Novel The Godless One

I will be posting this story on RoyalRoadl.com
the continent of [Green Willows] is filled with cultivators using the blessings granted to them at birth to strive for greater and greater power, aiming to one day become a god in their own right. in a small village situated in a far off corner of the continent lives a small child, Huang Ying, abandoned by both the gods and his kin, unable to cultivate, he is ostracized by the village and scorned by its inhabitants, but his body is inhabited by both his own soul and the soul of an old cultivator and carries a secret forgotten even by the gods themself.

Carrying the dream of finding his kin and reaching the apex of power but lacking a gods blessing, follow Huang Ying as he strives to break through the shackles of this world and its gods.

Content.
Prologue: http://forum.novelupdates.com/posts/2846502/
Chapter 1: http://forum.novelupdates.com/posts/2847368/
Chapter 2: http://forum.novelupdates.com/posts/2847630/
Chapter 3: http://forum.novelupdates.com/posts/2847740/
Chapter 4: http://forum.novelupdates.com/posts/2864525/

 

Chapter 0: Prologue.



On [Green Willows] continent, the moment a child is born, they gain a blessing from one of the many gods governing the world, this blessing will take shape as a mark of one of the elements. Once the mark has taken shape the power of that element will course through the body of the child and give shape to the child's meridians, allowing the child to start cultivating once they are old enough.



[Azure Springs Town] is a small village with just over a thousand inhabitants located in a far off corner of [Green Willows.] It is a simple village build less than a hundred years ago by roaming cultivators who took a liking to the springs that the village took its name from. After a hundred years the original builders are gone and their story has become little but a legend that the parents tell their children to motivate them to cultivate, but despite this, the lack of proper resources has led to a steady decline in both the quantity and quality of cultivators.



8 years ago a traveling couple came to this village and gave birth to a baby boy, naming him Huang Ying, signifying their hope that he will grow up to be a person that people can put their hopes in, but when he was born he did not receive a blessing from the gods, nor did the blessing develop during his infant years. This led to that when he was two years old, his parents left him with an old man simply called Old man Chen who lived at the edge of the village with his granddaughter and continued their journey, leading to the child being simply called [The abandoned son] in the village, a child abandoned by both the gods and his own kin.



As Huang Ying grew he started displaying an unusually calm and intelligent temperament which only furthered the point that he was a strange person who was hard to get close to, so his only friends were Old man Chen and his granddaughter, Chen Chun. But what others don't know is that when he was born there was a cultivator attempting reincarnation whose soul was accidentally drawn into his body as well, leading to there existing two souls in his body, a foreign one calling itself Li Jun and the child's own soul. Li Jun transferred part of his life's knowledge to the child to allow him to grow faster so that he could reach a satisfactory level of power to allow Li Jun to re-create his body, but upon finding out that the child lacked a gods blessing and therefore the meridians needed to cultivate, he abandoned that idea an simply accepted that he would have to wait for Huang Ying to die to complete his reincarnation. But little do they know that Huang Ying carries a far greater secret than they could ever imagine.

 

You just rip-off the starting of Perfect World ,didn't you ??

 

The supreme emperror (Shi Hao, desolate king , devil child ) shall reborn in another novel .

 

Looks better done than perfect world tho

 

Spoiler

Perfect world official translation is still in the early phase so you can't judge it based on this .
It gets more epic in the beginning of the war between the darkness and the ten heavens and nine earths .

Just look at the epic, most tragic, and heroic ending for the seven clans who protect the border .
They all fought till the last person standing . (Literally they all died including women, elderly, and children while fighting.
Even their immortals corpses kept burning in the border warding off the darkness )

P.s : btw the Shi clan was one of the seven clans whitch after sacrificing their selfs got branded as traitors duo to kill some spies who were in high positions in the light side .

 

Ero really love the title owo
Ero approves

 

Spoiler

 

Chapter 1: Huang Ying



The sun had just risen, and snow was gently drifting down from above,

but the streets of [Azure Springs] were already bustling with the noise of activity, today was the first day of the new year, which meant that it was also the day that [Golden Dawn Academy] would accept new students. At this time Huang Ying was also running through the streets, leaving behind small footprints in the snow, his houshold was to poor to afford shoes for all three of them so he had to run through the snow barefoot. His patched and off-colour clothes were sliglthy too small for him, but it did little to hide the elegant aura he was giving off, his shoulder length azure hair and jade like, limpid green eyes allowing him to catch attention no matter where he went.


Huang Ying was already eight years old, so it was too late for him to try and enroll in the academy, it was also a well known fact that he did not have meridians like everyone else and was therefore a cripple. Weaving through the dense group of people flocking towards the academy subjected him to more than a few unkind gazes and a few filled with pity, but Huang Ying simply ignored them, he knew that no matter what he did these people wouldn't welcome him no matter what he did, all he wanted was to finish his errand as fast as possible and get back home.


After weaving through the crowd for a little while he came to a large circular plaza devoid off buildings. The plaza was crowded even more than the streets, no matter where you looked you would see nothing but people, the only two places that had some space were the large square shaped fountain encasing the public well that was placed in the middle of the plaza, this well was the place where most of the poor people of the town got their water every morning and evening. The other place that was nearly devoid of people was the area directly in front of a large golden gate that led to a courtyard attached to a majestic mansion painted in the pures of gold, this was [Golden Dawn Academny] not just the largest and best cultivation academy in an area of over 500 miles, but also the only building in the town made of stone whilst the rest are made from wood or bamboo collected from the nearest forest. According to the history books in the public librabry it was erected as a command base used by visiting cultivaters during the last great war that took place in this [Mirrored Mountains] province, the books even say that there was a cultivator who had cultivated all the way to the 7th Heaven lodging there once.


Huang Ying was gathering water from the well, and even though he didn't hold any type of hope of ever getting into the academy, even he couldnt help himself from taking a little break to gaze upon the glorious golden walls of the academy and getting lost in his own delusions.


“You should stop looking and continue to gather the water.” As Huang Ying was just getting lost in his own delusions a raspy voice sounded out in his mind.


“I know, I just like looking and imagining the what-if's that could have been” Huang Ying wasn't the least bit surprised as the voice rang out in his mind, this was a voice that had followed him since the day he was born, it was also the owner of this voice Li Jun that had given him almost all the knowledge he had and allowed him to posess intelligence and calmness above even that of his peers.


“What-if's and things that could have been are useless in this world, if you have time to be dreaming of things that will never come to pass, you would be better of doing some excerise or gathering. Dreaming of the past and delusions for the future will never beat effort in the now.” The raspy voice rang out, delivering the same preaching it gave him every morning as he gazed upon that mansion.


Huang Ying finished filling up his leather poach with water and quickly made his was through the snow and back to the outskirts of the town. At the outskirts, on a small hill stood a lone house made of old logs where all signs of paint and decorations had already disappeared due to age and moisture over the years. In this house Huang Ying lived with his foster grandfater Chen, the oldest man left in the village and his foster sister who is older than him by two years, Chen Chun. Huang Ying would usually not be in town this early, but rather be out in the forest either gathering what little usefull plants he could find or training, but since it was the first day of the new year, the older students of [Golden Dawn] would be allowed to take a trip home and stay there for a day while the new students got settled, this meant that his older sister Chen Chun could be coming home at any moment, so he had to be at home and make sure that the congee was constantly warm.


The inside of the house is just as simple as the outside, consisting of three simple rooms, two small rooms designated for sleeping, partitioned by a simple grey cloth and one slightly larger one used as both a living room, kitchen and a dining room. The only furniture is a small round table, barely able to fit the three chairs stationed around it, a small firepit and a cauldron to make food in.


“Ah, Chun'er, is that you? Have you finally come home for a visit?” As Huang Ying was pouring more water into the cauldron of congee, a hoarse, aged voice rang out from behind one of the bedrooms.


Huang Ying walked over and gently moved aside the gray cloth, revealing a shriveled up aged man with vacant eyes and with barely any gray hair left on his head trying to sit up on a patch of hay covered by a brown blanket.


“Sorry Grandpa Chen, it's just Ying'er, you should still try to get some more sleep, it's still early and the cold wind won't be too good for your body.” Huang Ying gently helped the old man to lie down again while speaking.


“ah, Chun'er, when will you come home my Chun'er, grandpa and grandma miss you oh so much.” The old man mumbled to himself as he closed his eyes again and started drifting off to sleep again. Seeing this Huang Ying couldn't help but sight to himself, it had already been almost three years since Chen Chun had last come home for a visit, she had entered [Golden Dawn] when she was seven and had only come home to visit twice since then. After she stopped visiting, the condition of old man Chen had only gotten worse and worse, at the start he was still mostly lucid with merely some smaller episodes of forgetfulness, but as the times she visited grew sparser his condition grew increasingly worse, now it had grown to a point where he did nothing but lay in bed all day and mumble about when his Chun'er would come home so he and his deceased wife could meet her again, there were some days where he would even forget who Huang Ying was and attempt to chase him out of the house.

 

Chapter 2: Yin heaven bells.



Although Huang Ying found it sad, there was nothing he could do against the powers of time, even the strongest of the men in the town, mayor Zhuo who was already at the 5th heaven could do nothing against the power of time and only had a lifespan of a short hundred years, just the fact that old man Chen could live for as long as he did without cultivating could already be considered good.



Huang Ying spent the next few hours carefully keeping the congee warm, periodically feeding and checking upon old man Chen and doing some simple excersises while waiting for noon. As the sun rose to it's highest point and Chen Chun still hadn't come home, Huang Ying could do nothing but sigh as he threw his gaze towards that gray cloth cutting off the bedroom from the living room.



“Sorry Grandpa Chen, it doesn't seem like Chun'er will be coming home this year either.” Saying this to the sleeping old man, he could do nothing but sigh once more while thinking about the past, Chun'er was one of the few people who didnt ostracize him while they were children. While the children would hurl curses and the parents throwing glares and accusations of being a demon child at him, Chun'er was the only one who stood at his side and played with him, spent time with him and encouraged him to keep up his training, had it not been for her and Li Jun he would probably have already given up on himself and acceped the judgement and curses of the towns people. But ever since she went to [Golden Dawn] she had less time to be with him, and even the few times she came home she had started taking her distance from him, an act which confused him until Li Jun explained how important a persons social circle was, especially when they joined a sect or an academy.



Huang Ying poured some more water into the congee and after making sure that the fire wasn't burning to high, he put on the lid and left the house, if Chun'er wasn't going to come home this time either there was no point in him waiting around for nothing, he might as well take a trip into the forest and see if he could find some good herbs that he could use to make some soup for dinner. After leaving the house, the closest forest was only a short fifteen minute walk away, which lead to the forest getting a large amount of visitors in the spring and summer looking for different mushrooms and herbs, this in turn led to the forest having very little wildlife, making it unsuitable for demonic beasts to inhabit the forest, thus making it a rather safe forest that even the towns children could frequent. Demonic beasts is used as a general term for all life forms other than humans who are able to absorb the qi from the heavens to cultivate, allowing them to gain an ever increasing power and intelligence, according to Li Jun once a demonic beast reaches a certain level in power it's intelligence will be no less than that of a human, if not greater.



“What do you think Senior Li? Is there a chance of there being anything good in these parts of the forest?” Everytime Huang Ying entered the forest, he made sure that he entered a part he didn't enter before, he does this all the way until he has been through the entire forest and then starts from the first area once more, and each time he enters, he ask Li Jun if he is able to sense anything in the forest that might be usefull. He doesn't know how, but Li Jun told him that he is able to sense places where the qi is more concentrated, increasing the chances of finding herbs or other items capable of storing or attracting qi.



“Hehe, it seems like your luck is rather good today, brat, there seems to be something good deeper into the forest, shouldn't be more than a few miles to the northeast.” The raspy voice of Li Jun rang out in Huang Ying's mind after waiting for a few minutes to allow Li Jun to get a good sense of the surrounding area.



“Oh? Something good? Since it's coming from you im expecting something good now you know.” Huang Ying was evidently surprised at what Li Jun said, this wasn't the first time he entered this part of the forest, nor was it the first time Li Jun had found something, but it was the first time Li Jun had answered with anything but some bored and indifferent directions.



“Just go, you little brat, never know when someone else will come by and take it. If you're going to do something, it's important to always act first and ggrab hold of the initiative.” Li Jun urged him on, with a preaching tone once more.



“Yeah yeah, just a few miles to the northeast, got it.” Huang Ying started jogging through the forest with a short laugh.



After a short jog, Huang Ying came upon a clearing in the forest with a small lake taking up the middle of it. The small lake was covered in a sheet of ice covered by a thin layer of snow. In the middle of the lake, a flower with petals shaped like small, deep blue bells was growing through the ice and snow.



“Oh? Seems like your luck is slightly better than I thought brat, that thing is called a Yin Heaven Bells, a type of yin herb that grows in cold areas. It's not all that rare, but it works wonders for mortals who want to expand their life by a few years, not a bad find for you, not bad at all.” Li Jun explained the flower to Huang Ying, allowing him to get a better understanding.



After hearing what Li Jun said, Huang Ying couldn't help but get excited, wasn't this exactly what grandpa Chen needed? Something that could allow him to live a few more years would increase his chances of getting to see Chun'er again. Huang Ying hurriedly made his way across the ice and gently picked up the flower and cupped it in his hands. Feeling the cold energy seeping into his hands, he quickly stuffed the flower into a small pouch before hiding the pouch in his chest clothing, doing a quick scan of the are and not finding anyone he quickly retraced his steps to go back home, unaware of several pairs of eyes keeping an eye on him from one of the trees around the lake.



“Boss, wasn't that a Yin Heaven's Bell? Shouldnt we go get it from him immedeatly?” An anxious voice rang out from one of the trees.



“No need to be hasty, he himself might just be a cripple, but if we simply resort to murder and robbery wantonly, not even my father will pardon us. We first return to the village and let my father know, a Yin Heaven's Bell will be very alluring to him. At that point, not only will we get to deal with Huang Ying however we want, we will even get rewarded for finding such a nice treasure.” A slightly childish, but also vicious voice rang out in response from one of the other trees, flattering voices quickly rang out from the rest of the trees after he spoke.



Huang Ying quickly made his way back to the house on the hill, he wanted to make some soup with the flower immediately, but Li Jun warned him that it would exhibit a more potent effect if he waited with making the soup until the time of the day reached the point where yin energy was the most potent, midnight. Huang Ying didn't dare not believe the words of Li Jun so all he could do was sit down and do some light breathing excersises while waiting, he was unable to cultivate, but he never stopped doing the breathing excersises, hoping that one day something would change, he started these breathing excersises not long after he was born, when Li Jun gave him the practicing method and has been following the method ever since, culminating in almost eight years of ceasless training and meditation, giving him a staunch willpower and unwillingness to give up, even if he sees no results.



Sadly, this time he would have to cut his practicing short, because barely an hour after he returned to his house, the clamor of stomping feet arose outside the door, followed by a rugged middle aged man clad in leather, the guard captain of the town, kicking open the door and shouting at Huang Ying.



“Huang Ying! In the name of the mayor and the town defense force, you are under arrest for stealing from the mayors personal herb garden! Hand over the flower you stole and follow me, if you do not comply we are authorised to use force!” his voice reverberated like thunder through the house, stunning Huang Ying where he was sitting.



“Huh?! Stealing from the mayors herb garden? I have done no....” Before Huang Ying could even finish his sentence, the guard captain interrupted him.



“Silence! Hand over the flower or we will be forced to use force! Will you comply or not?!” upon finishing his sentence the guard captain pulled his sword halway out of it's sheath, signifying exactly how much force, they were authorised to use.



“Fine, fine, i'll hand it over and follow you....” No matter how unwilling Huang Ying was, all he could do in the face of overwhelming power was begrudgingly take out the pouch with the flower and follow the guard captain to the town dungeon, all the while mulling over who could have possibly seen and reported him finding the flower.

 

Chapter 3: Life In Darkness.



All Huang Ying could feel was a pounding in his head, a debilitating headache threatening to split his head apart. He opened his eyes, but all he could see was the darkness of his cell, he had the taste of iron in his mouth, reminding him of the beating he got just before he passed out. What little scent his nose was still able to pick up was only the stench of his own excrements that littered the cell. Shaking his head to regain some clarity and trying to stave off the headache he tried to look for the entrance of the cell, but all he could do was give up, he probably wouldn't even be able to see his hands, if he even managed to lift them high enough to hold them in front of his face.



“What time is it?.... nevermind, doesn't matter..... how long have I been here now?” Huang Ying tried to speak out, but all he managed was a hoarse exhale, so he had no choice but to ask Li Jun mentally, he had already lost count of how many times he had asked this question, time simply seemed to blur together since he got shoved into this cell.



“It should be just past noon now, as for how long you have been sitting in this cell, in a few days it will be the sixth year.” The raspy voice of Li Jun was Huang Ying's only respite from the headache.



“That fucking Zhuo Xian, I swear....if I ever get out of this cell I will make sure that he dies in unbearable agony...” Just remembering what Zhuo Xian had done to him and put him through these six years made Huang Ying want to go mad with rage. Six years ago it was also Zhuo Xian that had discovered that Huang Ying found a Yin Heaven's Bell and then decided to give the news to his father, the mayor. A few years of extra life, was too tempting, even for a cultivator at the 5th heaven, especially one that was already getting up in the years, so mayor Zhuo immediately put out an order for arrest and directly brought Huang Ying to the dungeon. Ever since then, the only visitor Huang Ying ever got was the warden who would visit him twice a day and deliver food and often chat with him and Zhuo Xian who would make periodic visits to either hurl abuse or simply torture and beat Huang Ying. Had it not been for the warden sneaking in some medicine and extra food from time to time, Huang Ying would probably have died several times over.



“....Hey Li Jun?” Huang Ying's weak voice resounded in his own mind, devoid of all the willpower and charm it had before.



“...Yes?” Li Jun responded warily, this was the first time since he had started sharing the body with Huang Ying that he ever heard him this weak, not even when his foster grandfather kept forgetting him had his voice been this weak.



“You used to be a cultivator right? A pretty strong one too I guess, how else would you be able to retain your memories and attempt reincarnation. What's it like? Up there, at the apex of power? Is it worth it? Is whatever you find there at the top worth all the dirty schemes and betrayal it makes people commit? Is getting to the top really worth becoming nothing but a beast in human skin?” As Huang Ying spoke, he started gritting his teeth, staring at the direction he assumed to be the door with overwhelming hatred.



“..... It's hard to tell. I never managed to reach the top.... but the place I reached, where I was invincible against all but a few freaks..... it was great, it was fucking fantastic to stand tall like a lord. But.... whether or not what lies at the apex is worth it all, that all depends on the person who stands there and for what reason they reached the top.” After a short moment of thought Li Jun responded with his own experiences.



“.... I see, depends on the person huh?.... say, you have the entire town covered with your spiritual sense right?” Huang Ying seemed like he just thought of something and asked.



“....Indeed, it seems like you knew. What do you want to ask?” Li Jun responded with some surprise in his voice at being found out.



“Grandpa Chen, when did he die?” Huang Ying asked a question that had been on his mind for quite a while, but that he was simply to scared to ask.



“..... It seems you are more perceptive than I ever gave you credit for.... he died roughly six days after you were captured.” Li Jun replied while throwing in what could be taken as both a compliment and and insult.



“It doesn't require a genius, he was already too weak to take care of himself even before I was captured, not being fed or taken care of had no other outcome, im even surprised that he managed to last for six entire days.” Huang Ying's voice sounded out, but this time it was colder and more indifferent than it had ever been.



As silence descended on the cell once more Huang Ying just sat there staring at the darkness enveloping him, feeling the pounding of the headache as he went through all the memories he had of him and grandpa Chen. He had an eidetic memory, so not a single moment slipped by him, from the time when his parents dropped him off there, to the time they dropped off Chun'er at [Golden Dawn] and he saw him cry for the first time, all the way until his last memory of him.



“Huh... now that I think of it, he only ever called my name while Chun'er was there, seems like not even he wanted much to do with me.... hehehe” A weak laugh escaped Huang Ying's lips after he finished going through all the memories and noticed that the had less memories of being with grandpa Chen than he had of being with the parents that abandoned him, it had always been Chun'er who took care of him till he turned five, and after she went to [Golden Dawn] it was mostly just him.



“Really, what a fucking joke this world is. Hey, Li Jun? The reason I was abandoned, the reason Zhuo Xian could simply take what was mine, the reason everyone looks at me with scorn and despise, it's because im weak isn't it? It's because those shitty god's never bothered taking a look at me isn't it?” Huang Ying spoke through the tears that were dripping down his face, trying to find a reason in all this madness.



“....Indeed, in this world, the only defining factor for a persons worth is their strength, without it, they are nothing, they are worse than nothing.” Li Jun responded to Huang Ying, only furthering Huang Ying's current thirst for power.



“If I become strong enough, can I kill all those who wronged me? Can I tear down those shitty gods and control my own life?.... can I protect that which I want to protect?” Huang Ying asked a question he already knew the answer to, a question he had asked Ji Lun several times in the past, but this time his voice carried none of his old childish naivness, all it carried was a chilling determination.



“Of course, power decides all!” Li Jun responded loudly, as if to match Huang Ying's determination.



After Li Jun responded, the thundering roar of galloping horses thundered through the dungeon, following the horses was a dreadful symphony of bloodcurdling screams and shouts and the smell of smoke.

 

Chapter 4: First Contact With Tragedy.



The thundering sound of galloping horses slowly became louder and clearer as the walls around Huang Ying went from a gentle vibration to trembling hard enough to send cracks and debris cascading down from the ceiling.



«Li Jun, what's going on out there?!..... Is the town under attack?» Huang Ying was shocked at the sudden occurrence and thought that the town might be experiencing an earthquake, but after just a little bit of thought he quickly threw that theory out off his mind. An earthquake would not be accompanied by galloping horses and such screams, and the only other reason behind the noise he could think of was that the town was under attack by bandits.



«The town is indeed under attacks, it seems like they decided to come in force this time around, there are nearly 400 bandits out there, seems like they are really going all in this time around.» Li Jun responded with a chuckle after checking out the attacking force, this was indeed not the first time bandits had attacked the town, but it was the first time they came with such a massive force. Even though the town had around 1000 inhabitants, the only ones who had any fighting strength and experience were the town defense force, numbering around 250 individuals. If one were to include the children who went to [Golden Dawn] the number of fighters available could indeed be pushed up a fair bit, totaling almost 400 fighters, but the students were after all only that, students with no proper fighting experience.



«Almost 400? Why would they come here in full force? Aren't they afraid of getting wiped out? This town doesn't seem to hold anything valuable enough to warrant such risks..... Maybe they are after something specific?» Huang Ying truly found it strange, the bandits might outnumber them by almost two to one, but the bandits were mere wandering fighters, whilst the town defense force consisted of well-trained warriors with a plethora of experience and higher quality equipment, in addition to all that, the town still had mayor Zhuo, an expert at the 5th heaven, so the odds of them being able to completely raze the town was less than 10%.



«I hate to interrupt, but you should probably try to find a way out of this cell before thinking about the reason behind the attack, of course, that is unless, dying from being crushed by debris while locked up in this cell is the way you want to go out, it might even suit you, in that case i have nothing else to say.» Li Jun seemed to find this particular idea rather humorous as he gave a slight chuckle while speaking.



«Fuck that, i refuse to die in a shit hole like this! Besides, i still have things i want to do, and dying before accomplishing even a single thing in life, that is one hell of a shitty way to go to the next life.» Huang Ying spoke with great determination as he looked up at the minuscule amount of light seeping in through the cracks in the ceiling.



«Then today is your lucky day, rejoice, even someone abandoned like you still has people thinking about him.» Just as Li Jun finished speaking, the door to Huang Ying's cell was abruptly thrown open, followed by a rugged and well built young man clad in guardsman armor rushing in and towards Huang Ying, quickly unlocking the shackles chaining him to the wall.



«You need to get out of here, bandits are attacking the town and things aren't going to good, once you are out of the prison, make your way towards southern forest, we are currently holding the bandits back at the northern entrance, but i don't know how much longer we can hold them there.» The guardsman spoke with great haste as he quickly put a dark crimson shirt and black trousers on Huang Ying, the clothing was slightly too large for Huang Ying, even after these 6 years of growing, they were obviously just clothing that the young guardsman brought in a hurry from his own house.



«Why would you help me? If things are really going that bad, shouldn't you just hurry and head to the southern forest and leave?» Huang Ying was standing up slowly and unsteadily, but supporting himself against the wall he managed to stand up on his own, all the while looking at the guardsman. He had been locked in this cell for 6 years, and this guardsman had been kind to him all the while, talking to him, bringing him extra food, blankets and new clothes during the winter, and even medicine whenever he was ill. He always found it strange that this unknown guardsman who didn't know him would be kind to the renowned town cripple.



What he got as a response was the guardsman shaking his head with a smile. «I can't leave, if i leave, who will be left to protect the retreat path of the other citizens? I became a guard because i wanted to do something better with my life than just be a farmer or craftsman, i wanted to protect people, if i flee, i will have betrayed my own dream, and at that point i could never live with myself, all of us guards are like that, that is why we can lay or lives down here, every citizen that manages to escape is another piece of our dream fulfilled. As for why i would help you? Aren't you one of the citizens yourself? Besides, you may not know, but i have seen you around the town, everyone always avoids you or scorns you, but i have never seen you let it get to you, you still ran around with the same smile, still greeted people and always did your everything to take care of your grandpa, you are a good person, who fell upon unfortunate times, so i want to help with what i can.» the guards face was full of soot, dirt and blood, but his eyes were clear and sparkling like the stars in the night, a sight Huang Ying would never be able to forget in his life, a man Huang Ying would never allow himself to forget.



«.... What's your name?» Huang Ying asked the guard while slowly moving his arms and legs, regaining his mobility.



«Im called Xiao Yan. You should leave now, i have to get back to the northern front.» the guard, Xiao Yan threw a small pouch filled with coins at Huang Ying and started to head out of the cell.



«Xiao Yan.... I won't forget you, so do your best to make it out alive.» After a bit of hesitation and trying to find the right words, Huang Ying spoke out.



Xiao Yan merely responded with a small laugh «Hearing you say that means that i have lived a worthwhile life, so even if i lay down my life out there i will have no regrets, you should go.»



Huang Ying simply stood there, slowly rolling his shoulders and moving his legs, all the while staring at the entrance of the cell in silence, no one knowing what he was thinking in his heart, until his limbs regained most of their mobility.



After his limbs regained their mobility, he made is way out of the cell and up a small flight of stairs before making it out of the dungeon and back into that familiar town. As he stepped out of the dungeon, he couldn't help but shield his eyes from the light, the sky was filled with grey clouds, ash and smoke, but 6 years in a dark cell had left their mark on him, his skin was now a pale white, his face covered in dirt and dust, his body so skinny that you could practically see the bones, his once azure hair had lost it's previous luster, turning a pale blue and hanging all the way down to his buttocks.



«South, south.... the sound of fighting is loudest over there, so south should be that way.» After quickly ascertaining which direction he should head, Huang Ying started slowly making his way in the direction he assumed to be southward, doing his best to stay in the shadows of buildings and back alleys and resting whenever his limbs started aching.



Huang Ying had only just made it half of the way from the dungeon to the exit of the town when a cold laughter rang out from behind him and a burning pain started permeating his chest. «Huh, really didn't expect someone to actually make it this far, seems like we'll have to punish the patrol squads a bit later on.»



Slowly turning his head, Huang Ying saw a scarred middle aged bandit wearing loose patched robes standing behind him, right hand holding onto the hilt of a curved sword. Huang Ying opened his mouth to speak, but the only thing that came out was a moutfull of blood and saliva. Looking down at his own chest, all he could see was the wide tip of the curved sword piercing through his chest. All Huang Ying could do was slowly turn his head again, hatefully glaring at the bandit, opening and closing his mouth again and again, trying to push out the words to curse at the bandit, but all that came out was mouthful after mouthful of blood.



«Hoooh? Quite a hardy little child aren't you? Seems like it'll take a bit more to end you, i wonder, will you still attempt to talk without a head?» The bandit chuckled at the spectacle and extracted the curved sword from Huang Ying's chest and lifted it to make a final cut.



«Li Jun, i swear, if i get an afterlife, i'll make damn sure to beat your ass for not warning me about this lone bandit.» This was the last thought Huang Ying managed to squeeze out before he closed his eyes to await the bandit's blade.



After waiting for a short while and not feeling anything, Huang Ying slowly opened his eyes, what he saw was still the same town, he was still lying in front of the bandit and the bandit still held the sword high, he simply wasn't moving. Looking around, the first thing Huang Ying noticed was the silence, there were no more screams, no more clashing of weapons, nor thundering of hoofs. The next thing he noticed was that nothing was moving, the bandit in front of him, the clouds in the sky, nor the smoke of the fire, all stood still, as if time itself was frozen.



«What is your desire» A booming voice thundered out across the town, echoing all over. Shocked, Huang Ying lifted his head, only to see two massive eyes in the sky. The eyes occupied a large area of the sky, two massive golden eyes with black, slit pupils nearly splitting them in half, staring down at Huang Ying.



«Are you the one who did this? Who are you?» Huang Ying, still shocked to see such massive eyes observing him, couldn't help but call out.



«What is your desire?» The only response he got to his questions was the same question repeated, slightly louder this time, the eyes seemed to look at him with some expectations.



«.... I want to prove them wrong.» After gathering his thoughts and a bit of hesitation, Huang Ying responded, giving voice to his innermost desire. «My birth parents, the people of this town and those shitty gods, i want to prove them wrong. I want them all to know that i don't need them! I can reach the top even if they abandoned me! Even without them, i can still become something, even without their 'blessings' and their 'help' i can still reach the top and live my life freely without shackles! That is my desire!» Huang Ying's voice rose to a roar as he started talking, shouting out his innermost feelings while staring with determination at the eyes in the sky.



«Very well, then so be it little one, i am Baku and i am you, just as you are me, i will give you the chance to grab your own destiny and live freely, do not disgrace the serpents blood.» As the voice spoke, Huang Ying was slowly lifted into the air and suspended in front of the eyes. Black smoke started seeping out of the eyes, before moving towards Huang Ying and entering his body through all of his pores and moving through his entire body, devouring all that it came across. As the black smoke started devouring all that it came across, all Huang Ying could feel was agonizing pain as his bones, veins, organs and flesh were consumed.



«If you cannot even withstand the awakening of the serpents blood, then you will never be able to reign supreme, nor will you be deserving of your power.» The voice sounded out again, but this time within his own mind, and several times weaker, it seemed like awakening this so called serpents blood took it's toll even on itself.



Hearing this, all Huang Ying could do was grit his teeth and not allow his hoarse screams to leak out of his mouth as the black smoke started devouring faster and faster, until all that was left in his body was black smoke and a drop of pitch black blood.

 

Chapter 5: The Serpent Awakens.



Once the drop of black blood and black smoke were the only things left inside Huang Ying's body, he was too drained off energy to even continue screaming, the force holding him floating in front of the eyes lowered him back down to the ground before loosening its grip on him and disappearing. The eyes in the sky looked at him crouching on the ground, heaving and panting seeing that he didn't faint or die, even upon having his entire body drained matter the eyes seems to squint in pleasure.



«The devouring is complete, the next step will be rebuilding and reinforcing that which once was, never forget little one, don't disgrace the blood of the serpent that was left to you.» The voice boomed out one last time before the eyes slowly closed and disappeared. As the eyes disappeared, sound returned to the frozen world and time started moving again. The bandit that was frozen mid- movement completed his cutting movement, but was shocked upon discovering that Huang Ying who was right in front of him but a second ago, was crouching on the ground several meters away from him, panting and heaving, even the wound on his chest had stopped bleeding.



«You... what did you..» Before the bandit managed to finish his sentence, the ground started trembling. The ground around the entire town started trembling and shaking, large cracks spreading across it's surface, even the sky itself seemed to tremble and quake.



A sharp hissing sound started sounding forth from the cracks on the ground, the symphony of hissing started getting increasingly loud before resonating, becoming a single hissing sound that seemed to originate from the depths of the earth, attempting to break through the surface and piercing the heavens. The cracks on the ground started oozing a black liquid that started gathering together to form massive black tentacles, corroding and devouring all they touched. Tentacles started springing up all over the town before twisting together, assuming the form of a massive squirming serpent so black that it seemed to devour even the light shining down upon it.



As the serpent loomed over the town, it's massive frame blotting out the light from above, seeming like the bringer of the apocalypse, all sounds of fighting had stopped, all that was left was the shocked gasps of the fighters and the crying of the children and remaining townspeople that had yet to escape.



The serpent was made out of an uncountable amount of wriggling tentacles, but they blended together so well that it seemed like a single entity, a massive body cracking the ground and crushing all in it's patch, pitch black scales the size of a full grown man, a massive maw filled with teeth sharper and longer than a long sword leading into what seemed like a bottomless black hole, and two massive yellow eyes, looking down upon all creation. As more and more tentacles came into existence and fused with the serpent, it kept growing larger and larger, until finally the tentacles stopped coming and the serpent stopped growing. It's tail broke out from the ground and coiled around the entire town, sealing off all paths of retreat before the tip of the tail settled down on Huang Ying's chest and fused together with the area where his heart would be. Huang Ying felt his senses fusing with the massive serpent as the tail fused with his chest. His eyes saw what it's eyes saw, felt the power coursing through it's body, the arrogance of a god overlooking it's subject, the rage stemming from being trapped in this place, and the hunger, hunger that threatened to drive him insane, hunger that threatened to devour him if he didn't find anything to sate it. He also felt it's desire, the desire to devour all, to break through this tiny sky and devour the gods themselves, devour fate and be free, the most primal version of his very own desire.



«I see, so this is what you bestowed upon me, what you meant when you said that i am you and you are me, what you meant when you said you would give me a chance to grab my own destiny and live free.» Huang Ying looked to the serpent as he spoke the words in his heart, no longer feeling the emptiness he felt after having his insides devoured, instead, what he felt now was determination, determination to not waste this chance he had been given. He had been given the power to grab his own destiny, to be truly free. As he looked upon the black serpent, the single drop of black blood in his body started thrumming, the serpent, as if beckoned by it's master, responded to the thrumming by raising it's head and hissing at the sky, a hiss that slowly turned into an earthshaking roar.



Hearing this roar, Huang Ying's face rapidly changed color, since he was connected to the serpent he could feel what it was about to do, what the black blood had ordered it to do. «No! You can't! Sto...» Before Huang Ying had finished shouting, the serpent had already opened it's massive maw and plunged it's head downwards, the only thing that was spared from the serpents hunger was Huang Ying, who simply passed through the serpents body, all else was devoured in one single movement of the serpents head.



Huang Ying was completely dumbstruck, aimlessly looking around, the town he had lived in for 14 years was completely gone, all that was left of the town was a massive basin. The little house on the hill where he lived, the glorious golden gates of [Golden Dawn], the public well where he fetched water twice every day, all gone. The deathly silence was only broken when the serpent raised it's head to give one last roar before abruptly charging at Huang Ying, all the while growing smaller. As the serpent reached Huang Ying's body it simply passed through his skin before charging through his empty body and into that drop of black blood, what followed after that is a pain that Huang Ying would never be able to forget.



As the serpent charged into that drop of blood, the drop started rapidly swelling, sucking in the entire serpent and the remnant black smoke. As it continued growing, it started replacing what the smoke had devoured earlier, it started by building a new skeleton, then followed it up with new veins, flesh, organs and then the one organ Huang Ying always dreamed of having, but never got to have, meridians, as the black drop finished it's growing and had filled every part of Huang Ying's body, it started wriggling, digging into the newly formed flesh and organs, leaving behind small tunnels lined with the black blood that filled his entire body and took the role of his meridians. As Huang Ying was twisting around in pain at the bottom of the basin that used to be his town, the qi in the world around the basin seemed to respond to a calling, gathering towards Huang Ying in a massive vortex before slowly being absorbed by his newly created meridians and his body.



As his body and meridians started absorbing the surrounding qi, another transformation was occurring within Huang Ying's body. His once azure hair and green eyes slowly started turning pitch black, taking on the same color as his meridians as well as the qi that was now coursing through his body, a clear sign of what element the god that gave him his blessing belongs to, although in Huang Ying's case, the element isn't the darkness element, but the element of devouring, the element belonging to Baku, The Great Serpent.



Just as the pain started receding and Huang Ying thought it was finally over, a head splitting pain assaulted him as massive amounts of information started flowing into his mind. It started as simple information about what the element of devouring was and where it was born from, the element of devouring alone gave it's owner only a single power, and that is exactly devouring, the power to devour and assimilate everything weaker than you. The advantage the element of devouring gave it's owner is the ability to not only devour qi of others to replenish their own, but also the ability to devour their blessing and element, taking their powers for your own use, this is also the only way to allow the power of devouring to evolve and grow stronger. The power of devouring originated from Baku, The Great Serpent, a serpent that came into existence alongside the world itself as the sole holder of the power of devouring, the only one the world would ever accept holding the power of devouring.



What followed the information about his own powers were memories, so many memories. The memories of everyone in the town as it was devoured started flowing into Huang Ying's mind, with the pain threatening to tear his head apart, he could do nothing but grit his teeth and repeatedly hit his head again the ground, holding onto his last sliver of consciousness and sanity as hundreds of years of memories started flowing into his mind.



When everything was over and the dust settled, the only thing left was a lone boy crouched over at the bottom of the basin, covered by his waist length pitch black hair, throwing up despite his stomach being empty, tears cascading down his face. As the influx of memories finished, he learned the reason the entire town was devoured, instead of just the bandits. It was because of him. Because rebuilding a human body to become strong enough to accept the power of devouring requires massive amounts of energy, and the easiest way to gain that energy is simply to devour all that is around.



After Huang Ying finished throwing up, he simply sat there, staring vacantly at the area around him, the memories of the townspeople kept on playing in his head. He saw the students of [Golden Dawn] going to their classes, the bakers waking up in the morning, housewives gossiping amongst each other, the guards doing their patrols. Every moment of every life in the town was constantly replaying itself in vivid detail, as if Huang Ying had been there himself. Huang Ying stood up and brushed his pitch black hair out of his face, revealing his black eyes which had become frighteningly deep and still like the ocean, revealing none of his thoughts.



«Why is it like this?» He muttered to himself as he brushed of the dust from the clothes the guard, Xiao Yan, had given him. He found it strange, even though he had all these memories, all this knowledge that didn't belong to him but was taken from someone else, he didn't feel any different, he was still clear on who he was, clear on who was the owner of which memory, it was like the memories he took were simply stories he had read in a book and just so happened to remember.



Huang Ying heaved a sigh at these thoughts and seeing as he couldn't come up with an answer, simply pushed them to the back of his mind, no need to waste time thinking about something he had no answer to.



«You seem awfully calm about this, considering how you were sniveling and crying not too long ago.» The sarcastic voice of Li Jun resounded within Huang Ying's mind as he was gathering his thoughts to try and find out what to do next.



«I'd say you seem awfully calm too, consider all that just happened, all that we just saw. Seems like you have heard of Baky before?» instead of answering Li Jun's question, Huang Ying asked one back instead.



«....I have indeed heard about Baku before, mostly from books.» Li Jun's somewhat hesitant voice sounded out, the Huang Ying from before might not have noticed the slight hesitation in his voice, but the current Huang Ying had the memories of over 1000 different lifetimes, his mind calmer and more collected than ever before, and could easily discover that Li Jun knew more than he let on, but since he obviously didn't want to talk about it, he decided not to keep asking and simply change the subject.



«I have the memories of everyone that was in the town as they were devoured, it can almost count as living more than a 1000 different lives, that's why i can stay calm, it wouldn't really be fitting to be the reason behind their deaths and then just sit around crying. They have died so that i can live, the least i can do to repay their sacrifice is live a good life worthy of their sacrifice.» Leaving the basin and looking eastwards, Huang Ying talked as if he was simply justifying things to himself. «It seems like the attack today wasn't some random attack, but rather planned. The mayor was assassinated before the attack even began, and it even took place when several of the teachers and students of [Golden Dawn] were in the capital, seems like there was someone pulling the strings behind it all.»



«What will you do now? The town is gone, and you have nowhere to stay?» Li Jun seemed to simply not care about the reasons behind the attack and rather asked Huang Ying what he would do from now on.



«Didn't you listen, i said i wanted to prove them wrong, that i can reach the apex even without the gods, and i'll do just that. Everyone in the town died so that i could be free, so i'll make damn sure that i'll do more with my life than just become a farmer or craftsman. Besides, if i don't work towards becoming free from destiny, won't that just mean that i am betraying my own dream? How then am i supposed to live with myself. So isn't it about time that you teach me how to cultivate Li Jun? Having such a good teacher nearby and not using him would just be a waste.» Huang Ying chuckled as he finished his words, he himself might not have noticed, but Li Jun certainly noticed that the words he used were the words spoken to him by Xiao Yan, the prison guard.

 

While your story is improving as of ch 4-5, I find some settings from the previous chapters don't add up, makes it a bit hard to buy.

Azure Spring Town is a village with a bit over 1000 people yet the street seems packed with people, I don't think all the villager would go out crowding the street, moreover in the snowy morning. It is said lacking resources yet a grand academy was built nearby. And with academy this big, it's unlikely that adjacent area, with a good view at that, doesn't grow bustling with bussiness or attract a lot of newcomers there.

Well, that's my two cents, hope it'll be useful for you

 

yeah, i was completely stumped on how to do the opening so i tried to throw together something that seemed coherent, i'll take care to be more careful in the future, thanks for the advice.

 

Chapter 6: Organizing Knowledge.



“True, right now it seems like you cultivating is no longer just a dream, so it certainly seems like it would be appropriate to impart some knowledge to you, but in return I want you to answer some of my questions first.” After giving it some thought Li Jun found no reason to refuse, so he only put forth some simple terms, after all, no expert cultivators are willing to impart their experience for free. The only reason Li Jun, agreed so easily was partly because he had been with Huang Ying for his entire life and had a solid grasp on his character and personality, and partly because he had seen what had happened as the town was swallowed and the subsequent change in Huang Ying's disposition and wanted to know the reason.



“Fair enough, equivalent exchange. Ask away, i'll answer to the best of my ability.” Huang Ying had no qualms about just answering a few questions if it meant that he could gain more knowledge about this world, something he was sorely lacking, even after absorbing the memories of everyone in the town, he only gained some elementary knowledge about the surrounding area and cultivation, after all, the one who had the highest cultivation amongst the swallowed people was only at the 3rd heaven.



“Good, the questions won't be too hard, just answer me these, Firstly: You mentioned 'Devouring' I want to know everything you know about your powers. Secondly: You 'devoured' the memories of the people in the town, I want to know how these memories work, and Thirdly: What happened to you? I like to think that I have a pretty good grasp on you and your personality after spending these 14 years with you, so simply brushing off the death of everyone in the town and your current demeanor and cold indifference.... it just doesn't seem like you. Answer me these questions and I promise I will teach you cultivation, at least until you surpass me.” Li Jun fired of the questions and acted like him teaching him cultivation was a great favor he was bestowing upon Huang Ying, but only he knew that being able to teach Huang Ying cultivation would surely be a great blessing for him as well, after all, not even he had ever heard of the element of devouring, so in his eyes, Huang Ying's future would surely be unimaginably grand, allowing him to gain his own benefits at that point.



Huang Ying responded to the questions by softly tapping the tip of his nose with his right index finger, a habit he often displayed as he was thinking and gathering his thoughts. “Very well, to answer the third question first, it is slightly hard to explain, the best way to phrase it would simple be to say that I have seen too much currently. I have the memories of all the bandits and townspeople who were still alive as the town was swallowed. How many people have the bandits killed? How many people have the townspeople watched die? How many have they loved? All of that has been suddenly transferred to me, but it still feels unreal, it feels like everything going on around me right now is simply me reading a book or hearing someone narrate me a tale, so i'm not sure how to react to it. It's not that i've suddenly become cold and indifferent, it's just that after seeing all those things, expressing emotions normally, has suddenly become a thousand times harder. Who knows, maybe after I find something I want to do with all my heart and soul i'll become better at expressing myself again.” Huang Ying gave a self deprecating smile, it was truly a strange feeling, knowing how to feel, but being unable to express those emotions, instead only showing indifference.



“Oh? ' Something you want to do with all your heart and soul?' What happened to your pursuit of the apex to prove the gods and your parents wrong? And wouldn't that Baku thing also count as a god? Negating your thoughts?” Li Jun caught on to some of the hidden meanings behind Huang Ying's words and fired off some new questions.



In response to the new questions, all Huang Ying could do was give a bitter smile and respond. “Let's be honest with each other, some people would surely put reaching the apex as their sole dream and be willing to do anything to achieve it, but am I really such a person? Hoping to reach the apex to disprove the gods and my parents was and even still is nothing but a show of childish defiance and pouting, it's simply me being unhappy with my circumstances and wanting to find a way to went my frustration, but for now it's all I have, so I might as well use it as a guideline for now. As to whether or not Baku counts as a god, it's hard to say. He doesn't fit in the normal category of whereas something existing because there is a god, it's more of a case where Baku exists because people believe it. As long as people believe that everything ends at some point, Baku will exist as the embodiment of that ideal.”



“Ho? Seems like you are more self aware than I thought, you even know how childish your dream really is. Now go on and answer the other questions.” Li Jun simply snickered bemusedly in response to Huang Ying's bitter self-realization.



Hearing the one who interrupted him by asking new questions earlier urge him on to answer the original questions, Huang Ying simply chose to ignore the shamelessness and do as he was told. “To answer the second question, the way the swallowed memories work, it's like my mind is split in half. On one side I have the memories I am sure are mine, memories that I see from my own viewpoint. While on the other side, are the memories I have swallowed, memories that I see from the viewpoint of a spectator, I simply stand aside and watch everything play out, like i'm reading a book, so I get the memories and experiences, but actually utilizing what they show, like experience in forging or pill making, still requires me to attempt and familiarize myself with it first. It truly feels rather surreal. Accessing the memories, even my own, feels like going through an index, everything is so neatly ordered suddenly, I even find myself remembering things I had previously forgotten. And to answer the first question, what 'devouring' entails, it means just that. Depending on the difference in strength between me and the enemy, I can devour everything of his. I can devour his memories, his cultivation base, the cultivation art's he cultivated, the life energy, flesh, blood, organs, bones, even the element he was blessed with I can devour. Say I am fighting someone who is on equal power with me, it will be impossible for me to devour his everything without weakening him first, and devouring something he is currently using is even harder, but stealing a few memories here and there while fighting doesn't seem to be too hard, but without actually partaking in a fight it's hard to say.” After thinking and organizing his thoughts a bit and realizing he has explained everything he knows, Huang Ying stops his explanation.



“Now, since I have upheld my end of the bargain, it should be your turn to tell me more about cultivating.” Thinking about finally learning about cultivation, Huang Ying couldn't help but let a faint smile appear on his face.



“Ho? Index like memory huh, that is truly enviable, even some of the top cultivators of my time hadn't trained their mind to such an extent.” After enviously murmuring a few words, Li Jun started talking about his cultivation experiences. “Let's start with some basics, looking at the energy in your body, you should have reached the 3rd heaven after that entire spectacle, so i'll start there. The start of cultivation is called [The Nine Heavens of Houtian] signifying that 9 will always revert to 1, it is also just used to build a foundation and prepare a mortal for true cultivating, only someone who has reached the [Xantian] stage can call themselves a true cultivator, at least that is what it is like in the larger cultivation countries, in a tiny place like [Green Willows] a cultivator at the 9th heaven is probably a big shot and near godlike existence. Now listen closely, the 9 different heavens are, in order: [The Mortal Heaven], [The Blue Heaven], [The Qi Heaven], [The Gathering Heaven], [The Condensing Heaven] [The Reinforcing Heaven], [The Pure Heaven], [The Trigram Heaven] and finally [The Tribulation Heaven].” Li Jun spoke the words lazily, as if to signal that to teach about something this basic was something far below his status. But despite his lazy demeanor, he still explained everything in great detail, not allowing Huang Ying to miss a single thing.



“Every heaven plays a specific part in setting up the future path for a cultivator, [The Mortal Heaven] signifies the first step and is a mortal's first contact with the heavens, establishing a connection. [The Blue Heaven] takes a step forward and has the mortal use his connection with the heavens to notice the existence of the natural energy, the Qi, around him. [The Qi Heaven] is just that, the mortal establishes a connection to the natural energy and using that connection to draw trace amounts of it into his body. [The Gathering Heaven] simply consists of gathering enough of the natural energy into the mortals body, cleansing it from within to prepare it for and allow it to transcend the mortal boundaries. [The Condensing Heaven] consists of gathering all the qi gathered in the body and condensing it in one point of the body, most often the dantian. [The Reinforcing Heaven] consists of reinforcing the qi that you have condensed, allowing it to take a more physical shape, becoming liquid. [The Pure Heaven] consists of taking the now liquid qi and condensing it even more, all the way until it becomes a small round crystal. [The Trigram Heaven] is all about the element you were blessed with and allowing it to leave your body and manifest in the world around you, allowing you to shape and alter the natural energy in the world around you, summoning ice and fire with a mere wave of the hand. The final heaven, [The Tribulation Heaven] is the final step before [Xiantian Builder] and consists of a single step, withstanding the heavenly tribulation and transcending mortal boundaries, once you have done that, the qi crystal will shatter and form a core based on the element you have been blessed with. Talking about [Xantian Builder] and the stages past that is still too early for you, it will simply confuse you, it is more important to first build a solid foundation and make sure that you don't stray from the path. En, that should be all about the houtian stage.” Right after Li Jun finished talking, he seemed to have thought of something.



“Right, you said you could even devour other people's elements? Does that mean that you currently have several elements residing within you? If you do you might have a different cultivation journey than others.”



Huang Ying quickly turned his vision inward, following his newly built meridians and inspecting the little qi he currently had running through them.

“Shouldn't be a problem, I think. I do indeed have several different elements in my meridians, but they seem to act more like supporters to the devouring element, so using it as the base for reaching [Xantian Builder] shouldn't be a problem?” Huang Ying answered the question, but even he wasn't quite sure about how it would end up.



“Hmm, shouldn't be a problem for the foreseeable future, we'll just have to wait and see. But since you have several types of elements in your body right now, can you use them all?” Giving it a bit of thought and not coming up with anything Li Jun decided to ask a different question instead.



“Not really, the only element I can currently separate from the devouring force and use freely seems to be the ice element, I can touch upon the other ones, but the moment I try to use them, it's like there is a force rejecting me.” After a bit of testing, Huang Ying came to an answer.



“That's good, if people were to discover that you were in control of a completely unheard of power, it's hard to know how they would react, it's best if you exercise caution and use the ice element as a cover for now, if you ever become forced to use the devouring element, you must make sure to leave no witnesses.” Li Jun was sure that Huang Ying would think of this himself, but caution was a ship that would sail a ship for ten thousand years, so reminding him would never hurt.



“En, I know. It's probably for the best to get used to both the power of the ice element and the devouring element, so im planning on heading to the bandit hideout for a bit, we'll need some money for traveling anyway, so using the few guards they have left behind as practice targets won't hurt.” Huang Ying nodded his head to Li Jun's reminder and turned eastward, heading to the currently almost empty bandit hideout.

 

Chapter 7: Bandit Camp.



Two days east of [Azure Springs Town] lies a small chain of mountains, the most notable mountain being [Wolf-crag Mountain], a steep and large mountain in the shape of a crouching wolf, seemingly ready to strike and devour the sun at any time. On this mountain the [Wolf-crag Bandits] have carved their base, a natural fortress defended by mountains on three sides and with only one entrance, it has stood tall and proud for the last 50 years, bringing in wanderers and mercenaries from all around to slowly build up their forces, becoming the only bandit force in an area of 300 kilometers.



Jin Ao Chin released a large yawn, today was already the third day in a row he had stood guard over the entrance to the hideout, the last three days he had been basically living at this guard post. The guard post was located a mere kilometer from the hideout, so even if the bell was broken, a simple shout would be able to alert the other guards of the hideout. The guard post was in the shape of a simple and inconspicuous wooden cottage next to the road. They were ordered to take turns guarding the entrance to the hideout, but ever since the main force had moved out to raze [Azure Springs] and only left behind six people to guard the hideout, they simply decided to place one person at the outermost guard post to keep a lookout for when the boss and the main force would return, and Jin Ao Chin being the youngest member at seventeen years of age ended up having to stand guard while the other five people got to enjoy themselves.



“Just you wait you bastards, leaving me out here while you get to enjoy yourselves in the warmth with the women and the alcohol. I'll make damn sure that you have to suffer the cold just as much as I do after the boss comes back.” Jin Ao Chin was muttering to himself while rubbing his hands together to keep them warm, winter always hit the hardest here in the mountains, so even though he wasn't on the actual mountain, but just on the road leading to the mountain, after three days the cold had already seeped through the thin clothes he used as a disguise and seeped into his bones.



Just as he was about to throw more firewood into the fireplace, he heard a knock on the door. Knowing that his five other companions would simply enter, and the boss and the main force would simply ride past this outpost, the only answer he could think of was that there was another hunter or forager that had wandered into the wrong parts of the forest after losing track of his path due to the snowfall.

“Well, at least i'll be able to alleviate some of the boredom now.” While his mouth lifted into a sinister grin he tossed the firewood into the fireplace and headed over to the door to see what poor fool had walked into his hands while he was in such a bad mood.



Opening the door, the first thing Jin Ao Chen noticed was the color black. What greeted him was a youth, marks of his young age still apparent on his face, showing that he couldn't have been older than fifteen, younger than even Jin Ao Chin himself. He was clad in a black robe with loose sleeves that covered most of his body, not allowing one to get a good look at his figure, but looking at his slightly thin face, he seemed to be a slightly skinny youth. His shiny black hair hung down to his hips like a waterfall while his deep black eyes seemed as deep and still as the ocean, divulging none of his thoughts or emotions. His face was skinny, pale and slightly immature, but he had a steady bearing and already showed signs of handsomeness, he would surely become an elegant, handsome man if he was fed and got to grow a bit more. His deep eyes and shiny black hair, contrasted nicely with his skin, attracting people and inciting a feeling of pleasantness from looking at him.



“Excuse me, I was foraging for some winter herbs, but I can't seem to find my way back and the snow has already covered my tracks, would you mind if I stayed here for a while to warm up before setting of again?” The youth gave a polite smile and spoke with a strong and heroic, yet soft and gentle voice, charming whoever listened to it to put all their attention on him.



“Ah? Of course, just come in, I just threw some more wood on the fire so it'll get nice and warm soon.” Jin Ao Chin moved aside and beckoned the youth in, but his eyes never left the youths back even has he sat down on a chair in front of the fireplace. “It's your lucky day little guy, if you had come later I probably would have headed home, I just stopped here for a short rest after attempting my luck at hunting, but it seems my luck isn't as good as yours, an entire day wasted in the forest with no prey.” Jin Ao Chen gave a light chuckle and gave a faint smile as he too sat down in front of the fire and threw another log into the fireplace.



“It seems like this winter just isn't the season for you and me, but then again, maybe we wasted all our luck on this chance meeting out here?” The youth gave a pleasant laugh and leaned back into the chair, relaxing the muscles in his body.



“Haha, maybe, they do say that no meeting is meaningless, but fate, seems like fate wanted us to meet.” Jin Ao Chen gave a low laugh and reached for another log, but just as he was halfway to the stack of logs, he quickly lowered his arm, grabbed the hilt of the sword at his side and directed it into a quick stab aimed at the youth's chest. Just as the sword was a few inches from the youth's chest, his arm suddenly stopped, the blade trembling slightly. When Jin Ao Chin looked down, all he could see was a pitch black serpent with a bloody maw filled with sharp teeth slithering up from his legs and up his body before resting it's head on the arm holding the sword.



“Ho? I really thought I gave off the perfect impression, I wonder what ticked you off. Or could it be that you bandits simply kill everyone you come across?” The youth's pleasant voice rang out again, but to Jin Ao Chin the voice suddenly seemed to come from a demon as he looked at those deep black eyes.



“You stupid little brat, no forager will travel during the winter in such light clothing, and certainly not without a pouch to store the herbs in.” Jin Ao Chin sneered and cursed at the youth to try and alleviate some of his own fear. Just as his voice faded, he lifted his left hand and quickly shot it towards the hilt of the blade in his right hand. Before his hand even made it halfway to the blade, the serpent on his arm bit down, and suddenly he lost all feeling in his arms and legs, powerlessly falling to the floor.



“Wha? What did you do, what happened to my arms and legs?” Jin Ao Chen's voice was quivering in fear, all it took was one bit and suddenly he lost all feeling in his limbs, he tried to move them, but to no avail, it was like someone had simply cut them off.



The serpent removed it's teeth from his arm and slithered away from him, instead slithering up the body of the youth, before slowly fading into the body of the youth, replaced by a black, smoke like aura that gave the youth a hint of fiendishness.



“Ah, there's no need to worry, I simply devoured your memory of how to control your limbs, given enough time and training, im sure you would be able to learn it again. It's a shame you have information I need.” The youth stood up from the chair and gave a faint and gentle smile that simply looked like the smile of a demon to Jin Ao Chin before making his way over to the motionless body.



“Now then, please allow me to get a good hang of exactly how these powers work, don't worry, your journey to the yellow springs river won't be lonely, all the [Wolf-crag Bandits] will be joining you.” The youth placed his hand on the chest of Jin Ao Chin and spoke in a comforting voice, like he was talking to a child who had gotten scolded.



Huang Ying left the cottage with a frown on his face, the only thing left of Jin Ao Chin a frozen body. The last hour of experimenting on this bandit called Jin Ao Chin had allowed him to fully grasp to which extent his devouring and ice powers worked, while he couldn't use the ice element with the natural energy around him, infusing it into his qi was no problem. He could also summon a miniature Baku as a manifestation of his devouring powers, but it was too weak to be used against people that were on the same level of power as him, the only reason it worked on Jin Ao Chin was because he was someone who hadn't even stepped into the 1st heaven. The experimenting allowed him to ascertain how to control the devouring power and how to control what was devoured, sadly, Jin Ao Chin was simply too weak, so even after devouring all his energy and even soul, Huang Ying was still only at the peak of the 3rd heaven, just a small step away from gathering enough qi within his body to attempt to reach the 4th stage and immediately moving on to the 5th stage by gathering and condensing it all at once.



“Seems like these bastards have simply lost all shred of humanity, seems like none of them need to return to samsara, i'm better off just devouring their souls for my own good.” Huang Ying spoke with a frown, after scouring all the memories of Jin Ao Chin, he had seen how they treated the servants and slaves, especially the women, at the hideout after the boss left to raze [Azure Springs.] Lifting his head and looking towards the [Wolf-crag Mountain], a faint smile crept up on Huang Ying's lips as he walked towards the entrance to the hideout. “I wonder, will the five of you allow me to reach the 4th heaven?”

 

Chapter 8: Removing The Trash.



“Hey, little Ying, once you devour the rest of the trash in the hideout, you won't devour their everything right?” As Huang Ying was making his way towards the hideout, Li Jun's slightly hesitant voice rang out in his mind.



“Hmm, I don't see a reason not too, devouring their bodies will help me increase my bodily strength, while absorbing their life force and energy will help me break through to the 4th and 5th sky quickly. I figured that since you said it was best to reach the 8th heaven and leave the [Green Willows] continent as fast as possible, it would be best to wring these bandits completely dry off life and resources. Why, do you need something from them?” Huang Ying responded absentmindedly, focusing most of his concentration on utilizing and training in a skill he had taken from the memories belonging to one of the bandits, [Breeze Steps] a skill focused on manipulating trace amounts of qi to remove all traces of presence belonging to the controller of the skill, removing scent, aura and sound, allowing the user to hide themselves.



“I noticed earlier, when you were controlling the devouring process on that lookout, while you absorbed most of the energy from his soul, trace amounts of it got transferred to me, slowing down the decay and even slightly solidifying it, if I got a bit more soul energy, I should be able to stabilize my soul and prevent the decaying process from restarting for at least another 50 years.” Li Jun spoke eagerly while nonchalantly dropping some bombs on Huang Ying.



“Decaying process? What is that and how come I have never heard of it before?” Walking through the gates of the bandit hideout, entering the hallways that had been dug out in the mountain and sticking to the shadows, making his way towards where the lookout last remembered the other guards being gathered, Huang Ying diverted some of his concentration towards Li Jun.



“Haa, there wasn't really a need to tell you earlier, as there was nothing you could do to stop it from happening, but things are different now. You should know what a soul is right? The essence of a person, beast or even some powerful and rare magic treasures and ingredients gradually form a soul as they are born, but these souls can't exist without a body, the laws of heaven will not allow that, so once the soul leaves the body it will slowly start decaying, if it doesn't find a new body in time, it will decay and vanish, forever leaving samsara, the cycle of reincarnation. Since my soul is at a certain level of power, the decay will be fairly slow, holding on for several thousand years is not much of a problem, but as long as the decay takes place, my power will slowly be drained, so when I eventually do get a new body, I would be much weaker than I was when I first left my body. I can use the soul power of these bandits to induce a type of deep sleep, allowing my soul to slumber within the recess of your mind, staving off the decay for as long as possible. I can then either slumber until the absorbed soul power is used up or you wake me up in case of an emergency.” Li Jun heaved a sigh and spoke in detail about the plight that had been gnawing at him ever since he left his body in times long past.



“I see, I didn't know you had it that hard, don't worry, i'll make sure to thoroughly drain their souls and allow you to...” Before Huang Ying had finished speaking, he felt a sense of danger coming from his right. Quickly leaning his body to the left while shooting his right arm upwards allowed him to barely dodge the blade that had come from the hallway to his right and even grab the arm of the assailant, but the small cut on his neck that was dripping a few drops of blood made the sense of danger still linger at the back of his mind, reminding him of how foolish it was to divert his attention while being in an enemy hideout.



Huang Ying's eyes turned cold as he turned to look towards the assailant, from the memories he had stolen from Jin Ao Chin, there was indeed one of the remaining guards that had a fondness for one of the women residing in one of the rooms in this hallway. And indeed, just as he thought, once he turned his head, he came face to face with a short and chubby man whose brown hair covered large parts of his face, only showing off his long and thin lips, currently frozen in a stiff smile. Following right behind this chubby bandit was a trembling young girl dressed in a simple gray robe who that didn't look more than 20, slender frame, small eyes and a slightly upturned nose, black, unkempt hair flowing down all the way to her knees.



Black smoke started seeping from the hand holding onto the wrist of the bandit, and the next thing he knew was that he had lost all control over his limbs, he couldn't even talk anymore as it felt like someone had simply removed his tongue, all he could do was stare viciously at Huang Ying, seemingly wanting to eat him alive.



“You should go back to your room and rest a little, i'm just here to deal with the remaining trash guarding this hideout, after today, the [Wolf-crag Bandits] won't be a problem anymore, so you can go wherever you want. Ah, if you could do me a favor and tell the other servants as well, that'd save me the trouble of going through with it.” Huang Ying glanced at the direction of the trembling girl and spoke a few words in a comforting tone to calm her down.



“Tha...Thank you!” The girl spoke with a trembling voice as tears started welling up in her eyes, before she turned around and ran back into the hallway they had come from.



As Huang Ying watched the back of the girl leave his vision, his eyes gradually turned cold, before they once again riveted onto the chubby bandit. “Really, seems like coming here to remove the trash truly was the right idea, can't you even follow one of the simplest of rules ' do not make sexual advances unless you are given consent'?” Huang Ying flashed the bandit a bright smile that sent a cold shiver up the bandit's spine, he opened his mouth to try to speak, but all that came out was a shrill exhale before Huang Ying's hand gently grabbed onto his face as his body started emitting black smoke, the last thing the bandit saw in this world was a demonic youth with a brilliant smile on his face.



Huang Ying devoured everything, even the body of the chubby bandit, but simply organized the absorbed energy and stored it in different places in his body. He was currently at the peak of the 3rd heaven, any more energy may initiate his breakthrough immediately, and being in the midst of an enemy headquarter was not the ideal place to try and control a breakthrough.



Huang Ying took out a small cloth from the breast pocket on his robe and wiped away the blood on his neck. As he wiped away the blood, he was slightly shocked to find that the small wound had already disappeared, not even leaving behind a mark, but he simply associated it with his absorbing of the bandit's body and the increase in his body's strength. Just as he was about to throw away the handkerchief, he was shocked once more as he discovered that within the crimson blood, there were traces of black lines, squiggling, like little water serpents stuck on dry land.



“Please stop being so weird, at least try to look normal and not let me get into needless trouble.” In response to what he had seen, Huang Ying could only give a dry laugh before proceeding to make his way deeper into the hideout, from the memories of the chubby bandit he had found the location of the last 4 guards.



“Since you have gathered such nice riches, I hope you won't mind if I put them to good use.” Walking deeper into the hideout and thinking about some of the wealth that was stored in the treasury of the bandit's, Huang Ying couldn't help but let his tongue run across his lips as his mouth lifted into a slight smile.

 

Chapter 9: The Bandit's Nightmare.



The table was covered in food, alcohol was flowing freely and the mood was festive. The room was lit brightly by torches hanging on the walls, scantily clad women were dancing and there was a group of musicians playing a variety of instruments standing in one corner of the room. There were three large rugged middle aged men and one small thin man sitting around the table filled with food, a women in each arm, their hands were roaming around the curves of the women and their faces were filled with large smiles. Once one looked closer one would be able to see that even though the mood was festive, the only ones who were happy were the four men seated around the table. The dances were constantly taking fearful glances at the four men, the musicians were teary eyed and gritting their teeth, while the women who were being caressed were trembling and seemed as if they wanted nothing more than to cry.



“Haha, i'm never going to be able to understand how Fatty Fan is able to simply leave these festive occasions just to go and have fun with that little washer maid, truly, pigs only ever have eyes for pigs.” The largest man laughed loudly to the other men around the tabke as his hands dipped below the skirt of one of the women he was fondling.



“Truly! We have so many pretty girls here and he goes for such a plain and dull one, one truly cannot compliment his tastes in women!” The small thin man was quick to flatter the rugged man while the two other men around the table simply followed the large man in his loud laughter.



Hearing the words and seeing the actions of the men, one of the musicians couldn't help but look at them with disdain and let out a low snort. The skinny man seemed to have heard this snort however, as he snapped his head around to glare at the musicians. The one who entered his eyes was a little girl, looking no more than twelve, fair skin, large and clear emerald green eyes, chestnut colored hair tied up into a long braid that reached all the way down to her hips, small cherry red lips, thin eyebrows accentuating her eyes and a small cute nose blended together with her loose pink robe to give her a cute and adorable look. The only thing taking away from her loveliness was the look of disdain in her eyes as she looked at the men, especially the skinny man.



“You seem to have something to say, little brat?” The skinny man spoke with a gloomy and slightly high pitched voice as he glared at the little girl in a threatening manner.



“Humph, being so weak and useless that you were left behind here, yet speaking so grandly and proudly as if you are the kings of this world. I pity your parents who had to birth trash like you.” The little girl looked lovely, but her tongue was as sharp as a sword, cursing and demeaning the four men.



“You should be one of the new people that was brought in just recently, it seems like there has yet to be anyone to teach you just who the bosses around here are, why don't you allow me this pleasure?” The skinny man narrowed his eyes at her words and slowly stood up while talking, a sinister grin creeping up on his lips.



Just as the skinny man had walked three steps, one of the torches hanging behind the musicians went dark, leading to the skinny man stopping his steps in bewilderment for a second. Just as he was about to take another step, another torch went out, this time to his left, following this, the other torches quickly started going out, one by one, until the entire room was shrouded in absolute darkness and a cold chuckle rang out. “Haha, you are truly outspoken little girl, well said 'I pity your parents who had to birth trash like you', you really know how to hit where it hurts, well then, allow me to clean up this trash.” As the voice rung out, everyone in the room felt a shiver crawl up their spine, the voice sounded so pleasant, but it's tone was so cold that it sounded like a demon had descended upon the room.



The others in the room may not have noticed what happened, but Jing He saw it all from start to finish. Once the first torch went out, she already had a strange, ominous feeling creep up on her in the back of her mind, then as the next torch went out, she managed to spot it, slithering along the wall was a serpent so black that it seemed to absorb even the surrounding light, all it did was slither past the torches, but ever torch it past simply went out. After all the torches had gone out, all the hair on her body suddenly stood up and she felt an immense sense of danger from her left, turning her head, she saw a youth walk out from the dark hallway connecting the room with the rest of the hideout.



A slightly pale face, a black robe, pitch black hair cascading downwards his back to his hips and eyes black like the night sky, but the occasional flicker of light that flashed past them made them seem like a field of stars. The robe was loose and slightly too large, but his face was slightly skinny and immature, showing that he couldn't be much older than her, maybe only one or two years, but his bearing was as steady as a mountain, his back straight as a sword. He was walking slowly and carefully, each step as steady as Mt. Tai, seemingly young and immature, yet his aura giving her an intense sense of danger, she knew clearly, that even though she was already at the 4th heaven, this youth who didn't seem like he had any cultivation at all could probably kill her if they were to start fighting.



The serpent slithered down from the walls and brushed past the four men that had all gathered together, as the snake brushed past them, a sliver of black smoke started to seep out of it's scales before floating over to the group of four men and entering their bodies, after which they abruptly shuddered and stiffened, no longer moving.



The youth simply slowly walked over, grabbed the four men by the collar and dragged them after him as he headed for the are where the treasury was located, as he left the room his voice echoed out in the darkness once more. “The [Wolf-crag Bandit's are no more, you should all just leave and go do whatever it is you want to do, closest village is a three days march to the south.”



while the other captives were rejoicing over their fortune and started making their way out of the hideout, Jing He couldn't help but follow after him, only to see him enter the treasury and lock the door, him and the four bandit's inside.



Huang Ying let go of the four bandits and simply let them drop to the floor, their expression frozen in horror and fear. He locked the door to the treasury, making sure that no one would be able to interfere and stop his breakthrough.



He turned towards the four men on the ground and gave them a slight smile and was just about to speak when the largest man unsteadily spoke out. “Yo-You...What did you...do to us...? Why can't.....we... move or.... talk?”



“Ho? You can already talk again, seems like I truly underestimated you, I didn't expect you to be able to talk again so quickly with just a 2nd heaven cultivation.” Huang Ying spoke out in surprise, seemed like he really couldn't drag this out for much longer, lest something unexpected happened.



“Don't... belittle me... like that.... some brat not even..... at the 1st heaven.... who can only use.....poison.... has no right to talk.” The large man spoke while gritting his teeth and glaring at Huang Ying, attempting time and time again to move his limbs.

“1st heaven? Li Jun, why does he think i'm at the 1st heaven?” Huang Ying voiced out his question to Li Jun while grabbing the large man and activating his devouring qi.



“Not sure, my best bet is that it has something to do with your devouring element, perhaps this is it's way of concealing itself. But this is good news for you, looking like a normal mortal will make you much more inconspicuous and make it easier to perform some tasks, after all, if you ever need to prove what level you are at, you simply need to activate a bit of your qi.” Li Jun spoke out his theory as Huang Ying finished absorbing the last man.



Huang Ying couldn't find anything detrimental about his idea, so he simply gave a quick sound of confirmation before he sat down and allowed his miniature Baku to roam the treasury, absorbing the herbs that contained some natural energy and would help him breakthrough. Feeling the surging energy within his body after he absorbed the last of the guards, Li Jun quickly transmitted some knowledge about how to break through the different stages in the [Houtian] realm before starting on his own task of absorbing the new soul power and enter his slumber.



Huang Ying's mouth curved into a faint smile as he sensed the surging energy coursing through his body, the time to breakthrough had come.

 

Chapter 10: Breakthrough.



Huang Ying sat cross legged in the lotus position on the floor, a steady stream of energy entered Huang Ying's body through his connection with his miniature Baku and the energy he had absorbed from the final five guards of the hideout coursed through his meridians, constantly opening new paths and expelling a smelly gray goo through his pores until his entire body was covered by a layer of the filth. Thanks to the information he had gotten from Li Jun, he knew that these were the impurities that his body had built up over time, the expelling of impurities was a clear sign that he had safely entered the 4th heaven [The Gathering Heaven]. But Huang Ying never intended to stop there, if he wanted to simply break into the 4th heaven, there was no need to go through the trouble of traveling all the way to this hideout, he could simply have broken through while heading for the capital. No, what he wanted to do was use the resources that the bandits had gathered and use them to break straight through to the 5th heaven or even above. In addition to that, in the memories of the bandit leader, he had seen some items in the treasury that would be of help to him in his future travels.



Leading the increasingly large amounts of energy through his meridians, Huang Ying started sensing an increasing familiarity and connection with both the natural energy around him as well as the qi within him. He allowed to surging qi within him to flow freely through his meridians while going through the memories of some of the bandits, organizing the items within the treasury, sorting them into what could be absorbed and what should be saved for later. After he finished sorting through the items he had memories off, he sent of the serpent to absorb and send over the energy from all the items he could currently safely absorb. The qi within him had done over a hundred revolutions around his body, expelling nearly all the impurities within him, making him look more like a gray rock than a person.



After allowing the energy to complete it's 999th revolution, he felt a saturated feeling in his body, the last six revolutions hadn't expelled anymore impurities, so Huang Ying decided that this was the best chance to breakthrough the 4th heaven.



He quickly took control over the energy within his body and started making it all flow in the same direction, towards his dantian. The energy acted like soldiers under the lead of their general, rushing towards his dantian in a frenzied, yet orderly fashion. Once all the energy had settled in his dantian, it started to float around like black mist with intermittent flashes of differently colored light. The black mist was the element of devouring, while the flashes of lights were the other elements he had absorbed so far, the most dominant one among them being a cold white light.



The internal energy settling as mist in the dantian was a sign that one had entered the earlier stages of the 5th heaven, [The Gathering Heaven]. Upon seeing how easily the mist formed in his dantian, Huang Ying couldn't help but heave a sigh. “Seems like Li Jun was right, the 9 heavens are simply the most basic of the basic in cultivation. Seems like I can accommodate more energy now, so I might as well see just how far I can push in one go” Finishing his murmuring, Huang Ying closed his eyes again and commanded the energy traveling towards his dantian and the energy in his dantian to converge and condense.



As the mist gathered together and slowly condense, becoming smaller and smaller, Huang Ying continued to supplement it with a mixture of energy from the air around him and the energy sent to him by his Baku. Time continued to slowly pass while Huang Ying was condensing his qi more and more.



“Does he not have any manners? Doesn't he know it's rude to keep an elegant lady like myself waiting like this?” Jing He was sitting outside the treasury, muttering to herself, sounding like a neglected housewife. She had already been sitting outside of the treasury for close 13 days, stacking a small hill of food next to the treasury, as if afraid that if she had to continuously leave to go gather new food that he might finish and simply leave, and that was something she couldn't allow, there was something in that treasury that she desperately needed.



After getting over the initial shock she felt when she sensed the energy waves belonging to someone at the 4th heaven, and then the energy waves of someone at the 5th heaven, she had simply decided to give up on being surprised and had spent the remainder of her time simply sitting there in meditation and occasionally sulking.



At the dawn of the 14th day, another energy wave spread out from the sealed treasury, prompting Jing He to be shocked once more, before quickly returning to sulking. “He broke through again? Does he not know how rude it is to break through so easily while others have to try several times just to succeed in sensing and absorbing the natural energy? Is he eating the herbs in there like candy? Doesn't he know that sharing is caring? Rude fellow.” Jing He puffed up her cheeks and pouted, murmuring to herself about the time she tried to break through the different heavens.



Huang Ying opened his eyes and took a deep breath before gently exhaling and standing up, all the impurities and filth that had gathered on his body blew of him before turning into dust and vanishing, revealing his clean appearance. Eyes like a star field, hair like a black waterfall and skin now giving of a healthy light bronze luster. Breaking through to the 6th heaven had refined his body further, bringing him one step closer to the body needed for ascension.



“seems like i'll need to use a small period of time to get used to and stabilize my new strength before I can keep increasing it.” Clenching his hand and hearing the popping of his joints and feeling the surging power flowing beneath his skin, he couldn't help but smile. Turning his vision inward, towards his dantian, there was now a small black puddle with different colored dots floating around in his dantian, this was his qi compressed to a liquid state.



Looking around the treasury that was now almost half- empty, Huang Ying couldn't help but give a bitter smile, seems like he really used quite a bit of resources this time around. Looking around once more he quickly spotted the two items he had come here for, placed securely on a pedestal, separating them from the rest of the items. The first item was a small, seemingly ordinary purple ring, but Huang Ying knew that this was a rare inter spatial ring, a ring containing it's own dimension, allowing for storage of items, one simply needed to insert some qi and one would be able to insert or extract items.



Putting the ring on his right middle finger, he grabbed the second item, a silver colored double edged long sword with a blade length of 70 cm and a width of two fingers. This was the second item he came here for, this was a sword that the bandit boss had come across a few years earlier, but couldn't use since his cultivation was too low. Inserting your qi into the blade would allow you to not only strengthen and sharpen the blade, but also use it to manifest your element in the are around it. Huang Ying grabbed the sword and held it in his right hand, feeling the weight and getting used to the length.



“Hmm, seeing as you don't have a name, how about I just give you one then? Seeing as I currently can only use the ice element and devouring element, how about [Tear of Ice]?” After thinking over the name a bit and not feeling anything wrong about it, Huang Ying casually settle for the name and attempted to make contact with Li Jun, but received no answer, so he simply assumed that Li Jun had already entered the slumber he spoke of earlier, meaning that for the first time in Huang Ying's life, he was truly alone. Once he thought of this, he couldn't help feeling pangs of loneliness and even a slight unease, but he quickly buried those feelings away and strode towards the door and opened it. Upon opening it, the first thing that greeted him was something flying into his chest, accompanied by a lovely voice shouting at him.



“Hand over my hairpin you rude slowpoke!”