian¡± he had immediately opened all of the Hidden Palaces. When he did so, the last of the impurities inside his body was forced out. As Nalser opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was that he was covered in filth from head to toe. Without saying anything, he closed his eyes again and planned on burning all the filth away when suddenly an explosive PA! Echoed out inside his head.


    The explosion was loud enough to shake the entire Island but no one heard it except for Nalser. Before Nalser could even start thinking about what had happened, he felt a connection. It was the connection to his own soul. He had achieved something no one in the History of the Realm had achieved. He had found his soul and established a connection with it before reaching the Nascent Soul Stage. Towards his future cultivation, it was extremely beneficial. It was a well known fact that a Nascent Soul Expert had an easier time comprehending and cultivating because they can have the Soul do it while they took care of the mundane things.


    If both the Body and Soul cultivated together the progress would be even faster. Nalser had reached this state while only in Qi Gathering. This was something completely unheard of and also unthinkable in the Realm. If a word of this got out, it would set the entire Realm into a giant stir. However, since even the Ancient Remnants couldn¡¯t look into the Starry Island any more, no one knew about this. The only person who knew about this was Nalser.


    Unlike a Nascent Soul Expert, he couldn¡¯t summon his Soul outside his body to fight alongside him. He also couldn¡¯t abandon his body on the brink of destruction to live on with only his soul. All he could use the soul for was for comprehending things, cultivating or training in Martial Art Techniques. This unexpected thing was exactly what Nalser was after. For some reason, every time he followed that mysterious gut feeling of his, something unexpected but very beneficial for him would happen.


    However, he could not understand where this feeling came from or why he had this feeling. Even with his now enhanced body and with his link to his soul, he still couldn¡¯t find the place where the feeling came from. Nalser let out a sigh as his entire body abruptly erupted into flames. All the filth was burned so cleanly that not even ash remained of it. As Nalser closed his eyes again, to understand the connection with his soul better and to see the exact limits on what he could do with it, he arrived inside the blank white space again.


    However this time, there wasn¡¯t a giant cocoon in front of him but rather a mirror image of him stood in front of him. When he closed his ¡®eyes¡¯ again he tried communicating with the soul again.


    ***


    On a little island, the young man in beggar clothing opened his eyes in astonishment. He pondered for a second before shaking his head with a bitter smile. All he could do was only murmur to himself, ¡°No matter if it is this life or the previous one, you are still the unreal monster that turns all logic upside down.¡± He had a nostalgic gaze as he remembered something.


    After a few moments, he shook his head and murmured again, ¡°I really want to see if your wings can break the chains this time or they will be cropped again.¡± As he closed his eyes to enter meditation again he murmured one last sentence escaped his lips, ¡°Nalser Vi Dragoncross, The Black Flame Angel, Chain Warden, Bloody Angel, which one will you be this time?¡±


    ***


    Inside the black castle as ancient as time itself. The shadow referred as the ¡®Ancient Prince¡¯ by the red robed youth let out a cold ¡°Hmph!¡±. The youth didn¡¯t dare to say anything before the man in front of him gave him permission to do so. An archaic voice echoed out in the throne room, ¡°Is it true that Father¡¯s Legacy has resurfaced?¡±


    The youth respectfully said, ¡°Yes, your Highness. The Legacy has landed in the hands of the Previous Prince from the Heavenly Fire Empire.¡± The shadow was quiet for a second before asking, ¡°And?¡± The youth continued, ¡°It is the Prince that had been locked in a special Dimension by the Heavenly Fire Ancestor 7 years ago. About a year ago, the bloodline jade let me know, that he had exited from the Special Dimension but before I could get him, he disappeared without a trace. From the traces at the scene, it is safe to say that it was then that he had obtained the Legacy of the Ancient King.¡± The shadowy figure nodded, what seemed to be his head, signalling for the youth to continue.


    Without tarrying the youth continued, ¡°For a year, there had been no trace of him at all but suddenly a few weeks ago, he appeared again. This time he put on a show of brute force. He specifically mentioned the Starry Island-¡± The shadow cut him off with a wave of what seemed to be his hand. He dismissed the youth. When he was alone in the throne room, the shadows started dissipating.


    From the shadows a young man in black robes stepped out. He didn¡¯t have a buff body but his hair were as black as the night. His skin was slightly tanned and his usually handsome face was now extremely ugly. However, he soon started laughing madly.


    When the laugh ended anger took over. With a smile he he bellowed, ¡°I wasn¡¯t worthy enough to inherit your Legacy, huh Father?¡± He turned to look towards the ceiling before continuing, ¡°So, I will kill the person who obtained your Legacy. I will crush and obliterate your Legacy. If I can¡¯t have it, no one can!¡± After saying so, he started laughing madly again.


    ***


    On the starry island, Nalser had mostly figured out the limitations with his Soul. He had steeled his heart and sat down cross legged on the ground. In a one-on-one splitting image both him and his soul started gathering Qi as he started marching towards Foundation Establishment. His heart was now light.


    He had done every single preparation he could before taking this step, if he failed, he would have no one and nothing to blame.

 Chapter 20: Foundation Establishment

    Nalser had no idea what had happened outside his little stone room. In all honesty, he did not care either as he was fully concentrated on charging to the Foundation Establishment. He had reached the peak 13 Stage of Qi Gathering while he was searching for his final Meridian. However, he had always forcefully suppressed the Qi base down, so he wouldn¡¯t accidentally step into Foundation Establishment before he had finished all his preparations. Nalser¡¯s Qi was currently gathering. While most people on the Island didn¡¯t notice it, all of the puppets eyes flashed. Their cultivation was a lot higher than everyone else¡¯s, so they felt all the minute changes in the surrounding Qi.


    When they felt it all gathering towards the Training Hall, they knew that Nalser was at his most crucial step. He was now condensing his first Qi Kindling and he whether he would survive or not would be all up to him. Although there was nothing they could do, it didn¡¯t stop them from being on the edge and worrying. Even though everyone else was worried, Nalser was as calm as a lake. He had done all the preparations he could.


    He had tempered every single part of his body as much as he could. He had even succeeded his initial estimations and found his soul, established a link with it. If he failed now, then the only thing he could only accept that his life wasn¡¯t fated to be long. With a clear mind, he kept gathering Qi and slowly condensing into a Qi Kindling. This was the most crucial step. To condense the first Qi Kindling was the most difficult because it was a new experience. The ones after that would come more easily. As Nalser kept gathering Qi and condensing it, the outline of the Qi Kindling started to vaguely come into being.


    In the beginning, it was illusory and was blinking in and out of existence but as time went on, it slowly solidified. In the beginning, it stopped blinking in and out of existence and was illusory, then it started coming in to existence. When it was completely solidified it looked like a black crystal. Inside the crystal was emptiness, it looked as though it was hollow. The most crucial step of condensing the Qi Kindling had been successfully passed. All that was left to do now was to take it inside him and plant it in the sea of consciousness and excavate a Qi Spring.


    He also knew that the fight for supremacy between the special bodies will begin the moment the Qi Spring is successfully excavated. Just as he was about to start absorbing it inside himself, he had another gut feeling. The gut feeling told him, that this step wasn¡¯t finished yet. He started thinking, why do they only condense a crystal? He suddenly had an idea, ¡°Is it possible to pour Qi into it? What would happen if I poured enough Qi inside it that it can¡¯t absorb any more?¡± As these thoughts crossed his head, he started trying it out.


    When he tried to pour a little Qi into the crystal, he was astonished to discover that he truly could pour Qi into the Kindling. As he tried to sense the Kindling again, he felt that it could hold a lot more Qi before it was saturated. He also discovered that the presence of the Qi Kindling was a tad more dominating when he poured Qi in. ¡°Since the gut feeling hasn¡¯t screwed me over until now, I may as well trust it this time as well.¡± As he thought to himself, he started pouring more and more Qi in to it. Soon, he found out that he only had 20% Qi left, however the kindling wasn¡¯t even 10% filled yet. With a determined face, he took a deep breath as he fully utilized all the meridians to absorb as much Qi as possible.


    He let his soul focus on gathering and purifying the Qi, while he himself focused on pouring it into the Kindling at a constant pace. He had to be careful, not to pour too much in at once because then he would run out of Qi and this attempt would fail. If he failed, then at the best case scenario his cultivation would drop a bit but can soon be worked back up. At the worst scenario he would die. So it was best that he would not run out Qi by reaching an equilibrium between the absorbing and pouring out.


    Since he could use his soul to replenish his Qi and his own body to pour it out, he only had to keep an eye on the Qi reserves, not to pour out more than he can replenish. As he slowly kept saturating the Qi Kindling, time passed. Soon a day, then two.


    Soon 5 days had passed and Nalser was staring at the Qi Kindling with bloodshot eyes. He just finished saturating the Qi Kindling and it looked different from before. The black crystal had a polished shine now as a black flame danced around in the follow section of the Kindling. Since it was fully saturated, it wouldn¡¯t disappear any more. However, he could not create another Kindling before he absorbed the current one. As he stared at the Qi Kindling, he felt fatigue wash over him as he fell asleep. Since he didn¡¯t have to worry about it disappearing, he was in no hurry.


    ***


    While he was gently sleeping and replenishing himself, in a secluded world, in front of the thatched hut the young man in beggar clothes had an awkward face. Finally, he sighed, ¡°Seems like this is the path you have chosen, huh? I don¡¯t know whether you realize it or not but your future path is going to be filled with thorns.¡± As he said so, he stood up. The tranquility left his eyes as resolution took over. With a wave of his hand he opened a rift identical to the one the old man had opened. He looked at it for a second before resolutely stepping into it and disappearing.


    ***


    When Nalser woke up, he felt as if all of his Qi had left his body. He quickly sat upright and started replenishing his Qi. When his Qi had been fully replenished, his mind at full attention and his body in top condition, he picked up the Qi Kindling. With a deep breath, he started slowly merging it with his own body. He suddenly realized that he was now in the middle of the blank white space and in front of him was his Soul.


    Hovering above his palm was the Qi Kindling. As he looked around, he realized that his place was his consciousness. He let out a chuckle as he dropped the Qi Kindling a little further away. As the Qi Kindling hit the ¡®floor¡¯ it started spinning rapidly and burrowing in. The size of the hole, was also an indicator on how far the person will go. The bigger the hole, the bigger his Qi Sea, the more magnificent the Qi Palace and the more firm the Qi Core. Currently the hole dug by the Qi Kindling about a 10 meter radius. Meaning that it was the biggest it could be. Nalser stood by the giant hole and looked down, he couldn¡¯t see the bottom but a gentle rumbling sound was coming from below. Soon the rumbling got louder as if a geyser was erupting.


    Soon the hole erupted and pitch black liquid started pouring out from the hole. This was the sign that the Qi Kindling had successfully burrowed in and had formed a Qi Spring. Nalser immediately ordered his Soul to sit over the Qi Spring and keep it in check as he himself left his consciousness and quickly prepared himself for the fight that was about to begin. As more and more Qi turned from a gaseous state it was in at Qi Gathering to a more concentrated liquid state that it was in Foundation Establishment, Nalser felt his body heat up more and more. That was the sign he had been waiting for, this meant that the fight for supremacy between the two special bodies will begin soon.


    As he felt his Qi being converted, sweat started forming on his forehead. 60%, 70%, 80%, when it reached the 90% threshold Nalser was completely covered in sweat and his skin was starting to glow red. Also some black flames started materializing on his body. He quickly took off his clothes just in case. He had no idea how strong this fight was going to be and it may damage the Artefacts. As he sat there in his birthday suit, the red on his body kept gaining in colour while more black flames started materializing on him. Soon, one of his sides was fiery red and excluded unrivalled heat as you could see the air distort form the heat.


    The other side was completely covered in black flames and excluded a dominating aura. As the two started fighting for supremacy, Nalser could do nothing more than simply sit there and grit his teeth. He was furiously channelling his Qi all over his body to alleviate the pain but it could only do so much. Now that his body had been refined to the peak, his pain threshold had also moved backwards, but currently it was proving to be detrimental. He felt as if he was being burned alive but he couldn¡¯t even pass out from the pain. So all he could do was just open his mouth and scream out.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Minutes passed, hours passed. Soon 6 hours had passed from the start and neither side had gained any advantages so the fight was still raging on in full force. Nalser¡¯s voice had already become hoarse from all the screaming, his bones felt brittle, as if they would turn to dust with the slightest touch. His skin was already cracked all over and all the flesh exposed had been burned pitch black. Nalser could only dully look forward, he didn¡¯t even have any more energy to scream, let alone move. Now his sight started growing blurry as he started losing his consciousness. He was happy that he didn¡¯t have to endure that inhuman pain anymore. Just as he started succumbing to the darkness, a voice identical to his own echoed out inside his head, ¡°Don¡¯t fall asleep! If you do all the preparations you did will be gone!¡±


    As the voice echoed out, he started fighting to stay conscious but he couldn¡¯t go on any more. His Qi was all gone, his spirit had been exhausted, his endurance had been burned up. The only reason he could try to fight for his consciousness was only due to his will. However, even that had now become exhausted. As he slowly felt the pain become more and more dull, his sight started going more and more black. Eventually he just closed his eyes. He couldn¡¯t even hear the voice echoing in his head any more, as he started surrendering to his fate already, he suddenly felt his head clear up. His pain had mysteriously disappeared. He opened his eyes and he was in old courtyard.


    His eyes opened wide as he recognised the courtyard. It was the very same one he had been in his whole life. He was currently laying on the porch and he was wearing trousers now. He couldn¡¯t feel any Qi anywhere, he couldn¡¯t feel the connection to his soul either. The courtyard and he himself looked as if all that had happened was a dream. He was wearing the usual trousers, underneath his head was the same old pillow, on his was the same old blanket. It was as if leaving this place and all the events that happened afterwards were all just a dream. Just as he sat up and held his head with his hand, he heard a sigh come from beneath the only tree in the courtyard.


    Under it sat a young man in black. He wore black trousers, a black T-shirt and around his neck hung a dogtag. His hair was pure white and his eyes were crimson red. He didn¡¯t seem masculine but he wasn¡¯t obese either. His face didn¡¯t have the handsomeness and looked normal. If it weren¡¯t for the crimson eyes and the snow white hair, he would be extremely normal. The young man looked towards him and said in a helpless tone, ¡°You were extremely close to dying there, well you still are but that is not the point at the moment.¡± Nalser looked towards him and asked, ¡°Who are you? Are you the one who kept giving me the gut feeling with the different techniques?¡± The young man lightly laughed as he said, ¡°Straight to the point, an apple doesn¡¯t truly fall far from the tree.¡±


    Before Nalser could say anything the young man continued, ¡°My name is Enn Tuul. As for the other question, the answer is: No. Since explaining it is going to be a long, long story, I am going to ask you to listen without interrupting. In the end, you are going to have the answers to all your questions.¡± Nalser just sat there and nodded. Enn took out a cigarette from somewhere and lit it up as he started narrating, ¡°Well, my story began long long ago when I was your age. I used to work as a person a kin to an assassin but then abruptly I was summoned to another world to be a Hero.¡±


    As he talked this far, a nostalgic glint appeared in his eyes as he continued, ¡°I refused to fight a war I had no part on and left on my own. Through twists of fate I awakened something called an Asura Flame. Asura Flame Holders have only one goal in life, to protect their Nuwa Flame. The Asura Flame is the most dominating flame in existence. Then I travelled that world and soon met another Asura Flame Holder who became my teacher, then together we collected my future wife, the Nuwa Flame Holder Lauren. After that, I adventured around the Realm. I met a lot of people, some I became friends with, some I became enemies with. The I achieved Ascension and could take Lauren with me to travel in the other Realms.¡± Enn took a breath as he paused the story for a second. Soon enough he continued, ¡°After a few Eons passed, Me and Lauren finally had our first and last child. His name is Curo and I honestly do not know what happened to him.¡±


    Enn had a sadness in his eyes and before Nalser could ask what truly happened, Enn continued, ¡°You see, this Realm is one little bubble. In the vast Cosmos are countless number of these bubbles inside a big glass bowl. However, there isn¡¯t only one of these glass bowls, there are countless other ones around there. The war between the two glass bowls is a Dimensional War. A Dimensional War is a direct war between two Cosmos¡¯s. However, that war was the place I fell at.¡± As Nalser thought about it, he kept quiet. Seeing this Enn smiled as he continued, ¡°In the last Dimensional War we were ambushed and betrayed. To keep the Cosmos in our hands, I had no other choice than to send everyone out of the Ancient Battlefield and take them all on by myself. You see when an Asura Flame Holder dies, the Nuwa Flame Holder lives. However if a Nuwa Flame holder dies, the Asura Flame holder dies as well.¡±


    Nalser looked at him in confusion, what did that last part have anything to with it. Enn let out a sorrowful laugh as he said, ¡°You see Lauren was stubborn person, the only person I couldn¡¯t win against. She followed me to the Battlefield and decided to die together with me. When The Asura Flame is pure destruction, the Nuwa Flame is healing. As she healed me, I kept fighting to no end. Finally, when I cut down the last of our enemies, We won.¡± Nalser was still silent as he listened. Enn¡¯s expression turned cold as he said, ¡°It was also the time when Curo was born. Right after we exited the Battlefield, a horde of angry young masters were waiting for me. When they saw the enemy army, they were the first to run but now they started accusing me of hogging all the glory and so on. However, what happened after that was what truly got us killed. Since they outnumbered the people who were supporting us, they easily overpowered them and tried killing me and Lauren. In the end they succeeded as we couldn¡¯t run for long. In the end, I had my trusty partner Curo, a liger who followed me from youth, carry Lauren away as I stayed to stall them. I knew my father and the rest were heading towards there so if I could just buy a bit of time, Lauren and the little Curo could probably live. When I had killed all the people pursuing me, I felt through my connection that Curo died. And then my soul was also shattered because they managed to kill Lauren. As for our son, I have no idea if he survived or not. This is my story, I will now accept all your questions.¡±


    As Enn ended his story, he looked towards Nalser with a wry smile. Nalser immediately opened his mouth as he asked, ¡°You said your soul shattered, then how did you survive?¡± Enn just let out a laugh as he said, ¡°Haha, I knew you would ask this. After all it is the same soul as yours.¡± Before Nalser could say anything Enn said, ¡°Our soul is the same but You are you and I am me. We are different personas, different lives. Although I survived, only a tiny fragment of my soul did as it got thrown into a spacial rift during the shattering. That is the only reason it didn¡¯t shatter completely. For countless years it drifted through the vast Cosmos and finally it accidentally took refuge in your soul. Fusing with it. I hope that it explains it.¡± Nalser thought for a moment and decided to not ask more about it because souls seemed to be a very abstract subject. Probably not much was known about it even in the Cosmos. The next question Nalser asked was, ¡°What do you want me to do? I don¡¯t believe you told me your life story for nothing.¡± Enn said with a smile, ¡°What I want you to do is, when you Ascend, I want you to got to the ¡°Three Realm Cosmos¡± and see if my son is still alive. If he is, I want you to give him my apology for not being there to see him grow up.¡± Nalser felt the deep sorrow behind those words.


    He didn¡¯t want to touch that subject any more as he said with a wry laugh, ¡°But you said, that I am alive for now but I presume, not for long. How do you expect me to pass on your words to him then?¡± Enn just smiled towards Nalser as he said, ¡°I have enough strength left to merge the two body constitutions you have into the Black Flame Angel Body. It is the strongest Fire Type special body out there. It is even the strongest in the Cosmos. I will also pass on to you my cultivation method called the ¡°Black Flame Angel.¡± alongside with a supreme body refining technique you can use alongside all the other body refining ones.¡±


    Nalser looked at him with an agape jaw as he asked, ¡°Are you serious right now? You are willing to give me all that just so I could pass on a simple apology?¡± Enn just smiled towards him as he said, ¡°It may seem like a simple apology to you but it is something extremely important to me. Also I would like you to keep this safe and pass it on to Curo if he is still alive. If he isn¡¯t but you know where his grave is, can you hang it on the gravestone?¡± As he said that, he took off his dogtag and looked at it for one last time before handing it to Nalser. Nalser took the dogtag and upon taking a closer look it had something written on it. As he read it, he accidentally read it out loud, ¡°Wings of Freedom fly for an eternity.¡±


    Hearing this nostalgic phrase, Enn¡¯s face turned serious as he said, ¡°Now then I will pass on the knowledge of the cultivation methods and then I will use my last strength to merge the bodily constitutions, however you will have to start over your cultivation from zero again, so be prepared.¡± As Enn said so, he placed his finger on Nalser¡¯s forehead and as the finger started glowing, a lot of information started entering his head.


    Before he could start sorting it out, he felt darkness take over again as he saw was Enn¡¯s warm smile before his face turned serious. As it did, he felt himself falling over. The last thing he saw was black flaming wings sprouted out from Enn¡¯s back as he started pouring out more and more Qi. After that everything went blank.


    When he opened his eyes again, he was inside the stone room but his body felt as though it had been reborn.

 Chapter 21: Realization

    Although Nalser felt as though he had been reborn, when he tried to move, a searing pain coursed through his body. He tried to cry out in the pain but he didn¡¯t have the voice to so any more. With great difficulty, he turned his head ever so slightly to take a look at his body. It was still covered in split skin and charred flesh. However, for some magical reason his hair was still all there. He had thought that when his body turned out like this, his hair would burn up but since it didn¡¯t happen it puzzled him.


    However, he didn¡¯t have a long time to think about it as the pain coursing through his body got worse. He felt that his connection with the soul was shot, the soul seemed to be injured a lot as well. He only had a little sliver of Qi left, so he closed his eyes and connected to the pendant. Through it, he sent a message to Medic. He was connected to all the puppets and he could use his Qi to communicate with them telepathically but it didn¡¯t work vice versa.


    ***


    In a doctors room, Medic was just patching up the loser of a duel. Since the young man had been overestimating himself, he only got more seriously hurt. Just as he finished applying the bandages, a weak voice sounded out in her head, ¡°Help me.¡±


    As she heard the voice, her face immediately flickered as she disappeared from the doctors office. She immediately called Alchemist, Sweeper and Librarian as well. As they came to a stop in front of the Training Hall, Librarian asked, ¡°Are you completely sure that it was Master?¡±


    Medic gravely nodded as she said, ¡°Yes, his voice was extremely weak and he only said those two words.¡± Everyone¡¯s expressions were grave. The Training Hall was in another pocket dimension so they had no way of knowing what was happening inside when they were outside. Finally, getting rid of their hesitation Sweeper was the first to enter.


    When everyone had entered their expressions drastically changed. Every one of them had a different expression on. They were immediately assaulted by an extremely foul smell and the scene they encountered was extremely gruesome. The whole Training Hall was deformed, remnants of a huge fight were remaining. If Sweeper and the rest weren¡¯t 100% sure that no one was here except for Nalser, they would have thought a battle between two experts erupted here.


    As their gazes scanned the room, they all came to a stop on a charred body in the middle of the room. ¡°MASTER!¡± As Sweeper yelled out, him and Librarian both shot towards Nalser in an attempt to pick him up. Just as they were to touch him, Medic loud voice sounded out, ¡°STOP! DO NOT TOUCH HIM!¡± Sweepers hand faltered and he reluctantly withdrew it. Medic immediately came up to Nalser and started inspecting his body.


    Her expression turned from serious into grave as time went on. Suddenly, she withdrew her hand in a lightning speed manner as astonishment flashed on her face. She said quietly, ¡°There is currently an extremely strong Qi reforming Master¡¯s body from the inside. I have never seen or heard of someone who could possibly possess a cultivation this strong.¡± Hearing this, everyone¡¯s expression showed astonishment before turning grave. Librarian probed, ¡°How strong is it?¡± Medic just said, ¡°If the owner of the Qi had just snorted towards our Old Master, then that would have been enough to completely shatter his body and soul.¡±


    Now fear crept onto the faces of everyone present. Suddenly Nalser said, ¡°Let. It. Be. Give. Something. For. Pain.¡± After every word he took a deep breath. It even hurt to breathe but he gathered all of his will to say those words. Medic spoke with Alchemist for a second before they both started working. Medic fed some Elixirs to Nalser mouth to mouth while at the same time Alchemist sprinkled some powder all over Nalser¡¯s body. He then took out some ointment that he rubbed all over his body.


    When they were done, Medic stood at Nalser¡¯s head while Alchemist stood at his feet. As they stretched out their hands, they started to gently pour Qi outwards. As they did so, Nalser started gently rising up from the ground. As he hovered in mid air, Medic suddenly snapped out towards the frantic Sweeper and Librarian, ¡°What are you dilly dallying for?? Go and get Artificer to lay down a floating formation here.!¡± This snapped them back to reality as Sweeper shot out like a beam of light. Even though Sweeper was the strongest of them all and Librarian had the most knowledge, they were unable to do anything in this situation, so they were demoted into being lackeys, errand boys.


    It seemed as though Sweeper briefed Artificer on the way as he although he was surprised seeing Nalser¡¯s condition, he didn¡¯t lose his composure. As Artificer finished laying down the floating formation underneath Nalser, Medic and Alchemist could relax. They also bandaged Nalser¡¯s body now that they had the free hands to do so. Librarian asked Medic, ¡°What happened to him and what will happen from now on?¡± Medic could only shake her head as to say, she had no clue.


    Nalser said with great difficulty, ¡°Bodies. Merged. After. Healing. Can. Cultivate. Again. Need. Time. To. Rest.¡± As he said so, everyone were astonished. They could see that each word came with extreme difficulty, so all they could do was urge him not to speak. As they left Nalser there to float, the decided to move outside of the Training Hall. As they turned around to leave, they noticed a blue haired maiden staring at Nalser with an extremely worried look.


    From his pure white hair, she could immediately recognise him. When they noticed her, everyone¡¯s head went blank but soon one word echoed out in everyone¡¯s mind, ¡°SHIT!¡± As they hurriedly chased her out of the Training Hall, they had a bitter smile on. When they were outside, Mei immediately asked, ¡°Was that Nalser? What happened to him?¡± Everyone could only stay silent as no one knew what had happened. However Medic took Mei¡¯s hand to lead he away as she said, ¡°Not here. Come with me, I will tell you everything we know.¡± Everyone¡¯s face flickered but no one could say anything. They had no way of bullshitting their way out of this one and if they did not explain it to her, she may say something unnecessary to her clan members.


    ***


    Inside the stone room, when everyone had left, Nalser just floated there but his mind was working on looking through the information Enn had left behind to him. It was all sorted and it was divided into three categories:


    1. was the Black Flame Angel Cultivation method and what to watch out for at certain stages. It also summarized the potential bottlenecks he might encounter and way¡¯s to deal with them. However, there was one section that surprised Nalser a lot. It said this, ¡°When you start training in it, don¡¯t be afraid to adjust it to work the best for you. What worked for, may not work for you.¡± This sentence seemed simple but it held many different meanings. Since he won¡¯t be able to train before he had completely healed any ways, he was in no hurry to ponder over it for now.


    2. It was on fighting techniques. Well, actually, it was the body refining technique called ¡°Phantom Song Sutra¡±. It talked about something called Mana but Nalser soon figured out that Mana was another name for Qi. And it didn¡¯t have any specific killing moves or set moves but it talked more about Qi Rotations. By following the method for rotations, he could create his own set of moves. What he needed wasn¡¯t fighting techniques someone else had invented but rather he needed foundational techniques like this. As Nalser briefly looked through the second section, he realized that it was a very solid foundational technique. It had no set moves but it encouraged the person to create his own fighting style.


    The third section was what Nalser focused on at the moment. It had the extended version of Enn¡¯s history and it was in more detail. It also talked about the Ascension, the Dimensional wars and so on. As Nalser hovered there, slowly, the pain from inside his body subsided. Although a few days had passed since Medic and the rest had left him floating there, Nalser had no way to tell how much time had passed.


    All he could do was think over all the information left to him by Enn. As the pain from the inside of his body subsided, he could actually move a bit. Although he couldn¡¯t do quick movements and his movements looked like a rusted puppet, who hadn¡¯t been used for a hundreds of years, he could nonetheless move. When he took a quick look at his bandaged body, he felt as though he was a mummy. As he slowly scuttled towards the door to leave the hall.


    His head was however full of different thoughts. The main one was that from Enn¡¯s story he understood how important it is to have someone by your side to not abandon you even when all odds are stacked against you like a mountain. As Nalser finally scuttled out from the Training Hall, he was greeted by a very vigilant Sweeper and Dummy, the two strongest people on the island. Their eyes were bloodshot from keeping everyone else away. They did not allow any single being to step in a 15 meter radius of the doorway.


    They were also scanning everything in this radius and even if a blade of grass moved, they knew about it. That just goes to show you, how thoroughly cautious they were. When they saw the mummy suddenly appear at the door, they nearly attacked Nalse. However, they managed to stop their attack before they connected. This scared the hell out of Nalser. The moment he stepped out of the Training Hall, he was greeted by a sword and a fist. He nearly stumbled back thorough the portal but managed to stand his ground. As the two dropped to the ground to apologize, Nalser¡¯s heart softened.


    This Foundation Establishment experience had changed him a lot. When before he was a bit cold and even didn¡¯t care about the people following him, then now he saw them all in a new light. He had truly learned the importance of people to guard his back. When Nalser saw the bloodshot eyes of the two and the relief on their faces when they saw him, he understood that everyone was on the edge. They didn¡¯t know whether Nalser will survive or not. These two had closely guarded the only way in, so no one could harm him.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    He dismissed the two and let them go take get rest. In the end he had to order them to go and rest because they were very adamant on following him closely just in case. When Nalser finally got those two to leave, he slowly scuttled to his favourite thinking place. He felt his head most clear when he was sitting at the edge of the Island just staring at distant stars. Although Nalser had sent the two to rest, they contacted Librarian and the rest. Everyone were extremely happy that Nalser was able to move, it was at least a sign that he was recovering. So they decided on rotations to look over Nalser in the shadows.


    Medic and Librarian were in the first rotation. As they observed the pondering Nalser from the shadow of a tree Librarian asked Medic, ¡°What are your opinions on his future cultivation. Can it be done?¡± Medic just slowly shook her head as she said, ¡°I honestly do not know. The strong Qi reformed his body, so if he can continue to cultivate, he will have to start over again.¡± Librarian nodded as well, this was not the worst case scenario but it was not the best either. However, Medic¡¯s next words baffled Librarian, ¡°The Qi I sensed reforming him was not of this world. I said that before but now seeing him pondering like that all I can say is, that the merging of his Special Bodies was not by accident and it had a helping hand.¡±


    When Librarian thought over it, it actually made sense. The miraculous merging of the two extremely domineering Special Bodies, the strong Qi reforming his body, And also, he had changed a lot. It wasn¡¯t something extremely obvious but it was more like subtle feeling. He felt more mature and he seemed to now have a certain friendly aura. It wasn¡¯t the same cold detached one as before but more warm now. It was hard to explain but everyone could feel the change in the aura instinctively.


    Nalser had no idea that there were still people protecting him, if he did he would just chuckle and think that they are worrying too much. Nalser no longer had any Qi left. His cultivation was completely gone. Although he was still the Master of the Island, he could only control the entry and exit of the island. He couldn¡¯t access the other functions for now, since all those required him to channel Qi into the pendant to do. For Nalser, who was used to being connected to everything and knowing everything that was going on, this feeling brought a bit of insecurity.


    However, he didn¡¯t mull over it for long as he started thinking about Enn¡¯s story again. He now understood very well the sentiment behind his apology. Like Nalser, he had never known his parents, at least before the summon. Before the summon he had grown up amidst bloodshed that had killed his emotions. When he was teleported to the other world, he started regaining them slowly. Through his long journey he had finally understood the importance of friends, love and so much more. Even the sentence, ¡°Straight to the point, an apple doesn¡¯t fall far from the tree.¡± made sense to Nalser now. He could only chuckle to himself as he thought about it all. Him and Enn were similar but worlds apart at the same time.


    As Nalser thought about how the puppets that followed him, were worried about him, Mei and the rest, he finally realized that this was his place. Before he didn¡¯t have anyone, he didn¡¯t realize the importance of a place to belong. He finally realized that this was the place he belonged and the people who followed him all trusted him. They worried for him, they were glad with him and so on. Nalser¡¯s cold heart started accepting the feeling of belonging. As he did, he felt himself a bit relieved. He had always felt that he was out of place. It wasn¡¯t some strong feeling but it was just a feeling that said, ¡°I don¡¯t belong here. These people are not for me to trust.¡± Now that feeling was gone. He felt lighter by a lot.


    As he sat there reflecting on his own behaviour up till now, a shadow approached him. The person who the shadow belonged seemed to hesitate. She kept going then seemingly turning back before continuing going towards him, always torn between two choices. Finally Nalser¡¯s voice echoed out, ¡°Come here or go back. Make up your mind already.¡± The tone wasn¡¯t angry or anything, it even had a hint of being amused. The girl pouted a bit then dejectedly walked to sit next to Nalser. She didn¡¯t say anything but Nalser ran his hand through her blue hair as he said, ¡°Why is your hair blue, little lady?¡±


    The Mei was a bit embarrassed as she said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. When I woke up from the cocoon, it was blue. When I asked Librarian about it, he didn¡¯t know what to say anything either.¡± Nalser just let out a laugh and removed his hand. Mei stole a few glances of Nalser¡¯s body before gritting her teeth and asking, ¡°Are you alright?¡± Nalser looked towards the horizon as he answered, ¡°Define ¡°alright¡± for me please.¡±


    There was a slight smile on his lips under the bandages. If Mei could see the smile, she could understand that Nalser was just teasing her a bit. Mei stuttered as she asked, ¡°Does it still hurt?¡± Nalser just said, ¡°It hurts to move but not as much as before.¡± Mei stayed quiet now. Her head was spinning as she tried to think of a way to continue the conversation. Seeing that Nalser just let out a little laugh as he said, ¡°No need to be so tense, I won¡¯t die. Also, how much did they tell you when they asked you to check up on me?¡± When Mei heard that, she felt as though she was hit by a hammer.


    She was seen through this easily. However, a stone was lifted from her heart when Nalser said that he wasn¡¯t going to die. She slowly relaxed and her head also became clearer as she narrated to Nalser that Medic had told her everything regarding the Foundation Establishment ordeal. Worry was still evident in Mei¡¯s eyes as she asked, ¡°May I ask, what happened? Medic said that the Qi inside you was not from this world.¡± Nalser lightly smiled as he thought to himself, ¡°As expected, they are no fools.¡±


    He asked Mei a question, ¡°Are you willing to follow by my side outside of the Realm? Will you stand behind my back to help me when I have to fight against a mountain?¡± This unexpected question made Mei puzzled but for some reason she felt very weird thinking about the question. Her face started burning up as she remembered something Medic said to her. She looked towards the stars for a moment before her mind became clear, ¡°It is that simple.¡± As she realized this, she slightly smiled as she said, ¡°I want to walk beside you whether you want to walk through Hell or Heaven.¡± Her gaze was directed towards the stars and she couldn¡¯t see the smile on Nalser¡¯s face. Nalser removed the bandages from his mouth and as he turned Mei¡¯s head to face him, he kissed her.


    In the shadows, Medic almost fell over from the sudden turn for events but Librarian was a lot more calm. He had slight surprise on his face but that was it. Medic pointed towards the two and stuttered,¡±W-w-what the heck. I knew that the girl had feelings for Master but not vice versa.¡± Her head was spinning as she couldn¡¯t understand the situation at all. Librarian just said with a calm smile, ¡°Although Mei¡¯s feelings were as obvious as day, Master had also sprouted similar feelings. However, he was a lot better at hiding them but since I spent a lot of time together with him, I picked up the small hints.¡± Medic looked towards Librarian with rage as she wanted to hit him f holding back such information.


    However, Librarian quickly continued, ¡°So, this is nothing surprising. However, I had not expected Master to make the first move. I honestly thought that Mei would gather up her courage and confess to Master.¡± Medic calmed down as she listened to Librarians explanation. Even though she hadn¡¯t realized Nalser¡¯s feeling for Mei, she had also thought that at some point in time Mei would be the one to confess. However, neither of them said anything any more as they just smiled and left the two of them alone. They had lived for countless years so of course they understood the importance of having someone by your side to pick you up when you fall.


    As the two of them tactfully left, Nalser removed his lips from Mei¡¯s. Mei¡¯s face was blank as she was processing what just happened. Before she could even make sense of anything, Nalser laid his head down on her lap. Slowly, Mei came back to reality and she smiled sweetly. She understood that Nalser had the same feelings as her. As she gently started playing with Nalser¡¯s hair, Nalser said, ¡°I am sorry for surprising you but I was happy.¡±


    Mei was silent and Nalser continued, ¡°It was only recently I realized how important it is to have someone by your side. Since I had grown up completely alone, I didn¡¯t know how to act around others.¡± Mei was still silently listening as Nalser continued to rant. She just listened and felt very happy.


    As Nalser kept ranting, he told her everything. About his gut feeling, meeting Enn, surviving only thanks to Enn, all the things Enn passed on to him, also he told her about the Ascension. He even told her about Enn¡¯s last request. When he showed her the dog tag, he could see a tear rolling down Mei¡¯s cheek. She was visibly moved by the story. When he had finished pouring his heart out, he felt lighter, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.


    He realized that this was the effect of trusting someone enough not to keep anything hidden from him. Then he asked about Mei¡¯s past and how she was doing while he was in closed door training. Mei started from the beginning as well as she kept narrating everything to him. As the two talked to each other, time passed and soon the night had passed. They had been talking for the entire night but neither of them was tired at all. Instead, they felt happy, as they had finally found someone they could talk about everything with.


    When the morning arrived, Nalser raised his head from her lap and Mei reluctantly stopped fiddling with his hair. Nalser promised her that he wouldn¡¯t train in any sort of cultivation until his body was completely healed. This relived Mei as she had heard of Nalser¡¯s previous cultivation frenzy. She was afraid that Nalser would be too impatient again and start cultivating before he was healed. Nalser promised to oversee Mei¡¯s training for now while also formulating a plan for his own cultivation. As the two walked towards Mei¡¯s training room hand in hand, all the puppets along the way, at least the ones they saw, grinned to them.


    Mei repeatedly cast her head down with a red face and there were a few times that she tried to take back her hand but Nalser wouldn¡¯t let go. Finally, she gave up and walked with her head held high. When they finally reached the training room, Nalser first gave her the improved body cultivating Arts and told her, how to train in them most efficiently. Also he gave her a hint with the ¡°Hidden Palaces, Hidden Meridians.¡± He also warned her that training in these body cultivating Arts would be painful, so she shouldn¡¯t push herself too much.


    After getting a guarantee from her that she wouldn¡¯t push herself too far, he left towards the Library. He planned on completely and thoroughly comprehending everything Enn entrusted to him. He looked at the dog tag for a second before deciding to store it in the Armoury. It would be the safest place for it.


    When he finally reached the Library, he started sorting everything out. There were a lot of techniques and buts or ifs involved. As he thought about the Qi movement techniques of Phantom Song Sutra, some potential moves entered his head and he also wrote them all down, so that he could test them out in the future. As he looked through the information again, he found an interesting technique that Enn had found a long time ago. It was extremely mysterious and even Enn had left a note praising it.


    The techniques name was called, ¡°Birthing Seed.¡± What it did was that the user had to collect all sorts of materials, the more precious, the better. Through a special formation he can turn them into 3 Birthing Seeds. Each of the three seeds would be different. One would be to birth a weapon, one an armour and one a supportive Artefact.


    What made both Enn and Nalser interested in it was the fact that by submerging the Seed in his Qi Spring, the seed would birth the most optimal, completely customized weapon, armour, Artefact. They would also fuse with his body and constantly grow stronger as the user did.

 Chapter 22: Bloody Angel

    The more Nalser thought about the abilities of Birthing Seed, the more concentrated and serious his gaze grew. What was the most important thing was that it wasn¡¯t bound to any certain cultivation technique but could be used by anyone. There were a lot of different buts and ifs involved with this as well. This was mainly in the materials used. The more high quality the materials were, the stronger the weapon was when birthed and its growth rate would also be higher. The elemental affinity and the materials elements also played a huge role. Nalser had the strongest Fire Type Body in the Cosmos so using materials that weren¡¯t Fire Type would actually weaken the weapon. The same applied to the armour and the supportive Artefact.


    Apart from these, the technique was quite straightforward, except for the one big drawback: It could only be used by people under the Sea Forming Stage. The Seeds had to be specifically nurtured in the Qi Springs of the person. The Artefacts birthed by this technique had huge potential but it took them more time to ramp up than others. This method of Artefact crafting was actually very interesting.


    Since Nalser had a basic knowledge in both alchemy and artification, he could tell that this was a very special Artefact crafting method. Usually the crafting had 4 steps: 1. Tempering the materials to remove the impurities. 2. Merge the materials into one 3. Give the shape 4. Add the formations. Higher grade weapons have a few innate formations but usually the formations to make it into an Artefact are added later on, when the Artificer is satisfied with the shape and the quality of his work.


    This method however stopped at the second step. The Seed was practically the lump of merged materials. However, what Nalser couldn¡¯t understand was that how the different formations were birthed alongside with the Artefact. It even said that as the weapon grows stronger, after reaching certain levels, it will add formations on itself. Nalser was pondering on where the heck those formations were all coming from. As he was deep in thought, a gentle voice sounded out, ¡°If you stare at the book so intensively, it will soon run away scared.¡±


    This brought Nalser back from his own little world. At some point in time, Mei had sat down at the table as well but since Nalser was so focused on this, he didn¡¯t notice her. Nalser but on a wry smile as he asked, ¡°How long have you been here?¡± Mei just smiled, ¡°About 10 minutes but you were so intently staring at the book, I was afraid that it will run away soon.¡± Nalser let out a bitter laugh as he asked how her cultivation went and so on. As she narrated how it went, she also used the opportunity to ask him about some of the problems she ran into.


    Nalser thought over the problems and patiently answered them one by one. Even Nalser had not realized that his analytical abilities had skyrocketed as of late. He could easily identify the root of the problems that were thrown at him. When they finished their little Q&A session, Mei asked him what he was pondering so intently over.


    Nalser showed her the description of Birthing Seed and asked for her opinion on where the formations come from. Mei pondered over it a bit and asked, ¡°Does it even matter? Since it says that all the formations come from the Artefact itself, doesn¡¯t it mean that it has some kind of sentience?¡± Hearing this Nalser realized what he had overlooked. He let out a self pitying laugh as he said, ¡°I just over analysed it. What you said is most likely true. It would also explain how it can grow, why elemental affinity between the weapon and user has an impact on the weapons growth and so on.¡± Nodding to himself, he actually was very satisfied with this answer since it was actually the most logical one. They talked a bit more and then Mei told him that she will be going into closed door training for some time to wholeheartedly cultivate the Body Refining Arts, Nalser pouted for a second before smiling to her.


    What Nalser didn¡¯t see was the sad look on her face when she turned around to go. If he had, then he would have definitely kept a closer eye on her. As Nalser kept working on the Birthing Seed, time slowly passed. Soon a day had passed, then 4 days, then a week. Nalser¡¯s injuries had mostly healed. It was all thanks to Enn leaving a bit of Healing Type Qi alongside the Qi that reformed his body. The Healing Type Qi was imbued all over his body that was reformed and so his healing speed had skyrocketed.


    Medic looked at him with a slack jaw when Nalser had taken off the bandages. Although he still had the scabs from the places the skin was split, they were all half the size of the injury from a week and a half ago. This rate of healing was monstrous, however, since Nalser didn¡¯t explain it in more detail, they decided not to ask about it. As Nalser hadn¡¯t seen Mei for a whole week, he started feeling a bit lonely. However, he knew how important cultivating was to her, so he decided not to bother her.


    Suddenly, for some reason he had a very bad feeling. He couldn¡¯t understand why but he felt deep down that if he didn¡¯t go check up on Mei right now, he would regret it forever. This was the first time he had felt something like this, so it was an extremely mysterious feeling for him. However, the feeling was the same as the gut feeling he had followed until now, that was the reason he was worried so much. The gut feeling hadn¡¯t been wrong so far, so he did the only thing he could. He went to find Medic.


    When he first told Medic about his bad feeling, she just laughed it off saying, ¡°Well little lovebird, I know you feel lonely but it is nothing to worry about.¡± Nalser didn¡¯t bother getting angry at her and started explaining the real reason he was worried, that his gut feeling had never been wrong. The more Medic listened, the more serious her expression turned. She knew that Nalser wasn¡¯t the kind of person to make up something this important, so she agreed to go and quickly check up on her.


    When Medic entered Mei¡¯s training room, there was silence. However a second later, in Nalser mind an urgent Medic¡¯s voice sounded out, ¡°EVERYONE GET TO MEI¡¯S TRAINING ROOM NOW!¡± As the voice sounded out, without a second thought Nalser jumped through the portal. When he arrived at the other side of the portal, the first thing that greeted him was a demonic tail that hit him straight at the chest. As Nalser flew through the air, he suddenly met the wall. As he hit the wall, he created a small crater there as cracks spread.


    If it weren¡¯t for his tempered body, that one hit would have been enough to pulverize him.


    1. His body was enhanced by the two previous Special Bodies,


    2. His perfect tempering of his body.


    3. The merging of his two Special Bodies into Black Flame Angel Body had also raised his fleshly body¡¯s strength.


    Although he hadn¡¯t tempered his enhanced body to his peak yet, it was still on the level of a Celestial Immortal. Blood started rolling down from the corners of his mouth as he looked at what had hit him with great difficulty. As he scanned the room, he saw what had hit him. It was currently pinning down Medic with a giant broadsword. The being pinning her down was a giant azure blue demon. However, to Nalser it reminded more of a draconian, something that didn¡¯t exist in this Realm. From Enn¡¯s memories he had learned that in different realms there are a lot of different lifeforms. The Draconian had a dragons head and two white horns that curved to his back. On his back were two giant bat wings.


    Although he had 5 fingers on both hands, his nails seemed like daggers. His legs seemed like a lizards and he had a long tail that was covered in a row of spikes that ran from the tip of the tail to his head along his spine. He was completely covered in blue scales and his reptilian eyes were golden. Taking his eyes off of the Draconian, he started scanning the room, looking for Mei.


    When he found her, his expression changed drastically, ignoring the pain coming from his body, he slowly crawled towards Mei. She was currently in the back of the room but her body was covered in cuts as blood dripped from them. Her clothes were in tatters as she laid there covered in blood with tears flowing from her eyes. When Nalser reached her, the first thing he did was check her pulse. When he realized it was still there, he was relieved but when he realized that it was very weak, his expression turned serious. He had no idea on what to do, all the knowledge he had accumulated was unusable as it had nothing to do with healing.


    Just as he was frantically thinking on what to do, he heard a loud ¡°Boom!¡± When he looked over he discovered that the Draconian had destroyed the doorway to the outside. Nalser immediately started looking for Medic but he couldn¡¯t find her anywhere. He knew that she was fighting with Draconian but not seeing her anywhere Nalser quickly came up with two scenarios.


    1. Medic was obliterated without leaving even dust behind.


    2. Medic was thrown out of the doorway before it was smashed.


    He quickly decided that it was the second option because if it were the first one then he would be dead as well. However, as he observed the Draconian, he realized that Medic had gotten a few good hits in as the Draconian had a few cuts on him. As Nalser weighed all his options, the Draconian turned around. As he saw Nalser, he grinned. In the Cosmos Universal Language he said, ¡°To think that an insect like you survived. Well, it¡¯s not like you can understand me any ways but well, don¡¯t blame me brat. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.¡± Since Enn had given a lot of information to Nalser, the same went for the Universal Language. He had also included that in the information he had passed onto him.


    Understanding what the Draconian said, Nalser answered, ¡°What wrong place at the wrong time?!¡± His anger was welling up inside as he angrily yelled towards him, ¡°This is my domain, MY HOME! And she is MY WOMAN. HOW THE HELL AM I IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME?!¡± As he yelled the last part, the Draconian was surprised at him speaking the Universal language before laughing out loudly, ¡°Hahahaha, you are a funny little insect.¡± His eyes started showing arrogance as he looked at Nalser as if the other was a clown, suddenly the Draconian grinned as he said, ¡°Hoh, so she was your woman huh? I have to praise you in your tastes. She truly was fabulous, especially her cute screams as I took her. I couldn¡¯t fully control my strength, so I accidentally squeezed too tightly and my claws cut her up a bit.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Nalser¡¯s head turned blank when he heard this, he looked towards Mei with blank eyes. His mind was completely blank, he reached his hand out to touch the Mei¡¯s face. As he wiped away the tear from her eye, the Draconian laughed out again, ¡°Hahaha, how pathetic, your woman lost her first time to me, also I thought of something interesting to do.¡± As he said that, Nalser turned his head blankly towards the Draconian again, a tear escaped from his left eye. The Draconian said with a smile as he started walking towards the two, ¡°I will not kill you, not yet atleast. I will first cripple your arms, your legs and then I will take her again. Right before you-¡± His sentence and the happy sadistic mood he was in, was broken by an oppressive aura that engulfed the room.


    He was immediately on guard as he checked his surroundings but he couldn¡¯t find anyone. Then he looked towards Nalser again and fear crept into his heart as he thought to himself, ¡°Not possible, this kind of an oppressive murderous aura can¡¯t be coming from that brat.¡± As he felt cold sweat running down his spine, he saw Nalser crouching over Mei¡¯s body. He gently kissed her on her lips before standing up.


    When he stood up, he looked towards Draconian with cold eyes as he said, ¡°You are dead.¡± The moment those words left his mouth, he completely submerged himself in his feelings as he felt power coming from deep within. The Draconian felt more and more scared, since he could see Nalser¡¯s body turning pitch black and he saw black flaming wings sprout from his back as small balls of black fire ignited on his body. From his eyes, blue flames started leaking out as he looked towards the Draconian. The previous crystal clear tear trail now turned blood red. The more Nalser transformed, the stronger the danger the Draconian felt from him and also the more oppressive the murderous aura changed. Without realizing it, the Draconian had slightly started to shake from fear. His mind spun as he thought to himself, ¡°He looks just like a Death God.¡±


    He started slowly backing up as fear kept creeping more and more into his heart. Suddenly, his eyes opened wide when he saw Nalser disappear. He suddenly felt extreme pain coming from his stomach and when he looked own, he saw Nalser¡¯s hand going through his stomach. He spat a mouthful of blue blood as Nalser removed his hand. Nalser slowly turned his hand into a claw as he suddenly extended it out. However, the place grabbed by him made the Draconian plead out in a high voice, ¡°Please, anything but that.¡± He had already abandoned all thoughts of resisting as Nalser had thoroughly and utterly destroyed his will to fight.


    A cold, sinister voice sounder out, ¡°This was the thing you used to violate her, your payment starts with it.¡± As the sentence ended, Nalser squeezed his hand into a fist. A high pitched scream echoed out as the Draconians balls were crushed into a bloody mesh. With a sweep of his hand, Nalser ripped of his rod as well. The Draconian tried to stop the bleeding from down there by covering it with his hand but it didn¡¯t help. As the Draconian was rolling on the ground in pain, Nalser kicked him in the chest. As the hit landed, he felt as though he had been hit by a 100 Ton sledgehammer. He flew through the air and into a wall creating a crater that was 3 times bigger than the one Nalser had created. As he slid down from there, he felt his consciousness fading but he was quickly aroused by the pain that came from the breaking of his arm.


    As he screamed out again Nalser threw something into his mouth as he forced his mouth to close. With no way to spit it back out, all that the Draconian could do was swallow it. Over the next hour, only high pitched screams could heard echoing out in the training room. When the Draconian couldn¡¯t finally handle it any more, he finally found a slight opening in with to commit suicide. As the Demonic Nalser looked at the corpse coldly, he suddenly turned around.


    He went and picked up Mei¡¯s body. When she was securely in his arms, he started walking towards the door. When he was standing before the rubble, he let down Mei¡¯s legs as he waved his hand and the gateway was cleared of all rubble. He picked up Mei again and walked through the gateway. When he arrived on the other side, everyone attacked him in concert. However, they were all pushed to the ground by the oppressive aura Nalser released. Before they could even understand exactly what this thing was, he walked in front of Medic.


    Everyone had a frightful face on but none of them could resist the murderous aura that Nalser was currently emitting. When he had laid down Mei¡¯s body, he said, ¡°Heal her.¡± As the cold voice echoed out, everyone looked towards him with a blank look. They recognised the voice, it was Nalser¡¯s. No one could even begin to fathom what had happened for Nalser to have taken this kind of a form but seeing him covered in some kind of a blue liquid, they felt fear creep into their hearts.


    Medic had briefed them about the Draconian that she encountered inside and now seeing Nalser in this form covered in blue liquid with Mei in his arms coming out from the gateway, they could only reach one conclusion. Nalser had killed the Draconian and had just walked out from there. They looked fearfully towards the training room. They wanted to go in and take a look but they were currently too afraid to move. Medic quickly checked Mei¡¯s condition before saying, ¡°Lets move her to the Healing Hall, I can¡¯t treat her here.¡± As she said so, she wanted to pick Mei up but Nalser beat her to it. Seeing this, Medic could only bitterly smile. Since she was a doctor and also a woman, she understood very well what had happened to Mei before she had passed out.


    She couldn''t blame Nalser at all for being so protective now. She quickly told Alchemist to bring some special elixirs as well. After saying so, she headed towards the Healing Hall with Nalser and Mei in tow. Alchemist ran to his Alchemy Hall to bring all the Elixirs and medicine listed by Medic. He did not dare to tarry even for half a second. When Medic and Nalser arrived at the Healing Hall, Medic immediately instructed Nalser to put her on the bed.


    As she brought her medical tools, she told Nalser, ¡°You go wait outside!¡± However seeing Nalser not even flinch from the statement, she yelled at him, ¡°I get that you won¡¯t let her out of your sight, so go sit in that corner and retract your oppressive aura as it distracts me from doing my work!¡± Hearing this, Nalser silently went to the corner Medic pointed to and retracted his oppressive aura. Medic breathed a sigh of relief seeing that Nalser had not lost all rationality. As she started working on Mei, Alchemist arrived. When he stepped through the door, the oppressive aura spread out again. Seeing this, Medic quickly took the Elixirs and medicine she asked Alchemist to bring and literally showed him out of the door. When she closed the door, she locked it and said to Nalser, ¡°Now no one will be able to enter here.¡± Hearing this, Nalser retracted his aura again as he sat in the corner silently, watching Medic¡¯s every move.


    Soon, 2 hours had passed and Medic had finished. All that was left to do was bandage Mei up and let her rest on her own. During the entire healing process she narrated out loud what she was doing and why. This was done in order to not make Nalser do any sudden moves. When she had finished bandaging up Mei, she put her down on the bed and put a blanket over her. When everything was done, she let out a sigh of relief that everything worked out. As she turned towards Nalser she said, ¡°Now then all that is left is to wait for her to recover on her own.Hearing this, Nalser felt his vision first grow blurry then darkness completely took over.


    ***


    When he opened his ¡®eyes¡¯ again he was in a completely black space. His body looked as though he didn¡¯t have a single injury on him but he only had his old trousers on. ¡°This scenario is very familiar.¡± As he thought so, he turned around to see Enn there standing.


    Enn just smiled to him as he said, ¡°Well, I honestly didn¡¯t expect to see you so soon again.¡± Nalser smiled as well as he asked, ¡°Seeing you again, does this mean that I am dead?¡± Hearing that Enn let out a laugh as he said, ¡°Hahaha, no. Not yet atleast.¡± Hearing this Nalser was puzzled as he asked, ¡°But how-¡± ¡°How am I still here, my soul should have completely shattered now.¡± As Enn finished the sentence for him, he gestured Nalser to take a seat. Nalser sat down since he knew that Enn is going to explain everything now. As Enn sat down as well, he fished out a cigarette from somewhere and lit it. As he took a big puff, he started narrating, ¡°Well, actually I left a sliver of my consciousness behind. It was supposed to sleep until the Ascension came and then it was supposed to help you achieve Ascension.¡±


    He paused as he took another puff before continuing, ¡°However, I had not expected that you would lose yourself in Anger, Regret, Sadness and Powerlessness.¡± Nalser looked at him suspiciously as he wanted to ask how he knew. Before he could do so, Enn said, ¡°Those emotions need to be at their peak simultaneously in order to awaken the Bloody Angel.¡± Nalser looked at Enn in shock as Enn continued, ¡°Bloody Angel is somewhat of a berserker state of a person who has the Black Flame Angel Body. I used to have 3 nicknames:


    1. Black Flame Angel


    2. Chain Warden


    3. Bloody Angel.


    The reason it is called the ¡°Bloody Angel¡±, is because I entered that state as well once and carried out a massively large scale slaughter. In the end, I was completely covered in blood making me look like a ¡°Bloody Angel¡±.¡± As Enn said this far, Nalser understood where the name came from and what the state he was in was.


    However, he didn¡¯t understand why Enn showed himself now. Enn smiled as he said, ¡°You are wondering, why I showed myself now?¡± Nalser started looking towards him like he was mind reader. Enn just laughed at him and said, ¡°Don¡¯t look at me as though I am a mind reader. Those questions are the most logical ones to ask.¡± Nalser understood that but before he could say anything, Enn¡¯s face turned serious as he said, ¡°The Bloody Angel state is a very dangerous state. If I didn¡¯t intervene, you would have lost your marbles the moment you entered the state and gone on a killing spree killing everything that moves without any discrimination. And the reason, I brought you here at this moment, is to give you your peace of mind. I could have brought you here when you exited the training room but I waited until the very last possible second to bring you here.¡± Nalser nodded his head, he had felt that that power was something he could not possibly control on his own. It made sense now that Enn had said that he had helped him control it.


    However, he was wondering was there any other danger involved with that state. As he thought about it, he suddenly realized. Seeing that face Enn smiled as he said, ¡°Bingo. You now realized that that kind of power was something that your body could not possibly endure without any repercussions. Even now, if I had waited for a half minute longer, your body would have been crippled.¡± Suddenly, Enn¡¯s face flickered as he stood up. He gave Nalser a bitter smile as he said, ¡°Sorry but our time together is up. This time for real. Remember, never enter that state again. The next time you do, I will not be able to help you. Then it will truly be up to fate whether you live or not.¡±


    As he finished saying that, Enn¡¯s body started to slowly fade away. Nalser understood that he had pushed himself to the very limit to calmly explain everything to Nalser. HE wanted to ask something but before he could do so, Enn had faded away. When Enn had completely faded away, he felt sleepiness take him over. As he tried to fight the sleepiness, he didn¡¯t have any luck and soon he lost and he fell asleep.

 Chapter 23: Awakening

    When Nalser started regaining any sort of feeling again, he opened his eyes to see that he was inside a blank white space. He remembered this place, it seemed like his consciousness. As he carefully looked around, he quickly found what he was searching for. He found his Soul but it was in a very bad shape. Currently, the Soul was suspended in mid air, and it seemed to be hugging his feet. However, cracks were visible all over the Soul. Seeing this Nalser truly felt how close he currently was to dying.


    What he didn¡¯t know was, whether these cracks were the consequence of the Foundation Establishment battle or they were created by him entering the Bloody Angel state. He felt that at least most of these were the aftermath of the Foundation Establishment battle but some of them had been added by the Bloody Angel state. As he let out a breath, he went in front of the Soul. As he placed his and on it¡¯s back, he started inspecting it. Soul¡¯s were very abstract things, the same applied to the sea of consciousness. Although, he had found some soul strengthening techniques in the library, he had only glanced at them and just read through them once. Since at the time, he didn¡¯t have a Soul and he thought that he can use those techniques beginning from the Nascent Soul Stage, he hadn¡¯t truly pondered over them.


    Enn had given him all the knowledge he had on Souls as well but all it encompassed were a few methods to observe them or inspect them. The techniques used to strengthen the soul were all extremely high level and could only be used after he had Ascended. Before that, their potency is too strong and they could accidentally damage his soul instead. Since he couldn¡¯t use any of those methods, he was in quite a tight spot. From his inspection he discovered that the Soul was currently in a very fragile state and even a slight wrong move could shatter it. As he started using his full attention on trying to remember the lower tiered soul healing and strengthening arts he had read about, he closed his eyes.


    Since he didn¡¯t commit them to the memory, it was currently extremely hard for him to remember the exact details. He remembered only bits and pieces. Since they were all bits and pieces, he couldn¡¯t be sure that they were all from the same technique. Finally he let out a sigh, as he surrendered himself to fate. All he could do was wait for the soul to heal on his own, however, he had no idea how long it might take.


    As he opened his eyes, he discovered that there was a book in front of him. He looked at the book in astonishment, then looked around and saw no one and nothing else. He carefully took the book and started reading it. His face betrayed more and more astonishment as he kept reading. When he finished reading the book fully, he gave a bitter smile as he sighed, ¡°The consciousness truly is a mysterious thing.¡± The book was exactly the one on the Soul Healing Arts he had read about before.


    Nalser remembered a section of Enn¡¯s Legacy that was on Souls. It was a theory on the Souls and the Sea of Consciousness. Summarized, the theory hypothesized that the Sea of Consciousness was actually not part of the same world as the body but it existed in another, special dimension. The Sea of Consciousness was linked to a person through the Soul, since the Soul of a person takes refuge at the Sea of Consciousness. It was also hypothesized that Memories are all stored in the Sea of Consciousness. However, no one had found a way to interact with their Sea of Consciousness like Nalser did. So Nalser decided to test out this theory. He closed his eyes again as he started visualizing another book.


    It was a book he had read through and through, a book on Qi Gathering Stages. When he opened his eyes again, the same book was in front of him. As he read it, it truly was a one on one copy of it. This proved Nalser¡¯s train of thought and as he started getting more and more absorbed in thinking about it, he suddenly snapped back. ¡°I have plenty of time to experiment with this later.¡± As he said to himself, he started focusing on comprehending the intricacies behind the Soul Healing Arts. As he sat there, time slowly passed. When he was done comprehending them, he opened his eyes with resolution. He extended his hands out again as he gently put his hands on the Soul¡¯s back. He closed his eyes and started following the method described in the book.


    Feeling a mysterious feeling well up inside as if answering the method, Nalser gently started channelling it through his hands into the back of the Soul. When he couldn¡¯t go on any more, he stopped. He opened his eyes and saw that the method was working. He was happy but he quickly calmed down and started resting. When he was fully rested, he started healing the Soul again. He continued with this cycle.


    ***


    In a modestly decorated room were 6 people. The room had a bed, a night stand and a desk with a chair but that was all. On the bed a young man was in a comatose state. This young man was Nalser and a week had passed since the incident. Currently, the effects of the Bloody Angel transformation had worn off and he looked like he used to. His body was wrapped in bandages as he laid there on his back. Surrounding him were Medic, Alchemist, Sweeper, Librarian and Dummy. Each and every one of them had a grim face on. Even though Mei had woken up, she was in an unresponsive state as she blankly stared out of her window. There had been a time Dummy had been so angry that he started yelling at Mei, demanding for answers however, Medic and Alchemist quickly intervened and threw Dummy out.


    Alchemist also had quite solid knowledge in Medical Arts so from the state of Mei¡¯s body he could also tell what had most likely happened. However, it was not something they could speak of so insensitively about. Sweeper looked towards Medic and he asked, ¡°How is his situation?¡± Medic could only helplessly shake her head as she said, ¡°Still in a comatose state. All the injuries point to a Soul Injury. We can use elixirs and medicines to accelerate his body healing but we have no way of healing his soul. It can only heal on his own, as for how long it will take...¡± As her words drifted off, everyone¡¯s face became even grimmer.


    They understood without Medic telling them. Soul Injuries were very hard to heal and in their Realm there didn¡¯t exist any elixirs to heal Soul Injuries. They had a few techniques that could do so but they had to be cast by the person himself. Since they didn¡¯t know that Nalser had found and Awakened his Soul already, they felt as though all hope was lost. Dummy gnashed his teeth as he asked, ¡°What the Hell happened there? That girl seems like a soulless puppet, Master is in a coma. The remains of that lizard bastard were also in such a gruesome state. Not to mention the state Master was in when he exited. It is all questions that can¡¯t be fucking answered. Also I would like to know, Where the Fucking Hell did that lizard bastard come from?¡± They were used to Dummy exploding like this but currently no one was reprimanding him.


    The questions he aasked were all they were extremely concerned about as well. After the incident, they tightened the spell formations on the Island, they even went as far as to close off all the portals in and outside. They also decided on a patrolling rotation. Two were guarding at the bridge while 4 were simultaneously patrolling around just in case. They hadn¡¯t even as much as found a crack where the Draconian could have slipped in from.


    The more they thought about the sudden appearance of the Draconian inside the Island without anyone knowing, it all pointed towards one thing but not a single one of them wanted to think about that possibility. Finally, Alchemist steeled his gut as he asked, ¡°Do you guys think that the Ancient Prince could have anything to do with it?¡± After saying so, silence ensued. No one refuted that because currently all evidence pointed towards him. After a moment of silence, Sweeper let out a sigh as he said, ¡°Although, I absolutely despise to say so, he truly is the only person who could have done this.¡± Everyone¡¯s expression turned grimmer and grimmer when finally Dummy said, ¡°Even though everything point to him, didn¡¯t he die in the Ancient War. The Previous Master said that he had struck him down himself.¡±


    Librarian just lightly sighed as he said, ¡°We have no proof he truly died. We only have the Previous Masters word for it.¡± Just as Dummy was about to say something, Sweeper cut in, ¡°We didn¡¯t see his corpse, neither did anyone else. No one even saw him and the Previous Master fight, much less strike him down. And also, he was his Father, I refuse to believe that he would have a heart cold enough to strike down his only son, the only one of his bloodline.¡± Hearing that Dummy closed his mouth.


    He couldn¡¯t not say anything because everything Sweeper had pointed out was the truth. Also the Ancient War erupted just because the Ancient Prince wanted to obtain the Ancient Kings Legacy but the Ancient King didn¡¯t want to give it to him. Since the Prince had grown up on this Island it is not too far fetched to say that he would have special method or two to enter here without anyone noticing. The only one who most likely could have noticed was the Master of the Island but since Nalser did not have Qi, he could only operate the portal doors. Nothing else.


    Also the room Mei cultivated in was the same room the Previous Master used. For an intruder to suddenly appear without anyone noticing and also appear inside the Previous Master¡¯s room, they could only connect all of this to one person. If it truly was so, then everything actually made sense. They everyone let out a sigh as they all reached the same conclusion. Librarian could only bitterly smile as he said, ¡°If it truly is that person, this is all because of the Legacy again. What I am more afraid of is what Master will do when he finds out about this.¡±


    All the other¡¯s could only bitterly smile to that as well. If Nalser found out about all this, he would probably be furious. Alchemist and Medic however were extremely frantic. Since they knew what happened to Mei, they were the most worried about what Nalser was going to do. With a glance at each other, they understood that the other was thinking the same thing. They could only bitterly smile to each other. This didn¡¯t escape Librarians eye as he asked in a cold tone, ¡°Just what is it that you two are hiding from the rest of us?¡± Seeing Librarians face Medic and Alchemist got shivers as the glanced at each other.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Finally, Medic let out a sigh as she said, ¡°Come I¡¯ll tell you but this isn¡¯t the place to talk about it.¡± With that she nodded towards Alchemist who stayed behind to guard Nalser. As Medic closed the door to the room after everyone had exited it, with a heavy heart, she told them everything. When they heard about it and Medic¡¯s thought that Nalser going berserk like that was directly connected that, they understood it. The most regretful face was on Dummy, who thinking back to his actions, wanted to dig a hole to hide in. Medic repeatedly warned them that this was not to leak outside. Only the 7 of them will ever know this, no one else is ever going to find about that. Every one of the three nodded gravely as they understood the weight of this secret. They all left to carry on with their own tasks as Medic took over the watch from Alchemist. She and Alchemist rotated their watches to look over Nalser.


    ***


    Inside the white space, Nalser just finished resting as he put his hands on the back of the soul again to heal it again. He had already lost count how many times he had repeated his cycle of heal¡úRest¡úHeal. All he knew was that it was working and that there were only a few cracks left on the Soul. For some reason, he had feeling that when his Soul was fully healed, he would finally be able to leave this damned white space. As he closed his eyes to concentrate, he started pouring that mysterious energy in the Soul again. Time passed and soon, Nalser took off his hands from the back of the Soul. He wasn¡¯t exhausted, he was finished. He regulated his breathing for a second before trying to connect with Soul.


    As he finally managed to connect with it, he opened his eyes. What greeted him was a stone ceiling. As he slowly turned to look around, he discovered Medic rushing to his side. As Medic rushed to his side, she did a complete examination of his body. His body had healed by 70%. Luckily there wasn¡¯t anything serious left and he would not have any hidden injuries either. Nalser didn¡¯t say anything through the entire process.


    When Medic had finished, he opened his mouth for the first time, ¡°Where is Mei?¡± Hearing this froze Medic for a second before she said that she was in the next room. She also said that she was completely healed from the external wounds but she had suffered a very deep psychological wound and that was something she had no way of healing. Nalser only said ¡°Ohh.¡± Before rising up and going to the next room. Medic could only watch his back as he left. She couldn¡¯t find any words to tell him. When Nalser had entered the room, Medic locked it, to prevent anyone else from intruding. When Nalser saw Mei just sitting there staring out of the window soullessly, he felt a pain stab in his heart. He took a chair and put it a meter away from the bed. As he sat down on the chair, he was quiet.


    This situation was exactly the same as the one they were in when they first met. Mei looked towards Nalser. This was the first time, she had responded to anything after the incident. Even if you jumped in front of her playing a drum, she would bat an eye. She looked towards Nalser and asked, ¡°Where is the lizard?¡± Nalser looked at her straight in the eye and said, ¡°He is dead. He died a very gruesome death.¡± Mei opened her mouth again, ¡°He did things to me.¡± As she said so, tears started falling from her eyes as she looked towards Nalser. A clump was caught in Nalser¡¯s throat as he hoarsely said, ¡°I know. And he paid an extreme price for that.¡± She started sniffling her nose, as she said, ¡°He was after you. He told me if I didn¡¯t bring you to him. He would break me.¡± Nalser couldn¡¯t hold it in any more and jumped on the bed, he held her tightly in his arms as he said, ¡°You can let it all out. I am here and will never leave your side again. I swear that you will never go through anything like that again.¡± As he said so the resolution his voice grew as determination appeared in his eyes.


    As Mei finally let everything out, she cried herself to sleep. As she started sleeping, she held Nalser¡¯s hand and would not let go of it no matter what. As Nalser sat there, Mei¡¯s head on his lap, he thought to himself, ¡°I do no give a shit who is behind all of this. I swear I will murder you in the most gruesome way possible.¡± As Nalser sat there, thinking over everything, the door opened and Medic¡¯s head peeked in. When she saw Nalser¡¯s gaze, she wanted to immediately pretend she never poked her head in here. However, before she could completely remove her head, she heard Nalser call, ¡°Medic.¡± Knowing that she was busted, she went in.


    When she saw the gaze that Nalser had, she started feeling heavy. Nalser just simply said, ¡°Tomorrow, I want every single one of you guys to gather at the Library at noon. Not a single one of you is allowed to be absent under any circumstances. Am I clear?¡± His words were filled with authority as he said so. This made Medic feel cold inside. She could only say, ¡°Yes Master.¡± With that, she quickly left to inform everyone of Nalser¡¯s order. Nalser looked gently at Mei before falling asleep himself.


    ***


    When he woke up, it was already 11 o¡¯clock. He gently picked up Mei and brought her along. Since she was still sleeping, Nalser wasn¡¯t going to leave her side. Halfway to the Library Mei woke up. Hearing Nalser describe the situation, she could only bury her head beneath the blanket that Nalser had left on her. When they finally reached the Library it was already half past 11. When Nalser entered he saw that everyone was already present and they all had a determined face on. Nalser went into a little room in the Library that seemed like a conference room.


    Everyone entered after him and when they had all found their seats, Nalser sat in the Master¡¯s seat. With a cold tone he asked, ¡°I believe all of you know why I have summoned every one of you guys here?¡± Everyone could only meekly nod to that. What Nalser said next baffled them, ¡°Then I would like to ask you guys, How did a Draconian, someone who doesn¡¯t even exist in our Realm, enter here without anyone knowing?¡± This was the first time they had heard the term Draconian. Librarian asked cautiously, ¡°What is a Draconian?¡±


    Nalser answered in a cold tone, ¡°A Draconian is a halfbreed between a Dragon and a human. Well, the original ones were but as their numbers grew they started breeding amongst themselves and developed into a separate race.¡± This made everything clear to everyone however everyone looked toward Nalser with a hint of suspiciousness in their eyes. They were all wondering how he knew this. Seeing this Nalser sighed as he narrated everything about Enn.


    He did so because he was tired of beating around the bush and coming out in the open with everything would make all the future situations also easier. When he had finished narrating everything that had happened, he let out a breath. He gave a bit of time to let it all sink in to them. After half an hour had passed Librarian finally sighed, ¡°This explains a lot. How you were able to survive the merging. The mysterious Qi that reformed your body. That Demonic appearance.¡± Nalser just nodded. Since no one had questions he continued on with their original subject.


    He asked, ¡°What are your thoughts on this matter?¡± Everyone looked at each other, not sure as to what to say, Sweeper opened his mouth, ¡°Me and a few others believe it was the work of the Ancient Prince. Now I am even more certain.¡± Nalser¡¯s interest was immediately piqued and Sweeper narrated everything they knew regarding the Ancient Prince to Nalser. After Sweeper had finished Nalser summarized it, ¡°So, The Ancient Prince is the only person who would have the ability to enter without anyone noticing. Also, during the Ancient War, by his side were mysterious experts that were from a race never heard of before in the Realm. However, if he can enter without anyone knowing, why hasn¡¯t he come here in person?¡± This question was also puzzling everyone.


    If he could enter why hadn¡¯t he entered to take over the Island yet. Finally Mei, who had been quietly sitting at the sidelines, opened her mouth to say, ¡°Maybe he and the Ancient King truly fought but in the end he had to use a special escape method to escape. Since the Ancient King wounded him, maybe he is still recuperating and he knows he can¡¯t take you all on by himself yet?¡± The room fell into silence again as everyone thought about that possibility. Dummy said after a long time of silence, ¡°It is very likely that it truly is the case here. The Previous Master had many mysterious techniques of unknown origin.¡± Finally everyone agreed that that was the most likely case.


    Nalser posed the next question without hesitation, ¡°If I wanted to fight against the Ancient Prince with the intent to kill him, would you guys stand behind my back?¡± Hearing this sentence, after a few seconds of silence, everyone simultaneously stood up and cupped their hands towards Nalser, ¡°We will follow you through Hell if need be.¡± Nalser had a slight smile on his face when he heard that. His cold demeanour disappeared as the friendly aura came back.


    He had been truly worried that they would not follow him to fight against their Previous Master¡¯s only son. However, seeing the determination in their eyes and hearing the resolution in their voice, he was reassured that they stood by his side. Nalser smiled as he said, ¡°Now then, I am not going to make a move before I pass the Empyrean Tribulation. Before that I want to know exactly where that guy is, how many people he has and how many of those fence sitters are going to stand behind me on this one. Also, I want the formations on the Island tripled, I do not want to say more beings, alive or dead, walking around when they shouldn¡¯t even be here.¡± As Nalser finished giving his order, everyone said in unison, ¡°Yes Master!¡±


    As everyone said so, they immediately started dividing labour. Everyone who knew anything about formation was put on formation detail. They divided the rest, who went to which Remnant, then who went to which World to collect information and so on. Seeing everyone so busily prepare made Nalser feel happy. He could feel that they had genuine drive to do it and they didn¡¯t reluctantly do it because they were scared or ordered to do so. Some even took the initiative to suggest new ideas to better formulate a plan of action and so on.


    Since Nalser currently didn¡¯t have the necessary cultivation base to help, he could only leave them to carry on while he carried Mei out. Although it seemed like Mei had cried everything out of her system, Nalser could tell that something was still wrong. Nalser brought her to the edge of the island and sat down there again. When he asked what was wrong, he got an extremely surprising answer. Mei asked him, ¡°Why do you bother with me? Why not throw someone as dirty as me away?¡± Nalser looked toward Mei with a shocked expression.


    He just sighed as he pulled her into his embrace again, ¡°I don¡¯t care. You are mine. The reason why you got hut like that was because of me. If I cast you aside now just because of that, I would be no different from a trash.¡± Nalser looked towards the horizon as he said, ¡°You promised to follow me through Hell if need be...¡± He didn¡¯t finish the sentence out loud as he thought it to himself, ¡°but I have to carve a bloody path through Hell first.¡±

 Chapter 24: The shadows grow deeper

    In the next following days, Nalser didn¡¯t let Mei out of his sight. Since everyone were currently busy with their own tasks, there was no one to grin at them. Four days after Nalser had given the orders Mei wanted to go meet her family. In the beginning, Nalser wanted to follow but he quickly decided against it. At the bridge, where all the portals were converged at, there were Nalser and Mei. Nalser said, ¡°Take all the time you need there, if something happens, immediately let me know.¡±


    Mei let out a weak smile as she said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You have fortified this place very thoroughly. Sweeper and the rest also combed the whole Starry World inch by inch and there was no one unexpected there. I will be back in a week or two, maybe longer but I will visit at some times.¡± As she said so, she directed her Qi into the formation and went to the Starry World. Although they were all connected, you could go everywhere from the Starry Island, it didn¡¯t work the other way around. Only people with permission could enter the Starry Island.


    Nalser saw the pain flash from Mei¡¯s eyes as she said so, he understood the reason she is going to visit her family. She most likely wanted to visit her mother the most. When Mei had left, Nalser¡¯s eyes turned serious. Everyone, who had left the Island, had returned with their preliminary reports. Turning his back towards the teleporting formation, he went to the Library.


    When he arrived at the conference room, he was greeted by a grim atmosphere. He sat down at the Master¡¯s seat and said, ¡°Now then, lets begin. First we will hear about the formations.¡± Artificer stood up as he cleared his throat, ¡°We have done a complete overhaul of the previous formations. We have found what seems to be the crack that the Draconian entered from before. We have closed this breach and laying down the other formations is currently 60% completed. We need a few more days before we can finish laying down all the formations.¡± Nalser nodded, this was already a lot faster than expected. As he signalled for the Artificer to sit down, he asked from Sweeper what the situation with the other Remnants was.


    Sweeper grimly stood up, ¡°Only the Four Generals that followed the Ancient King gave an immediate reply of following Master. Other¡¯s hesitated and asked for time to think about it when they heard that Master will be going up against the Ancient Prince.¡± Nalser let out a sigh as he signalled for Sweeper to sit down. ¡°So, most of the Remnants are hesitating because of the Ancient Prince.¡± Sweeper nodded as he said, ¡°However, they did not seemed surprised about the Ancient Prince being alive. It seems that the Ancient Prince has already reached out to them before.¡± N


    alser just sighed again before he asked, ¡°You said that the Ancient King didn¡¯t give him his Legacy for some reason. Did he say why?¡± Everyone thought for a moment trying to remember. Suddenly, Librarian said, ¡°I remember him saying once that there are some invisible strings tied to him. I have not understood it even till now. The Ancient Kings decision not to pass on his Legacy to him came as quite an abrupt surprise actually. The Ancient Prince had talent not seen before, his foundations were solid and his comprehending speed was fast as well.¡±


    This made Nalser frown even more as he moved on for now. As he asked about the report about the powers that are most likely to follow the Prince, the answer was even more depressing. Nearly half of the major powers have had a change of hands in the last century. They all followed the same scenario: A Branch family meets a mysterious expert who helps them overthrow the Main family. If it happened once or twice it wouldn¡¯t arise suspicion but to have the identical thing happen to nearly half the major powers within the span of a century made it extremely suspicious.


    Finally, Nalser let out a sigh as he asked, ¡°Okey, moving back to the Four Generals, how many people would be joining our forces then?¡± Sweeper thought for a second before answering, ¡°The four Generals are all middle stage Empyrean Emperors. Other than that, they have no more Emperors but as a subtotal I would say, around 1000 Kings, 3000 Princes and 10 000 Immortals. They have a double that amount each under the Tribulation stage.¡± Nalser was baffled by the numbers as he asked in shock, ¡°With an army like that, how in the Seven Hells did the Ancient King lose the war?¡± This was truly something that puzzled him. Sweeper just smiled weakly as he said, ¡°We lost due to numbers. The Modern Path was something that the Ancient Prince invented to raise an army. Although their strength is not on par with people in the same stage at the Ancient Path, their training speed is faster by several fold. Even with minimal resources, a person can train to the Core Formation stage with 20 years if his talent is not half bad.¡± Nalser was quiet for a second as he kept listening.


    Finally, Sweeper got to the point, ¡°The amount of people the Ancient Prince had outnumbered us a 1000 to 1. No matter how valiantly our people fought, they just couldn¡¯t fight the sheer numbers.¡± Nalser¡¯s brow kept frowning as he kept thinking of something. He asked, ¡°Did the Ancient Prince establish the Modern Path before or after the Ancient King refused to pass on his Legacy to him?¡± Librarian said, ¡°After. The Ancient King and the Prince had a huge argument about that but as a result the Prince disappeared for 500 years and when he came back, he had already established the Modern Path and his numbers were also on par with ours. He carved out a little piece of territory for himself where he continued to spread the methods and a 1000 years later the Ancient War erupted.¡± Hearing this far, Nalser just let out a sigh as he said, ¡°So it truly is like this.¡±


    This statement puzzled everyone but Nalser didn¡¯t pay it any heed s he asked Artificer, ¡°Is this room completely and absolutely safe from being spied on?¡± Artificer thought for a moment before resolutely nodding. Nalser nodded as well as he said, ¡°Now then, what I am about to say next is only a Theory but it is the most likely one.¡± Everyone sharpened up as they listened. Seeing this Nalser started explaining, ¡°My Theory is that an already Ascended power stands behind the Ancient Prince.¡± As Nalser dropped the bombshell on everyone he took a breath.


    Before anyone could ask anything, he continued, ¡°My reasoning behind this hypothesis is that it is the only thing that would explain everything. The Ancient King suddenly refusing to pass down his Legacy to him. He creating a completely new cultivation path from scratch in merely 500 years. The mysterious experts of unknown origin by his side, who shouldn¡¯t even exist in this Realm.¡± As Nalser let it all sink in to them, he could see various expressions on everyone¡¯s faces.


    His words made sense and were extremely logical, however it had a huge But. Librarian said, ¡°But didn¡¯t Master say that a Realm that doesn¡¯t have an Ascended person yet, is protected by the Laws of Heaven to not let other Ascended powers to take over the Realm and even if they helped the Ancient Prince, what would they gain out of it?¡± Nalser nodded his head, the things Librarian said were exactly the things he was about to explain next.


    He said, ¡°As I said before it is general knowledge that an Ascended Realm can¡¯t meddle with a Realm that has not Ascended. However, what if someone found a way to bypass the Laws? What I mean is, what if someone, either through hard work or accident, found a technique or a method to craft an Artefact that can bypass the Laws. If you think at it from an objective point of view, you will find that it is not that ridiculous.¡± As he said so, he finished his part for now. Everyone in the room quietly thought of this possibility. As Nalser said, it wasn¡¯t too far fetched and it would also explain everything.


    Librarian asked again, ¡°If it truly is the case what would they gain out of it?¡± Nalser answered him with a serious face, ¡°As there are Dimensional Wars to fight for the control over a Cosmos, the same applies to Realms. However, the Realm War¡¯s can only happen between Ascended Powers. However, if we put the method of bypassing the Laws into the formula as well, the answer is obvious. They take over the Realm by putting a puppet as the Ascended. When that person finally Ascend, the Realm will issue a Realm War Challenge and the puppet accepts. He will put on a pretty show of a little resistance and then surrendering.¡± Saying like this, everyone understood.


    The method was the same as the one the Ancient Prince was currently using. Everyone¡¯s expressions turned grim as they thought about this. Finally Librarian asked, ¡°So what are we going to do from now on?¡± Unlike before, Nalser didn¡¯t answer immediately. This situation had now actually left the boundaries of their Realm. If there truly was a method to bypass the Laws and interfere with a not Ascended Realm, then this meant that even if Nalser won this little war against the Ancient Prince, he would need to also fight against the Realm that backs the Ancient Prince.


    After fighting against the Prince he had no confidence in having a strong enough army in the Realm to take on an already Ascended Realm that was pissed off at him for messing up their plans. He also probably wouldn¡¯t have enough resources to decline the Challenge. So for this thing, he had to approach it with extreme caution and he couldn¡¯t make any impulsive moves. After a while of silence, Nalser opened up his mouth and also explained his final thoughts to the rest. They all agreed with Nalser¡¯s way of thinking.


    They most probably wouldn¡¯t be able to take on the Ascended Realm right after finishing the fight with the Ancient Prince. If you looked at the current situation it was obvious. The total number of Ancient Experts didn¡¯t even reach one tenth of the number there were before the Ancient War. The same went for the Modern Experts, even more so because the Modern Realm was fragmented and not united. This thing needed to be handled with care so for now they decided on taking the Four Generals in.


    Even though Nalser was the Master and his word was final, he listened to the others. If everyone else were completely against something, then he wouldn¡¯t push it. As the meeting ended, everyone left to carry on their tasks. However, only one person went to deal with the Ancient Remnants. It was the Sweeper, who would open a pathway to the Starry Island to bring them all here. As for the rest of the Remnants, Nalser didn¡¯t bother with them any more. Since they already faltered once, he lost his trust in them.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    The ones who were supposed to gather the information on the Princes subordinates, were all also recalled. Nalser had learned all he needed to know about that and it was no use in sending them out any more. However, he did not forget to praise all of them for gathering so much information in such a short period of time on such short notice. As everyone left, Nalser was the only one left in the conference room. He let out a sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose between his eyes. This had all escalated into the worst case scenario he had thought of. As he sat there, he started thinking on what his options were.


    Since he currently did not have the power to fight, he could only wait. But he was not going to sit around dwidling his thumbs but he would need to start laying down the ground work in preparation to making his moves. As Nalser was pondering on his various options, he suddenly felt his mind growing hazy. He was alarmed but before he could call anyone, he felt his consciousness being ripped out from his body. As he came back to his senses, he was standing inside a huge grandiose conference Hall.


    As he looked around, he couldn¡¯t help but let out a whistle as he looked at the luxurious surroundings. His sightseeing was interrupted by an amused voice, ¡°This truly is impressive, for you to remain so calm even though you were brought here so abruptly. You truly are the successor of Nalser.¡± As he looked towards the voice his face stayed the same. The man was using the Universal Cosmos Language. As he sized the man up, he was a bit surprised about the aura he was excluding. The man had long grey hair and along with a long white beard. His face was full of wrinkles and his body was very scrawny. Although he wore a long golden robe, his bony hands made him look him like a person who even a stronger gust of win could win against. The man was sitting at head of the table and on his right hand sat a young man in beggar clothes. The young man had refined features and his long black hair was loose. His aura was as sharp as a sword.


    When Nalser had finished his inspection he answered with a smile, ¡°Well, a lot of unusual things have happened to me lately. I have grown used to these kinds of things.¡± As he shrugged his shoulders saying so in the Universal Language, the old man was surprised but on the face of the young man was a hint of smile. The old man just let out a hollow laugh as he pointed to the seat to the left of him, ¡°Take a seat and I will explain why I forcibly brought you here like this.¡± Nalser nodded his head and slowly walked to the seat. As he sat down on the left of the old man, facing the young man, the old man opened his mouth, ¡°I used this Artefact ¡°Dream World¡± to summon your consciousness here to talk to you about what is going on in your Realm.¡±


    Nalser stayed quiet because he had figured as much. He had never seen the two so their timing suggested that it had something to do with all the unexpected problems in his Realm. Actually, this Artefact proved one thing to Nalser. It was possible to bypass the Laws with certain abilities some Artefacts had. As he sat there listening, the old man continued, ¡°First of all, I would like to say that you are right in your hypothesis. There is truly an Ascended Realm backing your Prince.¡± As the old man ended his sentence, he let out a sigh before continuing, ¡°However, we do not have the methods necessary to do the same and send help to you. The Power that is orchestrating all of this, is extremely strong and both their origin as well as their total numbers and location are a complete mystery.¡± Listening thus far, Nalser¡¯s face turned more serious. It was exactly like had feared and from what the old man said, they can¡¯t help him.


    Nalser just interjected, ¡°Okey, lets cut to the chase. I don¡¯t believe you brought me here just to tell me how bad my situation is and how you can¡¯t help me.¡± The old man looked astonished for a moment before laughing merrily, ¡°Even though we can¡¯t help you fight the Prince, we can help you by not letting him get more reinforcements. Also, we will help you pay the rejection fee when you win your war and Ascend.¡± Nalser was genuinely surprised by the old man¡¯s statement. He asked with suspicion, ¡°Why are you helping me? I guess that you are not from a usual power. Why are you going out of you way to intervene like this?¡±


    The old man laughed a bit. It was the first time in Eons that someone dared to talk to him like an equal. The last person who dared to do so was the Black Flame Angel. The smile on the young man¡¯s face grew broader. This was a very familiar situation to him. The old man said, ¡°Well, I am helping you for two reasons:


    1. The Cosmos is my domain and to have someone sneakily turning it upside down like this is something that pisses me off.


    2. Our Cosmos owes too much to Nalser. Since he made you his successor and passed off his Legacy to you, he also passed on our debt.¡±


    Now Nalser was puzzled as he asked, ¡°Who is this ¡°Nalser¡± you speak of?¡± The two looked at him in astonishment as the young man chuckled, ¡°So he didn¡¯t tell you his name. The entity, that was inside you that helped you merge your Special Bodies, had the birth name Nura Nalser. However, travelling around he used the name Nalser vi Dragoncross.¡± As the young man opened his mouth for the first time, Nalser was astonished. Enn had never told him those names.


    Now thinking back to everything that Enn had said had happened to him, he thought to himself, ¡°The name Enn Tuul may be the one he grew up with. I understand where the name Nura Nalser comes from but Nalser vi Dragoncross?¡± As he was slowly thinking, the two others were quiet. They had a lot of time, so they were not in a hurry. After thinking about it for a while, he gave up after he couldn¡¯t figure out where the name came from. He then turned to the old man and asked, ¡°What do you want in return for helping me out?¡± The old man let out a smile as he said, ¡°What I want is you to stand on my side since there is going to be a big storm in the Cosmos soon. There is a little more than a million years left until the next Dimensional War. If my guess is right, then the mysterious power will start making his moves to take over the cosmos in the next few millennia.¡±


    As Nalser heard that, he slowly nodded his head as he said, ¡°So you want me to stand on your side during this war. However, what makes you think I will be able to win the war in my Realm and achieve Ascension within a Millennia. No matter, how fast I could cultivate, to reach that stage within a millennia is a bit too optimistic, no?¡± The old man let out a hearty laugh hearing that rebuttal from Nalser.


    The young man said, ¡°You have the strongest Fire Type Body. You have the strongest Fire Type Cultivation Art. Your body is extremely sturdy, although the perfection has regressed as the body¡¯s maximum tempering limit was raised by the merging of your Special Bodies. You have already completely perfected the Hidden Meridians Hidden Palaces and awakened you Soul. Your soul is extremely strong since it merged with a fragment of Nalser¡¯s soul. Although you currently do not have any Cultivation, your starting line is different from others.¡±


    As he said this far, he took a breath before saying the conclusion, ¡°If we say that mediocre people start climbing at he base of the mountain, geniuses will be at about half way and you are one step away from the top. Do you understand what I mean?¡± After having it explained to him like that, Nalser didn¡¯t know whether to be happy or sad.


    However, the young man didn¡¯t let Nalser say anything as he coldly added to the long list, ¡°And to top it all off, you have already gained an Insight to a Heavenly Law. You have comprehended an innate technique from it as well. The moment you start cultivating, it won¡¯t probably take you even half a century to reach the Tribulation.¡± Now Nalser wanted to say something but before he could, the old man cut him by continuing, ¡°On the same topic, Nalser had reached a level of strength that was not inferior to mine. His soul remembers the path he took to reach there, when your souls fused, this knowledge became yours. Your Soul ¡°remembers¡± the road and will now take the most optimal one instinctively. Not to ment-¡±


    Nalser cut him off with a wave of his hand as he said, ¡°Okey!Okey!Okey! I understand, my foundation is extremely solid. My progress rate will be extremely fast.¡± The two looked at each other for a second before the old man sighed, ¡°It will not be just ¡°extremely fast¡±, it will be monstrously fast. Also, the foundation you have is not just solid, it is completely unheard of solid.¡± Hearing this Nalser let out a hollow laugh as he couldn¡¯t find a way to refute them any more.


    Diverting the subject Nalser asked, ¡°Hey, do you know from which Realm the Draconian came from?¡± The young man had a strange face on before sighing again, ¡°I do not and I know what happened. I seriously considered breaking Laws of the Heavens to intervene then but I hesitated. I offer you my sincerest apologies for this.¡± As he said so, he bowed his head. His forehead hit the table and Nalser was baffled by his honesty.


    However, he could not blame him. The punishment for breaking the Laws like that was having his soul shattered by lighting. It was not a simple Tribulation type where a certain number of them hit the person but the lighting wouldn¡¯t stop before the soul was shattered. If he had intervened he would have died 100%. The old man looked at the two in surprise, he didn¡¯t know what had happened, but it seems like it was something very major so he said, ¡°Draconians have an innate desire of possession and they are also extremely lustful. I do not know what the Draconian did but seeing my son bowing his head in apology like that, I can only do the same.¡±


    As the old man also bowed his head, Nalser was completely stupefied. As silence consumed the hall, Nalser came back to his senses and quickly asked the two to raise their heads. From what the old man had said, he could understand that these two were most likely from the Immortal Emperors lineage. He did not know that he was currently talking to the Immortal Emperor himself.


    The young man raised his head and said, ¡°The reason the incident happened was mainly attributed to four things:


    1. The room she used was the room the Master of the Island used, so he was waiting for you.


    2. The Draconians are innately lustful and they have a strong desire to possess beautiful things.


    3. She has the Heavenly Water Embryo Body, something that ignites the lust in Water Draconians.


    4. She currently practises the Water Fairy Art. It makes a person look as beautiful as a Fairy and also gives them the same aura.¡± Speaking thus far, he suddenly had a clump in his throat as he finished, ¡°Even if he had seen her in the middle of the Island admits everyone else, he would have been taken over by his lust any ways and he would have madly dashed to do the deed.¡±


    When Nalser heard this, his face was crestfallen. He suddenly remembered that Mei said that the Draconian was after him. He had told her to bring him to her. That meant that the Draconian could contain his lust enough not to forget his goal, Mei could have been saved from all that if he hadn¡¯t been so weak. This realization made him cast his head down.

 Chapter 25: Trade

    As Nalser was mulling there over his powerlessness, he suddenly thought of something as he asked, ¡°Is it possible to pass on techniques in this Dream World?¡± The old man was surprised for a second before his eyes narrows as he asked, ¡°You want us to give you some techniques?¡± Hearing this Nalser shook his head with a smile as he said, ¡°Not give but trade.¡± This surprised the two, as the old man asked, ¡°What kind of a trade?¡± Nalser¡¯s smile turned a bit sinister as he thought to himself, ¡°Hook. Line. Sinker.¡±


    He tried to hide his thoughts as good as he could as he said, ¡°Black Flame Angel passed quite an interesting technique on to me. It won¡¯t be of any use to you but it would be very useful for your future generations that have just started cultivating.¡± This piqued the interest of the old man and the young man. They exchanged a glance before the young man asked, ¡°What do you want in return to that technique?¡± Nalser answered, ¡°I want Battle Formations, the ones that can be used by Empyrean Emperors at the helm. Also I have some other techniques you might be interested in to trade for other techniques on Formations.¡±


    The two thought for a moment, they understood why Nalser might want the Battle Formations but other Formation techniques left them puzzled. Finally the old man said, ¡°I understand the Battle Formations but why do you need other Formation techniques as well?¡± Nalser¡¯s face turned serious as he said, ¡°The Battle Formations are for my army to use but the other Formations are to fortify my Starry Island. That place is like my domain, my home. All my actions are discussed and directed from there. I need more formations to fortify it so other¡¯s would not be able to enter or spy on me there.¡± Nalser didn¡¯t need to continue explaining because he saw that the two understood what he meant. All of his actions were discussed and executed from the Starry Island. Just like they could keep an eye on him, the opposite side will be also able to do so. However, if he fortified it enough so that other Ascended Powers would not be able to spy inside, the chance of his plans leaking out prematurely would decrease drastically.


    Thinking so deeply about it all made the two astonished. Since they had done so to their Realm, why couldn¡¯t he do so for his own Dimension. His cunningness and meticulous thinking left them a bit baffled. They could both be considered old fogies but the person they were talking to was currently 15 years old. There had been several times when they had forgotten about that fact during their conversation. Even now, they just remembered that they were dealing with a 15 year old but for some reason they felt as though they were talking with someone who was at least as old as the young man. The old man thought for a second before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s do it like this, you first explain that technique you want to trade with and then we will discuss if we have a use for it. If we do, then we will discuss for how many Formation scrolls, how profound and the general type. As for the Battle Formation, consider it a freebie from me.¡± As the old man finished talking, Nalser¡¯s grin turned more and more sinister.


    He started explaining the Birthing Seed technique to them. The more the two listened, the more focused they became. When Nalser finished his explanation, the two fell into deep thought. From their changing expressions, Nalser guessed that the two were currently conversing mentally over the possibilities of the technique. However, Nalser had left a few important details out for now because it wouldn¡¯t do any good to reveal all of his cards all at once. After what seemed like an eternity to Nalser, the two finished their discussion. The old man looked towards Nalser and said, ¡°We are willing to trade for that technique. I will give you 10 of our highest grade scrolls on each of the three categories: 1. Formations to improve the Qi Quality within the formation 2. Defensive Formation that are on par with my Royal Capital¡¯s 3. Special Formations that can be added on both Artefacts as to surroundings to either create formation traps or formations to temper people. Also I will add 4 more Battle Formations. Two, that are on par with the one I initially decided on giving you and 2 that are more profound and require more Emperor level people.¡±


    Nalser nodded as he agreed to this. He had already made a huge fortune in terms of this trade. They both swore an oath to the Laws of the Heavens and the old man extracted a ball of light from his forehead. You could see information swirling around inside. Just as he was about to hand it to Nalser, Nalser gestured for him to stop with his hand. This puzzled the two and the old man asked with a frown, ¡°Are you trying to back away from the deal? I remind you that it was you who suggested it.¡± Nalser was a bit shocked by the cold words before he put on a business like smile again as he said, ¡°No, not that. I just find it unfair that you are willing to hand it over before asking me for the method.¡±


    The old man just smiled embarrassedly, he realized that he had been too eager with this and had prematurely tried to give him the information. He understood, why Nalser stopped him now, when Nalser said, ¡°I can not do that light ball thingy, neither can I pass on techniques mentally. However, this technique is quite straightforward. All you need is the Formation Diagram and you need to know a few intricacies. If you can give me paper and ink, I can draw you the formation and also add the way of activating the formation.¡± The old man nodded to it, he understood that Nalser didn¡¯t try to rip them off but rather he was in a peculiar situation in where he could neither create a Memory Orb or Imprint the information on. So the only thing they could do was use the most primitive method and do it all by hand.


    The old man waved his free hand and a yellowish paper alongside an ink pot with golden ink appeared next to him. There was also an old ink quill. As he eyed the things that appeared out of nowhere, the old man explained, ¡°The paper is called a Dharma paper and the ink is called the Dharmic Ink. If you write the information on the Dharma paper with Dharmic Ink, I can absorb the information and engrave it to my soul like using a Memory Orb or direct Imprinting. It is the same outcome just a different method.¡± When the old man said the last sentence, Nalser let out a ¡°Ohh.¡± before he picked up the quill and started drawing the formation down, while also adding a lot of key information, like how to activate the formation, what materials to use and so on.


    He even added the maximum limit of the different materials. When he was all done, he carefully looked it through just in case. He wanted to make sure he didn¡¯t leave out anything important. When he was, he nodded to himself and passed on the paper to the old man. The old man quickly glanced through it before nodding his head towards Nalser and handing him the Memory Orb. As he looked at the Memory Orb closely, he thought to himself, ¡°So the ball of light thingy is called a Memory Orb, huh?¡± Just as he was observing the Memory Orb, the old man gave him a quick rundown on how to absorb the Memory Orb. After hearing the quite straightforward explanation, he closed his eyes and brought the orb closer to his forehead.


    The orb was only the size of a fist, so when it made contact with Nalser¡¯s forehead, it started sinking in. When it had completely sunk in, all sorts of different formation diagrams, all categorized and sorted, started to enter his head. As he closed his eyes, he quickly skimmed through the information he was given and he couldn¡¯t help but be astonished. The most complex formation diagrams he had seen in the Library were like a child¡¯s puzzle compared to these ones. Seeing Nalser absorb the orb, the old man absorbed, the paper. As he looked through the information, he produced another orb and passed it onto the young man.


    The young man expertly absorbed the orb as well and also closed his eyes to look through it. An awkward scene played out, three people with varied expressions we currently sitting there, eyes closed, in silence. When they all finally opened their eyes, there was a grin on everyone¡¯s faces. They had all benefited a lot from this trade. The old man and young man had gotten a very precious technique that can be used to strengthen their descendants several fold, while Nalser had obtained a lot of formations he desperately needed. Suddenly Nalser realized something, he had no idea what their names were.


    He put on an awkward face as he said in weird tone, ¡°This might sound odd but I do not believe that I have heard the two seniors name.¡± Hearing this statement brought a blank look on the duo¡¯s face. The started thinking back and suddenly realized that they had not even introduced themselves. Suddenly, the old man let out a hearty laugh as he said, ¡°What does it matter what our names are, you can call me Grandpa and him Uncle. From this moment onwards I will call you Lil¡¯Nalsu and you will call us Grandpa and Uncle, okay?¡±


    This statement completely blanked out both Nalser¡¯s and the young man¡¯s mind. Before Nalser could react, the young man also let out a laugh as he said, ¡°That¡¯s right you can call him Grandpa and me Uncle. We will call you Lil¡¯Nalsu.¡± Hearing that Nalser really did not know whether to laugh or cry. He just asked for their names but suddenly he felt like he had accidentally become a part of their family, with all the Grandpa and Uncle thing. As he thought to himself, there were signs of the internal struggle written all over his face.


    The old man just let out a chuckle and said in a warm tone, ¡°You don¡¯t need to call us so immediately. I heard about your past from my son. Even though we are not related by blood, I have taken quite a liking to you and am willing to adopt you into my family as a grandchild.¡± The young man looked at the old man in complete shock. His jaw nearly hit the floor as his mind blanked. He knew what his father was like to even the people from his own bloodline. He was usually an Emperor, he had to keep a cold and just heart, no matter if he was dealing with a stranger or his descendant.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Only he, his mother and a few select others knew of his soft side. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that he would be willing to adopt him into his family like this. He wasn¡¯t the only one who¡¯s mind was spinning. Nalser didn¡¯t have a clue on how to make heads or tails of this situation. He knew he could be a bit unpredictable with his sudden changes of mind but something on this level, he had never even heard of anything like this. Although he could see the warmness in the other¡¯s gaze, it almost seemed like it wasn¡¯t directed at him but something else. Feeling puzzled, he could only sit there stupidly.


    As he did not know what to answer, the old man said, ¡°Think over it for a month. In one month, I will summon you here again to give you some information to help you in your war. For now, if you have no other questions, I will send you out from here now.¡± Nalser could only just nod. He honestly had no idea what else to do. The old man¡¯s eyes flickered for a moment before he said, ¡°Also, although I said I would adopt you into my family, I don¡¯t mean it in a way that you will be forced to live in my domain and do what I want you to do but more like you can go around doing your own things but when we meet we will be like Grandfather and Grandson. So think about it carefully.¡± As he finished saying that, he waved his hand and Nalser felt dizziness taking over him again as his body slowly turned corporeal before completely disappearing.


    When only the two of them were left in the giant conference room, the young man finally snapped out of his thoughts and asked with a weird face, ¡°Father, may I ask-¡± He was cut short by the old man¡¯s wave of hand. The old man let out a sigh as he said, ¡°You want to know, why I suddenly decided to adopt him?¡± The young man meekly nodded. The old man stood up and walked a bit further and looked up as he started narrating, ¡°When I first became a Cultivator, I had a friend by my side, he was named Xin Fang. He was born with crippled meridians but he was very determined lad. I took him as a servant to make his life easier. Although I had no brothers or sisters, he was like a genuine brother to me. Although I am called the First in Existence, it doesn¡¯t mean that I was the first person in existence but rather, I was the first to Ascend. That brother of mine had crippled meridians, so he was destined not to be able to cultivate. However, since I took him as a servant, although I wanted to make his life easier, I actually ended it prematurely.¡±


    The young man could see the sadness inside his fathers eyes. Honestly saying, he was baffled. This was the first time he had heard about his Father having a friend so close, he would call him a brother. The young man stayed silent as the old man continued his story, ¡°It happened when I was still in the Core Formation stage. During a mission for my sect, I got careless from my arrogance and charged in to a bandits hideout without completely checking it out before. The enemies also had a Core Formation Expert as their leader and he specialized in assassination. As I was haughtily killing everyone and didn¡¯t notice the Core Formation Expert pointing a poisoned arrow at me from the shadows.¡±


    Speaking this far, a tear appeared at the old man¡¯s eye as he remembered the night he lost the only person he could call a brother. The young man did not know what to say but as he was about to open his mouth to say something, the old man continued, ¡°Even though I had discarded his advise for first checking out the bandits nest, he still followed me in. He was also the person who saved my life back then. As he jumped in front of the arrow that was meant for me, he lost his life. It was after losing him only solely due to my arrogance, did I realize that I had thought too highly of myself. It was after that that I developed my cautious personality and you could say that solely due to a promise I made to the dying him, I have come this far.¡±


    The young man finally asked, ¡°And that person is-¡± The old man turned to look towards him with a serious look. He said, ¡°Yes, it is that boy Nalser. I promised to the dying Fang that I will search through the entire Realm for his reincarnated self and I would adopt him into my family. After that incident, I started cultivating like mad to reach a high enough level to go roam around the Realm to fulfill my promise to him. However, after combing through our entire Celestial Realm, I still couldn¡¯t find his reincarnated soul. Then Ascension came and I learned of the other Realms, it was at that moment that I realized that the cycle of reincarnation was the one and the same for the entire Cosmos and finding him would be nigh impossible. I had already given up on it a long time ago but when I saw that boy today, I felt that he was the soul I have been searching for countless years. I can finally fulfill my final promise to my Brother.¡±


    As the old man said so, there was happiness hidden within his eyes. The young man could only give a smile to this. He understood why his father had acted so uncharacteristic and done something so impulsive. However, he could not find any words to blame him, if the situations were reversed, he would do the same. The young man stood up resolutely as he said with a hint of smile, ¡°Now the, I will have to get back work. I wouldn¡¯t want to fail my future nephew now would I?¡± As the old man heard that, he smiled as well as he swept out with his arm. The young man also disappeared from the Dream World.


    The old man stood there for a second alone before taking out a crude necklace out from his robes. As he looked at the necklace that consisted of only two things, a handwoven leather strap part and fang of a tiger, the old man let out a warm smile as he mumbled, ¡°I can finally fulfill my promise to you brother Fang.¡±


    ***


    In an ancient black castle, outside the throne room stood the youth dressed in red robes. He currently had an extremely frightened face on and he seemed to be hesitating on whether or not to enter. Finally, he gathered his courage as he opened the throne rooms door and entered. The throne room was completely trashed, there wasn¡¯t even a hint of the elegance or luxury it used to have. On the throne sat a figure.


    On its face was annoyance as all his clothes were in tatters and his hair was dishevelled. All¡¯n¡¯all the figure seemed to be in a sorry state as there were traces of blood still apparent on his knuckles. The figure glanced at the youth and asked in a hoarse voice, ¡°What is it?¡± The youth shuddered from the coldness of the voice before saying respectfully, ¡°It seems as though the Starry Island is on the move. They contacted the Remnants to see how many were willing to follow them. As of now only the Four Generals have followed him.¡±


    The figure looked at him in annoyance as he said, ¡°Those four old foggies naturally followed him. There is no need to tell our spies to try and join him. He most likely won¡¯t trust them again because of their momentary hesitation. However, keep an eye on all of their movements, no matter if big or small. There is a truly strong expert hidden on the Island. Otherwise, the fucking lizard would not have died without having even been able to send out a message.¡± The Prince¡¯s train of thought was actually correct.


    The Draconian was a mid stage Empyrean Emperor, who could successfully escape from a Peak Stage one. To have died without as much as sending out a message, it just showed that he met an extremely strong expert who did not give him the chance to send out a message. However, if he knew that his lustful nature and his big arrogant mouth had awakened a true Death God, then probably the Prince would have already died from anger. As the youth in red respectfully acknowledged the order, he tactfully left.


    The Princd suddenly felt his chest heat up as a transmission entered his mind. The Prince¡¯s face paled as he heard the transmission, he immediately thought to himself, ¡°Who the fucking Hell is on that Island?¡± Fear crept into his heart as he thought about the transmission. It said that The Celestial Realm has completely surrounded their ¡°Myriad Worlds Realm¡±, his teacher won¡¯t be able to help him any more in terms of reinforcements. He had to accomplish the task issued to him on with the resources he currently has as they would not be able to give them any more assistance.


    ***


    Inside the conference room on Starry Island, Nalser woke up. He put on a very amusing face, half of his face was pondering, while the other side seemed to be smiling. After having that face for a few minutes, he suddenly grabbed his head with both his hands as he yelled, ¡°WHAT THE FUCKING HELL IS GOING ON THIS TIME?¡± He tried to think of the motive behind the old man¡¯s offer.


    However, after thinking about it over and over again, he just couldn¡¯t find a motive. He could just blankly push it to the back of his mind for now. He decided to ask Mei for her opinion on this when he saw her. However, for now he decided to comprehend the information he acquired through the trade. First of all, he decided to thoroughly read about the Battle Formations. They were very abstract formations that required people as the formation bases. Each formation had their weaknesses and strengths but generally the overall strength of the formation depended on the person leading the formation and the people acting as formation bases.


    The stronger they were, the stronger the formation. Also the profoundness of the formation played a huge role. If two groups had exactly the same level of strength, the lower levelled formation would lose to the more profound one. Nalser didn¡¯t know whether to laugh or cry when read about the effects of the formations. They turned the caster¡¯s into a Primordial Dragon, Phoenix and a White Tiger. As he thought about the four camps he had, he couldn¡¯t find a formation more suitable for them. When he finished comprehending all those formations, he rubbed the bridge of his nose.


    As he let out a sigh, he mumbled, ¡°This is truly difficult. I need to start cultivating asap so that I can imprint all that knowledge onto a jade slip, so I can pass it onto the camps. The sooner they start practising the better.¡± Even though the words were not directed at anyone, he suddenly lifted his head to look around. Seeing no one, he just shrugged.


    Lately one thing had happened after another and he hadn¡¯t been able to think through all the things that have happened lately. He felt as though he was juggling 4 knives at ones. He slowly exited the conference room and went to the edge of the Island. As he sat down there, he started thinking back to the first moment he came here. This place was the only place, where just by staring at the horizon, he felt himself calm down. This place was the best place for him to think. So, slowly, he fell into a mysterious state.


    It was a kin to being enlightened but it was different. Usually, people would reach this state when they were a hairs breath away from their Tribulation. This state was called the ¡°Reflection State¡±, it usually happened when a person cleared his mind to take on the oncoming Tribulation. They would slip into a state where they would slowly reminisce about their past. The choices they made on their road here, the things they had done, left undone and etc.

 Chapter 26: True feelings

    As Nalser sat there reminiscing about everything, time passed. An hour passed, then two, soon a day had passed since Nalser started reminiscing about his past. He slowly opened his eyes and smiled. However before he could be very happy, he was interrupted by a rumbling sound. He smiled embarrassedly, he didn¡¯t know how long he had been reminiscing for but his stomach told him, that it had been quite long. He slowly got up and stretched, then he went to grab something to eat. After thinking everything through, he felt lighter.


    His goal was now clear to him: Reach Ascension and then beat the living crap out of the person who stand behind the Prince. In his mind, the situation was like this, if that bastard hadn¡¯t been greedy and tried to obtain this world before the right time, then all of these events that happened to Mei would not have happened. When he finished eating, he went to Medic for a check up. Since he could not use Qi, he could not check on his own body himself. From the outside, most injuries might be healed but internally, they would still be dangerous. When Medic had finished the inspection, she declared that Nalser was completely fine. There were no hidden or internal injuries and he could start cultivating again but not go on a frenzy. Nalser bitterly smiled to that. He had a feeling that they wouldn¡¯t stop mentioning it for a long time.


    When he left Medic¡¯s office, he started thinking where exactly should he cultivate at. He destroyed two of the rooms used for cultivating. Since Artificer said that it would take a long time before they can completely repair the rooms, he currently had no idea where he could cultivate at. Unknowingly he had walked to the edge of the Island again. He quickly looked around and when he discovered that this was quite an isolated location, he thought to himself, ¡°Maybe I should just cultivate here.¡± Thought so, done so.


    He just sat down cross legged as he started thinking about the cultivation method of Black Flame Angel. Having reviewed it, he started trying to sense the Qi again. Since he had done so previously, it was easier this time. Although, the last time he sensed the Qi like this, it was under other circumstances.


    However, he had done so before, so this time it only took him an hour to feel the Qi and refine a thread of it in accordance to the method. After refining the thread, he felt the connection to pendant being revived. He was now connected to everything again. Nalser pondered to himself a bit before he remembered that the Training Hall also had a door leading to a Qi Gathering room. He blinked and appeared inside the room.


    The room was divided into 4 sections, meaning that four people could use the room at the same time without interfering with each other. He quickly entered one of the sections and was greeted by an empty room. The only thing this room was, was a praying mat used to cultivate on. Nalser also sat down on the praying mat, as he closed his eyes. The Qi Gathering formation was concentrated on this one spot, so the best potency was here. When he felt the Qi Gathered above the praying matt, he slowly started absorbing it and refining it in accordance to the Art. After absorbing the Qi for a few hours, he felt that he had reached a bottleneck.


    The bloating feeling inside his dantian was a sign that he will break through soon. This made Nalser happy because he hatde this feeling of weakness, not being able to protect the things or people he cares about. As he kept gathering Qi, soon a popping sound rang out as the impurities he had accumulated again were filtered out of his body. Nalser didn¡¯t even flinch at the layer of grime covering his body, he kept cultivating. Since he was cultivating, his need for food and water lessened.


    As he kept marching this same old familiar route, he felt the connection to his Soul strengthen. He deduced that when he reached the 4 stage of Qi Gathering, he would be able to use the Soul to help him cultivate. He decided to cultivate to the 9 Stage in one go, then he would perfectly temper his body. Since his body was reformed, his tempering limit was also moved forward. This was all good but the problem came with the Hidden Meridians, Hidden Palaces. Over half of the hidden meridians he had excavated, had moved and become clogged again. This hindered his progress a lot, so he decided that when he reached the 4 Stage, he would use the help of his Soul to cultivate while he himself would be looking for the hidden meridians again.


    So that he wouldn¡¯t worry the puppets, he sent them a mental message through the pendant that he would be cultivating for now, so unless it is urgent, they should not bother him. He closed his eyes again and kept cultivating. Since the potency of Qi was very high and his body was so sturdy, he didn¡¯t get exhausted from the cultivation.


    Days passed and soon 5 days had passed and he had reached the 6 Stage of Qi Gathering. This time he wasn¡¯t using any elixirs but that didn¡¯t mean his progress rate had stagnated. He had also successfully excavated half of the clogged meridians. Suddenly, his eyes flashed as he got a transmission, ¡°Mei was there and wanted to see him.¡± He thought for a moments and then blinked to a shower room. He thoroughly washed all the black grime off his body. He put on a clean set of clothes and then went to the Library where Mei was waiting.


    On his way to the Library, he did not see anybody but it didn¡¯t bother him much. When he reached the Library, Librarian guided him to where Mei was waiting. When he followed Librarian to turn around a bookshelf, he was greeted by all the puppets and Mei who were shouting, ¡°Happy Birthday!¡± Nalser was petrified for a moment but quickly he regained his senses. He had no way of telling how time passed, so he hadn¡¯t realized that his birthday was today. When he had accepted everyone¡¯s well wishes, he was urged to hold a speech.


    Nalser gave a short thank you speech to everyone and they started eating the cake. Nalser was born on the 16 day of the third month of Spring. This was something that he remembered because his grandpa had thrown him a party when he was 9. In their world birthdays were celebrated like this. 1 year after birth, 9 years after birth and 16 years after birth. The sixteenth birthday also signified that the person was now regard as an adult and could start his own family now. Usually families that had arranged marriages had the marriage ceremonies after the youngest of the two turned 16.


    Nalser mingled with everyone and everyone looked at Nalser with a bit of fright, as the realized that Nalser had reached the 6 Stage of Qi Gathering. He had started cultivating only about a week ago, what they feared was that Nalser would go into a frenzy again and cause himself hidden injuries. They only calmed down when Nalser reassured them that he checked his body every day and that he wouldn¡¯t overdo himself like that again. As Nalser was talking to Librarian and Sweeper about the Generals positions and so on, Medic suddenly tapped on Nalser¡¯s shoulder. When Nalser turned to look at her, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t forget to thank Mei for the cake.¡± Nalser looked at the cake piece he was eating for a second before smiling.


    When he told Medic that he will do so, he quickly wrapped up the discussion he had with Sweeper and Librarian. He then head towards Mei who was currently sitting alone sipping tea. He sat down next to her and said, ¡°Thank you for the cake. It was delicious.¡± Mei smiled to him and asked, ¡°Did you really mean that you will never abandon me?¡± Nalser was confused for a second before smiling and saying, ¡°I said so and will never break my promise. Why bring it up so suddenly?¡± Everyone else subconsciously started listening as well and also quieted down their own talks.


    That was when Mei dropped a bombshell, ¡°Then let¡¯s have a baby.¡± Everyone who were currently taking a sip of tea or were eating a piece of cake, nearly choked on them. Everything instantly became as quiet as a grave as everyone were looking towards Nalser waiting for the answer. Nalser nearly fell off the chair he was sitting on when he blanked out from the statement. Seeing the resolution in Mei¡¯s eyes, he was crushed between a rock and a hard place. Finally he cast his head down as he said, ¡°I can¡¯t do that yet.¡± Mei immediately asked him again, ¡°Why?¡± Nalser took a breath as he said, ¡°Because I am not strong enough to protect you and the child yet.¡± As if waiting for this answer, Mei immediately asked again, ¡°Then when will you be strong enough? When you transcend your Tribulation? When you Ascend? Have you forgotten that this is going to be a war that no one will know whether they will be able to survive or not.¡± Saying that, she gracefully stood up and started walking out.


    When she was about to disappear behind the bookshelves, Nalser noticed the tear that was rolling down her cheek. Nalser sat there blankly but seeing the tear, he snapped back to reality. He immediately teleported himself to Mei and when he grabbed her, he blinked to a remote, secluded forest in the Starry World. Mei was startled but when she saw Nalser¡¯s serious face, she was a bit scared. Before she could say anything, Nalser said, ¡°I do not know my origins, I am weak, I have a lot of enemies. Despite me having hurt you like that before, you still stood by my side. Will you tell me why you suddenly want to have a baby out of the blue?¡± Mei gathered up her courage as she said, ¡°Because you are the first person to genuinely treasure me besides my family. Before I was seen as just an incubator that had political value. You didn¡¯t care about any of that and took me in anyway. You then did all you could to help me. I fell deeper and deeper into your debt and deeper and deeper in love with you. When the Draconian first appeared and told me to bring you to him, I had made up my resolution that I would not survive that. However, after he had me, I fell into unconsciousness. I honestly thought that that was my end and that I could pay back my debt to you. However, at that moment I woke up from my unconscious state and saw you kissing me on the lips. Then I saw you transform into a demon for my sake. Even though I lost consciousness soon after, I knew that I wouldn¡¯t die from that.¡±


    She took a breath before continuing, ¡°After waking up, I expected you to throw a violated me away but instead you took me into your embrace and guarded and treasured me even more closely.¡± Nalser was stupidly listening to Mei¡¯s rant. He had never thought that she felt in debt to him and so deeply in debt that she would suffer such a kind of fate just to repay him. He felt anger welling up inside him, as he thought to himself, ¡°That kind of a thing is bullshit.¡±Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Then Mei continued, ¡°I honestly had no idea on what I was supposed to do, the least I could do was carry on your lineage but you rejected me like that again.¡± She took a breath before yelling at him, ¡°TELL ME WHAT AM -¡± *PA!* Her yell was cut short by a clear slap on the face. Nalser couldn¡¯t contain it any more and slapped Mei¡¯s face. He looked her straight in the eyes as he said, ¡°I have never considered you being in my debt.¡±


    He then let out a breath as his head fell onto Mei¡¯s shoulder, ¡°If anything, I am the one in debt to you.¡± The blanked Mei listened, she did not know how to act or what to say. All she could do was just stand there. As Nalser rested his head on her shoulder he continued, ¡°Before I met you, I had not interacted with other people. The only person I had ever talked to was my Gramps. I had lived in my little cage, even though I had been on the island for a while, Sweeper and the rest acted like mindless puppets. I had no one to talk to, no one to spend time with, I was always alone.¡± He let out a sigh before continuing, ¡°Everything changed when I met you. I wasn¡¯t alone any more, I had someone to talk to, I had someone to spend time with together, laugh together, cry together. My life before was as monotonous as a book. Everything seemed to be following one set course and everything felt so bleak.¡±


    Tears streamed down Mei¡¯s head when she finally understood how Nalser really felt. She awkwardly hugged Nalser¡¯s head as he continued, ¡°So, you have never in my debt. Techniques, elixirs? They are all things that can be replaced but a person who you can trust everything to, replacing that person is nigh impossible. It is me who is in your debt for shattering that black and white prison I called a life before.¡± When Nalser finished saying everything, he gently lifted his head from Mei¡¯s shoulder and looked at her in the eyes again.


    He said every word resolutely, ¡°You are an irreplaceable person to me, you changed my whole view of life. No matter what happens in the future, no matter who I meet, you will always be the one I want to stand beside. No one else will ever be able to take your place no matter what happens.¡±


    Finally, Mei couldn¡¯t stand it any more and burst out crying, as she cried everything out from within her. When she cried there in Nalser¡¯s arms, no words were said and no words were needed. Nature took it course and soon their hands started wandering around the others body as they finally connected thoroughly. Soon, moans started sounding out in the secular woods. The moans died down, two naked bodies were lying there in the woods, in the arms of each other. The two had finally opened up their hearts to each other.


    Through out the process, there were several times when Nalser considered stopping because seeing Mei flinch when his hands wandered, his heart bled. To him, she was the most important person, to see her like that was something Nalser never wanted to see. As they snuggled in each other¡¯s arms, Nalser suddenly said, ¡°About the baby, wait until I reach the Core Formation. Then I will give you as many of them as you want.¡± Mei looked at Nalser in puzzlement and asked why. Then Nalser told her everything that had happened with the old man. How he learned about the true scale of this war, the formation he traded for, the proposal of the old man. Mei just listened to him and when Nalser explained that he needed to be at least at Core Formation Stage to lay down the Formations on this Dimension to make it truly impregnable, she understood.


    She also understood how much her words had actually hurt Nalser. When she thought back to it, she truly had been clouded by her feeling of debt. Now that she understood Nalser¡¯s true feelings, she never mentioned anything like that any more. She also understood, that Nalser never wanted to feel anything like that again, so he was currently going to grow strong enough to make this place into his true safe haven. When Nalser asked for her opinion on whether he should accept the old man¡¯s proposal, Mei just smiled and said, ¡°There is probably a reason other than him wanting to rope you in. That reason is something that he can¡¯t so easily explain to others but it weighs down on him heavily.¡± Mei could understand the feeling of the old man.


    She who had also felt that she shoulders a huge debt to someone understood that it was not so easily spoken of. Nalser thought about it for a while. Soon, they reluctantly left each other¡¯s arms as they put their clothes back on. However, the invisible distance between them had disappeared. When they were fully dressed, Nalser grabbed Mei¡¯s arm as he looked towards the sky and said, ¡°Hey, perverted Uncle, bring me and Mei to Gramps.¡±


    Mei was puzzled by this but she trusted Nalser so she didn¡¯t ask about it. After a few minutes passed, they suddenly felt their vision grow blurry as they were summoned to the Dream World. When Mei opened her eyes and she saw the grandiose conference hall, her mind blanked as her jaw dropped. She was immediately awakened from the blankness as an annoyed voice sounded out, ¡°For the record, I did not watch. The moment your hands started wandering, I stopped watching.¡± As she looked towards the origin of the voice, she saw the young man and the old man. Her heart clenched when she felt their auras but she calmed down when she felt Nalser¡¯s hand holding hers. Nalser let out a little laugh as he said, ¡°No offence then Uncle.¡±


    The young man nodded and Nalser walked towards the seat opposite to his. When he sat down Mei by his side, he took a seat as well. The old man was silent as he sized up Mei but Nalser¡¯s words sounded out soon, ¡°Gramps, I will accept your proposal on two conditions.¡± The old man looked at Nalser with a hint of smile. He just let out a little laugh as he said, ¡°State your conditions then Lil¡¯Nalsu.¡± He was in quite a happy mood because Nalser speaking to him like an equal was something that he had not felt in a long time. When everyone always speaks to you like a subordinate it creates certain loneliness.


    Nalser said in a serious voice, ¡°1. I want you to give an oath to take Mei under your protection if something happens to me.¡± The old man raised a brow as he asked, ¡°Why do you think that you will die so easily?¡± Nalser just shook his head as he said, ¡°After thinking through our conversation, I realized that we are dealing with an enemy we can¡¯t see and can¡¯t hear. He is like s wolf in sheep¡¯s skin hiding in a herd. Who is to say that if I become too big of an obstacle to them that he won¡¯t intervene personally to take care of me. Remember, to start contesting for power with the Celestial Emperor means that he has personal strength to hold his own against him.¡± The old man suddenly realized that he had not thought about that.


    What Nalser said was correct, they do not know who they are fighting, so who is to say that the big boss himself won¡¯t intervene to take care of Nalser if he becomes too big of a variable. The chances of winning him over are zero for him, so his only option is to eliminate him. The old man seriously nodded and said, ¡°I understand and I am willing to swear an oath to protect her with my own life, should you fall.¡± The young man chipped in as well, ¡°I am also willing to swear it.¡±


    Nalser nodded and said, ¡°Now my second condition is that you tell me the true reason why you suddenly decided to ¡°adopt me as a grandson¡±. As Mei told me, there seems to be a more profound reason to that than you wanting to rope me in or just doing it impulsively.¡± The old man was startled for second but it was truly in his expectations. No one would be willing to believe such a bogus reason as ¡°just because¡±. Nalser wasn¡¯t a fool either so him asking for this was not actually surprising. What surprised him for a second was that he said ¡°Mei told him¡±. That statement alongside the first condition show just how important she was to him.


    He could have asked for the protection for himself or some other techniques but he didn¡¯t. The old man had a hint of sad smile as he let out a sigh, ¡°This story is something that only my son only recently learned of. It is something that in this whole Cosmos only me and him know. You two will be the third and fourth person.¡± With that being said, he started narrating the story again. Everyone else were quiet as the old man narrated the whole story in one go. When he finished, he let out a breath of relief.


    Nalser just bowed his head as he said, ¡°I did not fathom to think that there would be such a reason. I sincerely apologize for tearing up old wounds and making you remember something like that.¡± Nalser was truly sorry because he knew how painful bringing those kinds of memories were. He felt the same when he thought about what had happened to Mei because of him. The old man let out a bitter laugh as he said, ¡°No need to burden yourself with it. Raise your head.¡± As he gestured Nalser to raise his head, he continued, ¡°I had actually given up on trying to find the soul already because so long had passed and I had no idea whether the soul still existed or had been shattered.¡±


    Nalser just nodded. It wouldn¡¯t have been weird at all if the soul had shattered. Such a long time had passed and no one knew what had happened during that period of time.


    A glint passed the old man¡¯s eyes as he said, ¡°When I met you, I immediately recognised your Soul Aura and it was at that moment that I decided on fulfilling my promise to him.¡± Nalser could understand the sentiment behind it but there had been one thing that was eating at him. Finally he asked, ¡°Are you the Celestial Emperor?¡±


    This question startled the three of them but the old man let out a hearty laugh as he said, ¡°As sharp as expected. You truly picked up the little pieces from the story and came to the right conclusion. It is as you think, I am the Celestial Emperor and he is the Crown Prince. My first born son.¡± Nalser immediately stood up and bowed saying, ¡°I am sorry for not recognizing an Exalted figure as you. I also apologize for my rudeness from before.¡± Nalser was no fool. Enn had passed him some information about the power of the Celestial Emperor and his history.


    The old man let out a laugh as he said, ¡°No need to be so polite. If I wanted someone to kiss my ass, then I would gather my retainers.¡± He gestured to Nalser to sit down as his eyes turned sharp as he said, ¡°Any ways, I have fulfilled your two conditions. The question is: Are you going to have cold feet now because of my identity?¡± Nalser sat down before saying, ¡°I do not know of the term. You have fulfilled my selfish conditions, of course I am going to fulfill my side of the bargain. I am willing to become your adopted Grandson.¡± The old man let out a hearty laugh as he said, ¡°Welcome to the family. What I said before still stands, I don¡¯t ask you to treat me like the Emperor but like your Grandpa. Now then, mind introducing my future granddaughter-in-law to me?¡± This statement made Mei blush but Nalser let out a laugh as he introduced Mei.


    The old man swept his hand and food and drinks filled the table. The old man said in a joyous tone, ¡°Now then, this calls for a celebration. Both for you becoming a part of our family as well as your birthday.¡± With that, they had their own private little banquet.

 The End

    Since the only comments I recieve lately are people saying that the story is shit and you will drop it and etc. I will just stop writing then. I know there are some readers who find Phantom Demon interesting but since all I recieve is negative comments, I just lost the will to keep writing it. Why bother, when you know that people will only bash it for not being a story where Nalser lives in a world where clouds are made of cotton candy and chocolate flows like rivers.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    THE TRAGEDY TAG HAS BEEN THERE FROM THE BEGINNING AND IT HAS BEEN THERE FOR A REASON.


    So, Phantom Demon ends here.


    Edit: The story has moved ot xamdblog.wordpress.com, All people who don''t like something about the story, are advised not to go there.