Yin Pengfei opened a portal to the Lower martial realm and stepped through it. He had just woken from a thousand years of self isolated cultivation and wanted to take a stroll through one of the lower realms to refresh himself. He was a playful master and liked to do things that were considered as improper or unorthodox by the other realm lords.
He had been walking along the Kaeje river for many days and his gray robes now looked dirty due to exposure to the elements. His robes along with his black eyes and messy black hair that tracked till his shoulders made him look like a disheveled beggar but Yin did not mind such things and kept moving along the river until he reached the outskirts of the town of Xian in Qing province. It was a forested area where a few second tier sects practiced cultivation arts.
In these realms cultivation was a means of seeking longevity of life and cultivators aimed to become immortals but ascension to godhood was a rare thing and did not happen often. As he walked through the city walls he could see a lot of cultivators in the late stages of Gathering Qi and spread out here and there were cultivators in the Qi Condensation realm.
It was normal for cities with Tier 4 sects to not have someone above the Core formation realm. He moved through the town languidly as his only purpose now was to see this lower realm's workings to engage his curiosity a little.
As he reached the backstreets of the marketplace in Xian, at a distance he saw a poor boy, dressed in rags being bullied by three others who looked to be from wealthy families. The boy was on the ground in a fetal position while the three kids kicked him mercilessly, sneering all the while and shouting insults at him. Yin Pengfei just chose to observe from where he stood, to see what the boy would do.
Luo LianHao lay on the ground, trying to protect his head and stomach while they kicked him. He was coughing blood and spit onto the ground and took in hacking breaths cursing the ones who were doing this to him while also cursing his frail body. Luo had an oversensitive body and even normal impacts jarred him and caused him immense pain. This beating he was taking was like a mountain of pain for him but his eyes still had fire and he did not let himself pass out from the pain.
"I don't like that look you have Luo LianHao. What can you, a nobody who cannot even cultivate do to me huh?! This is what you get for stumbling into me, Xiao Wu from the great Wu family with your dirty rags. Your dirt is now on my impeccable azure blue robes. Who is going to compensate me for this? HUH?! I am asking you, you piece of trash!!" Xiao Wu and his Junior brothers kept kicking Luo LianHao until he could see that Luo was not even letting out grunts of pain and he stopped.
"HAHA, he passed out from my strong kicks. Fucking trash. Let's go brothers, we have to go for daily cultivation practice and it's getting late."
After Xiao left, Luo LianHao spat out blood and saliva that was in his mouth and slowly tried to get up but immense pain racked his body. He slowly managed to push himself against the wall and leaned against it for support and examined his injuries.
"4 broken ribs, dislocated left shoulder, a few internal injuries….fucking assholes, it's worse than last month."
He imitated the breathing techniques of the cultivators as that had always healed them at a fast rate but he could not cultivate Qi and this technique did not help him in any way. He pushed against the wall and slowly started walking but stopped every few steps because of pain.
Yin Pengfei walked up behind Luo and asked him if he needed any help. Luo turned back and looked at the man up and down and nodded.
"Thanks Uncle."
"Call me Uncle Yin."
Yin made Luo sit down and with his divine sense examined all that was wrong now with his body. He counted a lot of ill-healed bone injuries, muscle tears, cracked bones and flesh injuries. He could not sense any Qi from the Luo's Dantian and examined his meridians and saw the root cause. Luo's body was malnourished and there was only turbid Qi flowing through his body and his meridians were all blocked, making him unable to even gather Qi.
"Whoa, that's a pretty broken body. Even your meridians are locked."
"I thought so, and I know a reason as to why that may be. It's probably because my body was malnourished as well, that contributed to this."
'' Ho Ho, so you knew about it even though you're such a young brat who hasn't even begun cultivation. Alright, let uncle Yin get you to your home and I'll give you a nice reward for being a smartass."
Yin took the boy and slung him over his shoulder and carried him to his home following Luo LianHao's directions. Luo's home turned out to be a wooden shack near the outskirts of the town with a big flat rock covered in a sheet for a bed. There were even a few holes in the wooden roof through which the sunrays pierced into the room.
"Nice home kid. Now let's attend to the matter of your bones" Yin laid Luo on the bed and healed his broken bones which were his major injuries by using a healing technique consisting of Yang energy. Luo passed out wracked with the pain from the rapid healing.
Luo wakes up after a few hours only to see Yin meditating on the floor. He was not even breathing through his nose and mouth but Luo could see the Qi radiate out of Yin's body at a colossal state. It was very chaotic but surprisingly it did not even affect the walls in his room. Usually Luo had seen a lot of cultivators break through walls with their Qi when it was condensed.
He turned his attention to his body by moving his limbs and found that his bones were healed. He jumped with joy but the impact of that sudden jump sent shockwaves of pain because of his oversensitive body.
He heard Yin's stomach growl with hunger and Yin opened one of his eyes mischievously " It's been a long time since I had anything.
" Luo immediately went into a corner and brought out the last of his smoked meat and gave it to Yin with thanks, bowing down in respect " Thank you uncle Yin for healing me. Please eat this to sate your hunger "
"Ohh, It's okay Luo. I see that it's the last of your food. Why don't you save some for yourself. I can easily find some food"
"Uncle Yin, while I believe that with your strength you can do so, I still would like to show some gratitude. Please accept this food"
"Ohh well alright. Let's both eat it." They proceeded to both eat the smoked meat while introducing themselves.
" I am called Yin Pengfei"
" My name is Luo LianHao uncle. May I ask you a question?"
" Go ahead brat. Ask away"
" I saw you cultivating your Qi and it seemed very different and very very strong. What is your technique uncle?"
"Hooo, you can't even cultivate and you could tell that my Qi was different. That's not something many people can do brat. How did you know?"
" I observed the quality of your Qi and compared it with the other master's that I have seen from afar while they cultivated."
"Just from that?"
" Yes."
Yin looked around and took in the room once more and found some dirty brushes, used paper with character's being practiced on them and a hand carved zither with gut strings on it. "Where did you get the money to learn words brat? And what's with the zither. Who teaches you that?"
"I am an orphan uncle. No one teaches me. I collected waste paper, books and brushes from the garbage and practiced writing by myself. The zither is mine and I carved it myself. I play it whenever I feel a little lonely."
"You taught yourself to write and read and play the instrument which you carved yourself? I say, with a brain like that why aren't you apprenticing yourself to someone to get some money for yourself? Surely there are people who would take you for an apprentice?"
" I have sought opportunities many times uncle, but I have an oversensitive body which throws me in excruciating pain even for normal impacts like jumping and landing on the ground. With this constitution, even though I process things fast mentally, my body works slowly. I could not get jobs because of such a constitution."
"Ohh. So when those boys were beating you, you were in a hell of a pain huh. Even when I carried you and rapidly healed you, you must have been in pain. Why didn't you tell me, I would have healed you slowly."
" I'm used to it uncle. It's fine. But master you didn't answer my original question"
" Okay fine. I just cultivate a different form of Qi than the people you have seen. It's called Primordial Qi cultivation. While normal cultivation cultivates Qi from natural energies, Primordial Qi is the energy from when there was no matter. It's much more denser and powerful but requires different methods of cultivation than usual. That's enough for you to know. Now are you done with your questions?"
Luo hesitated a little and said "Yes uncle" .
Yin looked at the hesitation in the young boy's face " No , you are not done. Ask what you really wanted to ask. Do it unashamedly and you may just get what you ask for."
Luo looked ashamed and his face was a picture of colliding emotions. But he finally gathered his courage and prostrated himself in front of Yin " Master Uncle, I am now weak and I know how strong you are. I could understand it when you were cultivating and with the speed that you healed me with. I do not wish to be weak. I wish to make this frail body a strong one. I wish never to feel so helpless while others kick me in my chest and look down on me. I wish...Master, I wish to be strong. Please become my master. Please teach me to cultivate"
By the time Luo raised his face, his face was streaming with tears, his black eyes puffed and his cheeks flushed red.
Yin was taken aback at the request. 'I thought he would ask me to heal him and his meridians so that he could cultivate. But this brat, his ambition seems much much higher. For him to wish that I, Yin Pengfei, become his master. The audacity!!. But I like such conscientious brats and I like his ambition.'
"That's quite a tall ask, brat. I can heal your meridians so that you can cultivate but to become your master,.... what's in it for me?" Yin sneered, pleased at himself for making the boy squeam to answer the question. But Luo did not squeam, rather his black eyes shone with a brilliant ambition and his face was the picture of determination.
"Master Yin, if you make me your disciple, you will not regret it. I will become as strong as you and carry out whatever orders you have. Wouldn't it help you to have a skilled disciple to carry out your tasks and orders?"
Yin laughed heartily and loudly at hearing Luo's response "This is why the Lower realms are interesting. I don't know why the others don't see that."
"What's a lower realm?" Luo asked and Yin just shook his head and suddenly put his left hand on Luo's head and the other on his own forehead and closed his eyes.
'Let me get a reading of this brat's fate and his potential. If it indeed is great, maybe in a few millennia he just might live up to his claims. What ….What's this??! He has the fate of a HEAVENLY CONQUEROR!! This brat, he ..he is a candidate for becoming the sovereign of gods. And his potential is great as well, if only his body were not so useless. But there's a way for that. HO HO, it's very risky but that's the only way I see.....hmmm.'
"Master?""Hmmm...oh nothing. I like your ambition brat but you need to become much much stronger if you're to learn from me."Luo jumped with joy and then groaned with the pain the landing caused him "Then, you'll accept me as a disciple master??""Well, in a way. But don't get ahead of yourself. Your body, it needs to be...reforged into a stronger one for it to bear my teachings, otherwise your body will just explode if I teach you my techniques now. But ready your resolve, for it will cause a million times more pain and if you lose your sense of self in that pain, then even I can't help you. It's a gamble. Willing to take it up?"Luo reflected on Yin's words. 'This master does not seem ordinary. So he means that just normal cultivation is not enough and for his techniques I need a much stronger body. How much stronger will I be if I go through this opportunity of a lifetime I wonder? I don't have anyone or anything that causes desire for
A while after his master had left, Luo sat down under a tree to collect his thoughts. "I wonder what this mark was, it's not even visible on my body. Well, master did say that I'll know in time what it was.""And that time is now brat!!" Luo heard a voice in his head as if in response to his thoughts."Who or what are you? Why can I hear your voice?""Stupid questions!!. Think logically and you'd arrive at a solution.""Are...are you the master's voice?""Correct!!. Well in a way it's more special than just his voice. I am a part of his soul that he marked your soul with. So I am your master while the master is away.""That's...That's so awesome. It's like the master never left"" Boy, the master did leave. I cannot protect you to a great degree. All I can do is to train you in the ways of cultivation and guard your soul.""Just that...Are you kidding? You can guide me.. What more can I ask for? This disciple is in your care ma
He was led to a spacious room, with a decorated stone table in the center. On the stone table there were placed two impeccably carved crystals, each with a unique color."Luo these are the stones of testing different attributes of your cultivation. The green crystal tests your quality and quantity of your Qi. We check based on the level of cultivation as well so there's no need to worry. Just go ahead and circulate your Qi through it."Luo nodded and closed his eyes. He sensed the Qi in his Dantian that remained after his body had been reforged and it had not grown at all as he had not cultivated since. He still circulated his Qi through the crystal as asked. The green crystal glowed a little bit and slowly started to change its color from bright green to colorless in moments. After it became colorless it stopped glowing altogether.He looked at Fu Lin and she had a perplexed expression. "Pan, is the crystal not functioning properly?"Pan Hua looked at Fu
Luo did not have enough money to hire a horse so he ran, to cover the distance from Xian town to the Dai Shan forest.His Soul tier body allowed him to move at high speeds comparable to that of the middle layer of Qi condensation realm. He enjoyed his run and did so with vigor, running with huge bursts of energy and stopping to recover when he lost his breath. After running like this for the whole day, he came across a village the next morning.He saw from afar that nobody was outside even though it was daytime.He slowly sauntered into the village when he made out some guttural noises and growls. He hid behind one of the walls and peeked to check what was making these noises. He could make out 10 blood wolves and a poison wolf leading them, all of them gorging on human dead bodies, viscera ripped out into shreds with their powerful jaws. These were all Tier 1 beasts and the alpha was a peak Tier 1 demon beast, equivalent to someone in lower layers of Qi Condens
As he opened his eyes again, he saw a roof and was able to make out some sounds of pots and pans being rattled around in what was presumably the kitchen of this house. He was on a bed, under a blanket. He sat up and immediately checked his palms. They were bandaged and from what he gathered, there were a lot of poultices applied as well. Other than a constant numbing and pricking sensation, he didn't feel anything else if he didn't move his hands. 'Just clapping my palms as they are covered in Yin and Yang Qi, caused this, to my body? And that wolf was obliterated even though it was a peak Tier 1 monster. No , it was even more powerful as his middle layer Soul Tier body had huge damage because of it. This probably does not happen to others as they usually use only one type of Qi. I don't think 'Layers of Chaos' technique was supposed to be used like this, or maybe it is. But it seems like the beginnings of a different technique. I'll name it
"Ta da. This is my home. Well now it is our home" Luo said as he pointed towards his wooden shack with just one bed. Xun had a peculiar expression on her face, as she struggled between showing thanks to him and showing disgust at the condition the room was in. She finally settled on a forced smile "Great. It looks gr-great brother." After settling down and having some food, Xun changed his bandages again. "It's getting late, we should sleep." Luo said to Xun. "Who gets the bed?" "Who? Me of course. HAHAHA" "You know if you weren't hurt trying to protect me, I would've made you sleep on the floor. Hmph." " Made me? Did you say MADE ME? How would you have done that?" "You will find out." Luo was surprised at this little girl's stubbornness, but this kind of a silly fight made him feel warm as well. He never had anyone to fight with in silly ways. He smiled as he looked at her when she said "What?" " Nothing. Of co
A month passed and Luo reached the peak of the 3rd layer in Gather Qi and Xun reached the 6th layer. Luo's hands healed but scar tissue formed over his palms and obscured all the lines on his hand."Xun, it has been a month now and my hands have also healed. We have one more month for the summer competition and I should go to the Dai Shan forest like I originally planned to increase my cultivation.""Okay brother. I will meet you at the competition directly.""En. Sounds good. You can come there with Master Fu Lin. Don't forget to get the jade slip of the Ancient Zither Abode before the competition." Xun nodded to this and Luo departed towards the Dai Shan forest.After running for three days, taking breaks when he could, the scenery slowly changed around him. He could tell that he was nearing the Dai Shan forest by the increase in the density of Spiritual Qi in the surroundings.As he made his way inside he started to s
Just as they were congratulating themselves, a Tier 2 lord Naga monster, which was double their size and had blood red scales appeared in front of them from the mist. It looked at its dead brethren and let out a shrilling scream filled with hate. It was also a mental attack and all the half step cultivators except Luo passed out.Luo was guarded from the attack by Master Yin 'I'll guard against its mental attacks. You can take care of it without any worries.''Thanks master. I won't let you down.'Luo went alongside Ma Jiande as he prepared to attack it. The Qi condensation cultivators had not passed out but it was a strong mental attack and only Ma Jiande was unaffected. "Luo, it seems it's just you and me. Don't piss your pants now.""In your dreams brother."Luo asked him if he had a finisher attack with his machete and Jiande said "I do but that thing's defense is very hard. It won't pierce through.""You let me worry about that and prep
Luo had made amazing progress with the short scythes and in extending Qi to his weapons. But his most valuable progress was to his soul cultivation because of painting 10000 runes in the room. Now both Luo and Hua, with just a month left to leave from the secluded cultivation, sat down to circulate and refine their Qi. **** With it having been a month and a half since everyone went into secluded cultivation, Pan Hua was guarding the entire sect and taking care of administrative business of the sect without any major incidents happening other than arguments with a few merchants. He had even gotten new trade deals by being more shameless than the sect master usually is. With a couple of weeks left before the sect master and everyone came out, Pan hua got word of summons to open at the sect gate. Pan Hua greeted the messenger and bade him to follow to a guest house. Once inside he offered hospitality for the messenger in the form of tea and some snacks. “Well, what is your name and w
“Alright let's go.” Luo said as he got into a soft stance of Iron and wave steps. Hua immediately started with a few probing attacks and started attacking Luo in predictable patterns. “Let’s first get you accustomed to using the short scythes. We can slowly scale up after that.” “Alright. Sounds like a plan” Luo and Hua clashed again and again as Hua broke Luo’s attempts one by one. But Luo used this feedback to remove his faults one by one by trying out new things each time when one attempt failed. He would tweak the attack a little until it could be at least successfully parried. He tweaked all of his attack patterns like this in a slow, persistent spar with Hua. After a week of sparring, Luo got the basics of the schort scythe down. WIth excellent feedback from Hua and his revision of the memory where Yama and master Yin fought, he could improve by leaps and bounds. He had a basic framework down from watching the memory play in his mind again and again. He got to practice these
Luo continued his work and he was done with completing the ten thousand runes on each tile of the room by the ninth day itself. He was exhausted but it didn't really show because of the Heaven and Earth Qi he was absorbing. He looked over at Hua who had been alternating between meditating and then practicing the Clap and Thundering slash according to the manual. Now that he had a couple of days till sparring started, Luo sat down to collect and refine his Qi.His soul cultivation had a surprising benefit by him painting thousands of runes. He could see wisps of world formations inside his mind. When he asked master Yin what it was he got the answer “This is the benefit of soul cultivation. As you cultivate your soul, your senses become sharper, you will get resistance against mental cultivation techniques and if you learn those techniques on the Phantasmal spirit crystal you got from the library then it will give you a much better repertoire of techniques.”“Master, what techniques do
Although everyone was shocked that Hua had regressed , they understood the logic in his acceptance of it. Fu Rah bid Master Yin a farewell and prepared for an immediate set of instructions for everyone gathered there.“All of you who have reviewed blessings from the great master Yin, you will all have to focus on closed door cultivation, even us teachers have to do it. I want us to be in great shape before we receive any unwelcome guests, of which believe me there are soon going to be plenty.Luo and Hua, I believe it is best for the both of you to temper your cultivation levels by listening to Master Yin and practicing the techniques you have received from the Royal Library. I believe progress there will not be wasted. Both of you are to train in battle tactics with each other's company under Master Yin’s guidance.Everyone else, please go into secluded cultivation and start practicing the techniques the master has given you. The time limit for now is 2 months. At least for me and m
After he opened his eyes, Master Yin asked him “What is your answer to my question?” Hua replied “I know that the physique and the techniques of cultivation that Luo practices may be much better than mine, but still, if I doubt my ability to reach a stage in the future in the present moment, then why even cultivate, why even aim to attain the heights of martial dao? What gifts he has gotten, the universe has given him, and it is not unthinkable that I will have fortuitous encounters of my own in the future either, right? That is my answer to your question Master Yin.” “Whoa..that is a very good insight into the way of the Dao or the mindset one needs to pursue it. Good to see that my test did not break your spirit. Worthy of your name ..Geming. And this master has a good reward for you as well. You see I showed Luo a couple of memories so that he can pick up a technique by seeing it, but he picked up the technique of my rival…can you believe it? My useless disciple did not pick up
Master Fu Rah came to Luo and then asked him “So, what do you want our help with in training? We will help you with whatever you need, no holds barred.” Luo looked at his friends and then at Hua and Xun’er and smiled “Master, I don’t want to be the only one who is favored. These are all my friends and I want to grow alongside them. I don’t want to just be singled out for getting help. I have received help from all of them when needed and would like for nothing more than to grow along with them.” Fu Rah was brought to tears which she held back barely. She nodded and then gave everyone a bear hug at once. “Yes, yes, you are all kids I have had my eyes on. Did you know that our sect does not even have proper core disciples, as not many would join it and all the applicants would just go
Fu Rah, followed by Fu Lin and Ren Cho, entered his residence. Master Ren Cho went to get some tea for everyone while Luo, Hua, Xun’er and the others followed and entered the hall as well. Hua and Xun’er were the only ones standing beside Luo, looking back to back at him and then at the others. Cai MingZhu, Hao Qi and the Zhong twins went and stood beside master Fu Lin. Fu Rah had a serious expression but she waited for Ren Cho to pour some tea for everyone. Luo refused the tea, to which master Ren Cho said “Kid, no one is going to punish you or cause you any harm. We just want to know so that we can give you the treatment that can foster your growth and think of handling any unwanted outside interest in your powers.” Luo sighed and took the tea that was served t
Ren Cho was at the middle layers of Core formation and had not advanced in a very long time. But he had a flash of inspiration from the drawings that Luo had drawn and went into secluded cultivation for the day. He could feel the intent of movement , of balance between soft defense and hard defense and the flow of offense in the movements. Although it was more natural with scythes and Ren Cho did not use scythes, but a staff, the profundity of the movement still allowed him to take his own insights and use it for his staff techniques. He was burning his Qi at an amazing rate. It could be sensed by master Fu Rah and Fu Lin and other masters of the sect, even from afar. Fu Rah rushed into the scene thinking something had happened only to see that Ren Cho was in closed cultivation. She intimated the same to the masters that had followed and ordered them to quietly sit outside in the premises and not make any disturbances. She inquired about
"So have you figured out how to use the Phantasmal spirit crystal yet? I don't think your Qi will be enough to actually use it now, will it? And what do you think the training in store for us will be?" Hua asked Luo. "I haven't figured that out Hua. And as for training, I suppose we'll see in a couple of days. For now, I just want to eat like a pig and sleep." "How about this, how about we spar tomorrow? Huh? Huhh?" "What brought this on? And I don't want to fight you until I have a proper melee weapon. My long range attacks won't work on you and my other techniques are too lethal to be used in sparring." Luo responded. "Ehhhhh~~~. Well alright. We should go on an adventure to get you a named weapon after our training ends. Short scythes huh. Well, we can go ask master Ren Cho about it. He might know more." Hua said. Luo raised his eyebrow and said "Well, who knows how long the training will be for? To master your technique and