《The forbidden cultivator》 Prologue - The man in the iron mask Prologue "Patriarch, we found a spy among the outer disciples. This one asks for guidance on how we should deal with him." Five muscular men wearing black clothes dragged a much smaller man in shackles and dumped him in front of an old man with long white beard, long white hair and even long white eyebrows. While the muscular men looked barbaric and violent with their imposing manner and giant weapons, their almost visibly bloody auras seemed to melt when it met the refined and elegant atmosphere surrounding the old man who was calmly sitting down and drinking tea from a jade tea cup, his demeanor aloof as if he was separate from the scene in front of him. He calmly took another sip and slowly asked, "A spy?" as if he was tasting the words and found them extremely bitter. One of the five men who had spoken earlier spoke again, "Yes Patriarch! We were performing our yearly census when we noticed an anomaly. This disciple came in with the new recruits five years ago but he is unregistered at the outer disciple ranking list. As far as we know he hasn''t received any pills or elixirs for his cultivation. He had no guidance from a master. He is rarely seen around the training or sparring areas. He has also never taken any missions for contribution points or money. As far as we can tell, he is like a ghost that only appears to take his meals and go to the library." The old man finally put down his cup and looked down at the man dumped before him. The first thing he did was to use his soul to search the man''s cultivation. He found that the young man had plentiful qi in his body, enough to qualify him to be a peak qi gathering expert on the cusp of breaking into the soul conception realm. "Hmmm...you say that he has never gotten any cultivation resources or guidance? Do you expect me to believe that he got this far by himself? Ridiculous! And why is he still wearing that mask? Take it off at once!" The man on the floor was rather unremarkable. He had a very mediocre build, he was thin and looked almost sickly when compared to the robust men around him. The only thing notable about him was that he had an iron mask covering his entire face except for his eyes. "Sir, he says that he was afflicted by spirit boil disease when he was a child. We are afraid that it would spread if we take his mask off." The old man looked at the man who spoke with a thoughtful expression. His long slender hands reached from his waist and took out a light bamboo and silk fan from his fan before he suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front the man. Without warning the elegant and refined old man used the light bamboo fan to hit the muscular man''s head again and again. "You ignorant dog! Are you a member of the heavenly way sect or are you a superstitious housewife? Do you really think that a disease that is spread just by looking at somebody exists?" Strangely enough although the old man was only using a light, almost weightless bamboo fan, by the end of the beating the strong looking muscular man was lying on the floor coughing up blood but the seemingly fragile bamboo fan in the elder''s hand was completely fine. After the old man was satisfied that he had done enough, he turned back to the masked man on the floor and asked politely, "Why are you really wearing that mask young man and what was your purpose in coming to my heavenly way sect?" If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. For the first time since he had been thrown on the floor, the young masked man looked up at the old man. His face was covered by the unadorned mask so his expression was hidden but his honey amber eyes were swimming with some unknown emotions. "Why else patriarch? Of course I came here to learn the way of soul cultivation." His voice was gruff and scratchy as if he was suffering from a cold, his deep voice completely at odds with his slight frame. His voice contained humor which seemed quite inappropriate considering his condition. The patriarch wasn''t happy with the man''s flippant attitude but he decided to remain civil. "Cultivate? Without pills? Without guidance? Do you think I am a fool?" The masked man chuckled before saying, "You don''t want me to answer that Patriarch." The patriarch''s old and wrinkled face got even more wrinkly as he frowned when he heard the masked man make fun of him. He was the Patriarch of the heavenly way sect, sure it wasn''t a among the most powerful sects but it still had a decent reputation among the righteous sects and the Patriarch himself was a mid-soul crystalization expert making him a very powerful man. People were usually respectful when speaking with him, even people from big sects gave him face but this little qi gathering punk was making fun of him? The patriarch eventually calmed himself down and ignored the masked young man''s disrespectful words. Instead he reached his hand out to grab the iron mask to see what was underneath. He had bent down and the tips of his long slender fingers had almost touched the edge of the mask when the masked man''s bright amber eyes flashed brightly. Since the Patriarch was right in front of him, he was blinded for a second. The patriarch had been careless. He was an almighty Soul crystalization expert facing a measly qi gathering expert so he didn''t think it was important to stay alert, his soul power lay dormant in his dantian. The attacks of a qi gathering expert could not hurt him so he didn''t take any precautions. He never expected such a trick from the masked man. The patriarch circulated his energy once around his body and into his eyes and immediately got his sight back only to see five bewildered men and a pair of empty shackles on the ground. The patriarch''s first impulse was to shout in rage and order a massive man hunt but then one of the bewildered men asked,"Patriarch? Did you get rid of him? What a powerful technique. You just touched him and he disappeared." The Patriarch considered the situation. If he ordered a man hunt then he would have to reveal what had really happened. A Soul crystalization expert being outsmarted by a qi gathering expert? He and his sect would lose all of their reputation and become a joke. He couldn''t let that happen so he suppressed his rage and his it deep into his heart before answering, "Humph, it is only natural. I am much more powerful than the snotty little brat. I need but a touch to get rid of him." As the confusion in the muscular men''s eyes turned into awe , the patriarch prayed that the masked man never resurfaced again. Chapter one - gardening Chapter one A few miles away from the heavenly way sect, the ''man'' in the iron mask was on his hands and knees panting heavily and vomiting blood in a field of pansies. The field of beautiful violet and yellow butterfly like flowers were famous in the area as a picnic spot and a place where lovers meet in secret but the ''man'' in the iron mask had thoughtlessly trampled through them destroying most of the flowers. The only batch that remained intact were now marred by blood making them look strangely sinister. As soon as the ''man'' finished vomiting on the flowers, the mask fell off ''his'' face to reveal the delicate features of a very pale young lady. Her name was Kira, just Kira. She once had a family name but she had forsaken it along with her family when they had decided to sell her as a bride to a two hundred and fifty year old man in exchange for benefits. Now she is known as Kira and only Kira. Kira picked herself up and slowly started to walk towards a nearby stream. Her legs were trembling and she looked like she could collapse at any moment but she kept herself upright out of sheer stubbornness. She struggled all the way to the small babbling brook that fed into a crystal clear pond and fell back onto her knees when she reached the bank of the pond, unable to proceed any further. She looked down at her own reflection to see perfectly symmetrical features, delicate cheekbones, lovely lilac eyes, thick eyelashes and small dainty lips that combined to make a face that could start wars and sink empires. To say that Kira was beautiful was akin to saying that there are some stars in the sky or a little water in the oceans, an understatement so gross that it becomes untrue. Kira wasn''t simply beautiful, her looks were divine. Even now with blood trickling out of her mouth and her complexion being as white as a sheet of paper, she still managed to have a face that could steal a person''s soul. Other women might have been happy to receive such a blessing but Kira thought that her face was more of a curse than a gift. It was the reason that the emperor of the vermilion bird continent wanted her as his concubine and her family had gladly agreed to give her up to him. Kira shook away her troubling memories, reminding herself that it was all in the past and dived into the crystal clear pond. She slowly took off her rough baggy shirt and trousers revealing her tender and delicate skin. If you looked closely at her, you would notice that there were muscles beneath her tender skin, not the bulky ones that the other disciples were so proud of but almost inconspicuous ones that harmonized with her body making her look elegant. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Her hands traveled to her chest and she slowly unravelled the bandages that were wrapped around her breasts, freeing her average sized breasts and only then was she able to breathe freely. Once she was completely naked, Kira started to bathe and at the same time she circulated her qi in accordance with the first cultivation method she had ever learned and the only method that women were allowed to practice, the revolving snow lotus cultivation method. When girls reach the age of eight, almost all their meridians were crippled and only two would be left unharmed so that they could practice the snow lotus cultivation technique which was a useless technique which can only be used to increase longevity. As Kira circulated her qi and transformed it into the calm white vital energy of the snow lotus, she didn''t use it like instructed to vitalize her muscles and skin. Instead she combined it with the tiny amount of qi from the pond and ran it violently through her meridians like a rampaging beast. Kira remembered the first time she had done this. It was after she found out that was going to the emperor''s concubine. She was trying to commit suicide by using the qi to bombard herself but she had accidentally found a way to fix her meridians instead, something that was supposed to be impossible. And now she had used a forbidden technique to escape from the heavenly way sect. It was a method that crippled meridians and so people were unwilling to use it unless their lives were in danger but Kira was different. Crippled meridians meant nothing to her and as she bathed her paleness vanished and a healthy pink flush spread through her body. Kira slowly exited the pond and wore the baggy clothes and iron mask again. The woman who had been so weak that she collapsed and vomited blood left the small garden with steady steps, her face flushed with vitality under her mask. She left behind a ruined garden. The pansies had been trampled and the crystal clear pond was tinged red with blood. The once beautiful scene was forever ruined. Chapter two - White Stone village Chapter two Kira needed somewhere to stay but she couldn''t go anywhere too conspicuous or affiliated with the heavenly way sect after the ruckus she had caused there. She knew that there would probably be no overt action taken to search for her since that would cause a huge loss of face for the heavenly way sect and its patriarch but she wasn''t willing to push her luck by going to the cities owned by the sect so she decided to go to a small secular village called White Stone village. White stone village was a tiny village located near the edge of a small spirit forest called White Qilin forest. The village was established by gatherers that picked spirit herbs from the forest. White Stone village was actually nothing more than a collection of twenty small huts. It got its name because of the sturdy white stone wall surrounding it. When Kira approached the wooden gate set in the white stone wall, the guards on duty were very suspicious because she was wearing a mask but they knew that a lot of practitioners were mysterious and they didn''t want to accidentally piss off somebody powerful so they politely bowed down and asked, "Honored guest, can you please take off your mask so that we might make sure that you are not a wanted criminal?" Stolen story; please report. Kira was used to situations like this so she already had a story prepared, "I have spirit boil disease. If you don''t mind catching it too, I''ll only be too happy to take off my mask for you." She then raised her hand to her mask as if she was going to take it off. The guards unintentionally took a step back from Kira and waved their hands around in panic, "Stop! Its okay! You don''t need to take off your mask! Just tell us your name and you can enter." "My name is Xue San." Kira gave the fake name Xue San and entered without any other hassle. She went to one of the two buildings in the entire village that was made out of stones instead of mud and straw, a building with a sign that said ''White Qilin inn''. She gave a few coppers to the motherly old woman behind the counter to reserve a room for the night and fell asleep the moment she lay down on the bed.