Chapter 44

They’re Coming

After Hugh explained why they couldn’t drop him off to be with his ‘family’ he had sent Chu Shen to a room and then assigned a guard to him.

The guard was kind though Chu Shen didn’t like the looks of pity that he gave him every now and then. The guard had pointed out a couple weird things that were in the cabin. There was something called a hologram, a food synthesizer, and there was a desk and chair that he had called the computer interface.

After pointing out everything the guard told Chu Shen, “Just ask the computer any questions and it will answer you.”

Chu Shen looked at the guard. “Who is the computer and how do I ask it to do anything?”

The guard stared at Chu Shen trying to determine if he was serious. He was. ‘Country hick huh. I didn’t think the colony was that bad but maybe the parents were anti-tech.’

“Well the computer is not a person but an object, an artificial intelligence programmed to watch over the crew. If you want to ask any questions just say it out loud.” After that the guard left to stand outside the room.

Chu Shen didn’t get what he meant but if the computer could talk to Chu Shen and it was an object, then it must be similar to a treasure spirit. They were rare but occasionally they did appear in high-level treasures.

Chu Shen sat down to cultivate but when he did he frowned. He could sense energy was barely present inside the room. There was a vast flood of it a little bit away but for some reason it was being blocked. He couldn’t cultivate like this, otherwise even with his cultivation technique it would take over a couple months to breakthrough, such was the small amount of energy available in the room.

Chu Shen tried talking to Master Ti Wu but for some reason he couldn’t contact him. (Inside the Voids Hand Ti Wu decided to take a break. He really didn’t want to try and answer his disciples constant questions so he blocked himself off.) Since he couldn’t contact him he decided to ask the computer some questions.

“Computer, where am I, what city am I in?” Chu Shen felt a little bit silly talking to air like this but what happened next truly surprised him.

A voice that for some reason had a bland voice with a metallic undertone answered his question. “You are aboard the UBF Spaceship Casanova. We are in hyperspace currently en-route to the colony Getrin. We shall arrive there in three hours, exactly fifteen minutes before the bugs land on the surface. “

Chu Shen looked around in surprise before becoming excited. He’d never thought he’d meet a treasure spirit or artificial intelligence as the soldier had put it. He looked like a kid in a candy store.

“What’s a spaceship and what’s hyperspace.” He asked the computer for clarification on some points.

“A spaceship is a mechanical vehicle using a variety of methods to cross space to reach other destinations such as moons, worlds, asteroids, and other celestial bodies. Hyperspace is described as a subspace that FTL or faster-than-light travel is possible through using a special energy called Tachyons.”

Chu Shen had an expression of deep shock. Travel to other worlds was basically a pipe dream until they reached a level of a Cosmo’s Immortal. These people on the other hand barely cultivated. There was only the smallest of Qi inside their bodies yet through mechanical means they were able to travel to other worlds by themselves? This was absolutely amazing!

Chu Shen started quizzing the computer on both history and also asked for descriptions of these spaceships and it provided blueprints for him. Of course he didn’t understand everything so he had the computer help him. Since he was a cultivator he had a photographic memory. He gained a lot of knowledge and before he knew it, three hours were up.

Captain Jimmy Hentle looked at the readout of bug types. He frowned. This was extremely bad. They had only transports which was good but there was over 300 of them. Previously his ship’s division of 500 Scouts, 2000 Heavy Infantry, 200 Mechanized, and 100 Floater troops had destroyed the single transport at Chu Shen’s colony with about 128 deaths and 301 injuries. Luckily only about 40 of them weren’t able to be patched up before the fight.

A vast majorities of the deaths and injuries had been in Scouts and Heavy Infantry with only about 50 spread out between the other divisions. That particular transport had no flying or anti-air bugs on it so there was no deaths in the Floater division.

They had about 70 ship divisions available along with a carrier and 30 fighters. They could destroy some of the craft on the way down but certainly not all of them. Once the bugs landed they would almost certainly have some anti-space elements and anti-air elements mixed in with their numbers.

The civilians were all evacuated into the shelters inside of two cities but the UBF couldn’t protect them for long. At most they could defend for two days. The good thing though was that there was another 120 ship divisions along with 10 frigates and 2 small destroyers and carriers inbound.

If they could hold off the bugs for 1 day they could save the entire population. Otherwise they were doomed. There was a General on one of the ships and he was organizing everyone.

The captain landed the ship in his designated spot. Checking out the tactical map he saw he was towards the frontlines. He started trying to get in contact with the general. He had to know there was a civilian on his ship. If he was at the frontlines, then there would definitely be a media catastrophe, blaming the UBG for purposefully endangering civilians. Unfortunately, with there being only another three minutes until the bugs landed, how could the general have time for him?

The soldiers got off the ship. There was scouts dressed in armor like Delgado had, then there was much larger suits with full body armor. Lines of energy ran throughout the armor unlike the completely black scout armor.

Then there was a variety of vehicles such as the large gravity tanks, the small one man mortar scooters, the medium size hovercraft with different weapons systems like lasers, plasma guns, machine guns, missiles, and grenade launchers.

The ship itself began burrowing itself into the ground. The soldiers started setting up fortifications along with portable machine and energy guns on and around the ship. The ship was obviously going to be used as a temporary base when the bugs attacks. Various guns popped out of hatches on the ship. Far off there was other ships, barely visible with the naked eye.

The soldiers had completely prepared for the invasion. The bugs had landed over twenty minutes ago. The fighters had been able to pick off about 13 transports but the fighters were forced to back off after the anti aircraft bugs were set up. These bugs launched balls of plasma at the fighters. Over a third of the fighters was forced back.

A couple of soldiers was talking on the fort.

“Hey, do you think we’ll make it?”

“Of course not. We’re one of the first ones to confront the bugs.”

“Yeah, but now we don’t have to worry about being eaten or processed.”

“Why not?”

“Well if you’re suit opens up the radiation will fry your brains out.”

“Oh yeah. Makes you wonder why they even set up a colony out here anyways.”

“Greed. There’s lots of minerals out here. Makes it a pain for the colonists but the radiation force fields protect them fairly well.”

“Sigh, it’s always because of credits isn’t it?”

“Yep. Ironic that I signed up to the military for the credits and here I am about to die protecting someone else’s credits.”

“Shhh. You hear that?” The three Heavy Infantry men stopped talking. As they listened carefully there was a dull rumbling sound coming from in front of them. There was a large dust storm gathering in front of them. The ground started shaking.

“What is it?” One of them asked, fear obvious in his voice. The one next to him shook his head. He’d fought for ten years against the bugs. He was no stranger to what this was.
“That son is a bug stampede. EVERYONE GET READY. THEY’RE COMING”

1. N/a

Chapter 43

Going to War

Chu Shen followed Officer Hugh to the room he had woken up in. He was panicking now. He was in an unknown realm with no idea what was going on. As a young twelve year old kid isolated from politics, Chu Shen was hopelessly naive and didn’t want to lie to them but they would never believe him.

He was still trying to figure out what was going on when he remembered, he wasn’t alone. ‘Master Ti Wu, can you help me?’

‘Oh ho. So you finally thought of me brat. I’m surprised you still remember me hmmph.’

‘Master, please don’t be like this. I don’t know what to say. The only one I can turn to for help is you.’

‘Fine. Just see what he has to say and then repeat what I say.’

‘Thank you Master.’

Officer Hugh sat down in one of the chairs in the room, oblivious to the conversation that was going on. Chu Shen came back to reality and sat down with him. His relief was obvious on his face.

Hugh misinterpreted his expression as relief that Sergeant Delgado was okay. He cleared his throat and began questioning him. “Now kid, we discovered the bugs were inbound and we evacuated all the civilians two days before the bugs landed.”

“We couldn’t take the bug craft down without some bigger guns but we were able to kill all the ground troops and retake the colony. We finished repelling the invasion less than two hours ago. Now that you have the big picture I need some questions answered.”

“ Where were you when all this happened? Why did you not get evacuated? And finally, where are your parents?”

Chu Shen listened and repeated back what Ti Wu said. “I don’t know anything about the evacuation. I lived on the outskirts of the colony alone. I don’t know where my parents are. They left the colony and told me stay put. I heard the fighting and everything going on and then after it all stopped I went to see what was happening and then I was hurt.”

Hugh nodded his head in agreement but inwardly he was skeptical. The UBF had gone house to house confirming everyone was gone. Their genetic scanners hadn’t picked anyone up so unless they had an expensive safehouse with scan blockers they wouldn’t have missed him.

The whole story about his parents leaving the colony also sounded a little fishy. Of course it could be that they decided to leave on a camping trip and left Chu Shen at home. With his body strength he had nothing to fear from the other colonists especially since weapons were outlawed.

“Okay, thank you for the information. Let me talk to the captain for a bit and then we’ll decide what we can do.” Officer Hugh walked over to a corner and activated his comm link.

“Hey Jim, I have something to report.”

“What is it doc?” The captain was an old friend of Officer Hugh, dating back to the UBF academy. He was one of the only ones on the ship that could talk so casually to the captain.

“You know that civilian kid that we picked up back at the colony?”

“Yeah. What about him?”

“He woke up. Told one heck of a story. Apparently his parents left the colony on a trip, probably a camping trip, and told him to stay put. Like a good little kid he stayed there even through the evacuation. After the firefight he went out looking for what made the ruckus and he ended up getting shot.”

“Yeah, seems like one heck of a tale.”

“I’m not buying it Jim. The scanners would have picked him up when we went through the town the first time.”

“Take it easy Hugh. The kids what ten, twelve years old? If his parents did go camping or whatever it was then their probably dead by now. You know that the bug ships scatter breeders all over the place. We had to spend a week hunting them all down. They were most likely eaten by the bugs, we won’t even get a body back.”

“Well ignoring that we have a real problem right now. The kids a monster Jim. Not only did he wake up he broke the restraints and broke Sergeant Delgado’s ribs with a single punch.”

“My God. Did he have on his uniform? It should have protected him from the impact.”

“Yeah he did. Didn’t help him too much though. Don’t worry. I have him a Bio-Gel tank.”

“Well this is a problem. What do you think our options are.”

“We can’t keep him in here drugged till we get to port so we’ll have to give him a room. Best thing to do is to assign a roster to watch him and accompany him in the ship. Then we can drop him off at the space station when we get there.”

“Sigh. Hugh, we won’t have an option. The bugs launched an all out attack at Getrin. UBF needs all the troops they can get and we’re one of the closest. We don’t have time to drop him off and neither is there any civilian ships capable of docking with us to transfer him over. He’s coming with us to the Getrin for the bug invasion.”

“That’s not an option. We can’t take civilians into a live combat situation.”

“There’s over ten million people on Getrin. If we don’t go there won’t be any left. You know the capital ships are all protecting the major planets. Little colonies like this have only us ground pounders to protect them.”

“I know. We have to prioritize the important things right?”

“Right Hugh. Listen. I’m sorry for involving you in this.”

“Yeah. I’ll break the news to the kid okay?”

“Thanks Hugh.”

Hugh signed off and sighed. Glancing over he saw Chu Shen looking at him with expectant eyes. ‘He thinks we’re bringing him back to his parents. Now what do I say?’
Little did he know that Chu Shen with his sensitive hearing had been eavesdropping the entire time. ‘I wonder if they call cities planets here. Only thing that makes sense. So the bugs are the primordial beasts they fought with before huh? Looks like I’m going to war…’

1. N/a

Chapter 42

Whats Going On?

Upon entering both men were stunned. The had both known that the restraints were being broken but seeing it was another thing. To see a kid almost half your size breaking metal handcuffs was so impossible that both men doubted their eyes.

The kid looked up at them. Chu Shen immediately linked them to him being brought here. They had shot him, treated his wounds, and then chained him down to a bed.

Delgado and Hugh put up their hands. “It’s okay kid it’s okay. It was all an accident. You’re safe now, the bugs have been dealt with.” Delgado started trying to reassure the kid. Chu Shen cocked his head. They were speaking gibberish.

Hugh leaned over and whispered in his ear. “He can’t understand you. There was no implants detected on the medical scan and he doesn’t carry any translators. All he has on him is jewelry with some weird runes carved onto them.”

Chu Shen started walking towards them. Obviously if he couldn’t understand them, then they couldn’t understand him so he didn’t try speaking.

As he got closer Delgado’s military training kicked in. He drew his gun and pointed it at Chu Shen. It was a cable free taser. “Kid, back away slowly and sit on the bed. Doc get a transl- OOF”

Chu Shen saw what was obviously a weapon from the man’s demeanor pointed at him. His training in the Voids Hand Shadow Arena made him immediately jump forward. Faster than Delgado’s enhanced nervous system could keep up he dodged the weapon in the man’s hand and punched him in the chest. He went flying backwards, his mouth made a perfect O shape as he went flying backwards. He crashed into the bulkhead, Delgado was sure that some of his ribs were broken. He laid on the ground groaning and clutching at his chest.

Chu Shen glanced down at his fist and then at the man on the floor. This man was so weak. Hugh was just now reacting to the sudden actions. While he was a soldier it had been a long time since he had to fight.

“Why is he so weak? He should have been able to take at least one of my fists.” Chu Shen muttered to himself. Hugh blinked. His implant automatically translated what Chu Shen had said. Most likely the kid didn’t know how abnormal his strength was.

He cautiously walked over to the cabinet that held the mobile translators. He took out two small metallic disks from a tray. He then walked over to Chu Shen and gestured towards him. He put one on his neck and then held another out to the kid.

Obviously the gesture was to make sure Chu Shen did not think the device was dangerous. Taking the disk he put it on his neck. It used static cling to stick to him without hurting him.

Hugh started speaking. “Hey kid. Sorry about this whole mess. You were accidentally caught in the crossfire between us and the bugs. We brought you back here to treat your injuries but we had to restrain you so you couldn’t irritate your injuries.”

He glanced at the green slime that covered the holes in his body. “The Bio-Gel can’t be irritated or it won’t heal properly.” Chu Shen was confused. The gibberish was suddenly comprehensible.

Obviously they were still speaking gibberish but now he heard instead his own language. This was probably because of the metal disk they had given him but how it worked was a complete mystery. He started to theorize how it worked before catching himself.

Ignoring the idle thoughts he had he listened instead to what the man had to say. Apparently this whole thing was an accident. He was caught in a fight between humans and primordial beasts, or at least their equivalent in this universe.

They had treated him but restrained him so he didn’t mess up the treatment they had given. ‘What a weird treatment.’ Chu Shen exclaimed mentally. Looking over at the man groaning on the floor Chu Shen started to feel bad. “Are we going to help him?” He pointed to him.

“Oh Delgado? With the suit he’s got on it’s probably a bruise that’s all. Such a big baby. He didn’t whine like that even after his arm got cut off.” Hugh grabbed the medical scanner on his way over and held it over Delgado.

While a blue light scanned Delgado he turned back towards Chu Shen. “By the way I never got your name. I’m Medical Officer Charles Hugh and this is Sergeant Delgado. We’re both with the United Border Forces.”

“I’m Chu Shen, it’s nice to meet you Medical Officer Charles Hugh.”

“Nice to meet you as well Chu Shen. Just call me Officer Hugh in the future.” He muttered underneath his breath. “Such a mature kid. What a mystery.” With Chu Shen’s cultivation reaching such depths how could he have not overhead Hugh’s statement? But he pretended to miss it out of privacy.

Hugh frowned. The medical scanner wasn’t registering just bruising but fractured ribs, internal bleeding, and even a mild concussion from the impact. Delgado was groaning, almost incoherent from the pain.

“Well this isn’t good. He’s much worse than even you were. Hurry up and help me lift him.” Chu Shen hurriedly went over and picked him up all by himself. The doctor was perfectly fine with that though he instructed Chu Shen on the right way to pick him up.

He guided Chu Shen over to another door. The door led to a different section of the medical bay. The portion they were in was mostly for patients who needed to rest. The most they could treat there was cuts and abrasions.

Inside the room was a lot of specialized medical equipment but Officer Hugh completely ignored them all and went over to a large tank. He pulled a lever on the side of the tank. It was being filled up with the same gunk that was on Chu Shen’s arm.

The Bio-Gel filled up until it reached the very top of the tank. “Alright Chu Shen, put him inside the tank.”

Chu Shen shook his head. “Won’t he suffocate though?”

“Of course not. You can breathe inside Bio-Gel. Now put him in. The Bio-Gel will speed up the healing process. He’ll be fine in a week.” Hugh was grateful for the concern but irritated at Chu Shen questioning him.

Chu Shen nodded. This realm/dimension would have the most appropriate treatment for themselves. He climbed up the ladder at the side and carefully put Delgado inside the tank.
After Hugh checked on Delgado’s status he let out a relieved breath. He turned around and there was Chu Shen staring at him. “Okay, we need to talk.”

1. N/a

Chapter 41

This Place Is Strange…

Sergeant Delgado paced in front of the medical bay. He had already taken off the scout armor and was wearing a tight fitting full body outfit made of a thick sturdy stretchy material.

Whoosh

As the door slid upwards into the ceiling another man walked out. He was the exact opposite of the sergeant. He had a mustache and black hair with hints of gray unlike the bald sergeant. The man had white skin and the sergeant had dark brown colored skin. The man wore a black suit and on the back, front, and shoulders was a patch with a red cross on it. The sergeant had on the same uniform but the patch had a white background with a black gun with 115 written on it in white.

As the Medical Officer Charles Hugh came out of the medical bay he was tugging at the portable helmet around his neck. “This d*mn thing is going to choke me someday” he muttered underneath his breath before the sergeant stopped him.

“Officer Hugh sir, how’s the kid?” He stopped for a second and looked at him before the realization struck him.

“Oh it’s you Delgado, I haven’t seen you since I had to grow an arm for you back on Heldeten. Anyways the kids alright. The antidote worked just fine and we gave him a sedative, he’ll be out for another ten hours or so.”

Sergeant Delgado let out a relieved breath. “Whew. Thank god for that. I feel so sorry for him, you know after I shot him and all.”

“Yeah, I just wonder why he’s here though. His muscle density is almost off the charts for someone his age so he must have been a heavy worlder that moved here with his family but no one we evacuated was reported as having a muscle density like this.” Officer Hugh had a contemplative look on his face as he thought over the conundrum the kid represented.

Sergeant Delgado shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe he’s adopted? Anyways when he wakes up how about letting me know ok? I want to apologize to him for shooting him.”

Officer Hugh nodded. “Sure. The captain decided to restrain him until we hit port. So when he wakes up I have to be there too to keep him calm. Hey how about we head to the cafeteria? While the kids out cold I can have a lunch break.”

“Fine with me.”

As they walked down the hallway, something completely unexpected was going on in the medical bay behind them…

…………………………………..

Chu Shen opened his eyes. He was laying down on a comfortable bed inside a weird room. The walls were white and a soft, soothing glow came from the walls. There was strange metal objects on the walls and floors. There was some reflective things hanging on the walls as well.

He tried to turn around to see what was behind him when he felt something tug at his arm. Looking down he saw there was a handcuff on his right arm attached to the bed by a chain. As he glanced around he saw that all of his appendages were chained down as well except his head.

As he looked at his settings in confusion he suddenly remembered. Poison! He had been hit with some sort of poisoned dart that had punched through his body. Turning his head he saw that the holes in his chest and shoulder had some sort of thick green paste on it.

Master Ti Wu was looking at his disciple from inside the Voids Hand soul realm. He had been observing the situation the entire time. Chu Shen’s Null Qi had started neutralizing the poison immediately though the going was slow so the poison was obviously not going to kill Chu Shen.

From the reaction of the person that had shot him, it was obviously an accident. Most likely the bug corpses was from a fight earlier and he was shot on accident. The weapons they used were very interesting. He had seen nothing like them. They were like crossbows but fired dozens of small projectiles.

This accident was unfortunate but it was an excellent opportunity to observe his disciples actions.

Chu Shen circulated his Qi. With the extra boost to his physique he pulled at the chain on his right arm. The walls started pulsing with an angry red light as it started making a creaking noise. He looked at the walls for a couple seconds before putting it out of his mind.

Concentrating the Qi in his right arm he pulled fiercely at the chain. It came off with a loud SNAP and with a CLANK it landed on the ground. He started pulling off the rest of the chains.

……………………………………………………………………………….

Hugh and Delgado were slowly wandering down to the cafeteria whenever Hugh suddenly stopped. “What’s wrong Hugh?” Delgado asked.

Hugh shook his head. “It’s nothing really, just that the kid woke up sooner than expected, probably due to his biology. Looks like you can apologize a little sooner than I thought.”

Delgado shrugged. “Ok then. Let’s go.” They both started back down the hallway when Hugh’s eyes lost focus for a second. Then he started running down the hallway. He turned back to Delgado.

“Hurry up. That kid somehow broke the restraints we had on him. If we don’t want him panicking we have to get there soon.”

Delgado immediately took off behind Hugh. as he did he started asking questions. “How did he get out? I didn’t see anything on him but jewelry.”

“I don’t know either. The restraints we had were just enough to hold him. Most likely I miscalculated his strength.”
They both had military grade enhancements to their body along with a cybernetic implant. With this almost superhuman boost they were able to get to the medical bay in a matter of seconds. What they would find inside, would change their lives forever….

1. N/a

Arc 2: Artificer’s Dreams

Chapter 40

A New Realm

“Alright men, do a final sweep of the area and then move out!”

“Yes Sir” The left overs of the 500 man strong platoon immediately spread outwards towards their assigned sections.

Sergeant Tony Delgado was suited up in the latest of humanities infantry armor, the Falcon Scout Armor III. It was a black skintight suit made of nano-carbon fiber. There was even a motor that amplified their strength by over 20 times.

As he patrolled the remains of the bug nest he kept an eye on his radar and genetic scanner. As he was patrolling he saw something moving out of the corner of his eye. Nothing was on his instruments but that didn’t mean anything. The genetic scanner used DNA to pick up the locations of the bugs. However it was toggled to not pick up Drone Bugs right now. These types of bugs were easily killed so the army left them to the cleanup crews instead of hunting them down.

They had made sure less than 50 of them were on the planet so the colonists weren’t overwhelmed with their numbers. So there was still some of them on the planet.

Thinking along these lines he lifted his Needle Gun and shot out a small burst. With a sinister hiss five, 1 inch long needles shot out of the Needle Gun towards the moving target. The needles sunk into their target and as they did they released a neurotoxin that was lethal to bugs.

As Sergeant Delgado saw the target the needles had hit he winced. “Aw sh*t”. It wasn’t a bug!

………………………………………………………

As the world crumbled around Chu Shen, Ti Wu released the Void Qi he had been storing in the form of a bubble. The bubble was barely visible, ghostly even. As bits of rock slammed against the bubble it turned into a muddy colored energy before merging with the black colored Qi. As it did the Qi became more and more realistic until it formed a solid black shell.

Inside Chu Shen was staring outside at the world as it changed around him. The earth crumbled into bits of rock. The Pagoda’s all disappeared somewhere as well. The disk of land shrunk until it became no longer flat but rather a mountain floating in the air. Water came out of nowhere, forming a large river that flowed down creating a waterfall that flowed into the void of space.

Appearing on the mountain was a deep tunnel. Eventually the whirlwind of the rocks stopped. If Ti Wu had not been there then he would have indeed been crushed to death. It was almost inconceivable that something like that could happen to a martial artist however these were not ordinary rocks. The Qi inside this space could be considered extremely concentrated. The rocks had been strengthened by this dense Qi until it was even harder than steel.

Master Ti Wu said not a word but manipulated the bubble to float towards the tunnel. The sides of the tunnel was made of rock but somehow was as smooth as glass. Suddenly the tunnel opened up to reveal yet another pagoda.

Outside this pagoda was countless decorations and statues. Bits of metal, plants, jewels, and even various beast cores were used to craft the magnificent sight. Each one was unique and the ingredients were rare. Some Chu Shen had never heard of and others Chu Shen had doubted he could ever see.

He gasped in shock. Whoever had created this world was truly an expert. There was nothing else, not even a sign. He walked into the pagoda. It had three rooms. The rooms were labeled the Formation Room, Treasure Room, and Training Room. Chu Shen tried to enter the Treasure Room but before he even got close, a formless pressure forced him back. If he had truly entered he felt as though he would have been crushed.

The same thing happened when he tried to enter the Training Room. When he tried to enter the Formation Room though nothing happened. Upon entering he saw a huge formation set up. It was vast and so incredibly complex he got a headache just looking at it.

It was surrounded by a translucent barrier, obviously it was protecting the formation. Looking at it Chu Shen had a feeling that it was the formation that kept this place alive. He found a rack of chain bracelets alongside the wall. There was thousands of them. Beside them though was a jade slip. Going over he read it.

It simply said. ‘To those who have arrived at this place be grateful. It is full of surprises and mystery. I created this treasure vault that wanders the realms as an idle past time. It is a collection of all the things I forged on my journey. There is no cultivation methods here, nor martial arts. There is simply wondrous artifacts. If you can pass the test in the Training Room then you may enter the Treasure Room.”

“I know not everyone will be able to pass right away so instead you must adventure outside. Towards this means I have provided the Chains of Transportation. These chains are able to transport you wherever you wish, including across dimensions. All you must do is tap the bracelet on the ground while providing some energy.”

“It will form a unique talisman that when you touch it will transport you there. Be warned though that only ten such talismans can be made, but with how many chains i’ve made I think you can take a couple to counteract that downside. When this place transforms into its pagoda form you will be kicked out.”

“It will transport itself across various places in that dimension for a while before taking itself to another. Once it leaves that dimension the Chains of Transportation will activate and bring anyone wearing it back here automatically so you can’t get lost, unless you take it off. Don’t worry, you can always return if you wish.’

Ti Wu in his ghost form was looking over Chu Shen’s shoulder as he read it. As he did he sighed. It was indeed as that senior had said. The crazy fool had indeed carried out his plan. Well, I can use that seniors craziness to equip Chu Shen with some great gear.

“Okay Chu Shen, grab some of those chain bracelets then let’s get ready to go. Different realms means more opportunities, different people, and even different martial arts!”

“Okay master. I guess I just have to wait until then.” Chu Shen cultivated for an hour before the glowing, pulsing formation suddenly stopped. It let out a bright pulse of light. The ground started to crumble again. A barrier just like the one surrounding the formation kicked up around Chu Shen. It covered him, protecting him from the dense rocks. He floated out of the pagoda. The Pagoda was surrounded by the same barrier but suddenly it disappeared.

Chu Shen gasped in awe while Ti Wu snorted. It was a simple energy manipulation barrier. All it did was make it invisible, it hadn’t disappeared. The pagoda’s formed like last time. Then like last time a black door formed at the entrance. Surprisingly the barrier bubble didn’t float towards the door. It hovered in midair for a while but suddenly a black vortex appeared, sucking up the barrier bubble along with Chu Shen.

He appeared all of a sudden in a strange place. There was lots of rocks and ruins of buildings around. Surprisingly the buildings were made completely out of metal and stone, not wood like the ones he was used to.

Ti Wu said nothing but merely watched. He walked around for a while. Corpses of giant insects almost three times the size of a man were visible everywhere he went. There was extremely little Qi in the corpse and a very small amount in the air.

As he wandered around he suddenly heard a HISS sound. He thought it was one of those insects and started looking around. He suddenly felt something hit him on the left side of his chest and arm. Whatever it was completely penetrated through his body with minimum resistance. Even his hard as metal skin couldn’t stop it, testifying to the power of the weapon.

As he fell to the ground he felt a burning sensation all over his body. It became extremely intense. He screamed for a second before passing out. Before he did the only thing he could think of was, ‘whatever hit me was poisoned.’

…………………………………………………………….

Sergeant Delgado ran up to the kid. He was from Asian descent, that much was obvious from the black hair and skintone. He pulled out his injector and shot the kid with the antidote. Pulling off his helmet he listened for a heartbeat. He sighed in relief, there was one.

“Major! I have something to report Sir!”

“What is it Sergeant?”

“Well Sir, I found an Asian kid on the battlefield.”

“I thought the civilians were evacuated? Oh well, just bring him aboard after you finish sweeping your area.”

“Sir it’s not that simple. I mistook him for a drone bug and shot him with three needles Sir.”

“WHAT! That much could kill even you guys! And you all have immunizations for this stuff! Great, if the news gets a hold of this we’ll all be court martialed for sure.”

“He’s still alive Sir, not sure how. What should I do?”

“What should you do? Run as fast as you can and bring him aboard the dropship. Give him some of the antidote as well but hurry up. We might be able to save him”
“Sir yes Sir.” Sergeant Delgado got off the coms with his Major and immediately ran towards the dropship. As he did he started praying. ‘Don’t die on me kid. I’m begging you, don’t die.’

1. N/a

Chapter 39

It’s The End

While Chu Shen cultivated in forced isolation the teachers outside were conversing.

“Are you ready for the expedition?” Asked Chu “Stone Face” Tang.

“Yes Sir” They replied.

“Good, let’s go then.” With that the teachers along with the two leaders from both factions lept into the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

This was the true reason why they had come, not to cheer on their students but rather to seize a treasure. Most of these teachers had a deep cultivation. Upon reaching a level like this it became increasingly hard to find an appropriate weapon.

After all, who could craft weapons for those at the Nature Stage and above? No one could craft such a weapon but a six star artificer and good luck convincing those proud and aloof artificers if you were merely a teacher.

Therefore teachers of outstanding students could go to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion to pick out some rewards. They could only go for two hours though, leaving the first and last hours to their students.

Master Lang and the other teachers followed them inside. When Master Lang went in he glanced at the Pagoda of Mortals. According to what he knew, his student would be in there.

Chu Tang looked back. “Master Lang, you know it’s forbidden to interfere with the students. Just follow along to a pagoda to pick your reward.” Of course Chu Tang knew of Master Lang.

A seven star artificer joining a school ran by the Chu Sect was a big deal. Because of this Chu Tang had memorized Master Lang’s appearance and was pleasantly surprised by the fact the student he was so bemused by was actually his disciple.

Master Lang nodded. “Of course Master Chu Tang is correct, I shall follow your suggestion.” With this said he flew towards the Pagoda of Natural World Mortals.

Since Master Lang was a seven star artificer gathering items such as these could be considered as both unimportant and yet absolutely crucial.

Since he could forge items like these he did not lack anything of this caliber. At the same time though by gathering these he saved time forging them and also gathered other inscriptions. To a true artificer what they desired most was to expand their knowledge. By gathering items with unique inscriptions such as these he could forge more diverse weapons and even become inspired to create completely new ones.

After a while two hours were up. With several different items Master Lang and the other teachers left to wait for their students. Outside waiting there was already seven other students who had unfortunately failed the tests at some point. Most of these were students who after gathering what they needed decided to test their luck with a higher level item.

Meanwhile Chu Liang had gathered an entire set of equipment for himself along with several spares. ‘Chu Shen can’t possibly beat me now. I have such powerful items not to mention some of these unique artifacts. There’s no way I can lose.’

As the time ran out more and more students lost their qualifications and had to leave the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. This was the reason the Majestic Sword Academy was called the number 2 school on the continent after the Imperial Academy. With the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion and the items they extracted the school had enormous funds. With these funds they could buy techniques and resources for both the Chu Sect and its school.

Soon it was only fifteen minutes from the time the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion would close. If the rest of the students weren’t out yet they would become trapped inside.

Out of the 50 students 43 of them were already out. Soon there was only one left. Master Lang had an anxious look on his face. Where is Chu Shen!!!!

………………………………………………………………..

Chu Shen was still cultivating when Master Ti Wu stopped him. “Chu Shen, you had better get up now.”

“Huh, why master?”

“There’s only ten minutes left now. The lock is gone.”

“Oh. That’s good.”

With that Chu Shen walked over and pushed open the door. It opened quietly. He started to walk down the staircase when Ti Wu reminded him. “Hey, if you don’t want to disappear along with this place you might want to hurry up.”

While he said this out loud internally he opposed himself. ‘Of course, that wouldn’t be a bad suggestion if that expert wasn’t lying. But I can’t trust my disciples lives to the mutterings of an old man.’

Chu Shen realizing this immediately started running. He had 7 minutes left. Soon he reached the entrance of the Pagoda of Mortals. 2 minutes remaining. He ran towards the exit of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. 1 minute left.

He was almost to the entrance. 300 yards. 45 seconds left. 200 yards. 30 seconds. 100 yards. 50 yards. 25 yards. 15 seconds. The world started shaking. The ground itself split. 10 yards from the exit Chu Shen was dodging cracks left and right. Suddenly a boulder jutted upwards in front of him. He fell down less than an arm’s length from the exit. 0 seconds left.

The exit disappeared. The world around Chu Shen continued crumbling. The black pavilion and staircase merged together to create the mysterious black sphere. Without a sound it disappeared.

Master Lang had a frozen face on. Unexpectedly Chu Shen was gone. Hurriedly he pulled out a life tablet. Since Chu Shen had bonded with it, if he had died the life tablet would no longer be bound to him. As he scanned it he found the bond was still intact with that he sighed in relief.

Chu Tang came up to Master Lang. “I am sorry for your loss Master Lang. He was a marvelous talent.”

“What do you mean. He’s still alive. Hahahahaha. He’s still alive, see, see, SEE! HAHAHAHA!” Master Lang started pointing to the tablet, insanity temporarily taking over him. Chu Tang shook his head.

Both masters knew there was no way Chu Shen would survive. To satisfy their curiosity an elder of the sect had set out to find where the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion went to. Unfortunately, nothing went as planned. All they had to do was wait five years but unexpectedly on the fourth year the life tablet of the elder had shattered.

After that it was determined that since even an elder at the Cosmos Stage couldn’t survive that no one could. It was forbidden ever since to stay on the pavilion when it disappears. Sighing Chu Tang condemned Chu Shen to land of dead.

Chu Liang had a frozen face before suddenly cracking a smile. Heavens fortune was with him! Now he could become the champion of the freshman. And no one could blame him since he planned to delay Chu Shen and not kill him. Ha. Everything turned out okay.

Soon, no one would ever remember the young genius, once called Chu Shen.

END ARC 1: Hopeful Beginnings

1. N/a

Chapter 38

Inside the Pavilion

Heading into the pavilion Chu Shen had no idea what to expect. Inside he found a whole other world.

Looking around Chu Shen found himself on a flat disk of land. It was floating among the stars, there were many buildings on the disk of land. On the side of the buildings were carved names. The buildings were enormous, thousands of feet across with multiple levels. However that was only the buildings on the left. The ones on the right were much smaller.

Looking to his left, Chu Shen saw it said Pagoda of Mortals, beside it was another building. This one said Pagoda of Martial Mortals, and yet another building said Pagoda of Natural World Mortals. Other buildings said Pagoda of Celestial Mortal, Pagoda of Demigods, Pagoda of Lower Gods, Pagoda of Gods, Pagoda of Higher Gods, and finally there was the Pagoda of Universal Gods.

Many of the students were looking around curiously. However, those members of the Chu Sect set off towards the the Pagoda of Mortals and the Pagoda of Martial Mortals. One of them turned towards the students.

“Hey, are you all going to stand there gawking? If you are in the Mortal realms go to the Pagoda of Mortals, if you’re in the Martial realm go to the Pagoda of Martial Mortals. Those are the only ones you can enter anyways, if you don’t believe me you can try and enter a higher pagoda than that, though you’ll regret.”

With that the Chu Sect member turned around and left. As he did he sighed. Now there would be more competition but if he hadn’t said anything his master would have berated him.

Hearing those words the students looked at each other. “Did you hear what they said?” “I don’t believe it they must be trying to fool us.”

With that one of the students headed toward a pagoda at the right. As he opened the door and stepped in his face turned pale and he stumbled backwards. Blood spurt out of his mouth and he fell on the ground groaning.

“Ugggh. There’s a horrible pressure in the building, I think only those at the Emperor Stage could stand up to it.” The person who had warned them had almost reached the Pagoda of Martial Mortals when he saw the scene.

“Haha! That’s the first test of the Pagoda’s. If you can’t even stand up to the pressure how do you expect to pass the test!” With that the man strode into the pagoda.

Chu Shen saw all this and then turned towards the left-most pagoda. He walked into the pagoda. As he did a formless pressure bore down on him. His body grew slightly heavier as it pressed down on him. Chu Shen didn’t even notice it. With his body as strong as it was, how could something so small bother him?

Unfortunately as he walked in he did not notice the two people who were staring at his back.

“That’s him little bro?”

“Yeah that’s him big bro. Will you help me?”

“Of course little bro, that’s what brothers are there for anyways.” Together they walked towards the Pagoda of Mortals.

There was a long hallway filled with doors. Chu Shen opened a door and looked in. There was lots of weapons inside, though they were all swords. Sensing the ripples of energy he could tell it was merely a Low-grade weapon.

Advancing down the hallway other students trickled in. Periodically Chu Shen would open a door and check on the grade of weapons. Once he opened a door with a mark on it. All the other doors had no marking on them, they were all blank. Upon seeing the marked door Chu Shen had become excited to see what it was but inside there was nothing.

Or rather, there was merely scraps of metal and broken weapons. The materials weren’t even high quality. How could the materials used to craft Mortal Weapons be worth anything? Disappointed Chu Shen closed the door.

Eventually though Chu Shen reached a stair case. Climbing up it the pressure suddenly increased. Of course even this amount could not bother Chu Shen but now he noticed it. ‘Oh, this must be that pressure they were talking about.’

Opening up a door he found there was Mid-grade Mortal weapons inside. Turning back to the staircase Chu Shen climbed up one more level. Opening up the door he nodded. It was indeed High-grade Mortal weapons.

Thinking hard he realized what he truly needed was not weapons since his living steel hammer was better than anything but rather armor. Crafting armor was actually harder than crafting weapons because each armor needed to suit the user perfectly.

As he opened up each door to glance inside suddenly someone grabbed him. A silver colored energy covered his eyes. Withdrawing his hammer he swung it wildly behind him at the assailant. The hammer whistled through the air when suddenly it was stopped.

The person spoke in a deep husky voice, obviously to mask what they sounded like. “I’m not going to hurt you. Just prevent you from getting a weapon. No personal feelings right?”

Chu Shen was tossed inside one of the empty rooms that he had seen before. As he turned around the door was shut. A muffled voice came from the outside. “We locked the door with an array but don’t worry. It will unlock ten minutes before the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion leaves. So just sit tight for a couple hours.”

Footsteps echoed as they walked away. Chu Shen was angry that something like this had happened but wasn’t too upset that he had lost. Because of the Qi covering his eyes he knew his opponent was in the Martial realm The current him, no matter how strong his physical body was, couldn’t compare to a Martial realm warrior.

Ti Wu inside the Voids Hand had been ready to make a move if they had truly tried to harm Chu Shen. Since they didn’t harm Chu Shen he didn’t reveal himself. Besides, it was only some Mortal weapons. Chu Shen could always forge some instead of picking them up like rocks at the wayside.
Chu Shen tried the door handle but no matter what it wouldn’t budge. He sighed, seemed like he was truly trapped here. Sitting down Chu Shen started cultivating using the <Voids Child> technique and waited.

1. N/a

Chapter 37

Pavilion Revealed

Chu Shen and Master Lang found themselves in front of another Thousand Miles Formation. One of the elders was in front of the formation. Upon seeing him Master Lang immediately went up to him and asked him to open the formation.

“This is Chu Shen, one of the students going to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. Open the formation for me and him.”

The elder nodded his head at first but then looked sharply at Master Lang. “I am sorry teacher, but you can’t go with this student. Only certain teachers are allowed to go with the students and I am familiar with them all, you are not one of them.”

Master Lang sighed. He then pulled out a badge with a sword carved into it. The sword was golden and above it was five silver daggers. Upon seeing this the elder in charge of the transportation formations immediately drew in a deep breath. This was unexpectedly the principals badge! Seeing this meant the unknown teacher was only second to the principal herself! Inwardly he cursed.

“I see I was wrong. Please forgive me respected teacher, I shall activate the formation right away.” The elder bowed before motioning them to get on the formation platform. After making several hand-signs the formation lit up.

As the formation activated the elder asked a question. “If I may respected teacher, can you tell me your name?”

Master Lang nodded. “I am the new teacher for the advanced artificer class.” With that the formation activated completely and the whirlpool devoured both master and pupil.

……………………………………………………………

When they appeared they were in a small building. Other students were there along with five teachers. Altogether there was a total of 21 students. They were missing four.

After a short while all of the students were here. When they were all gathered a person came in the building from the outside.

“Good, everyone is here.” Unexpectedly it was Chu Tang A.K.A. Stone Face.

“I am Chu Tang, the person in charge of this expedition into the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. Inside the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion is numerous amounts of not only weapons but armor and unique artifacts. Upon removing an artifact from its stand you will undergo a test in an illusionary realm. It will at most cause some slight mental damage if you fail the test so don’t be worried.”

“However upon failing once you will be expelled from the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion and prevented from taking another treasure. Know your limits. If you try and take a treasure meant for a stronger cultivator the test afterwards may kill you instead of just damaging you slightly.”

“Do you understand?” The students all nodded.

“Good, along with you students there will also be another 25 people joining us from the Chu Sect. Don’t cause conflict with them. Follow me outside.”

Everyone left the building to go outside. There they waited for several minutes before another group led by a heroic looking man in a gold robe walked out of the building next to theirs.

“Since we are all here, let us go to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion now.” Chu Tang proposed this idea after the two groups met up.

“Yes I agree brother Stone Face.” Upon hearing this Chu Tang’s face twitched a little. Then with a flourish he walked down the path.

Soon they neared a spot on the ground surrounded by forest. There was nothing special about this spot except for the black sphere hovering above the ground.

The heroic looking man in the golden robe faced the crowd. “Alright everybody, here is the deal. Go in, pick up treasures, then leave. The academy and the Chu Sect will buy any surplus weapons you pick up inside. Also, you will only have four hours before the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion departs. Where? No one knows so make sure to leave before then.”

Meanwhile inside the Voids Hand Ti Wu was staring at the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion in shock. “How could this be here.” He muttered. “That senior said he wanted it to travel all the realms but I thought he was kidding! Never did I think to this day I would encounter this here”

They were all handed devices that would beep every fifteen minutes to keep track of time. Then they all waited. None of the students knew what they were waiting for exactly.

Eventually the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion opened up with a grandiose gesture. The black sphere shimmered before suddenly changing shape. Now in its place was a large black pavilion floating in midair.

Leading up to the pavilion was a black staircase and inside was a small doorway. On the other side of the door there was nothing but none of the students doubted that something was on the other side.

“Alright students and fellow disciples. The four hours start now, go quickly now.” Chu Tang reminded them all to hurry up. The young fellows present activated the devices given to them before hurrying up the steps.
Chu Shen approached the doorway. As each student stepped through the doorway they would suddenly disappear. Soon it was Chu Shen’s turn. He stepped through the doorway and like those before him, disappeared from this world.

1. N/a

Chapter 36

Hidden Troubles & Relief

Inside one of the small huts that posed as student living there was an elderly teacher meeting with a sixteen year-old. He was dressed in a silver robe with the character for Chu on the back. (楚) If Chu Shen was here he would recognize him as one of the arrogant Dragon Stage students.

Chu Liang cupped his hands and bowed slightly. “My thanks for notifying me.”

“Your welcome. Be careful though, you are not the only one going to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. I believe your older brother Chu Goto is going as well.”

“Thank you for the information teacher, I will take my leave.”

“As you wish student.”

Chu Liang kept a peaceful smile on his face until the teacher was gone. After that his face suddenly transformed into a hideous expression. ‘With the most talented kids going to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion I am sure that guy will be there.’

‘If he gets a powerful treasure now then when the freshmen competition happens next month I am sure to lose. I can’t throw away the face of the main sect to a branch member.’

“Arrrrgh” Chu Liang howled in despair. He truly couldn’t stand this situation. Him, a proud talent of the Chu Sect, would be brought to despair by a mere branch member. While he wasn’t a superior talent he could not be called average in the Chu Sect.

Thinking back on the teacher’s words he saw a light at the end of the tunnel. ‘Hmm. If I can get a proper weapon and armor then my power would increase greatly. However if I could do so, so could Chu Shen and with his powers it’s even more likely.’

‘The only way I can get ahead of him is by making sure he gains no treasures in the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.’ Chu Liang frowned as he followed this line of reasoning. ‘But I don’t have the strength. With his talent I am sure they let him pick out some good techniques from the library, not to mention he’s at the peak of the Dragon Stage while I am at the 8th level.’

‘However..’ He smiled as a sudden thought occurred. ‘If I have my brother help me we could suppress him so that he gains nothing. After all, older brother Chu Goto is in the Martial Practitioner Stage. With his cultivation level he can suppress Chu Shen to death!’

After he thought of this he pulled out a sound transmission talisman. “Hey older brother, I have slight problem I think you can help me with. See here’s the deal……..”

……………………………………….

Chu Shen stretched out his back. “Ahhh, that felt good.”

KnockKnock

He glanced at the door. He had just finished cultivating for three hours straight though it seemed he had reached a bottleneck and couldn’t advance any faster. Soon he would have to go into secluded cultivation and attack one of his meridians to fully reach the Martial Realm. Getting up he opened his door.

It was Master Lang. “Chu Shen, I received a letter from your dad.”

Chu Shen wasn’t surprised. His dad had often worried about him and cared for him deeply when he was at home. Honestly he was surprised that his dad had not sent a letter before.

“Oh? Thank you Master Lang, should I read it now?”

“Yes, after this we will be heading directly to the Heavenly Treasure Palace and I don’t think you want other people prying into your personal life.”

“You are right as always Master Lang.”

After handing over the envelope Master Lang left immediately saying, “Alright Chu Shen, go ahead and open it. I will leave you to your privacy. If afterwards you wish to share it with me you may.”

Nodding in agreement Chu Shen shut the door and opened the envelope. Upon opening it there was nothing there. The only thing there was some writing at the top. It said ‘Blood Confirmation’ and below it was a black square.

Chu Shen bit his thumb and placed it on square. Afterwards black symbols and characters appeared. All of this was due to a mystical art called Blood Messaging. Until blood related to the writer of the message dripped upon the black square on the message, the writing would not appear.

The message read as follows.

‘Dear son, I hope you are doing well in the Chu Sect’s school. I have heard rumors about you and your cultivation speed. It seems I must find that wandering cultivator to fully express my gratitude. However, something has come up. As you know I planned on waiting to rescue your mother until five years from now so that you can join me but I did not. You see, I started investigating the matter and found an opportunity. I was able to successfully save your mother from her captives but in return we must go into hiding. I will not be able to contact you nor you me. So I hope you can continue to grow stronger. In five years I will meet you on the steps of the Majestic Sword Academy. Grow stronger son, we shall both depend upon you.’

Chu Shen was shocked and started to cry. After ten minutes he recovered. He gathered himself together. It seemed as though he must indeed become stronger, strong enough to protect both his parents. After recomposing himself he walked out the door to Master Lang.

Master Lang said not a word after looking at Chu Shen’s red, puffy eyes. “Chu Shen, are you ready to go?” He pondered for a second. Over the past five days he had done some physical exercises and sparred twice inside the Voids Hand. Indeed he had successfully remastered his physical strength. Now he no longer shattered his cups when he went to drink.

“Yes Master Lang, I am ready. Let us set out for the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion

1. N/a

Chapter 35

Of Course!

Chu Shen braced himself. After all, his master was famous for putting him through extremely painful processes so it with him warning Chu Shen before hand it was undoubtedly going to be painful beyond comparison.

His master had him sit down in the lotus position. His master floated above him, a barely visible figure glowing above his head. He floated downwards until he was eye to eye with Chu Shen, if he had his eyes open of course.

His hands glowed with a greenish blue hue for a second before transforming into a sinister inky darkness. The Void Qi immediately put out his spiritual Qi, truly living up to its name leaving not even a trace but absorbing it completely.

“Get ready. It starts now.” Reaching out his hand he lightly rested them on Chu Shen’s bare chest. Earlier he had him uncover his upper body in preparation. Without a sound the Void Qi surged into his body.

The Qi entered his body’s meridians through his chest’s acupuncture points. As the Qi flowed Ti Wu gave up his control over the Qi and let Chu Shen control it. The Void Qi circulated according the <Void King> technique.

The Qi went around once and as it did it started to penetrate the outer muscles and skin like before. It would not penetrate deeper until Chu Shen had advanced his understanding of the technique.

With the Void Qi his strength increased dramatically. Suddenly it went from 4800 pounds to 4820 pounds. Every time he rotated his Qi it increased. Upon the second rotation it added on another 25 pounds and each time it rotated once more another five pounds plus the last times circulation was added. It came up to a terrifying 5225 pounds! This was an addition of 425 pounds, an almost 20% increase in his already tremendous strength!

Then the eleventh circulation came, now it added on not 65 pounds but rather 130 pounds! Almost directly doubling the last addition of strength! It made sense because upon reaching the eleventh circulation it meant that person would have reached the second stage of the technique.

The twelfth circulation added on 140 pounds! This was once again doubling the previous circulations amount. It finally stopped at the fifteenth circulation of Qi. His strength was now at 5975 pounds, that meant he had gained 750 pounds of strength just from one circulation! His strength was now at almost 150% compared to others in the same stage.

But that was not the only thing Chu Shen had gained, far from it. Let us not forget that the <Void King> technique also strengthened the skin. Before Chu Shen’s skin could be considered as hard as stone. Now his skin was as strong as impure iron. While this was not quite enough to simply let a Dragon stage warrior to bash at him with impunity, he could definitely take a minor blow without worrying too much.

Now that Chu Shen had reached his limit he had to reset himself if he wished to circulate the Void Qi again.

Ti Wu upon sensing the circulations had stopped he once again took control of the Void Qi. As he did he sensed the amount missing was almost 10%, a terrifying amount for Chu Shen to absorb. This was all the Void Qi Ti Wu was willing to spare on Chu Shen’s training and Ti Wu had calculated that this was also the limit of Chu Shen’s willpower.

Speaking of willpower….

Ti Wu thought it odd that Chu Shen had not uttered a single peep when had been absorbing the Void Qi. Even the toughest of men would have groaned in agony at the very least. Unfortunately Ti Wu had been absorbed in making sure nothing went wrong with the Void Qi to observe his disciples facial expressions.

Glancing up at his face Ti Wu saw that Chu Shen’s face had on a pleasant expression, like that of a tourist. Sensing something wrong Chu Shen opened his eyes.

“Are we going to start a second time master or should we stop here?” Chu Shen had on an innocent expression as he looked at Ti Wu.

“Tell me, did you feel anything abnormal?”

“Besides the Qi you put into me Master, no I didn’t.”

“No pain? No pain at all?”

“No master I felt no discomfort.”

Master Ti Wu had an astonished expression on his face. Slowly his eyebrows furrowed in concentration before his face suddenly showed some enlightenment. “Of course of course. Why didn’t I think of that! It’s perfectly natural.”

“What master?”

“The reason you had no pain was of course because of your Void Constitution! Your body rejects all other types of Qi except Void Qi! In order to strengthen your body it has to absorb energy. Your body rejects this energy which is what causes the pain, as a matter of fact it’s not just you.”

“Everyone rejects Qi being put into their body, it’s only natural after all it is a foreign thing. But instead because of your constitution your body naturally absorbs the Void Qi to its highest extent without rejecting it, thereby strengthening your body while not causing pain!”

“Master that makes no sense though, otherwise my Null Qi would not have caused me any pain either.”

“Oh phooey! You can’t even talk of Null Qi and Void Qi as though they are the same! Null Qi is merely an altered version of Void Qi and comparing the two is like comparing a volcano to the sun. One is filled with the impurities of earth and ash while the other is pure energy.”

“How can your body accept a watered down version of what it wants while it is filled with hints of martial Qi. It’s like an alcoholic who has tasted the finest wine then pouring that fine wine into a jug of water and then giving it to him. Of course he would accept it reluctantly if that was the only thing given to him but he would always have his heart set on that pure fine wine.”

“I would have come to this conclusion faster but since all the Void Constitution Sect members were patriarchs I never got to teach them. That’s why I didn’t recognize it straight off.”

“Thank you master for enlightening me. Do you think we should continue though?”

“Of course we should. I have enough Qi for nine more times, use it wisely.”

Chu Shen managed to complete the technique another 9 times. Now his strength had gone from 4800 to 16550 pounds in single day. However, once Chu Shen reached this point he felt like his body would burst. After he told his master Ti Wu decided to stop after the tenth circulation.

“If you try and strengthen your body anymore it might burst. Because of that we can’t train your body anymore. Use this time left to get used to your strength.”

Afterwards Chu Shen went back to his room. He still had six more days before he had to go to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

…………………………………………………..

Author’s Note: Here is the picture that my sister Kayla drew (You can see her name in the top left) Along with a picture of what I think the Majestic Sword Academy should look like provided by my fan, Darknebulous. Kudo’s to you both for the awesome pics.

Here is a link to Darknebulous’ website if you want to enjoy more.

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Chapter 34

Just Training Is Not Enough

Without hesitation Chu Shen immediately nodded his head. After all his mother was still held captive wasn’t she? He still had to reach the Emperor Stage but if his power was weak what good could he be.

Right now while Chu Shen had a stronger body than his classmates it wasn’t by a whole lot. His body was tougher and he could lift about another 800 pounds compared to them. Though when you could lift about 4000 pounds (Or 2 tons) another 800 was significant but not game changing.

To put it in simple turns. Everyone else could lift 100% while Chu Shen could lift 120%. While that 20% more strength and body toughness was helpful it was not a guaranteed win.

“Alright brat, since you agreed just give me a half day to prepare. While you are waiting go through your normal exercise and then go to the caves of isolation for the training.”

“Yes master.”

Chu Shen went to his least favorite spot on the school grounds. There was a large waterfall at the edge of the school. Unfortunately Master Ti Wu had him train underneath the outermost edge of the waterfall.

Bracing himself Chu Shen got on the slippery rocks and went under the very edge of the waterfall. Compared to the other parts of the waterfall the power here was lacking. But that was like the comparison between a tiger and a dragon. While a dragon would win a tiger could not be taken lightly because of this.

The waterfall fell down on Chu Shen, as the water hit him it felt like needles driving into his Qi enforced skin. The water tried to pull him downwards, the pressure on his shoulders made any movement almost unbearable.

Chu Shen started practicing <Fundamental Fist Skills>, <Fundamental Kick Skills>, and <Absolute Control>. His teacher had recommended to practice the first two since the moves went through the various muscles of the arms, core, and legs. The last one anyone could guess at.

To be able to control your weapon perfectly was required for any good warrior. If Chu Shen could control his weapon reasonably good in a waterfall then he could control it flawlessly outside of the waterfall. If he was ever able to perfectly control his weapon inside the waterfall than his would have reached the pinnacle.

After his body became exhausted and sore he once again circulated his Qi according to the technique. When he had first started his Qi had only been able to penetrate his skin. Now his Qi could penetrate the muscles surrounding the skin. Not only that but he was able to circulate it up to fifteen times in a row rather than just once.

The more times you could circulate your Qi the deeper the Qi could sink into the body. Chu Shen could now be considered as reaching the middle of the second level of the technique. For every ten circulations there would be critical point before the next stage could be reached.

Unfortunately there was no longer a major increase in his strength but rather only a pound or two was added after an hour of training. Compared to his 4800 pounds of strength it was indeed lacking.

After Chu Shen had done this he went over to the caves of isolation. These were actually small caves with isolating formations set up inside. This was a specially prepared place for those who needed to breakthrough without being disturbed.

All noise could be cut off and any Qi released during the breakthrough would be contained.

Chu Shen turned on the noise cancelling formation before calling out to his master. Ti Wu immediately appeared. After studying the area around them and Chu Shen he nodded.

“Not bad kid, not bad at all. This is indeed a proper place for breakthroughs. Anyways do you know why you had such a massive increase in strength before when you tempered yourself using the <Void King> technique but now the results are lacking?”

“No master.”

“I didn’t think so. Let me explain it in a different way. When you wish to forge out the impurities of a metal you pound on it until the impurities are gone correct?”

“Yes master.”

“Well what if the metal is not pure enough but you can’t pound out any more impurities?”

“Well master, I would either make the fire hotter by adding more wood or changing the type of fire.”

“Exactly. Your body has been tempered as much as possible by the docile null Qi in your body. So instead we must either change the fire or add more fuel. Since when you get stronger your Qi will naturally become stronger and more plentiful you will be able to make more progress.”

“Unfortunately the increase of Qi from the Dragon to the Tiger stage is almost negligible. Only when you enter into the Martial Student Stage will there be a major increase.”

“So instead we will use Void Qi. I have been scraping the excess Qi from your meridians for a while now and have stored up enough. I will be injecting your body with Void Qi and you will circulate it according to the technique. Are you ready?”
“Yes master.”

1. N/a

Chapter 33

Ti Wu’s Past

“What is it Master Ti Wu, it has been a while since I talked to you.”

“Well brat that’s because I was meditating to gather void Qi. Your body makes the perfect conduit what with you naturally gathering it from the universe.”

“What?! You mean you are actually stealing my Qi from me? You truly are a ghost!” Searing pain assaulted Chu Shen’s head. As he grimaced in agony he wondered why master Ti Wu always attacked him when they met up.

“You brat! Call me a ghost one more time and you will suffer!”

“Sorry master. What was this interesting thing you were going to tell me.”

“Actually it’s only something that helped satisfy my curiosity and coincidentally you can now live a lot less cautiously. Using the void Qi from your body I was able to scan this world. Naturally I could have scanned it some time ago but I needed void Qi so as to avoid being discovered.”

“When I woke up I thought this place was a little strange compared to my memories. You see, where I come from the natural laws are stronger.”

“Natural laws?”

“Yes, it is only natural that you wouldn’t know of this since you have never been to another plane of existence before. Basically different realms have different natural laws. These laws control how much suppression is put on the beings there and also how much Qi is there as well.”

“Basically a move that could shatter a mountain in a place with weaker natural laws might not even be able to crack a pebble in a place with with much higher natural laws. For example. Here the natural laws are more than three times weaker than in the realm I originated from. This means to accomplish the same feat here than in my realm it would take one third the energy.”

“If it takes more energy to do things then why would you go there?”

“Because the natural laws are stronger there you can sense them more clearly making it beneficial to understanding the laws necessary to breakthrough to certain stages. Along with the natural laws being stronger the natural Qi is also stronger.”

“The ground becomes harder because it contains more energy. Consequently, with there being more energy you can cultivate faster and the universe gives birth to more treasures as well. Essentially cultivation becomes easier and faster along with there being more opportunities.”

“So essentially your realm was richer in Qi than mine.”

“Precisely. I got off topic though. I will allow you to use all of the Void Sects secret techniques openly instead of hiding it.”

“I never truly got that master. Why would I have to hide it anyways.”

“Sigh. This is where things might get complicated. Sufficient to say I have my reasons. As you know from the techniques you have learned my sect was incredibly strong.”

“That much is obvious master.”

“Well I have some news for you. My sect was not actually the main sect but rather a branch sect. The founder was the son of an elder in the main Void Sect that wished to become the so called tiger of the mountain. Unfortunately while he had great talent he was not a heaven defying talent like some others. Comparing his Void Constitution to other talents his was lacking though he used top tier techniques from his father.”

“Because of his desire his father granted him the ability to establish a branch sect instead and become the founder and patriarch. His father even let him keep some advanced techniques from the main sect though his son could only pass them down to other people with Void Constitutions.”

“Why would he only let his son pass it down to others with Void Constitutions?”

“Mainly because most of the techniques required a Void Constitution. Most of the members of the main sect had a Void Constitution. As you know there is a strong possibility of passing down certain constitutions to their descendants. The Void Constitution is one of them. Because of this most of the sects truly powerful techniques required a Void Constitution.”

“There even became a technique that could create a pseudo Void Constitution and those with this pseudo Void Constitution gained a Void Body. As you know a normal body cannot withstand the power of Void Qi. So instead a body cultivation technique was used and those that reached the end of the technique had their whole body down to their cells infused with Void Qi and therefore gained the ability to have a pseudo Void Constitution.”

“Unfortunately the father outlived the son because of the stage he had reached the father could be considered as unaging. Afterwards he picked a suitable candidate for the patriach position and continued his sons heritage.”

“Master, while your story is awe inspiring I don’t see how this is related to the problem.”

“Cough cough. Anyways, because of this elders support from the background our branch sect could survive. Unfortunately during the time that I was the elder we received word that the main sect had been attacked by the Five Heavenly Mountains Sect that had combined their might with several other major sects.”

“Most sects were afraid of us because of the Qi we used including the Five Heavenly Mountains Sect. They used Heavens Qi, a Qi that was unstoppable when compared to all other types except for our own Void Qi. Out of fear they wiped the main sect out and began to extinguish the branch sects so as to not let the tiger return to the mountain.”

“The elder that was always supporting us was able to help us divert the disaster. At the time of the disaster he was actually visiting our branch sect to remember his son because it was his son’s birthday. He transmitted a full copy of all the sacred arts including the secrets of the Void Body to the voids hand before asking for volunteers to assimilate a soul into the gauntlet.”

“The only one that was willing was a cranky, cantankerous elder in charge of physical training. After that he sent the voids hand somewhere while he stayed behind to fight to protect his son’s dream.”

“I doubt he survived that fight.”

Chu Shen could not see his master’s face but could feel intense sorrow and melancholy coming from him. He had no idea what to do but to continue on. While it was interesting to find out his teachers true background it was not what his teacher had been trying to teach him.

“Master. I know this is tough but what does all that have to do with me being able to use the Void Sects arts in combat.”

Inside the voids hand Master Ti Wu was staring off into space while tears trickled down his cheeks. Yes he was old and yes he did enjoy watching others suffer pain more than he should. It could actually be considered a psychological addiction that had resulted from his training his students in such a painful method like body cultivation.

However, he had lost all his friends and family in that fight. His emotions had been bottled up and truly he needed to express himself somehow, otherwise, how could he be willing to share his story with a disciple?

Upon hearing Chu Shen’s voice Ti Wu was startled out of his recollection. Killing intent came out of his eyes for a second before he stopped himself. After all, what could he expect from a little kid with no ideas of adult emotion?

Lightly brushing away the tears Ti Wu answered his naive disciples question. After all, what more could he do?

“Ahem. Anyways I thought you could come to this conclusion on your own but instead I have to tell you everything you little brat. Basically if Five Heavenly Mountians Sect was willing to destroy even the branch sects, what do you think they would do to someone who is using the Void Sects techniques?”

“Kill them of course! This is why you had to mask your techniques and also your Qi. However since we are on a different plane they are not here. Because of that no one would recognize the type of Qi you have so you can use it to its full potential. That is why I am letting you use these techniques.”
“Now that I have explained all that to you I have a special surprise for you. I can now use the void Qi I stored up to strengthen your body but it will hurt a lot. Will you do it?”

1. N/a

Chapter 32

Great Opportunity

Chu Shen was bare chested inside the forgery. His eyes were closed as he concentrated. Opening his eyes he started a fire underneath the forge. The fire was a deep purple with hints of blue on the outside of the flame.

This flame was a special flame that could only be started using the ‘Hundred Year Old Iron Wood Tree’. It was the best type of flame to be used to refine low grade treasures.

The metal on the forge gradually melted until it was a liquid. Carefully Chu Shen poured out the metal into a cast of a sword. The metal cooled and slowly the sword was visible. He took out the sword blade and placed it back on the forge and heated it up,

Taking out his forging hammer he struck downwards with the hammer, pounding out the swords impurities and hardening it. After it was pounded out flat enough he folded the sword over itself. He repeated the process ten times, making the blade over 100 times stronger than before.

After the metal was folded over he once again shaped it into the blade of a sword and placed it inside another cast. This cast also had a sword handle sticking out of it.Then he began working on another piece of metal. The metal was even harder than that of the blade.

He repeated the same process as he had done with the other blade. Then he placed the melted metal in the same cast as the other, covering the sword with the second, harder metal and placed the top of the cast over it. Then he poured all of the metal out into it and sealed the cast.

Chu Shen waited for 30 minutes while carefully listening and watching the cast. Eventually he undid the cast and peered inside. The outer covering and the inner part of the sword had successfully bonded together and had also bonded with the sword handle.

Chu Shen had finally forged a Low-Tier Martial Weapon, or at least it would be if he could set the inscription on it right. Gathering up some materials he set them up inside a beaker and boiled them. Eventually the materials melted down to become a gold metallic ink.

Using the ink Chu Shen drew several mystical runes on the sword. Biting his tongue he concentrated fiercely on the runes. If anything went severely wrong they could explode and damage Chu Shen’s soul.

After a while Chu Shen put down the ink. As soon as he put it down the ink flashed a bright gold color making it look like the sun. Then the runes faded into the black steel of the sword, becoming invisible to the eye.

Studying the sword and the ripples of power emanating from it Chu Shen nodded. It was indeed a Low-Tier Martial Weapon. As he was inspecting the sword a door opened in the forge before someone walked in.

It was Master Lang. Upon seeing him Chu Shen bowed slightly. “Master Lang, I have finished the sword.” Chu Shen was indeed surprised once he found out that Master Lang was a teacher at the academy. The way he found out was indeed a little weird.

Upon entering the Artificing Class they had everyone craft their best weapon. When they saw Chu Shen create a High-Tier Mortal Weapon they immediately sent him to an advanced class for geniuses. He was the only student in the class and when his teacher walked in he saw it was indeed Master Lang.

However, when Master Lang found out that he could now inscribe inscriptions he was overjoyed. He started teaching him in earnest and provided the best materials.

Master Lang looked at the sword and nodded. “The sword and inscription match each other very well. The hard outside will make it exceedingly sharp and strong. The soft inside will absorb shocks and allow it to bend instead of break. Altogether it is a very fine sword.”

“However, there are still some flaws in your purification methods and your control over the ‘Iron Flame’ is lacking. Study those in your own time. Now, besides your forging I can tell you have reached the 10th level of the Dragon Stage, correct?”

“Yes Master I have. I reached it yesterday so I still have to stabilize my cultivation level.”

“Excellent. You’ve only been at the Majestic Sword Academy for a month and a half and already at the peak of the Dragon stage. In that case you will indeed go. There is a special opportunity that I have prepared for you to go. Have you ever heard of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion?”

“No Master I have not. Is it a store?”

“No it’s not a store but rather a trial area. Every five years a mysterious pavilion appears on a certain mountain peak for a day. No one knows where it comes from but everyone knows of it. Anyone may go in and can choose items from Heavenly Treasure Pavilion but be warned, it is not as simple as choosing random items.”

“Upon selecting a treasure there will be a trial you must pass before you take it. If you fail the trial you will be immediately rejected from the pavilion and instead lose your chance to gain more items, if you choose a trial you cannot handle you may even lose your life. The more powerful the item the harder the trial so be careful in what you choose.”

“It sounds interesting Master but what has that got to do with me?”

“Well Chu Shen, the Majestic Sword Academy along with the Chu Sect laid claim to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. Every five years the allow the top 5 most talented students of the academy from every grade to enter. Since there are five grades that is a total of 25 students that will enter the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.”

“As you know you are the most talented of the Freshmen this year so you will be going. It will be open in another week and they will be announcing it privately to the students that have been selected so get ready.”

“Yes master. Thank you for the warning.”

“It was actually my job.”

“Thank you anyways. Excuse me master but I must deliver this sword to Jian Kuai, I promised him one if I could forge it.”

“Alright, go on. Just be diligent okay?”

“Yes master, I will.”

Chu Shen found Jian Kuai and gave him the sword. As a dedicated swordsman a proper sword was precious to him. He thanked Chu Shen profusely for it. Ever since the fight at the trials he had been friends with Chu Shen and for a short time rivals before Chu Shen became too strong to spar with.

After they had become close Chu Shen had gifted Jian Kuai with the items he had forged along with Bei Fong and Tai Long. The reason he gave Jian Kuai this sword was not because he valued him above his other friends but rather that he had promised the next sword to him.

Eventually Chu Shen went back to his room after talking with his friends. Suddenly a long dormant voice spoke up in his head.
“Okay brat I have some interesting news for you….”

1. N/a

Chapter 31

Mockery

A bald asian man stood in front of a classroom raving. Chu Shen had decided to take an extra class called Cultivation Breakdowns that went over different stages of cultivation. Right now it was his fifth time coming to the class and it often helped him realize how far he had to go to become a real powerhouse.

“You are vulnerable! Right now you are all still in the Mortal Realms. Until you enter into the Martial Realms you cannot adequately protect yourself. The reason for this is simple.”

“You have not unlocked your outer meridians. Once you do you will be able to emit Qi from your body like armor and survive in places you couldn’t right now. You can survive in lava, underwater, and even harsh impacts.”

“Right now the only things that separates you from a mortal is your body strength and durability. You can’t even use proper martial techniques yet. Yes, I do realize you are all practicing some form of martial art but those do not qualify.”

“Martial arts such as <Heavenly Shot> or <Absolute Control> are martial arts based off of proper utilization of your muscles or agility. Even mortals can become skilled in such techniques if they practice hard enough.”

“What really makes a martial artist stand out from mortals is Qi. Everything boils down to Qi. What enables a martial artist to destroy mountains or fly? Qi. What is used to tame beasts or create pills? Qi. What is used to forge weapons and control them? Qi.”

“Everything that a martial artist does is centered around Qi. So if a martial artist can control their Qi better or has an attributed Qi they can become powerhouses unstoppable in their stage.”

“As I am sure you all know you can release Qi right now. However, this Qi is at most a slight trickle and can only be used to power certain treasures right now like a spatial ring or even a small formation.”

“On the trial stage you all must have seen the archer with the explosive arrows imbued with Qi. This was not actually done by him but was rather the effect of a small scale array. When he reaches the Martial Realms he can use his Qi to imbue arrows and make a similar effect however right now that archer has to rely on outside help to do so instead.”

DingDongDing

The sound of chimes echoed throughout the building, seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere. The bald asian man turned to look at the class.

“That concludes today’s lecture. Come back next week if you want, we will be going over the differences between stages and rough power levels of each stage as well. Dismissed.”

Chu Shen gathered his notes and left along with Bei Fong and Jian Kuai. In the hallways he saw many familiar faces, many of which had signs of adoration when they looked at him.

However, the faces Chu Shen enjoyed seeing the most was those students who were at the Dragon Stage in the trials. Upon seeing Chu Shen their faces would turn red with shame.

Things had changed drastically for Chu Shen at the Academy. Because his cultivation technique was extremely suitable for his constitution his cultivation speed was unparalleled.

Barely a month later and he was already in the 2nd level of the Dragon Stage. Comparing those Dragon Stage students to Chu Shen it was like the difference between heaven and earth. They simply lost all face, it was already considered amazing if they broke through a single level in a month much less breaking through an entire stage.

Because of the mocking words they had said at the trials their face was all but tossed in the dirt by the ‘country bumpkin’ they had looked down upon. Many of the students they had jeered at now mocked them openly.

“You broke through a level this week? Too bad Chu Shen broke through three.”

“So proud and arrogant yet barely any results. You’re just like a frog in a well, unable to see how wide the sky truly is.”

“They can’t compare to Chu Shen at all, it’s like comparing dirt to jade.”

Of the five students at the Dragon Stage two actually dropped out of the Academy. After all, they were proud sons and daughters of heaven from rich and noble families. When had they ever been openly mocked like this?

They couldn’t take the loss of face and pride and so to prevent a blockage in their cultivation those that could dropped out to re-enter next year. Those that didn’t were at the very age limit that the Majestic Sword Academy would accept and couldn’t re-enroll.

Chu Shen knew of this problem and had tried to talk to his fellow classmates and ask them to stop mocking them but only a handful listened. After all, Chu Shen was a kind and caring soul and really didn’t want anyone innocent to be hurt.

Even though they had indeed said some unkind words it was as his father said. “You may steal from an enemy, kill your enemy, but never destroy a man’s pride.” It was because of these words that he sought out the students at the Dragon Stage and apologized to him.

Those that had to endure the mocking of their classmates had their hearts full of anger towards Chu Shen. In their eyes they had done no wrong and instead blamed Chu Shen completely for the suffering they endured.

When Chu Shen came and apologized to them they thought of it as another form of humiliation but accepted it with a kind face. After all, Chu Shen was now a legendary talent and couldn’t be offended too deeply but they still carried deep grudges in their heart.

 
While Chu Shen thought of the problem as being settled both Master Ti Wu and Master Lang knew it wasn’t. If they could, they would indeed make trouble for Chu Shen later on.

1. N/a

Chapter 30

The Principal

Master Lang was lead along a winding path filled with plants and medicinal herbs. The Qi here was dense, letting the local fauna flourish. Soon they reached a stately building with majestic gold trim on the outside.

A sword statue stood in front of the building. Just by looking at it you could tell it had great mysteries regarding the dao of the sword hidden inside it.

Master Lang was actually startled when he saw the statue. The elder saw his expression from the corner of his eye and smirked. This was a statue personally carved by the founder of the Majestic Sword Academy whose sword arts was legendary throughout the world back then.

With such a powerful cultivator had personally carved such a thing, how could it be simple? In truth to those who studied the dao of the sword it was indeed a great boon to look upon.

Master Lang quickly recovered his senses and acted like nothing had happened. He followed the elder inside the building, there he was lead to an office.

Inside was a woman who looked like your average grandma except for the powerful ripples of power emanating from her frail body. “Master Artificer welcome. Please sit down.”

The principal was being very polite to Master Lang, and with good reason. A seven star artificer was as rare as phoenix feathers nowadays. They were able to craft some of the most powerful weapons and had great influence.

If a clan or sect was able to secure a seven star artificer for themselves it was guaranteed that their later generations would be adequately equipped. Not to mention that most powerful artificers also dabbled in alchemy.

After all, an alchemist have perfect control over flames, and knowledge on herbs. Because of this many great alchemists and artificers had some success on both paths. Both had to have control over flame and learning herbs or materials is all that separated the two jobs.

Master Lang politely acknowledged the principal, giving her some face.

“So, I heard from Elders Li Xen and Li Xian that you were planning on staying at the academy.”

“That is correct Madame Principal.”

“Please, call me Principal Mayweather.”

“You may call me Artificer Lang.”

“I wanted ask what your disciples name is.”

“His name is Chu Shen. He is still a Man Stage cultivator.”

“Is he from the main family?” The principal suspected this was the reason they were accepted as a disciple.

“No. He is from a branch family called Misty Pass.”

“Oh. Anyways, the reason I wanted to talk to you was to inform you that he will not be getting special treatment.”

“I never expected him to receive any. However, if I can provide resources better than the academies could he be allowed to accept any.”

“Of course, we allow anyone to receive outside resources so long as they are vetted by the academy.”

“Excellent.”

“Now that we have that down, I wanted to talk to you about a proposition.”

“Go on, I am listening.”

“The Majestic Sword Academy teaches a Beginners Forger and Artificer classes but we don’t have any Expert classes on the subjects. We are quite interested in hiring you to teach these classes, of course you can sell any weapons you forge and you can set your own schedule. You would also become a teacher of the school.”

Master Lang simply nodded. To be honest this was the whole point in him coming. By becoming a teacher here, especially in a class Chu Shen would be in would be extremely good for him.

This way he could protect his disciple through official channels thereby bypassing any resentment and discrimination from outside pressure. Also, there would be less resistance from other people. After all, if it was an outsider asking for favors it was an automatic response to reject it, no one liked being bossed around after all.

Principal Mayweather sighed in relief. Now the overseer from the Chu Sect would get off her back. “Thank you Master Lang. It is a great help for all of us.”

He smiled. “Don’t worry, you helped me as well”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Chu Shen sighed. Finally he was done with his schedule. Of course every few seconds Ti Wu would chime in with a sarcastic comment, however these comments did indeed help Chu Shen plan out everything.

First he would have weapons class, then formation and inscription classes, artificing, and finally techniques class.

With his schedule he would have two days of classes and the rest would be for research and cultivating. Chu Shen nodded, this was the best type of schedule.

 
Taking a deep breath Chu Shen sat down and started cultivating. He still had half a day left, of course he wouldn’t waste any of it.

1. N/a